Title: Into the Light

Author: Malenkaya

Rating: R for violence and swearing

Summary: (RE movie fanfic, 2nd in trilogy): What began as a mindless effort to survive has developed into a race against time to stop Matt's sudden mutation as Alice, Rain, Michael, Matt and J.D. re-enter the Hive in search of a cure.

Disclaimer: After seeing all those clever disclaimers out there, I wish I had one. Any suggestions? I own nothing here but my own ideas.

Feedback: Please! I live and breathe reviews! Flames, as long as they're explanatory, are fine.

Author's Notes:

Thanks again to those who have reviewed Into the Light thus far, particularly for chapter eleven: XMaster, masked-in-your-shadows, Kagii, kk, SangoLancer200, and VixenVampireChick. Please again remember to leave your emails with your reviews so I can thank you for them and answer any questions you have. Thanks goes out also to all those who read and don't review, even though I beg you—continuously—to do so. It's still very appreciated.

I am proud to say that, this time, my thank-you notes were sent a whole day early! LOL.

Also, not very much M/A in this chapter. Instead, I've practically overdosed on the R/J aspect (as friends, not a shippy thing). There is a reason, and I promise I'll restore a balance soon (or just switch sides completely—no R/J, and a bunch of M/A, for all I know ).

Also, I noticed a massive error in my last chapter: Olivia's team leader is, in fact, Alexei Demitrov. I typed in "Masaryk" by mistake. It's all very embarrassing  Especially since he's going to play a big role in the third part of the trilogy.

And also… I've been reading CSI fanfiction a lot. I've been stressed out and busy and scattered, so there is a possibility of my fanfiction being OOC right now due to the fact that I'm constantly shifting between things right now. Ergo, I really, really need you all to be completely honest with me and let me know if my chapters are error-ridden or, especially, out of character.

Still hate fanfiction (dot) net, for those wondering.

Thanks again, enjoy the fic!

Into the Light

Chapter Twelve: Calm Before the Storm

The pool of water was dark and filmy, tranquil except for the missile sliding into it with explosive force. It hit the water, the pool exploding into a fine spray of water before settling back into it's regular placidity, ripples circling it's borders.

With a sigh of boredom, Rain tore her eyes from the leaky faucet and the rapidly spreading pool of water it was creating directly underneath it to look at J.D.

He was seated in the far corner of the room, one hand on his headset, tilted impossibly far back in his chair to stare at the ceiling.

She frowned, fidgeting slightly. She didn't particularly want to talk to J.D, not with all the problems they'd been having lately, but up here—completely alone—she didn't exactly see any other fucking choice. They'd both only spoken once so far, and that had been earlier, when she'd found the emergency lights.

Not, of course, that their conversation—consisting of J.D asking "Found the lights?" and Rain answering "Uh huh"—was worth anything.

She snickered slightly, remembering the conversation and recognizing the stupidity of the whole thing. In less than a week, they'd moved from a freakishly close relationship to one based on alienation bordering on hostility.

He glanced over at her, looking wary. "What?"

She shrugged. "Nothing."

He opened his mouth to respond—and then stopped, looking mutinous as he looked away. "Whatever."

"What?" she snapped at him.

He sighed. Then, sounding irritated, "What do you mean, what?"

"Whatever," she mimicked him in a high, whiny voice. "What the fuck was that supposed to mean?"

He sighed again. "Look, would you stop? I didn't mean anything by it."

Rain started to argue, but cut herself off. What was the fucking point?

After a moment, J.D spoke again. "Do you think Alice was right?"

Surprised at the seemingly random comment—not to mention the complete lack of hostility in his tone—she paused briefly before asking carefully, "What do you mean?"

"That you and I can't spend five minutes together without fighting," he answered, sounding frustrated. "What she said before she left."

She shrugged. "How should I know?" He was silent, and she looked back at him, curious despite herself. "Why do you care?"

