Chapter Three
"A friend is someone who upon seeing another friend
in immense pain, would rather be the one experiencing
the pain than have to watch their friend suffer."
-Anonymous
It was twenty minutes later when Jesse got out of the shower. He was feeling so much better than this morning; he didn't have that whole body cold aches and haven't coughed the whole time in the shower. So as far as he was concerned, it was a good day, or more like evening. He went into his room with a little bounce in his step from the good feeling. Putting on some lose fitting jeans he grabbed a white muscle shirt as he headed to the door. He started to put the shirt over his head when a sharp stabbing pain filled his body, the shirt fell as he grabbed his sides. Jesse froze as he took slow deep breaths as the pain slowly faded away. He wasn't sure what just happened but he did not like that feeling and hoped it won't come back. Yet as he bent down to get his shirt when the strange pain came back with more force; it felt as if every atom in his body was pulling apart. The pain was to much for Jesse and he collapsed on the floor, his body fading in and out while crimson red veins covered the translucent form.
"Help." Jesse managed to say his voice barely reached a whisper. "Shalimar." As the pain increased, it became harder to breathe, but he continued to call for help hoping that someone would hear him.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Shalimar and Brennan were at the computers running down every possible angle on finding who Wayne worked for. Brennan was trying to hack into this bank records while Shalimar tired past history and military friends. After twenty minutes, of non stop hacking, they were still did not find anything. The two were about to switch computers in hoping the other would catch a break when Shalimar heard a thump coming from the bed rooms.
"What is it Shal?" Brennan asked when he saw her freeze in mid motion.
"Shhh." She threw her hand up in the air as to keep Brennan from talking. Suddenly Shalimar catapulted from the chair and dashed down the hallway to Jesse's room, it took a second for Brennan to realize that Shalimar had ran off, before he to took off in her direction.
The door to Jesse's room flung open as Shalimar entered but she barely made it past the thresh hold before she came to a sudden halt. Brennan nearly ran into her but froze mere inches from her due to pure shock from the sight that lay before them. Jesse was curled up into a ball on the floor massing and phasing at the same time, his whole body shaking with pain. Shalimar snapped out of her frozen state when a muffle cry escaped from Jesse. She practically threw herself down on the floor; kneeling next to Jesse she placed a gentle hand on the side of his head, stroking his hair trying to comfort him.
"Jesse breathe, just breathe." She pleaded, while Brennan was still suck at the door way, his mind repeating 'This is not good. This is not good.' A few seconds after Shalimar's plea the massing veins and fading body stopped as Jesse passed out. "Adam!" She wasted no time, she shouted in to her com-link with so much fear that you didn't have to be a telepath sense it.
"Shalimar what is it?" Adam's own voice mirrored the fear that he heard from Shalimar. There was only a few accounts that he ever heard Shalimar sound so afraid, and that scarred him.
"Jesse was phasing and massing at the same time!"
"What?" He wasn't sure that he heard her right for he never thought that was even possible.
"You have to come back now!" Shalimar shouted her brown eyes started to fill up with hot tears as she looked at Jesse's still body on the bedroom floor.
"I am five minutes away from Doctor-"
Anger crept into her voice as Adam seemed not to understand. "Adam you need-"
"Shalimar listen to me." Adam said sharply in order to get through the emotional feral but continued in a softer manner. "I know you are worried but I can't do much there at Sanctuary. I am hoping that with Doctor Lewis we might be able to find what Jesse has, okay?"
"Okay." Her voice dropped so low that Brennan who was standing over her had trouble hearing her. Her best friend was in pain and there was nothing she could do to help him.
Adam spoke through the com-links after a pause, as if he was letting a moment for everyone to collect themselves. "Brennan can you run another scan and take a new blood sample and send the results to Lewis' office?"
"Sure." Brennan bent down and carefully collected Jesse into his arms and carried their brother to the lab.
Shalimar was still on the floor unable to follow Brennan; her eyes were glued to the spot where Jesse was just moments ago had no control of his powers. She shook her head trying to ease the images like an etch-a-sketch, as she slowly stood up and made her way to the lab. She arrived at the door as Brennan finished taking blood from the unconscious Jesse.
Once he started the scans, Brennan walked over to the door and placed a hand on her shoulder. "You okay?"
"I see him lying there and all I can see is him on the floor in pain. I've never seen him like that Brennan." Shalimar said on the verge of tears.
"I know." Jesse's sudden coughing cut Brennan off. His pain was heard though out the bal as each one shook his body. Shalimar started to cry, and turned to leave but Brennan pulled her close to him. It wasn't long till the coughing stopped but Jesse still did not wake up.
"Who," he voice broke "who would want to hurt Jesse?" Her brown eyes locked onto Brennan's. they darted back and forth looking for answers.
"A sick demented bastard." Brennan started to get angry at the people or person who did this. "You know I actually miss that white haired freak. I mean with Eckhart we at lest knew what his plans were."
They fell silent again when Jesse started to cough again. It scared Shalimar when he quickly sat up and grabbed his stomach in pain; he was going to heave. Brennan ran and grabbed one of the trash cans in the lab and gave it to Jesse before he made a mess. Shalimar went over to Jesse and did the only thing she could do and that was to comfort him. Now it was Brennan's turn to stand back and watch the scene with teary eyes. Oh how he prayed that Adam and his friend were doing better to find a cure, let alone the disease that was slowly killing Jesse.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
In a high rise building located in Downtown, a short skinny man dressed in a fine suite walked with quick short steps down a long hallway to two big oak doors at the very end. Opening them the man went straight to a small bar where he proceeded to make a scotch on the rocks. He would have loved to feel the fire of the scotch drip down his own throat. But he took the drink to a desk that seemed to take a whole wall of the office, which was the size of a small fast food restaurant. The short man set the glass on the dark wood and started to back away. A squeak from an over sized desk chair caused the man to almost throw himself at the desk as he took the cup and placed it on a granite coaster a few feet from the small sweat ring the glass left on the wood. His suit jacket arm wiped the perspiration from the desk as he quickly backed away.
