Galena

Chapter 6

4 months later

Galena carefully smoothed out the top sheet as she made the bed. She was putting on the comforter when Jesse came in and started going through one of the storage bins that were stacked in the corner.

She smiled as she watched him for a minute. "What are you doing?"

"We've got a mission." Jesse explained as he pulled out a thin case. "Adam needs the camera pins and the other micro cameras."

"Are you going out?" Galena asked nervously. She had been used to Jesse going out on missions, but had become more and more uncomfortable with it.

"Shal and Bren are. I'm just flying the Helix while you and Emma are motoring things from here." Jesse put down all the things he had in his hands and pulled Galena to him for a soft kiss. "Everything is going to be alright."

"I'm just worried about things. The GSA has been so much more active. They shot Brennan in the arm two weeks ago!"

"And you nearly killed yourself trying to heal him! Adam could have taken care of him, but you had to try to take care of it!"

"I'd have done the same for you!" her eyes lit up with indignation. "If I had allowed Adam to take care of him Brennan would have been out of commission for at least a month or two!"

"And you could have been gone forever!" Jesse tried to resist the urge to shake the girl. "I could have taken care of Brennan's work while he was recovering!"

"I don't want you to take Brennan's place! I get too scared when you are out in the field! You have to get near the agents to take them out and Brennan can do it from a distance!" She started to cry. "I never know if you're going to come back! They would have an easier time hurting you because you have to get so close to them!"

"Baby," Jesse sighed as he pulled the girl into his arms, "I'm always going to be careful. I know that you are going to worry, but I want you to understand that I will always make sure that I come home to you."

She pulled him close, holding on to him desperately. "I need to have you to myself for a while."

"Alright." Jesse agreed and then stepped away to close and lock the door. He sat down on their bed and held out his arms to the girl. "Come here."

Galena climbed into his lap and closed her eyes as he rocked her in his arms. "I love you."

"I love you too." Jesse laid back, taking her with him. "I don't want you to put yourself at risk any more if Adam can take care of things. You are too delicate to take too much pain."

"It wasn't that bad. I had just forgotten to eat, and we had not gotten much sleep the night before if you remember." she kissed him lightly and slipped one hand under his shirt.

"You are too much trouble, Miss Varren." he kissed her slightly and cupped her face with his hand as he stared into her eyes. "I wish that I didn't have to go help Adam right now."

Galena closed her eyes and nuzzled her cheek into his hand. "You can't take twenty minutes?"

"I'll come back as soon as I can." he kissed her forehead and then carefully got off the bed.

"Make yourself comfortable and I'll be back to cuddle with you for a while."

"No, I'll come with you." she got up, helped him gather the things Adam needed, and then followed him out of the room.

Brennan, Adam, and Shalimar were sitting in the lab going over the mission plan when Jesse and Galena came in. Brennan frowned slightly as he watched the young couple. Even though it had been four months since Jesse had moved in with Galena, Brennan was still not used to it. His temper had been on a low simmer since the morning after Jesse's birthday when the couple had come in for breakfast. The secret smiles the girl had shared with Shalimar and Emma were all he needed to make his own assumptions, and when Jesse announced that he and Galena were going to share a room Brennan's suspicions were confirmed.

What had irritated him more was the way the other three had reacted. Both of the girls had been more than willing to help Jesse move his stuff into Galena's room and Adam had done all he could to keep the couple around each other constantly. He felt as if he was the only one looking at the situation with open eyes. Every time he looked at them he saw Juliet in Jesse's arms, not Galena. There was too much going on that reminded him of how the two best friends had been, and the last thing he wanted was for Galena to fall on the same path Juliet had.

Shalimar smiled slightly as she caught her husband's reaction. She loved the way Brennan fought so hard to do what was right for Galena, even though he could not see how happy the girl was with Jesse.

"I see you managed to pick up more than the micro cameras." Adam said when he took the things from Jesse.

"She needed to have a better idea of what was going on." Jesse pulled the girl into his arms and leaned against a wall. "My baby was too nervous about the mission."

