Sanctuary's halls seemed eerily quiet upon their return home. Brennan sat in solitude in his room after being patched up by Adam. Jesse was in the living room on the computer and Shalimar and Emma were in the lab while Adam tended to the psionic's wounds.
Shalimar strode back into the lab upon returning from the bathroom. She smiled and stood beside the psionic still sitting in the observation chair with her wounded leg propped up.
"How's my little trooper?" the feral asked, rubbing the psionic's leg.
"Doing better thanks. Adam and I were just talking about how to reverse the affects on the team."
"Great," she replied, very enthused. "What about mine?"
"Actually," Adam began. "That's the good news. Yours doesn't seem to be long lasting. By the tests I've run and the short affect you took it should wear off on it's own within a day."
"That's a relief too," she sighed.
Shalimar looked down to Emma's wrapped ankle and trailed her hand lightly down the psionic's calf to caress her wound.
"Thank you for helping me," Emma said smiling at the sweet touch of the feral soothing her skin. "How did you get out of that burning boat?"
Shalimar sighed, tracing small circles around Emma's ankle with her finger.
"I just ran out the door past the flames as quickly as I could," she explained, her eyes leaving the woman's ankle and making their way up her bare legs and midriff, resting on her breasts briefly before meeting the welcoming blue gems. "You know fire isn't my biggest fear." She smiled a knowing smile at the psionic before Adam's words interrupted their tender moment.
"Well, now is as good a time as any," he began. "I'm gonna go see if I can convince the guys to go through with reversing the psionic affects."
"Good luck," Shalimar wished, only briefly letting her eyes leave those of Emma's.
The tenderness between them returned as quickly as it had left, if not quicker and they soon found themselves starring deep into each others eyes as if trying to explain themselves to each other.
Shalimar's gaze turned downward to her hand still resting on the soft, smooth skin of the psionic's leg. She held herself there, appreciating the luxurious softness of the beauty. Slowly, her hand began to skim it's way up the bare leg of the woman, her warmth exciting the feral immensely. Reflexively, the psionic slowly parted her legs, her silent plea for the feral to continue making itself well known.
Shalimar's hand rested on the buckle of the psionic's tight, blue denim shorts before flicking them open. She allowed her other hand to caress the shoulder of the psionic and quickly made her way down her smooth arms and under her shirt.
She didn't know who'd initiated the kiss. The only thing she new was she never wanted it to end. Never again wanted to know what her lips felt like without the sweet taste of the psionic upon them. She teased the psionic, dipping her hand into her shorts every now and then, enjoying the small whimpers it provoked inside her. Her talented fingers worked themselves under the woman's shirt fondling her full breasts beneath the silky garment. She traced her fingers over her nipples, smiling against the psionic's mouth at their eagerness. Her own nipples swelled in appreciation at the delightful feeling.
The sound of male voices heading towards them finally urged the women to break their kiss.
"I think we better stop," Shalimar reluctantly informed. "And I think we should talk."
As the voices came closer Shalimar removed her hand from the psionic's shorts. She felt the woman's soft breasts once more, hesitating as long as she could before unwillingly removing that hand as well.
Emma buttoned her shorts back up and straightened out her top which Shalimar had ruffled as Adam, Jesse, and Brennan walked into the lab. It was instantly obvious that neither Brennan nor Jesse wanted to be there. Shalimar looked them both over, the cuts and bruises from the explosion and fighting still apparent on both of them.
"And that's what we're gonna do," Adam said, wrapping up his explanation of Emma reversing the psionic affects.
Both Brennan and Jesse stood with doubtful looks and headed over to the counter to take a seat still keeping a safe distance from one another.
Emma couldn't help feeling the entire rainbow of emotions flowing through the room. All the anger, love, doubt, worry, and resent had created such a thick fog of emotions inside the room.
"How can you be sure Emma can fix us anyway?" Brennan asked, his skeptical ness evident in his voice. "If in fact we are infected." He glanced to Shalimar again after his statement offering a soft smile.
