Chapter 5

Legal disclaimer-The rights to these characters do not belong to me, do dah, do dah, they belong to others that...do nothing for me...

Author's Note-To put it simply-turn on a light someone, darkness approaches. Thank you to those who keep reviewing, and those who keep reading, I love you all. Rewatching DVD's is a wonderful thing. And I love commentaries.

Here you go....

After the plates had been cleared, the rest of the house toured, including their own work area for mutant needs, and a computer set up to rival the computer room at Emma and Jesse's, Emma called it a night and headed upstairs to bed. Shalimar also turned in, her plans to get them on the road in the am planned as well. Brennan had looked at Jesse as the women headed for bed, and Jesse acknowledged it. They were going to have some time to really talk. The nagging feeling that Jesse had was not wanting to talk.

Brennan and Jesse found themselves on the back porch, downing beers and staring at the star filled sky.

"This is so bizarre," Jesse said after a few moments of silence.

"What?" Brennan asked.

"I didn't think that I would ever be sitting here with you, at your house with Shalimar, let alone married to Emma," Jesse admitted, "I never thought this would happen."

"I know," Brennan agreed, then asked the question that was bugging him, "Jesse, man, what is eating you?"

"What do you mean?" Jesse asked, eyes to the stars, "I'm fine."

"No, you're not," Brennan continued, knowing the right words to get him to talk, "Talk to me. You fell off the radar, I know Emma makes a great excuse, but what did we do? You seem so pissed off."

Jesse had been expecting the barrage, but let it hit him like a bullet when he was massed. The words simply fell to the floor.

"It wasn't you, Brennan," Jesse stared at the sky, "It was Lexa."

"She had things she had to do man," Brennan handed him another beer, "My god, it's been five years. You cannot keep beating yourself up about her leaving you."

"Is that what she told you?" Jesse asked, turning to face him and try to hide the hurt that came up at the mention of her name, "Because it's not the truth."

"The truth is, it was five years ago," Brennan continued, "You have got to let it go. Stress or not, you don't look well at all. You're very angry, you didn't seem to want to ever be found, let alone keep in touch with anyone. We missed you more than you know, Jesse."

"Yeah, I know," Jesse's reply was soft, "I just don't want to get into it Brennan, can't you see that?"

"You're going to have to," Brennan wasn't going to let it die, "Lex is going to be here in the am."

"Adam asked for her as well, didn't he."

"Yeah, he did," Brennan hesitated at his reply, Jesse's mood was growing very dark, "She was there when we found the creator, she knows everything that is going on. She earned her spot."

"Wonderful," Jesse didn't hide the sarcasm that crept into his voice, "I can't wait for her to meet Emma."

"That gonna be a problem?" Brennan asked.

"Along the lines of 'Ex-lover meets beloved wife'?" Jesse laughed bitterly, "Yes."

"Wow, I didn't know you guys had gone that far," Brennan downed his beer, "Explains a lot."

"There's a lot of things you don't know about me, Brennan, just get over it," Jesse growled, the alcohol and exhaustion finally dropping his emotional control, "You and Shal have been on me since this afternoon and frankly, it's none of your business who I have become. I'm happy with my life, and want to keep it that way."

Brennan was a little stunned. It was out of Jesse's character to lash out like that.

"Ok, your current life is out of bounds," Brennan started, taking another beer out of the cooler, "Sorry."

"Thanks, and sorry, just a very long day," Jesse met his friends' concerned look, "You didn't deserve that."

"It's okay, I can take it, anyway, I am happy that you found Emma and that you are together," he smiled, "Although I did meet her first."

"And have I ever thanked you for that?" Jesse retorted, "No, seriously, We have a great life. She's the world to me, Bren."

"I can see that," Brennan downed the last of his beer as Jesse finished his.

He took the bottle and threw it into the air. Pointing a finger, electricity lit up the night sky and hit the bottle, shattering it into pieces.

"Still got it, I see," Jesse laughed, his laugh a little drunk, "Nice to see that."

"Yeah, nice to use it," Brennan grinned, "Thanks for finding out that my expiration date was right after yours."

"Hidden files are still one of my specialties," Jesse sat back, trying not to fall asleep right there, "After discovering that the gene therapy that he used on you, Shalimar and myself worked, it was a pleasure to use it on Lexa. Emma, it turns out had an earlier expiration than me."

"Really?" Brennan was thinking about asking Jesse that, but by her merely being on the planet proved she had passed her date.

