Author's Note: To inkykenrd, since I can't send you a message, here's a reply to your review. Yes; there is the Jessi/Nicole chapter/episode coming up. It's the next entry, actually, which I have to write this weekend. The title is "All Roads Lead to Nowhere". I'm also glad you think I'm keeping people in character; I've had some troubles with Josh and Nicole, primarily.

I've also seemed to have figured out how to edit these properly for breaks.

5: One More Time

Sometimes despite your best efforts, things don't work out the way you want, and you bend to fit the ways that someone else wants. If you care about the person, you will bend to their will and do as they ask. For me, the answer was an easy one. I bent to what Amanda wanted out of my love and my dedication to her. We may not be together in the truest sense of the word, but I know that this will only bring us closer, if it all works out.

I would do anything to see to it that this works out the way it is meant to, and I'm certain Amanda would as well. We both care so much about each other that without each other, there wouldn't be much point to this. We would be broken up, not experimenting by taking time away like this. But we may break up if I can't figure out what to do next.

Do I tell Amanda about Latnok's plans that were against the will of God – which Amanda holds so dearly? – or do I tell her for the sake of our relationship? Cassidy already threatened Amanda with so much, if she knows anything or not, so what do I do?

And then there's Jessi. Amanda and I taking time away from each other with hopes for new perspectives. A new perspective can be gained through a new view on life, and Jessi would certainly be that. But…could I do that? Could I see Jessi like that, even for a short time, to gain a new outlook on my relationship with Amanda?

Adam Baylin and Sarah were in a relationship, and we're the people they left behind. Should that bit of history repeat itself, I wonder? Or history be damned? I don't know.

Kyle walked into the living room to hear Josh playing G-Force on the couch. He motioned Kyle to come closer, so he did as beseeched.

"Kyle! Man, I've got a question for you," Josh told him.

"A question? What is it?"

"Well, I've been getting in touch with Andy more recently, and a lot more easily," he said, "I was hoping you could help rig something up for me."

"Rig something up?"

"Yeah. Like help hooking this headset into the phones, or something," he said, nodding his head to show the headset he wore for his game, "So I can talk to Andy directly, without all these idiots on here listening to us."

Kyle looked at the television screen, hoping that the headset wasn't on right then, in case Josh made someone angry, "Can't you just use the phone?" Kyle asked him.

"What? You mean you want me to tie up the line like that?" he questioned.

"Your care about that really surprises me," Kyle said.

"Yeah, I know. Look; I wouldn't care if I did that or not, but I don't want to run the risk of being booted off my call to Andy. We have…important things to talk about. So, can you do it? I don't want to run up a phone bill for my cell, don't want to get kicked off the home phone, and want to be able to have my own way. Through the game."

"Yeah, I'll see what I can do," Kyle said, then paused for a few moments before deciding that he should ask, "Josh…are you and Andy doing well?"

"I wouldn't be asking for you to do this if we weren't," Josh said, "Why? Troubles in your paradise?"

"You could say that," Kyle said, leaving it at that, "I'm just happy to see that you and Andy are doing well."

"We're doing very well. Between Declan hooking up a way to talk to her on the day she left, and now you doing this for me, it seems like the universe or something is just giving us ways to try to continue our relationship, as if she never left."

"You're taking that easier now, at least," Kyle said.

"Yeah, I guess. I still wish she was here though," Josh told him.

Kyle nodded, "When you're done I'll work on rewiring that headset through the game, through the internet and…"

"Whoa, I don't need the scientific explanation of what you're doing," Josh said, "I don't want to be…talked down to. It'll put me down, and I don't want to get off this high that I'm feeling right now from talking to Andy."

"Yeah, ok." Kyle left the room, heading towards the kitchen, where Lori was there on her cell, smiling and laughing.

"Did you get Mark?" Kyle asked as he came in, taking a bottle of water from the refrigerator. He undid the cap and waited for her answer.

She shook her head, then moved the phone so she could speak without speaking into the receiver, "Declan," she told him.

"Declan?" he asked, surprised, "What about Mark?"

She put the phone down, "If you really must know, I still haven't gotten in touch with Mark. Declan's been there in the meantime, though. Though he asks about you a lot, I know he's still not over me. I just can't bring myself to break his heart."

"Wasn't he dating that Jackie from the UW?" Kyle asked.

