"I never thought I'd see you again," Jay whispers into her ear as he leans in to hug her. She takes a step back; she doesn't trust him that much yet. Leigha shakes her head. "Me neither," she says softly. He smiles lightly and sees her begin to smile as well. She remembers this about his so well: whenever he smiled, she couldn't help but smile, too. This was still true.

"What happened back then?" Jay asks her out of the blue. She smiles and shakes her head. "You don't remember?" she asks him. "I do, but it's a little hazy," he explains winking, "We were about fourteen then, right, before the virus?". She nods.

She elucidates that day more to him. "Anyhow, you convinced me to skip Mr. Landers's class-"

"Well, would you have rather stayed in that class and listen to him drone on?" Jay asks with a smile. She shrugs and smiles back at him. He continues.

"And we were down at the docks, just talking-"

"And then you got bored and decided we were going to go somewhere else," she says.

He nods and his smile fades. "Yeah, and we somehow ended up behind the warehouse-" he says. He doesn't finish. She knows she has to do it for him. "And some of your friends were there, and they were spray painting words on the back door.... and someone called the police.

"Well, I guess we were running the wrong way, because the cops chased us"

Jay nods as she continues. He knows what happened nest. "And then you lost your necklace along the way, when we went over a fence, and you said you needed to go back for it.... because it was your Mum's," he says gently. Leigha slightly smiles and looks down. He had remembered everything she said, even down to what she told him, as her best friend, when they were little, that her mother had died when she was nine.

"And then we got caught," Jay says further, "they wouldn't believe that we didn't do anything, so they went to question us separately.... and that was the last time I ever got to talk to you, before that, because I left-"

Jay stops when he hears a slight collision in the hallway. Reality slides in; Leigha has almost forgotten that she is in danger. Her for her life, and Jay for his job. Jay makes a move for the door, but he remembers that he cannot leave Leigha in the extra storeroom, where he had been checking on new arrivals for Ram, she can be discovered.

Jay curses under his breath. Leigha frowns. He brushes past her, to the door. She stands the same way as she has been. He slowly opens the door and looks outside. He turns back to her and takes her hand, leading her out the door. Jay hastily leads her away from the commotion down the hall.

Another harsh racket brings Leigha's mind back to Lex and Pride. She stops, dropping Jay's hand. She stays there for just a second, letting him turn around. He turns and stares into her eyes. His face shows no emotion whatsoever.

"You've gotten good at that," she says. His eyes show confusion, but his face does not.

"What?" he asks, his voice a whisper. "Hiding your feelings," she returns. She lets her words sink in before turning and bolting down the hallway as fast as she can, past the store room where Lex and Pride were supposed to stay, her hair streaming out behind her.

Pride and Lex are standing there, unmoving. Lex is looking at her, but Pride is focused on the others. She turns around, her long braids that are held high on her head swing over her shoulder as she does so. Lex stands up straighter. It's Siva.

Siva is surprised to see them; they are as shocked to see her. "Siva," Lex says trying to sound casual, but how casual can you be when you've just snuck into a Techno camp. She blinks. "What are you doing here, Lex?" she asks. He hesitates.

"Where's Tai-San?" he asks, eagerly. She cringes at the thought of Tai-San. She was one of Lex's former girlfriends, like herself. She doesn't say anything; she really doesn't know the answer to that question. They stare at each other, Lex and Siva. Pride moves forward to the ones being tested on. Silence.

Leigha burst through the door, only to stand cold at the sight of those being tested, just like Pride and Lex had. None of them notice, except Siva. They stare at each other, Siva's glance beside and behind Lex. Neither of them cares who the other is; typical of Siva. Siva goes past all of them to the door, and leaves.

"Going, no doubt, to tell Ram," Pride says. Lex shrugs, he is probably right. "Pride," Leigha says. Pride doesn't look at her; he's trying to figure out what they will do. "Pride, we have to leave them, but we'll come back, I promise," she says.

Pride doesn't do anything. "They're coming! We have to go!" she says quickly. Pride still doesn't move. "Pride, the Big Schmuck is right," Lex says, going to the door. Leigha ignores what he calls her and grabs Pride's hand, pulling him away. "You've got to get out of here!" he says to the both of them.

"What about you?" Pride asks hastily. She shakes her head rapidly and says, "I'll create a diversion so the two of you can get away without being caught". Pride's mouth drops open. Lex shakes his head as well. "Nuh uh! You're coming with us, if anyone's going to create a diversion and have the possibility of being caught, it's me, I'm the sheriff here!" he says a little too loudly. They're just wasting time here, like they want to be caught. Leigha's getting annoyed, big time.

"Lex! Stop being such an arrogant ass! Go!" Leigha yells. Neither lex nor Pride move. Leigha grumbles loudly and pushes them out the door. She goes out the door first, going down the hall past the room where Jay was. She turns and sees Pride and Lex slip into the storeroom where they had first snuck in; neither of them looks at her.

Leigha looks first and sneaks around the corner. She hears heavy footsteps in the corridor she has just been in. She looks back, biting her bottom lip, and sees two masked Technos walking quickly down the hallway. They stop in front of the storeroom and one of them points to the door. The other touches his hand the doorknob.

Leigha looks around quickly and grabs the nearest door's knob and pulls it, but then quickly slamming as hard as she can. She doesn't have to look to know the two Technos are know headed there, their attention brought from the storeroom to her. She hears another door open behind her and she turns. It is Jay, again. He never ceases to surprise her.

