A Hidden Past

Thanks for the reviews, particularly those of you who are regular reviewers, you know who you are.

This is the last chapter so Jesse will not appear, however if it is requested I will work on a "when Jesse meet Shalimar and Adam" story but I don't know how old Jesse was when he meet MX so if anyone has any ideas let me know. I think it's around 16 or 17.

Chapter 8

She did wake however she always did. When she woke it was nearly a whole day later, she was still in the lab but flat out on a bed, Adam was sitting on a chair next to her his head on the bed fast asleep. Shalimar felt different, she was clean her hair was once again silky ringlets and her skin was soft. She was dressed in a medical gown, and had a cast on her arm and leg, bandages were rapped around her ribs and there was an IV in her arm and breathing tubes in her nose, which she promptly took out.

As she examined herself Harrison noticed she was awake. He came over and knelt down beside her.

"Good morning Shalimar, I'm sure Adam's told you but I'm Dr. Harrison Blake, a friend of Adam's. You must be hungry would you like something to eat?"

He got no reply but Adam had instructed him to make her eat something but not anything too solid which might be a shock to her system. He took a yoghurt out of his pocket and offered it to her. Shalimar looked at him suspiciously unsure of what he was offering, Harrison noticed this and took the seal off the yoghurt and held it out to her. Shalimar sat up onto the balls on her feet leaning forward smelling the yoghurt. She was wary of any kind of poison or drug that might lace the food, she had learnt the hard way not to accept anything given to her too readily.

Harrison did not move while she seemed to inspect the air around the pot. Then in one sudden movement she reached forward and grabbed it out of his hand, held it close to her chest in one hand and jumped off the bed to hide in a corner, taking the IV stand with her. The movement startled Adam and he woke suddenly.

"Shalimar?"

"She's okay, she's over there I gave her a yoghurt."

"Good, did she say anything?"

"Not a word, she just took the yoghurt -after close inspection and ran off to that corner."

Adam looked into the direction that Harrison pointed in and sure enough there was the little girl licking out the yoghurt pot. He walked up and knelt down in front of her.

"Hey Shalimar are you feeling any better?"

Shalimar, who was now finished with the yoghurt merely stared at the floor.

"Say why don't we go to the kitchen and see if we can't find anything else you can eat."

At the thought of food Shalimar looked up. Adam stood up and held out his hand looking hopefully at Shalimar. She didn't move for a while but didn't take her eyes off him, Adam saw this as a good sign and didn't move. Then slowly Shalimar started to move, and although her casts were inhibiting her intentions were clear, but still Adam did not move. He waited until she had stood up completely and her hand was in his before he reached down and picked her up. He carefully removed the IV from her arm and balanced her on his hip. Her legs swung from his hips as he walked into the kitchen, he sat her on the counter and got out everything he thought her system could handle. Once she had eaten her full, which wasn't all that much considering the last time she'd eaten, tiredness seemed to sweep through her body and her eyes dropped.

"Hey, where's my Wild Cat," Shalimar looked up at this comment, "There she is, my little fighter. How about I show you your room, come here."

Adam opened out his arms and Shalimar immediately opened her, a sign of trust forming between them. He took her to her room as they entered Shalimar's eyes widen in awe. He placed her on the bed, her eyes continued to wander around the room taking in all the detail.

"Well I hope you like it, your bathroom is through there and there are some clothes in the dresser for you. If you need anything my room is the down the hall second door on the right, Harrison's is opposite on the left, okay?"

She gave a small nod, the first sign of communication since the journey in the helix. He left her to get change and came back a while later to find her sitting on the bed waiting for him. He walked over to her and she shuffled under the covers. He sat down on the edge of the bed and pulled up the covers around her.

"Goodnight Shalimar, I'll see you in the morning." He placed a light kiss on her forehead and left quietly.

Two weeks later things were going well, Shalimar's bones were almost healed, and the physical scares were mostly gone, both Adam and Harrison were amazed at how quickly she had healed. Shalimar had also begun to talk, more to Adam than Harrison but this was still very limited and only done when necessary, facial expression also remained limited, she had yet to smile, laugh or cry. But it wasn't the physical Adam was worried about, he knew he could fix that. It was the mental scaring that Adam was worried about, he had given her medication to try and give her a restful night's sleep, and while it seemed to dampen the ferocity of the nightmares they were never gone completely. Shalimar also never wanted to talk about the nightmares or anything that had happened to her, Adam tried not push her if she wasn't ready but he didn't think bottling it up was the answer. He just hoped she would open up soon.

It was this night two weeks after her rescue that Shalimar had told Adam she didn't want any more medication, she said that maybe the nightmares were supposed to help her worked stuff out and that her subconscious needed them or she never get passed this. Adam thought this was a very mature thing for a young girl to say and while he wasn't sure on the idea he let her try.

At 2am it all kicked off, an ear piercing scream filled the night air. Adam and Harrison ran to the source. Shalimar was sitting in a cold sweat in the corner of the room, knees into her chest, and hands over her ears, rocking back and fourth. Adam came right over to her and knelt before her.

"Shalimar? What is it, what's wrong?"

He received no answer other than a hysterical babbling coming from the tiny creature.

"Shalimar?" Adam reached out to touch her shoulder, and as he did he finally provoked a reaction as she pulled violently away.

"No! Don't touch me."

"Shalimar it's me it's Adam."

"Adam?"

"Yes." It was then tears started to form in her eyes as Adam pulled her into a hug. She completely broke down in his arms so Adam lifted her from the ground and took her to the bed, laid down holding Shalimar close. He rocked her gently whispering that everything's alright.

Shalimar didn't say anything but Adam had a good idea on what might've scared her so much. She held him tight that Adam thought his clothes might stay wrinkled forever.

"You're safe now ok"

"Promise?"

"Yes I won't let anything bad happen to you ever again, you're safe with me."

"You won't make me go back to them, will you? I don't want to, don't make me."

"Go back to who." No answer.

"I want to stay here, with you."

"Shalimar you will always have a place here."

That seemed to calm here she looked at him and offered a small smile of thanks that warmed Adam's heart and meant more than he ever thought it could.

The End