Chapter 6

Legal Disclaimer-Don't own them, probably won't ever, but Kari is mine, MINE!

A/N-So, I'm going to be busy for the next few days, so I figured I would give you a number of chapters to read now....thanks for the reviews.

Here you go....

For Shalimar, she was in a room filled with fire. There was no way out, no way to breathe, and no one she could see. It was totally too hot for her to handle and she knew that she would not make it out alive. Screaming, she ran for what she thought was the door and found Brennan shaking her out of the nightmare. Lexa appeared at the doorway to Brennan's room.

"Shal, SHAL!" Brennan kept saying her name over and over again until she stopped shaking.

She looked at him then hugged him. It was only a horrific nightmare.

"I guess Jesse isn't the only one," she said, trying to humor the worry out of Brennan's eyes, "That was way too real."

Brennan nodded. The nightmares were beginning to control his friends. He put an arm around Shalimar's shaking body. They didn't need words, too many years of teamwork had made it easier for them to communicate. Shalimar stopped shaking and sat on the edge of the cot.

She was about to stand up when she heard Kari's yell.

"Guys, I need some help here, now!"

Kari had run into the computer lab to a convulsing Jesse. When he stopped convulsing he would scream weakly then he stopped completely. She gently lowered him to the floor and put her hand to the side of his face. Closing her eyes, she was back in the scope of his nightmares. This time he was stuck in the stasis pod, a subdermal governor on his neck. His eyes were glazed as he looked at her and she yanked the pod open as fast as she could.

He was nearly lifeless. His knuckles were bloodied again from his attempt to push out of the pod, but this time, he didn't seem to know where he was. She desperately tried to pull him out of this frenzied state then decided that she had to do something she really didn't want to. She entered his mind, seeing that there was no other way to help him.

She was in a room that looked like it was from a mansion. It was nighttime, there was lightning outside and very little light to see. Jesse was sitting in a dark corner, curled in a ball and shaking uncontrollably. She knelt next to him, put on hand on his knee and tried to lift his head. Jesse pulled away from her touch.

"Don't," he said, his voice soft and childlike.

"Jesse, it's okay, it Kari and it's just a nightmare," she said, crossing her legs and sitting next to him.

"Just a nightmare?" Jesse asked after a second, his head lifting. He tried to find the young woman in the darkness, "Why can't I wake up then? Why do I keep going back there? Why do they still do things to me, Kari?"

Kari reached out and touched his knee.

"That's what nightmares do, Jesse, you can wake up, you can control this," she said, "I can control my own dreams, Jess, it just takes practice."

Jesse didn't meet her look. She was talking way too softly for his senses to grasp what was going on. He was terrified to go any further. He pushed her hand away and curled back up into a ball.

"Dammit Jesse, listen to me," Kari had run out of patience. She pulled his head up and looked into the frightened eyes, "YOU ARE OKAY! You fell asleep at the keyboards after trying to set up yet another program for the Underground. Brennan, Shalimar and Lexa are waiting for you back in the conscious world. Outside of here is not occurring."

"Are you sure of that?" Jesse asked.

She nodded at him, finally sensing his agreement. This might be easier than she thought. She got him to his feet and started for the door she knew was in this room. She found it as Jesse gasped. He started to phase, as he did almost automatically at all doors, but she held his hand and begged him to stay with her.

She opened the door to a tall man. One she didn't recognize, but Jesse did. He stepped in front of her and massed, yelling at her to duck.

She did.

"You can stop this Jesse, wake up," she commanded.

Jesse's eyes opened and he discovered that his head was in Kari's lap. Kari was leaning against the wall, her eyes unfocused and open, her right hand on the side of his face. Brennan, Shalimar, and Lexa were all in the lab with them, watching and monitoring. Jesse slowly sat up, breaking contact with Kari's physical link to him, and turned to face her. Her eyes still weren't focusing and he shook her, waiting for her eyes to focus to this reality.

Kari found herself staring at her friends, Jesse in the closest view. He looked scared, but this time it was for her, and not for the situation.

"Who was that?" she asked, her voice raspy.

Jesse took a minute, then turned to the group.

"I think that was Gabriel Ashlocke."