I'd like to extend thanks to everyone who has sent reviews. It is very much appreciated. How else do I know if I've done something right or wrong?

This chapter finally gives you a glance at Jesse and Brennan, I hope you enjoy.

Thanks to Stephanie, Sara and Rachel for all of their help. .

7 Two for the Road 7

"Jesse," Brennan's hoarse voice whispered, "Jesse, wake up!" He hissed trying to get Jesse out of his stupor.

"Hmm, what?" Jesse finally replied his voice feeling almost twice as raw as it sounded, and winced in pain.

"Are you ok?" Brennan asked through the bars of his cage.

Jesse had been thrown unceremoniously on the floor in the cage next to him almost 20 minutes ago and had not stirred since. Brennan had heard his strangled cries through the heavy door and wanted nothing more then to rip the governor off and fry every last one of those bastards in the other room. Instead he was forced to listen to Jesse's cries as he sat in a puddle of water with his body bruised almost beyond recognition of its former physique.

They were being tortured every so often for information and sometimes, Brennan had begun to believe, for fun. The questioning involved everything from where the hideouts were that are used, location of safe houses, names and addresses of certain mutants, and what they knew about Adam's research. They had moved at least 8 times in the past few months and he was beginning to lose hope of ever being found. The only thing that he clung to was their constant questioning of information on Adam, Lexa, Shalimar, and underground information. That could only mean that they had not found the girls yet or been able to access Adam's database.

He and Jesse had made a pact the first night that they would die before they would tell these guys anything. His thoughts often strayed to Shalimar, and he said silent prayers to whoever would listen to him that she was safe, and that maybe she would be able to find them. Sometimes it felt like thoughts and memories of her were all the kept him sane. After the fifth or sixth move he had begun to lose hope though.

Jesse was holding up ok. When they were left alone for long stretches of time, sometimes what felt like two days or more, they would regale old stories and try to fight the bitterness by thinking of happier times.

"Bren?" Jesse ground out, pulling Brennan out of his daze.

"Yeah, Jess?" Brennan said as he moved closer to the bars to reach through and try to help Jesse to a sitting position until Jesse was finally upright with his back against the wall.

"They'll find us right?" Jesse's voice sounded like that of someone whose hope was almost completely lost.

"Would Shal or Lexa ever let us down?" Brennan said trying to keep a lilt to his voice.

"Well, Shal did start dating you…" Jesse said trying to smile, but realizing too late that his mouth was too raw to do it effectively.

"Jesse, you know I don't trust a lot of people, but you, Shal, and even Lexa have become my family I believe that Shalimar and Lexa won't leave us to die if they can do anything about it." Brennan said, hoping that they would be found soon. He didn't believe that either of them would last much longer.

Shalimar sighed for what felt like the twentyth time in as many minutes. She had been able to hack into several government databases and get some information on funding for Dominion activities, but nothing that would be of any use to them for right now. Lexa was next to her clicking away on her keyboard decrypting the last of the files that her contact had been able to sneak out of the Dominion before he went into hiding himself. Lexa had hardly slept at all and looked like she was going to fall asleep at the terminal.

"Damn it! None of these files has the slightest information on anything we need!" Lexa said as she smacked her hand against the desk. "Switch with me and see if I'm missing anything. Maybe I'm just too tired to see it." She said as she jumped off of her chair and tried to nudge Shalimar to move off of hers.

Shalimar relented after having Lexa stand over her for several minutes and went to the other terminal and looked over the information that was listed. About 15 minutes later Shalimar found something that looked promising.

"Wait a minute Lex!" Shalimar said, for the first time in days a feeling of happiness had bleeding into her voice.

"Please tell me it is something useful," Was Lexa's reply as she joined Shalimar at the terminal.

"Look at this," Shalimar said pointing to the screen, "it's a list of aliases that the Dominion uses for large transactions that can be tracked."

"I'm currently running on only a few hours sleep for this week, see if you can simplify this a little more for me." Lexa said trying to follow Shalimar's thought process through her hazy mind.

