I am so terribly sorry for the long wait. With the holidays and all, my so called "high speed wireless connection" was acing slow due to people on vacation and bogging down the server. They are like blood clots slowing the flow of blood. Since most people's vacation is now over, connection is now free of blockage.

Anyways, people have been asking for hardcore Desmond/Lucy and Shaun/Rebecca scenes. This chapter....will contain neither of those. But I promise they will shortly grace this story with their presence. It's obvious Shaun and Rebecca are now in a relationship, but I'm waiting for the right moment to add details. Their private relationship, to me at least, adds to the cuteness of their pairing. It's like they are being secretive and discrete without being so discrete. Just be patient.

Without further ado (I like this phrase...), here is chapter 3!!

Ahh! A real kitchen with a real dining room. And the sweet smell of a 100% all natural leather couch. The only thing missing is big ass TV, a PlayStation, some Uncharted and I will be good to go. Now that I think about it, Nathan Drake sure does sound a lot like…

"Desmond!" Rebecca shouted mid thought. "How are you doing?"

Desmond had just woken up to the smell of coffee but since he was still half asleep, Rebecca's eagerness startled him. "Oh, hey!" he piped after jumping in alarm. "Ah, I'm doing alright. Coffee sure does smell good."

When they were on the road a few days ago, the group unanimously agreed that if it weren't for coffee, all of them would be passed out somewhere never to wake up again. That, ultimately, would mean bye-bye world. So in their eyes, fresh, hot coffee was as important to their mission as Desmond.

"Yeah, it's ready if you want some," Rebecca informed him.

"Thanks. How is Shaun doing?"

A proud grin beamed over Rebecca's face.

Desmond was afraid of what was about to burst out of her lips. First, he knew she would most likely yell it. Second, with the way Shaun and Rebecca had been acting, God only knows what happened in their room last night.

"He is still working on the project you two will be, uh…working on." Rebecca usually hated repeating phrases because she thought it made her vocabulary seem diminutive compared to the others. But, she knew Desmond wouldn't care. "He hates that it is taking this long to prepare, but he wants it to be as safe and perfect as he can get it."

"I really need to thank him for this one day…but don't tell him I said that."

Rebecca chuckled. "I won't. Where is Lucy?"

Desmond rocked his head towards the hallway. "Still asleep. At least I think…."

"Ah. Well I'm going to see how Shaun is doing. Oh, I whipped up a few breakfast tacos, if you feel inclined, and some bagels are out. Knock yourself out."

"Thanks, Becky!" Desmond giggled as showed his gratitude.

Rebecca smiled back. She stood up and as she made her way down the hall, she couldn't help but think how lucky she was. Lucy was like the sister she never had, Shaun has become a part of her life she never thought could possibly exist, and she had one of her best friends back. Even if the world ended and her time on Earth was over, she would die a happy woman.

"Shit! Where is the damn creamer?" Desmond whispered in exasperation as he searched the cabinets and refrigerator. It was amazing to him that even though they had only been at the safe house two days, Lucy and Rebecca managed to load the kitchen up with food.

"There you are you little devil." He grabbed two mugs, filled them with coffee, and fixed one up with creamer and sugar. The other he left straight black. He picked up the now full mugs and carefully made his way down the hallway.

"Still asleep…" he thought to himself as he stared at the blonde in the bed. He set one of the mugs on the night stand by Lucy's side of the bed not bothering to be quiet about it.

The noise of the mug clanking on the table and the heavenly aroma was enough to wake Lucy. She pulled the sheet to cover herself as she sat up and asked, "You are making a strange habit of bringing me coffee every morning. And you even fixed it up this time."

A smile etched on his face as he noticed the horrible, tangled mess her hair was in. "Just being a gentleman."

"You don't have to do that you know," Lucy explained as she gratefully held the mug up to her nose with one hand as the other hand held the sheets close to her neck.

"In my opinion, I do. It is obvious I am never going to live a normal life ever again. So, I am going to make the best of the situation at hand and bring as much normalcy to my life as possible."

Lucy's expression was understanding and almost sympathetic as Desmond first started to explain his actions. Unlike her, he knew what it was like to live a carefree life. She never knew that life.

"Besides, I like seeing your hair look like shit every morning. It's cute," Desmond continued.

With that comment, Lucy's face turned sour. If her hands weren't full at the moment, she would have thrown him the finger, a pillow, or something small and handy within her reach. But one word was all that she would be tossing his way.

"Ass," she mumbled.

Desmond giggled as he took a sip of coffee. "Fuhk!" he screamed. He hadn't taken into consideration that since Lucy's coffee had creamer in it, the liquid was cool. His on the other hand…

"I buhnt meh tonguh!"

Lucy laughed devilishly as she watched Desmond hang his head in shame.

His eyes cut back up at her, head still pointed downward as he smiled sheepishly. "It's not funny."

Her lips tightened as she tried not to smirk. "Yeah it is," she said with a faint giggle in her voice.

"Well you just laugh it up. While you are in here sleeping and snoring like a bear during hibernation, I have been doing work," Desmond retorted, his head held proudly.

"Really?" Lucy said in disbelief.

"Well, sort of. I have been, independently, trying to separate memories and hallucinations from what is really going on. I have only tried it twice but so far, I have made progress!"

"So you are able to realize you are having a hallucination?" Lucy inquired as she set het mug back down on the night stand.

"So far, yes. I had Rebecca, who for whatever reason gets up at the ass crack of dawn, keep an eye on me yesterday morning. I haven't had a chance to work on it today."

Lucy was disappointed that Desmond didn't bother to inform her of his activities, but she didn't bring it up. "Well that's good. Have you heard anything from Shaun yet?"

