New AN:

I've updated the chapter and cleaned it up. I hope it looks better. I also added and changed a few things so you might want to read it again!

Thanks to all of my reviewers!

Old Note:

I'm finally done this chapter! Woo Hoo! Jesse/Lexa lovers, here ya go! Please tell me that you like it. I tried really hard to get them both right. Let me know if I did good or bad!

Sidenote: The unedited version will be posted on my site in a few days, so check with that sometime this weekend.

Kai0707 - I'm so sorry that I didn't get this done sooner. I was having some issues with where I needed to go. I apologize upfront for not much Bren/Shal action right now, but it is coming! I do promise to get cracking on that other fic soon. I need to email you with the ideas, ;) Please keep your stories going. I need a few minutes, but I promise to review!

Tampaby16 - Thank you so much for your review! I'm very greatful that you took the time to let me know you like it. It adds to my motivation to get writing when I see new reviewers! Hope you like J/L, or at least a little, I had to do it for a few friends.

Sbfangal - Sweetie, I'm so sorry in advance for not getting there faster. I wanted to get this done a while ago, but you know life! I just realized how long it took me to post this next chapter and I deeply apologize. I'm an ass, 'nuff said. In advance, please don't be too mad at me for this chapter.

Griffbear - Thanks so much for the support. I really wanted this to be a quality fic. I'm so glad you think so, again I'm sorry I took so long to get this next part out.

Stormchilde - This one's for you baby! You will have to check my site in a few days when I get the unedited version posted! I hope you consider this a very late birthday present. BTW, Happy Belated Birthday!

General Note - I just wanted to send a big thanks to Stephanie, Sara and Rachel for all of their help with this fic.

I also realized that I fed up! (Gasp) I never said thank you to Slidershal. I owe her a huge debt for being one of the first people I talked about this story with. She had gotten very wrapped up in R/L and was unable to continue to help, but if she's out there I want her to know that I didn't forget her or the initial boost she gave me! If you haven't read her fics I highly suggest it. They are very B/S, but even if you aren't a big fan of that pairing, they are so well written that you should read them anyway!

Oh Yeah, and support your writers, these are the people who keep our favorite characters alive after the show is gone.

Have I blabbed on enough yet? If your still reading, just ignore me and get to the fic!

Chapter 22: Making Connections

Lexa felt the heat from Angel's stare but kept her eyes firmly focused on the road. She wanted to be alone. Angel's eyes boring into her was making the planned quiet time much more difficult.

"You gonna say something?" Angel said nonchalantly as she finally broke the silence.

Lexa didn't turn her head, "No," she growled out in a low voice.

Angel was going to make Lexa talk about what was going on. In their recent months of living together Angel had come to care deeply for both Shalimar and Lexa. She had come to understand a lot about Lexa's nature and how she operated. She also knew that when Lexa withdrew like she had at the cabin something was seriously bothering her.

A part of Angel wanted to leave the brunette alone and let her come to terms with the problem on her own. Another part, albeit the larger part, knew that there was too much going on for Lexa to be so focused on her own problem. With everything that was going on the whole team was going to need to have their heads in the game if they wanted to survive. Lexa could be mad at her later, but right now Lexa needed to expel the demons haunting her. By Angel's calculations she had another two hours to get it out of her before they returned back to Ian's.

"Okay, I'll start then!" Angel's voice had taken on a faux cheeriness. "What the hell crawled up your ass, and why are you acting this way all of a sudden?"

"What's it to you?" Lexa snapped.

Angel looked at her slightly nonplussed. "Well a few days ago you were in the middle of a fight for our lives and the lives of the team, and your mood was so much better then it is now."

"I don't want to talk about it." Lexa's voice resounded firm and low in the passenger compartment of the vehicle.

Angel sat quietly for a little while longer, thinking about Lexa's reactions and when the change had taken place. She realized that Lexa had changed after they helped save Shalimar's life. She wondered if maybe it had been too much. Having to perform CPR on a friend was a traumatic experience for anyone.

"I didn't think you'd give up that easily," Lexa drawled.

"Oh, I didn't," Angel smiled falsely. "I'm just considering other avenues of attack."

