AN: I know this is short, but it seemed like such a good cliff-hanger…

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Emma woke up the next day to the safe feeling of warmth behind her and she smiled to the room. Shalimar had been all cuddling and protective the night before and Emma didn't mind. This was definitely a nice feeling that she could get used to. She slowly turned around so she was lying on her back, getting a good view at Shalimar who was snuggled up against her with her arm around Emma's waist. When Emma moved again though, the ferals grip on her tightened automatically and Emma giggled softly. Shalimar's eyes opened when she heard the laughing and looked at Emma.

"Looks like you're starting to get comfortable in bed with me." Emma laughed again.

"What?" Shalimar said, not understanding what the psionic meant.

"The snuggling."

"Oh," Shalimar said and moved away from Emma.

"I think it's nice. Makes me feel safe."

"I should probably talk to Adam," Shalimar answered as she put on her clothes. "He's probably gonna give me the whole team and mission speech because we didn't bring Jodi with us."

"Okay, I'll meet up with you in a minute."

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"Good morning Adam."

"Didn't I make it clear what the mission was yesterday?"

"Look, Emma was in trouble okay. I couldn't just ignore that. The safety of the team comes first."

"I think you might be a little too overprotective with Emma."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I mean that you're letting your instincts take over too much. You're acting like you're in love or are her mother."

"Well, I'm sorry if I care about Emma." Shalimar snapped, feeling like she was being attacked or accused.

"We all do, but you need to relax a little, for the sake of the whole team. If you continue this you could put someone else in danger."

"I can't believe this."

"I know you feel like you're being accused here, but I'm not-"

Shalimar's eyes turned feral. "You don't know anything about how I feel."

The blonde rushed out of the room and didn't even notice Emma when she hurried past her.

Emma looked confused as she walked in to Adam.

"What was wrong with her?"

"Emma it's good to see you."

"Don't avoid my question. Why was she so upset? Has something happened?"

"We just had an argument that's all."

"About what?"

"Well…"

"It was about me wasn't it?"

"I just explained to her that she was being overly protective of you and that it could put the team in danger. She didn't take it well, but she'll come around once she has cooled of."

"Maybe I should go talk to her?"

"No, I think it's best to give her some space. You can tell me more about this Jodi and her powers."

"Well, I'm not sure what her powers are, but she had the same powers as Shal and I had, plus the cloning ability. The strange thing is why she didn't use our abilities against us sooner if she had them when we got there. It was like she got the powers after she touched us."

"So she can take other mutants powers. That's interesting."

"Yeah, I mean, that would explain what she could do wouldn't it?"

"Yes. It's a quite rare power though, and a very complicated on too, so I think we can assume that she only keep the powers she steel for a certain amount of time. If not she probably would have had several more different abilities."

Brennan and Jesse came running into the lab.

"Hey Adam, take a look at this." Jesse turned on a screen. "The guy we were visiting last night has been found dead. Jodi probably killed him."

"We need to make sure she doesn't hurt anyone else," Adam said.

"How?" Brennan said worried. "I mean, this woman is completely crazy."

"I can be the bait since it's me she wants," Emma said quickly.

Both guys went to protest, but was cut of by Adam.

"I think that's a good idea. I don't see how we can get her to reveal herself any other way."

"I don't like it Adam," Brennan said.

"It's gonna be fine. Besides, I'm a big girl. I can take care of myself."

"Okay, we're gonna have to come up with a plan." Adam said, putting on his working expression.

"Great, you guys do that and I'll go check on Shalimar, fill her in on the idea."

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Emma knocked on the ferals door, but didn't get any answer. "Shal, can I come in?"

Still no answer. If it hadn't been for the fact that she could feel the blonde she would have thought she wasn't there. She felt the handle and was relieved to find the door unlocked.

Once she stepped inside she immediately noticed Shalimar sitting in a chair having a moment of huge self pity and pouting.

"Hey." The psionic greeted her softly. "Not exactly the place I expected to find you after an argument. I would have thought you would be beating the crap out of a punching bag or taken a sprint in the mountains. What's with the brooding?" The brunette tried to sound light hearted and sarcastic, but she felt the confusion and frustration and irritation coming from Shalimar and found it hard to sound happy.

The feral snickered and when she lifted her eyes to meet Emma's, the psionic wanted to cry. She had never seen the blonde's eyes so full of sadness and despair before.

She walked closer to her and sat down between Shalimar's legs.

"Hey, what's wrong sweetie?"

"Maybe Adam is right. I've been treating you as if I own you." Shalimar had tears in her eyes, something that was a rarity with the blonde.

"No you haven't. You've just been protecting me. And you know I've been liking it." Emma tried to give the feral a reassuring smile, but Shalimar didn't see it because she was too busy avoiding eye contact with the brunette.

"He was right you know. I do care more about you than the others."

"What do you mean?" Emma said confused.

Shalimar looked into Emma's eyes and before the psionic had time to wonder what was going on, the feral leaned forward and gave Emma a short peck on the lips.

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