The Bitter Forces of Fate

by ClownQween'69

Jenna's been thrown into a world she could have never prepared for. Forced to live in the dark dwells of chaos and pain, disarray overwhelms her every second when she realizes she cannot abandon her terribly deep interest in her captor, Bane. And what's worse? He cannot restrain his interest in her... Bane/OC *SPOILERS* (Rated M for a reason)

26. Changes

Jenna let out a comfortable sigh as she sat down at her and Isaac's usual booth at the diner, but she couldn't help the flinch that overcame her features when her back, neck and hips gave out a violent spurt of pain. As Isaac slid in across from her, he noticed the pained expression she flashed before she rested her back against the seat, and once he had situated himself, he asked her what happened.

"Oh, that cot's just been fucking up my back and stuff," Jenna replied as she reached forward to grab a menu that was already sitting in its container on the table, Isaac following her actions. She opened the menu to the first page that listed the breakfast items, but after her eyes roamed over the pictures of omelets, sausage, and hash-browns, she immediately closed the menu, already knowing she was going to order pancakes.

"How long has that been happening?" Isaac asked as he flipped through the pages of the menu.

"A while," Jenna replied. "And I think it's getting worse."

It definitely had to have been. When she woke up that morning, she was instantly reminded of her and Isaac's plans to go out to eat, and suddenly eager to get out of bed and go find him to make sure she wasn't too late for breakfast, she tossed her blanket off of herself and went to sit up, but she stopped herself immediately when splitting pain traveled from her hips, up her back and onto her neck. Clenching her teeth, she slowly sat up, finding that if she moved slowly it kept the pain at bay. Once she was standing, the stinging pain faded, but her body was still left feeling rather beat up and sore. Sighing, Jenna stepped over to the basket in her room that contained her clean clothes, remembering suddenly she was still wearing Bane's shirt, and after she dressed herself in a pair of cargo pants, a black tank top and her boots, the laces still tucked into them, she leaned over the mirror shard that sat on her chair to make sure her and face didn't look too battered. Once she was satisfied, she turned to leave her room.

Isaac had been waiting for her in the garage, and had been keeping himself busy by doing something to the Challenger. When Jenna passed him, he glanced up at her and gave her a nod.

"I was about to come get you. It's already nine."

It's still early, Jenna couldn't help but to think to herself. "I just want to check on the clothes, then I'll be ready," she told him.

After approaching the laundry machines, and finding that everything was still how she had left it the day prior, she put the thug's clothes that were in the dryer on the floor again, placed her wet clothes in the dryer, and added her final load into the washer. As she headed toward Isaac's truck, she hoped that the henchmen would leave her clean clothes alone this time.

Isaac was already in his truck, and he had just turned the key in the ignition when Jenna opened the door. Just as she started to climb in and got past her flinches of pain, Isaac glanced over at her.

"Did you ask Bane?"

Jenna slumped her shoulders once she had sat down, and she glanced over to him with a frown.

"No," she complained.

"Could you go do it, please?" Isaac asked. "I'm not tryin' to get in more trouble here."

"It'll be fine," Jenna assured as she glanced away from him, ready to pull the door closed, but she could still feel Isaac glaring at the side of her face. When she turned to look at him again, she had been right.

"Jenna, please?" Isaac asked again, blinking slowly, and with a huff Jenna got out of the truck, closed the door and started back to the warehouse, knowing that Isaac was grinning at her actions all the while.

Anxiety had begun to take over Jenna when she ventured into the dark basement. She saw light flooding out from under Bane's door, and without missing a beat, she knocked on it as soon as she approached it. Shock overcame her upon doing so the second she lowered her fist, and she took a moment to realize just how odd that had been. Normally, she always grew so nervous before knocking on his door. What had changed, and why had it?

Bane opened his door a few moments later, and he had been surprised to see her standing in front of him. He couldn't help but to allow his eyes to roam over her body, taking in the site of her version of their uniform, and he blinked contentedly to himself when he finally looked into her eyes. "Jenna," he greeted. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Can I go to the diner? With... Isaac?" Jenna asked slowly, hating how she always found herself bringing up Isaac in front of Bane more and more lately. Bane had been silent for a minute, but he didn't have to contemplate her query too long. He already knew he was going to grant her this permission.

"Yes," he replied. "But be back within the hour." He watched Jenna's eyebrows furrow at this, and just as her lips parted, he interrupted the question he knew she was going to ask. "That is an order."

Closing her mouth, Jenna nodded at him, figuring she might as well just be happy that Bane was actually allowing her to do this, and as soon as she turned around, Bane closed his door.

After she had made it back to the truck, she opened the door and stared in at Isaac.

"He said no," she told him, trying to look somewhat mad, and she tried to hold back her smile when Isaac's eyebrows raised in slight disbelief.

"Really?"

"No," Jenna replied with a grin, and Isaac shook his head with a smirk as Jenna climbed back into the truck and closed her door. "He said I have to be back within the hour though."

Isaac glanced down at the clock on his radio as he put the truck in gear, and he peered back out of the windshield as he accelerated forward. "Caaan do."

Now, Jenna leaned back in her seat, and she kept her left hand stretched in front of her and resting on the table while Isaac continued to look over the menu. This morning, though painful, had also been surprisingly smooth and easy, even with having to converse with Bane. It seemed as though over night she had completely either forgotten or accepted what she had seen yesterday, and after talking to Isaac about it, she began to wonder if it was really better to just accept Bane's behavior toward her. Although, while it was easy to accept, returning the better attitude was a challenge, and having to deal with those old feelings again was less than desirable. Just thinking back to her hand in his, even a whole day later, still caused that fluttering sensation to take over her stomach.

Clearing her throat, Jenna glanced toward the window, and she peered out of the parted blinds at the barren street and surrounding fields, wishing she knew how to handle what was going on lately. From across the table, Isaac glanced up at her with only his eyes before he lowered them back down to the menu.

"What are you getting?" He asked.

"Pancakes," Jenna answered, and she grinned when she heard Isaac chuckle.

"I should have guessed," he replied.

Their table fell silent for a while, even after the waitress had gone over to their table for their orders. Jenna had kept her head turned away from her in the efforts of avoiding direct eye contact while Isaac ordered for the both of them. After she had left, Isaac put his menu away, and he leaned back in his seat as he stretched out his own arms, resting them on the table as well.

"I'm tired," he commented, catching Jenna's attention.

"Why?" She asked.

"Just... everything that's been going on," Isaac replied as he entwined his fingers together on the table. "Just all of the plans and the runnin' around and dealing with the guys at home and... Christmas shoppers. I just want a day to relax, you know?"

Jenna grinned. "Christmas shoppers?" She repeated. The rest of Isaac's slight complaining made sense, but she didn't understand why Christmas shoppers had come up. "...why?"

"They're everywhere," he said, hoping that mentioning anything about Christmas would not bring up awkward memories or feelings about what they had done on Christmas Eve night. To be honest, he was just surprised both Jenna and himself had been able to get over and past it. "All the bargain hunters, you know? The people who drive like crazies, crowd the streets and trample over each other in the store as they try to obtain all the decorations that went down in price since it's over."