"Well," Adam began, "your natural state of being is balanced. You can think clearly and differentiate between your different feelings. The psionic affects are working at keeping your true, natural instincts, feelings, and emotions from voicing themselves and are pushing that one feeling as top priority. Emma's going to give you a little jump-start, like a reboot, and help you rebalance yourself. We've talked it over and I'm sure this will work if you let it."
"Well, I really don't think I need it."
"Then prove it. The girls have convinced me to have the same thing done so I'll be the first demonstrate," he said and sat down on the counter between Jesse and Brennan. "Emma."
Emma began to sit herself up and Shalimar took her arm to assist her out of the chair. Emma reached for her crutches and stood in front of Adam.
"Ready?" she asked.
"Ready."
Emma paused, taking a deep breath as she prepared herself. She held her gaze on Adam and sent him a psi blast which seemed to stun him momentarily. He opened his eyes back up and smiled at the psionic.
"Can you think straight?" she asked.
"Yeah," he answered and stood up, rubbing her shoulder. "Now let's get these two sane again."
Emma stood before Jesse who sneered at the thought of his mind being messed with.
"It's for your own good, Jesse," Adam reassured.
Soon enough a psi blast entered the molecular and he was shaking his head as clarity soon reclaimed him.
Emma moved to Brennan and his agitated look he firmly held.
"Just get it over with," he finally sighed in agreement.
A few seconds after being struck with the blast Brennan put his hand to his head, finally being able to think and feel other things besides an obsession for Shalimar. He kept his head down not sure if it was from the headache pounding inside him or the guilt and foolishness he felt for his recent actions.
"How do you feel?" Shalimar asked after a few moments had passed.
"Yeah, I guess it worked," he managed to say. "I'm going to lie down." With that, he headed out of the lab and back to his room not wanting to face his friends at the moment.
"I think I should go talk to him," Shalimar said as soon as he'd left the lab.
"Shal," Jesse spoke up. "We're ok right? I mean, we're still friends aren't we?"
"Yeah," she agreed with a smile before leaning in to hug him. "You bet."
"Sorry for acting like a jerk and all."
"Nah, it's not your fault."
She smiled at him and then Emma before exiting the lab and heading to Brennan's room.
"Brennan?" she asked, knocking on his closed door. "Hey, Brennan."
After a few moments of silence the door between them opened to reveal a saddened Brennan. He stepped aside to gesture for the feral to enter. Brennan let out a long sigh as he sat himself down on the edge of his bed.
"I guess uh, you deserve an apology," he finally said.
"Yeah, well I don't think I'm the only one you need to be apologizing to."
"I know." He sighed again. "I acted like a jerk and I'm sorry."
Shalimar sat down beside him and placed her hand on his knee as if to comfort him.
"I don't think anyone really blames you, Bren, but you did say and do a lot of hurtful things. Once you say something you can't take it back."
"I know."
He paused, wondering if he should try to explain himself further.
"Everything I said and did wasn't my true feelings," he assured. "But I think you know how I feel about you." He turned his head to hers somewhat surprised to see her looking him back in the eyes.
"Yeah," she answered in a soft voice. "You know how I feel about you but it's not…" she stopped herself unable to think of something delicate or even something that would make sense. "Right now it's not enough to…" she stopped herself again before opening her mouth to speak once more.
"It's ok, Shal," he informed. "I understand. You and Emma deserve a chance to be happy together."
Shalimar remained silent and looked him over after the statement.
"Come on, Shal," he said playfully nudging her shoulder.
She smiled; glad to have her friend back once again.
"Yeah, I gotta get going," she said standing up.
Brennan stood to his feet as well and pulled her into a tight hug. Shalimar smiled as their embrace ended and placed a soft kiss on his cheek before heading toward the door.
"Go get her, tiger," he ordered as she left the room.
