Jessie was dumbstruck, she had heard of subdermal governors a few years ago when she passed through a couple of mutant safe houses.

"What? Does this mean .. I don't have my powers anymore?" she inquired weakly, it was if the wind had been knocked out of her. Jessie had never been without her powers, even before they actually showed up, she was always faster than the other little kids in preschool and she always felt special. Ever since she could remember, and they were gone.

"Come on, we're attracting a crowd," Jesse motioned to the bystanders who had heard Jessie's scream.

"Just a mugger," Brennan excused and they moved on, it wasn't uncommon.

"I know him," Jessie whispered, as a flash of Thomas's black eyes crossed her mind.

"Who? That guy?" Jesse asked. She nodded.

"His name is Elijah Zoom, he was like the archenemy of my Great-Uncle Barry."

"And–what? He's just after revenge? Why the subdermal governor and how did he get it?" Lexa inquired. Mutant X and Jessie Quick were flying through the sky, after the run in with Zoom, everyone knew the fun was over.

"Everyone in my family is attached to their powers, he knew it would be the way to hurt me. And he got it from the Dominion, I'm guessing," Jessie answered.

"The Dominion? How do you know about them?" Jesse Kilmartin asked.

"I'm not just a propulsion molecular. There's a long line of speed-freaks in my family. A long time ago, the first of us, Barry Allen, was a scientist and he figured out an equation called the Speed Force. He was so fast, he could jump forward or backward in time, he could manipulate it."

"That's impossible," Lexa interrupted.

Jesse and Brennan were at the controls while Jessie Quick sat in the back, Lexa and Shalimar watching her cautiously.

"Will you just listen and then decide?" Jessie snapped. "He passed the equation down through the ages and generations starting with the Allens. All the way down to the Chambers."

"Chambers?" Shalimar asked.

"That's my real name, Jessie Chambers. Anyway, Barry Allen was called the Flash, and he had certain fans .. One of them was Elijah Zoom, he wanted so bad to join Barry.

"Zoom swore he wanted to help people the way Barry did, but Barry saw something in Zoom that wasn't just the need to help, but he had a problem with revenge. An accident happened and Zoom's wife was killed, and that's when things got bad, he blamed Barry because he thought that if Barry let him have the equation – he could have saved his wife."

"Where does the Dominion come into this?" Jesse asked.

"That's where Zoom got the equation. Barry had shared the equation after a smooth-talking op said the Dominion would use it for good. Zoom pretended to be just like Barry, and pleaded to let him help, the Dominion didn't see that Zoom just wanted a way to get back at my uncle. So Zoom got the equation and he became just as fast as we are.

"Zoom called himself the Reverse-Flash, and Barry and Zoom battled and fought all the time – throughout time, going forward–going back. Barry wouldn't hurt Zoom to badly, he just wanted him to stop. Then Zoom did something really bad, he made Barry's wife miscarry their twins.

"As you can imagine, Barry was mad as hell ... and he was fed up of playing tug o' war with Zoom and he locked him in a time loop so that Zoom could relive the one moment that changed his life forever."

"The moment when his wife died?" Jesse asked.

Jessie nodded. "All generations are told that story to watch out for the day when Zoom gets out."

"Do you have any relatives that Zoom will go after?" Shalimar asked.

"No, not that he will know. I mean, there's my cousin Bart, but he's only a kid and lives with three other Allens. I'm the only one on my own ... We have to stop him, guys, if Zoom gets his hands on me–there's no planning what he's going to do when his revenge is over."

"Listen, we're not a part of your family's archenemy, OK? We have problems of our own," Brennan responded.

"You don't understand, he's seen your faces. To him, you are the ones who kept him from getting me. You're just as much in this as I am," Jessie responded.

"But what about the Dominion, Quick?!" Brennan shouted. "If we fight this Eli Zoom, we're vulnerable to the Dominion."

"And if you don't? Zoom's coming after you anyway, and if you manage to get away, who do you think he's going to call for help?" Jessie shot back.

Jessie sat in a chair in the lab while Brennan stood behind her. Lexa, Shalimar, and Jesse stood outside.

