A/N – thanks for all the continuing support, it means the world! Last chapter was a bit of an infodump, so in this one I've started on some Jack/OC, I think it's time to get going with that. Enjoy, and let me know what you think! All suggestions are welcome. ;)

Chapter Seven

Eden woke with a start. She felt sweaty, disgusting. Even her face felt damp. It took her a moment to realise that was from crying. She had been crying in her sleep. Again.

She sat up and sighed, wiping the tear stains from her cheeks. The room was dark except for the glowing square that was her window, the blinds not doing much to block out the city lights. For a moment she felt a pang of homesickness. If she were in her flat, back in London, she wouldn't have that problem. First thing she had done when she'd moved in was to get Nick to help her put up the blackout blind. She slept better in complete darkness.

She jumped for the second time in less than a minute when there came a soft knock at the door. She sat there awkwardly for a moment, duvet bunched around her, before quietly calling out, "Yeah?"

The door opened a crack. The hallway light wasn't on, so Eden could see nothing but an inky silhouette. Her heart fluttered in panic before she reminded herself that no murderer would knock before entering.

"Are you okay?" Jack. His voice sounded sleepy, croaky. Eden relaxed a little.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Why?"

"I thought I heard you crying," he said, and immediately Eden tensed again. She hadn't realised she'd been crying that loud. She hadn't realised she'd been crying at all till something startled her awake.

She laughed nervously. "Oh, I was crying in my sleep."

Jack stepped into the room, moving to shut the door behind him. Eden leant across to the bedside table and switched the light on, squinting in the sudden glow. "You cry in your sleep?" he asked, and the hint of a laugh in his voice actually made her feel a bit better.

"Yeah. If I'm crying in my dream, sometimes I end up crying out loud and I don't realise," she answered. Jack hovered a little uncertainly at the edge of the room. Even with his short hair he'd somehow managed to give himself a bed head, and he was dressed in grey trackies and a simple white t-shirt. Eden gestured for him to sit.

"Does that happen a lot?" he asked, sitting cross-legged at the foot of the bed.

Eden shrugged. "Not a lot. Like every few months or something. Just depends on the dream. And if I'm crying in my dream I don't always end up crying out loud." She frowned, feeling a little self-conscious. "I can't be the only one who cries in their sleep."

Jack laughed. "Well it's never happened to me, and I've never heard anyone else mention it."

Eden rubbed at her face again, hoping to get rid of any remains of her tears. "Guess it's just me then."

Jack's smile began to fade. Eden knew what he was going to ask before the words left his mouth, but still there wasn't enough time to plan her answer. "What were you dreaming about?"

Eden shrugged again. "It was just a really weird dream. My Dad was there and stuff and it just didn't make sense, to be honest."

"Well, my dream was we were on the subway again, the tube, but the tunnels and the trains just kept on going round in circles; it was like a maze," Jack said, and as his smile returned Eden found hers did too. She was glad he hadn't tried to ask her anything else.

"There has to be a meaning behind that one somewhere," she said.

"Maybe, but I don't think I wanna find out." Jack clambered off the bed. "I'm gonna get a glass of water. You want one?"

"I'll come with you," Eden said, throwing the duvet covers off her. Her pyjamas were just some shorts and a t-shirt Henley had given her, and stepping out from the ball of warmth that was the duvet made goosebumps rise up on her bare legs.

She followed Jack downstairs. The lights of New York illuminated the open plan ground floor. If she could make her flat in London look like this then she would, but Eden would never have the money to afford it. Better to enjoy this apartment while she was in it. Jack didn't turn on the lights and Eden was glad. She liked the cosy glow the city provided.

"Did you lot have any luck working out any clues in my memory or whatever?" Eden asked, taking the glass Jack offered her.

His smile was enough to light the room itself. "Aside from your dad wanting to recreate The Powerpuff Girls or some shit like that, no, we got nothing."

Eden laughed. "Was Daniel annoyed? He didn't look too happy before I went upstairs."

Jack waved her words away. "That's just Daniel for you. He's a bit uptight, but he's a nice guy really."

