"What?" Jesse looked from Jessie to Lexa in confusion. "No." Lexa had a hard time maneuvering in between and beside the other cars on the highway and keeping a careful eye on the traitor in the back seat. It was funny, though, Lexa noticed, Jessie looked incredibly sad for a Dominion operative who was in the hands of the enemy.

Jessie Quick looked down. "I'm sorry, Jess, I'm a freelance recon operative," she came clean. A wave of shame washed over her, Jessie wished on her life that Lexa Pierce, or anyone else for that matter, wouldn't have figured it out.

A different kind of emotion was washing over Jesse at that moment as he turned his back on Jessie Quick and faced Lexa. "Stop the car!" Jesse screamed at Lexa over the roar of the wind.

Lexa refused, why had Jessie been so nervous if they were after Mutant X? If Jessie was an operative, why had it taken so long for her to call for backup? Certainly after Jessie was inside, she would have reported, but it taken nearly two hours for them to come. As these questions crossed her mind, she glanced in the rearview mirror to see her favorite mustang speeding up behind them.

"No, Jess, it's not like that, I swear!" the girl argued.

"Lexa, stop the car," Jesse said in a low voice, but loud enough for Lexa to hear.

Lexa wasn't going to give Quick to the Dominion, even if she wasn't on their side, there was a Dominion operative in their backseat, an information source at their fingertips. "No, Jess. I believe her. The Dominion isn't after us this time, they are after Jessie. And we can't let them take her," Lexa explained.

"What?" Jesse asked. "What are you talking about?"

"If Jessie was really working for the Dominion right now, do you think they would've taken so long to get here?" Lexa asked. "No. They are after Jessie," Lexa looked back at Jessie. "Why?"

Jessie sighed. "I was supposed to report the security code, and I didn't. They tracked me here to get me out. But this guy abandoned protocol and left Sanctuary."

"Why didn't you let them in?" Jesse asked.

"Does it matter now? I didn't. You can't let them find me, Jesse. Zoom is in league with the Dominion, once the Dominion finds me, Zoom can have his way with me," she desperately pleaded.

"Jess, what's happening?" Brennan asked over comm link.

"Shalimar, change the security codes. We'll lose this guy and come back," Jesse said before turning off his comm link and turning back to face Jessie. "If anything happens ..."

"It won't," Jessie interrupted. "Now lose this guy."

Lexa switched gears and looked to see her favorite black mustang speeding about twenty feet behind them. "No problem. Can you phase all of us?"

"Huh?" Jesse asked.

Lexa put her arm behind Jesse's seat and turned back to face the car behind them. "Phase us, now."

Jesse put a hand on the dashboard and another on the door and exhaled, the car phased and then the people inside. Lexa pulled the emergency brake, and before the Dominion operative could see what was happening, they were behind him.

Lexa put the brake down and sped up behind the enemy car. "Thanks," and she saw him grin. She kept close to the car as they entered a larger highway, joining a fleet of other cars in a four-lane road.

Weaving in between cars focusing on the mustang, Lexa sped up to 90 miles per hour. "Be careful, Lexa," Jesse warned. Lexa almost smiled to herself. Careful. Lexa passed a mini van and a SUV, following the mustang. The mustang realized what was going on, he realized that he was now the hunted, and he decided to run.

Jessie didn't know what Lexa or the black mustang was planning, but she sparked on something. "We can't let him get to the Dominion, Lexa, he has the security codes."

"He won't get off the highway," Lexa answered confidently.

"Lexa, pull alongside him, I have an idea," Jesse suggested. "My side."

Lexa nodded and passed a red SUV and closed in on the mustang. Lexa did as Jesse asked and pulled alongside. "Closer," Jesse said.

"I'm getting there," Lexa replied and swerved the car extremely close. "Be careful, Jesse."

He nodded and prepared to jump. Jesse took off his seat belt and brought his feet up on the seat and crouched down. Jesse stepped on the door, held onto the windshield and top of the mustang. The other cars saw this and started honking, and Jesse hoped the Dominion operative hadn't noticed what was happening. He exhaled and jumped into the car. Jesse disappeared in the mustang and Lexa took that he made it and she turned away from the mustang and slowed down to get behind him.