"I think we should have just left her," Lexa remarked. "Now that we have her, Eli's probably coming right to us."

"It's partly our fault, Brennan should have snapped Zoom's neck," Shalimar said.

"If she's telling the truth," Lexa replied.

"You guys should have seen her look into Zoom's eyes as he held her to that wall," Jesse said after a moment of silence. "Jessie looked so scared," he said wistfully, watching through the glass as Brennan swept Jessie's hair out of the way of the governor.

Brennan shot a small Tesla coil at the black stub on the back of her neck. "Did it work?"

"No," Jessie asked.

Brennan looked down, over the girl's head. "How do you know?"

Jessie looked up. "I know. It's not just fast motion, you know? My whole body bends to support my motion. I have more lubricated joints, the soles of my feet are like rock, I have amazing lower body strength, and my brain is able to comprehend lightning-fast images so I know where I am when I'm running, and I can heal inhumanly fast ... just like you can stand being electrocuted because you handle electricity."

"So when he clipped you with that subdermal governor, all of that went away?" Brennan asked.

"Yeah. What's the use of hard soles, lubricated joints, and all that if I can only run ten miles an hour?"

Brennan nodded. "OK, now why isn't it working?"

"What, does everything get fixed when you throw a little spark at it?"

"Usually does," Brennan shrugged.

"Does this mean I'm stuck without my powers?"

"I guess so," Brennan replied. "Until we find Zoom."

Jessie looked straight forward and took short breaths. "Oh, well I guess it's a good thing I'm sitting down."

Lexa walked inside. "Just take deep breaths, it'll be refreshing to be human-like for a little bit," she regarded.

"You don't understand! I've been dependent on my abilities for four years, even before that, what am I going to do now?"

"Relax," Jesse said as he came inside the lab to the computer. "We'll fix it."

"Oh, God, I hope so."

It had been an hour since they returned from the cinema. Jessie Quick's entire personality changed ever since Zoom gave her the subdermal governor, Lexa observed. The young, blond youth sat, slumped over on one of the couches. She span the crystal chess board around and around, staring at the sparkling pieces, dead to the world and to Lexa watching her. Though Lexa didn't know Quick at all, she sensed that the girl was a vibrant and bouncing girl. The speed and dialect of which she spoke revealed she was street-smart, moving as fast as the city she lived in, figuratively and literally speaking, Lexa mused. But now, Jessie Quick slowed down just like the rest of us. Lexa knew she and Jessie Quick were different in one major way. As Jesse had pointed out, Lexa was ashamed of her mutation. It brought problems to her life and ended her brother's, how could she be proud of what she could do? Her own abilities were used by the Dominion for the Dominion or to hurt someone.

Lexa's abilities were primarily used to hurt people, not to help, how could she be proud of that? Ever since she found out what she could do, other people had used her to manipulate them. Her parents kept her on a military base, possibly to study her endless mutation; Adam took Lexa in for Mutant X, and if she wasn't a mutant, she wouldn't belong; Mason Eckhart used her abilities for the GSA; and the Dominion used her as well.

Jessie Quick, however, in Lexa's eyes, depended on her abilities for her own survival. Though Jessie decided not to join the regular work force and get a job, if she didn't speed up and steal something, she didn't eat. Her whole personality was built for speed, Lexa guessed, explaining now without her powers, she's slowing down. She didn't feel human without her abilities, she felt inhuman. She didn't feel like herself, and that Lexa could understand.

Jessie flicked the chess board with her finger one more time, the lights of Sanctuary reflected off the transparent pieces like droplets of water. Jessie felt slow, as if everything that happened she did wasn't happening fast enough, but everything that was happening around her was speeding up. When she was in super speed, everything was slow. People walked in slow motion, cars were almost parked though they were going 50 miles per hour, and she was going so fast. Now it was the opposite, and Jessie hated it.

"You're going to break it," a man's voice shook her from her thoughts.

Jessie turned around, the blonde man was behind her, his hands on his hips. "Oh, sorry," she leaned back.

"That's OK, I was only kidding. Ever played before?" Jesse motioned to the board.