"There are reasons why we try to keep her out of the planning." Brennan intoned.

"I think that it is time for Galena to be moved into this part of planning missions." Adam decided. "She's done well with her work, and I think with time we could put her in the field as a pilot."

"I'm fine with working from here." she cuddled into Jesse's arms. "I just worry about the others."

"Mostly about Jesse?" Shalimar asked.

"I guess." she blushed slightly. "I mean I worry about every one, but I do especially worry about Jesse."

"We will take further action as needed." Adam broke in. "It may be that active field work is not where Galena needs to go."

"It's not." Brennan said firmly. "She doesn't have the training for it, and I don't want her put out there."

Adam shook his head and sighed. "We can discuss this later. For now we will focus on the mission at hand. I have a contact who has gotten a hold of some information that he thinks we can use. The only problem is that he does not feel comfortable sending it through the internet."

"So we are going to meet him and pick it up." Shalimar finished.

"And Jesse is just going to fly the Helix?" Galena asked timidly, looking only for confirmation.

"That is right." Adam nodded. "Unless something comes up Jesse will only act as a pilot.

Now, I want you to all go about your normal routine while I take care of the cameras."

The four walked out of the room.

"Gal," Brennan said as he grabbed the girl's sleeve, "I want to talk to you for a minute."

"Alright." she lightly kissed Jesse. "I'll be back as quick as I can."

"I'll be at the computers. Come find me when you are done."

Galena nodded and followed Brennan to one of the isolation rooms that was rarely used.

"What is it?"

'I'm worried about you." Brennan sat down in a chair. "I know that you care about him, but I think you might be moving a little fast."

"He's a good boyfriend." she sat down on the med bed and swung her feet. "He treats me well."

"I think we both know that you are expecting to marry him, but I'm not sure what his intentions are."

"You should be able to tell. I let him move in with me, I slept with him; I think that is a pretty clear indication of what our plans are."

"Galena, I'm dead serious. I don't want you to get hurt. He is still too unstable for a serious relationship."

"Bren," she sighed, "we are happy. He loves me and I love him. You know that I would never have agreed to a physical relationship if I didn't feel that we were going to get married."

"I don't see a ring on your finger yet."

"We've been taking it slow. Neither one of us wants to rush into marriage. We're headed there, but it is not time yet."

"I want you to realize that you might never get to that point."

"We are getting married." she stubbornly got up and left the room.

Brennan shook his head as he watched her walk off. "He'd better marry you."

Galena stormed to the computer lab to find Jesse, her eyes fiery with indignation, when he was not there she went to the bedroom. "He is nuts!"

Jesse looked up from the book he was reading. "Who is nuts?"

"Brennan." she climbed into his lap and laid her head on his shoulder. "He thinks that you

and I aren't going to get married."

"We are getting married. Does it really matter what your cousin thinks?"

"No." Galena shook her head slightly. "All that matters is our relationship. if you say that

you are going to marry me I just have to believe it."

"And I am going to marry you. We are going to have a beautiful wedding, just the way you want it."

"And a perfect wedding night?" she giggled slightly as she got up and walked over to the door. She quickly flipped the lock and then walked back to the bed. "I need some time with you."

"Be prepared for Adam to need me to go to the lab and help him with the micro cameras."

"We've got enough time." she smiled wickedly as she sat down next to him and leaned in to kiss him. Her hand quickly found his and she slipped the com ring off his finger.

"They'll just come to the door." he whispered as he pulled her close to him. "There is no getting away from Adam."

"But we can delay them a little." she slipped her own ring off as she kissed him.

Both rings dropped from her hand as Jesse started to pull her shirt over hear head. Her fingers struggled with the buttons on his shirt and her pulse raced as his lips brushed against her neck, shoulders, and breasts. She felt almost feverish by the time he kissed her lips again.

Jesse stroked her face with his finger tips and stared into her bright eyes as he gently unhooked the clasp on her bra. She trembled slightly under his touch and softly kissed him.

