Here's the next chapter! I feel like it's going a little fast, but I didn't want to drag things out. Plus, Anne is pretty smart so I think she would have made her discovery sooner rather than later.

I'm not sure I should be admitting to this, but I haven't actually seen the first season of Falling Skies. I came in somewhere in the middle of the second season, so my references/events taking place are based upon information I find online. So if I've made mistakes with characters, events, etc., feel free to let me know and I apologize!

Thanks, Tori LMX for the review! It means a lot. Sorry this one isn't particularly intense with lots of screaming and stuff :)

Enjoy the chapter!


"Ouch!" exclaimed Ben. He grimaced and squeezed his hand tightly.

"You okay?" asked Hal.

"Yeah, I just scraped my hand on the edge of the chair," muttered Ben.

"You should let me look at it," said Lourdes. "I don't want it getting infected."

"Don't worry, I'll be fine," said Ben, rubbing his hand.

"Well tell me if it starts to swell up or feel hot, okay?"

"Not a problem," said Ben. He gestured to the girl. "So what, you think she's just my personal emotion meter or something?"

"I don't know, I could be wrong about the whole thing," shrugged Lourdes.

"I don't think you are," said Ben quietly. He looked at Lourdes and Hal nervously. "You can't tell Dad or Anne any of this. Promise me. And I mean it," he said with a significant look at Lourdes.

Lourdes nodded, still looking like she felt bad. Ben was looking around and playing with his hands, clearly uneasy.

"It's just that I can feel a connection with her. Every time I get close. I can't describe it, but I feel like I'm not alone, even inside my head."

"Wow. That's…creepy, Ben," said Hal.

"Yes, thank you," said Ben, annoyed. "Try to imagine how I feel about it."

"I'm good, actually," said Hal, shaking his head.

"Hey Ben," said Lourdes suddenly. "Why did you panic about Hal holding the gun to her? You were pointing it at her too."

"I was in control when I had it," replied Ben.

Hal shook his head. "You were not in control."

Ben ignored him. "I didn't want to shoot her. I knew Hal wouldn't hesitate."

"That's not entirely true," said Hal, looking slightly insulted. "What do you take me as?"

"You're a soldier, Hal." Ben looked at his brother matter-of-factly. "You follow orders and you have the courage to pull the trigger."

"Maybe," admitted Hal. "But I wasn't going to execute her in cold blood."

"You had her at point blank range," said Ben, accusingly.

"So I wouldn't miss," Hal defended himself. "Look, I would have gone for the arms or legs if I had the time to make a choice. But if it turned out I didn't, I needed to be able to take her out before she could cause any harm to Anne or Dad or any of them."

Ben didn't look terribly convinced but he didn't argue the point. "So do you think she's going to be in my head for a long time?" he asked.

"Do you think maybe you're inside her head too?" speculated Hal.

"What do you mean?"

"Your anger, Ben. It's not you. You have never been an angry person. What if this connection is a two way street and you're picking up on her feelings?"

"It started before she came," reminded Ben.

Hal looked thoughtful but didn't seem to have anything else to add. Lourdes sighed and got to her feet.

"Come here, Ben," she said, walking to the front of the trailer where there was more light. "Let me see your hand."

Ben hesitated and Hal raised his eyebrows with an encouraging look. Ben looked confused. His expression changed when he realized what Hal was inferring. Ben gave his brother a dirty look before reluctantly heading to where Lourdes was standing.

"Really, it's fine," he tried to say.

Lourdes ignored him, so reluctantly Ben placed his hand on the counter.

"That doesn't look too back," said Lourdes, examining it. "I'm just going to clean it out. We don't want it getting infected. Have both of you had your tetanus shots recently?"

Ben shook his head silently while Hal went, "Ummm…"

"Those are really important," said Lourdes, going into doctor mode. "If you don't get them, you-"

"Can die," finished Ben "We know. We were scheduled to go right before the aliens came."

"Oh, were we?" asked Hal, sounding surprised.

"Well obviously priorities shifted."

"You guys really need to be up to date, especially out here. We can't do much with our limited supplies, but you should take advantage of what we can do."

Ben and Hal watched silently as Lourdes took out two needles and began filling them up.

"You know, I actually think we did get them, Ben," said Hal pointedly.

"No, we didn't," said Ben, clearly enjoying Hal's discomfort. But he too was watching Lourdes- or rather the needle- extremely carefully.

"Well, I got mine," said Hal, getting up. "So I don't think I really need to be here for this. I'll be right outside if you need me."

He made for the door quickly but Lourdes said firmly, "Hal."

"What, are you scared of a little needle?" teased Ben.

Hal smiled tightly, looking annoyed. "No, of course not," he said.