He sighed, tilting back on his chair again to stare at the ceiling as if it would supply him with all the answers. Just as Rain's patience had reached it's breaking point and she was preparing to launch herself across the table at J.D and strangle him into speech he looked at her, letting the legs of his chair thump back down onto the ground.

"Because I care about you," he said seriously. "And it's fucking stupid if we can't even talk anymore because of this whole thing.

She stared at him. Part of her wanted to say something nice, something slightly more honest and agree with him. Tell him that she hated the animosity between them as well.

Yet that single part of her, that same goddamn quality that forced her not to trust anyone and above all to never, ever tell someone anything that could be construed as sentimental, directed her next words. "Are you sure you want to talk to me? According to Olivia, I'm pretty fucking untrustworthy."

J.D sighed, rolling his eyes and staring up at the ceiling for what felt like the fiftieth fucking time. "Not that again."

She snorted. "Yeah, that again. Tell me, J.D, what was your vote?"

He turned to look at her, confusion on his face. "What?"

"This mission," she clarified. "Were you on my side, or Olivia's?"

He let out a distinct noise of disbelief before saying, "It wasn't about choosing a fucking side, Rain. It was strategy. That's it."

She rolled her eyes at him. "All right then, J.D. What was your choice of strategy?"

He stared at her, his gaze almost defiant as he replied, "Olivia's."

She snorted. "I knew it. You don't trust her plan, and yet you still would have voted for it."

"I don't trust her?" He echoed. "Since when are you a fucking mind reader, Rain?"

"Since when do you vote based on favoritism, J.D?" she countered.

He let out a sound of disgust. "Favoritism, Rain?"

"I don't know what else you'd call it."

Complete silence filled the room. Finally, J.D sighed again. "Fine. You know what, Rain? Maybe I didn't completely trust her plan. That doesn't mean it wasn't the better one."

He had admitted what she'd wanted him to admit, and she expected to feel some sense of victory, but she didn't.

She just felt empty.

The two lapsed into silence again, Rain staring fixedly back at the broken pipe while J.D returned his gaze to the ceiling.

When the voice broke in through the microphone on their headsets, both practically leapt for the control switches. Rain got there first, glaring at J.D as she flicked it on. "What?"

Olivia's voice crackled through, sounding high and nervous. "I'm in one of the rooms, the middle room has been closed off, it's flooding and there are sharks coming through, possibly infected—"

None of this made sense to Rain, and she pulled away from J.D's outstretched hands, still reaching for the mike, as she snapped, "Where are Matt and Alice?"

Olivia's voice crackled through again, a distinct edge of panic there now.

"They're in there with the sharks."

xxxxx

Alice only caught a glimpse of the first fin before she was stumbling through the water, grabbing Matt's hand to pull him along with her. She had no idea whether there were any escape routes, whether the sharks were infected or not—whether the water was infected—

"Olivia!" she barked into her headset, Matt squeezing her hand in his as she silently counted the number of fins she could see. "What the fuck is going on?"

Olivia's voice was admirably calm considering the circumstances as she replied, "I don't know. There's a drainage outlet further back, Rain and J.D are looking for it."

"How long is that going to take?"

"Seven or eight minutes at the most," Olivia assured them.

Six fins. Six sharks in all.

"We don't have that kind of time," Alice said grimly.

The sharks weren't doing anything. Not yet. Instead they were circling them, reminding Alice eerily of a cat toying with mice.

"There's no way out," Olivia said nervously. "Unless—"

"Unless what?" Matt barked.

"Go through the doorway," Olivia continued, her voice taking on an edge of confidence. "I can close it, keep the sharks locked in here."

Matt and Alice glanced at each other, then at the doorway, almost completely open now, the water flooding up to their chests. There was no way they'd make it in there without at least one of the sharks following, but that still meant better odds of survival than they had in here.

Then Alice thought of Olivia. She stole a look at the glass doorway of the room she was in, her mind absentmindedly registering the fact that Matt had pulled out his MP5, was training it on the sharks now.