Soon the rest of their clothes came off. They fell back onto the bed forgetting about

everything else.

Two hours later.

Galena woke up slowly as a chime sounded on the computer. She sighed slightly as she ran her fingers through Jesse's hair and watched him sleep. He was lying next to her with his head between her breasts and one arm around her. She glared at the computer as it continued to chime.

Jesse woke up a few minutes later as the computer's chime grew louder. "Hey, Baby." he whispered and lightly kissed Galena as he slipped out of the bed and checked the computer. "Adam wants both of us to come to the lab."

"If we have to." She got up and started to pull on her clothes. "At least we managed to get me some time alone with you before he called us back in."

"At least." Jesse pulled on his own clothes and then took Galena's hand as they left the room and headed to the lab.

Adam looked up as the young couple walked in. "I paged you twenty minutes ago."

"Sorry, we were asleep." Jesse sat down in one of the chairs and pulled Galena onto his lap. "What do you need?"

"I want you to give Galena a quick over view of the cameras. This is the first time we've used them since she moved in and I want her to be fully prepared to handle her work here." Adam quickly entered a few commands into the computer. "But first I want to have a word with both of you."

"I'll take full responsibility for whatever." Jesse said as he took Galena's hand.

"We are not going through what we did with Juliet." Adam stated firmly. "Galena is responsible for her own actions, and I'm afraid that you will have to get used to that. Now, the matter at hand is Brennan. Neither of you have done anything wrong, and I realize this. Unfortunately Brennan is having a hard time accepting your relationship."

"I won't break up with him." Galena's eyes narrowed and darkened. "I don't care what Brennan has to say about it, Jesse and I are happy."

"I'm not asking you to break up with Jesse." Adam answered calmly and sat down across from them. "I want to know the intentions that you have in this relationship so I can tell Brennan."

"We're going to get married." Jesse tightened his hold on Galena. "I am going to convince Brennan that I'm good for her and marry her."

"Galena?" Adam asked.

"Jesse and I have spent a lot of time talking about this; and we've come to a decision. We are going to get married. I don't want to do it with out Brennan's blessing, but if I have to I will." Galena kept her eyes locked on Adam's. "This is what I want."

"Alright." Adam nodded. "I will leave you to your work." he got up and left the room so

Jesse and Galena could work. It had gone almost exactly how he had expected. The couple was determined not to let anything interfere, and he as going to make sure nothing happened. He made his way to the garage where Brennan was working. "I spoke to them about their relationship."

"That's good." Brennan said as he slid under one car to change the oil. "How far did you get with them?"

"They plan on getting married. With or with out your blessing; though she would prefer it to be with."

"She doesn't know what she's doing. Do any of you remember how it went with Juliet?"

"We all remember, Brennan. We remember far too well what happened to her. But you are forgetting the details. They both made choices that night, and they both had to accept the consequences of their actions."

"I just don't want to see her hurt. I spent years getting her read to face life. I stepped in and took her father's place in a lot of things. I am not going to sit back and watch something happen to her because Jess has some sort of hero/savoir complex."

"He loves her, Brennan, and it is time for you to realize that. Galena will be fine, he wont let anything happen to her. He would kill himself before he would hurt her."

"If he can prove himself I'll let him have her, but I'm not going to tell them that I approve."

Two days later

Galena sat nervously at the computer as she watched the video feed from the micro cameras. Emma sensed the girl's apprehension and gave her a small smile.

'Our contact still hasn't show up' Brennan's voice came over the computer, 'lets give him another ten and leave.'

"I need you to pick up this information." Adam spoke into a micro phone that was connected

to the com system. "We give him at least thirty before we go."

'I think we may have our contact.' Jesse announced as he looked at the radar in the Helix. 'I've got a single person approaching the location.'

"Pull up the radar screen." Emma whispered to Galena.

The young girl quickly typed in the commands and pulled up the screen. "Jess," she said into her mike, "it looks like we've got a couple more coming in too."