"Thank God it's over," Jenna mumbled, more so to herself, but Isaac had heard her. He closed his mouth and nodded slightly to himself as he glanced down to his hands. To Jenna, Christmas had never been a happy time for her, and this year around, it had been worse than ever. She had spent this Christmas fearing for her life and Isaac's, and praying that Bane wouldn't harm him. Fortunately, everything appeared to have turned out for the best. Now all she had to do was get past her birthday...

Jenna paused immediately due to this thought, her skin turning cold, and she glanced up at Isaac. "What's today?"

"The twenty seventh," he replied, looking back up to her, and once he saw the rather shocked expression on her face, he narrowed his eyes. "Why?"

Jenna licked her lips. "It's my birthday," she said quietly, her eyes fixed on the table, and she couldn't help but to have a hard time accepting this.

"Oh," Isaac replied, widening his eyes slightly as he nodded. "Well, happy birthdaythen."

Jenna smiled slightly as she looked back up to him. "Thanks," she said shyly. "But that's all I want to hear about it."

"Why?"

Jenna shrugged. "Because it's not important."

"Around here," Isaac began as he pulled back his arms to lean up before leaning over the table, noticing the waitress was making her way over with their drinks. "You're right."

Jenna smiled and nodded at him before she turned her head away again just when the waitress began to set down their drink glasses, and she couldn't help but to feel proud of herself for already knowing this. Still, she found that she most certainly did not feel twenty-three. For the first time in her life, she would not be getting presents or a birthday celebration, and shockingly, she was okay with this, and was even welcoming towards it.

–

Just as she had been hoping, her breakfast meal of four, largely stacked pancakes was both delicious and filling, and once Isaac had finished his own meal, they ventured out to his truck, the clock on the dash reading 9:46. Jenna had not been nervous about returning on time, but she couldn't help the relief that took over her when she figured they'd be arriving back at the warehouse no later than 9:55.

After Isaac had started his truck, he reached down to grab out a cigarette, and once he had lit it, Jenna spoke up.

"Can I ha-"

"Yeah," Isaac interrupted as he held his cigarette out of his open window with his left hand, and after putting the truck in gear he started out of the parking lot. "Help yourself."

Leaning over, Jenna managed to get out a cigarette with her left hand, and after struggling to light it for a moment, she tossed the lighter down and took the cigarette from her mouth as she exhaled. From the corner of his eye, Isaac watched Jenna glance around the cab of the truck and the cigarette in her hand before she finally rested her arm on the arm rest, and when she glanced over to Isaac and saw that he had been looking at her as well, she cleared her throat as he grinned.

"When do you think we could see about that new cast?" She asked him, feeling bad for having to keep the cigarette inside of the truck. Isaac leaned up in his seat slightly as he took another drag from his own.

"Today, if you want," he replied. "I'll have to see if I have the right supplies."

"What do you need?" Jenna asked, looking at him still.

"The cast itself and some more gauze," he replied. Jenna nodded to herself.

"It's already made?" She watched Isaac nod.

"Yeah, I should have some with my medical equipment. The guys at the warehouse are always breaking or spraining something. Though, it's never as severe as yours was."

He glanced over to her with a grin, but when he saw Jenna roll her eyes in disgust as she looked away he frowned.

"You can't hold a grudge forever."

"Yes I can," Jenna said as she stared out of the window, and she lifted her cigarette to her lips to take another drag before she reached over to ash the cigarette out of the window. But once she flicked the cigarette, the ashes came flying back into the truck, and they landed on her lap. With a sigh, Jenna began to brush them off. "Breaking somebody's arm, on purpose is kinda a big deal."

"Not when you're at fault," Isaac pointed out, the warehouse already showing up in the far distance. He looked over to Jenna, but when she remained silently staring out of the window, he glanced back out of the windshield. "You lied to him, Jenna. It had been an on-going lie."

"Isaac, please, I really don't want to talk about this–"

"No, maybe we should," he interrupted. "Think about it, Jenna. Perhaps he acted irrationally, or perhaps he didn't, but regardless, you should have known to have just listened to him. It was a punishment."

"Punishment?" Jenna repeated as she turned to look at him with widened eyes, completely unsure of where this argument was stemming from, or why. "Like breaking my arm wasn't a punishment enough, he had to lock me away, too?"

"He felt that the circumstances called for that kind of outcome," Isaac replied quickly.

Jenna let out a small huff of laughter as she glanced away with another roll of her eyes. "Then why didn't he just kill me?"

"Because he-" Isaac stopped himself short, his jaw still hanging open slightly, and when he saw Jenna turn back to face him, a curious, expectant look on her face, he immediately closed his mouth.

"Because he what, Isaac?" Jenna asked, her tone no longer angry, but rather calm and slightly frightened. Isaac situated himself in his seat before he brought over his cigarette, but when he saw it had burn out, he tossed it out of the window before switching his hands on the wheel, his actions causing Jenna's eyebrows to furrow. What was he holding back from her?

"Because he didn't want to," Isaac replied quickly, and Jenna noticed how he was fighting the urge to look at her. Jenna didn't buy this. Isaac was holding something back from her, but she knew it was useless to probe him for information. Chances are, whatever it was, it was a secret sealed locked away tightly within the bonds of his and Bane's brotherhood.

Jenna glanced away, desiring now more than ever to know what Isaac was hiding from her, but also, she was scared to find out. Whatever it was, it had to do with Bane and his relation to her. Better off not knowing... Jenna decided.

"Look," Isaac started just as he pulled into the warehouse's lot. "You've come a long way, Jenna, and the improvement in you is noticeable and outstanding; it's something he's –we– have always wanted for you." Isaac paused as he drove toward the garages, and after he had parked and shut off the truck, he glanced back over to her. "Don't ruin it by holding a grudge against him for something that was your fault. Just accept that and move on because things are looking better now, for everyone involved."

Jenna had been staring at him all the while, the urge to know the secret and the desire to stay as far away from it as possible tearing her in half. But regardless, she nodded. She was still angry at Bane for what he had done, she wanted to forever be angry at Bane for what he had done, but as per usual, Isaac seemed right. Jenna had lied to him, and disobeyed his orders, even after he had already given her a million chances prior. Bane doesn't offer second chances...

After Isaac had gotten out of the truck, Jenna climbed out herself, her cigarette still in between her fingers, and as she followed Isaac into the garage, she took another drag as she glanced away, the feeling of slight worry stinging her neck as she wondered what time it was. Upset she had to put her cigarette out early, she bent down and extinguished it on the ground before she glanced over at Isaac.

"I'm gonna go find Bane," she told him. "Then can we see about my arm?"

She watched Isaac nod before she finally started toward the door within the garage, hoping it would be unlocked. Much to her satisfaction, it was, and as soon as she stepped inside she immediately headed into the basement.