"We can track things they do!" At Lexa's 'yeah so' look Shalimar let out a groan, "Like property purchases and large shipments of supplies! Maybe get some inside on the corporate housing?"

"I can't believe I didn't see that before!" She got slightly disheartened as she looked at the list of at least eighty names on the screen, "They will take a while to track, though."

"Yeah, but at least we have a more solid lead to follow now. I mean most of these are dummy corporations that will lead back to nothing; the ones with solid addresses are the only one's we have to worry about." Shalimar said. She felt like a ray of hope had finally settled on her.

"I'll get started on this one, and you do that one. Let's see if we can make any headway before we have to leave, and that's not for another four hours." Lexa said plopping down on the chair and keying in information with renewed enthusiasm.

Angel and Beau came out hearing the sounds of elated joy for the first time in a long time. Lexa updated them on the found information as Shalimar furiously worked to track the name of the first corporation listed. Energized with new hope, all four began to work toward the tracking of the dummy corporations.

Three hours and a back ache later Shalimar retreated to her room for a small break. Angel and Beau sent her away after she almost punched the monitor; promising they would continue the search while she took a break, before she broke something. Shalimar had no idea how Lexa could sit there for so long and not go nuts. Shalimar literally stared and scanned things till her eyes crossed. Lexa had called it quits about twenty minutes before Shalimar and went to go lay down in the loft where they had a hammock to bask in the last hours of sunshine filtering in through the windows.

Shalimar wanted nothing more than to continue, but she had checked out about 6 leads and 1 was very promising and looked like they might have some luck. She stretched out her stiff muscles in her back and neck for a few moments then sat cross legged on the bed and pulled out the journal. She wanted to get to the new safe house and get settled in, but she had to wait almost 2 more hours till the sunset. The hunter inside of her was beginning to get aggressive and restless again. Trying to quell those urges she flipped to the next page in the book.

September 2, 2002

Well this summer hasn't been a total bust, but with the GSA out of the picture for the time and Ashlocke not making too many public moves, I have been relegated to doing safe house shuffles. Jesse, Emma, and I have been doing some work on the underground trying to keep everyone safe and taking advantage of the time to do upgrades on the security systems.

Shalimar went on a retreat about a month and a half ago. She has contacted Jesse and Emma a few times. She and I have talked a few as well, but I feel like she is managing to skirt all the big stuff or maybe I am. I guess the saying 'ignorance is bliss' is good enough for me. We never talked about what happened after Ashlocke, and she was hell bent on making sure everyone knew she was fine. She was purposely picking fights and starting trouble sometimes to prove it I think.

Adam sent her on this retreat thing to help her get in touch with her feral nature a little better, at least that's what he told us, I think he is trying to protect her from herself as well as Ashlocke though. I guess in our own ways we all are. She really is the heart and soul of the team. Jesse said she met someone up there. I overheard him talking with Emma, and they seem to think it would be a problem for me. I don't know why they think I would take it bad, but I guess I did lay into them pretty hard when I heard them talking. It's not like I've been missing any action this summer. Why does everyone think that I'm going to lose it about this stuff? Shal and I are like best friends, and we just hit a rough patch. Right?

Anyway, Jesse and Emma have been a little weird lately. I know they know my birthday is coming up soon. I hope they haven't decided to do anything to crazy. I just wanted to go out for a few drinks and enjoy the scenery at this new club that just opened. Of course I might be in trouble. I got Jesse so hammered at his birthday that it took me and Shalimar to get him safely to bed.

Shalimar remembered that 'retreat' well. She had met someone who at least helped her get her mind off of Brennan for a while. She just about screwed the guy bowlegged though. She knew that entering into a relationship with Brennan would have been hard, and they both danced around it so much. She was so attracted to him that it was tough not to act on it sometimes. The truth was that it was never wise to get involved with someone you work and live with. Things could have gone so wrong, but then again, things had felt so right.

Looking down at the next date she was reminded of what they had done for them that birthday, and had to read on to find out what he really thought.

October 1, 2002

I love my team, well I guess I should say family. That's what we have become. For as much as I think about leaving sometimes, something always keeps me here. I just can't believe they managed to do this for me.

