A/N: Hello! I'm getting good at this rapid updating lark. So here's Chapter 5 (I believe), Alex is still trying to locate Nick and Greg's getting a little more sympathetic towards her. Oh, and there's some random mush thrown in for fun. Enjoy!! (Oh and as ever, italics - flashbacks)"Talk to me Alex," Greg ordered. Alex was curled up on a seat in the empty DNA lab, teeth attempting to chew through her lip.
"Nothing," she croaked, one hand massaging her forehead, the other a clenching and unclenching fist. Her red-rimmed, crystalline blue eyes were over-bright with the tears that were over-spilling and tracking down her cheeks. "Can't find anything. At all. Barely a trace that he ever existed. It's scaring me. I can normally feel…something, not exactly where they are, but a general idea. This time I can't! Yet at the same time he's screaming for me. Yelling at me through his mind, asking me to help him!"
"Does anything impede this…ability?"
"I don't know! Earth maybe…I've never had someone buried alive on me Mr Sanders!"
Greg was slightly taken aback by the ferocity of that statement. "Easy Alex."
"Sorry," Alex looked at the floor. "I'm just…it's just…I'm worried about Nick. I can't find him, and that makes me feel even worse. I mean…I'm supposed to look after him!"
"Like a guardian angel?"
"I've said it before, I'll say it again. I'm no angel, I don't want to be one. Nick knew that…"
"Look, surely you can see the line of Nick's future, you know he's not going to die."
"That's where the problem lies," Alex admitted awkwardly. "Sometimes there'll be a branch in a life-line. Either one thing will happen, or another. There's a branch here. What will happen if you find him in time, what will happen if you don't find him. I can't say for sure which one's going to happen."
"What about cross-"
"Referencing? I tried, the branch is the same in all of them."
"All of our lines have the same branch? How rare is that?"
"Ever tried to find a single particular ant in the Amazon rainforest?"
Greg gulped. That didn't sound too good. "So basically, you don't have a clue how to deal with this?"
"No."
"What use are you then?"
"None."
"Why are you still here? Instead of going off to hide?"
"Because I know that I'm useless here, but I might be useful in the near future. You never know what'll happen."
"Right…so you're not leaving because something you haven't foreseen might happen?"
"Yeah. I don't know if I will be able to help, but I'd rather be here with that hope than somewhere else completely helpless and not knowing if Nick's alive or dead."
A thought dawned on Greg as he saw the desperate look in Alex's eyes, and the way her hands were gesturing wildly. "You're in love with Nick aren't you?"
Posture became defensive, eyes closed over, expression blanked off. "No," Alex said – but it was clear she didn't believe what she was saying. Her shoulders slumped as Greg continued to watch her with raised eyebrows. "I shouldn't be," the girl admitted, her long hair falling over her face as her eyes once again inspected the floor. "It's not right. I shouldn't become emotionally involved. But I have. I couldn't help it."
Greg frowned. "You're not what I expected."
"Rumours rarely prove to be true Mr Sanders, least of all rumours about the supposed 'demons' that are around. Now, you better go find Nick."
"You sure I can?"
"With the team back there? Course you can. Don't leave without me."
Greg left Alex alone with her thoughts. She frowned to herself. She knew she shouldn't have fallen in love with Nick. It was never a good thing to fall in love with the person you were supposed to be helping. The thing was, as supernatural as she was, she was still human. In a way that she couldn't explain, couldn't even begin to comprehend. And she was in love with Nick Stokes. That was the only rational explanation for why she hadn't just give up and left already, for how strongly she felt about this one man. None of the others she'd helped had ever affected her this way, she couldn't normally keep herself detached, both emotionally and otherwise. But with Nick it was different. He was so warm, passionate and friendly, physical contact was hard to avoid with the Texan who would happily throw an arm around someone's shoulder just randomly to remind them that they were friends.
How could she have not fallen for him? She asked herself suddenly. He was smart, humorous, friendly, kind, and loving – not matter what he saw one the job, he still retained his belief that the majority of mankind were good people. Alex couldn't keep believing that, humanity had bloody killed her, and her and Nick had had the argument of whether humanity was inherently good or evil. A hard debate seeing as Alex saw in shades of grey and refused to label people one way or the other stating that the labels were far too simple for such complex beings as humans.
She could remember one such discussion clearly.
"Oh come on Alex," Nick pushed her shoulder playfully as they sat curled up together on his couch, an old movie playing on the TV screen. "You can't judge the entire human on a few people."
"I'm not Nicky," Alex retorted. "I'm basing my opinion on years of seeing the world as it has evolved. Not just some random passers-by in the street. I could go out and canvas opinions if you wanted, but people might ignore me."
"You see, that would prove your theory that humanity is inherently evil, which it is not."
"No, that would prove that no-one can see me. Besides, I don't think humanity is inherently evil. I don't think that humanity is truly inherently anything."
"What do you mean?"
"We are what our experiences make us. There's no 'good' and 'evil' labels like some people see it. There's just shades of grey. Nothing is absolute. Nothing."
"You're a cynic."
"When you've seen as much of the world as I have, you start to give up on absolutes, and start relying on the uncertainty."
"You rely on uncertainty?"
"I rely on myself. And that in itself is relying on uncertainty. Like I've said, there's no certainties in this world. You didn't know there was another dimension out there until you met me – and that science could prove everything. Science can't prove me because I don't exist. Run my DNA and you'll crash your computers. Certainty is something that only exists on the mortal plain, and even then it's an illusion."
"I feel so much better about my life now."
Alex laughed. "I'm sorry, you brought it up, and I get very passionate about people being deceived. I don't like it."
"You don't like a lot of things. But this is the first time you've completely slaughter one of my beliefs."
"Do you want me to destroy your idea of a benevolent forgiving god, heaven, hell and all that goes with it?"
"No thanks. Don't want to know if it crushes everything I know."
Alex laughed as she continued to cry. She loved Nick's nights off when the two of them would curl up on the couch and watch the first thing that Nick picked up. She knew for a fact that if she lost him…she chuckled bitterly. She couldn't die if she lost him, but half of her damn well wished that she could.
Nick closed his eyes. He knew his team would come get him, but time was running out and part of him just wanted to take the gun and blow his own brains out. The other half said he couldn't. He had to believe that his team would come and get him. He had to find Alex, had to apologize to her. He couldn't lose her after everything she'd done. He had a feeling that she was at the lab right now, probably wondering what was going on, where he was. He'd tried yelling for her, but she hadn't responded. Had him letting her go messed up her…death? Was she ignoring him on purpose?
Tears leaked down Nick's face as he came to a realization. He didn't want to lose Alex. He loved her for crying out loud. He hoped his team would find him soon so he could tell her face to face. He looked at the tape recorder. He would leave everyone a message – and say what he needed to say to Alex, Greg could always relay the message if she didn't hear it herself. Although…Greg seemed to hate Alex, so would he? Surely he wouldn't be that heartless…would he?
There we go. All done!! Hope you enjoyed!!