The lights above were on, illuminating the wide space and the slumbering mayor against the wall, and when Jenna looked over to Bane's door, she saw that it was open. Swallowing, she began over to it, but when she peered inside quickly, after knocking on the door's frame, she saw he was not inside. Her eyebrows furrowing, she turned and ventured over to her room, and after opening her door, just to see if he was inside it for whatever reason, she learned quickly that he was not, and she turned to start back up the stairs.

She glanced down the hallway and stared at the open bathroom door, and once she had approached the exit door, she stood still, trying to listen and see if he, or anybody for that matter, were upstairs. But the warehouse was silent, and with a nervous sigh she pulled open the exit door and started toward the garage again, trying to ignore the biting cold temperatures as clouds began to gather in the sky.

The entire outside seemed to be completely abandoned, and once she approached the garage, she immediately stepped over to Isaac. "I can't find him," she said.

Isaac glanced over to her, his lips parting to speak, but he paused when the very faint sound of screaming was heard. He stared off into the distance past the vast, snow-covered field beyond the lot and toward the creek, and when he saw Jenna shift her weight from her right to her left, he held up his finger to her, listening. When he heard the shout again, he glanced over to his left, his eyes finding what he had been hoping to find. Jenna watched him turn from her, but as soon as he picked up a black sniper rifle that had been leaning against the wall, her eyes widened as she backed up.

"What are you doing?" She asked, some sense of panic in her voice, and she watched Isaac step toward the end of the garage before he lifted up the gun to squint his left eye and peer down the scope on the top of the sniper rifle with his right. He moved the gun back and forth slightly, searching, until he picked up the enlarged images of Bane, some of his henchmen, and Karly's crew they had captured, still bound and tied, and resting on their knees in front of the dirty creek, soaking wet, shivering, and gasping for air.

"Bane's down by the creek," he told her, keeping the gun raised, and Jenna furrowed her eyebrows as she took a small step closer to him. She eyed the gun again before she turned to look off into the distance the gun was pointing, and even though her heart was racing, she tried to stay calm, reminding herself that Isaac was only using the scope on the gun as a form of binoculars.

"Doing what?" She asked, unable to see anything unless she squinted her eyes and strained them in the direction. But even with doing so, all she could make out were tiny, black specs in the distance.

"Interrogation," Isaac replied, watching for another minute as a thug on their team pushed one of Karly's crew member's head down into the water while Bane leaned over them, probably speaking to him.

"For what?" Jenna asked. "Why?" She added when Isaac finally held the gun down and turned to lean it back against the wall.

"Information," he replied. "From Karly's crew."

"Oh," Jenna nodded. "You could see all the way down there with that?" She asked now as she nodded toward the gun.

"Yeah," Isaac replied, a new enthusiasm in his voice. "Wanna see?"

Jenna's jaw dropped slightly, but just as she began to shake her head, Isaac was already picking the rifle back up.

"Yeah you do, c'mere."

Closing her mouth and letting out a nervous sigh due through her nose due to having to handle a gun for the first time, she allowed Isaac to turn her around so she was facing the field again, knowing very well there was no getting out of this now. He moved to stand behind her, and keeping his right hand clutched on the underside of the front of the gun, he placed it front of Jenna, resting the back against her shoulder. Her eyes widened slightly upon feeling him behind her, her breath hitching slightly in her throat, but she would not allow herself to feel awkward about this. "Put your hand here," he instructed, pointing toward the area the trigger was located in.

"Isaac," she moaned. "I don't care to see this."

Isaac ignored her, and when Jenna knew she would not get a reply back she rolled her eyes as she carelessly lifted her left hand to place it where Isaac had said.

"You got it?" He asked her, leaning over to look at the side of her face. When Jenna finally tightened her grip and nodded, he fixed his stance behind her and held up the gun more. "Squint your eye and look into the scope with the other," he instructed. Defeated, Jenna did as she was told, and after closing her left eye, she leaned her head forward and glanced into the scope.

"Do you see them?" Isaac asked her, keeping the gun held up easily while he let his left arm stay at his side, purposely keeping his hand away from Jenna's body.

"No," she answered in an annoyed tone. Without a word, Isaac glanced down with a small smirk to look at the top of her head below him, and he gently started to move the gun toward the right while Jenna fixed her own grip on the gun. "Oh, I see them. Wow..." she couldn't help but to mumble, impressed with how clear and magnified they had become. Staring down the scope, she watched a thug keep his hands on one of Karly's squirming men in the water, and Jenna swallowed when he stood up, leaving the lifeless body of the man to stay in the creek. She then looked at Bane, standing tall with his arms crossed over his chest, and she couldn't help but to swallow. Isaac grinned as he glanced down at her again, but once he caught sight of her pointer finger on the trigger, he moved to take the gun back.

"Whoa," he said as the gun was taken abruptly from her.

"What?" Jenna wondered as she spun around to watch him move toward the wall again.

"You had your finger on the trigger," he replied as he set the gun down. "That's a rule everyone knows, Jenna. Don't put your finger on the trigger 'till you're ready to shoot."

"But you do it," she accused, thinking back to yesterday. "Besides it wasn't even... loaded, or ready or whatever."

"You don't know that," Isaac replied with a smirk. "Regardless, it's a bad habit to get into. And I'm allowed to do it because I'm experienced and in more control than you are."

"Whatever," Jenna replied as she turned away, still feeling dizzy due to Isaac standing so close behind her, actually holding a gun and using it somewhat, and seeing Bane torture those men. "I didn't want to see anyway."

Isaac didn't reply to this as he started toward the warehouse door inside the garage, but when he didn't hear footsteps behind him, he stopped and glanced over his shoulder. "You coming?" He asked her, Jenna immediately turning to face him, and when he saw the confused look on her face, he rolled his eyes. "To do your arm?"

"Oh, yeah," Jenna said quickly as she started over to him. With a grin and a roll of his eyes, Isaac turned around and pushed open the door, Jenna right behind him this time.

As soon as they had climbed the ladder and stepped into Isaac's room, he snapped on the light and started over to his bathroom while Jenna started over toward his unmade bed. "Will Bane be mad that I didn't check in with him?" She asked.

"I don't see why he would be," Isaac replied as he came out of the bathroom now, a roll of gauze in his hand. He tossed it onto the bed before he started over to his dresser. "He's busy right now and wouldn't want you disturbing him, anyway."

Jenna nodded as she glanced around his room as she finally and slowly sat down, eying all of the various guns and weapons laid out in organized fashions, and she couldn't help but to swallow due to sitting on his bed. It wasn't that she felt awkward, but rather weird about being on his bed again after what had happened. She almost felt... bad. Like she was disobeying Bane again. But on the other hand, sitting on something that was actually soft and comfortable was welcoming, and these feelings overpowered any desire to move away from it.

Once Isaac had rummaged through a few medical boxes, he found what he was looking for, and he headed over to Jenna with that ready made, plastic cast in his hand with another medical box in his other hand.

"This should fit," he said as he sat down, setting the cast and box down onto his lap. "But before we do this..." he trailed off as he took a hold of Jenna's cast on her arm. She turned toward him slightly, and she allowed him to move her arm all around again, watching her arm's movements as he did so. "Does this hurt?" He asked. Jenna shook her head.

