Emma looked herself over in the mirror, hardly recognizing the image staring back at her. She felt like it had been ages since she'd looked at herself and sighed knowing it was going to take more than a little getting used to if she wanted to feel at home again.
Deciding there was no putting it off any longer she revved herself up for confrontation and headed for the door beginning to make her way down the hall. She knew this place well, knew every nook and cranny of Sanctuary yet walking down it's halls she couldn't help the feeling she was somewhat out of place. She tried to dismiss the uncertainty as just nerves since she'd been gone so long but something in the pit of her stomach nagged her on and she was grateful when she entered Adam's lab that the tests would at least give her something else to focus on for a while.
Emma stepped through the doors she'd been through a million times yet never set foot across at the same time. She was thankful she hadn't run into Jesse, Brennan, or Lexa on her way there and smiled up at Adam hoping to start off, or continue, on the right foot with him.
Adam looked up as the red head entered his lab. He merely looked her over for a moment, taking in a deep breath as he stared at the team member, friend, he'd thought he'd lost long ago. She was perfect, he thought. So perfect in fact he had to remind himself although she was Emma she was still a clone, a carbon copy of the original woman. But what a piece of work.
"Emma," he greeted stepping over to her and laying a hand on her shoulder. "Please, come sit down."
He motioned with his free hand to the chair and Emma smiled and made her way over to sit, making herself comfortable.
Adam lifted a small light from his pocket and shown it in her face as he checked her vitals. For a clone she was quite amazing really, he thought, marveled at the woman and her astonishing existence. Having only been back at Sanctuary for a little while himself, he could relate to how the red head must be feeling and hoped Shalimar knew that despite the previous night's events.
"Tell me, how do you feel?" he asked looking into those deep eyes of hers. She looked exactly like Emma in those eyes, well, almost.
"I feel pretty good except my memories are all choppy and misplaced."
"I bet. Being pumped full of all that information must be hard for your brain to compute so soon," he answered walking around her. "I'm going to run a few tests now, take some blood, do some scans, make sure everything's alright with you. Now I want you to look straight ahead and remain as still as possible."
Emma nodded and did as she was told. Soon enough a scanner began to run up and down her body and she worried for a moment at what he might find. This being alive thing was new to her and she didn't really understand herself as much as she'd like to and if she couldn't even feel completely secure with herself how could she blame anyone else if they didn't? Except Shalimar. Shalimar always seemed comfortable with her, she reminded herself. If nothing else at least someone wanted her here. Someone wanted her here enough to give her life even. But this wasn't nearly the first time the feral had given her new life, she thought, thinking back to the only memories she could access at the moment. Shalimar had saved her life many times, never with a second's hesitation. Yes, she was sure Shalimar was completely sure of her, or at least the real Emma, so why wasn't she?
Shalimar made her way to the lab desperately wanting to speak with Emma when a familiar scent moved into her nose bringing about an aggravated sigh. She stopped for a moment and didn't bother to turn around as she spoke.
"Not now, Jesse."
"Shalimar, we need to talk." His voice was firm as she could tell he had quite a bit to get of his chest but she was in no mood to relieve him of any of it.
"I said not now," she firmly reminded him.
"Look at least let me apologize."
The softer words got her to turn and face him but what he saw on her face was anything but sympathy.
"For what? Being a jerk and hurting Emma's feelings?"
"For upsetting you," he corrected stepping closer to her as he spoke. "I just want you to know why this upsets me so much."
Shalimar sighed diverting her eyes from him but allowing him to continue on.
"I miss Emma too but she's gone and nothing can bring her back. That clone is just a shell of Emma. What she was inside is gone and every time I'm gonna see that clone that's all I'll be able to think about and the thought hurts, Shal. I don't know if can handle it. And I know how you felt about Emma and…I was just trying to look out for you. I don't want you to hurt yourself and I think eventually this will hurt you."
Shalimar took the final step to bring their bodies closer, touched by his sad face and emotions even she couldn't help picking up from her friend. A gentle hand reached up and pressed itself to the molecular's cheek, her own emotions and his seeming to collide as they touched.
"I know," she whispered. "But I need you to trust me, Jess. There's more going on here than you know and I can't explain it all to you right now but I just need you to trust me. I know what I'm doing."
Jesse sighed as Shalimar stepped back and he hoped his confession had moved something inside the usually strong sensed feral.
Shalimar smiled at her friend and turned to head back down the hall destined for the lab.
"I hope you're right," Jesse said in a sigh as the blonde turned the corner and out of view.
"As soon as I'm done here I'll let you know what's up," Adam explained to the red head still in the chair when all tests had been run.
"Emma," Shalimar said entering the lab and walking directly over to her friend, a sense of déjà vu striking her as she peered down at her in the chair.
"Shal, I'm glad you're here. We need to go stop Ashlocke," Emma said standing from the chair and fixing herself up a little.
The statement got Adam's attention and he looked up with curious eyes and Shalimar shifted hers to him before returning them to Emma's.
"Whoa, slow down, hun, what about Ashlocke?"
"We have to stop him," Emma reiterated, determination more than evident in her eyes. She took a step forward and Shalimar's hands were soon on her shoulders keeping her grounded in her place.
"Ashlocke's dead, sweetie," she informed.
Her words only brought more confusion to Emma and she squinted her eyes in question.
"What?" she asked not understanding what was going on.
"We already stopped Ashlocke, hun. That's just a memory you're remembering."
Emma was silent. She tried to think back and couldn't seem to place the memory on a timeline at least not in the right order. She brought a hand up to her head as total confusion now took her over.
"I thought…he's evil we need to…"
"We already did. That already happened," Shalimar informed moving her hands up and down Emma's arms in comforting strokes.
"I don't…I can't remember. I just remember we need to stop him and-"
"I know," Shalimar interrupted pulling Emma into a closer embrace. "That's just the first part of the memory. The rest will come to you ok."
"I can't place anything on a proper timeline," Emma informed sounding frustrated with herself. "I don't know when anything happened."
"As your memories come back to you it's only natural you'll feel a little confused," Adam intervened hoping to bring some comfort to the woman. "I'll check all the test results and make sure there are no problems with your brain's functionality. You should be able to process each memory you were given but it's likely to take some time to get used to."
"See, everything will be ok," Shalimar informed holding the woman in her arms.
"Yeah," Emma answered softly looking into the feral's loving eyes and suddenly feeling much better.
"Why don't you come lie down ok? I'll make you some breakfast."
The invitation sounded more than appealing to Emma and she smiled allowing the feral to lead her back to her room.