Lori nodded, "I guess so, but I don't know what's going on there. Maybe he knows nobody will ever compare to me," she smiled, laughing a bit.

Kyle had a small smile on his face, "I like the thought of you two together."

"Kyle, as much as I like Declan, we're not getting back together."

"I'm not trying to push you two," Kyle said, "I'm just saying…"

"I know what you're saying," she told him, then moved the phone, "Yeah Declan, I'm still here."

"You're not telling him I'm here?" Kyle asked her.

"If I did, he'd talk to you for probably an hour," she told Kyle.

"I'll go, then," Kyle said, leaving the room and heading upstairs to the bathroom, stopping outside of Stephen and Nicole's room. He wasn't one to listen through the door like this, but there was something about the partially opened door that made him want to hear, as if they wanted someone to hear.

"I'm getting more money," Stephen was telling her, "They're paying me more at the UW! This is great news!"

"I'm so happy for you, Stephen," Nicole was telling him. Kyle, at the door, pushed it open a bit. They turned, "Kyle, come here," Nicole said.

He walked in, "I heard that you were getting a raise," Kyle told Stephen, "I thought I'd come in and congratulate you."

"Thanks," Stephen said to him.

"I…I have to ask you something," Kyle told him.

"What is it?"

"Have you seen Mark recently?"

"Surprisingly, no. Not for nearly three weeks."

Kyle nodded. He was having a bad feeling about this.

"I also have some news that you missed," Nicole told Kyle, "I'm starting to see patients again. Not at home, but with a small practice that hired me."

"That's great, Nicole. I know it seemed hard for you to give it up before," Kyle told her.

She smiled and nodded to him, "It was, but now I get another chance to help people."

Help people. Kyle always admired that, and she was one of the reasons he tried to help people. There was something about her words this time that made him start to think differently, though. He wasn't sure why.

Was it because of Adam Baylin trying to create me to be able to help people, and thinking about what Cassidy is trying to do at the same time, along with Latnok, and make the other clones into monetary gain, no matter what the cost? Or is it some other reason those words resonate within me so?

Kyle was returning to his bedroom when he saw Jessi closing the window behind her, "Jessi," he said.

She turned, "Kyle," she held up a newspaper, "Have you seen this?"

"What is it?" he asked, walking over and taking it as she handed it to him. It was about a new computer system that was nearly finished.

"A computer system that can boost the abilities of an MRI scan to extreme levels," she told him, "Supposedly it can attempt to map out specific thoughts and dig through specific data in the brain. The article says it's supposed to be used to find damage in the brain, perhaps be a way to fix insanity or mental diseases, but…"

Kyle had finished the article and was looking up, "It mentions the cerebral impulse relay machine. I thought that it was gone…"

"I know. That's why I brought it to you," she told him, "Looks like Latnok is trying to use the C.I.R. with this new software, because I have no doubt that Latnok has some influence over that software's creation."

"But this is referring to a sale to the medical community, to a private clinic," Kyle said, "It doesn't seem like Latnok is buying it. It doesn't even seem like they're using it. It reads like they made it, and are selling it."

"I did some research on my own," Jessi said, "It seems the C.I.R. is being rented out to that clinic for the time being, for testing on patients with mental illness."

"They're doing good with it…," Kyle muttered.

"It's a cover," she said, "They're seeing if it works as it's supposed to, then they're coming after you, just like last time. And unlike last time, it's stronger. It will get the information from your brain, Kyle. You need to be careful."

"I know," he replied, "There's only one thing we can do."

"You want to destroy the software, don't you?" she questioned him, "Or the C.I.R.? Either way, problem solved."

"We're going to make a computer virus," Kyle told her, "If we can destroy the program and create a malware to eradicate every trace of it from every computer connected to the internet, we should be fine. We'll make sure that the malware will hit any computer at any time it connects, searching for that program or any traces of it. We'll be sure it's eradicated."

"We have to hurry, then," Jessi told him, "We won't have much time. The software is going live tomorrow at noon, but a private test is being done at six in the morning. If that test is successful, there's no doubt in my mind that they'll come for you after, tomorrow, or the next day."

Kyle nodded, "We don't have much time before they come for me, that much we know. They aren't going to risk a private practice run on me, though. They need to test it on someone with a severe mental illness in order to see how effective it truly is."