"Is that good?" She asked him.

"Very," Isaac replied, letting go of her arm now, and he opened the box on his lap after moving the air cast onto the bed beside him. Peering into the box, Jenna immediately grew nervous as she watched Isaac take out a large tool with some type of circular blade on the top, and she watched Isaac move the box before standing up to plug the tool into the wall.

"What's that?" She asked.

"The saw I gotta use to take that cast off," Isaac replied, picking up on her anxious tone. "This is the tool doctors use, Jenna. The blade is dull, so stop being so paranoid."

Jenna frowned, but she ignored his comment. "Where do you get all this stuff from anyway?"

As Isaac approached her again, he answer came in the mere form of a grin, and judging by that grin, Jenna could only imagine how he obtained these instruments. Poor doctors, she thought to herself.

"Alright, hold your arm out," Isaac said as he knelt down in front of her. Jenna did as she was told, and after Isaac lowered her arm to rest on her lap, he started up the tool, the obnoxious buzzing sound causing a shudder to run through her, but regardless, she made herself hold perfectly still as Isaac began to saw through the dirtied, white plaster.

The procedure took no longer than ten minutes, and Jenna's eyes widened in unison with her jaw dropping when she felt the heavy cast finally break away completely from her arm. A rush of cool air brushed over the gauze that was still wrapped around her arm, and as Isaac collected the pieces of the cast, Jenna couldn't help to lift her arm closer to face, being careful not to twist it, as her eyes glanced all over the limb. It felt so light, after being suffocated in that cast for months, and she couldn't help the smile that touched her lips. Suddenly, she felt as though she would never take the full range of motion her limbs could do for granted ever again...

After Isaac had disposed of the cast, he sat down next to her again and gently tugged her arm over to him. "You're a fast healer," he commented. "Normally those casts gotta stay on for many more months."

"That's good," Jenna said, unable to hide the new found excitement in her voice, and she watched as Isaac began to unwrap her arm from the gauze. But as soon as her arm became exposed, Jenna's eyebrows furrowed tightly as a look of disgust overcame her features. "Ew... what the-?"

Her eyes wandered all over the deeply reddened skin on her arm while also taking in the pattern her skin had picked up from the gauze after having been pressed against it for so long. To her, her arm appeared to be in a rotting type of stage. "That is disgusting."

Isaac let out a laugh as he dropped the old gauze to the floor, and now that the cast was off, he began to inspect her arm again, pushing down from her upper arm to help it regain blood flow. Jenna tried to watch as he did this among performing other check ups, but she had to look away. Her arm looked disgusting.

"It'll go away," he assured when he saw Jenna look away finally, and Jenna jumped when she felt something cold touch her arm. She turned and watched Isaac cleanse it with a wet wipe, and once this was done, he set the wipe onto the gauze on the floor and turned to pick up his new roll before he began to wrap her arm again.

"So, with this new cast, can I actually do stuff with my arm and hand again?" She asked.

Isaac nodded as he continued to wrap her arm tightly. "To an extent. You still gotta go easy with it though."

Jenna nodded before she turned away, finding more patience now as Isaac finished wrapping her arm. Once this was done, and he had cut the gauze and secured it down, he picked up the ready-made air cast, and Jenna watched with wonder as he helped her to slide the cast onto her arm. This cast, though tight against her arm, felt light, and already she could feel the flexibility she could put into use again. The cast ended just below her elbow, like the last one had, and she had to place her thumb through a separate hole on the end, separating her thumb and the rest of her fingers, and once she noticed this, she immediately thought about Bane's brown armband.

"Done," Isaac replied simply as he stood up, pleased to see the cast fit. "Just go easy with it and it'll finish healing in no time."

Jenna smiled as she watched him go about collecting the supplies, old gauze and wipe, and as Isaac headed to the bathroom to throw them away, Jenna stood up, holding her arm in front of herself, and she couldn't help but to smile widely again.

"Thank you," she said to Isaac as sincerely as she could once he had stepped out of the bathroom, and she made a point to look him in the eye. "This cast already feels..." She shook her head, trying to find words that could best describe how she felt. "...A thousand percent better," she finally finished.

Isaac smiled back at her as he picked up the medical box to put it away. "Hopefully it's the last one you'll ever have to wear. That all depends on you though."

Jenna nodded to herself as she glanced down. She felt so thankful toward Isaac and excited about her arm finally getting on a better track, but the warning voice in her head reminded her it would probably be a good idea to go find Bane now.

"I'm gonna go... find Bane," she informed as she stepped away from the bed.

"Yeah, I gotta go talk to him, too," Isaac replied. "I'll head downstairs in a minute. Oh, and Jenna?"

Feeling slightly worried about Isaac talking to Bane when she would be with him as well, Jenna tried not to let this fear turn into an expression on her face as she looked over to him.

"Happy Birthday," Isaac said with a devious grin, and Jenna rolled her eyes, knowing very well all he was trying to do was get under her skin. Honestly, due to his comment, it was working. Jenna nodded with a small smile before she finally stepped over to the door to open it. "Thank you," she said again.

"You're welcome."

This time, Jenna found she had actually been able to use her right hand somewhat as she climbed down the ladder, and she could not stop smiling to herself as she started toward the stairs. She kept her eyes focused on her cast, and as she started down the stairs and into the basement, she began to curl her fingers down before stretching them out again, and she continued with his motion as she absentmindedly started toward Bane's bedroom. She was thankful to Isaac about a lot of things, but she knew if it had not been for him, her arm probably would have never healed. Hell, if it hadn't been for Isaac, her arm would have still been bent at that disgusting angle, the bone pressing against her skin...

Just when Jenna grew disgusted at this thought and tried to get it out of her mind, she stopped short just before she could run into Bane, who had just stepped outside of his door. Lowering her arm and glancing up, her eyes wondered over that large, bulky vest he wore over his bare chest and that brown armband she had thought of previously before she finally looked into his eyes. Dread began to wash over her, and she quickly cleared her throat.

"I-I'm back," She replied. "I've been back, but Isaac was helping me with this new cast."

"I can see that," Bane replied, Jenna unable to detect any angry tones in his muffled and machine-like voice. She grew relieved at this, but when Bane suddenly began to reach out toward her right arm, she froze, her eyes lowering to watch him take a gentle hold of the light cast. After he had raised her arm, he gently tugged her closer to himself, and Jenna quickly corrected her footing once she was standing a mere few inches away from him as Bane inspected the cast, electrified shocks running up her spine continuously as her stomach gave a disgusting flutter when she inhaled his scent.

"This cast is fragile," he commented as he squeezed on it slightly, his eyes moving from Jenna's cast to his leather armband. He stared at it for a moment before he looked back to the white and blue plastic that covered Jenna's arm.

Jenna wasn't sure what to say to this, so instead of speaking something unintelligible, she remained quiet as she merely nodded.

"You'll have to be cautious with it, but I'm sure you are excited to finally have more mobility with your arm... after all this time."