"Yeah," Jesse yawned, "I'm sorry, it's not you, I just have to sleep."

"You gonna make it upstairs or am I going to have to carry you?" Brennan gave him a sideways glance.

"No, I'm good," Jesse stood up and held out a hand for Brennan, "Thanks for the beers. I guess you're going to have me work them off tomorrow?"

"Hoops at dawn, my man," Brennan laughed, getting up, "Sleep well, you've earned it."

Jesse headed up the stairs, and into the darkened room that he shared with Emma. She woke up as he climbed into bed, his catlike stealth failing. He had yanked his shirt off, thrown on a pair of shorts that he packed, and had tried desperately to climb in bed without waking her.

"Good talk with Brennan?" she asked sleepily, curling into the nook of his arm, "You were down there an awfully long time."

"Yeah, it was a good talk," he said softly, kissing her on the top of her head, "I needed it, I think. Tomorrow's not going to be easy though. Lexa arrives sometime in the morning."

Emma shifted so that her head was on Jesse's chest. He was trembling as he said it. The wall that he built around his emotions stood pretty strong against saying Lexa's name, but he could feel the cracks forming. He took a deep breath to steady his thoughts.

"You were going to have to face her eventually," Emma said softly, "It's good that it's now."

"Yeah, I know, I'm just not looking forward to it," Jesse's voice was extremely low and somewhat deadly sounding, "I know that I have to bring up the past, Em, but I don't want to."

"We'll get through it together," Emma put her hand on his chest, "You have got to sleep, Jesse, you need the rest."

"I know," he said, closing his eyes and pulling Emma a little closer, "Thanks for being here for me."

"Forever, you know that," she said as she felt him drift off.

Luckily she didn't have to use her powers, his own emotional and physical exhaustion took over. He was asleep at last, and she could finally feel him calming down. She closed her eyes and silently prayed that the next morning would bring him peace.

Downstairs, a similar scene played out as Brennan climbed into bed with Shalimar. She had curled up on their large four poster bed with a pillow ready for him, and was awake from the moment the door opened. She always slept like that, so he had tried to be quiet, but laughed as she patted the pillow for him.

"How is he, really?" she asked, shifting so that Brennan could be more comfortable, "When I saw him at the bar he looked so lost and angry. I thought it was us, but with Emma's protection, his job, and the news that Adam's alive, I can't read him anymore."

"He's grown up a hell of a lot," Brennan commented, turning out the light by the bed, "He won't tell me what, but something horrible happened with Lexa. He's still hurting from it."

"Five years later?" Shalimar was shocked, "What could she have done?"

"I don't know, hon, but it's hurt him pretty badly," Brennan said, staring at the dark ceiling, "I don't know where he would be if he hadn't found Emma."

Shalimar didn't like to think like that. Something was still eating Jesse. It was great to see him in a life that he was well suited for, and seemingly happy, but the mention of his life with Mutant X had put him in an angry tailspin. If Lexa was the cause, then she truly had screwed up because she had never seen him this angry. She secretly hoped that he would sleep tonight, because tomorrow was going to have its promises of instability and confusion.

Emma felt the nightmare start before she could see it on Jesse's face. He shifted and twitched in his sleep, his face contorting in the midst of the terror that his subconscious was inflicting on him. She put a hand to his face and simply put her mind to the task of soothing the fear and trying to change the channel of the nightmare that played in his mind. For a moment, it worked, because he stopped moving, then Emma found her hand slipping through him as he phased.

He landed under the bed with a loud thump.

"Damn," he said, waking up and realizing where he was, "Sorry, Emma."

Emma sat up and arranged the pillows so that they both could sit up in bed as he climbed back into bed, rubbing the back of his head. As he got into bed, she settled down on his chest so that he had someone close to him. From experience, this was something he needed.

"Nightmare?" she asked.

"Yeah," he replied, "Not surprised by it though. Thanks for the attempt to get me out of it, though."

"You're welcome, anything else I can do to help?" Emma said sleepily, "You need the sleep."

"If you can make sure tomorrow never comes," Jesse muttered, "I'm sorry I woke you up."

"Never be, I'm here," Emma shifted so she could look into his eyes, "I love you."

"And I love you," Jesse whispered, "Always remember that."

He kissed her on her forehead and again tried to get back to sleep. She stayed in her spot, not moving till she felt him calm once again. His breathing had changed and he was deep in sleep. Finally. She tried to fall asleep herself, but was fearing that he would wake up again since he was so upset that he would have to face the past tomorrow. She wished it was already here.