'Yeah, I got them. Shal and Bren may need some help so I'd better set down and get to them.'

"Jess." Galena whispered nervously.

'I love you, Gal. I'll be fine.' he laughed slightly as a thought came to his mind. 'When we get back I'll help you 'calm down.''

"Love you too, and be careful." She blushed slightly, knowing exactly what he meant.

Emma smiled at the girl. "He's a good fighter and he'll be fine."

"I hope so." Galena whispered. Her breath caught as Jesse reached the area where Brennan,

Shalimar, and the informant were just a few moments before a group of seven agents came in.

Shalimar grabbed the informants arm and ran over to a pile of crates where she hid him. She glanced around to make sure there were no agents lurking too near and then ran back out to join the fray.

Brennan formed a telsa coil and took out two agents at once. He jumped and took out another with a spinning kick.

Jesse had his hand's full with two more agents and the sound of Galena breathing heavily over the com link. He ducked as both agents punched and allowed them to knock each other out.

Shalimar fought with one of the two remaining agents while the other hung back slightly.

Brennan and Jesse both caught on to what the final agent as doing and both called out to her. 'Shal!"

Shalimar turned just as the mutant agent threw a metal spike ha had made out of the scraps in the alley. She ducked a moment too late and it hit her, knocking her down to the ground.

Brennan shot down both agents with telsa coils as Jesse ran over to Shalimar.

Jesse quickly checked Shalimar's wound to determine the damage. 'Gal, tell Adam Shal's

down. I cant tell how badly she was hurt.'

Adam nodded to Galena, knowing that the girl was too shaken up to move. "Bring her in, Jess. I'll take care of it"

'We're on the way!' Jesse's voice came over the com system. He sighed slightly. 'You might

want to have Gal leave, and tell her that I love her."

"Jesse!" Galena called, her panic at his words helping her to find her voice again.

'It is going to be alright, Baby.' Jesse answered calmly.

Twenty minutes later.

Jesse held the lab doors open as Brennan wheeled Shalimar in on a stretcher.

The second he let the door close, Galena flew into Jesse's arms with tears streaming down her cheeks. She wrapped her arms tight around his neck and held onto him.

Adam smiled wanly at the couple as he and Emma began the scans on Shalimar. He frowned when he saw the results. "We have to move fast, and I need Galena calmed down. Her left lung has been punctured, very near her heart. As soon as I pull out the spike Galena will need to heal the wound as quickly as she can."

"I can't." Galena whispered as she held on to Jesse even tighter. "I'm too scared."

"You're going to do fine." Jesse gently pushed her away and wiped the tears from her eyes.

"Just take some deep breaths and calm down. I'll be right here with you."

Galena took a couple of slow, deep breaths as she stared into Jesse's eyes. Once she calmed down she quickly kissed Jesse and then turned around to face Adam. "I'm ready."

"If you can get the major part of the wound healed I can handle the rest." he gently led her over to the table. "Stay calm, you are stronger than you think."

"Alright." Galena nodded. She closed her eyes as she readied herself for the job.

Adam carefully pulled the stake out. "Now!"

Galena quickly placed her hands over the would and started the healing process. She began to feel weaker as she worked, but stayed with the process.

Jesse watched Galena carefully. He tried not to distract her, but kept a close eye on her.

"Adam!" He called as he rushed forward to catch Galena who was fainting.

Adam turned from the computer and ran over to check on Galena's pulse and breathing. "Put her on a table and I'll scan her. She seems alright, but since this is the second time this has happened I want to run an extensive battery of tests on her."

"How is Shal?" Jesse asked as he gently set the girl up on the table.

"Galena managed to completely heal the wound." Adam shook his head. "She probably just over did it."

"Do you want me to help you with the scans?"

Adam glanced at the girl for a moment, hesitating to answer. "I think that it is best if I do this myself. I don't want you to worry about her and I would appreciate it if everyone left the lab while I work."