Lexa reached over and turned on the radio. She didn't care what was playing, but it gave her an avenue away from the strained quiet. She was surprised when Angel hadn't attempted to continue the conversation almost a half-hour later when they were driving down the rocky back road leading to the house that they were sharing. Lexa took her good fortune and hurried onward in attempts to thwart any further conversation.

Angel smiled slightly as she eyed Lexa's seemingly intense concentration on their destination. She had a plan of attack and was just waiting for the opportune time. She looked up at the approaching faded blue of the house and hoped that she was able to pull Lexa into a conversation once inside the house. She almost laughed as Lexa jumped out of the SUV and headed for the house, not even bothering to cut the ignition on the vehicle. Angel reached over and turned the key off then followed Lexa into the house.

Lexa went through the clothes that she had. She tried to find anything of Jesse's to bring back. She had stumbled on the sweater she had worn only a few days ago and a pair of his older cargo pants. She frowned, but didn't have many other choices for clothing. Right after Brennan and Jesse were captured, she and Shalimar had almost no time to pack and leave before the Dominion was breaking into the safe-house where they had been staying. Somehow she had packed a few of Jesse's shirts and a pair of pants in her bag. A sudden realization came to her while she was packing, and she headed off to Angel & Beau's room to talk to the feral.

Angel was rummaging in her and Beau's room trying to find some clothes for them. Brennan should be able to fit into Beau's clothes, she hoped. They would most likely be too big on him, he had lost a lot of weight while being held hostage, but they should work until they had a chance to find more clothing. Shalimar had complained about losing almost everything of Brennan's after they left. Angel momentarily pondered if that had been the reason for Shalimar's venture back to Sanctuary.

"Angel," Lexa said as she opened the door to the room, breaking Angel from her musings.

Angel looked up from the pile of clothes she had been staring blankly at. "Yeah?"

"We aren't coming back here." Lexa's tone was flat.

"Lexa, what's going on?" Angel said pointedly.

"Just what I said, we need to gather our stuff," Lexa said, annoyance clouding her tone. "We can't come back here. The Dominion will be pissed that we rescued Jesse and Brennan. They'll be hunting us again, and we have to figure out a game plan."

"Okay, but that's not what I mean Lexa, and you know it," Angel said sharply, sitting hard on the bed and looking up at the dark haired molecular. "You need to tell me what the hell your problem is all of a sudden. You're not doing anyone any good by being a bitch."

"You haven't begun to see bitch…" Lexa trailed off before spinning around to leave. She barely had time to start walking out the door before Angel appeared in the door frame blocking Lexa's exit. Lexa dropped her tone almost to a growl. "You need to move now."

Angel's eyes flashed golden and Lexa's fingertips began to glow bright.

The light from Angel's eyes faded and her voice sounded softer then expected. "Lexa, you can't keep running like this."

"Watch me," Lexa said tersely, allowing her power to recede. "Now let me out."

Angel moved a hand to Lexa's shoulder gently. "No, Lex." She ventured a guess at part of the problem. "I was with you there this morning, if you remember."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Lexa said trying to get past the feral once again. It didn't feel like that short of a time ago. The past three days had felt like a month.

This time Angel let her pass but followed her down the hall. "I know it couldn't have been easy on you, watching a woman who you consider a sister die in front of you and then try to revive her. I know it wasn't for me."

Lexa stopped dead in her tracks in the middle of the living room. She didn't turn around… She couldn't… And she didn't want Angel to see the tears threatening to break free from her eyes. "We did what we had to." Her voice was barely above a whisper.

Angel realized she had been right, and for the first time in a long time, she wasn't happy about it. She walked up behind Lexa and tugged her shoulder to spin the darker haired woman around. She saw the tears that were beginning to track down Lexa's cheeks and pulled her into a hug.

Lexa didn't want to be touched at first, but the reassurance of her new friend was what her broken soul was yearning for right now. She couldn't explain these feelings to Jesse and Brennan was too traumatized himself to add any more to his burden. She found herself sobbing softly into Angel's shoulder, "After I lost my brother, I swore I would never let anyone that close again."

Angel pulled Lexa onto the sofa and felt tears well up in her own eyes. "I've lost so many friends. I never wanted to be close to anyone again. Beau is the closest thing I have to family… And now you guys."

Lexa looked into Angel's soft brown eyes and saw understanding. "I didn't realize how much Shalimar meant to me. I've always looked after my brother, but I realized too late that she was looking after me."