"Good," said Lourdes. "Come sit down." She patted the chair next to her with a smile.

Hal looked like he wanted to refuse, but under Ben's amused look, he walked over and sat down.

"Besides," said Ben with a sly smile. "You can't leave Lourdes until Maggie comes to relieve you."

Hal gave Ben a dirty look in return but Ben just raised an eyebrow, still smiling.

"Hold still," said Lourdes, choosing for the sake of concentration to ignore the brothers' banter.

Hal looked at the ground with a set face until Lourdes was finished.

"All done," she said. "Ben?"

Ben traded places with Hal, but he kept the needle in his sightline the entire time.

"You guys should come back in and talk to Anne about what other vaccines you two need to get."

"Yeah, we'll do that real soon," said Hal, clearly lying.

"I'm serious, Hal," said Lourdes, giving him a look.

"Okay, okay," said Hal, putting up his hands in an I surrender motion.

While Hal and Lourdes were talking, Ben silently slipped past Lourdes.

"Ben can do it," continued Hal. "Right, Ben?"

He looked to where Ben had been standing but he had vanished. Hal turned around and saw Ben standing by the girl.

"Ben," he said carefully. "Get away from her."

"It's fine, Hal," said Ben in a monotone voice.

"Ben, please don't until Anne comes back," said Lourdes nervously.

"I'm not doing anything," he said calmly.

Very subtly Hal took out his handgun and held it ready. Lourdes walked over to Ben and stood beside him. Hal came over slowly, leaving himself enough room to swing up his arm should he need to.

"Do you know what's wrong with her?" asked Hal, watching his younger brother.

Ben looked hesitant. "No," he said.

Lourdes looked disappointed, but she didn't get to say anything because just then Anne walked in the door.

"Is everything alright?" she asked, her eyes darting to the girl. Her arms were filled with packages and Lourdes hurried over to help put them away.

"Everything's fine," replied Hal.

"Lourdes gave us our tetanus shots," said Ben, finally turning around.

"Good!" said Anne brightly. "How did that go?"

"It was fine," assured Lourdes.

"She did a good job," praised Ben. He looked at his brother. "Hal was wondering when he should come back in for his other vaccines."

Lourdes hid a smile, remembering the banter that she had tried to ignore. She and Ben watched Hal seethe, though Anne was oblivious.

"I can give you a list of the ones you should have been given. Ask your dad if he remembers which ones you've already had. Just bring it back to me in the next few days and Lourdes and I can administer the ones you need."

"Wonderful, thanks," muttered Hal.

"How's she been doing?" asked Anne, nodding to the girl.

"Nothing's changed," replied Lourdes. Ben waited to hear his name come up in some way, shape, or form, but Lourdes didn't continue.

"We were just trying to figure out what happened to her," said Hal. "Do you have any ideas?"

Anne took a deep breath. "Skitter attack would be my best bet," she said.

"That would explain the blood," said Lourdes quietly. "Has it stopped bleeding yet?" she asked, leaning over to cautiously look under the bandages.

"It's not the bleeding I'm worried about," said Anne. "It's the fact that she's not waking up. I'm going to give her more time before I try to bring her out of it with medication, but if she doesn't wake up then I won't be able to keep her alive for very long. I just don't have the equipment or resources."

A dark silence filled the room. Anne shook her head as though to clear it and said in a more upbeat voice, "You three take off for a while. Take a break."

"Are you sure?" asked Lourdes.

"Absolutely. Take some time for yourselves. I won't tell Weaver," she said with a smile.

Lourdes and Hal looked at each other uncertainly. Ben remained quiet.

Anne saw their hesitance and said, "Go on! I'll be fine. It's been a slow day. I'll find you if I need help. All I have to do is monitor her and tend to Pope if he shows up."

"Pope is coming in here?" asked Hal, any thought of taking off immediately leaving his head.

"I told him to stop by. His arm isn't looking too good."

"I can go ask Maggie to cover for you, Hal," offered Lourdes.

"Go on," Anne urged Hal.

Ben finally started for the door and Lourdes followed closely behind.

"I'm going to stay until Maggie shows up," said Hal.

Lourdes and Ben shut the door, leaving Anne and Hal standing around the girl.

"Do you really think it was a Skitter attack?" asked Hal into the stillness.

"I'm not sure. I didn't get a good look because there was so much blood, but I want to take a closer look around the wounds. Do you want to help me?"

"Sure."

Anne washed her hands well and put on some latex gloves, motioning for Hal to do the same.

"We're running out of gloves, so I save them for extreme situations," she explained.

Slowly, she pulled back the strips of gauze covering the girl's back. The blood was still drying in places, but at least it had stopped gushing.

"Normally I would wait longer to poke around, but I need to find out as much as I can," said Anne.

