AN: I'd say I'm running out of excuses for waiting so long (comparatively) between posts. But I have some good ones! One, I got a full time job, so I don't have as much time as I used to. Two, last weekend, I finally caved and bought seasons one and two on DVD...so I've been watching those, catching up on my MX lore. But! The good news is that I have another story idea, so I really want to get this story finished so I can start that one....but anyway, here's the next chapter.


Chapter 27: In the Night

Brennan and Shalimar walked side by side as they returned from the main entrance, where they had double and triple checked the security measures. Shalimar's heeled boots clicked along the floor. Brennan watched her feet move: heel, toe; heel, toe. Suddenly they stopped and turned toward him. Surprised, he looked up to see her looking up at him, one smooth eyebrow arched, obviously wondering why in the hell he was looking at her feet.

"Shal, have I told you how sorry I am?" The tentative voice and sheepish expression seemed strange coming from such a large man.

Shalimar rolled her eyes. "Yes, Brennan. Enough already. You must have apologized a thousand times by now."

"Well, I mean it. I really am sorry for, well, you know." He rocked back on his heels.

"Yes, I know, and you're forgiven." He relaxed a bit. "You weren't exactly yourself.

His shoulders relaxed even more. It seemed he was finally starting to believe it. They started walking again. "Yeah, well… hey, why is it always me who's getting brain fried?"

Shalimar's eyebrows quirked and she tried to stifle a laugh. "What are you talking about?"

He shrugged one shoulder. "Well, think about it. There was this time. And there was that time we infiltrated that military facility when the virus broke out. Not to mention what happened at Hillv– well, you get the idea."

"Brennan, Brennan, Brennan."

"What?"

"The world doesn't exactly revolve around you," she teased. "But hey, look at it this way: all those things happened because you were on the front line, one of the first people to get in there when things go wrong."

"Yeah, well…" He let the sentence drop off as they reached the door to his bedroom. "Are you coming in, Miss Shalimar?" he asked, letting a playful tone enter his voice.

"Why, of course," she smiled back.

Brennan opened the door and held it open in a courtly gesture. "After you, my lady."

He followed her into the room, sliding the door closed behind him. Both of them were tired, and by a silent mutual assent, they both got ready for bed. Within ten minutes, they were lying side by side in Brennan's bed. She was happily curled into his much larger frame, silently thanking whatever deity was listening that her lover had sustained no permanent damage from the day's events.

For a few moments, they simply sat there together. Brennan toyed with one of her curls. Finally Shalimar spoke.

"Did you really mean what you said to Jess?"

Brennan took a deep breath. "Yeah, sort of. I mean, I'm really pissed that he did something like that and didn't tell us. He could have compromised everything. I've already lost Sanctuary once. I'm not keen on doing it again."

"I know what you mean. But we've all done stupid things like that before."

"Exactly. It's happened to all of us before, and we should all know better."

"I know your right, it's just…"

"Adam would probably say it's the feline in you. But look. Yeah, I'm angry right now, but chances are I'll forget about it in a couple of days once I've done something stupid myself. Just give it a little time."

"Yeah?"

"Oh definitely. Everything will be a-okay." He bent his head to drop a kiss on her head then moved down to along her delicate cheekbones until he found her lips. And even as tired as he was, he couldn't help reacting. She just did that to him.

Shalimar shifted, throwing one leg over his hip. Brennan responded, running his hands down her sides to her hips. Before he could move any farther, he heard her whimper. Knowing her sounds by now, he knew it wasn't a whimper of passion, but of pain. "What's wrong?" he asked, breaking away.

"Just a little bruise," she answered quickly. "Where were we?" Her eyes flashed.

Brennan avoided her hands on his face. "What do mean a little bruise? Little bruises don't hurt you like that." Turning the bedside lamp back on, he pulled back her sleeping shorts to reveal a large bruise easily twice the size of his hand. "Shalimar…you said I didn't hurt you."

"You didn't. I've had worse." She tried to draw his attention back up to her face.

Again, Brennan avoided her. "N-uh, sweetheart. As much as I'd like to look you all over, see if there's anything else you didn't tell me about, we both know where that'll lead. So…time for bed," he announced.