The glass was thin, fragile.

If the sharks decided to ram it, it wasn't going to hold.

"Olivia," Alice said shortly. "When Matt and I go through, the sharks will still be here."

The biochemist's voice was confidant as she replied, "I know. I think—they can sense movement, but I don't think they can see. That's why they haven't moved since you and Matt stopped."

The water was ebbing in more slowly now, and Alice realized she was right. The sharks couldn't see her or Matt—their eyes were blank, empty, dead, where they floated in the water in hazy tandem. But then—

"Shouldn't they have been able to feel the water moving when Matt—" she gestured towards him, still holding the gun.

Olivia's voice was unsure as she answered, "I don't know. Probably. The moving water, though—it's confusing them. You two should go now, before it stops."

Alice nodded, turning to look at the doorway. Almost lowered to the bottom by now, the water still poured in, though more slowly, lapping over them in gentle waves.

She stared at Matt, and he looked back at her, his expression tense as he gave a short nod.

Alice tapped her headset. "Olivia?"

"Do it."

xxxxx

Matt and Alice stole one last look at each other before breaking away, each splitting onto different sides of the room to rush the door as Olivia slammed her hand onto the starting panel. She could hear the distinct whir of machinery emanate from the panel as the door began to rise.

Matt disappeared from view immediately, but with her face pressed against the glass, Olivia could still see Alice as she inched around one of the sharks, clambering onto the desk in front of the window both to see better and to avoid sending any telling disruptions in the water's flow—

And almost fell off when one of the sharks whipped around, latching it's razor sharp teeth into Alice's thigh.

She let out a sharp cry of pain, terribly audible over the headset as she stumbled slightly. Olivia ignored J.D's and Rain's voices as they flew across the speakers, both demanding to know what was going on as Matt pulled out his gun, shooting the shark violently in the eyes as it lashed back towards Alice.

Blinded—if one could even use the term— it pulled back, but the damage was already done.

Blood spurted through the water, staining it red, and the sharks went into a frenzy, each turning to locate the source of the blood—

As Alice yanked a knife from her jacket and stabbed it into the sharks side, ripping a large tear through it's skin. Blood, thick and grimy but still blood, spurted instantaneously through the water, and even though Alice's face was pale, almost white by now, her expression was relieved as she dropped the knife and hurried back, clasping one hand over her wound. Matt came to meet her, wrapping one arm smoothly around her waist as they hurried towards the steadily rising doorway—

As the five sharks latched onto the bleeding sixth, ripping it open, darkening the water to a muddy red.

Matt and Alice disappeared over the doorway, Matt's headset catching briefly on the wall before he ripped it off and threw it into the water.

The door slammed shut behind them, and Olivia breathed for what felt like the first time in hours.

J.D's and Rain's shouts finally registered to her, and she flicked the switch to speak, reveling in the sudden silence. "Sorry. Alice got bitten by one of the sharks. She's fine, her and Matt both made it out all right. Have you found the drainage switch yet?"

Rain answered, her voice edgy. "You didn't exactly give us a place to look. And why didn't you let us know what was going on earlier?"

Olivia started to answer, and then stopped. She could hear Rain and J.D arguing, and then his voice came on. "Olivia? You okay?"

Despite her earlier annoyance at him, she was touched by the concern in his voice and gave a short sigh, wishing, not for the first time, that things could always be so simple. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Good," he said brusquely. "Where's the drainage panel?"

xxxxx

"A little further to the left," J.D told her, his voice disembodied and far away.

Rain reached out with her left hand, and felt J.D shift beneath her as he called up, "No, your other hand."

She didn't bother answering—he wouldn't be able to hear her anyways—but sighed at their ridiculous position as she reached forward into the darkness, fumbling around with her right hand.

They were beneath the stairs, J.D holding her up so she could reach into the opening in the ceiling they'd already uncovered beneath a loose ceiling panel. She was fumbling around blindly for a light while Olivia gave instructions to J.D over the headset.