Jesse landed in the backseat and the driver was a man with a Dominion mask on his face. He turned and swerved in surprise. Jesse materialized and ducked down and jumped into the passenger seat.

"What the hell?" The operative screamed as he lunged for his gun. Jesse massed his fist and knocked him out and grabbed the steering wheel before he lost control.

"Jess?" Lexa asked over comm link.

"He's down," Jesse said. "I'm pulling over, Lexa, pull up behind me."

"Got it."

"And Lexa?" Jesse asked as he put the turn signal on. "Your mustang is okay," Jesse added.

Lexa laughed and they made is smoothly on the side of the road. "Stay here," she commanded Jessie. She hopped out of the car on the passenger side away from traffic and ran to the black mustang.

Jesse opened the passenger door and got onto the side road. Lexa ran up to him. "Not a scratch," he promised.

"What do we do with him?" Lexa asked motioning to the unconscious operative.

"He's knocked out cold. Interrogation?" Jesse suggested.

"I'll take him, you take Quick."

Brennan tightened the restraints on the operative's wrists. "How'd this guy find us, Jess?" he inquired as he fastened his legs to a chair.

Quick looked at Jesse with pleading eyes. "Um, I guess he just followed us from the movie theaters?" Jesse suggested.

"Hmm," Brennan nodded. Shalimar knew he was lying but he trusted Jesse had good reasons.

"I'll watch our little friend here until he wakes up," Jessie volunteered.

"No," Jesse said a little too quickly, he didn't want the recon operative talking to another. "You won't. It's too dangerous," he covered up.

"We'll do it, Jess," Shalimar replied. "You try to dig up what you can on Zoom."

Jesse nodded and walked to the computers with Lexa behind him. He slid into the white stool and clicked open the database. Lexa walked around to the other computer.

"We haven't found anything yet, Jess," Lexa reminded.

"Glass half-full, Lexa," Jesse remarked. "Maybe our little friend can tell us something about him."

"It's not like Dominion ops to abandon their mission," Lexa explained. "I wonder why he did."

"Maybe he thought he had a shot at getting Jessie," Jesse shrugged. "Who knows? The main thing is we have him."

"Yeah," Lexa gave up digging for answers.

"What I don't get is that at the theaters, Zoom was waiting for Jessie. That means that he knew she was around the city for a long time than we thought," Jesse explained. "Why didn't he just get her when he found out where she was?"

"That's a good question," Lexa replied, then she lowered her voice. "Another good question: If Eli Zoom is with the Dominion why is Jessie with the Dominion?"

"Because I didn't find out he was with the Dominion until after I was recruited," Jessie answered as she walked to them.

"Can you tell us the whole story, please?" Lexa asked, even though it wasn't a question but a demand.

Jessie nodded. "A year ago, someone in the Dominion figured out that I was Jessie Chambers, descendant of Barry Allen, right? Well, he recruited me into the Dominion, thinking my speed could be a great asset to the Dominion. He told me stories about what good they were doing: protecting the world from dangerous jumps in scientific evolution . . . but because I was so young, he told me I could be a freelance agent. Only get missions when it was OK for me, and I could leave whenever I wanted."

Lexa scoffed. "Yeah, right."

"Yeah, I know. It sounded like a sweet deal, it paid well and I got to travel the world, right? When I got this new mission a week ago, I had to stake out Stormking Mountain and wait for one of you to access the ground entrance.

"I did see Brennan, like I told you, and I was supposed to report immediately. But I didn't."

"Why?" Jesse asked.

"I heard stories of Mutant X, protecting those like me," Jessie began with a wistful expression. "And I couldn't understand why the good guys would want to hurt the other good guys. But we're trained not to ask questions so I agreed, but when it came to calling them, I couldn't do it."

Lexa's eyebrows furrowed for a second before her face softened. "Thank you."

Jessie smiled a little. "You have to believe me that I'm on your side, my life depends on it."

"We know," Jesse replied. "We'll take care of it."

Jessie walked back to the couch and sat down. Jesse sighed and looked to Lexa. After a few more moments of silence passed between Jesse and Lexa, she spoke. "Jess, about last night ..." she trailed off, not knowing what to say.

"That was a little more than a kiss," Jesse stated, having a flashback to a few weeks ago when they reasoned the soft kiss they shared after the trouble with Cirque De Merveilles.