It was almost outstanding to Jenna that Bane could so casually talk about her arm, as if he hadn't been the one to cause this problem in the first place. But remembering what Isaac had told her, Jenna nodded again and swallowed.

"I know," she replied. "And I am, definitely."

Just at that moment, Jenna heard footsteps on the stairs, and upon her turning around and Bane glancing up, they watched Isaac make his way down the stairs and start over to them. Bane immediately let go of Jenna's arm, and she held it still at her side as she stepped backwards to allow Isaac to approach Bane.

"Did they talk?" Isaac asked him, Jenna backing away more, figuring it would be a good idea to leave them alone and retreat to her room.

"They did," Bane replied. "His original plans had been to arrive here sometime during early January, but once he discovers what has become of his daughter, I'm sure we can expect an earlier visit."

Bane's words had been the last thing Jenna had heard before she closed her door, and with a swallow, able to feel those shocks pulsating up and down her spine still, she turned on her light before turning to step over to her cot.

–

Jenna had been sitting alone in her room for a few hours on end, but she didn't mind the solitude or the silence. She was too consumed with looking at her arm, moving it about, and being truly mesmerized by the fact that she could actually move it again, and didn't have to use a sling or keep it bent under her chest on her arm. As she stood and paced about her room patiently, the feeling of getting to keep her arm still at her side was enough to make the smile on her lips never fade.

After the first hour of just moving it around and thinking to herself, she had begun to pick up random objects around her room, just to see how well she could use her right hand. She found that she could not turn her arm about with out shooting pain rupturing through her, and that she could not grip anything tightly, but once she discovered she could actually somewhat hold her eyeliner pencil, she had knelt down in front of her chair, propped up that mirror shard, and tried to apply the eyeliner, only to stop not even a minute after she had started to finish the rest with her left hand as best she could. The lines were a bit jagged, but nonetheless, Jenna enjoyed wearing the makeup around her eyes, and she was just overjoyed that she had at least discovered she could hold things with her right hand. However, it appeared as though her hand would have to go through some sort of therapy to gain its strength back. She wasn't sure if this was true, but she knew she could always ask Bane.

Isaac, she corrected herself quickly. Go ask Isaac. She closed her eyes as she sat back down on her cot, after she had put her makeup away, and she let out a sigh. Bane had been the only person to be consuming her thoughts lately, and now, even just when she thought of his name alone, that fluttering sensation, though short-lived, would pick up in her stomach. Why not ask Bane, though? Another half of her wondered. You saw his face when Isaac had come downstairs.

It was true. Jenna had seen some sort of emotion cloud his eyes, but she wasn't entirely sure what it was. She had a feeling that it was burning Bane on the inside, having to witness Jenna still spending so much time with Isaac, and while she wasn't exactly sure why it bothered him, she knew it was, and she knew there had to be a legitimate reason for it to. It was because of this that she was actually considering asking Bane about the strength of her hand. But this also meant attempting to please him by going to him for answers, and judging by the way he had started really trying to talk to her again, it was something that would ultimately satisfy him.

A part of Jenna didn't want to give him this satisfaction. She wanted to stay angry at him, she wanted to keep avoiding him, but she knew she could no longer keep up with it. Isaac had a point with all that he told her, and Jenna knew she should just accept Bane's new attitude. She may find it distasteful now, especially with these harboring feelings arising again, but what if it was to permanently go away? Jenna would lose all senses of hope, forever, and constantly live in paranoia and fear.

Just go ask him, she thought to herself. Then go have a cigarette, her mind added after she realized how rather sore her legs and back were starting to become after staying in her room for so long and sitting on her cot. What's the harm? You be nice to him, and he'll keep being nice to you. Ignore anything else that happens...

Swallowing, Jenna stood up from her cot, convincing herself the only reason she was doing this was so she could go have a cigarette. She wanted Bane to keep being nice to her, so to speak, but these feelings and the confusion were becoming overwhelming... She still wanted to stay away from him, but there were too many forces now that were forcing her to keep finding him.

After stepping out into the main part of the basement, the rest of the surrounding area dark, she started over toward Bane's open door, dim light flooding out onto the floor, but also some sort of flickering light was shining onto the floor, as well. Her eyebrows furrowed slightly at this, but when she approached his door and stopped in front of his room, she noticed a large candle was burning away on his desk, which he was sitting at. Taking in a deep breath, Jenna raised her left fist – a habit now – and knocked on the frame of his door. Glancing up from whatever he had been doing, Bane turned slightly to glance at her from over his shoulder.

"Jenna," he greeted, slight curiosity laced within his voice. He said nothing more, however, and instead waited for Jenna to speak.

"I have a question," she said, easily standing still outside of his door, wanting to stay as far from him as possible suddenly. Her eyes glanced down to the flickering candle for a moment before she glanced back over to Bane. "About this," she added as she raised up her right arm.

"What about it?"

Jenna swallowed. "I just wanted to know if I need to go through some sort of... therapy... to regain strength?"

Bane nodded. "I'd assume so," he replied, and as soon as he held his left hand out toward her, inviting her into the room, Jenna felt her body stiffen immediately. "Let me see."

Swallowing again, Jenna had to force herself to place one foot in front of the other before she finally began into his room, and once she had approached him, his hand still stretched and waiting, Jenna carefully placed her right hand in his, unable to help but to widen her eyes when Bane closed his fingers around it and gently pulled her closer. Now, standing directly next to the desk and in front of him in his chair, she watched Bane look over her hand quickly before he turned to reach over his desk to grab a pen with his right hand. He let go of Jenna's hand before he handed her the pen.

"Write something," he instructed as he slid over a small scrap of paper toward her on the desk, and he glanced up at her, waiting for her to do it. Jenna stared at the paper for a minute before she glanced over to him, but deciding it best not to question him, especially when she was feeling so anxious already, she took the pen from him.

Bane watched her struggle to get a proper hold of the pen before she finally brushed her hair over her shoulder while leaning down, and he couldn't help but to glance away for a moment due to the soft skin on her neck and shoulder being exposed.

Jenna stared at the paper for another moment, wondering what she should write, but when she began to assume Bane was becoming inpatient, and when she realized it didn't really matter what she wrote, she touched the pen to the paper and began to struggle through creating her letters. Once she was done, Bane glanced back in her direction and he looked down onto the paper.

'Hello'.

He chuckled softly to himself, not only at the word she had chosen, but also the jagged lines and curves that formed the intertwining letters. When he looked up to her hand that held the pen, he saw it was shaking slightly.

"Upon looking at your writing, what do you think needs to happen?" He glanced up to her just as she looked down to him, before her eyes wandered back onto the paper.

"It needs... therapy?" She half asked, and she watched Bane nod.

"You'll need to learn how to write again, as well as use the entirety of your hand."

Jenna frowned. Learn to write again? She wondered. That was something she would have never expected. "Like... how so?" She asked, watching as Bane turned in his chair to face the desk again.

"Practice," he replied. "Practice writing, practice picking things up and build up your grip strength. It'll take time, but it can be done."