Jay goes past Leigha and around the corner, stopping the Technos from moving. Leigha moves herself to the wall so she cannot be seen. "What are you doing?" Jay asks the inferior Technos. They look at each other and one of them says, "Siva has informed us that there has been a break-in-". Jay doesn't let him finish. "I am your general, you take your orders from me," he says.

They nod and look each other. "As for the intruders," Jay continues, "I will see to it". They Technos nod and go back down the hall in the direction they have come from. Jay turns and goes back to Leigha. He looks around. "Take the elevator to the second floor and go to room 217," he whispers into her ear. She nods and he points to the elevator a few feet away.

"I'll take care of everything down here," he says gently, looking deeply into her eyes.

"Hey Java," Siva calls out, worriedly. Java is in Ram's headquarters, with Ram. They both look up at Siva. Ram poses a questionable look at her but she ignores it. Java leans into Ram and touches his shoulder. Ram's gaze still falls on Siva. She hates the way he looks at her, possessive and just waiting for her to screw up.

They both go outside Ram's door. "Yes, little sister?" Java asks her. Siva doesn't mention that Lex is there, just this, "Lex is trying to find Tai-San". Java rolls her eyes. "Is he now?" she asks, not concerned about Lex. "As soon as she gets transferred here, look what happens," Java says. Siva's eyes widen. "She's here," she asks. Java looks at her, knowing that Siva had no idea that Tai-San is there. Java sees her sister's face light up.

Siva wants to tell Lex, so that he can find her. She just wants him happy, that is all. Not if Java can help it though. Siva smiles sweetly, says, "Thank you, Java", and goes down the hall to find Lex, if she can. Java's face turns sour. She hates Lex with a passion. Ever since he started screwing Ram's plans and since he had turned her baby sister into a love relying addict. No, she isn't going to give him this.

She knows that if she wants to she can get Ram to transfer Tai-San somewhere else, somewhere no one knows about, and that is exactly what she is going to do. By morning, Tai-San will be gone.

Leigha stands in front of Room 217 and lets out a deep breath. She turns the doorknob and goes in. It's someone's personal room. She guesses Jay's. It has a simple bed with simple blankets covering it. There is also a dresser and a few pictures. Leigha picks up one of the frames and studies it. Where a picture should have been was empty. She frowns.

The door opens and Leigha turns around. Jay enters and closes the door behind him. She sets the empty picture frame down. He steps toward her and looks down at his hands. "I've been thinking and I believe I've figured out what happened back then," he says. Oh, that, she thinks.

"When they went to question you," he says, "they sort of left me alone and then let me go, no questions asked. And I've just figured out that it was because you took the blame for me?" He makes it a question. Leigha nods gently. "Even though it was all my idea?" he persists. "Yeah," she says, nodding again.

He doesn't frown, but his eyes show that he is confused. "But, why?" he inquires. She smiles and shrugs. "I couldn't let it all fall on you, you had done too much for me and I couldn't let myself do it. And because I didn't know what it would do to you, you had parents who cared, and you never did anything wrong. If I let you take all the blame," she looks around, "You wouldn't be here right now". He opens his mouth to say something, but she doesn't let him.

"If you took the blame, you would have stayed out in the country and your parents wouldn't have moved you to the city to get you as far away as they could from me. They said I was a bad influence on you," she says. Jay smiled. Leigha smiles as well. "You were some sort of influence on me, yes," he says. "Was I a bad influence?" she asks. He shakes his head, still smiling, "No". Leigha smiles and looks down.

"And you went back to find my necklace?" she asks, eyebrows raised. "Yeah," he looks down at his hands, "I knew how much it meant to you". She smiles. She looks up at him. He is still taller than her, just like he had been when they first met. She looks into his brown eyes and sees something, thought and emotion.

Leigha swallows and steps forward. She wraps her arms around his neck in a hug. He lays his hands on her waist. She hasn't been this close to her best friend is years; she forgot how good it felt. She steps away from him and sits on the corner of his bed.

Jay lies down beside her, propped up on one elbow. "So, what did you do after I left," he asks. She smiles and bites her lip. "Dad died and Rian, my brother, and I went to live with the Ecos. I met Pride and Bray there," she hesitates, "After a while, Pride and Bray decided to take me to the city with them. I didn't want to leave Rian, but it was for the best. I needed to get away from him, but he was still family". Jay knows that Rian had hurt her, she'd told him once when they were in the country, before the day they skipped Mr. Landers's class.

"When we got to the city something happened, and I was taken. And I ended up here," she says, looking around. Jay reaches out and touches Leigha's face, "I'm sorry". She smiles. "What about you?" she asks when he moves his hand away. "Nothing much," he says, "I got a job as general and that's where I am today".

There is a knock at the door, both Jay and Leigha spring up off the bed. Jay has no time to hide Leigha when the door opens. It is Ram, he is alone. "Jay," he says. His face shows no surprise of seeing Leigha, though he does not know her. "What do we have here?" he asks, deviously. Jay looks at her and gulps. He opens his mouth but no words come out. Leigha sees his position. And speaks.

"I snuck into Jay's room," she blurts out. Ram smiles. Jay looks down at her. "If anyone's to be punished, it's me," she says. Ram nods in approval. Leigha quickly glances up at Jay. She looks back at Ram.

"You can't take the blame for me this time, either, Jay," she whispers low enough so that Ram doesn't hear.