I just finished chapter 21 and have made a start on chapter 22 so hopefully this story will be finished soon and these updates will be more regular. Thanks for the reviews, especially those of you who are making the effort to catch up with old chapters.

She leant her head against the window of the car, looking through the glass at the world as it sped past her. A radio in the front kept all the vehicles in close contact with each other and it occasionally beeped and crackled, the sounds of static reverberating around the confined space. Her weary eyes closed as she felt the chill of the glass cool her hot forehead.

She wanted to cry, wanted to scream with frustration, wanted to blow something up just so she would have some medium by which to vent her intense anger. But mostly she just wanted to lie down. The place didn't matter. It could be a bed, a couch, the hard floor or even the road underneath the car for all she cared. She wanted to rest her body, she wanted to shut out the world which seemed so persistent in its efforts to make her pay for a crime she didn't know she had committed.

She should have told him sooner, should have called him from New York as soon as she got there and told him that she was pregnant, she should never have left Sanctuary in the first place. She had so many regrets in her life and no way that she could go back and change things. She had never known that life could be so difficult. She wished for days before she knew anything about anything. When she had been a child everything had been sweetness and light; granted a deceptive happiness but she had at least been able to experience that particular emotion. And then she had found out about Genomex and Adam and what had followed was one long period of torture. There were moments when she would never have gone back, no matter what kind of choices she had she would have joined Mutant X because the people and the things that they were all attempting to accomplish were so beautiful. But those moments, more recently had been few and far between.

She could picture his face when she told him. He had looked shocked, his eyes looking absolutely everywhere with the exception of her as he tried to focus his mind on the fact that he had a daughter. But she had a feeling that he wasn't all that surprised. There were certain things she could hide from people but Brennan was connected to her. After everything they had been through he was a part of who she was. He had known, some part of him had known.

And then he had turned and walked away from her, without a word he had left. She had expected an argument, a huge row, something solid that she could hold on to but he had gone. She had been left standing in the foyer of the hotel and after a few minutes she had turned and walked through the back door. She had climbed into one of the cars. She had seen the look between Jesse and Lexa as they noticed the lack of Brennan but, thankfully they had decided not to address that specific topic with her. She had leaned back against the seat and had felt the car peel away from the curb, carrying them all to whatever the future held.

The darkness was ripped asunder. A strong beam of unflickering light washed across the floor of the room, bringing into sharp focus the thin, old carpet and the grime that covered it. She raised her head as far as she was able but the pain in her neck had become more intense since she had last blacked out. She looked at the figure walking towards her from underneath her eyelashes. The woman was tall and slender, her willowy frame appearing as a silhouette to Taylor's eyes. She blinked slowly, her head pounding, her back aching, her wrists suffering from prolonged contact with the tight ropes bound around them. Her head lolled against her chest as she let it droop, her attention not focused on the woman who was getting closer.

Daveigh looked down at the small girl. She looked worn, broken, exhausted. She was surprised to find herself feeling sorry for her. She knelt down in front of the chair to which Taylor was tied. She reached out a hand and placed her fingers underneath Taylor's chin, raising her head so she could look into the girls eyes. They opened slowly but once they had opened fully they stared into her own eyes unblinkingly, seemingly without fear.

'Ferals,' Daveigh said with a wry smile.

She let Taylor's head drop back onto her chest and stood. She turned and began to walk back across the room towards the door. She frowned as she did and stopped and turned.

'For what its worth,' she said, her voice echoing into the darkest corners, 'this is nothing personal. You're not the only person trapped in a situation they can't get out of.' With that she turned and was gone.

Taylor raised her head as she was once again enveloped by the gloom. She smiled to herself. The fact that they were still checking on her meant that someone was coming. Someone out there cared enough to fight for her and she knew exactly who it was.

'You want some water?' Jesse said quietly as he turned around in his seat to look at Shalimar. She didn't acknowledge his presence so he repeated the question, pushing her to open up a little more, just enough to let him in. He wanted, needed to know that she was okay and with her staring out of the window, not paying him the slightest bit of attention he couldn't do that.

She jerked her head round, her eyes questioning, wondering what the disturbance was. She looked straight at Jesse as he asked the question for a third time before shaking her head and turning to the window again. She wanted to see Brennan. She didn't care if they fought over the whole issue of her lying to him for so long, she needed to confront him. At that moment in time any kind of action was preferable to the never-ending car journey.

