"Storm Shadow hasn't moved in weeks," Jaye says, watching him from outside the infirmary. Doc and Lifeline want to keep a closer eye on Zaltana, so she's been moved. "I swear he's become a statue." Flint stands a bit away from her, Snake Eyes and Duke also present. Snake Eyes signs quickly.

He moves to train during the night. Mina has struck a deal with him. She stays with Zaltana while he trains, and he stays for her training. I catch him sometimes.

"I never would've guessed," Duke says, looking inside. "She's been sitting like that for three weeks. How do we know-"

"She's going to wake up," Mina says, coming upon them with two trays of food. "It's a matter of when she'll wake up. She's shown all of the signs we've confirmed as not superstition. Hell, she even moves sometimes. She's almost back."

Aron comes behind her, carrying his own tray. He spends a lot of time with Mina, especially over the last week since she decided to teach him her hand to hand moves. "Z will kill me if she figures out I could've been teaching him self defense," she'd said as an excuse. Aron had even taken to calling her aunt, liking her much more than Hillary.

"How long do you think she has left?" Aron asks, flicking his dark hair from his face. Mina is trying to get him to cut it, but he's adamant about it staying long so he can get his mother's opinion.

"Mmmm... A week at least. Three at most."

Storm Shadow can hear every word outside, but he knows as well as Mina that it could be sooner than that. Mina admitted to Cobra being able to awaken Zaltana whenever they wanted, but it could kill everyone in the base. The parasite uses nuclear energy sources, so it literally releases a very, very small nuke when they hit something or someone. Mina said it was too complicated for her to understand the healing parts. Storm Shadow covers her hand with his. "Come on, Zaltana. Get back up."

Nothing. She doesn't acknowledge his presence at all except to take a deep breath and shift around uncomfortably. Storm Shadow feels that he knows exactly where she's at in the timeline as her heart beat accelerates and she breaks out in a sweat. His grip tightens. She stays like this for a full minute then relaxes.

God. He wishes he could just take all of this away for her to wake up.

I go back in the timeline again. I seem to keep jumping around for some reason, never able to stay in one spot. I've gone from the beatings to the killings to the nights I want to remember to the nights I would do anything to live without. I'm sitting in a car now, Lady Jaye and Jinx beside me. Something touches my shoulder and I jolt awake.

A man is carrying me in his arms. "Stormy?" He doesn't answer, but I know I can continue. It's almost like an approval or 'yeah I'm listening' for him. "Do you think I can get my son back?" I know I do, but it feels like, in this moment, that I won't and can't.

"I'm sure you can. You're too stubborn not to get him back."

I settle in his arms, quiet. "No more girls' nights Lilah" he says. I open my eyes and I'm somewhere else entirely, facing the same man.

I'm in pain, that much I know. I'm also on the ground, scrambling for something. Feeling the gun in my hand, I know exactly what it is. A clip. But he pulls something out, and I make a smart ass comment about him being a dick.

The image blurs and a heart wrenching pain makes me cry out. It isn't the memory, I know that deep down. The memory isn't the problem. Someone's trying to wake me up.

I hold a hand up, trying to through all of the next few days quickly. I get about a week or two or three in, ending at a conversation with Joan where she dies in the Cobra compound with Storm Shadow and Firefly trying to get me out of the room after they killed her.

Storm Shadow jumps to his feet as I suck in a giant breath and jerk myself into an upright position. My breath comes out heavy, and I see Mina next to me, Aron too. I pull my son to me, getting up and out of bed with Mina to hold me up using one hand. "Oh, my God. You're okay, son, and so am I. We're okay." I grab Mina and hug her too, then turn to Storm Shadow, a question written in his eyes.

I shake my head. "I don't remember what you and Snakes were talking about." Storm Shadow doesn't say anything, his eyes getting only a teensy bit bright. He comes close anyway, and I feel slightly threatened. "What I do remember is you killed Joan." He stills entirely.

"I didn't kill her."

"That isn't what my memory says, Storm Shadow." He grows tense, and I feel even more so threatened. "Hey, calm down. Obviously something happened between there and here-"

"You won't look me in the eye again." I know he's right as soon as he says it. I'm focusing more on the background than on him. The door opens and closes, and we're alone. Storm Shadow grabs my chin, forcing me to look. I wince at his tight grip and it loosens. I feel tears well up as Storm Shadow seems to be inviting me to cry at the new found memory.

And I do. Storm Shadow holds me as I cry into his shoulder. Eventually I stop, but neither of us pull away. I still remember the times we were friends, and there's no way I met Jinx and Jaye before Joan died. I sniffle, and he just stays there. I pull back, and he does too, but we're still really close. Closer than I want to be. I take a step back, and he immediately ends his advances that seem almost involuntary.

I don't move as he leaves the room entirely.