Hey! It's Savvi-Sin writing this chapter. As Sorryll mentioned, we're trading off and apparently I have the even chapters! I tried to make it as long as chapter one, but it's a bit shorter. Not much though… Ok now I'm just rambling! Onward with the story!

XXX

Though he may have wanted to shut her out of his thoughts completely, his dreams were left open for invasion. That night, as Jizabel slept, nightmarish visions of his mother and sisters plagued his mind.

"Sing with us Jizabel…" It was a reoccurring dream, one that he hadn't viewed since…since Cassandra had looked into his past. One that he never wished to see again.

Sunshine danced on the field as his sisters sang nursery rhymes. His mother was there too, but he couldn't see her eyes. He could never see her eyes. The sky grew dark and a voice over took his head.

"They're made of something really scary, Jizabel!" The nightmare changed to something different.

He saw himself, running. He was dressed as a girl for some reason. The only noise was his breath, escaping his lips in desperate bursts. There was a scream.

"He's captured mother!" the voice was a younger version of his own. Rustling of leaves as he turned around to see Alexis standing before him.

"I'm going to be your father from now on..." His voice was as soft as Jizabel remembered it being all those years ago. In his dream, he spun around, and the scenery had changed once more.

"I could be killing thousands of microscopic organisms each time I breathe!" The memories flooded his mind faster now, for soon the picture in front of him changed again.

He was laying in bed after surgery, he blinked and he was in his father's study, looking at various items floating in jars.

"So now I've kept my promise to you…did you enjoy Snark, Jizabel?..." The scene began to spin, spiraling into darkness. The last words he heard before waking up were his own.

"It's almost like being loved…"

He awoke with a small cry, eyes wide open. His breathing was ragged and thin, but soon began to steady. Jizabel sat up, slipping on a silk robe that hung from the post of his bed, then fell back to the mattress. A dream. It had only been a dream…well a nightmare really. He absent mindedly ran a hand through his hair, but quickly yanked it back. The pain from the cuts on his hands reminded him that parts of yesterday evening were not just a dream. He scowled, forgetting the cold, unfeeling exterior he'd had up until last night.

There were a series of slices and gashes on his hands and fingers. A few still had bits of glass stuck in them. Jizabel winced, pulling some of them out, then it was back to standing in front of the mirror.

It would not be inaccurate to say that he was a perfect mess. The tiny cuts that had been on his arms and hands the night before suddenly seemed much more severe. There were dark circles under his eyes, a clear indication that he hadn't gotten enough, if any, sleep. Just like last night his hair was in tangles, some of the longer strands covered his right eye. He shook them out of his face. Even though Cassian had taken the liberty of cleaning his room last night an air of formaldehyde still hung stagnant in the air.

Jizabel opened the window, expecting sunlight to pour in, but instead thunder rumbled in the distance. It was still dark out, but he wasn't sure if it was from the approaching storm or if it was from the fact that it was early in the morning. In either case he noted that no animals were there to greet him as per usual. He frowned, still caught between the mask of composure he always wore, and that scared child he had been the previous night.

Jizabel examined the cuts again, determining that he should probably put some bandages on them and wear gloves the rest of the day. Destroying his "collection" wasn't something he'd really thought over, and now, as he settled back into being a "composed, serious, emotionless doctor" he felt foolish.

A clock rang in the hour from somewhere down the hall. 5:00, it was 5:00 in the morning and it was blatantly clear that Jizabel Disraeli was not going to get any more sleep than he already had. On the one hand, it was a relief, no more sleep meant no more nightmares…but on the other hand sometimes reality was worse.

His bare feet didn't make a sound as he walked quickly back to the medical wing of Delilah's headquarters. No one was up yet, or so he hoped. As he walked, however, he couldn't shake the feeling that he was being followed. Perhaps that was still the child in him.

The door to the medical wing opened on creaking hinges, and he cautiously went inside, looking behind him to be sure that he wasn't being followed. He should have been looking in front of him however, for no more than two steps in did he run into the last person on earth he'd wanted to see.

"Doctor…what are you doing here?" it was Cassian. Jizabel cursed silently, before instinctively pulling the robe he had on tighter around his body. "It's five in the morning, shouldn't you be asleep?" His assistant's gaze fell to the doctor's hands, but he didn't say anything as Jizabel had expected him to. Secretly, he almost wanted Cassian to speak. Almost.

"What are you doing awake this early?" his voice sounded more defensive than he'd have liked it to.

"I'm always awake this early."

"Oh…" Jizabel said quietly. "If you'll excuse me." He pushed past the other man, retrieving bandages from one of the shelves that lined the walls, and haphazardly began to unroll them. Some dropped to the floor, and Cassian instantly picked them up, and handed them to him. The doctor snatched them back.