Still frowning, Jenna nodded, and as that awkward feeling began to overcome her, she began to wonder if she should leave. It appeared as though Bane didn't care either way by this point, but Jenna felt as though she had nothing else to say to him. And why should she, especially now, after learning that she had to learn how to write again? She had thought that after her arm healed, she'd be as good as new. She never would have expected to undergo any type of rebuilding therapy. Even though she had begun to wonder about it in her room, she had never anticipated for Bane to confirm her suspicions.

Jenna took a smell step away from him, hating how the shocks and fluttering sensations were refusing to die down within her. Leave, she told herself, but already her body was too consumed with glancing around his room again, and wandering over all the items it contained while she tried to remember a time that she had actually wanted to be in there... with him.

"Where you talking about Karly's father with Isaac... earlier?" She asked, her eyes landing on the candle again before she glanced over to Bane, listening as he scribbled something down.

"I was," he replied.

"Is that why you were down by the creek, with her people?"

"Indeed," Bane replied, flashbacks of all the times Jenna would stay in his room and pester him with questions entering his mind. On the surface he felt himself becoming annoyed, but deep down, he realized, it was something he had been wanting to happen for a while.

Jenna swallowed, thinking back to how they had been drowning them, in that freezing, cold water. "Did you kill them all... or, most of them?" Jenna thought back to how many bound men had been thrown from the truck. There had to have been almost ten of them.

"What do you think, Jenna?" Bane retorted as he reached out to grab a different pen after his current one had started to run out of ink. Jenna glanced away and looked at the items scattered around his dresser.

"What's her dad gonna do when he gets here?" God, stop with the questions! Just leave! She scolded herself. She knew she should, but it felt as though something was forcing her to stay against her will. Something about the dim lighting in his room and the flickering candle made the atmosphere around her seem somewhat comforting. Though, as she glanced at the candle, she had to wonder why Bane even had that in the first place...

"Die," Bane replied simply, and Jenna couldn't help the grin that overcame her face. But as soon as it had appeared, she quickly forced it away.

"Oh," she replied. "Makes sense."

The room grew silent for a moment, but just before Jenna was about to silently leave, she heard footsteps rushing down the stairs. Upon turning around, she watched one of Bane's men head over to his room before stopping at the door, and he knocked on the frame before he immediately started talking, Bane having already turned around to face him.

"Sir, one of the hostages has confirmed our suspicions," he spoke quickly. "He said-" the thug stopped short suddenly when his eyes fell on Jenna, and she quickly faced away from him and instead looked at Bane.

"Good," Bane replied as he stood from the chair now. "Now we can be rid of them quicker," he added with a somewhat relieved sounding sigh. Without a word, he stepped past Jenna and began out of the room, and upon turning around again, she watched him head toward the stairs before he ascended them, and disappeared behind the wall. Her stomach dropping due to being alone in his room, Jenna had to wonder why he hadn't even bothered to kick her out. He had just silently granted her permission to stay in there, without him.

But now was finally Jenna's chance to leave, and she couldn't help but to feel stupid for even going to him. She wanted to avoid him and avoid these feelings, but she couldn't understand why she always found herself going back to him. She let out a sigh as she stepped toward the door, absentmindedly glancing over to her left at the colorful stack of boxes next to Bane's bed, and she paused the moment something caught her eye. Turning her body slightly, she narrowed her eyes on the object, something appearing brown and fuzzy sticking out slightly from one of the light blue boxes, and suddenly Jenna wasn't sure what overcame her, or why it had.

Mad confusion caused her to lean over Bane's bed slightly for a better look, and upon staring at the object more through the dim lighting, unable to tell what it was, intense curiosity pushed her to round the bed and slowly approach the boxes. Something about a fuzzy object, in Bane's room, didn't make much sense to her, and Jenna knew unless she found out what it was, it would eat her alive with wonder.

Once she approached the stack of boxes, realizing they were more like types of drawers stacked on top of each other, she swallowed as she glanced over to Bane's door, knowing already this was not a good idea. But something inside of her was burning, and dying to at least just see what the object was. She listened for a moment, and satisfied when her ears picked up no sound, she bit her lip as she turned back to the box. She placed her left hand on the edge of it and gently pulled the box out, her eyes raising upward to make sure none of the other boxes would come tumbling to the ground before she glanced back down into the box. But as soon as she had, her heart skipped several beats, and her eyes widened as her jaw dropped further than ever upon learning what the object was.

There, sitting amongst the various, unopened syringe needs and other scattered objects, was a small, brown teddy bear. As soon as her heart began to pound and race, it skipped more beats as Jenna reached down to placed her hand on the soft fuzz of the bear, and she could not stop herself as she began to gently pull it out of the box.

Her mouth still agape and her eyes twice their normal size, Jenna turned away from the boxes as she held the bear out in front of her with both her hands now, her elbows bent. Bane has a teddy bear? She wondered, amazed, to herself as her eyes moved all over the bear, taking in the brown fuzz that covered it, the missing patches of hair, and the way its left black eye hung down slightly, attached still by only a lose, black thread. Bewilderment blockaded Jenna from any other thought and skewed her sense of reality as she stared at the teddy bear.

She knew it was severely aged, judging by the missing hair, the hanging eye, and the overall looseness of the attached limbs, but she couldn't ever think to a time where Bane would have had a teddy bear. Come to think of it, she had a hard time picturing him as a child in the first place. Bane was the last person on Earth, or the universe that she would have expected to be carrying around a teddy bear. Maybe it's not his, she thought.

Consumed entirely with the object she held in her hands, she hadn't even heard Bane approaching until it was too late. When she noticed something move in her upper peripheral vision, she gasped loudly as soon as she glanced up, her eyes focused on a statue-like Bane standing by his door, on the other side of the bed.

Her heart began to race and pound against her chest even more as she stumbled back, her mouth opening and closing as she searched for words. "I-I'm sorry!" She began. "I... I didn't... I..." Fuck! Fuck! FUCK! She panicked to herself over and over in her head.

But despite what she was holding, and despite her sorry attempts to explain herself, Bane stood there, motionless, as he kept his eyes glued onto hers, and Jenna had the most difficult time ever reading what expression was shown on the exposed areas of his face or feeling what emotion he was giving off. She pictured him to lash at out her, drag her over the bed by her hair and slam her face against the wall hundreds of times. She knew now that she had discovered something insanely personal to him, and now, more than ever, she wished she had just left his room. Fuck.

Bane's eyed dropped from hers onto the bear she held at her side suddenly, and he blinked slowly. "Where did you find that?" He asked, his tone shockingly calm, low, and collected. It was the last thing he would have ever expected to show Jenna, and the fact that she had found it was more than infuriating; he had been so sure he had placed the object somewhere safe. But oddly enough, despite the boiling anger inside, Bane found himself to be remaining rather calm, and instead of putting all the blame on Jenna immediately, he waited to hear her answer.