"That's who she is. She's a protector," Angel confirmed.

"That's not what I meant." Lexa sat up and took a few deep breaths, "Did you see how she was shot?"

Angel shook her head.

"The first two shots were aimed at her and she evaded them just fine. The guard shot at me and she jumped in front of the bullet to stop me from getting hit… I never even said thank you." Lexa took another deep breath to avoid crying again.

The feral's eyes only held solemn understanding. "I was too busy to see that. I just heard the shots." Angel paused as memories of the grim scene raced through her mind. She found her voice again as she realized how much Lexa was blaming herself for Shalimar being injured. "Lex, do you really think she would have done it if she didn't care for you as family? You heard her this afternoon… Shalimar's just glad that everyone got home alive and safe… It's not too late to talk to her, either."

"She almost died because of me. I was too slow and should have been watching better." Lexa's words were filled with self-loathing as she wiped the tears away from her eyes.

"You were doing what you had to so the rest of us could escape. We were trapped, Lex." Angel's words hung in the air for a moment while Lexa's mind ran through the situation again. "Everyone's alright now or well on their way to being better."

"I don't know what happened to me. I used to be so good at being the ice-queen," Lexa said sitting upright and drying her eyes.

Angel wiped a few stray tears from her face and looked back at Lexa. "You're right though."

Lexa looked at Angel with a quizzical expression.

"We do have to get our stuff and leave here for good," she said with a sigh.

"Are you done with the therapy session?" Lexa wryly asked as she stood.

"For now," Angel gave her a smile as they began to gather as many of the supplies as they could and load the truck.

Lexa and Angel worked together to take most of the downstairs apart and Lexa purged the hard drive of their research and activities. She refused to make it easy for the Dominion to follow them.

When they reached Shalimar's room, they packed the few items of clothes and trinkets that were collected. Lexa smiled at the dancing unicorn snow globe. She wondered where it had come from. It looked old. The wood had a few nicks and scratches, but in the bottom was a key that she tuned and heard the soft music box strains of 'Born Free'.

"That's very fitting for Shalimar," Angel said as she walked over and looked at the globe. "I think she'll want to keep that."

"Yeah," Lexa said distantly, thinking of how she had seen this in Shalimar's room at Sanctuary. "She's had this for a while."

"I found this old journal too." Angel showed Lexa a faded blue velvet covered book. Her tone dropped to a conspiratorially whisper and tried not to laugh, "Do you think we should read it?"

Lexa smiled briefly at the idea "I don't think that would be the wisest of decisions…"

Angel dropped the book into the gear bag with the other supplies. "It's probably all about Brennan and feral stuff anyway."

"You're right," Lexa said grabbing the last of the clothes, but before she piled them on top of the journal she looked at Angel. "You promise not to tell?"

"You read my mind!"

Angel's hand's dived into the bag and retrieved the object, and then both she and Lexa sat on the bed where they opened to a page in the center and began reading. When they were done, they were only able to stare between themselves and the book.

Finally Lexa broke the silence. "Wow, I, um, never realized that Brennan would write that stuff!" She turned to her friend with a look of revelation. "I guess we know what Shalimar has been doing locked in her room all those times."

Angel just returned her gaze with a dumbfounded expression. "Um, we never tell either of them we read that."

Lexa couldn't stop herself, "You mean about the rock and the dress…"

"…and the feel and the…" Angel took a deep breath and forced herself to focus. "We never speak of this to anyone!"

"Agreed," Lexa said, rapidly stuffing the journal into the bag and finishing her search of the room. She noticed Angel grabbing the bag and zipping it, "I'm ready when you are!"

Angel only smiled and nodded as they made there way out of the safe house. The ride back to Ian's house was less somber and tense than the ride to the safe house. Most of this trip was punctuated by girlish giggles and quotes of a few of Brennan's more colorful words.

It was early in the morning, and Jesse found himself walking to the kitchen in Sanctuary with nothing more then a pair of boxers on. His mind felt hazy and slightly disoriented, for some reason the idea of being in Sanctuary felt wrong but he didn't know why. He remembered needing something from the kitchen, he just couldn't remember what. As he turned the corner, he found Lexa sitting on the table in a dark red satin camisole that barely grazed the tops of her thighs. He felt a spurt of lust shoot though him.

