As Mark leaves the principal's office, he gets a message on his communicator from Foster. Josh and Kara ditched and Ken's not sure where they went. He's off to find them.

Mark sighs as he makes his way to the library, assuming that's where Maddy will be since it's lunch. This morning has been crazy. The principal was a cocky ass hole who saw his son as an angel. Mark tried to smooth things over so that Hope Plaza wouldn't get involved.

That was the other thing: not understanding why Hope Plaza was forcing security onto this family. Mark always suspected that they didn't want them here, he figured out why soon enough (Zoe), but he still assumed that the Shannons were his employers. He thought Hope Plaza had roped them into hiring security. Until his little chat with the principal that is. "Terra Nova Recruitment Offices sent me over all of the necessary information," Principal Ward had said. "I understand that this is a unique situation, especially for you being Madelyn's specific guard and all, but that doesn't excuse the altercation that took place the other day."

Mark had looked at the man blankly. "Right," he eventually said. "So what do you think that you understand exactly? About our unique situation?"

The principal rolled his eyes, for he thought that Mark was only being a smart ass and not actually confused. "It's no secret that this is being kept in a tight circle, but you don't have to act so surprised at me being informed," he said. "To put it in few words I know that Hope Plaza is invested in Madelyn." Mark and nodded along, all the while thinking What the fuck?.

Now he leaves the library, annoyed that Maddy isn't there. Mark wanders the halls until he finds her going through her locker. "Maddy?"

Maddy turns quickly, dropping what she's holding. Mark leans down, picking up her jacket for her. He had planned to jump on her right away regarding whatever this Hope Plaza business was about, but when he hands the item back and looks in her face, Mark can see redness in Maddy's eyes. "Are you okay?" he asks automatically.

Maddy mumbles 'of course' and turns back to her locker, shielding her face. "Long morning, you know?" she says as she closes the door and continues down the hall.

"You have no idea," Mark responds dryly. He looks around to make sure that no one else is there before continuing, "I'm kind of confused actually. You see, Terra Nova isn't usually so involved with a family's personal security that they pay for them to have guards twenty-four seven."

"I guess there's a first time for everything," Maddy says lightly.

Mark glances at her. "Yeah," he agrees, "but I was also confused about how your family gained passage. We were told it was your mom."

"It is," Maddy answers shortly.

"But," Mark continues, "Principal Ward mentioned how invested Hope Plaza is in you."

Maddy slows her walking. She looks warily at Mark. "I … I'm not sure what he meant by that."

Mark rolls his eyes. "Fine," he says lowly, "but just tell me how I am supposed to protect you if I don't know the full story."

"You know the full story!" Maddy snaps. "I'm safe. The only thing you'd have to protect me from is someone trying to off me just so that I'll shut my mouth for two full minutes. I have a really high IQ and GPA, so that's all the principal meant. That I could probably be helpful to the science or engineering division of Terra Nova one day or something."

Or something, Mark thinks. He grows angry at Maddy's stubbornness and how she puts herself down. "No one cares enough about your rambling to hurt you, Maddy, don't be dramatic. And I can tell when you're lying; your voice gets higher and you scrunch up your forehead."

Maddy looks at Mark, fighting back tears. "You'd be surprised," she says shortly. "And FYI withholding information isn't the same as lying. Lying is the act of intentional misinformation; evading is avoiding a direct topic through cleverness or vagueness." At this point they are at the library, and Maddy goes in, leaving Mark by the door counting to ten in his head so that he doesn't lash out. Why does she have to be so stubborn? She literally just admitted to being evasive.

The rest of the day passes quickly enough, though Mark and Maddy barely say a word to each other. As soon as the final bell of the day rings, Mark stands up and makes it all the way to the classroom door until he realizes that Maddy isn't with him. Usually she flies out of the building at the end of the day. Today she slowly stands up, staring at the ground. "What?" Mark asks. "You coming?"

Maddy slowly nods, her face ashen as she puts on her rebreather.

It is windy outside, and trash and dust blow around the street side. Mark watches Maddy curiously as she practically runs toward the apartment building. She looks like she could blow away with the wind. By the time that they get into the lobby, about 10 to 15 minutes after they first stepped out of the school building, Maddy's face is gray. "Maddy?" Mark asks. "What's wrong?"

"N-nothing," she croaks, her voice raspy. As they head up the stairs, she takes off her rebreather and gives a small cough. Once Maddy gets into the apartment she collapses on the couch, struggling to catch her breath. She coughs again, but this time she can't stop. Mark watches from the door as she sits up, leaning over her knees trying to breathe. Something really isn't right.

Maddy moves the hand that had been over her mouth when she was coughing and, if possible, blanches even more. "What is it?" Mark asks.

"Huh?" Maddy asks. She stands up, hiding her hands behind her back. "I said I'm fine," she answers. "I just … I have to go to the bathroom."