"It... was in this drawer, sticking out," she replied in a shaky tone of voice as she stepped to the side slightly to show Bane the exact box. "I'm sorry, I just... I thought-"

She was interrupted when Bane suddenly raised his hand to her, his silent way of telling her to stop talking. A part of him had figured Jenna had gone out of her way to search his room, but after everything that happened, and after what Jenna had told him, it appeared as though her curiosity had gotten the best of her, and still, Bane was through with feeling angry toward her.

"Perhaps I should have been more careful about where I stored him," Bane said now as he lowered his hand, and he began slowly around the bed, Jenna's body stiffening all the while, but she couldn't help but to furrow her eyebrows due to something Bane had said.

"H-him?" She repeated as she watched Bane approach her, and she took a small step back absentmindedly as he began to near, his eyes focused on the ground.

"Osito," he said once he had approached her, and he reached out for the bear, "is his name."

Jenna couldn't help but to jump, her body beginning to tremble, but she immediately handed Bane the bear with her shaking hand. It has a name? She wondered to herself while also feeling astounded that Bane wasn't trying to kill her already.

"Osito?" She repeated. "What's... what's-"

"It's Spanish for little bear," Bane answered, his voice still low, and Jenna kept her eyes on him as Bane stared down at the bear in his large hand. "I obtained him in the Pena Duro prison," he went on, not noticing how much more wide Jenna's eyes had become. Prison? She thought to herself. She had never heard of Bane doing any time in prison. When had this been, and why had he been carrying around a teddy bear? Suddenly, there were many questions building in Jenna's mind, but at the same time she felt super desperate to leave his room.

"I considered him to be my only friend," Bane went on, more so to himself, it seemed. Jenna felt dizzy as she remained staring at him, and for some reason, the silence seemed to only make the situation worse.

"What's Pena.. D- Dur– ...o prison?" She asked him now, her voice still shaking.

"It is a prison located on the corrupt South American island, the nation of Santa Prisca," Bane explained, Jenna's lips parting in wonder and fear. "It is a pit where men are thrown, and left to die."

Jenna's brow furrowed again, and she shook her head slightly. "When did you go there?"

"Years ago, when I was merely a child," Bane replied, deciding he would say nothing more about his past, whether Jenna had more questions or not. A heavy weight had descended onto her shoulders, and although she was left feeling anxious and terrified still, she felt confused and truly interested suddenly about this prison that Bane had gone to as a child. I was born in Hell on Earth... Bane had once told her. Now, Jenna understood what he meant.

"So you carried around... Osito?" Jenna wondered, wishing she could find the strength to just shut up. But Bane was still staring down at the bear, keeping his eyes off of Jenna, and she wasn't sure if she should be thankful for this or not.

"I did," Bane confirmed. "As I told you, in the eyes of a young child he was my only friend amongst the other prisoners." Jenna glanced back down to the bear when Bane suddenly turned him over, and Jenna couldn't help but to step a little closer and lean over when she watched Bane part a slit that had been cut in the bears back, and she watched with those same widened eyes as Bane pulled out a small knife, the blade still stained with traces of aged blood. "He was certainly convenient as a means of sporadic self-defense," he added, finally glancing up to Jenna as he held onto the small knife in his hand.

All the information that she had just gathered was overwhelming, and she could feel it suffocating her. "Why did you keep it? Or, him?" Jenna wondered, closing her eyes and shaking her head to herself due to her mistake.

"Memories," Bane replied as he replaced the knife back into the bear's back. "And as a reminder of what once was, and what will never be, again."

Jenna swallowed, and she backed up a little more when Bane stepped forward to place the bear back into the blue drawer, and he closed it before he leaned up to look down at her. "I suppose I should be angry with you due to your actions, but at the same time, I suppose I sort of understand the curiosity that must have struck you."

Jenna bowed her head, but despite Bane's words, she couldn't help but to have the feeling that he was still going to hurt her. "I'm sorry," she replied. "I saw it, and it was just-"

"The last thing you would have expected to see in here," Bane finished, slight amusement in his tone, and Jenna glanced up to him with a disoriented expression. "I understand," he replied. "But the next time you touch anything in here without my permission, I'll have your hand for it."

Jenna swallowed before she nodded. "I understand," she replied. "I-I'm sorry."

"Your apology is accepted. Now I suggest you go outside and smoke away your anxiety. There is nothing left to say or do about the issue."

The room was spinning faster than a roller-coaster by this point, and as Jenna started past him, she stumbled slightly, and she felt her body freeze over when she felt Bane place his hand in the area between her neck and chest to help catch her. Standing straight suddenly while still attempting to flee, she felt Bane's fingers slide off of her skin slowly before she finally had a straight shot out of his room and toward the stairs to freedom.

Jenna wasted no time with marching toward the exit door and throwing it open before she rushed toward the open garage, hoping Isaac would be around so Jenna could have a cigarette. A few other henchmen were standing about in the garage, but fortunately for Jenna, she found Isaac kneeling down in the front of a large, attached box on the bed of his truck.

"Isaac," she spoke up to him, grabbing his attention immediately. "Can I get a cigarette. Please?"

His eyes narrowing on her, he studied the look on her face for a moment before he finished with placing the same sniper rifle they had been using earlier in the box, and he after he closed the lid, he turned and jumped down from the truck. Glancing up at Jenna again and watching the way she was pacing and turning in a small circle, her widened aqua eyes focused on the ground, he reached into his coat pocket and pulled out his pack of cigarettes and a lighter, and after plucking two out, he replaced the pack and stepped closer to her. Once Jenna had turned again, he tapped her shoulder with the side of his hand, and his own eyes widened when Jenna jumped before looking up at him.

"You look like you've just seen a ghost, girl," he said, Jenna finally taking the cigarette and lighter from him, and he watched her hungrily light up before she held the lighter down at her side and continued on with her drag. Jenna didn't reply to this, and keeping his eyes focused on her as she exhaled, Isaac slowly leaned over and reached down to grab the lighter from her hand, Jenna jumping again when his hand brushed against hers. "What the hell happened?" He asked once he had the lighter and Jenna was staring at him.

"I..." Jenna immediately trailed off, and she shook her head as she glanced away. Was she allowed to tell him? Did Isaac already know? Jenna had learned that Osito was something very personal to Bane, and she had the feeling that it was something he wouldn't even tell his right hand man about. But now she had made such a scene in front of Isaac, and her body was still trembling, leaving her desperate for Isaac's advice and reassurance. If he knew about the bear and Bane's feelings toward it, perhaps he'd be able to predict what Bane would do next, regardless of how calmly he had handled the situation.

Isaac had since then lit up his own cigarette, and as he exhaled, he narrowed his eyes on Jenna. "What is your problem? You're shaking," he pointed out, though he was beginning to figure Jenna had done something to provoke Bane, and suddenly Isaac groaned. "Oh no, what did you do to piss him off now?"

Jenna immediately looked up to him, and the way her eyes widened even more only confirmed what Isaac had guessed. Jenna opened her mouth to talk, but no words came out, and instead she shook her head. Isaac, now truly intrigued, stepped closer to her.

"Tell me," he prompted.