Lexa smiled. "Maybe just a little more."

"Maybe we could get some dinner later tonight .. you know, if we're not saving the world or anything?" Jesse asked, clearly nervous. The last time he had gotten the courage to ask Lexa out on a date, it didn't turn out so well.

"That's a pick-up line I've never heard before," Lexa mused. "I don't know ..." she began. "Maybe we could skip to the part where you walk me to my door?"

If Jesse ever blushed before, he was as red as a beet now and Lexa couldn't help but stifle a laugh. "Lexa, I was hoping we could take it a little slow."

Lexa had hoped he wouldn't say that. "I can't, Jesse." A look of confusion protruded from his deep blue eyes. "Can I see you for a minute, maybe in the lab?"

"Your expiry date ..." Jesse began when they walked in the lab. "It's coming up, isn't it?"

Lexa clicked open her medical files. "My contact sent this to me a week ago ..." she highlighted and opened a dossier. "It's really close."

"So that's why ... last night? One thing before you die?" Jesse stumbled for words.

"Of course not. Jess, you know how I care about you ... even before I even thought about this death sentence," Lexa explained. "It's just that I can't take things as slow as I wanted."

"So if you didn't know it was coming up . . ." Jesse tried to reason. Lexa smiled and planted a kiss on his lips before wrapping her arms around him. "I just don't want to lose you."

"And you think I want to leave you?" Lexa asked as the tears she was so desperately trying to fight off welled up in her eyes. "But there's nothing we can do. None of us know a lot about genetics. Adam is in the new Dominion H.Q. God knows where."

Jesse pulled away and wiped away a tear from her cheek. "I can try ... Adam said all we had to do is find which mutation stabled the structure ..." Jesse said, even though he didn't know how long that would take, but it was a start. "I'm not going to let you die."

"Yeah .." Lexa said as Jesse gave her another hug. "Glass half full."

The Dominion operative came to groggily, with a monstrous, throbbing pain in the back of his head. The Molecular, he mused, strong but naive. His vision cleared and he spotted the blonde Feral, Shalimar Fox. Tough but wears her heart on her sleeve, he recited inside his head. Along with the Elemental. Brennan Mulwray. Strong yet impulsive.

"I'm not saying anything," he swore. Lexa Pierce walked into his peripheral vision. Traitor. Was there anything else to say? "You know how we are trained ..."

"And you know we're not trained to abandon our mission. And you abandoned Sanctuary," Lexa reminded. "So somewhere that training isn't stickin'."

"A simple mistake," he argued. "I saw a chance to acquire the target and I took it."

"You don't take chances," Lexa snapped. "Rule number one. You follow orders or you're dead. You might consider this a favor, you know you'll be severely punished for abandoning your mission."

Lexa sat down on the couch, he rolled his eyes, of course they didn't see him, they had neglected to take off the mask. "I didn't abandon anything, my mission was to acquire Jessica Chambers and I almost did."

"There's that almost," Lexa remarked with a wave of her hand.

"And you failed that way," Shalimar stepped in. "The Dominion will see your failure as the result of you abandoning orders."

"Exactly," Lexa praised. "And I'd reconsider who's on your side, here. They will kill you, especially when they find out you spoke to us."

The operative was silent, Lexa was making an impact. Bravo, Jessie thought. This girl knows how to press buttons. Lexa got tired of talking to a black mask and she pulled off the mask. The operative was a dark skinned man with a dark, emotionless eyes and a set jaw.

"Now, you ready to talk?" Brennan asked.

"Where is Elijah Zoom?" Jessie demanded. "I know you know."

He paused. "All I know is he knew you were in the city for months but the Dominion wanted him to wait until they gave you, Chambers, your final mission."

"You're with the Dominion?" Brennan asked.

"Traitors," he swore to Chambers and Pierce all the same.

"I'll tell you two later," Jesse promised.

Jessie wasn't surprised that the Dominion was going to sick Zoom on her. "My final mission? Mutant X surveillance?"

"Yes, Zoom offered to take over the mission but they turned him down. He is not as fast as you are. But when they figured you deserted, they gave the OK to Zoom to eliminate you."

