A/N: Sorry it's been so long… life is a busy thing and unfortunately I don't get a lot of time to write. I've had a lot of people add me to their author alert, so I felt the need to finish this chapter finally. As always reviews are appreciated and any requests are put into consideration. Thank you for reading! Love you guys!

[The human body is a giant map of nerve endings and confusing sensations. I didn't know how to deal with the things I was feeling and I wasn't allowed to talk to the one person whom I trusted to guide me, Nicole. She'd always been there to help me and as someone I could confide in, but now… I knew Jessi was right, that we couldn't tell the family, they had been through so much with me this past year and I could see it wearing on them. I just want to protect them and keep them safe, and I would pay any price to do that, even if it compromises my beliefs…]

The Tragers, Kyle and Jessi included, made their way towards the school. As they kept walking, one by one, their numbers diminished. Lori had to sniff out today's gossip with Hillary, Josh left to talk to his usual group of gamers and even Jessi was pulled away by a boy she had been forced into tutoring. This just left Kyle, alone, with his thoughts. At least that's what he thought until he felt the tap on his shoulder.

Kyle spun around, not knowing who to suspect, when he turned around. His heart fluttered a little at the sight of Amanda. It surprised him how excited she looked to see him, especially after learning about the existence of Kyle's secret life. All this time Kyle had been protecting her, trying to keep her out of that world of deceptions and lies, but it seems all his effort was for nil.

"Hey Kyle! I'm glad to see you're okay," Amanda said with a smile plastered on her face. As she walked along side him, Kyle listened to the beating of her heart, and, as always, it seemed to calm him in a way he wasn't sure anything else could.

"Hey Amanda…" Though he was happy to see her, he wasn't sure he'd want to have the conversation he knew she was dying to have. Kyle didn't know how to explain… everything, and he wasn't sure he wanted to.

"So what's up? I haven't talked to you in… well, we haven't really talked in awhile, have we?" Amanda's smile, now a little less innocent than it used to be, still shone.

Kyle smiled, keeping his gaze straight ahead. "No I guess we really haven't; life's just been so… busy lately," he said.

"I know what you mean… Well this is my stop," Amanda motioned to her locker, which they were now in front of.

"Oh! Um, ok, I'll see you later then." Kyle smiled and turned to leave.

"Kyle, wait."

Kyle took a deep breath before turning around, then plastered on a smile. "What's wrong?" he asked.

Amanda giggled, "Nothing's wrong! I just wanted you to know that I'm going to wait for you…"

Kyle looked at her, his smile now replaced with a look of confusion. "Um…"

"What I mean is that I'm going to wait for you to tell me… whatever it is you feel the need to hide…" Amanda looked a little shy as she looked up at him.

"But I thought you were with Jessi at Nate's… Didn't you see the files?"

Amanda shook her head. "No, I didn't look at them… I'd rather have you tell me when you want me to know, than go behind your back and find out on my own…."

Kyle smiled. "Thank you." Though simple words, Amanda knew how much he meant them.

"You're welcome." Amanda turned to leave, then stopped and looked back at Kyle. "Oh, and by the way, when I said I'd wait for you, I wasn't just talking about your secret. I'm still in love with you Kyle…"

Kyle's breath caught in his throat, and he just stared wise eyed as Amanda finished her confession.

"I'm not expecting you to decide right away whether you want to date me again, I just want you to promise me you'll think about it…"

For a second Kyle didn't know what to say, as happy as it made him to hear it, he knew how much this would complicate things. In the end all he could manage to say was, "I promise."

Amanda smiled, "I'll be waiting…"

Sitting in A.P. Calculus, next to Jessi, it was impossible not to be aware of her presence. A gentle breeze wafted through an open window causing a loose strand of hair to fall in her face. I watched as she unknowingly tucked it behind her ear. A faint waft of papaya tickled my nose, and all I could think about was the night before. Our quiet whispers, the reassurance I felt when I confided in her. And then my consciousness turned to something more worrisome. The softness of her lips pressed to mine, from the few stolen kisses we'd had, how her green eyes crinkled a little bit when she smiled and how even though Nicole had forbid it I still couldn't, and didn't want to, fight the attraction my body seemed to feel for hers… But where did that leave Amanda?

Her words, "I'll be waiting…" were still buzzing around in my head.

BRRRRRRRRRING!

What was I doing?! I have so many more pressing matters to deal with… It was then that I realized I was at a loss. As I gathered my things all I could think was that even with all the things I knew, I still had a lot to learn…]

Even though the day was passing by fairly quickly, all Kyle could think about was what was going to happen with Latnok. Every time he tried to get Jessi alone so they could go more in-depth with their plans something always came up.

Finally, it was lunch time and Kyle had Jessi sitting alone at a table in the corner of the cafeteria. He was just about to bring up Latnok. Kyle leaned closer and said in a low voice, "So what are we going to do about Lat-" Before he could finish his sentence Amanda set her tray down.

"Hi guys!" Amanda sat across from Kyle, where as Jessi sat on his left. When Amanda sat down Jessi muttered a "hey" and started pushing her food around her plate with a fork. Kyle could tell that there wasn't as much tension between the two girls as there usually was, he wanted to feel happy that they were getting along, but he wasn't, and he didn't know why.

Amanda started pouring dressing on her salad and mixing it. "So how have you been, Jessi?"