"No, um, when I was in school, chess wasn't really the game of the year," Jessie shrugged. "But I hear it's for really smart people."

The man walked around the couch and sat across from her. "My name is Jesse. Jesse Kilmartin."

Jessie nodded. "Hi, Jesse." A moment of awkward silence passed before she spoke again. "Listen, I'm sorry for snooping around your bedroom and giving you hard time, okay? I'm a bit rude when I have no food in my stomach, you know."

"No," Jesse shook his head. "I'm sorry for kicking you out. I've been a little paranoid lately, about the Dominion and all."

"No excuse needed, I've heard those guys are pretty top-notch creepy with their scary inventions and all," she smiled. She rubbed the back of her neck, but stopped when she felt the governor.

"Don't worry, we'll get that out of you, I promise."

Jessie nodded. "I just hope you find a way soon. Lemme tell you, I'd feel a whole lot better taking Zoom down with a few tricks up my sleeve."

"Don't worry."

Lexa heard their conversation from the computers. Wow, he really cares about her, doesn't he? She thought. I guess it's the homeless puppy thing about her that makes Jesse go weak in the knees and makes Brennan go psychotic. The thought brought a smile to her lips, she didn't know what made Brennan snap at the movie theaters, she was just glad he was out of here. She didn't want anymore trouble. Shalimar walked from her bedroom and stopped passing by when she spotted Lexa watching Jesse and Quick.

"What?" Lexa snapped, realizing Shalimar's stare. Her cheeks flushed, knowing that Shalimar had seen her staring.

"You're going to burn a hole in his head," she remarked, remembering one of the first things she had said to Lexa a year ago.

"Just trying to get a take on him," the brunette returned with a grin.

"She's a good kid, you know? Just broken," Shalimar explained. "We all felt that way before."

"But a part of us has never been taken away possibly for forever, right?" Lexa asked. "I don't understand how Jesse could feel a paternal instinct over this girl while Brennan feels the need to chase after her."

"Actually, I talked to Brennan, and he feels the same way about Quick as Jesse does . . ." Lexa gave her an unbelieving stare. "He's just a little aggressive."

"Aggressive? He looked as if he would bite her head off!" she said a little too loudly, she looked straight at Jesse and the girl who were both staring back at her. "Sorry."

"Fine," Shalimar surrendered. "Don't believe me."

"Hey, Shal!" Jesse called from the computers. Jessie Quick was asleep on the couch, it was late at night. Lexa hung around chatting with Jesse while he fiddled around on the 'net, not sure what to search for.

Lexa was resting her chin in her hands. "I think they went out."

No guesses who they were, Jesse sighed. "So we have the whole cave to ourselves, huh?" he hinted, his cheeks already getting signs of a blush.

Lexa lifted her chin and raised an eyebrow. "I guess, except for Ms. Depressed over there," she pointed at the young girl on the couch.

The base of Jesse's neck was flushed, as always. He gets red a lot, Lexa observed, but she found it sweet.

Jesse nodded and looked back at the screen. Lexa fought back a sigh, every time there were little surges of tension between them, nothing happened. Either another person interrupted or Jesse was just not paying attention. A few more moments of silence passed before Lexa let out sigh of frustration. "How long do I have to wait until you kiss me, Jesse?"

The question surprised him but he grinned anyway, like a moth to a flame. Jesse leaned forward and pressed his lips to hers. Lexa's hands found the base of Jesse's neck and she kissed him back full on. Jesse put his hand on her waist, slid it around to the small of her back and pushed her closer to him. Jesse broke away and trailed little kisses to Lexa's neck, smoothing her hair away, and Lexa let out a short gasp.

Suddenly there was a hiss of a door sliding open and they jumped apart. It was the hangar, Brennan and Shalimar were back.

"Hey, Jess!" Brennan shouted and he tossed a basketball from the railing. Not wanting to wake Jessie, he rushed forward and caught it with a quick glance at the girl. Brennan saw her sleeping and nodded. "Sorry. Wanna play?"

"Um .." Jesse looked back to Lexa. "No, thanks, Brennan. Lexa wanted me to help her with something."

