Chapter Five - OSI Director's Office - 8/13 - 7:30am

Oscar was doing his best to cope with necessary details after his second sleepless night in a row. Rudy, just back from a quick trip to Baltimore to survey the rubble for any signs of Jaime or Steve, had hoped to find him asleep on the office sofa. That way, his friend would be rested when he saw what Rudy had found. Rudy doubted Oscar would get much sleep afterward.

"Oh - you're still up?" the doctor stated the obvious, putting off his unpleasant news.

"Tell me you're bringing good news, Rudy."

"I'm sorry..." he answered, unable to look at Oscar's face. He handed Oscar a thin, gold bracelet. "I found this on the ground on the outer edge of the ash pile," he said quietly. "It's Jaime's." He stopped, then began again. "It - was Jaime's. She always took it off when she went to bed; I remember from the last time she was in the hospital."

"There was nothing else?" Oscar asked.

Rudy shook his head. "Oscar, there wasn't even a house there anymore - just ashes. It burned awfully fast, awfully hot."

Oscar fingered the thin, gold chain and his eyes filled with tears that he would shed later, in private. Jaime had meant more to him than the "like a daughter" relationship that both claimed to have had - so much more. Oscar had never had the heart to try and rip her from Steve's arms and had never told her how he really felt. Rudy, however, knew him well enough to practically read his mind. He placed a comforting hand on Oscar's shoulder and said, very softly, "She knew. C'mon, I'll drive you home."

Annapolis - 8/13 - 7:30am

At the same moment that Oscar was holding back his tears, Jaime was unable to do the same. She buried her head on Steve's shoulder and cried longer and harder than Steve remembered ever seeing her cry before. He rubbed her back, smoothed her hair and just kept holding her until her sobs turned into choked words that she could barely bring herself to utter, much less accept.

"I...killed...two people?"

"No - no, Sweetheart, you didn't. But that's why it's so important for you to try and remember anything you can about what happened right before you got to the NSB."

"Steve, I don't even remember getting there; it was more like - all of a sudden, there I was."

"What's the last thing you remember before that happened? Any little detail, even if it doesn't seem important, might be exactly what we need to figure this out." Jaime was silent, but Steve could see she really was trying. "Did you faint, pass out? Was there a funny smell, like chloroform, or did you eat or drink something that tasted funny?"

"No. All I remember is going to bed, two or three or maybe four nights ago - the time kinda melts together."

"They may have broken in and chloroformed you while you slept. Anything at all after that, Sweetheart? A name, a face - anything?"

Jaime thought hard. "Everything seems all swirled together...and the one thing I do remember, it has to be after the NSB picked me up...the face I remember seeing...it was Kirk."

Steve instantly picked up the phone and dialed Oscar's office. For the first time ever, there was no answer.