Her hand closed around a chain. She paused, then yanked it down.

A light lit in the ceiling briefly before exploding back into darkness. Rain pulled back automatically to avoid the falling glass and succeeded only in banging her head into the corner of the opening. "Goddamn it, ow."

"Found the light?" J.D called up to her.

"Yeah," she shouted. "It's broken."

She felt J.D shift slightly, and covered her head as he lifted her back down to the ground, wondering what he was doing. Not that it mattered. She was getting tired of waving her arms around blindly anyways. "Just lift me in, it's big enough."

He ignored her, and she let out a sharp sigh of annoyance. "J.D, I'll fit. Just lift me the fuck up already."

His face darkened, and she narrowed her eyes at him—

And then stopped as he grabbed his headset, pressing the headphones into his ears as he turned away, and she realized he hadn't even heard what she'd been saying. "Olivia?"

Rain couldn't hear Olivia's words, but even from here she recognized the sound of breaking glass, crashing suddenly over the headset. "Olivia!"

They could hear Olivia shouting at them, both of them unable to make out her words—

And the silence, when the line cut out, was painfully audible.

"Olivia?" J.D shouted. There was no answer, and he swore, throwing the headset to the ground. "Goddamn it!"

Rain just stared at him, biting her lower lip nervously. There was a time when she would have known what to say here, but with Olivia, Rain was totally lost. J.D was… weird about her, either angry or horribly lovesick, but volatile either way, and she didn't know what to say anymore.

Finally, she cleared her throat. "J.D?" He looked at her, his eyes dark and face strangely blank. "Lift me up."

He did.

Five minutes later she was in the hatch, crawling down an absurdly long tunnel, J.D's lighter clutched in her hand. Cobwebs scratched at her face, and she brushed them aside impatiently as she ran her elbow against the wall.

She finally hit something solid, and stopped. Turning, she lifted the lighter to illuminate the object.

It was a red button set into the interior of a small glass box, the words 'Drainage Hatch' scrolled clearly above the system. Looking at it, Rain felt a small shot of sorrow go through her for Olivia. She had neither trusted nor, generally speaking, even liked the biochemist—but she hadn't wanted her to die. Not seriously, anyway, and especially not in the horrific way she probably had.

And no matter what she thought, she couldn't help but feel guilty that she hadn't found the panel in time.

She didn't bother fumbling for a clasp to the glass door. Instead she just leaned back slightly, shielded her face, and threw her elbow into the glass.

It shattered, and she pressed her palm firmly into the button, watching as it lit up.

J.D tapped on the ceiling underneath her and she knocked back, their universal auditory signal for the all-clear.

J.D was waiting at the bottom, and as he lifted her down and turned to check his ammo, she asked cautiously, "Are you okay?"

He glared at her. "Why the fuck would you care?"

She stared at him. "What the fuck is that supposed to mean? Of course I care."

He just glared at her, shifting the gun in his hands as he said, "I'm going to look for Olivia. You coming?"

She shook her head, unsure of what to say. "J.D, I think—I mean, Olivia's—"

"Catch up when you can," J.D said brusquely. He turned and left, leaving Rain to stare disbelievingly after him.

She glanced up at the ceiling, wishing something—anything—would come down and knock some sense into J.D. She didn't want Olivia to be dead, and she wasn't trying to make this harder on J.D. She wasn't.

But wandering blindly down the corridors looking for a person who wouldn't even be there was about the stupidest thing they could do right now.

"God damn it, J.D."

Rain followed him out the door.

xxxxx

Alice was breathing harshly, obviously in pain, and Matt kept his arm around her as he stumbled over to the wall, both of them sliding down against it.

The corridor they were in now was all green-tinged glass and white tiling, stretching forward to show another walk of at least fifteen minutes. It was still flooded, though not to the same extent of the room they'd just escaped from.

Matt focused on Alice, turning to face her more fully as he ran his hands up her left leg to locate the wound.