Lexa looked up and gave him a wry smile as he noticed her eating a banana and drinking a glass of chocolate milk.

"Morning," Lexa said almost huskily. "I didn't think you would be up this early." Her voice dropped off with a suggestive tone, motioning to his boxers.

"I think I'd be up more often if you wore stuff like that," Jesse replied as he crossed the room and situated himself between her legs then kissed her softly, tasting the sweet mix of banana and chocolate in her mouth. He felt her slide forward on the table and grind softly against him. He felt her warm body pressed against him as her hands slowly traveled down his body. He continued to explore her mouth and tease her lips with his tongue and teeth.

She was sliding her hands up his sides as he pulled her head closer with both hands. "Mmmm, Jesse," Lexa groaned into his mouth as she wrapped her legs tighter around him causing him to gasp as she grazed one of his deeper abrasions.

The painful shudder caused him to wake up… In the bed in Ian's spare room… and look right into Lexa's eyes that were filled with apology.

He stared into her beautiful hazel eyes and waived off the apology before it could come. "Don't apologize. I'm so glad that it wasn't all a dream."

"I hope you don't mind," Lexa said running her fingers through his lengthy dark blond hair. "I couldn't help myself."

Jesse just smiled and pulled her close, keeping their lips separated by only a fraction of an inch. He was really glad that he had taken the time to shave and clean up before lying down again. "I can't think of a better thing I'd like to do."

He closed the gap and kissed Lexa with an all-consuming passion. He ignored the pain that ripped through his torso as he grabbed her waist and pulled her closer. His tongue slowly traced the curves of her lips and dipped into her mouth, tangling their tongues. He tried to slow himself and regain control. But Lexa tasted so good, and it had been so long. It was hard to gain any semblance of control or even sanity at the moment. He knew that he was only going to aggravate his injuries, but couldn't bring himself to care.

"Is this a good idea?" Lexa managed to breathe out as Jesse kissed and nipped her neck grabbing the hem of her shirt and starting to pull it up.

"I need you," Jesse replied quickly as Lexa ran her hands down his torso, avoiding his injuries, and towards the waistband on his boxers.

Lexa stopped just shy of sliding her hand beneath the elastic and looked Jesse straight in the eye. "I don't want to hurt you."

Jesse felt his love for her well up inside of him. She was no longer the hardened mercenary that had dropped into Mutant X. This was the woman that he knew she was deep down and had fallen in love with so many months ago. He had to remember to breathe all of a sudden, and then found his voice. "I don't think you'd ever hurt me."

Lexa's eyes only portrayed her love and gratitude for Jesse as she moved back up his body and kissed him slowly, barely any depth to it at first. It intensified slowly and Jesse felt her push him back onto the bed. Her mouth moved down his neck and back up to his ear. "Let me make love to you."

The whisper was so soft and seductive… he felt a thrill run down him. It was the closest she had come to ever using the word love around him. He reached his hand to her face and held her still for a moment. "You are the most beautiful woman I know, Lexa Pierce," and trailed his hand down her face and neck, worshipping her in long fluid strokes.

Their clothes disappeared in slow motion, but if someone asked, neither would have been able to explain how. She straddled his thighs to keep him from injuring himself further. They took long moments becoming reacquainted with each others flesh. Teasing and tasting salty skin enjoying the moans and sighs that were elicited by the actions.

When they finally came together, the hunger of their months apart caused both to want to weep in relief. The spark between them flared to life brighter then before. It consumed the lovers in a passionate haze until they tipped over the brink of oblivion together.

They lay for long moments with her supporting her weight on her arms and caressing his lips with her own. He moved her onto her side and looked into her eyes. "I think I really am broken now," he joked half-heartedly.

"No," Lexa replied as she curled herself around him and pulling up the blankets. "I think we're both finally whole again."

A floor below, Shalimar lay awake in Brennan's arms with a smile on her face. She had heard the soft moans and whispers between the two above but tuned it out. Instead she focused on the man slumbering next to her. She had him back, and he still wanted her. She cuddled closer to him and whispered softly as she kissed his cheek, "I love you, Brennan."

He just pulled her a little tighter to his body and moments later she felt herself drift off to sleep.

C'mon you know you want to tell me what you think!