Chapter 9
Legal Disclaimer-If you want to blame someone, blame Fireworks and Marvel.
Authors Note-I cannot tell you how much FUN I have been having with this. Work has been insane and this is a great creative blowout. I love this. And I love all of you. Your reviews and emails (hi Aniki!) have kept me going. It's going to get more interesting, just remember that Virginia is a huge state.
On a side note-Finally saw Hard Time. LOVE THAT EP.
Jesse stayed awake for the rest of the trip. That nightmare had been one he recognized. The last time he had it was Emma's first night over. He told her about Lexa then and there, because she was going to be his wife, and she deserved to know. Emma strangely enough had not been upset. She knew that he had a life post her leaving and was open to understanding everything about him. That's what she did.
He in turn looked at her now sleeping form and realized how much he really did love her. He knew it the second he saw her in the shopping mall and did everything but beg Adam to bring her in for an interview to join the team.
Adam. He hadn't taken the time to think about his mentor for a long time. The pain of his departure, the lack of any piece of information on him, the discovery of Emma, and his anger at finding out that he knew she was alive the whole time made him not want to think about him.
"It was that nightmare again, huh?" Brennan asked him, breaking him out of his thoughts, "You started having that right after we lost Sanctuary."
"Yeah," Jesse replied softly, "Tends to come with stress."
"Really?" Brennan was intrigued, "You got to work it off, bro, that's what I do and it's let me sleep like a baby."
Jesse looked at him in the rear-view mirror.
"I sleep pretty well," Jesse replied, "Most of the time."
"Yeah, yeah, we'll work on it, ok?" Brennan looked back at his friend, "I want to help you, you'll let me?"
"Always," Jesse's reply was followed by the high five that they usually shared.
In the sports car ahead of them, Lexa had finally calmed down. She had spent the first hour of the drive not speaking but staring out the window at the passing scenery. Shalimar had sensed the need for silence. She knew what it was like to be upset and angry; her temper was still bad even after spending years with Brennan. He meditated regularly, and knew that she needed a calming center. He had taught her ways to calm down, but, she knew the best for Lexa was to let her think about it all. Thoughts can have their own calming effect.
"I did what I thought was the right idea," Lexa said, looking back at the SUV, "He needs to believe that."
"He will, it's just going to take time, Lex," Shalimar said, "You have to remember that he's still pretty sensitive to the word freak. He's always been that way. He's also very much in love with Emma. That's going to work to your advantage. You didn't want to settle down, but you care about him, even to this day. He's too angry to see it, but I can see it as well as Brennan."
Lexa nodded. Shalimar's logic was infallible.
"You should have let us all know, we would have protected you both," Shalimar continued, "Instead, as Jesse put it, you made the decision for us. You have to know, that's the biggest trouble here. Jesse would have moved heaven and earth for you. That's what tore him up when you left. He couldn't trust himself, let alone Brennan or me. I wish you have at least told me the truth, but it's a trust issue. You have always had that problem. "
"You really would have protected me, Shalimar? You have the same trust issue," Lexa said softly, "Jesse is in everything but blood, your brother. You really think that you would have been okay with me having his child?"
"He loved you, therefore, I accepted you in his life," Shalimar replied, "I would have accepted your child. Brennan would have as well, Jesse's his brother as well. You were becoming his sister, and I don't think you realized it."
"Guess not," Lexa yawned, "I'm not good at that."
"Too long being an independent operator," Shalimar looked at him, "You didn't realize that you gained a family with us."
Lexa thought for a moment.
"Yeah, I guess I didn't," she replied, "You think he'll ever forgive me."
"You have to give him time," Shalimar said, "He's still hurting from it. That's the biggest problem, between you and Adam, he lost his focus for a very long time. Emma's been a huge help, he'll do anything to protect her."
"And her him, I remember reading about her from what Adam said, she's a telempath?" Lexa asked, grateful for the change of subject, "She must be going through hell living with him."
"No, not really," Shalimar replied, a slight smile growing on her lips, "We all learned to control our emotions pretty well around her. She also has some pretty strong walls."
"Around us I hope there are as strong as Fort Knox," Lexa said, "Might be the only way to survive us."
"She's doing okay," Shalimar commented, "She'll tell him loud and clear if it's a problem."
Emma though, slept on in the SUV behind them. Brennan and Jesse had traveled in silence for a few miles, Brennan's eyes darting from sports car in front of them to his friend's thousand mile stare from the back windows.
"You still with me back there?" Brennan asked.
"Yeah," Jesse's reply was soft, "How much longer do think this ride is going to take?"
"Probably another hour," Brennan replied, "The GPS tracker put Adam in some sort of abandoned mining town, and strangely enough he wants us to meet him in a diner."
"A public place? That's not like him," Jesse thought aloud, "I still can't shake the whole trap idea."
"Shalimar checked it out, the diner is real," Brennan said, tapping his fingers on the steering wheel, "One owner, been in the family for generations, no ties anywhere, and it seems legit. Why they are there though is beyond me. And the thought of him rural explains plenty."
"From the guys I have talked to in the Service, rural isn't as rural as you think after 9/11," Jesse replied, "You can be tracked down. At least our records are clean. Even yours."
Brennan grinned. Jesse was always the best hacker he knew. Even with Shalimar's excellent abilities behind a keyboard, Jesse could find the online needle in the internet haystack. Adam had the codes, Jesse had the ability and there was nothing that they couldn't do in keeping their identities a secret. For Jesse to have joined the Secret Service was something that made perfect sense, but for him to permit his real identity to be in public must be challenging.
"So, you have those kinds of connections with the Secret Service?" Brennan questioned, "Or is that the hacking you do for fun?"
Jesse laughed.
"Yeah, I still hack for fun," Jesse replied, "The computer security side of the job is pretty interesting, but I like the Presidential detail."
"Jesse, I must admit I never saw you as a bodyguard," Brennan said, "Do they know..."
"Yeah, actually, they do, turns out the President is an old ally of Adam's," Jesse interrupted, he expected this question, "As for the bodyguard thing, she knows, has me as an assistant and on the personal detail for her travels. You never see me because of the way the detail is constructed. I set it up that way. At the same time, I'm pretty independent. It's a good job for me. I like it. At the same time, I can keep tabs on anti-mutant activities. The President gives me that leeway."
"Sounds like you found your niche," Brennan followed Shalimar off the highway, "And you found Emma at the same time."
Emma opened her eyes and yawned. She hadn't realized that she had napped, and when she looked at Brennan sleepily, she knew she had.
"Hiya bright eyes," Jesse said, a smile on his face, "Nice nap?"
"Better than yours," she shot back, leaning forward in the seat to look out the front window, "Any idea where we are?"
"Somewhere near West Virgina," Brennan replied, "And I think we're here."
Brennan pulled up behind Shalimar and looked around. They were in the place that the coordinates mentioned, and, it finally looked right to them. It was a small diner, it was time for some form of supper and the future that awaited them inside