The low water lapped gently at their ankles, the dim blue emergency lights making the blood still trickling from the wound seem almost to glow in the darkness.

"You okay?" he whispered to her, sliding his hand underneath hers, covering the wound gently.

She nodded, resting her head against the wall behind her and closing her eyes briefly. "Yeah. I don't think it's bleeding much anymore, and the shark wasn't infected. I'll be fine."

Matt smiled, impressed with her outer façade of strength as he dropped a gentle kiss on her forehead. "Can you walk?"

She nodded, making a motion to get up, and he laughed slightly, pushing her back down gently. "Wait a minute. Let me wrap that up first."

Alice smirked slightly, her blue eyes bright as she raised an eyebrow at him, and he was happy to see the color coming back into her cheeks again.

He pulled the gauze and tape out of his pocket and set to work wrapping it around her thigh, knowing by her movements that she was scanning the area around them.

Once a S.W.A.T cop, always a S.W.A.T cop, Matt thought, amused despite himself. Even if it was for Umbrella.

He'd had those same thoughts once, watching some dumb cop they'd managed to pick up from Umbrella years before, when he and Lisa had still been on active duty working against the corporation. They'd been interrogating him, and had been frustrated with his less than forthcoming responses to their questions until they'd realize that the cop simply had no idea what Umbrella did, or how they did it. All he cared about was that they paid him top-notch salary and he got to carry a firearm.

At the time, Matt had been less than amused by his reinforcement of the stereotypical macho-idiot cop persona, and the words hadn't been a compliment so much as an irritated insult.

With Alice, though—everything about her was so alert. She was always looking, always seeing things so many others missed, whether examining a scene or the people around her.

He finished taping her wound and stood, offering her a hand and knowing she wouldn't take it.

She smiled as she stood, completely on her own, and flicked the safety off her gun. She reached out once, grabbing his hand in hers and squeezing it quickly—and then letting go, both of them striding down the corridor towards an unknown destination.

xxxxx

Rain caught up to J.D about five minutes into the pathway, and although he acknowledged her presence with a simple grunt, barely even glancing at her, he was glad she had followed.

Part of him wanted to hate her. Rain epitomized the perfect catalyst for his emotions; no matter what he said, he knew he could count on her to get angry, to fight with him, to give him an outlet through which to burn through pent up anger and pain.

The other part of him, though, hated using Rain that way. J.D knew Rain understood his need to lash out just as well as he himself did, even pushing him towards such methods at times, but it wasn't something he liked to make a habit out of. Especially not now, when they were on such shaky ground already.

Especially not now, when Olivia might be gone and Rain might be all he had left.

Their boots squelched wetly on the ground, despite most of the moisture being gone already—the drainage panel had obviously worked.

Too little, too late, as far as J.D was concerned.

His grip tightened on the handle of his gun as blue lights flooded the corridor ahead of him and he realized they were almost there.

A few steps later, and the first thing J.D took in about the room was the chaotic appearance of it.

The huge hexagonal room, with four separate rooms and a last, high door at the back, looked as if a tornado had hit. Glass littered the floor from where it had exploded from the windows and doors of the rooms, and the floor was stained a grimy, bloody red.

Not just blood. Olivia's blood.

The bloated sharks, one in the middle of the room, barely more than a skeleton, and the rest scattered throughout the place, seemed fitting to the bloody tableau.

J.D glanced at the fourth room, the one closest to his left—the one where Olivia had been. The door was bent in it's frame, it's glass completely shattered; the window wasn't much better. Three of the sharks seemed converged there, two outside and one hanging halfway inside the door, a sight that would have been comical under any other circumstances.

Across the room was one more shark, not including the one ripped open and still lying on the floor—meaning that there was at least one more shark in the shattered room Olivia had been inside.