"No. Just that he is finishing up his project as we speak. Rebecca made it sound like he should be ready today, at least I hope," Desmond admitted with a hint of doubt in his voice.

"Hey, if there is anyone more qualified to deal with this problem, it's Shaun. I don't deal with the effects of certain things to the brain; I just know how to analyze and predict them. Vidic failed to realize that back at Abstergo."

Desmond let out a sigh of defeat. "I know. I just wish this wasn't happening. Things just started to go smoothly…"

"It's just a hiccup," Lucy interrupted. At least that was all she hoped it was. "You are stronger than you give yourself credit for. If you work on it, you can control it. I know you can."

How could she seem so sure of herself? She had all this faith in him and he hadn't the slightest idea why. But he had to prove himself to her. Not for the pleasure of proving he could do it, but to prove her right. He wasn't going to let her down.

"Thanks." He walked up to the edge of the bed and stole a kiss from her unsuspecting lips. "You should shower and get dressed. We can't have you looking like a buffoon all day."

Before she could protest, Desmond left the room and closed the door.

"Ass," she mumbled to herself.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"So, how is this going to work?" Desmond asked as he entered the office of the house where Shaun was located.

"Well, with some incense, lightening, and ambient sounds, I am going to try to trigger a memory of any of your ancestors. Then your job is to stay focused as you puppet the memory so you are still aware of what is going on in present time. I'm trying to make it sound as simple as possible, but I am having a hard time explaining it," Shaun tried to clarify.

"No I think I get the gist of it."

"Good, well then let's get started." Shaun wheeled over to the desk at which Desmond was sitting and lit some candles and some other smelly stuff with which Desmond was not familiar.

"Stuff smells…horrible…geez…Are you sure this is going to work? Right now I feel like I am going to puke!" Desmond exclaimed as he placed his hands over his mouth and nose. "Fuck, I got it in my mouth!"

Shaun was putting on some soft, Arabic music in the background. He laughed and said, "You will get used to it soon. Now, obviously with the smells and the music playing…"

Desmond interrupted. "We are targeting Altair."

"Precisely. Now, have you ever meditated before?" Shaun inquired.

"Uhh, I did yoga once," Desmond shrugged.

"Ok, well what you will need to do is similar to that. Just, uh, minus the bending and folding."

"Got it. No downward dog. Then what?" Desmond asked.

"That is the tricky part. You will need to focus solely on Altair while you are meditating. Toss everything that is not relative to Altair. If it helps, you can lay down on that couch as if you were in the Animus. Replicating the scenario of how you first accessed Altair's memories could help you until you can do this on your own."

Desmond's eyebrows perked up. As he sat down on the couch, he asked, "So, do you really think this can work? Me reliving my ancestors' past without a machine?"

"Edward believed in it. In fact, he got the idea from his father."

Desmond tried to ask questions about Edward's role with the Order, but Shaun's enthusiasm and relentless tongue prevented him from doing so.

Shaun continued, "I am not 100 percent certain how true this is but as a child, I overheard my step father talking about members of the Order who had the ability to instantly gain access or knowledge of the past. They were considered the elite of the elite. Upon further research of Edward's most confidential files, I discovered exactly what my step father meant." Shaun paused and started writing something down in his notebook.

"And that would be...?" Desmond insisted.

Shaun jerked his head up as he woke from the hypnotism of his work. "Oh, uh, yeah. Basically, those elite 'Orderlies' could do exactly what you are trying to do now. So to answer your question, yes, I do believe this will work."

"Aight. If you have faith, then so do I," Desmond said trustingly. He lied down on the couch and said, "Let's get this party started."

"Wonderful! As I stated earlier, focus exclusively on Altair. Concentrate. You have felt his emotions, feelings, and intentions. Let those flow through you. Embrace it and…" Shaun stopped when he noticed Desmond's eyes close and start to twitch. "That was quick," he thought to himself. "Desmond, what are you seeing?"

"Altair. His finger. They cut it off," Desmond mumbled.

"So you can still hear me talking to you as you see and hear Altair's memory?" Shaun inquired.

Desmond nodded his head but said nothing.

"Desmond, I need you to answer me verbally."

"Yeah," Desmond responded quietly.

"How old are you?" Shaun questioned.

"25." Desmond's answers were monotone.

"What is my name?"

"Shaun Hastings."

Shaun sighed in relief and wrote down some more illegible notes. "Whenever you are ready Desmond, you can eject yourself from the memory. Doing that is similar to how you voluntarily ejected from an Animus induced memory."

Some time went by and after a few attempts, Desmond successfully ejected from Altair's past and was back to the present.

"How do you feel?" Shaun asked with concern.

"Like I was bartending all night without a break, then got beat up by a drunken gang banger for not serving his drink as he asked," Desmond said as he rubbed his face.

Shaun raised an eyebrow as he stared at Desmond. "Well, you were in Altair's memories for about two hours. Let us call it a day and get some dinner."

"Sounds good." As Desmond stood up and saw Shaun wheeling away, he quickly ran over to his side and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Thanks again, for everything."

"You're welcome. Now get your hand off of me and wipe that mushy look off of your face before the girls see it. I don't want them questioning what we are doing in here."

Desmond jerked his hand away from Shaun's shoulder as if he were jerking his hand from an open flame. "Sorry."

The guys made their way into the den which was next to the kitchen.

"So what is for dinner, babe?" Shaun asked Rebecca.

"Chicken tetrazzini," Rebecca proudly exclaimed.

"Chicken what?" Desmond asked. "Why can't we have regular food around here?"

Thanks for R/R and let me know what you think. Good reviews, critical reviews, and out right ridiculous reviews are appreciated and accepted.

Hope you enjoyed it!!