"She's my cousin." Brennan stood his ground. "I'm not going to leave her alone while you run this battery of tests."

"Brennan," Emma spoke up, "if Adam wants us out of the room while he works there must be a good reason. We've got two team members down and all of us are nervous. Let's give him the room to work. We all know that Adam can take care of things."

"I'll be at the computers." Jesse whispered. He brushed back as strand of hair away from Galena's forehead and lightly brushed his lips against hers before he stepped out.

"I want to know the second either of them is awake." Brennan stated firmly. "No matter how many more scans you have to run I want to know the exact second."

"You will." Adam agreed. He watched the last two members of his team leave and then turned to the girl on the lab table. "Gal, you'd better be alright. I don't know if the team will hold together if we loose you."

Three hours later.

Adam sat down in front of the group, prepared to tell them the results of Galena's scans. The girl had woken up an hour earlier, and Brennan had not let her out of his sight. Adam sighed as he looked at the girl who was sitting next to her over protective older cousin. Not only had Brennan followed her around Sanctuary since she woke up, but he had also avoided letting the girl spend a second alone with Jesse.

"What are the results?" Emma asked softly.

"All four of you need to be prepared to understand what is going on. I want to explain about Shalimar first then I will explain what is going on with Galena." Adam took a deep breath and then let it out. "I'm afraid that there are problems beyond just the wound. There was some bacteria in and on the metal. It has gotten into Shalimar's system and whatever took place when the metal was fashioned caused the bacteria to grow at a rapid pace."

"She's not out of the woods yet then?" Brennan asked, clenching and unclenching one fist.

"No," Adam shook his head "she's not. I have several scans running, and I'm running her

blood through a filter."

"Couldn't I take care of it?" Galena asked as she got up and left he love seat where she was sitting with Brennan. She walked over to the chair Jesse was sitting in and climbed into his lap.

"I'm afraid that you wont be doing anymore healing unless it is an absolute emergency." Adam gave the girl a wan smile. "This is where things are going to get very serious, and I need you to pay close attention. You all know that your genetic structure is falling apart, but for some reason Galena's seems to be falling apart faster than that of any other new mutant I've seen. I'm afraid that it is linked to her powers. The only good news is that her powers seem to be healing her. That is the only reason she is still with us. It is possible that over a long period of time she'll stabilize on her own, but that is only if she does not use her powers anymore."

"So as long as she doesn't use her powers she's ok?" Jesse asked slowly. He wrapped his arms tighter around the girl and kissed the top of her head.

"There are no easy answers here, Jesse." Adam hung his head slightly, knowing that both men were going to cause him trouble one the news was out. "I don't want to say this, but I have to. There is a chance that the healing process may become too much for her powers. If that happens…we'll loose her."

"That is not an acceptable answer." Brennan said as he got up and stormed out of the room.

"He needs time to cool off." Emma half whispered. "Is there anything at all we can do?"

"I've written a doctor who has made promising advancements in the field. She is young, but she is good."

"I want to go sit in the lab with Shal." Galena whispered as she got up and walked out of the room.

"I'll stay with her to make sure she doesn't do anything stupid." Jesse got up and followed Galena out of the room.

"They are both going to be alright." Emma said gently. "Both of them are fighters."

"The team has drifted far enough apart due to Juliet's death. I don't think we can take losing anyone else." Adam glanced in the direction of the lab. "She heals a lot more than physical injuries."

"I know what you mean." Emma smiled softly. "Jess and Bren are getting closer again. In time she may help them get back to being the close friends they were."

"If we lose her we may lose Jesse too. I don't think he can stand to be haunted by two ghosts."

"I know." Emma winced slightly as a wave of emotion hit her. "I'm going to go to my room. Things are a little tense here."

Adam nodded as the woman left. With his hand held computer he quickly accessed the security cameras so he could check in on the team.

Jesse and Galena were curled up together in a chair by Shalimar's lab bed. The girl's need for comfort was obvious and it was no surprise to him that she had turned to Jesse.