"Are you sure about this sir?"
"Of course I am." The back of the chair spun around reviling a man in his mid thirties. He was well built with dark black hair, a smile crept on the man's face one that sent a shiver down the short assistant's spine. "The young Kilmartin powers will be his undoing." The man took a drink of his scotch before looking at the man.
"But is this whole thing necessary, I mean with him and his dad—"
The glass slammed on the desk making the assistant jump. The smile was gone from his boss' face as hate poured from every pore instead. "This is payback! I'm going to make Kilmartin suffer for what he did! What better way than to have him and his father die slow and anguishing deaths!"
"But uh, sir what's the point killing um, his, um father if, I mean where's the pleasure of his father dying if he, um doesn't know?"
"Because I'll know their dead!" The hate was hidden away with a smile too calm for a man who seconds ago was ragging with unnatural amount of hate. The man reached towards a pine box on the right side of the desk and pulled out a cigar. He cut the end of it off before putting it in his mouth and lighting it up. He took a few puffs before letting out a huge cloud of smoke. "Trust me, Kilmartin will soon find out about his father."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Brennan was heading to the kitchen to get some coffee for him and Shalimar and more water for Jesse, when he heard the faint nose of a cell phone. He followed the sound to Jesse's room where he found the phone on his desk covered by random papers. He looked at the call screen to see that the number was blocked. Not knowing who could be calling, Brennan decided not to answer it. Setting the pone on the desk he turned to leave until a beep from the phone stopped him. He looked back at the phone to see at text message pop up. Getting the best of him, Brennan's curiosity got him to read the message.
"2 killed. 3 must die. Sad 2 hear she died peacefully yrs ago. Guess I have 2 live w/ a father son killing. U will suffer 4 what u did!" Brennan was shocked to read the text message, so its revenge agents Jesse. But who were these '2 killed'? However that's not what set off the alarm in his mind, it was the found knowledge that whoever this person is, their planning to kill Jesse's father as well. Forgetting about the drinks Brennan went straight to the lab, but not before getting another message saying, "Have a nice family reunion in hell."
Brennan sprinted to the lab, "Shalimar!" He turned the corner only to run into the feral.
"What's the matter?" Her eyes wide with worry.
"Our bad guy sent Jesse a text." He handed the phone to her, "Not only are they after Jesse but Noah as well."
"Someone is blaming Jesse for killing two people? But I can't think of anyone he's killed, that's not Jesse." She looked up at Brennan after looking at the phone.
"What I'm wondering about is who this 'she' is."
Shalimar read the text message again before it came to her. "His mother; I think this person thinks that Jesse killed their parents for what other reason would they want to kill Jesse's dad."
"Have the computers find anything on Danielson?" He asked taking the phone back from Shalimar.
"Nothing, I don't think he'll be any help. Have you called Adam yet?"
"No, not-"
"Shal?" Jesse's voice barely made it to the doorway to the lab.
"What is it Jesse?" She asked with a soothing voice as she walked over to him.
"Can you get me some blankets; it's really cold in here." Jesse was still only in his jeans laying on that stiff chair it was reclined back to give some comfort but it wasn't helping.
"Sure." Shalimar said as she walked out ready to cry, it was a nice seventy three degrees.
When she was out of the lab Jesse turned his gaze over to Brennan, "So did this text message give any clue to who this bastard is?"
"Nope," Brennan moved closer to Jesse, "Not unless you killed two people with out telling us." He tried to joke.
"I can't think of anybody." He paused as he coughed a couple of time. When he spoke again his voice was broken. "So I'm going to die with no real reason and I'm taking my dad with--" Suddenly Jesse's face drained of whatever color he had left.
"Jesse?" Brennan thought that he was going to throw up again. But fear and panic washed over him when he saw Jesse's crimson mass form though the phasing of his body.
"Help." Jesse forced out with a mighty plea as he curled into a ball on the chair. His arms wrapped around his sides like a boa killing it's pray. Jesse let out a painful scream as tears started to flow down his face.
"I, I don't know what to do." Brennan was dumbfounded. He had never seen Jesse in this state before or in so much pain that he froze with his own panic. His best friend, his brother was asking- pleading for him to stop this pain that over took his body. But seeing the tears that fell from Jesse's face broke Brennan's heart like never before. Seeing a man in pain from torture is one thing, but seeing a brother in tears from it was a whole different story. And for once in his life Brennan could not help him.
"Hit, me with an, electric--" Jesse said in between breaths, but the pain surged though his body cutting Jesse off with another cry of pain.
Brennan realized what he was asking and there was no way he could inflict more pain on him. "I can't do that."
"Please Brennan, like Twin Creeks--" Brennan uneasily created a ball of electricity in his hands. Looking at Jesse's pleading tear stained face once more, he shot the blue bolts at him. Once the electricity left his fingers Jesse passed out and the pain stopped.
"Brennan what the hell did you do that?" Shalimar demanded when she saw the last of the blue bolts hit Jesse's body. Brennan turned to see Shalimar walk up to him with a couple of blankets in her arms.
"He told me to Shal, he was phasing and massing, he was in so much pain. He told me to do it, what was I supposed to do?" Brennan told her with panic and sorrow in his voice.
Shalimar draped the blankets over Jesse's curled up form before her hand moved up to his forehead, brushing away the sweat soaked hair from his face. "I don't know."