Disclaimer—See Chapter One
A/N: Finally, after thirteen chapters, the full truth will come out! But that doesn't mean things will get any easier for them...! Thank you so much for all your support, comments, questions, and feedback! You have no idea how excited I get when I see reviews in my inbox! :) So thank you so much for everything!
Things Best Known—Chapter Thirteen
The door slammed behind her so hard, pictures on the wall all the way down the hallway rattled and swayed. Brennan cringed at the sound, cursing under his breath as he followed after her up the stairs. He stopped in front of room twelve, taking a deep breath and then rapped his knuckles lightly against the door.
"Shal?"
She didn't answer, but he could hear drawers opening and closing inside.
"Come on, Shal, open the door so we can talk about this."
He heard her give a loud huff through the door.
"Tough luck, buddy." A man walking down the hallway shot him a sympathetic look as he walked past.
Brennan groaned, kneading his temple in frustration. Allie was dead, and it wouldn't be long before local law enforcement came looking for answers. Steven was looming somewhere, stalking them, determined to capture Shalimar and kill him. The Dominion was threatening to implement their original plan. Yet he was stuck pleading behind a locked door.
"Shalimar!" He gritted, banging louder.
"What?" She suddenly yanked the door open, surprising him as he paused with hand in mid-knock.
"You're packing," He peered past her. "Does that mean you're leaving?"
"Is that all you want?" Her arms crossed, "To see if I'm going away?"
"Shalimar, please, Steven could be anywhere right now—"
"Which is exactly why I'm getting ready for him."
"What are you planning?" His voice dropped in fear.
"Can we talk without you asking me to leave?" Her fingers drummed against her crossed arms.
He hesitated.
"I thought not." She slammed the door in his face.
"Shalimar!" His foot kicked the door, just as his ring beeped. "What?" He hissed in frustration.
"Everything ok?" Lexa's tone was dry.
"Yeah," Brennan raked his hand through his hair, giving up on Shalimar opening the door, but refusing to leave her alone. He sank to the floor outside her room, leaning his head back against the wall and closing his eyes. "What's up?" He sounded defeated.
"The Dominion is demanding another meet," She gave a wry snort. "They're not too pleased that Allie's dead and Steven's still loose."
He opened his eyes, blinking tiredly as he formed small sparks on his fingers, staring at them. "You have to delay them for me."
"I'm trying, Brennan." He heard a door close in the background as she walked into another room, voice lowering. "They are giving us three more hours before abandoning this mission, Brennan. You know what that means?"
"Yeah." He closed his hands into a firm fist, distinguishing the sparks into small puffs. "They can do whatever they want, they're not getting Shalimar."
"Brennan—"
"Stall them, Lexa." He turned off his ring, staring straight ahead with narrowed eyes. No one was getting past him into that room.
Standing outside on the balcony, Shalimar could hear the faint murmuring of Brennan's voice outside her door. It annoyed her that he was still there, and she slammed the sliding door shut, trying to block him out. The late afternoon air was cool, and she lifted her face, welcoming the breeze. The dust wasn't as thick higher up, and she felt like she could breathe cleanly for the first time since arriving in this hellhole of a town. She frowned, eyes skimming the forlorn view from her balcony. The bright neon sign proudly displaying the name of the hotel was flickering in and out, as if too tired to shine much longer. The clapboard buildings across the street seemed to match her mood, as they sagged under the thick layer of grit coating them. Some owner had tried to brighten the place by placing a pot of bright red flowers in the window sill, but they only served to highlight the depression of the place as they bravely lifted their tender faces to the dust. It covered everything, and it was everywhere. She wondered what Steven and Allie were doing in a place like this anyway. She knew he was a powerful psionic, her lack of memory getting downstairs proved that. But she was confident in her strength, in their combined ability to work as a team and stop him. They had come against all sorts of obstacles and had always overcome. Her fingers tightened on the railing until they began to turn white. Why couldn't Brennan see that? Why did he have to be so damn stubborn?
She hadn't realized she spoke the words aloud until she heard a chuckle behind her. She whirled around in time to see Jesse's body falling from the ceiling and landing on the bed as he phased his way through the roof.
"Jesse?" She gaped at him in shock, before remembering she had closed the sliding door. She pulled it open and quickly reached him as he sat up and looked around in pleasant surprise.
"Can't believe I made a soft landing for once," He smiled up at her. "Hey, Shal."
"Jesse?" She blinked as if unsure he really sat before her.
"You know you're just as stubborn as he is, don't you?" He pushed himself off the bed as her face narrowed at him.
"What are you doing here?"
He glanced at his watch. "I don't have much time, but I had to come. I've got the helix cloaked up on the roof." He stepped close to her. "Shalimar, this thing is messed up. Lexa left to meet her contact, so I dug through her personal files, trying to find out what's going on."
"You don't know either?"