"Then we have to work fast, like I already said," she said, "How are we going to get it to work, though? We don't know much about the program, other than what we can guess must be in it to work as they claim it to. That, and we need to be close to get it to work. Probably right at the program."

"We need to break in and insert the malware into the program itself," Kyle said, "You and I can do it." He wanted to call Tom Foss, but knew that Foss wouldn't want Kyle going into such danger. The farther he stayed away from the C.I.R. the better. As good as Foss would be on this mission, it wasn't worth it.

Kyle needed to go. He needed to be a part of this.

As the two worked into the late hours of the night, sitting in Kyle's room, working off of two laptops and collaborating to make the malware effective, Kyle continued to be lost in thought, both about their job and about his feelings for her.

I've loved Amanda since first laying my eyes on her about three years ago. She's a pure, amazing woman, but Jessi is like me. She's amazing, but she's not pure. She's a damaged, possibly broken woman, looking for her place in the world, much like I am. Am I afraid to think about Jessi? But why should I be? We both have feelings for each other; we both know that. Am I afraid to think about leaving Amanda and starting something new?

Fear of the unknown has never really stopped me, but this is something different. This is a matter of love. Can…can I really be afraid? I had similar feelings – butterflies, as it's called – when I had my first date with Amanda. This is nearly the same, but with some fear mixed in as well. Am I afraid of leaving Amanda, or of hurting her?

"Kyle?"

Her word broke his thoughts. Kyle turned to Jessi, "Yeah?"

"It's done," she said, holding up a USB flashdrive, "The malware."

He took the drive from her hands, "Thank you, Jessi."

"I'm the only one who could help you. You don't need to thank me," she said, "I would have stopped Latnok's plans myself, regardless."

"Tell me…why?" he asked.

"Because they're after you," she told him, "I won't let anything happen to you if I can help it. And Cassidy killed Sarah, Cassidy is Latnok. I need to do something against them whenever I can."

He nodded. She may have had some wrong reasons – revenge, vengeance – but she was right. "Thank you, Jessi, for all of your help."

What else could he say? He wanted to say more. He wanted to tell her that he had feelings for her as well, but he couldn't. He couldn't say or do anything right now, lest he hurt Amanda inadvertently.

This was a precarious position he was in in these matters of the heart. Why was his own heart so complicated?

At four thirty in the morning, Kyle and Jessi snuck out of his room, through the window. Jessi had stayed the night in an attempt to help Kyle find plans of the private clinic, but to no avail. They found pictures, but no plans. They were able to guess where the C.I.R. might be due to pictures on the website for the clinic, for those wealthy enough to be able to get help there for themselves or loved ones.

They still weren't certain of the location, but a guess was better than nothing. There was no doubt going to be security of some sort. Perhaps Latnok issued, expecting something, perhaps not.

As the two of them headed in that direction in a taxi, they never saw Declan's SUV following them from a distance. Kyle and Jessi, usually so careful, never noticed. Perhaps they were too focused, perhaps tired – hopefully not tired. Declan didn't know if they had noticed him or not, but hoped they hadn't.

He was ready to be one of Kyle's guardians, but preferred to be a hidden ally, one stuck in the shadows, like Foss. He didn't even want Kyle to know, until it was time. As he drove he reached down, checking his gun under his coat, just to be sure the weapon was there. The weapon he despised, but that Foss made him carry with him.

He was hoping he wouldn't need to use it, but was ready to if need be.

As the taxi left Kyle and Jessi a block away from the private clinic, the two moved slowly, cautiously, keeping an eye out for any signs of guards, Latnok, anyone or anything – cameras and the like included.

Nothing.

"I think we're safe until we reach the clinic grounds," Kyle said.

"If this is Latnok, then I don't think so," Jessi said, "We're not safe, period."

"I know," he replied, "With Latnok, that is the assumption you should always take with you, but I really do think we're safe."

The sky had a little light to it. It wasn't twilight, but it wasn't black like the night was. It was a cold morning, thanks to the hour, but they couldn't complain. The job ahead of them was far too important.

