Chapter 10

By AliasJaneDoe

Once back in the hallway, Lexa was glad to be leaving the sound of laughter behind her. She really didn't want to think about Emma right now. And just why had the other woman been nice to her? It wasn't like they were going to all be one big happy family.

In the next room, Jesse and Brennan were talking. She heard her name and paused. Luckily, Jesse had his back to the door, and she didn't need to worry about Brennan spotting her. So, she naturally decided to eavesdrop.

"Is she pretty?" Brennan asked.

Lexa's eyebrows shot up at that. He didn't want to know who she was or if she could be trusted, but rather what she looked like? Jesse made a slight movement, possibly fidgeting. She wished she could see the expression on his face. It was actually a question she wanted to hear Jesse's answer to.

"Umm, I guess so," Jesse eventually replied before taking a quick sip of his coffee.

Lexa crossed her arms over her chest. He guessed so? She was damn attractive and he knew it! She would make him pay for that remark later.

Brennan smiled. "So that's why you like her. Knew there was a reason."

"I don't like her," he responded a bit too fast. "I mean, as a person, yeah I do - she's smart, opinionated--"

"Arrogant, bossy, rude..." Brennan interrupted, his grin still firmly in place.

"But I don't like her as in like her," Jesse continued.

Brennan made a snort of disbelief. "Did I?"

"Hmm? No," Jesse answered. "Your double... strongly dislikes her actually."

Lexa rolled her eyes. No news there. The Brennan she knew irritated her just as much as she did him. Good riddance, she figured. But Jesse liked her as a person, huh? That caused a tiny smile to creep onto her lips.

"Doesn't matter, though. She probably won't stick around now that Adam and Emma are back." Jesse toyed with his coffee cup. Lexa's smile disappeared.

"He's not our world's Adam," Brennan reminded him.

Jesse nodded. "Right... but still, she isn't the commitment type. Too independent and has trust issues. I've always known she won't stick around. Besides, she's got her own agendas, just wish I knew what they were. All I know is, if they involve Mutant X, they still don't involve me."

"So you do like her." The tone was less teasing now, more serious.

Jesse sighed. "No." A pause. "There wouldn't be a point."

Lexa stood there awhile, no longer listening, just standing. He was right, though. Her shameless flirting with Jesse was a pointless game. She did have her own agenda, and there was no place in it for him.

"Do you have any Tylenol?" Brennan was asking when she returned her attention to inside that room. "Ever since we got here, I can't seem to get rid of this headache."

"Yeah, I'll go get some."

Jesse moved to stand, and Lexa instantly ducked out of sight. She hurriedly made her way to her own room, moving directly to the computer. She flicked it on.

We need to meet. I have new information.

As soon as she finished typing the message, she hit send. Her superiors would want to know all about Adam Kane and Emma DeLauro.

-----

"Hey guys," Brennan called out upon returning to Sanctuary. He glanced briefly over at Adam. "I've got a story you are not going to believe!"

Within seconds, the sound of his voice drew Lexa, Shalimar... and Emma... into the main room. Brennan openly gaped. "Or you might," he added.

"Hello, Brennan," Emma greeted awkwardly.

Before she could even blink, he closed the gap between them. A huge smile broke out across his face. He instantly had her in his arms, then he picked her up off her feet with his hug. "You are a sight for sore eyes, girl."

"You might want to let her breathe, Bren," Shalimar teased, grinning also before recalling that they had two different copies of him now. She reluctantly looked to Adam, kept herself from flinching at his face. "Why is he still here? I thought they were supposed to have switched places."

Brennan set Emma back on her feet, but he kept touching her, as if worried she might fade away and disappear. It took him a moment to register what Shalimar had said. "What's going on?"

"He had no reason to be at Naxcon," Adam said to mainly Emma, knowing she would understand. "He wasn't at the portal in order to switch dimensions."

Brennan wrinkled his brow in confusion. "Why would you guys have thought I wasn't here? I only went to check out the perimeter breach at the safe-house."

"Brennan..."

He turned toward the sound of Jesse's voice, and found his friend standing next to himself.

-----

Brennan took several deep breaths of the crisp outside air, attempting to digest what they'd told him. He slowly walked over to where two names were carved into the mountainside. He traced his fingers over one of them.