"Maddy," Mark says walking toward her. He touches her arm. "Let me see your hand. What is it?"

Maddy looks at Mark like he's crazy and she shakes her head. "What are you talking about Mark?" she asks. "I'm fine!"

"What's going on?"

Mark and Maddy both look up to see Josh jumping down from the loft.

Mark scoffs. "You've been here the whole time?" he asks. "Foster's been all over town look for you!"

"So sorry," Josh says sarcastically. "We planned to lose him so we could get back and watch Zoe."

Kara climbs down the ladder and helps Zoe down. "Maddy!" Zoe says excitedly, running up to hug her sister.

"It's great to see you, Mads," Kara smiles. "I know it's been a while but with the whole" – she warily glances at Mark – "security thing, I wanted to stay out of the way."

Maddy nods, seemingly dazed. "Yeah, nice … I just ..." she blinks and looks around dizzily, stumbling over her own feet. "Don't feel … well."

"Maddy!" Josh yells as Mark catches his sister before she hits the floor. "Maddy? What's wrong? Can you hear us?"

"Oh my god," Kara says. "I think she passed out."

Mark shakes Maddy by the shoulders as gently as possible. He grabs her wrist to take her pulse when he sees the splotches of red liquid drip down her hand. He looks up wordlessly at Kara and Josh. "It's …" Josh starts. "How did this happen again?" Kara walks over to the couch, grabbing the discarded rebreather. "That's only a few months old," Josh says. "She got it after she was out of the hospital. It can't already be broken."

But when Kara turns it over they see the cracks running around the seal. "No way she didn't realize this," Kara says. "How did that happen? Why didn't she say something?"

Zoe looks around at everyone, confused by all of yelling. "Maddy," the little girl says as she pushes past her brother. She tugs on her sister's arm. "Wake up." Zoe looks up at Mark, her forehead creased. "Why did Maddy go to sleep?" she asks. "Why won't she wake up?"

"Get out of the way, Zoe," Josh snaps as he pulls his youngest sister back.

Mark frowns as he feels Maddy's pulse. "Not very strong," he shakes his head.

"What do we do?" Kara asks. "Does she need to go to the hospital?"

Josh briefly puts his hand under Maddy's nose, then shakes his head, "No, she's still breathing. We still have some of her meds from the last time. Just call my mom."

Kara climbs back up in the loft to get her communicator, and Mark picks up the unconscious Maddy, laying her on the couch. Josh runs into the bathroom, returning with a slim version of a rebreather that he puts on his sister. "It's supposed to help with the whole oxygen thing," he says with a shrug.

Mark sinks into one of the seats next to the couch as they wait for Elisabeth to get home. Kara and Josh soon join him in the living room, and Zoe crawls up on his legs. "Uh, Mark?" Josh asks. Mark looks up. "At school … everything's fine for Maddy, right? I mean, I thought that you'd know since you've been following her around."

"Are you asking whether or not John and his friends leave her alone?" Mark asks. Josh simply shrugs in response. "No," Mark concludes shortly.

Josh's hands clench into fists. "If John had something to do with this, I swear to god that I will kill him," he snaps.

Kara comfortingly rubs the fist out of Josh's hand. "You're not going to murder anyone," she says. "And Maddy told us it stopped, so do you really think he had anything to do with this?"

"Yeah well she's pretty good at keeping secrets," Mark snaps. Josh eyes Mark angrily.

"I'm, uh, Kara, by the way," Kara introduces herself, reaching out a hand to Mark.

He shakes it and returns the gesture, "Mark. Reynolds."

They sit in silence the rest of the time until Josh gets a message that Elisabeth is here. "Time to hide, Zo," Kara says, pulling her off Mark's lap. "I'll see you again soon, okay?"

"Promise?" the little girl asks.

"Cross my heart," Kara responds, tracing an X over her chest. Zoe does the same before going into the bedroom. Once Kara comes back into the room she gives Mark a small smile in response to the quizzical look on his face. "I'm the first one outside of the family who the Shannons ever told about Zoe," she says proudly.

Mark smirks. "Well Maddy told me," he says back, "and none of the other security guards know."

"Get off your high horse, dude," Josh interjects. "That was an accident. We are only being forced to trust you." Kara gives Josh a reproachful look but has to muffle a laugh.

Elisabeth runs into the apartment. "I got here as soon as I could," she says as she makes her way over to the couch. She gets out a small flashlight and shines it into Maddy's eyes and checks her pulse. "How long has she been unconscious?" she asks, still in doctor mode.

"Since Kara called you," Josh answers. "Fifteen – twenty minutes."

The doctor shakes her head. "She should have woken up by now," she says. "Did she show any signs of disorientation before losing consciousness?"

Kara speaks up, "Um, only right before she fainted."