As they walked past the last building, a sizeable clinic sat farther back away from the street, a fence around the entire lot, a path leading up through the sizeable lawn to the building itself. There were guards about, but only one patrolling the grounds from what the two could make out, and one on the door. A few cameras were present for security reasons as well. But that was to be expected, like the guard. From the research, this clinic was for the rich, and for the mentally diseased relations of the rich. This clinic focused fairly heavily on mental illness, so guards were a good idea.

"Latnok issued I'm sure," Kyle muttered to Jessi at the sight of the guards.

"On three, we go," Jessi told Kyle.

"I'll deal with the cameras," he said.

Jessi climbed over the low fence first, keeping low, dressed in all black, now that they had changed after getting out of the taxi. It wouldn't have been smart, at the hour, to dress in all black in the taxi. Kyle climbed over after her, keeping low as well.

"Three," she said, running straight for the door. The guard's back was to them, while the guard at the door slumped down, no sounds escaping his throat. Jessi had bent the water inside of his body, along with the water molecules in the breath in his lungs, to silently drop him, as she had partially done to Cassidy during their act not long ago.

Kyle was running slower, finding the security cameras. He was focusing on hitting the lenses on the cameras, using the dew of the morning to move over the lenses, then push into them by pushing the molecules away from the water in Kyle's own body to crack the lenses. It was very hard, with such little dew and so great a distance, but it was working. Besides, there were only three that needed to go down.

When they reached the door, Jessi had propped the man up in the corner, to make it look like he still stood. It was a bit of a clichéd trick to try, but they agreed that it was the best approach, because it could buy them time. Jessi tried the door, but found it lock. Instead of try to pick it, she tightened her grip and gave a sharp yank, breaking the bolt, letting the two inside.

Kyle closed the door behind them. There were cameras, but they would be easy enough to interfere with with both of them together. Their combined powers could do some internal damage to the cameras to knock them out. The problem would be orderlies and any other Latnok guards positioned inside.

"This way," Kyle said, leading her through the first corridor on the right. They crept through, knocking out cameras as they went with their abilities, creating electrical disturbances inside to do enough damage to render them useless. Twice they had to stop and crouch low behind anything they could as guards walked by.

"I should just deal with them," Jessi told him rather angrily.

"No," Kyle told her, "If you start taking out guards, someone's going to suspect something when there's no reports."

"You didn't have a problem out front."

"That's one guard," Kyle replied.

Meanwhile, back at the door, Declan was following them, keeping low; using everything Tom Foss had taught him about stealth training and entry, infiltration. He was able to keep hidden from every guard without having to deal with them, and he was certain that neither Kyle nor Jessi realized they were being followed, or they would have dealt with him by now.

When Kyle and Jessi reached a large set of observation windows, they stopped. When the guard passed by, they moved towards the windows, keeping low, looking into the room beyond, where sat an object from the nightmares of both of them.

The chair, the C.I.R.

There were various people moving around inside, hooking an older woman up to the machine. There were computers all around, and people working on them, no doubt to introduce the program. Kyle and Jessi continued to watch, but also continued to look for guards coming.

Declan watched the two of them from behind, keeping low and at a point not far away. He looked around, but no guards were nearby. He rose, seeing through, but keeping mostly hidden behind the desk he was at. He could just barely see inside.

"What do we do?" Jessi asked.

"You're asking me?"

"You wouldn't approve of my approach," Jessi told him.

"Right," Kyle said, looking around, "We're going to have to wait. We'll let them do this, then when they leave, we'll get inside."

"If they leave," Jessi said.

"Don't even think about it," Kyle said.

"You need someone to provide a distraction so you can introduce the malware," she told him, "I'll do it."

"No. You won't."

"It's the only way," she told him.

"There are other ways," he said, "We just have to wait them out."

"That could take hours. We'll be discovered before that," Jessi told him.

"It's a risk we'll have to take."

"No," she said, starting away, "I'm going to create a distraction. There's only one door, so I'll go through the window. I'll break through and do what I have to."

"Jessi, I'm telling you no," he said.

She turned back to him, giving him a coy smile, "You're not in charge of me. If we were together, I might let you order me around."

"I'm with Amanda," Kyle told her, "This isn't the place for this."

"You're not technically with her," Jessi told him.

"I said this isn't…"

"I know," she said, creeping away.

"Jessi!" he hissed, but she wasn't going to listen. He would have to do it her way, if she was giving him no other choice. He knew she would be fine, but he also knew the world was a hard place to live in. There was the very real possibility of losing her, especially with Latnok's involvement here. They had already shown no interest in Jessi anymore; she was nothing to them.