Brennan was in the dojo running through a long series of simulations. A quick check revealed that the safeties had been turned off, but Adam knew better than to interfere.

He sighed as he turned off the hand held and got up to go to the lab. It was going to take a lot of work to hold the team together.

Three days later

Shalimar's eyes fluttered open and one of the monitors beeped. Adam was at the woman's side in an instant. "Don't try to get up yet. I'll call Brennan in here to see you, but I want to run some more tests to make sure that you are alright."

"Ok." Shalimar agreed. "How long have I been out?"

"Since the mission. Do you have any memory of what happened?"

"One of the agents was a new mutant. He hit me with a spear or something."

"You're right. It punctured a lung and narrowly missed your heart. If it hadn't been for Galena we probably would have lost you."

"How is the kid?" Shalimar closed her eyes slightly.

"She's recovered, but under orders to take it easy for a few weeks. Healing you took a lot out of her and I want to make sure that she recovers completely. She's been in here with you since the day of the mission, and Jesse has had to fight with her over going to sleep. He just took her to bed for a nap a couple of hours ago."

"Adam," Brennan called as he walked in. "Jess got her to go to sleep."

"Good. Your wife is awake. I'll let you speak to her but then I want to run some tests to make sure that she has fully recovered."

"Alright." Brennan nodded and walked to his wife's bed side.

That night

Shalimar and Brennan's Room.

Shalimar laid back in Brennan's arms and closed her eyes as she cuddled close to him. "So what is up with the love birds? Jess wouldn't let her out of his sight and then they skipped the movie so she could go to bed early."

"Healing you nearly killed her. Galena's powers are more unstable than any of the rest of us. She's been forbidden to ever use them again, at least until something can be done to stabilize her."

"So Jesse has gone into the super protective mode." she sighed slightly. "He really loves her, Bren."

"I know. If anything the last few days have proven that. I'm just not ready to let go of her."

"She'll be safe with him. Jesse wont allow anything to hurt her."

The Lab

Adam sat at the computer reading the email he had sent to Doctor Rickers.

"Dear Doctor Rickers,

"I am not sure that you remember me, but I knew your brother for a short time. We met at his birthday party two years before he died. Atticus always told me how good you were at your work, and the years have proven him right.

"I know that you have been working on a process to stabilize the DNA of new mutants, and I am interested in seeing what you have gotten done on it. One of my team is in danger of complete destabilization and I am hoping that you can help her.

"I am waiting to hear back from you

"Adam Kane."

He closed out the email and looked back at the file on the doctor that he had pulled up. She was young, beautiful, and exotic. He was nearly twenty-five years her senior, but they had felt sparks fly the night they met. It would be interesting to find out if she still felt the same.

Emma's Room

The red-head laid peacefully on her bed reading a book. The emotions that had been flying around Sanctuary had kept her locked in her room, but now things had calmed back down.

It was going to be a struggle to hold things together. Unless Adam could find a way to stabilize Galena's powers there was no chance of the team lasting.

She knew what Adam had left unsaid. The chance's of Galena's powers saving her were low. It was almost a certainty that the girl would die with in five years, maybe only two. Adam would never tell the others the truth. She would be the only one to know what was really going on. Unless the doctor Adam had contacted could save Galena the days of Mutant X would be over.

Jesse and Galena's Room

Galena laid quietly with her head on Jesse's chest. He was gently running his fingers up and her back in hopes of lulling her to sleep. She bit her lip slightly, knowing that he was hesitant to chance anything that might hurt her. "Jess," she finally whispered, "I need more than this."

"What do you need baby?" Jesse asked softly, almost asleep.

"You not to be scared." she sat up and pulled her knees to her chest. "The way you won't touch me anymore scares me."

Jesse woke up at her words. "I just want to make sure that you don't get hurt. I couldn't stand to lose you, Gal."

"But you have to understand that I don't want to be treated like a baby. I'm old enough to take care of myself."

"I just want to make sure that we have a chance to have a future together."