Jane's chin rested in her hand as she finished the last of her turkey sandwich in the cafeteria. The food there was surprisingly not that bad and she was beginning to grow accustomed to the place. She'd been at S.H.E.I.L.D for three days now and the only testing they had done was a few blood and saliva tests, nothing they hadn't already done at the hospital. Meanwhile she had been free to roam the area as she pleased, with a few restrictions. When Carla had first given her the tour of the place she had explained the rules.

"Curfew is at 10, if you aren't back in your room by then, you will have one warning and then your access privileges will start to be taken away. Other than that you can go anywhere you please except for doors marked as personnel only. But your access card won't open those anyway so you shouldn't have too much of a problem with that unless you are looking to stir up trouble. Cafeteria is open 8 – 8 and all other facilities are open during daytime hours."

She had seen some of the other people staying in the 'L7 compound' as she had come to find it was called, but not many of them had seemed very talkative yet. As far as she could tell L7 was a housing facility for people that S.H.I.E.L.D. deemed as non-volatile persons of interest. Some people had physical signs showing they were unique from the general population, like herself, but some looked pretty normal and she had yet to find out what their secrets were.

As she was finishing the last few bites of her sandwich Jane became aware of a faint noise from a few tables down that sounded like crying. Jane glanced down the row to see a woman a few years older than herself sitting with a tray full of untouched food in front of her on the table. She had her hands up to her face trying to keep her crying quiet but not succeeding, the tears spilling down her cheeks.

Jane quickly scooted her chair out from her table and started making her way towards the woman, unable to bear seeing her in pain any longer. "Hi." She said softly when she reached the woman's table. "Is it alright if I sit here?"

The woman looked up with eyes red from crying and tried to wipe the tears from her face and regain her composure. "U-uh um sure, I-I guess."

"I don't mean to pry." Jane continued after taking a seat. "But what's wrong, if you don't mind me asking?"

The woman looked down at the wood table, wiping her nose with her sleeve. She didn't say anything for half a minute, but then suddenly asked. "Have you ever loved someone?"

Jane was taken aback by her unexpected inquiry. "Well, I don't know. I guess I'd like to believe I did at some point, but I really don't know."

"What do you mean?" The woman asked, puzzled.

"Well I can't exactly remember any of my life before eight days ago so I don't know for sure." Jane replied.

"Oh…" The woman trailed off, her eyes sad. "Well I have. His name was Mark, best friends since 8th grade." The woman smiled, remembering back, then her face returned serious again. "Three days ago was our two year anniversary. He'd made reservations at my favorite restaurant and arranged for our babysitter to take care of Henry, our one year old."

Jane could see the woman's lip quavering and knew she was barely holding back her tears. "They sound lovely." Jane said softly, placing her hand on the woman's arm. She still wasn't entirely sure where the woman was going with the story but she had a sinking feeling that something had happened to the woman's husband.

"When we got home the front door was wide open. That should've been the first sign that something was wrong I should have listened to Mark not to go in." She said, he voice shaky and tears brimming her eyelids. "But I knew Henry was in there and I had to know he was alright, I just—" The woman had to stop, unable to go on.

Jane sat across the table in silence, not entirely sure how to comfort the woman, but desperately wanting to console her.

"We went upstairs heading to Henry's room." The woman spoke quietly after a few minutes of silence. "I raced down the hallway, Mark behind me pleading with me to slow down. Henry's door was partially open and I could see the babysitter's foot as she was laying on the floor. I knew then that it was bad but I couldn't make myself stop I just keep running towards that door." Jane felt a lump growing in her throat, but she forced it back.

"There was so much blood. Oh god there was so much blood." She said, choking on tears. "It was everywhere and I couldn't even scream I was so terrified that I just froze. And that's when I saw him, just standing there, holding Henry in one arm and a gun in the other. His mask covered his face so I don't even know who he was. I just know he was evil." She ran her fingers through her hair and squeezed her eyes shut like she was trying to erase the image from her mind.

"He started asking a whole bunch of questions about a Project Cardwell and I had no idea what he was talking about but he just kept asking and demanding an answer." She continued quickly. "I told him I had no clue what he was asking but he insisted I knew something. Mark was in the room too and he denied it as much as I did. When he didn't get any answers he lifted the gun to Henry's head and he—he—" The woman lifted both her hands to her mouth to try to keep her sobs quiet. Jane sat in shock, shaking her head slowly back and forth in disbelief.

"He didn't even hesitate. And everything was in slow-motion. I know I was screaming but I couldn't even hear myself. He motioned us over to the wall with his gun and demanded we tell him where the vials were. He pointed his gun straight at Mark but he only glared back at him. Then I heard him shoot two more rounds, and Mark's cries of agony following. It was all such a blur, but I still can't get it out of my head. Of course I instantly dropped to his side, though still reeling from the shock.

"Then all of a sudden I heard noise from downstairs sounding like a bunch of people storming in. The man peeked through the curtain and I could see cars with flashing lights out front. He mumbled a bunch of words in some other language and then stormed out of the room and I never saw him again. When the hoard of men in tactical gear made it up to where we were Mark was almost gone, and I was gripping his hand with all the strength I had, trying to get him to hold on. The first guy who came in immediately started asking where the guy went and I shakily pointed the direction he went. Then they started asking Mark if the intel was compromised and Mark shakily breathed out a weak 'no'. It wasn't until then that I realized what had actually just happened, and Mark looked up at me knowing that I then knew. The last thing he ever said to me was 'I'm sorry'. Then they brought me here and told me what Mark really did for a living and shut me away in here to 'protect me'. My husband and my son were killed because of them and all they did was say sorry and lock me away."

"I can't even begin to imagine what you must be feeling right now." Jane said quietly after a moment. "I would say I'm sorry but I don't know how much good that would do. All I know is that I will always be here for you if you need anything." She moved from her seat to the other side of the table so she could put her arms around the table. "There aren't magic words I can say that can fix this but I think having a friend might help. What do you say, friends?"

The woman looked up at Jane, her eyes still sad, but a faint smile tugging at her lips. "Sure. Friends."

"Great." Jane replied with a smile. "I'm Jane."

"Teresa."