But he knew she would be fine. It wasn't logical; he just knew.

He rose up slightly from his crouch, watching as Jessi made a move for something – it looked like a lamp. She grabbed it and was about to throw it through the window when a security guard saw her.

Kyle saw that inside, they were distracted, and ran out to help when Jessi was able to avoid the security guard and use the lamp to take him down. Kyle ran for the door, going around the room and rushing inside, only seeing the woman in the chair, but she paid him no attention. She probably thought this all was a hallucination, or something pertaining to her illness, something she was used to seeing. Something strange and out of place.

Kyle ran for the computers, looking up, out the window. Jessi was keeping the guards busy. Why were there less than there were when he started running? Were they going off and getting others?

He inserted the flashdrive into the computer system, bringing it up. He began to upload it into the computers, into the C.I.R., but it was slow. It wasn't working properly.

"Come on!" he hissed to the machine, "Work! There's no reason for you not to work!"

Logically, technologically, there really was no reason for it not to work. It should have worked perfectly and brought the program crashing down, stopping this experiment, but it wasn't. In fact, the scan was already in process on the C.I.R., already running on the woman.

Kyle took a moment to grab the chart from a table next to him, flipping through it. He looked at the computer readouts of the woman's brain activity, seeing with a cold dread that the program did work. This was something that medicine had not yet ever been able to do; map out the damages in the brain specifically, and actually dig into the brain to show the sources, the exact sources, down to the smallest increment, and what could be done to try to fix the problem.

Such a beautiful scan I've never seen. This woman – many others – because of Latnok and this program have the ability to have their minds restored, their lives returned to them, if proper surgery would be done on these parts of the brain. No doubt Latnok can do that as well. But unfortunately, even something so beautiful must be destroyed.

There is always a way for good to happen, and perhaps this program will someday be brought back, and good will be done with it. But right now, this program is just being tested on good intentions for the sake of use on bad intentions later. No matter what, this program needs to be destroyed.

That is the cold reality of the world. I wish it weren't so.

Finally, the malware was going live in the system. He looked up from the computer screen, seeing Jessi outside had taken down the guards and was looking up a corridor where more guards were no doubt coming from. Then Kyle heard a gunshot.

"Jessi!" he screamed as loudly as he could, watching her go down, blood splashing up on the window she had stood in front of. He ignored the program and ran to the window, breaking through it and grabbing her downed body, pulling her away from the glass.

"You idiot," she hissed, grabbing him by the collar, even from her downed position, "Forget me!" He could tell her much pain she was in, "It's only in my shoulder. It's nothing. Finish the upload!"

"It's uploading," he told her, "I'm not leaving you to lie here defenselessly. You're my friend. You're the only other person in the world who's like me, Jessi. I'm not going to leave you in harm's way like this!"

She had a condescending smile appear on her face, "Well, I guess I should have seen that coming." She lost her smile, "Kyle…I don't know if I would have been able to do that for anyone; even you. This mission is too important."

"I know, but your life is just as important."

"…thank you."

"Come on," he tried to help her up, "I don't know what's keeping those guards, but they should be here soon, I think. Or they're trying to surround us in the corridors, or something. They have to be planning something."

"We need to get out, fast," she agreed, "How else can I get out alive and try to be more like you?"

"More like me?"

"You saved me when I wouldn't have saved anyone," she said, "I…I really want to be like that. I don't want to be broken anymore. I…I want to have you help fix me. Kyle…," her hand went up to his face, resting on his cheek in a manner that Jessi wouldn't normally use, showing emotion where she normally wouldn't, "can…can you help me to be like you?"

"When we get out of here alive, I'll do my best," he told her, "But we have to get out alive for that to happen."

"You spoke as if you believed we would without much difficulty," she commented.

"I'm hoping that'll be true."

"You're going to make me better; let me tell you something. The world is a hard place. I really don't think hope is something we can count on here."

"I know," he replied solemnly, helping her to her feet. She grabbed her arm, closed her eyes and focused. In moments, the bullet was in her hand, dropping to the floor, but the wound wasn't closing, she couldn't heal it.

