Hiya!

I'm back once again! I hope you haven't missed me too much. I've worked on this whenever I could get my hands on a computer, so I hope it was worth it. So, as always, Read and Review!

Disclaimer: Sorry guys, I own nothing. Well, actually, I own the plot... and that's enough. *cackles evilly for a few seconds*Ahem.

The needles pricked his skin. He opened his eyes, reluctantly, and stared in hatred and terror at the woman who gazed hungrily down at him. A sickly sweet grin spread across her face. Susan Mortlake. Scott felt the shivers of disgust creep down his spine.

'How are you, Scott?' she said almost sweetly, as if she was actually worried about the boy that lay strapped under her.

Scott could only groan. Shame replaced the disgust coursing through his body.

'You poor, poor boy.' Mortlake sighed. The woman patted Scott on the head and Scott weakly flinched, too tired and beaten to try and escape. The little effort seemed to please her immensely.

'My friend saw your brother today,' she said, looking at her nails and turning her back on Scott. 'Jamie, is it? Mr. Banes said he is quite the troublemaker. Well, then again, if he abandoned you, what should I expect? I really don't know how you put up with him.'

Scott vaguely remembered that they'd had this conversation before and that last time he had agreed with the woman. Now he felt a sudden panic. Was Jamie okay? Was he hurt? Was he free?

He stared at the hateful female in front of him, anger clear in his expression. Susan glanced over her shoulder and gaped at his newly-found energy.

'Don't you dare lay one finger on him,' he growled, 'or you'll be sorry.'

'Well, it's a bit too late for that,' she said, smiling once more. His heart began to pound. What did she mean? He felt whatever surface to which he was bound was lifting until he was vertical to the ground. He blinked and then gasped in horror at the scene before his eyes.

Jamie, his twin, his brother, was lying on the metal floor in a pool of his own blood. He was barely recognisable – he had been beaten, cut, slashed and bruised in every way imaginable. Scott felt tears prickling his eyes. Jamie was dead and it was his fault.

Jamie, I'm so sorry. Please, wake up, prove me wrong. Please, Jamie!

Jamie didn't answer Scott's thoughts. But he was lifted into the air by two men in white astronaut style suits. His twin opened one eye and fixed it on Scott. Scott realised that Jamie didn't recognise him. He was too far gone, too broken.

'Right then, Jamie, how about we show Scott what you've been up to,' Susan said cheerfully, her face splitting into a beaming smile. A third astronaut guy came into view. He carried a knife in his hand. He slashed it deep into one of the only untouched places on Jamie's face.

Jamie screamed hoarsely. The men dropped him and Jamie sobbed, his injured body falling to the floor. Scott cried out and fought against the bonds. He needed to get to Jamie, he needed to help him.

'Jamie!' he shouted. Jamie stopped sobbing and whimpered softly. The light left his eyes.

'NO!' Scott shrieked. Susan cackled like the mad woman she was in the corner.

'Jamie!' Scott cried, his tears streaming down his cheeks. This couldn't be happening. 'JAMIE!'

I'm here, Scott. I'm here! Calm down!

Scott jumped and his eyes snapped open. Jamie stood over him, hands gripping his shoulders, a determined but panicked expression on his face.

'Jamie,' Scott croaked, his eyes wide. Jamie stared at him in confusion, and sat down on the bed, his hands leaving his twin's shoulders. Scott sat up quickly and hugged Jamie tightly, his heart still thumping in his chest. Jamie was stunned for a few seconds. Then Scott began to sob uncontrollably, and Jamie wondered what the hell could have upset Scott so much. He held him, silently looking into his brother's thoughts. He held him tighter when he realised what the nightmare had been. He didn't have any idea on what to do.

What could ease his suffering?

Pedro began to eat his cereal. It was a strange cereal. Each flake looked like a raisin, but they didn't feel or taste like raisins. They actually tasted like chocolate and so did the milk, when he stirred it a little. He inspected the cereal box.

C-O-C-O P-O-P-S. Huh? What did that spell? Pedro knew the alphabet better now, and he could read a little tiny bit of Spanish, but he was completely lost when it came to reading English. Thankfully, Richard was becoming fluent in Spanish, so he could translate the words for Pedro. Pedro could speak a good bit of English though and that helped a lot.

Scarlett came around the corner, a pair of blue denim jeans and a red spaghetti-strap top on. The top had a picture of a black hummingbird on it. Her hair was still a bit short from her disguise in Hong Kong, but it didn't spoil her looks. She looked very pretty.

'Morning, Pedro,' she beamed, reaching into the fridge for the orange juice. She was humming a little tune happily. Pedro could almost see her skipping around. He sniggered inwardly at the image.

'Morning, Scar,' he said, finishing the final dregs of his cereal. She grabbed a croissant out of nowhere and wordlessly left, just as Matt walked in. Pedro watched curiously as Matt smiled at Scar, a gleam in his eyes that Pedro didn't recognise. Pedro had a fair idea what it meant though.

The two boys met each other's eyes, both realising what the other was thinking. Matt's cheeks tinged light pink and Pedro burst out laughing.

'Stop!' Matt whimpered. 'It's not funny!'

'What's not funny?' asked a voice. A slightly down Jamie stomped in, looking from the former beggar to the embarrassed English boy. Matt averted his gaze, hoping lack of eye contact would stop Jamie's ability to read his thoughts. No such luck. Jamie studied him for a moment, and upon meeting Pedro's eyes, burst out laughing too. Matt groaned and walked out, deciding to skip breakfast in favour of saving whatever dignity he had left.

Jamie looked at Pedro questioningly. 'Does he seriously like her?'

Pedro snorted. 'Have you not noticed how he gazes at her? He is in love…'

Jamie giggled.

'Shut UP!' Matt shouted from the living room next door. The two in the kitchen fell into a laughing fit again.

Richard slid back the door. Well, that was enlightening! He couldn't believe it! He smirked slightly. Oh, Matt was going to get a questioning later…

Thank you all so much for being so patient. I know how annoying it is waiting for a new chapter to be posted – I'm a fanfic reader too! Like I said already, I was working on this whenever I could, and I know it's probably not very good, but I really want to post this up for you. Hope you enjoyed!

I kinda feel horrid now, seeing as I keep "torturing" Matt (he's my fave character in the PO5 series, in case it wasn't already obvs) and Scott. Oh, well. They'll get a happier ending.

I probably won't have another chapter up for another while, so until then, see you!

Signing out,

CharmedGatekeeper xx