"OK," Brennan said, not buying the excuse but he shrugged and caught the ball as Jesse lobbed it back at him from the first story. "We're going back out, then."

Brennan hinted and Shalimar followed with a secret grin. They exited and Lexa smiled warmly.

"So, where were we?" Lexa asked sensually.

Jesse stepped forward and moved her dark hair from her neck. "Well, I was about here."

Lexa grinned as he began kissing her. "Jess," she whispered in his ear. "Don't you think we should go somewhere we there isn't the underage around?"

Jesse looked back at Jessie Quick and nodded. "Good idea."

"I should have known if we left them alone long enough, they'd do something," Shalimar remarked as the Double Helix soared through the sky.

"Yeah, about time, right?" Brennan asked as he heaved the controls from the opening of the cave, gravity always caught the Helix at that moment.

"So, where to?" Shalimar asked.

"Hmm ..."

Jesse fell on the bed and Lexa straddled his abdomen and pulled at the buttons of his shirt in between kisses. After a few buttons, she just ripped his shirt open to expose his bare chest. Jesse grabbed her by the waist and rolled over on top of her.

Jessie Quick's blue eyes opened and she sat straight up to face an empty Sanctuary. The polished floors reflected the light and the air conditioner made a soft hum. Swinging her legs to the floor and standing on her feet, she looked around. "Kilmartin?"

Lexa pulled Jesse's shirt off and tossed it away and rolled back on top of him, Jesse didn't care, it was happening. It wasn't a fantasy, this was real, she was with him now. Not anybody else. Lexa was just as surprised as he was, Jesse wasn't shy or meek at all, not once he knew what she wanted. He was willing to do anything for her.

Jessie walked barefoot on the marble floor toward the bedrooms, looking around, she didn't like waking up alone and it made her nervous, especially with Zoom out there. Jessie was weak and defenseless without her powers, and the last thing she needed was to be alone unprotected even if Sanctuary was a fortress. "Jesse? Lexa?" They were here when she was awake.

A penetrating squeal erupted from Sanctuary. The alarm. Lexa sat straight on top of Jesse.

"What's that?" she asked.

"The intruder alarm," Lexa got off and Jesse rolled off the bed and grabbed his shirt. "Jessie." He slid on his shirt and buttoned a couple of buttons crudely before walking out the door with Lexa close behind him.

"Jessie!" the man called.

The blonde girl ran from the other bedroom hallway. "What's happening?" she called over the screaming alarm.

"Someone's in here. Get Jessie out of here," Jesse commanded. Lexa grabbed Jessie by the arm and they fled while Jesse ran up the floating staircase to the control center. He typed on the computer to shut the alarm off.

"Brennan, Shalimar," he thumbed his ring when the alarm finally shut off.

"Yeah, we heard it on the Helix. We're coming back now. Where's Jessie?" Brennan asked.

"With Lexa," Jesse said and he jumped shortly and phased through the floor and landed on the first story. "Lexa?"

"In the ferrari, Jess," Lexa called from the garage.

"Go with Lexa and protect Jessie, man, we'll check out Sanctuary," Shalimar instructed and Jesse took off toward the garage.

Lexa waited anxiously for Jesse in the garage while Jessie was worse than she was. Lexa revved the engine of the ferrari and Jesse ran into the dark garage and hopped in the passenger seat. She opened the garage and sped onto to the highway.

"Guys, we just got here. No one's here," Brennan said through the commlink.

"Nah, that can't be right, Brennan," Jesse argued out of breath. "The alarm's never been tripped before."

Lexa looked the rearview mirror. "We got company," she adjusted the mirror. A dark mustang with tinted windows sped from the garage. "And he's driving my favorite mustang."

"I don't get it," Shalimar replied. "Zoom has speed, why would he take a car?"

"Because that isn't Zoom," Jessie snapped. "That's a protocol backup Dominion op."

"What?" Jesse shouted and looked back at Jessie.

Lexa put two and two together as she switched to third gear. "Ah, you're one of them, aren't you?" Lexa asked looking in the mirror at the young woman.