Chapter 16 By Imjuzakyd

"Mr. Mulwray, glad to finally meet you."

Brennan shrugged as he stared down at Mason Eckart. He made no effort to hide his amusement upon seeing his boss' double. Although the Eckart he knew looked slightly different, the Eckart sitting in front of him possessed the same voice and manners as that of his boss.

"I'll go straight to the point," Brennan spoke with an air of confidence, "I want to take Emma de Lauro and go back to our world."

Eckart didn't hide the sarcasm on his face. "And how do you propose to do that?"

"We'll go back to the Naxcom building," Brennan answered, looking at Eckart as if the white-haired guy had grown two heads.

"You have a very bright future here at Genomex, Mr. Mulwray," Eckart continued, not minding the sarcastic way Brennan was looking at him.

"That's funny," Brennan answered, "That's exactly what the Eckart from my world had said to me when he was convincing me to work for him."

"Really?"

"Yep. And sorry, but I already accepted his offer."

"Very well then. Take your Ms. De Lauro and go back to your world if you want to," Eckart replied calmly.

Brennan turned around to go out of the office when Eckart spoke once again.

"If you can."

"Hey."

Brennan felt Emma's light touch on his cheek as he stirred slowly from bed. He wasn't sure how long he had been asleep, but waking up and finding Emma beside him made his heart skip a beat. He was sure the Emma with him wasn't his Emma, but he'd give anything just to keep her with him, make her love him as much as he loved her.

"Hey there beautiful," he greeted her huskily. He reached out and felt for her face, and gently caressed her soft cheek.

Brennan heard a small giggle escape from Emma's throat, and couldn't help but smile. He felt the psionic gently smooth out his hair, and felt the
loving concern that she was giving him. Maybe it is possible, Brennan thought. Maybe she will love me the way I want her to.

"How are you feeling?" Emma asked the elemental as she continued to smooth out his dark hair.

"Better."

"We found Adam."

Brennan froze. "You, you did?"

"Jesse was able to get his exact coordinates. We're preparing to get him now."

"Where?"

Emma bit her lower lip before answering. She wasn't sure if she should tell Brennan where the other Adam was. If this Brennan had the same personality as the Brennan she knew, then Emma was certain that Brennan would never allow her to go to the mission.

"Emma, where's Adam?"

"Genomex."

"Where? Emma, you can't go there!"

Emma suppressed a groan upon hearing Brennan's words. She wondered if, perhaps, this Brennan was indeed the one from her world. His overprotectiveness was exactly the same as the overprotectiveness of the Brennan she knew.

"Brennan, we don't have any choice. We have to get the other Adam to find out if he belongs to this world or not. You know that."

"But it's dangerous, Em. I can't let you go there."

"I'll be with Jesse and Shalimar, Bren. I'll be fine."

"No," Brennan said firmly, clutching Emma's bad hand and feeling the bandage around it. "What… what happened to this?"

Emma gently pulled out her hand and stood up. "I have to check on Jesse," she said as she walked away from the elemental. "I'll be okay, Bren. You should get more rest. We'll be back in an hour or two."

Brennan was about to stand up and follow Emma when a skull-piercing headache overcame him. He clutched his head tightly and shut his blank eyes. "Em…"

Emma turned around and saw Brennan wincing in pain. "Bren?" She hurriedly returned to his side and held his face. "What's wrong?"

"My head," Brennan tried to tell her. The pain had already spread to his whole head and was slowly traveling down his neck. "My head, Em…"

Emma watched in terror as Brennan suddenly convulsed in front of her. "Jesse! Shal! Help!" she screamed to her commlink ring. "It's Brennan!"

"What do you mean?" Jesse asked, dread filling his whole body.

"Brennan doesn't have powers, Jesse," Emma answered, hugging her cold body and rocking back and forth. "That is, my Brennan doesn't have."

"You mean your Brennan's not a mutant?"

Emma nodded slowly.

"But… but if he's not a mutant, then how was he able to join Mutant X?"

Emma lowered down her eyes to the floor. "He… he was with me when I joined the team. We… we were sort of, living together. Adam, he… he accepted Brennan in the team because I told him that I wouldn't join without him."

"You and Brennan…?"

Emma shut her eyes and continued rocking her body. "I didn't know he was working for Genomex. I didn't. If I did, I would have never brought him to the Sanctuary with me. Then maybe he wouldn't have killed you… and…" Tears started flowing down the psionic's eyes.

"Hey, Emma, it's ok," Jesse tried to comfort her, "I'm here, see? I'm alive."

Emma opened her eyes and stared coldly at the molecular. "You're not my Jesse."

"I'm… I'm sorry."

Emma then crawled towards Jesse's cell. "My Jesse had been dead for months,"

"Emma…"

"Brennan killed him because we tried to escape. Because we tried to get away from him."

"Because you found out that he was working for Eckart?"

Emma let out an eerie laugh that sent chills up Jesse's spine. "I was able to confirm my suspicions about Genomex only when he brought me to that awful place. That wasn't the reason why we left."

Jesse looked quizzically at the psionic laughing in front of him. "Then why did you leave, Emma?"

Emma eyed the molecular sadly before answering. "We wanted to start a new life, my Jesse and I. Away from Mutant X. Away from Brennan."

Jesse saw tears brimming the psionic's eyes. "But Brennan chased us before we were able to get very far. He wouldn't let Jesse have me. He said I belonged to him, only him."

Brennan woke up with a tremendous headache. He felt his whole world spinning around, threatening to crash on him the moment he opens his eyes.

"Em."

He heard footsteps coming close. A soft hand rested on his forehead. A gentle voice, soothing his numb spirit. "Shh, it's all right, Bren. I'm here."

Brennan reached out and tried to touch Emma's face. Emma gently took the elemental's hand and placed it on her cheek. Her other hand remained on his forehead, carefully massaging his temples.

Brennan kept his eyes closed, knowing that they'd be useless anyway. He forced a weak smile, and hoped that the psionic would accept that as an assurance that he believed in every word that she says.

"What happened?"

Emma removed her hand on the elemental's forehead and rubbed her own temples. "We're not sure. I'm still finishing the scans." She gently removed Brennan's hand from her cheek and headed back to the computer.

Brennan turned his head to the direction of Emma's footsteps. The headache was slowly fading, and after a few seconds, he finally decided to open his eyes.

The elemental blinked a couple of times before realizing that he could see hazy patches of different colors in front of him. He shut his eyes for another five seconds and tried opening them once again. The images were clearer this time – he could make the outline of his hands, the computer in front of him, and Emma's back. For the last time he closed his eyes and slowly opened them.

"Emma."

Emma turned and saw Brennan looking at her. Somewhere inside she already knew what happened, but found no words to express the joy she was feeling. She hurried towards Brennan's side and held his face. "Bren?"

Brennan's eyes were welling tears as he reached out and touched Emma's cheek. He could see her face clearly now – her sparkling blue eyes, her delicate red lips. He felt a sudden burst of emotion come out of the psionic as she held his face in her hands. He saw the first tear fall from her face.

"Em… I can see."