"I thought I did, but then I caught reference of the Dominion going back to some original plan, and saw the panic it put into Lexa and Brennan."
"Yeah," Her eyes glinted as they strayed to the door where she could sense Brennan still waited, "He won't tell me anything."
"He couldn't, Shal." Jesse indicated for her to sit down. "I found out what they're hiding, and it's not pretty." He sighed, rubbing an eyebrow. "You sure you want to hear this?"
"Yes," She eagerly turned towards him. "Tell me."
Jesse looked down at his hands for a moment before glancing back at her, meeting her gaze straight on. "The Dominion planned to kill you, Shalimar."
"What?" She gasped in surprise.
He winced, shrugged his shoulders. "We're a dispensable commodity, if the right price comes along."
"Jesse?" She stared at him in confusion.
"How much do you know, Shal?"
She shook her head, trying to focus. "Just that, ah, that Brennan was asked to connect to Allie to find out whatever he could about Steven." Her hand rubbed the back of her neck. "And that the Dominion wants Steven stopped because he is dangerous, especially to ferals apparently." Her eyes sparked in anger.
"Yeah." Jesse turned away for a moment, knee bouncing in agitation until he felt a small hand gently stilling it.
"Tell me, Jesse." She watched him steadily, waiting.
He pressed his lips together. "He wants you, Shalimar. You specifically. The Dominion fear him, they've been trying to reign him in for a long time. They were—delighted—to find he has a weakness, you."
Her eyes were liquid brown as they stared into his face, brow winkled. He sighed, reaching out and running his thumb along the crease in her forehead. "He saw you once, in a fight, and became obsessed. He couldn't find you on his own. He didn't know about Sanctuary. Their plan was to send you on a supposed mission to meet him, when in actuality, they were giving you to him, in exchange for his cooperation." He hated to see the hurt in her expression, and he pulled her close. "I'm sorry, Shal."
"But why?" She pulled back, sniffing.
He smiled sadly. "As a team, we are useful as long as we serve their purpose. But in this case, it was deemed more important to gain access to Steven. They must have been sure they could control him once they finally had access."
She stood up, circling the room in silence for several minutes. She could feel Jesse's eyes watching her. "What did he do to ferals?"
"Shal—"
"Tell me." She interrupted his protest, coming to a stop in front of him.
He stood up, bracing his hands on her forearms.
"Brennan called him a collector," She prompted him as he stayed quiet.
Jesse gave a bitter laugh before locking eyes with her. "You could say that. He skins them. Alive."
"What?" She spat the word, jerking back in disgust.
"He gets off on the hunt, chasing them, teasing them, confusing them. And then when he finally gets them, he carves them up for his own personal collection."
Her hand rose to her throat. "They planned that for me?"
"Yeah." He frowned in anger. "Lexa's contact found out and offered Brennan as a different way to access Steven. He discovered his old connection to Allie."
Shalimar's head turned towards the door. "He told me he refused the assignment." Her words were a whisper.
"He did, until they told him the alternative."
"Why—" She paused, swallowing. "Why didn't they tell us?"
"You were kept as the backup plan. They blackmailed him, Shal. They put a tracker on you. If he didn't do the mission, they would take you. If he did anything to give it away while working on the mission, they would take you, in case he failed."
Oh, Brennan. She sank onto the bed, staring at her hands in sudden shame.
Jesse knelt down before her. "Don't you see, Shal? Allie is dead. And now Steven knows you're here. They'll both be coming for you now, Dominion agents and Steven."
"He wanted me to leave." She numbly breathed, hands grappling for Jesse's. "I wouldn't go."
"Yeah, I know." Jesse smiled as he pressed a kiss to her forehead. "I wouldn't expect anything less from you."
"Now what?" She stared at him determinedly.
"I need to remove the tracker first." Jesse stood back up, heading to the bathroom. She could hear him fumbling around and then it was quiet. Too quiet.
"Jesse?" She called to him after a long moment, nervous. It was quiet for another beat, and then he walked back into the main room. She sighed in relief. "You scared me for a minute there."
"Sorry." He stopped directly in front of her, staring at her.
Her stomach fluttered in confusion at his intense gaze. "Jesse?"
His hands suddenly shot out, clutching her arms in a crushing hold. She winced, trying to pull back, but he was suddenly stronger.
"Jesse?" Her voice wavered in fear.
Time moved in distinct clarity. She was aware of Jesse clamping his mouth onto hers in a bruising kiss, just as Brennan suddenly kicked the door open, shouting his name in fury. She blinked, and Brennan froze in mid-step. She blinked again, and Jesse stood back. A third blink, and she gasped, face twisting in shock as another Jesse crawled from the bathroom, cupping a bleeding nose. There were two Jesses. In the fourth blink, there was just one again, and in the fifth blink, the man before her disappeared, a haunting, mocking laugh lingering behind. Steven. He was playing with them; he had them, but then he let them go. And it only took him five seconds.