"What are you still doing here?" he said, frowning and beginning to wrap one of the cuts on his hand with no success.

"I'm helping you." Cassian muttered, picking up the bandages from the floor for a second, and then third time after that. "You really do know how to make a mess of things." Trying to wrap bandages around cuts on his right hand with his left hand was proving to be extremely difficult. Lack of sleep wasn't helping either.

"Just…go, will you!?" he finally snapped after his assistant handed him the fifth bandage he'd dropped. A few of the wounds were somewhat wrapped, although when Jizabel bent his fingers they quickly came undone again. Cassian rolled his eyes, disobeying his superior for once.

"If I go now you're going to leave another bloody mess of things!" his voice grew louder. Before Jizabel could protest, Cassian had yanked his hand closer, holding his wrist steady as he examined the series of cuts. "You really should have taken care of these last night." He muttered, pulling out another tiny shard of glass. The doctor sat on a chair while Cassian sat on another, holding Jizabel's arm on his lap. Jizabel winced, and prayed that the other man didn't notice that his mask was falling off once more. The doctor mentally kicked himself for acting so childish, the pain of a few pieces of glass was nothing…then why did everything suddenly hurt so much?

"Doctor…I asked you a question…" Cassian's voice pulled him back from his thoughts. He felt the fabrics bandages tighten around the last of the cuts. Still, he didn't let go of his wrist.

"Pardon?" he said, pulling his arm away from his assistant. No such luck escaping the extremely awkward situation he found himself in, for Cassian only tightened his grip.

"I asked you why you destroyed your collection." Jizabel did his best to put up a wall between them. He absolutely was not going to let Cassian know anything. He already had one person who seemed to think that they knew everything about him, and he certainly didn't need two.

But…At the same time, a part of him wanted to tell, to cave in and tell someone other than Cassandra everything he was feeling. He wanted to cry and let everything he'd kept inside all of those years out. Something about the thought of telling Cassian made him strangely happy. Of course, he'd never admit this, even to himself.

"You wouldn't understand." Were the words that escaped his lips, but they weren't exactly the ones he's wanted to say.

"Well…maybe I would. I mean, if you told me." What Cassian, his moody, and almost equally cold assistant did next was the second to last thing Jizabel ever expected. He released his grip on the doctor's pale wrists and tilted his head up so that their eyes met. He had to do something…anything to keep from having another mental breakdown.

"Why is it that you pity me?" he said, tone turning from innocent and scared to icy and laced with venom.

"I don't!" Cassian snapped back in return.

"Do not lie to me, Cassian. I know that's the only reason you're helping me…and it makes me sick." The words were eerily calm, but for some reason, it made Jizabel feel sad after saying them. "Like I said last night, you're in a much more pitiable situation than I am."

"You're avoiding the question, doctor." The older man said, pretending to be unaffected by the words that his superior had just spoken. "Why did you make such a mess of things last night. I can't read your mind."

"Why do you care…?" for a second time that morning, his voice sounded more childish than he'd have liked it to.

"Why don't you." He replied, eyes downcast. "I-,…I've seen the way Cassandra looks at you…and I know that you're intimidated by him…What did he say to you?" A feeling of sudden fear spread through him, a feeling of sudden helplessness. What would Cassian do if he ever did tell him what Cassandra had said or about the threats he had made?

"I can take care of myself, Cassian. I think it's time you left now." Jizabel turned away from the other man, but not for more than a moment. Cassian grabbed his shoulder, and turned Jizabel back around to face him.

"How do you know that I wouldn't understand unless you tell me…doctor…"

This time he didn't hesitate to reach up and gently touch the young doctor's cheek. Cassian's hand were warm, which only reminded him of the nightmare he's had. This wasn't the same warm as blood, though. No, it reminded him of his father's arms before that day when his world came crashing down over him. Again, he felt tears threatening, but this time, he couldn't blink them back. A few slipped from his eyes, running over Cassian's fingers. He wanted to get mad, and scream at his assistant to get out. He wanted to continue to hide behind the mask that was so fool proof up until that moment. At the same time, he wanted nothing more but to stand there with Cassian…forever.

Cassian wiped away some of the tears, and not aware of his actions stood on his tip-toes. His lips hovered a few inches away from the other man's, both of their hearts beating out of control. Hands entwined in Jizabel's hair, but this time he didn't pull away…until he heard a voice from the open doorway.

"My, my, my...now what have we here?" Jizabel could only stare in sheer terror as Cassandra gazed back at him, smiling.