Shalimar couldn't help but pout and started to protest. But finally, she acquiesced, though not for lack of trying on her part. Heck, if Brennan could actually resist her because he didn't want her to feel her bruises, he must be worth keeping. So after one more goodnight kiss, Brennan turned out the light again, and they snuggled under the covers together.


"I'm gonna take a shower in the morning. I think if I don't get of my feet, I'll fall asleep and drown myself somehow." Jesse strolled easily into Lexa's room ahead of her.

It was fairly common for the two of them to sleep in the same bed now, and they usually did so in her room. It had started that way because Jesse thought that she would be more comfortable in her own surroundings. Two months later, it had developed into a habit; Jesse spent more nights in her room than he did in his own. Her still present, ingrained paranoia meant that the room was more secure – it was soundproof as well as having its own security system independent of the rest of Sanctuary. And though in the grand scheme of things this didn't mean too much, it made them both more at ease in her room than in his.

Lexa closed the door behind her. "Are you going to tell me what that was all about?"

Jesse stripped off his t-shirt and tossed it onto the nearby chair. "What was what all about?"

"Jesse, I'm not stupid. I'll admit, it took me awhile, and I only just started seeing it, but there's definitely something wrong here. What the hell is going on between you and Adam?"

"What are you talking about? Everything's fine."

"Jesse." Her tone pushed at him.

Jesse paused in the act of unbuckling his belt. "Lexa. Read my lips if you have to. There is nothing wrong between me and Adam."

"Jesse, you practically bit his head off in there. You had to have known he was right, but you still argued with him."

"Okay, fine. Maybe I did get a little short-tempered back there. But you can hardly be surprised. Between the recent attacks and all the research I'm doing for that, I don't think I've had more than an hour's sleep in the last twenty-four."

Lexa sighed inwardly. Jesse obviously didn't want to talk about it. Normally, if she kept at it long enough, she could get him to talk about it if something was bothering him. But whatever it was between him and Adam was obviously deep rooted and she just didn't have the energy or the impetus to deal with it right now. Fine. We'll deal with this later, once everything slows down. "You know, despite what you think, Jess," she said, hoping for a brighter tone. "We can get along without you from time to time. You should take better care of yourself and get more sleep."

Jesse chuckled as he shucked off his pants and climbed into the bed. He leaned back against the headboard and watched appreciatively as Lexa perform her own pre-bed ritual, which was considerably longer than his own. She pulled her bejeweled tee-shirt off over her head, and he admired her lovely torso, which he knew from experience was smooth as silk. Watching her walk into the bathroom to wash her face, he struck upon something. "Hey. When exactly did this relationship do a one-eighty?"

Lexa finished washing her face. She patted her face dry then tucked the towel back on the rack. Reaching into a dresser drawer, she pulled out one of Jesse's t-shirts and finished dressing for bed. "What are you talking about?"

He folded his hands in his lap. "Well think about it. Not even six months ago, I was the one encouraging you to talk. I was the one talking to you about snipping at Brennan and Shal. Telling you to take care of yourself and relax."

She shrugged as she turned out the light and slipped into bed beside him. Jesse lay on his left side and tucked her against him so her back was to his front. Staring straight ahead at the bright green numbers of the alarm clock, she said, "Hmm. I guess you're right. I never noticed." A moment later, she spoke again, biting her lower lip, though he couldn't see it. "I think I know why. The answer is so damn simple. I'll tell you, but if you repeat this to anyone I'll completely deny it."

She felt his breath on her neck as he gave a short laugh. "Okay. I promise. I won't tell a soul. What'd'ya got?"

"You're my family now."

Jesse stilled. Lexa felt his reaction and tensed up herself. "Jesse?"

He dropped a kiss behind her ear. "Family, huh? How do you figure?"

She relaxed. "Well, after Leo…er, well, you remember. I was bound and determined not to let anyone close ever again, right?"

Jesse started to nod, but instead stroked her waist as means to encourage her.

"Then I found out that the Dominion was basically tearing itself to pieces because no one trusted each other and they all wanted more power. There was no one I could trust there, not even my contact." She paused. "Then you let yourself get captured so you could save me from myself. Then I found out that Sanctuary was destroyed…and it all hit me pretty hard."