Eden glanced at the floor to ceiling windows. Outside was a riot of blacks and yellows and oranges and reds and greens. "Kinda doesn't feel real," she said, "being here. Can't quite believe I agreed to it."

The two of them stood side by side, forearms resting on the marble counter-top, eyes trained on New York. Jack's arm brushed hers for a moment. He was warm, but his touch only made the hairs on her arms rise. "I felt the same back when this whole thing started," Jack replied. "I'm talking about when I actually met Daniel and Henley and Merritt. I was a street magician before that. Well, semi-criminal street magician." Eden raised an eyebrow at him and he shot her a sly smile. "A guy's gotta eat, you know. But then the Four Horsemen happened, and suddenly I was staying in places like this and we were throwing millions of dollars at people instead of keeping it for ourselves and money just kinda became... obsolete. It was all I thought about before, but now it's nothing. Magic tricks and all that are still my life, but now they keep me alive in a different way."

"How did you guys even meet?" Eden asked him.

"Dylan," Jack replied. "Dylan was in the Eye. He brought us together."

"Did he pioneer all of this too?"

Jack nodded. "Pretty much. The man's a genius. Any time I think I'm one step ahead of him I'm actually three steps behind."

Eden laughed. "That's how I feel around you."

Jack glanced at her, but instead of a smart arse response he said, "Seriously?"

"Yeah," Eden answered. "When you beat up those agents I could barely see what was going on; you were a blur."

Jack grinned. "You weren't too bad yourself. I didn't see that stiletto coming, and I don't think the agent did either."

There was a brief moment of nausea. Eden pushed it aside, but still she grimaced. "Ugh, don't remind me of that."

"You'll have to get used to it," Jack said, and then almost as an afterthought he added, "hey, why don't I teach you some moves?"

"What, like martial arts?" Eden asked, suddenly feeling a little apprehensive. She wasn't the most coordinated person in the world.

"Just some self-defence stuff." Jack stood up straight. "Come on," he said, dragging out the words.

Eden couldn't lie; resisting that smile of his was pretty hard. A little reluctantly, she pushed away from the counter. "Nothing too bendy or fast, okay?"

"Okay," Jack said, looking a bit too eager for someone who was awake at three in the morning. "First move is simple. If someone grabs you, drive the heel of your hand up into their nose."

Eden grimaced. She knew how that would feel against her hand. She'd broken a friend's nose before, by accident, and the feeling of their nose cracking and squishing beneath her hand was something she'd never forgotten.

Jack smiled at her expression. "I promise you won't be feeling squeamish when someone's actually attacking you."

Eden wasn't so sure about that. "I'll take your word for it."

"Okay, wanna give it a try?" Jack asked.

"What am I doing again?"

He rolled his eyes, but he was still smiling as ever. "This," he said, and slowly brought the heel of his hand up towards her nose, stopping before he touched her. "Ready?"

"Ready."

"Don't actually hit me," Jack quickly added.

It was Eden's turn to roll her eyes. "I'm not that stupid, Jack."

"I'll take your word for it," he answered, mimicking her, and Eden struggled to hide her smile.

Jack grabbed her left arm, and on cue Eden raised her other arm, heel of her hand pointing up, when Jack suddenly grabbed that arm too, his grip harder. She frowned at him. "I thought-"

He quickly shushed her. That was when Eden noticed he was no longer looking at her. His eyes were a little glazed over as he focussed all his concentration on his hearing.

"What is it?" Eden asked him quietly.

He remained silent for a little longer. "I think we need to leave."

"If you heard something, it might have just been one of the others," she said. His sudden change in tone and posture made her nervous. He was on edge, on guard.

Jack shook his head. "No, it was something else."

His hand slipped down her arm to take her hand and he pulled her towards the front door of the apartment. He peered through the spy hole and almost immediately recoiled. Eden opened her mouth to ask what the hell was going on but Jack looked directly at her, eyes wide and alert, a finger to his lips.

He pulled her towards the stairs. It was just as they started to climb that the front door gave its first shudder, hinges screeching, wood beginning to cave in.

They'd been found.