Elisabeth goes into the bathroom and returns with a first aid kit and a bag of medicines. "Alright," she talks to herself, "she hasn't been on consistent doses of any medication within the last two weeks, her heart beat is consistent, and I don't hear massive fluid build-up in the lungs. Did she cough before losing consciousness and if so are any of you aware of any fluid excreted at the time?"

"She coughed coming back into the building after school," Mark says. "She was pale but said she was fine. When we got up here she started coughing again and couldn't stop. There was blood on her hand afterwards."

Elisabeth nods and rummages through the stuff beside her. "Since I don't hear fluid build-up, this could just be from an irritation," she says. Her forehead creases, "Do you guys know if she was exposed to unfiltered air at all today?" She looks from Josh to Kara to Mark as they all glance guiltily at each other. "Hello?" Elisabeth asks. "Anyone?"

"It was her rebreather," Kara says, holding up the useless device.

Elisabeth freezes as she eyes the cracks in it. "How the bloody hell did that happen?" she asks. "Never mind, that's not important now." She gets out a vial of bluish liquid and puts it into a needle. "This should kill any bacteria that got into her lungs," she mutters and she sticks the needle in her daughter's arm. "We are lucky it was such a brief exposure, for she is very susceptible to pulmo-replasia." Mark's stomach flips.

Elisabeth uses a small scanner over her Maddy's head and wrists. "Her temperature is normal," she says, "her BMI is good, her brain function is equivalent to one who is simply sleeping – just delta waves – … we will double up on the dosage of the antibiotics, and if she still isn't awake within the next five minutes I'll take her to the hospital for a more thorough scan." Elisabeth continues to mutter as she puts another needle together, "Hopefully Maddy just lost consciousness from dizziness which was due to an increase in stress hormones over the fear from the realization she was relapsing. The sudden enactment of hormones could have caused an increase in the synapse's firing power in her brain, prolonged enactment would have led to corrosion of neural connections, and her brain could have shut off in response to the imbalance."

Mark has to suppress a smile, seeing how honestly Maddy gets her knack of remembering incredible amounts of information and sharing more of that information than necessary. "So do any of you know," Elisabeth asks, "if Maddy was experiencing any stress before she passed out? Did she seem worried?"

Josh and Kara both turn and look at Mark. "What?" he asks defensively.

"When you two got back," Josh accuses, "you were firing twenty questions at her!"

"I knew something was wrong!" Mark responds. "I was just asking how she was."

"It's fine!" Elisabeth snaps at them to silence the arguing. "That just supports my hypothesis. And we better hope that I'm right because the other options include pulmo-replasia or lung failure." She stands up and starts putting her things away. "Alright," she sighs. "Well, Kara it's great to see you; it's really been too long. I hope you're planning on staying for dinner." Kara smiles and accepts the offer.

Reilly asks to speak to Mark in the other apartment and Mark groans inwardly. He begrudgingly walks over with her. "First of all, I've contacted Foster to let him know where Josh is since you couldn't be bothered to do so. Second, Maddy could have died today," she snaps as soon as the door closes. "How the hell did her rebreather manage to get cracked like that?"

"I don't know," Mark answers forcefully. "I guess it could have happened in the morning? The principal wanted to talk to me about some stupid altercation that happened the other day with these annoying kids in Maddy's class."

"What did you do?" Reilly assumes. "Because you should have been there to know that her rebreather was cracked. You should have been there to make sure it didn't happen in the first place!"

"I defended her," Mark answers. "Which is kind of my job, in case you hadn't noticed. Only the ass hole who kept messing with her turned out to be the principal's son. And as sorry as I am that this happened, you don't have a right to be one my ass about it. The rebreather broke. It was dropped or whatever. I know that I should have known and that this could have been much worse and prevented her from going to Terra Nova, but it isn't directly my fault."

"You'd better hope so," Reilly warns, "because when she wakes up, if she does, and tells her side of the story, if there is a fight involved it is directly your fault for not being there. Yesterday was two weeks out until departure so the names of those on the 10th were released. If this was an intentional blow because she's going to Terra Nova, I'd hate to be you."

Mark is livid that Reilly threatening him when they are supposed to be on the same team. "What are you going to do?" he asks. "Turn me into our employers? Do you know who that is? Because I found out today that it isn't the Shannons."

Reilly clenches her jaw. "It's Hope Plaza," she says.

"Do you know something I don't?" Mark asks.

"All I know," Reilly claims, "is that Hope Plaza wants this family to be protected because they find one of them to be an asset of some sorts. They made an agreement with them. And before you ask I don't know why or what for. I just know that their asset is the one whose lying in the other room unconscious at the moment, so if this goes south and they ask for the story, understand that I'm not covering your ass."

Mark looks at Reilly speechless. What has Maddy gotten herself into? And more importantly, will she be okay?