"Ah," Jessie replied. "And, you wouldn;t happen to know what he was going to do when he had me, do you? Out of personal interest."

The operative didn't know what she actually meant by personal interest but Lexa nodded for him to tell her.

"Zoom has been working on a time chamber replicating the loop Barry Allen manufactured, my contact told me," the operative replied. "However, the rumor is that he will use a memory-transfer Psionic to pass his memory of his wife's accident on to you."

"Oh," Jessie said, her confidence slowly draining. "Great, as if I wasn't wigged out already."

"Is that all you know?" Lexa asked.

"Yes."

"Well, Brennan and Shalimar are dropping him off somewhere. I really hope that information is true," Jesse explained.

"Glass half full, at least we know the whole story on the Dominion's side," Lexa replied.

The two sat at the computers while Jessie Quick fell back asleep on the couch. "Do you think my contact is still with the Dominion?" Lexa asked.

"It's the perfect cover for helping us out, Lexa. Maybe he can help us out with your date?"

"I don't know," she admitted. "Maybe we should move Quick to one of the bedrooms. She might be more comfortable."

"Yeah, help me open doors," Jesse said as he walked to the couch.

"Why can't you phase through the doors?" Lexa asked.

"You know how it feels for me to phase ... the feeling might wake her up, and stop being lazy," Jesse replied. Lexa mocked pulling herself out of the chair and dragging her feet to the couch.

Jesse slipped his arms behind Jessie's back and knees and lifted her. "Ready, or is she just too heavy for you?" Lexa took a jab.

"I carried you once, this is a piece of cake compared to you," Jesse teased and Lexa thumped him in the arm.

They walked to Emma's old bedroom and Lexa opened the door. Lexa had never been in this room before, she was either too busy or wanted to respect the dead. As the door opened a wave of stale incense and candle scents hit their noses. The room was musty and old candles were set up around the bed and dresser, almost eerily. The bed was unmade from when Emma got out of bed on her last day, the last time she ever woke up. A tidal wave of memories hit Jesse and he froze.

"Jesse?" Lexa asked.

"Maybe we should go to my room," he suggested and he nearly walked right into Lexa backing away.

"Where will you sleep?" Lexa asked as they walked out of Jesse's room.

"On the couch, I guess. That is, if I don't get any better offers," he grinned.

"Why won't you go in her room, Jess?" Lexa changed the subject and caught him off guard.

Jesse was silent and he brushed his hair out of his face. "It hurts too much. I loved Emma as much as I do Shalimar."

"Jesse, I don't want you to be like this when I die," Lexa said.

Jesse stopped walking and faced her. "You are not going to die," he said slowly, vowing. "You're not going to give up fighting."

Brennan and Shalimar soared through the sky in the Double Helix after dropping the operative off in an abandoned safe house. "So Jessie Quick worked with the Dominion."

"Bren, if Jess and Lexa think we can trust her, then I trust their decision," Shalimar replied. "I mean, Lexa worked for the Dominion, and we trust her don't we?"

"Right."

That night, Lexa tossed and turned trying to get some slep. Finally, she gave up trying and got to her feet. Clad in her gentle green tank top and shorts, she left her bedroom. Lexa's bare feet made little noise on her way to Jesse. Jesse lay sleeping on his back. A blanket came to his bare abdomen and left his chest bare.

"Jesse?" Lexa called him out of his slumber.

Jesse opened his eyes, waking up easily. "Lexa? What are you doing awake?"

"I couldn't sleep," Lexa excused. Jesse sat up and made room and motioned for Lexa to sit down. She sat next to him and he draped his blanket over them.

"Any reason why?" Jesse asked sleepily.

"I was thinking about what you said ..." Lexa began. "Thanks, Jesse. I shouldn't give up fighting."

Jesse smiled, fully awake now. Lexa pulled her hair away from her face and leaned on his shoulder and he wrapped an arm around her.

"Do you really think you can cure me?" Lexa whispered.

He paused and Lexa's stomach jumped. "Follow me." Jesse got up from the couch and Lexa followed him to the laboratory.

The transparent door hissed open as Jesse walked to the main lab computer file and pulled up a file with a graphic of a spinning double helix.

"What's this?" Lexa asked.