"You've had too much trauma, and removal of the bullet drained you," he said, putting his hands to her bloody wound, "Let me…"

"No!" she snapped, "You aren't going to waste your energy on me. Not until we get out alive!"

"Right," he said, helping her along the curved wall of the observation room where the C.I.R. was located. They ducked inside, using the myriad of windows to look around, as foolish a move as it was. There was nobody around in any direction.

Kyle rushed to the computer, "The malware is live," he told her, "The program is going down!"

Jessi was looking at another monitor, "I can see it working from here, too," she said, watching the brain scans on the woman. They were real-time, and now they were fading, with the program going down.

Then the alarms were going off. It sounded like a fire alarm, probably because that's all there was in the clinic. The woman in the chair began to scream out and panic, but they couldn't understand her, nor could they try to calm her, not when they heard all the feet rushing towards their location, using their hearing to pick this up.

"We have to go," Jessi said, rushing towards the door and turning back, "Kyle! Now!"

He looked at the C.I.R., wishing he could destroy it before it could be used on him, before the real reason for it could be performed. He knew that even without the program, they could still probably get his information, but in fragments. They might try anyway, just because he had made Latnok angry.

"Kyle!"

Why had he even stopped? He knew they had to go, but what was it about the C.I.R. that made him stop like this? Was it what it stood for? The woman still inside of it, screaming out, even if for another reason? He wished he could destroy the chair and be done with it, but they didn't have time.

"Yeah, sorry," he ran towards Jessi, getting out ahead of her and looking off ahead. He closed his eyes, listening, then pointed straight ahead, "This way! We can go around the outside, through the backyard. I'm sure this is the way. We'll jump the fence in back and get to another street, rather than the way we came in."

"Got it," she said, following him through the set of doors ahead. Two guards ,but Kyle managed to stop the door they were trying to come through, pushing one palm against the other side to hold it closed. Then he took a pipe from the wall – torn off by Jessi – and rammed it into the door to keep it closed, if only for a short time. They took off, finding the back doors and breaking through them to get outside, racing for the back fence.

Inside, Declan was running around, looking for them. He knew he couldn't destroy the chair, even though he knew of it from Foss. If he destroyed it, what would Kyle think? Kyle had wanted to destroy it, but lacked the time. Destroying it would signal something was going on, before Declan wanted him to know.

But not destroying it would mean it would be problematic in the future. But even if he wanted to, he had no way to destroy it, and no time, since too many guards for him to handle were approaching. He would have to start shooting, and he didn't want to do that.

He took off, hoping to get out alive, and hoping that Kyle and Jessi had also made it.

Jessi's wound wasn't that bad, fortunately. She had managed to brace herself to avoid having her bone damaged too much, which was the main concern. Healing her took a lot out of me, but it was worth it. It was worth it to see her free of pain, to see her happy, for that and for completing the mission and destroying the program.

Kyle was walking home at around six in the morning, nearly at his street. As he turned the corner, a gun went off. The bullet just missed him, or he would have been killed. He turned, seeing a man in a black mask running away. "Hey!" he shouted, about to run after him, when he fell to one knee, too drained from healing Jessi to give chase.

He pushed himself up, certain of Latnok. He walked towards the house again, but pondered why they were trying to kill him. That wasn't what Latnok had tried to do before…

"You look terrible, brother."

Cassidy was walking towards Kyle, who was still on a knee. Kyle pushed himself up and swayed a bit as Cassidy approached. He held his hands up, "No weapons," he told Kyle.

"Why is Latnok trying to kill me?" Kyle demanded.

"We're not," Cassidy assured him.

He couldn't tell if Cassidy was lying, as usual.

"Then why did that man just take a shot at me?" Kyle demanded.

Cassidy shrugged, "How would I know? I'm serious; we have orders not to harm you more than we need to. Does killing you sound like something we would do? We need that information from your head."

Cassidy may have been telling the truth, or he may have been lying. Regardless, it made sense. They need me alive for the knowledge I still have in my head. Killing me would make that information lost, unless Latnok decided to cut their losses, especially after today's events so far. But I have to find myself agreeing with Cassidy. Or was the gunshot just to offset me? I have to believe Cassidy is truthful, but that the gunman was his, just to scare me. Why would Cassidy be so close, just like the shooter, if they weren't connected?

"Later," Cassidy said, walking past him.