"You mean since yesterday?" Jessi looked up.

"Yeah!" Amanda smiled.

"Um good…" Jessi took a bite of her spaghetti. "Hm…"

"What's wrong?" Amanda asked seeing the look on Jessi's face.

"This spaghetti isn't very good… I mean it doesn't even have mushrooms…" Jessi looked a bit upset.

Amanda chuckled and continued on having a conversation with Lori and Hillary who had just sat down.

We have to talk…

Kyle looked up at Jessi, a bit startled. I know, he thought. Meet me after school, we need to contact Foss…

So where do you want to meet? Jessi asked.

The woods… I think that's the safest, most isolated place. No one ever goes there. Kyle answered.

You're right. Okay, I'll meet you there at 4 p.m. That should give both of us a sufficient amount of time to lose any tails we may have… Jessi stated, though Kyle was sure it would take far less time to lose a tail.

Kyle was about to agree when his train of thought was derailed. "Kyle! Have you been listening to anything I've been saying?" Lori watched me, an annoyed look on her face, waiting for my answer.

"Oh, um, no sorry what were you saying?" Kyle turned his head

***

The air was thick with moisture. Kyle could tell it was going to rain soon and he wished Jessi would hurry up. As if on cue Jessi appeared.

"Have you been here long?" Jessi asked tucking her dark hair behind her ears.

"Um… not really…"he said, when in reality he'd been there for half an hour.

Jessi surveyed the sky. "It's going to rain in ten minutes and 32 seconds…"

"Yes, I know. We should start discussing our plan of action…" Kyle looked at her. The deep green of her eyes, made her gaze all the more intense.

"Well I think we should talk to Foss and see if he's gotten any information out of Cassidy… And if not, I can always oblige…" Jessi smirked.

"I'm sure Foss is handling it just fine without your help, but you're right we need to contact Foss before we put any other plans into action," Kyle said more to himself than to Jessi.

"So let's go!" Jessi started walking away.

"Um Jessi… don't you think we should call him and find out where he's keeping Cassidy? I haven't talked to Foss since that night…" Kyle thought back to the other night, thought back to the night Cassidy had dropped a bomb on him. All the feelings he'd had then rushed back, anger, confusion, rage, but most of all, he was afraid. It was funny that even someone with his abilities still knew fear. Fear for himself, fear of his origin, fear of his biological mother, but most of all was the fear for his family. What if he and Jessi couldn't stop Latnok? What if in the end he was taken away, and was never allowed to see his family again? Or even worse, what if his family was hurt because of him?

"Kyle?" Kyle jumped at the sound of Jessi's voice. "Are you going to call Foss?" She looked at him questioningly.

"Oh, uh, yeah, sorry…" Kyle picked up the phone and dialed. I rang and rang but there was no answer. "He's not picking up…" Kyle told Jessi.

"Well do you have any idea where he'd be?" Jessi asked.

"Um, I suppose we could check the warehouse that he stayed in before… if he's not there he could be at Adam's cabin…" Just then the phone rang. Kyle looked to see who was calling and saw it was Foss. "Never mind, looks like we won't have to guess…" Kyle told Jessi as he answered the phone. "Hello? Foss?"

"Not quite…" A woman's voice sounded through the phone. It was deep, with a British accent, and immediately Kyle knew who the woman on the other side of the phone was. "I have to say I expected better of you 781227. If you insist on resisting us then at least surround yourself with competent people. If Tom Foss is any indication, you'll be back here with Latnok in no time…"

"Where's Foss?!" Kyle forced his voice to keep steady, " What have you done to him…?"

"Now, is that anyway to talk to your mother?" Kyle could hear the smirk in her voice. It made him want to yell and scream, but he didn't want to give her the satisfaction so he took his aggression out on a nearby tree. Before he realized what he was doing, his fist flew at the trunk.

"Kyle!" Jessi gasped in a whispered voice. She rushed over and grabbed his hand. It was bleeding pretty badly and she was pretty sure Kyle had broken a finger or two. Jessi pulled a t-shirt out of her bag and wrapped it around his fist.

Kyle soaked up the pain, anything to keep him level headed, and continued the conversation. "You're not my mother, biology or no, I already have a mother. Now what have you done with Foss?"

"How could we have any fun if I told you that? You're just going to have to find him for yourself." Grace's tone gave nothing away. A normal person would have given a million different tells with just a few words, but with Grace, the only thing Kyle could tell was that this woman was seriously deranged.

"This isn't a game Grace! We're talking about a human being here…" It was getting harder and harder for Kyle to control his tone.

"Yes, I suppose we are… let me put it this way… you find him on your own, or he dies. We'll be in touch." the line went dead.

"So what are we going to do?" Jessi asked. She had obviously been listening in on the exchange.

"I don't know…" And for the first time in a long time Kyle felt like a scared little kid.

"Well first things first, let's get out of this rain and bandage up that hand of yours…" Jessi said, concern dripping from her words.

"Rain…?" Kyle looked up and just like that, rain came cascading down, buckets at a time. "Great…"

Jessi grabbed Kyle's uninjured hand, "Come on!" she shouted over the deafening sound of the rain. "Let's go home! There's nothing we can do about it here and now!" Jessi pulled Kyle along after her as they ran through the woods towards home.