The beginning of the summer I got myself a new mustang. It isn't exactly what I wanted, but I have really grown to like it a lot. It's a black convertible with leather interior. I had wanted a manual tranny, but I couldn't find one. I have to do a little work on the engine, but it is a great car, and I got it for a steal!

I was chasing down Ashlocke's guys a few weeks ago, and we went through this alley. I felt like such a fool afterward. I should have known they would have a trap or something planned. This psionic was able to move stuff with her mind, and managed to destroy the exterior of the car with a few dumpsters, and smash the windshield with some pipes and rebar that must have been laying around. I was almost skewered. The car was damn near destroyed. I was so pissed that they destroyed my new baby that I almost fried them. They are lucky I missed.

So I limped the car back home where Adam, Jesse, and Emma looked at me like I was nuts for wanting to fix it. I don't know why I wanted to so badly, but the car just had a certain attraction for me. I woke up the next morning and Adam said he had it towed away by the insurance company, and I would get my check in a few weeks.

Adam was even in on this. I was amazed. I think Adam was probably the only one who wasn't afraid to tell me that the car was towed. Little did I know that while I was storming around and making a fool of myself, Jesse, Emma, Adam, and Shal had decided to get the car repaired for me as a birthday present. Shal still hadn't gotten back yet, but Emma had talked to her and Shal knew a guy who would help, and he towed it that morning while I was sleeping.

So I stomped around Sanctuary for a few days, and tried to find another car I liked. Jesse told me he almost cracked and told me a few times when I was being an ass, but somehow managed to restrain himself. I was bugging Adam about the check from the insurance company about two weeks later, and he said he'd call. Little did I know that Shalimar was on her way back here and was picking up the car on her way home.

Emma had talked me into staying home on the night of my birthday, and made a cake, and we had some beer and fun. I was wishing Shalimar would have been home. I had talked to her shortly after the car was wrecked and she promised me she would be home by my birthday. Needless to say I felt a little betrayed.

Then I heard her voice over our comms and I thought I was going to burst! She had made it and hadn't lied. She asked us to meet her in the garage because she had something that she needed help bringing in. We all went out to the garage, and I thought my eyes were going to pop out of my head. Shalimar was back, but she was sitting in my car! My entirely repaired and repainted car! I wasn't sure what to do, and the next thing I know Shal had wrapped herself around me in a bear hug, followed by everyone else.

The car keys were jingling in my ear when Shal pulled away, and she just laughed as I jumped in and ran my hands all over the repairs that were seamlessly fixed. I was so excited and felt like such a fool that I took everyone out for drinks that night (in my newly repaired car, of course), and spent as much of the night as I could dancing and hanging with Shalimar. Jesse wanted a few dances and so did Adam, meaning I had to share her. I don't know if they will ever know how much what they did means to me.

I'm glad to have all four of us and Adam back together though. It was kind of lonely without Shal around to harass me all summer. We're getting back into a pattern though. I don't know if we'll ever talk about what happened between us before she left (I can't help but think about it sometimes), but right now I don't care. I'm just worried about this thing with Ashlocke. He is still getting to her, and I hate hearing her scream at night. Emma is doing the best she can, but I'll be happy when this is over, sometimes I wonder what she would do if I just went in to hold her.

That was a good memory, she was so confused about coming home, but when she got back everything went on like she never left. With the exception of everyone wanting to talk to her and spend more time with her then normal. It was comforting though to have everyone she loved with her again and decided that from then on she wasn't going to run away from her problems, but deal with them as best as she could. Her family had always been her real strength, she just had to remind herself.

The screaming and crying in her sleep she never really knew about. She never knew that she had been screaming enough to wake him up. Jesse could sleep like the dead, and Emma knew and tried to help her through it, Emma was empathic, so Shalimar naturally thought that Emma was just picking up on her distress. He did come in and sit with her a few times when she got back, and the comfort was a tremendous help. There were so many nights when being held tightly all night wouldn't have taken away the wacky feeling, but it definitely would have been something better to focus on.