Chapter 8

Legal Disclaimer- These copyrights are owned by others. This has been a recording.

Author's Note-Okay, you liked Chapter 7. I admit this is more of an angsty, pissed Jesse piece than I like to admit, but, you'll see what I am up to shortly. Review, for god's sake, review.

It had taken a while, but after Jesse was able to calm himself down, he wound up going into the great room with Brennan. Lexa and Shalimar had left, Shalimar mentioning that a walk might help Lexa calm down, and also to give the two a chance to talk. Emma in turn went upstairs and packed her and Jesse's clothes. They were still on to leave at noon, and that was something that Shalimar was going to stick to, bad blood between the team members or not.

Jesse still had the thousand yard stare that he had when he was on the back porch with Emma. Brennan knew he was listening to him though, Jesse was answering him on a regular basis. The light was dim behind his friend's eyes.

"You going to be okay with this?" Brennan asked him, "I mean you're going to have to work with Lexa, Jesse. You can't keep reminding her of a mistake she made."

"It wasn't a mistake," he replied softly, "She knew exactly what she was doing, Bren. Problem is she took a part of my heart out with it. I'm just glad it's finally out in the open."

"Me too," Brennan replied, but was still worried by his friend's demeanor, "You haven't answered my question though. Are you going to be able to work with her, Jess? We can't work alone, you know."

Jesse stared at him. The hollow look was slowly filling with a spark of light.

"Yeah, I can do this," Jesse replied, "She can do whatever she wants. I'll work with her."

Brennan smiled. At least they were getting to a good point. He knew that Jesse could put aside personal feelings for the sake of the team. He wanted to see him at least be able to function.

"Great then," Brennan gathered his shoes and went back upstairs, "I'll finish packing and we'll go when they get back."

"Good then," Jesse stood up, "It'll be good to see Adam."

"Yeah, it will be," Brennan answered as he came back downstairs with two bags, "I want to know how he got away from the Creator."

"I wonder that too," Jesse commented, "I ran every possible check that the Service can run, and 'The Creator' doesn't exist. As it turns out from the moment that Adam was taken by these guys, he doesn't exist either."

"That takes some ability," Brennan said, as Emma started down the stairs with their two bags, "What are you thinking?"

"That we're either on the level or walking into a huge trap," Jesse sighed, taking his bag from Emma, "I want it to be on the level, Brennan, but my instincts are screaming trap."

"I know, mine too, but we have to do this," Emma said, "Otherwise we'll never know."

Brennan nodded. It was time.

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Soon after Shalimar and Lexa returned, they loaded into their cars and headed for the GPS coordinates Adam sent in his message. Shalimar knew it would take them out of town and into rural Virginia, past the expensive horse farms and historical homes into the old abandoned mining towns that bordered West Virginia.

Shalimar and Lexa had decided to travel together, Lexa needing more time to decompress after her shouting match with Jesse and Jesse wanting to simply sleep during the trip. As an ultimate sign of trust he handed the keys to the SUV to Brennan, knowing his friend could navigate better than he could right now. Emma had ridden in the back with him, Jesse curling up on the rear seat, his head in her lap.

Once he was asleep, Emma finally found the time to talk to Brennan. She kept checking on Jesse, pushing a lock of hair out of his face as he slept.

"Well, that was hell back there," he began, looking back into the rearview mirror, "You think he'll be okay?"

"I think so, Brennan, he's just been through so much," Emma replied, "He told me about you guys once I was gone, but he left out details. I didn't realize how much he had cared for Lexa until she was standing in your living room. He never told me about her being pregnant either."

"Wow," Brennan said softly, "I have to admit the shock hasn't worn off of that one."

"I'm not surprised, he has always wanted kids," Emma said, "We're going to have some when we're ready."

"Not scared of the potentials?" Brennan asked.

"Hey, they'll be beautiful kids no matter what," she laughed, "As for powers, if anyone knows how to deal with them, that would be the two of us. He'll be a great dad, Brennan. He's got so much to share."

"I know," he turned onto the main highway, "You ready to be a mom?"

"Yeah, I think so," Emma said, smiling, "I always thought that parenting should be a partnership, Jesse thinks the same way. Both of us dealt with parents that didn't have a clue on how to raise us, so, we have our issues, but I think Adam was a good enough role model."

"Yeah," Brennan agreed, "He was a dad when we needed it."

"Shalimar and Jesse had him a little longer than we did, but, he made the impression he needed to," Emma continued, "I wish I could have told you guys I was okay, Adam knew but to keep me alive he went with the story."

"I would be lying if I didn't say that it hurt, and it hurt to see you in my living room yesterday, Em, but I am very glad that you are alive," Brennan admitted, "I can understand why Jesse didn't tell us. He really loves you."

"That I do know," she looked down at him. He stirred for a moment, then fell back into the rhythm of sleep he had been in.

For Emma, it was time for a change of subject.

"So when are you going to pop the question to Shalimar?" she asked playfully, "You know once we have kids, they could use some cousins to play with."

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Brennan flashed her a grin, "Shalimar has to ask me at this point. She owns me and she knows it. With Sanctuary blowing up, getting our lives back together, getting the school started, the house, well, a wedding just hasn't been planned yet."

Emma sighed. Life has it's own twists and turns. She looked down at Jesse who felt like he was in peaceful slumber. At least he was a twist in the right direction.

Or so she thought. The sensation of sleep didn't dull the memories that haunted his brain. The goons putting the helmet over him, his fingers being forced into electrical gloves, the constant scream of Lexa for them to leave him alone started playing a loop in his subconscious and he fought it off, trying to let his mind rest, but the pain came back to him in waves. He shook with every jolt, the red hot pain searing through him, his voice growing weaker as he screamed. He started to fight them off, even as they pulled the device off of his head and he heard Lexa giving them the codes to Sanctuary. He kept screaming at her and she looked up at him.

"Jesse, JESSE!" Emma's voice pulled him out of the nightmare.

He opened his eyes to stare up at her. They weren't moving, the SUV was on the side of the road, Brennan was staring at him. He rubbed his face with his hand, the hand that finally didn't hurt and looked back at him.

"Nightmare huh?" Brennan asked.

"Uh, yeah, sorry," Jesse said softly, sitting up, "We can go on. Sorry about that."

"It's okay," Brennan replied, "Let me catch up."

He started the SUV back up and continued after Shalimar's sports car.

"Sorry," he said softly, gazing into Emma's eyes, "and thank you."

"Always," she said, "Although I like it better when you fall through the bed."