The lack of Brennan was problematic for the mission itself, regardless of her emotions. Obviously the new mutants would enter the building first. Jesse was going to get them all in through a wall at which point Brennan and Lexa would have been working together to take out any hostiles. They were the two long range shooters of the team and Brennan's electrical abilities were that bit more far reaching than Lexa's. They had been pretty much relying on him to watch their backs. And now, through her own actions she had put them all in jeopardy. Brennan was no longer helping them, he was no longer a part of the team, all thanks to her own stupidity.

'You told him, didn't you?' Lexa's voice broke in on Shalimar's thoughts. She turned her head to look at the brunette and raised her eyebrows in answer to the question.

'If it helps at all I think he's probably just a little shocked,' Lexa said quietly, so that Jesse wouldn't hear.

'He's definitely shocked. I wouldn't be surprised if he never wanted to talk to me again. I wouldn't blame him.' She closed her eyes, rubbing her finger against her temple, trying to alleviate the headache she could sense was setting up shop inside her skull.

'He'll do the right thing,' Lexa replied.

'How can you be sure?'

'Because he's Brennan.'

Shalimar smiled a little as she turned back to the window. The landscape was gradually changing from that of the highway to a more urbanised area. She was sure they were getting closer. The pull of Taylor was becoming more powerful with every passing second. The cars were moving too slowly for Shalimar's liking. She would have preferred to have exited the vehicle and then she could have run all the way to Taylor's location. At least then she would have felt like she was doing something.

Buildings became more frequent, the world around them changing from suburbia to industrial. Shalimar watched as the vehicles at the front of the procession turned down a smallish side street. On one side were shops, on the other some houses, their own little white picket fences bordering their gardens from the street.

'We're here,' Jesse said, turning in his seat to look at the two women. He was as nervous as they looked. He didn't want to do the mission with one of the major players missing in action. He had absolutely no idea why Brennan had left. He felt completely out of the loop, like there was something everyone else knew that he wasn't privy to. It was definitely something to do with Shalimar but that couple had so many issues he wasn't entirely sure which one it was this week. He didn't mean to make them out as trivially as he was. They loved each other, of that much he was certain. But the fact that they loved each other, would die for each other didn't ever seem to be enough. They had tried the relationship thing and then Shalimar had left and now she had a daughter which complicated things so much…

Jesse frowned as he looked at the blonde before him. He had just had one very coherent thought about Brennan and Shalimar. His gaze caught her eye and she looked straight at him. She nodded, not needing to say a word. She knew that he knew about Taylor and Brennan and the complete mess that they were all currently involved in. He reached forward, taking her hand in his and squeezing it gently. He wanted to reassure her of so much more but all he could do was let her know that he was there and that he cared.

She pushed the car door open and stepped out onto the sidewalk. The morning was definitely over. When they had left the hotel it hadn't been much past dawn. The light had been effervescent, the sky the palest of blues with tiny clouds scudding across it slowly. The sun had been bright and low but now it was higher in the sky which had gradually taken on more colour. Shalimar could feel the extra heat as she took her leather jacket off and slung it onto the back seat. She stretched her arms above her head, feeling the tense muscles of her back loosen themselves. Her eyes swept quickly across the landscape. Her senses were tingling and she knew that Taylor was close. It was like something was pulling her towards her daughter and it was as much as she could do to not get dragged into something she wasn't fully prepared for.

She could sense the conversations behind her as she turned away from the small crowd of people. She couldn't listen to any of their comments. She was having a difficult enough time trying to keep a hold on her sanity already without having the mounting tension increased by their worries. She walked a small way along the road, scuffing her shoes along the ground and watching as miniature clouds of dust flew up into the air, swirling and then falling back to the ground. She heard them come up behind her, could feel their presence. She had wanted to go back to the team on so many separate occasions, but these had never been the circumstances that she had envisioned.

'When do we go in?' she asked, her voice empty of all emotion.

'Now,' Lexa replied.

Shalimar turned and looked the brunette in the eye.

'Now?' she asked, a shadow of any former passion returning to her eyes briefly.

'Now.'