J.D peered inside the window, trying to see from his distance any traces of Olivia. He wasn't sure what exactly he wanted to find; whether he was looking for proof that she had escaped or some sick sort of confirmation that she had been killed. Something that would at least give him a concrete answer to his unasked questions.

He caught a glimpse of white, and then Rain was striding past him, her MP5 out in front of her as she headed for the room.

He caught her elbow by instinct, yanking her back as he whispered harshly, "Are you fucking insane? Those sharks could be infected, there's no way you're getting in through that door."

One cut was all it would take. One slip sliding in through the glass-less door, and she'd have an open wound that would be infected in this environment in less than a minute.

She glared at him, asking acridly, "You want to find Olivia, don't you?" He nodded mutely, narrowing his eyes at her as she yanked her arm from his grasp, adding, "And I'm not using the fucking door."

He watched as she used the butt of her gun to break off the glass remaining on the window before using the table to pull herself in, irritated at himself for not having considered it as a place of entry before.

He followed her without a word, and both of them were silent as they peered through the mess inside, eighty percent of the furniture toppled and broken.

"J.D." He turned to look at Rain as she lifted a twisted headset from the ground, one he recognized as the ones Olivia, Matt and Alice had been wearing.

He nodded at her before returning to his search, confused at the brilliant flash of hope that'd exploded in him at seeing what was probably Olivia's headset. It didn't prove anything. It wasn't as if he'd thought the fucking sharks would eat the headset as well.

He barked out a laugh at the thought, a reaction completely inappropriate for his mood, for this environment, and he could feel Rain staring at him, her gaze an unnerving mix of scrutiny and concern as he returned to his search.

There was nothing. Nothing to prove she was here, nothing to prove she was gone.

He turned at the sudden noise of machinery, watching out the window as the door began to slowly descend. Looking at Rain, he watched as she bit her lip, taking her hand off the button as she asked, "Find anything?"

He shook his head, wishing he had something more useful to say. Something that would have equivalence roughly to either "Yeah, she's dead" or "Yeah, she must be alive still".

Something that would fucking mean something.

Rain was quiet, and although a part of him understood she simply didn't know what to say, the other part of him wanted to scream at her to say something.

"You sure picked a bad fucking time to have nothing to say," he said offhandly.

She looked tired, and wary as she glanced at him once before saying, "Let's catch up to Matt and Alice."

He started to nod and then stopped, looking back the way they'd come, at the dark corridor stretching out for what looked like miles. "No."

"What?"

J.D shook his head. "Let's go back the way we came. If Olivia survived, she would have gone that way. She'd look for me."

Rain looked like she was struggling to keep her patience as she answered slowly, "J.D, if Olivia survived, she would have followed Matt and Alice. It wouldn't make sense for her to turn around and go in a completely different direction."

He shook his head, and snapped, "Are you coming?"

Even as the words left his mouth he could see the resolved look on Rain's face, the tired lines around her eyes, the look of which reminded him somehow of the way both his aunt and Alice looked at him when he acted irrationally.

She wasn't going to follow him. Not this time.

"J.D…" she said, dragging the word out as she seemed to realize there was nothing more to say.

It hit him then, how stupid he was being. That first of all, Olivia was probably dead. Secondly, if—if—she'd survived she wouldn't have gone where no one could find her. She was too smart for that.

He spun around and headed for the doorway, feeling Rain fall into step behind him as he walked through the entrance.

They'd been walking for less than five minutes when he heard the first voices up ahead.

Matt, and probably Alice. Arguing, from what he could hear.

He didn't hear Olivia's voice.

He slowed, not wanting to go inside first. He'd been looking for Olivia the entire time, and yet, now that a certain confirmation loomed in front of him, he didn't want to face it.

It was stupid, maybe. That he was so bent out of shape about her. He'd only known her for five days—

Six, he realized, glancing at his watch. It was already two a.m.

He didn't even know her birthday. Her favorite flowers. How many siblings she had. None of the things he'd been told, time and time again, he should know about someone he was with.

All they ever did was fight anymore.

