Chapter 3

Legal Disclaimer- The characters in the following story belong to Alliance Atlantis, Tribune Entertainment, Fireworks, Marvel and Avi Arad.

Authors Note-Yeah, I had thought of orphaning it, I admit it. I also managed to get pretty sick in the past month. Ever hear of Anemia? Iron poor blood does wacky things to you, and I had managed to work on this a bit, then wake up on the floor from passing out…Not fun when the head hits the computer desk. I'm okay though. Wings, here you go. You helped remind me. Thanks! Also, I love DVD's and DVD interviews. Man, Forbes has VERY nice eyes.

Jesse was finally asleep after Adam ran yet another test. Emma had gone directly to him when they discovered that Jesse could no longer use his telepathy. Adam had kept him in the lab for hours, the rest of the team taking turns on taking care of Pierce and running the continuing search for the rest of the kids. Pierce had been questioned further by Lexa about the other kids, trying to get the child to describe the area that the kids were calling him from, and Pierce tried, but wasn't able to help them in pinpointing a location. He was also a little reluctant to help them, since the last time he had mentioned the kids caused him pain. When Lexa found why Pierce was hurt she was upset with Jesse, but Emma talked to her about it. Strangely enough the women were finally beginning to get along.

Emma watched her husband sleep. The Jesse she knew looked years younger when he slept, this time he looked older. Something had triggered this episode. She didn't know how to explain it to Adam and hated herself for saying "Fix him." Adam wasn't perfect, but at least he knew more about mutants and how they worked than anyone else they could trust. Jesse was physically fine, this she knew, something else was eating him. Her hunch was that his inability was psychological, he had hurt with his gifts, so now they were more like curses.

She turned back to the waiting crowd of people. Lexa had taken Pierce out for a little while, hoping that playing in fresh air would help jog his memory and also wear the hyperactive child out. Brennan and Shalimar had stayed with Emma, running additional tests when Adam asked them to, but keeping an eye on their other patient, Emma.

Adam came into the small room that overlooked the lab and stared at the group. He knew the team would protect each other, no matter what. This was a hard one to explain though.

"Nothing is physically wrong with him," Adam started, "I have run every single test imaginable, and believe it or not, he's fine."

"His lack of telepathy though?" Emma asked, "He had it up until he worked out with Brennan."

"And he didn't get hurt by me," Brennan interrupted, "He was actually doing quite well, like he was reading my next moves before I thought them. I commented on it. The situation with Pierce was right after that, Emma."

"What situation with Pierce?" Shalimar asked from her perch on the edge of the couch, "What happened?"

"Jesse read him without permission, and he did it quite forcefully," Emma replied quickly, "Pierce is alright, but it upset Jesse more than it did Pierce."

"Upset him enough to shut his telepathy off," Adam concluded, "That's the best I can figure it. I know that it's a useful power for him to have, and he's well equipped to have it, but he's not using it at all. He put walls up, we all know that, but he's put them so far up and out of reach that he's shut that part of himself down."

"Can he still mass and phase Adam?" Brennan asked, "I know that's like breathing for him, but, has he completely shut down?"

"He can still mass and phase, but I don't know for how long, and I wouldn't even mention it to him," Adam replied, "I think we're just going to have to act like he has never had this power, it will more than likely come back in spades. Just be ready. If you think that his first experience with a lack of control was bad, this could be a whole lot worse."

Emma shuddered at the thought of Jesse with his hands over his ears, his eyes glazed, chanting "get them to stop yelling" over and over. She had pulled him out of that, had seen him blossom with the arrival of Pierce, and actually gotten used to stepping back into this life.

"We can handle it," Shalimar said, her voice soft but confident, "Jesse is one of us. We protect our own."

"Yes we do," Adam said, "He'll need our help more than anything else. Where's Lexa? I know that she was taking Pierce out for a little while, I need to check on him."

"Last I heard they were okay, she would have called if he was hurt," Emma replied, "She knows what happened now."

"I just want to check him as well," Adam smiled, a smile somewhere between happy and grim, "I want to make sure that he's not acting like Jesse is. This isn't right, the way he's acting, Emma. You sensed it and brought him to me. Therefore, he's off missions until we know what's going on with him."

"He's not going to like that," Brennan said, "You know he's worse than me on staying in."

"Yes, but I don't want him going off the handle when the chips are down," Adam continued, "You guys are going to be in for it when we find these kids. The Creator and what's left of the Dominion are killers. I just want all of you as one mind when you need to be."

"We are," Brennan met Adam's worried gaze, "Jesse will be with us."

"Good," Adam replied, "I still want him to stick close to home for a short while though. He needs the rest."

"Who needs the rest?" Jesse asked, coming into the room from the lab, "Me?"

"Yes, you," Emma laughed, "How you feeling?"

"I'm okay," Jesse replied, taking a second to look at the reactions of his friends, "Adam doesn't think so huh?"

"No, I think you need to rest, Jesse," Adam's look of concern ran over him, "You have worn yourself out emotionally, physically and haven't thought about much other than getting the Creator."

Jesse glared at him. He was right, but he didn't like being reminded of it. His primary thought since hearing the kids scream was vengeance. He wanted to roast the man like he roasted the kids in their pods. That was a rage he couldn't get out of his system. As much as he tried to pull that one emotion under control, it had become impossible. Emma gasped, the emotion radiating from Jesse was so raw it made her taste blood in her mouth.

Jesse grabbed her arm as she reeled from it.

"Em, you okay?" he asked, instantly concerned.

Emma looked at him, her eyes slightly glazed. His touching her instantly broke the wave he was throwing, but, it did hurt. His rage was both intoxicating and frightening. She shook her head as her eyes became a lighter shade of blue.

"Yeah," she said softly, "Jesse, listen to Adam this time, you need to take a little time, spend it with Pierce, okay?"

Jesse was a little startled. Emma had suggested he see Adam, she had told him everything would be okay, but, he couldn't read this reaction from her. She looked at him, her eyes with the usual reading of love that he knew, but something wasn't right. He wanted her to spend time with Pierce, but for him to not be on this mission wasn't what he expected.

Brennan read the emotion off of his face. Something wasn't right for Emma, who only moments before had been pro-Jesse had instantly changed. She sensed something that they didn't and he was going to follow her lead.

"Jess, listen to her," he said, knowing that the double whammy of Emma and himself would work wonders, "We'll call you in when it's time for all the fun."

Jesse looked at them. They were right.

"Okay, okay," Jesse agreed.