Emma DeLauro

"I know this is a lot to deal with," Shalimar said from behind him.

"You just accepted that I was gone." He didn't move, keeping her at his back.

"It isn't like that." She reached out to touch his arm, but then stopped, uncertain.

"It sure seems like that."

"Well, it isn't," she snapped sharply. "I hadn't even adjusted yet, Bren. Neither had Jess. It's not like we just wrote you off."

"But you don't think I belong here." He finally did turn.

She hesitated. "I think that this Emma does. And he..." She stared at Brennan. "We've never talked about the past, since..."

"You think if we had, that it wouldn't match up?" He was afraid of her answer.

"Maybe," she stated honestly. "I don't know. I do know I don't want to give either of you up."

He wonder if "either" referred to him and him, or him and Emma. "But?"

"The other Jesse." She couldn't just ignore that. "They left him alone, and he's hurt. And I know he isn't Jesse... but he's Jesse. If you are his Brennan, then it would be selfish of me to want to keep you."

"What about what I want?" Anger laced his tone. "It's so easy for you. You get Emma back, and a new me to go with her. But I get to lose her all over again, and have you taken from me! All I get is some version of Jesse who's broken! You can't make me do that, can't guilt me into it. I won't go. If I go, I might not be able to come back. I need proof, and until then, I won't go. That isn't my reality."

He rubbed at his temples. Shalimar had the nerve to act concerned. "You okay?"

"Headache," he tossed back at her. "I'm going inside - it's freezing out here."

-----

"How'd you figure it out?" Brennan asked Emma and himself later that day.

She took the hand of the Brennan she knew before answering the other one. "The order we were brought here, to Sanctuary."

"You first, then me after you guys broke me out of Genomex. I made some crack about how it must be a bitch to clean the place. Jesse asked if I was always like that." He purposefully met Emma's eyes, something his double couldn't do. "You said, 'Always.' Like you knew me already, like you'd known me forever."

Brennan clutched at her hand in response to that, and she felt him shiver. "It doesn't mean anything; Adam's version was the same," he said, and then he collapsed.

-----

"Adam, what is going on?" Emma asked in a panic. They were all gathered in the med lab. "Why won't he wake up?"

"I don't know," Adam answered gravely. "Let me run some tests."

"He has to wake up," she pleaded with him, needing him to be able to make things better. "I can't go through this again. I can't."

The others were all silent.

Adam started a scan. "Why is he still wearing his jacket?"

"Because it's cold in here," the other Brennan replied.

"No, it's not," Lexa stated. Shalimar shook her head also.

Jesse watched Adam and Emma. "You two know something."

"After the explosion, Brennan was in a coma for the better part of four months," Adam informed them.

"But he was fine earlier," Emma demanded. "He was fine!"

"Hey," Jesse said softly. "Come on, why don't we go to the other room for a little while and give Adam some space to work?"

-----

Several hours later, they were no closer to an answer. Brennan remained unconscious.

Adam finished pulling on a sweater, agreeing that it was indeed chilly inside. Then he got a glass of water and gulped down several aspirin to fight off his headache before returning to work.

Shalimar had forced him to leave Brennan's side long enough to get something to eat. He'd debated having a chat with Lexa, but decided that could be postponed until later.

He had almost reached the lab when a frantic call from Shalimar interrupted him.

-----

Brennan woke up thrashing. Emma, who was keeping watch over him, was at his side instantly. Jesse, who was keeping watch on her, was only a step behind.

"Brennan, it's going to be okay," Emma blurted in reassurance, trying to soothe him. He was trembling all over and clearly in a lot of pain.

Jesse slipped an oxygen mask over his face to help him breathe, then he stepped back and raised his hand near his lips, speaking into his ring. "Adam, we need you. Something's wrong with Brennan."

"I know," Adam's voice replied over the com-link. "Shalimar already called me. I'm on my way."

"What do you mean Shalimar told you?" She wasn't even in the room. Then it struck him. Something was wrong with the other one also.

-----

TBC...

Just a little note here: this is a round robin, a story written by multiple authors without any planning or outline. It's not just for the lXt mods. Anybody can play. Feel free to sign up for a chapter.