And yet, somehow, he loved her. He didn't know if he could call it falling in love—that seemed over the top somehow.

But he did know he loved her.

He felt Rain come up behind him, and wanted to offer her some explanation. He didn't want to go in there and see her gone, didn't know if he could handle keeping a neutral façade for the whole fucking team.

In the end, he didn't have to explain. Rain squeezed his shoulder, uncharacteristically gentle for her especially under their current relationship, and moved ahead of him.

He followed numbly, barely registering the increasing proximity of their voices until they were less than three feet away from them and Rain was stepping aside, casting a hesitant look over her shoulder at J.D.

He looked up, taking in the scene. Matt and Alice, arguing yet somehow managing the most tender expressions possible.

And beside them, looking at him with obvious worry—

Olivia.

xxxxx

The scene that followed was like some sort of fairytale.

Matt was pulled abruptly from his argument with Alice by the sight of J.D actually running towards Olivia, catching her up in a hug before kissing the startled girl like he'd thought he'd never see her again.

He glanced, confused, at Alice. She smirked back at him, her eyes both amused and somehow tender, like a mother proud of her child's achievements. She obviously had no more idea what was going on than he did, but seemed happy for them all the same.

Plus, he thought, a wry smile crossing his face, she probably didn't mind the interruption.

They'd been halfway to the end of the corridor, having met up with Olivia a few moments before, when Alice had stumbled again, swearing under her breath.

She'd straightened, been ready to continue when he'd stopped all of them, Olivia skirting up ahead slightly to watch the corridor as he asked her in a low tone if she was sure she was okay walking.

She responded in her typical tone of indignation—her and Rain could have been twins in that respect—henceforth starting an argument with her well-being playing the main dilemma.

He understood that she didn't want to hold them back, and he understood that, for some exasperating reason, she felt bad for not being able to hold back her fear and worry for him. But he didn't want her physical health to suffer because of it.

Their argument had fallen quickly off concerned tones of worry, heading directly for what could have possibly been an actual fight had J.D and Rain not interrupted at that moment.

He turned to look at Rain then, still standing by the entrance. She, liked the rest of them, was watching Olivia and J.D, who'd moved onto a whispered conversation. Her face was a mixture of relief, annoyance, and sadness, the contrasting expressions flitting across her face as if she simply couldn't decide how to react.

Her eyes met his, and Matt smiled slightly at her, wishing he could do something to help her. It was good that J.D had found someone, but at the same time—he'd grown close to Rain over the last months, especially considering the time they'd spent together in the Hive, and he couldn't help but feel protective of her.

It was funny how different their relationship was from the one Alice and him had developed. While him and Alice were a constant, someone he could always depend on to be stable and gentle, Rain was a complete opposite. Some days her attitude could be funny and tension breaking, and other days it was simply annoying. Some days she surprised him with her more sympathetic side; other days he could predict her reactions without the slightest hesitation.

And while he felt protective over Alice because he loved her, he felt protective over Rain because she somehow inspired that in him, in everyone she loved. Possibly because she was too damn stubborn to admit when she needed help, and possibly because she always seemed to get herself in situations where she needed help.

Still looking at him, then shifting her gaze to Alice, Rain announced, "I'm going to go further up the corridor."

They both nodded minutely as she brushed past them, disappearing up the corridor. Matt glanced back and J.D and Olivia, reengaged in their make-out session, and wondered, with a disconcerting twinge of worry, whether that was exactly what the group had to deal with all the time concerning him and Alice.

He glanced down at her, waiting to her to look at him before asking, "So how's the bandage holding up?"

"It's fine," she said simply. "Although I don't think I particularly need it."

He laughed despite himself, and she grinned at him, nudging him slightly. "You worry too much."

He shrugged. "So do you," he pointed out.

Something darkened in her eyes, though she continued to look at him, and he wished there was some way to politely take back the words. "It's day six, Matt."