She lightly touched the girl's back, blood coating her fingertips. Her expression changed suddenly.

"You've got to be joking," she said softly.

"What?" asked Hal.

"Feel there," she directed.

Hal took his hand and moved it to where hers were. He could feel something sticking out and his eyes widened.

"Wait a moment. Is that…?"

"I think so," she said.

She moved her fingers up a few centimeters and nodded her confirmation. "There are more here," she said. "It feels like two of them."

Hal moved his fingers up as well and felt what she was describing.

"She was harnessed," muttered Hal. "I wonder if Ben knew."

"He might not have…" Anne trailed off and then swore under her breath.

"What?" asked Hal, startled. He moved back quickly as Anne hurried to the cabinets and pulled something from it.

"Hold this," she said, shoving a bottle into his hands and looking for a needle.

Utterly confused, Hal looked down at it.

"Morphine?" he asked, surprised.

She hurriedly grabbed the girl's IV bag and took the bottle from Hal. She took the needle and drew up some of the liquid. She injected it into the IV bag slowly and then took a deep breath.

"If she was harnessed, that would explain why she's not waking up. Remember the other harnessed children? They were going through withdrawal and that's why they weren't surviving the Harness being removed. I'll bet that's what she's going through right now."

"How did she survive so long without it?" breathed Hal.

"I don't know. Some people are simply stronger than others."

"If Lourdes is right about her emotional connection to Ben, maybe that's keeping her going," said Hal.

"It's possible," said Anne. She shook her head. "She should have had the morphine a long time ago."

The door opened and Maggie walked in to see Hal and Anne standing silently, staring at the girl.

"What's up?" she asked cheerfully.

"Anne just discovered she's been harnessed," said Hal, nodding to the girl. "Like Ben. Like the others."

"I'm still trying to figure out how her Harness was removed," said Anne, deep in thought. "Someone would have had to get it off which means that someone else out here knows how to do it."

"Oh my God," whispered Maggie, realization crossing her face.

"What are you thinking?" asked Anne, concern on her face.

"The knife," said Maggie. "The clearing I found. There was a knife stuck in the tree and blood everywhere. I'm sure that's where it happened."

"It would explain the cuts on her back," agreed Anne.

"Wait, you think someone took a knife- a regular knife- and cut the Harness off her back?" Hal was incredulous. "Why?"

"That's the question," said Anne.

"Do you think…she did it herself?" Maggie was breathless.

"She would have had to fight the Harness's influence if that's the case. And it would have had to be an extremely strong knife."

"Or an extremely strong person," said Hal.

A thoughtful look crossed Anne's face and she went over to the girl. She reached out and touched her back.

"Hal," she said. "Tell me what you feel."

Hal reached out to touch her spikes as well. "They're jagged," he said.

"I think Maggie's right. Someone hacked through these. They aren't smooth like the ones we operated on."

"We need to tell Weaver," said Maggie, backing up towards the door.

"No, you can't," replied Hal quickly. Anne and Maggie looked at him. "He already thinks she's a threat. We should wait until she wakes up and can tell us what happened to her. If people find out she was harnessed, there's going to be a riot. They're already on edge about the ones here. If we tell them we brought another one in, they're going to storm the trailer."

Maggie looked torn. Hal stared at her. "If her Harness has been removed," he said forcefully. "She's not a threat."

"Why are you suddenly so protective of her?" demanded Maggie.

Hal looked caught off guard. "She's just a girl who's had bad things happen to her," he said. "She's not dangerous. Not anymore."

"You're trying to justify this because of Ben," accused Maggie. "You're sympathetic to her because you want to believe that everything you just said applies to him as well."

Maggie looked to Anne, who seemed to come to a decision. "I agree with Hal," she said slowly. "The morphine I gave her should help to get her out of withdrawal and maybe she'll wake up. Let's give it another day and if there's not progress by then, we'll tell the Captain."

"What about Tom and Lourdes? What about Ben?" asked Maggie.

Anne shook her head. "We'll tell them tomorrow, along with Weaver. It's for the best, Maggie."

Maggie didn't looked convinced but she nodded her promise. "Tomorrow we tell them," she said, just to be clear.

Anne nodded her assent.

"Weaver's going to be furious," said Maggie.

"So will my dad," Hal said grimly.

"Don't worry about that. I'll take the responsibility. I'm the one who told you to keep silent. Besides, according to Weaver, Lourdes and I are 'indispensable.' There's not much he can do about it." She smiled.

Hal and Maggie weakly smiled back, the latter looking much more uneasy about the situation than either of the other two.


Alright! Hope you guys enjoyed. Let me know what you think! I really, really, appreciate reviews.

~moviegal101~