Lauren took her free period to spend time with Indira. She walked into the infirmary and headed down the hall to where Indira's room was. As she opened the door, thinking she was probably sleeping when she heard the other girl's voice. "Hi Nanni! Daadi! I'm so glad to see you again!" Lauren peeked around the door to see an empty room, save Indira herself. The girl was sitting up, arms outstretched to no one.

"Indi?" Lauren said quietly.

"Hey Lauren! I'd like you to meet my grandparents." Indira gestured toward a blank wall. Lauren didn't know what to do, so she played along.

"Um, hello. It's nice to meet you," Lauren voiced to thin air. Looking back to Indira, she sighed. "Indi, has anyone said when you'll be able to leave? Come back to class with the rest of us?"

"Actually," Indira whispered, "I'm supposed to go home with my grandparents. They told me I had to leave Brain Camp. Whatever happened to me needs to be monitored, so they are sending me to a Conatix research facility back on Earth, near my home. I can't leave until the day after tomorrow, but I'm just glad that my grandparents arrived early!" She smiled again at the blank wall.

Lauren shifted uncomfortably. "Well, I don't have a lot of time today. I'll try to be back after dinner, ok? I think Kat will come as well. She said she was sorry that she hadn't visited you yet."

"That sounds so great," Indira grinned. "I'm going to miss you all like crazy when I'm gone."

Taking the girl's hand, Lauren gave a sad smile. "I'm going to miss you too. You have no idea."

Indira's grandparents did arrive on the day she was to leave. Lauren went to the loading dock early that morning to say a last goodbye. Just as she was giving Indira a long embrace, her datapad beeped and it was time to go beat up on Kaidan. She wasn't mad at him anymore. There was no point in that. He wanted Rahna and that was his right. Lauren didn't even care that he did.

As the weeks turned into months, she poured herself into training like the fierce biotic she knew she could be. Over time, her arms developed lean, defined muscles, her baby fat started to melt away, and she found she'd grown a few inches as well. She felt she was becoming more of an equal with Kaidan, at least mentally.

The actual fighting between the two of them continued. Vyrnnus quit bringing in adults, like he had for his previous war games, and only pitted them against each other. So, eventually, a silent agreement was made between Lauren and Kaidan. They agreed to put on a show for the turian every morning, but it was never like it was the first time, to Kaidan's disappointment. There was still fire in Lauren's eyes, but it wasn't burning against him like it had before. When they came in physical contact, there was only a tingling sense of biotics mixing. They would talk some, but after Indira left, Lauren's face set like stone. Kaidan never saw her smile or laugh. She was 100% business.

Kaidan's months drifted by in a thick, lovesick haze. He poured himself into the developing relationship he had with Rahna. He loved the way she was so gentle, so joyful. It was a refreshing break from the no-nonsense Lauren he had to endure every morning. In class, he would eye Vyrnnus and keep a protective arm around Rahna's shoulders. Outside of class, they would steal away every chance they had, and she was more than tolerant of his sometimes fumbling hands. Even better, she was encouraging him in his manual exploration. Rahna's dark eyes held so much promise, so much…something, that when they finally found themselves ready, Kaidan felt no hesitation. He could hear her gasps of pleasure echoing in his mind and taste her warmth on his lips long after they had re-clothed and hurried to class.

Every so often though, he found himself thinking of Lauren. He chalked it up to seeing her every morning and the constant close proximity they were required to have. But it was on more than one occasion when Kaidan's mind took him from the very real Rahna in his arms to the girl whose touch was once like fire. As much as he hated to admit it, he longed to feel it again.

Vyrnnus became more hard-edged, if that were possible. He became even less tolerant of failure and started demanding that even menial tasks be completed using biotics. Frustration ran high among all the teens at Brain Camp. It was about 10 months in that they heard about the first death. It was a girl, 16, one of the lower powered biotics. She was putting a heavy conduit into place on a wall that was meant to simulate a ship's engine, when her biotics failed. The gear came crashing down on her body, killing her instantly. Her gruesome death set off several of the students that had seen it. Soon they were exhibiting wild, uncontrollable biotic flares along with mental breakdowns that the infirmary had a hard time helping them recover from.

The adults tried to quell the gossip, but it was a losing battle. All of the unaffected students had seen, in one place or another, one of the grieving students fly off the handle. In the room where they had cooking class, a large ventilation pipe went along the ceiling. Lauren was watching the protein goop they were teaching her to make congeal when a guy in her class started screaming.

"It's going to fall! Everyone, hold it up or it will crush you!" The boy's skin blazed blue and he looked to be using his lift power on the ventilation pipe, which was quite secure. The boy's wild eyes were watery and his body was shaking. "I won't let any of you die!" he shouted.

The teacher quietly called for security and soon there were a couple burly men trying to calm the boy down. "I saw her die! No one did anything! We just stood there! I saw her die, you sons of bitches! You just carted her off like some trash!" He turned toward the men menacingly. "You won't take me out like you did her!" He threw the men back. The teacher ordered the other students to evacuate the class. Lauren, who didn't have a clear path to the door, ducked behind the stove.

She peeked around the side to see the boy, his nose now bleeding profusely from his biotic use. She knew if she could get close enough that she could probably put him in stasis and stop the confrontation. As she was moving toward him, she bumped a chair, knocking it over. The noise made the boy turn and when he did, one of the men tackled him awkwardly. The skinny teen was no match for the man, and Lauren heard a snap as the pair hit the floor.

The man stood up, looking down at the boy's now too still body. "Oh shit," Lauren heard him say. She rose and her eyes met the man's. He eyed her cautiously. "It was self-defense," he said to Lauren as an order, more than a defense. "He wouldn't calm down and he was endangering both of us and you." She nodded mutely.

Lauren was taken, along with the rest of her class, to some counselors to discuss what had happened, but the rest of class hadn't seen the boy die. Lauren kept a distrustful silence. She answered direct questions carefully, measuring each word so they couldn't see through her front. More and more, she was coming to the realization that Brain Camp wasn't about helping biotic humans reach their full potential as much as it was keeping them under control and fearful. She needed to see if anyone else shared her suspicions.

Sitting at lunch alone and not eating, Lauren glanced at the other teens around her. She had kept to herself so much that she hardly knew anyone by name. She saw Kat, but from the carefree look in her eyes, she doubted Kat would take her seriously. She couldn't have seen the nasty side of this place like I have. Beside her sat Rahna. She would know that Vyrnnus was an ass, but not to the same extent as…Kaidan.

Kaidan would know. He said he would have her back. Lauren needed to see if that was really true.

A/N: Thank you to all the new followers, favorites and reviews! I do happy dances when I see them!