He nodded, not knowing what to say. She opened her mouth, clearly wanting to say something else—and stopped, looking away from him and back to J.D and Olivia.

"What?" he asked quietly, taking her hand and squeezing it gently. "Alice?"

"It's a dead end," Rain announced, walking back into the room.

They all turned to look at her—and then, as a group, at Alice, as if waiting for some sort of reaction.

Alice just sighed. "Another dead end," she said dully.

They were back to the beginning again.

With only two days left to go.

xxxxx

"So how was the mission, exactly?" Michael asked offhandly.

The five of them had returned a couple of hours ago, just a few minutes past three a.m., looking exhausted and upset. Alice had barely responded to any of his questions, only barking that they were going to start searching the labs in the morning after an eight hour rest period.

The blonde had been uncharacteristically short with him, with everyone—and had seemed on the verge of tears. Michael wasn't the only one who'd noticed Matt pull her into a hug, whispering something to her as the group had begun assorting their sleeping things again.

They were all asleep now, everyone having practically collapsed as soon as they'd closed their eyes. Even Rain was asleep this time, J.D staying up to guard with Matt instead.

"Could have been worse," J.D said thoughtfully. "We didn't find the anti-virus, Alice got hurt—but the shark wasn't infected, and we all got out okay. We're all alive."

Michael raised an eyebrow at him. "Yeah, Rain told me about Alice and the sharks. She mentioned something about Olivia, too."

J.D glanced at him in surprise, nodding slightly. "Yeah. She was, uh, in the room with the sharks when we were trying to find the drainage switch—we heard breaking glass, shit like that—"

He broke off, quieting slightly as he added, "I thought she was dead."

Michael nodded, not wanting to interrupt him or intrude, and he continued.

"Her headset went dead, it went into the water—she got out though. She was able to crawl through one of the windows, make it into one of the other rooms until we drained the place."

Michael nodded again. "And she's okay?"

J.D nodded. "Yeah. She was lucky."

He looked tired, worn out, and Michael didn't know what to say to him. He'd spoken to everyone in the group sometime or another, but rarely to J.D—he was still a fairly unknown quality to him.

Finally he chose a topic completely absent from the one they were on, but something he'd wanted to talk to him for days regarding. "You should talk to her."

J.D looked over at him, his expression confused. "Olivia?"

He shook his head. "Rain."

J.D's face went blank, like he was attempting to keep a neutral expression, and he sighed. "Rain doesn't—"

"Of course she does."

J.D looked at him, a distinctly irritated expression on his face now. "What exactly makes you think she'd listen to me?"

"You're her friend," he said simply. "She may be pissed at you, but your still her goddamn friend, you know."

J.D looked frustrated, letting out a sharp intake of breath as he said, "I don't even know what to say to her."

Michael shrugged, watching his legs as he swung them back and forth underneath the table. "Tell her she can trust you."

J.D looked surprised, then angry. "I'm pretty sure she already fucking knows that, Michael."

"Does she?" he countered. J.D's expression had taken on a distinctly dark edge now, and part of him wondered where these words were coming from. "J.D, she doesn't trust Olivia. Right now, everything you say and do is influenced by her. Why should she still trust you?"

J.D's expression was still murderous, and Michael let out a sharp sigh. "Look, just talk to her, okay? At least tell her that."

For a long time J.D didn't answer, and Michael concentrated on kicking at the table leg, on the abstract designs over the carpet as he wondered if J.D was going to deck him. Michael was rarely this forward with anyone, and especially with J.D, whom he'd barely spoken a word of personal conversation to before.

Rain clearly had a bad influence on him.

He couldn't help a small smile at that thought, a smile that remained on his face when J.D finally said, his voice tired, "I'll talk to her. In the morning."

Michael nodded. He had no idea how their conversation was going to go, if J.D would even stick to what he'd just said. For all he knew, he'd just started World War III all over again.

But it was out there. Rain's and J.D's cards, scattered all over the table for the other to see.

What happened now was in their hands.