To all those who have made me feel like pushing on with this story, thank you. As a reward I'm updating a tad earlier than i planned :) You guys are now my real life, living ghosts. I am writing for you (as sappy as that sounds).

So, please enjoy.

She was suspicious, he had dropped his guard and she had caught him. Now he would have to be extra careful. He didn't want her recognising him in the corridors or in the cafeteria.

He was pacing again, the knife held firmly in one hand. Plan A had fallen through, their meetings were unscheduled; unpredictable. He would have to take them out one by one, but he was starting with the redhead. She was the leader; without the head the body would fall. They wouldn't take him. He was smarter than they thought; he had been smart enough to give a fake name. They wouldn't catch him. He wouldn't let them. They weren't going to infect him. He would destroy them all.

The hate grew until he couldn't bear it. At the height of emotion he put the knife to his skin and dragged it roughly. The pain seared through him and released the pent up feelings.

He sighed. Better.

Claire had been looking everywhere for Alice. She'd combed the ship from top to bottom; looking in all her favourite hideaways, even the one at the bow which she knew Alice thought she didn't know about. It wasn't until much later that she realised there was another person who might know where Alice was. She headed towards K-mart's cabin, knocking quietly before entering. She opened the door to find both Alice and K-mart curled up on the bed fast asleep. A book lay beside them, open at the fifth page. Claire smiled down at them, she hated to wake Alice up at this moment but she needed to talk to her urgently. Before she could reach out though Alice's eyes opened and she turned slowly to face her. She smiled sleepily at Claire.

'Hey.' Claire spoke softly so as not to wake the blonde teenager.

'What's the matter?' Alice whispered. But Claire didn't answer, instead she moved closer and, checking that K-mart was still asleep, kissed the brunette firmly on the lips. She lingered, unwilling to break the contact, but Alice pulled away first, 'Probably not a good idea at the moment, it's been hours since we've been together and I wouldn't want K-mart to witness me jumping you in the middle of her room.' Alice whispered softly with a grin.

'I need to speak with you.' Alice got up carefully and followed Claire out of the room. Neither of them noticed K-mart's smile.

Once they were alone in their room Claire told her the story of the stranger.

'There are 17 Peter's currently out of chryo but none of them are a match for the one I saw.' She finished. She was wondering if telling Alice had been the best move. She hadn't said a word throughout Claire's story and the look on her face was something more than dangerous, 'Well, what do you think?'

'I think, you shouldn't worry about this. I'll handle it.' She was already moving toward the door, but Claire jumped up and grabbed her arm. She thought Alice was about to shake her off but she stopped and turned to her eventually.

'You can't just go out and leave me here like some pathetic damsel in distress. And besides I don't think it will go down well when you tear some man apart in the middle of the crowd.' Alice didn't laugh. 'I'm serious Alice, you need to think about this. You don't even know what he looks like.'

'I don't need to know what he looks like, I'll find him.' she tried leaving again but Claire tightened her grip.

'Just wait for a second okay, we need to tell the rest of them first. He might not have been just looking for me you know, you live here too.'

'Over three quarters of the people on this boat have forgotten I exist remember. I'm not like the rest of you, I can move around without everyone knowing who I am. He won't know I'm coming.' But she didn't move away this time.

'Let's just get everyone to the control room and talk about this okay?' she waited till Alice nodded, 'You go get K-mart and I'll find Luther, Chris is probably still up there.' She started walking but this time it was her arm being gripped.

'I'm not leaving you alone.' she was leaning towards Claire protectively.

'I can take care of myself and you know that, now hurry up.' With that she pulled away and jogged down the hallway. Alice sprinted in the other direction.

When they were all gathered in the control room Claire took up the role of leader again. She paced as she talked, the movement helped her think. Chris' reaction was similar to Alice's; he jumped to his feet before she had even completed the recount and seemed about ready to interrogate the whole ship. Luther continued to listen quietly and K-mart just looked scared. Alice had pulled the mask over her face and even Claire couldn't tell what she was thinking.

'There doesn't seem to be much we can do, he'd be lying low now that I know what he looks like. But even with all this we don't know if he's dangerous. I could have just blown this completely out of proportion.' She sat down and rubbed her face with both hands. They shouldn't be having this problem there were so many other things to worry about.

'I don't think this is a mistake.' Everyone turned, Alice didn't speak often and when she did they listened, 'Something hasn't felt right for a while now, I've been getting it off and on for a few days but lately it's been getting stronger.' She was frowning heavily, staring at the floor, 'I don't like it.' she added quietly.

'What can we do though,' K-mart asked, 'I mean there are hundreds of people on board, how do we find just one anonymous man?' She stood up and began pacing, in mimicry of Claire, 'Well, I supposed we could ask everyone where they'd been . . . no that's not practical. What if we find every male with Claire's description and interrogate them. . .' Luther stepped into her path.

'You're making me feel seasick.' He put his hands onto her shoulders and guided her to a seat, 'The only way we can get him is when he makes his next move, and he will make another move.' He put his hands firmly on the table and leaned forward, 'And we'll be ready.'

Claire and Alice had returned to their cabin. Usually Claire would be out and about, talking with the crew, checking charts, whatever needed doing, and she usually left Alice to her own devices. But today they'd both wandered back to the privacy of their room. Alice had lingered at the door while Claire stood in the middle of the room and, once again, wondered what "Peter" had been looking for. She was frowning heavily when she felt Alice move in behind her. She felt her hands move to her hips and her breathe on the back of her neck. The frown melted away and was replaced by a small smirk as lips pressed behind her ear. Alice subtly pushed her forward until they were closer to the bed, then turned her and followed as she collapsed onto the mattress.

'Are you scared?' Claire asked. Alice was running her hands over the skin Claire's stomach, kissing any spot that was ticklish.

'Mmmm?' Her mouth was too busy to articulate.

'Are you scared of what might happen with this man?' Claire breathed in deeply to stop a moan escaping her lips when Alice's hand moved further upward.

'I'm scared of what might happen to you, but other than that, no.' she began trailing her lips up Claire's neck, nipping the skin softly as she went. Claire had to control her breathing before she could reply in a steady voice.

'I told you, I can take care of myself.' one of her hands fisted in the brunette's hair as she pulled her closer to her skin, Alice's reaction was to slide her hand slowly up Claire's thigh, 'Oh god.'

'That doesn't mean I like it when some idiot is gunning for you.' She pressed her lips just behind Claire's ear before she bit down gently on her lobe.

'He could be after you too.' Claire's breathing hitched at the end but she was feeling too damn good to care.

'But I can take care of myself.' Alice chuckled at the outraged expression on the redhead's face then silenced any protest with her lips. Claire immediately forgot what ever argument she had been about to make and wrapped her legs around the brunette's waist. The last coherent words she managed were.

'Don't think I don't realise why you haven't left my side.' Then she succumbed to the fire that was burning itself across her skin.

Sorry if there are any mistakes in the story so far, or constancy issues, i've kinda just churned the chapters out and not paid a heap of attention to the details.
Anyway, let me know what you think and/or if i could do better.

-B