"No hard time to give me?" Kyle questioned him, "That's not like you."

"It's not like you to be prodding me on, either," Cassidy told him, "I can see we're both not like ourselves today."

He continued to walk away. What was his point? Kyle walked off, finally getting back home. He walked around to the bedroom window and going in through the window he had left unlocked, climbing into his tub and falling to sleep, making sure to lock the windows first, just in case.

Hours later, Lori let Declan inside. "Hey Trager," he told her.

"Don't say that; we're not dating anymore," she told him.

"Old habits die hard. Hey…is Kyle around?"

"Of course you're here to see Kyle!" she exclaimed in mock pain and shock, "Come on; he's probably still sleeping."

"Sleeping? At noon?"

"Yeah, I know. It's weird."

She motioned for him to come in. He walked past her, heading towards the bedroom.

"I'll be in the living room when you want to see me," she said, walking off. When she was gone, Declan stopped at the door, about to open it, when he heard something inside.

"Jessi?" Kyle was sitting up in his tub, watching Jessi climb through the window, even though he had locked them. He wasn't so tired that he had forgotten.

"New trick," she said.

"You have energy left to do some trick?" he questioned.

"I recovered pretty fast, actually," she said, smiling cockily, "Just another way I'm better than you. That, and I figured out how to magnetize the iron in my blood against the metal of your latch so I could unlock your window from outside."

"So…what are you doing here, Jessi?" he asked her, getting out of the tub and standing up.

["Start a Fire" by Ryan Star, .com/watch?v=IrsaRTlePN4]

"Kyle…Amanda told me she would do whatever she could to get you back. I know the time you're having with her…I'm here to…," she shook her head, "God, why is begging so hard? How do people do it?"

"You're here to…beg?" Kyle was shocked.

"Beg for the chance to be with you. You're not with Amanda right now," she told him, "So come on. We're the same; you said so many times before. So…let's just get away from this pretense of your "undying love" for Amanda, and get this going. You and I are much better together. I think this morning proved that once again."

"But I'm with Amanda!" he ran a hand through his hair, "I can't be with you!"

"You can," she said, grabbing his shoulders, looking into his eyes, "Amanda got rid of you! Come on! You and I…give us a chance! Kyle, I want this more than I've ever wanted anything else! I get what I want."

Even though I love Amanda, she as much told me to move on, if only for a short time, until we can come back together. Jessi could be here to see that I do as Amanda said we should, but she only suggested it, didn't demand it.

But yet…

He gazed into Jessi's eyes, her eyes staring back into his. It was as if they could look into each other's souls. They could feel each other, not only through touch, but into the soul through their touch.

And then it began. He moved in, forcefully applying his lips to hers. She kissed him back with the same intensity, their hands all over each other. They were both pushing against each other, staggering around the room in a passionate, volatile embrace of affection, wrong, but right.

They broke their kiss and rejoined it, knocking into Kyle's desk, knocking a lamp over. They moved more, both of them moving the other for a certain distance before the other could gain the strength to move the former aggressor. They were both aggressors here, both acting like animals, giving into their greatest impulses, their sexual desires. Jessi truly had feelings for Kyle, while he had feelings for her, but deep down, they gave into sexual urges, desires, more than their feelings for each other.

Their feelings were fueling the passion, as were their urges, their lusts.

They crashed into the door, making Declan on the other side jump back a bit. He pushed his ear to the door, listening, having heard bits, and was able to piece it together at this point.

"No Kyle…no…" He didn't like the idea of history repeating itself, of Kyle making himself lose Amanda, the woman he loved. He wanted Kyle to be happy, and knew this wasn't Kyle's happiness.

The two continued on like animals in their wild passion, kissing, running hands across each other's chests and backs. They collapsed into his tub, just big enough for the two of them. They writhed around on the inside, being on the sides, then top and bottom, continuing on with no end to their passion which seemed to have taken a life of its own.

Amanda. I love her, but I…I…I also love Jessi. Amanda is pure and innocent, while Jessi has the darker soul, the darker existence which is like mine. Amanda is like me, but Jessi is my opposite. There's no wonder this is how things are going, that I'm in love with both of them.

Their wild passion continued, and would continue, as long as they could both go. For Kyle and Jessi, their passion – never crossing a line – could and possibly would go on for another hour straight, unending.

[Song ends]