"Couldn't tell from looking at you."

"Yeah, well, we had a lot to do and worry about afterwards. Anyway, it hurt so bad when I thought I might loose Mutant X. I wanted to stay with you. And even with Shalimar and Brennan. I wanted to do things to help others because they needed help and because we all want a better future, not because I'd get power or money." She felt tears well up behind her closed eyelids. Taking a breath, she fought them back. "I wanted to be here. I had tried not caring about anything, and that didn't really work. So now, I'm trying the other way. I'm letting myself care. And I'll tell you, it scares the hell out of me."

Jesse tightened his arm around her and kissed her shoulder. "I'll be here for you, Lex. I'm not going anywhere."

She turned in his arms, smiled. She ran a hand along his cheek. "I know you're not." She kissed him lightly. "I love you."

He smiled back. "I love you, too." He returned her kiss, deepening it after a moment, running his hands along her side and under his shirt, drifting upward. Her own hands found their way along his bare chest. When they finally came up for air a few moments later, she pulled back a bit, realizing that he had moved one of his legs in between hers.

"I thought you were too tired to even stand up, Jess." He could hear the smile in her voice.

"Never too tired for this, my love," he whispered back, kissing her brow before returning to her lips. "Never."


Much like Brennan and Shalimar had been doing in another part of Sanctuary, David and Katie walked side by side down the corridor. After several minutes of silence, Katie felt the need to fill the silence and spoke. "It's pretty late. Why don't we both just stay here in the spare room? The bed's plenty big enough for both of us. Or one of us can take the couch."

To her surprise, he didn't argue. "Okay. We can share the bed. I've seen that couch and it doesn't look like the best thing to sleep on." They turned and made their way toward the spare room. "Besides, I think I can stand this place for awhile longer."

Katie tilted her head. "What do you mean, 'awhile longer'? Are you going somewhere?"

David looked over at her startled face and almost started laughing. When she became more distressed upon seeing his reaction, he put a hand on her shoulder to reassure her. "No, no, that's not what I meant." He ushered her into the room and pulled back the already made covers. "I'm just talking about staying here, at Sanctuary. I'd much rather stay at the mansion, but both of us are probably too tired to make it up there without falling asleep in the middle of the woods."

"What's wrong with Sanctuary?" Katie asked, entering the bathroom to rinse her mouth and wash her face.

David stripped down to his boxers and a tee-shirt and lay down on one side of the king size bed. "Nothing's wrong. This place is wonderful. I've got access to anything and I'm still free to do what I want to do."

"So why did you say what you did?" she asked, her patience chipping a little, feeling as if she was trying to drive nails through granite.

David looked up at Katie, and finally gave in. "I was trying to be flippant, but it didn't really work. It's just the air in here it's kind of stale. I know you can't tell because of the pumps, but to someone who's been in one of those Genomex pods, it's pretty easy to detect. Come to think of it, I wonder how Jesse deals with it. He was locked in one of those things for a lot longer than I was."

Katie tucked herself into the other side of the bed. "I don't know. Maybe he doesn't notice?"

"No, he knows. We talked about it earlier. He didn't quite understand what exactly it was, though. I think he's chalked it up to claustrophobia and brushed it aside."

Katie didn't say anything for awhile, and David started feeling nervous. He didn't want to end the night on such a depressing note. "Hey, speaking of Jesse, what was he like when he was younger?"

Katie turned over onto her right side so that she was facing him. "What do you mean?"

"Well, I've only really known him for about six months. Sure, we talked to each other and told each other stories, but he didn't tell many about his family. Tell me some embarrassing stories that only a little sister knows."

She chuckled, the sound reminding him of Jesse somehow. "Well, there one time when Mother was hosting a dinner party…"

Twenty minutes and four stories later, David was sound asleep. Katie looked over at him for a moment, wondering how she could feel so close to him after such a short time. Running one hand through his dark, haphazard hair, she almost laughed at herself. In her family, a 'short time was relative.' Having anyone around for more than two months felt like forever. She sighed, dropped a light kiss on his temple, and then settled back on her own side to sleep.