"Do you remember the mutant in the casino that attacked you and Shal almost a year ago?"

"Yeah?"

"His mutation was fixed like mine. I know no mutation is the same but his is similar to ours. I figure that with my records is enough to figure out which mutation cured us. But I need your contact to get the specific med-file on the procedure that fixed his. It could help a lot."

"And we're both Moleculars," Lexa reminded.

"Correct, that has to have some good thing behind it. But since you weren't with Adam but a couple years, you don't have that many procedures that mapped out your mutation so I'll have to run a few tests," Jesse explained.

"I'm living on borrowed time," Lexa replied.

"We could start now if you want?" Jesse suggested. "We're both awake. Lay down on that bed."

"Wow, you just get right down to business, don't you?" she asked, not talking about the tests anymore.

"Be serious," Jesse scolded, but hiding a grin.

Lexa slid on the bed and Jesse lowered it to lying position and went to the computer and positioned the scan. "Now lay still."

"There you go bossing me around from behind the computer," Lexa teased. "Sometimes I wonder if you like them more than you like me."

"They do have the ability to do as they're told, now lay still," Jesse remarked.

"Ouch," Lexa answered.

When the scan was finished, Lexa still lay there, and Jesse checked the computer. "How's it looking, Doc?"

"You might want to lay off the lasers, Lexa, your mutating more rapidly than usual. Might cause some reverse polarity of your light waves," Jesse explained.

"English?" Lexa inquired.

"You want your lasers to go one way, they do the opposite," Jesse explained.

"Enough said," she replied, imagining shooting herself. "Wait a second. How can I light a fire under Zoom's ass if I'm stuck on the bench?"

"Oh come on, you can kick ass without your light show," Jesse complimented. "But if it comes to it, you are going to be benched if the date gets a little too close." Lexa groaned. "I know how you hate being stuck watching from the sidelines but this is serious. It isn't a remote control with a big, bad man holding it, this is something that only I can fix."

"You don't know me," she remarked.

Jesse walked from the computer to beside the bed. "Promise?"

"Yeah," she sighed. "I guess."

Jesse sat down beside her legs and faced her. "Feel tired now?"

"Just a little," Lexa replied. She moved over to the far side of the bed and patted the space next to her. Jesse lied down and put his arm behind her head.

The next morning, Lexa still laid in Jesse's arms, sound asleep. Her head rested on his chest and his arm around her waist. Jessie walked in and jumped in surprise to see Jesse and Lexa. She walked out and came back with a blanket and she draped it over the couple. Jessie walked out after getting bored watching them. It makes me sick how cute they are, she thought with a faint smile on her lips. Jesse opened his eyes after the shock of warmth that came from the blanket. Then he realized that he had fallen asleep with Lexa in his arms, he smiled and kissed her forehead. Lexa stirred and opened her eyes just as Jesse squeezed her a little.

"Morning, sunshine," Jesse said with a smile.

"Morning," she answered and pulled the blanket over her shoulder. "We fell asleep, didn't we?"

"Yeah."

"And someone brought us this blanket?"

"Yeah," Jesse answered and rubbed her arm before yawning. "Think we should get up?"

"Yeah," Lexa followed suit and sat up, pulling the blanket off of her, and Jesse laid still until Lexa got off the bed and then he rolled off and stood on his feet.

"You're awake," Jessie said as she walked inside. "You guys looked so cute sleeping there all wrapped in each other's arms ..." she teased.

"Did Brennan and Shal come in here?" Lexa interrupted.

"Nope. They left to get some food, God I'm starved," Jessie answered. "Why? Is that a good thing?"

"I don't care," Lexa lied.

Jessie walked over to the computer and pulled up Lexa's medical files. "But I tell you, if they learn Jess has been working to solve your problem and not theirs, they'll be really mad."

"I've thought about that," Jesse said as he got up and walked to the computer and closed the files. "How'd you know?"

"I don't sleep all the time," Jessie hinted. "I spotted you in here last night, and I'd imagine this is a big bullet they're trying to dodge. All three of them."

"Lexa's date is coming up soon, it makes sense I'm dealing with one expiry date at a time," Jesse excused.

"Yeah? And it has nothing to do with the way you feel about each other? Brennan and Shalimar will only see it that way."

End of Ch. 4