"I can't," Jenna said in a quieter voice, and Isaac watched her glance at the men around the garage before he turned to look at them too.

"Why not?" He whispered back, humoring her with a grin, but when Jenna looked over to him with that fearful look in her eye, his grin faded.

"Because... it's private. He's probably watching us now..." she added as she glanced up to look around the garage, searching for cameras. Isaac rolled his eyes at this as he took another drag.

"Considering your paranoia, Jenna," Isaac began, "if whatever you did was really that bad, you wouldn't be up here talking to me right now. What happened?" He asked in a more stern voice.

Don't tell him, don't tell him, Jenna was telling herself, but the urge to tell him was becoming stronger. Jenna glanced around the garage, eying the thugs, and after Isaac watched her do this again, he rolled his eyes with a sigh before he titled his head back.

"Alright, everyone inside!" He called, causing Jenna to jump as she immediately looked back over to him. Isaac was looking around again, watching the thugs slowly retreat inside. "C'mon, inside!" He called. "This is an order."

"You're allowed to do that?" Jenna asked him.

"They don't call me second in command in for nothin'," Isaac replied. "See, now they're gone. Tell me what happened."

"Isaac, I can't," Jenna said, frowning deeper as she took another drag.

"Why?" He asked.

"It's personal, I'm scared he's watching us talk... He'll know that I'm telling you and then he'll finally hurt me."

"Finally?" Isaac repeated. "Jenna my God, look, I swear to you he's not gonna hurt you, whatever it is you did. What have I told you? Bane's a man of quick action. If he wanted to hurt you over... this... he would have by now."

"Maybe," Jenna replied, suddenly remembering a time when Isaac had told her that, and all the times it proved to be true. But still, there was the possibility that Isaac didn't know about Bane's bear. Perhaps she was overacting by this point, but she was torn between wanting to tell Isaac, and wanting to stay quiet about it. But she knew now she had created too much hype over the subject. "But I think it's something he wouldn't want me to talk about."

Isaac paused for a moment. "Did you talk to him about something?" When Jenna shook her head, he went on. "Did you say something wrong? Break something? Find something?" Jenna's face had been blank as she listened to him, but when Isaac asked her about finding something, he had seen the way her lips parted before she looked away, only to force herself to quickly look back to him. "What did you find?" He asked her, blinking slowly before he took another drag.

Jenna let out a huge sigh before she took another drag from her cigarette. "It's personal, Isaac. I really think it's something I shouldn't tell you. Please, just drop it."

"Jenna there is very few things that I don't know about Bane," he assured. "And I highly doubt he would tell you of these things, over me, or at least before me."

Jenna was still frowning as she exhaled finally. "What if it's one of those things?"

After a moment, Isaac finally shrugged. "Alright then, keep it to yourself." He took another drag from his cigarette, and he turned away from her and started toward the opened garage door, and he stopped just in front of it, exhaling slowly. Three...two...one–-

"Okay, wait," Jenna said, right on cue, and Isaac grinned as he listened to her approach. But once she was behind him, Isaac wiped the grin from his face and turned around. "If I tell you, you gotta swear not to say anything. And for the love of God, Isaac, please don't tell Bane. Like you can't, at all! Promise? Promise?"

Isaac couldn't help but to laugh. "Alright, I promise. What did you find?"

"Well I found... It was... a–" Jenna stopped short, still positive that it was something she shouldn't be telling him, but now it was too late. And she still really did want to tell him, just so she wouldn't have to be alone in this. But if Isaac didn't know, and by this point Jenna was sure that he didn't, she would only be dragging Isaac into danger with her again. And after all she had done to avoid it, she wasn't prepared to do it again. "Never mind," she said.

"Jenna," Isaac grumbled, tossing his cigarette away. "Just tell me. Secret's safe with me, I promise. Unless it's something that I must report back to him."

Jenna glared at him. "Sometimes I wish you weren't so loyal," she said, and Isaac let out a small, breathless laugh. "Alright... did you know that... Bane has a... a– teddy bear...?" Jenna took in a deep breath as she closed her eyes, hating how Isaac was immediately silent. When she opened her eyes, she saw he was just staring at her with his eyes narrowed more than usual, deep in thought.

Teddy bear? He thought to himself, slightly thrown off, but suddenly a conversation him and Bane had had years ago re-entered his mind, and he snapped out of his thoughts as he focused his eyes back on Jenna. "Oh, you mean Osito?"

Jenna's eyes widened as her jaw dropped slightly. "You know about him?" She asked, astonished, and Isaac chuckled.

"Of course," he replied. "I didn't know he was a teddy bear though. All I knew was that he was just some toy he had in Pena Duro. He carried his knife with him that way."

Jenna was shaking her head, and Isaac watched her turn away from him as she took another hit from her cigarette.

"See? That wasn't so bad," he assured. "I already knew about it."

"But you didn't know specifically what it was!"

"Now I do," Isaac said. "Jenna there are more important secrets to be kept. The world will go on. Look at you, remember the time you scratched my truck, and you were terrified of what I'd do? Look at the way you're acting now. But when true tragedy happens you barely shake."

"Save it, Isaac, I've already gotten this lecture from Bane before."

"Well it's true," Isaac replied with a laugh. "C'mon, it's not an issue. So you found it – you probably went out of your way to go get it, but that's not the point," he quickly went on when Jenna turned to glare at him again. "Bane found out, and he didn't hurt you. He's not going to hurt you, and he most certainly is not going to come after me. You may have gotten off lucky this time, but stop shaking, and learn from your mistake. Okay? Perhaps you should consider this your birthday present," he added with a smirk.

Jenna rolled her eyes with thinned lips before she lifted her left hand, threatening to hit him, but she lowered it immediately when she realized it was do no good. Besides, Isaac was only trying to have fun with her. "Okay," Jenna mumbled finally, verbally ignoring his birthday comment. "But don't tell him I told you."

"I wouldn't bother him with such an issue," Isaac assured with a grin.

–

The rest of the day passed rather quickly for Jenna, as the days usually did now. As she lay in her cot, thinking through the past couple of days, she found it to be amazing how rather quickly things had seemed to get on a better track. Thus far in her life, this holiday had proven to be the most eventful for her, even if some of the events were life threatening. And in retrospect, this birthday for her had been the most easy going, despite Isaac's jokes. But for this, she was grateful. For the first time in her life, she could grow a year older in complete peace.

But now, she realized, it seemed as though everything bad that had happened in the past were on the path of being corrected, if they had not been already. Granted she had to undergo some sort of therapy with her hand, she had finally obtained a lighter cast, and as a whole, her arm was on a better path to healing. Since her seclusion and close-minded attitude, Jenna found herself feeling a little more like her old herself, even if she was acting this way and sharing it with Bane. But her seclusion was something he rarely brought up, and it seemed as though it was something he wouldn't put her through again.

After her night with Isaac, the possible future outcomes had looked terrible, but Jenna could have never imagined it would turn out the way it had. Bane had forgiven her and Isaac, and it seemed as though he was tired of being angry at not only Isaac, but also Jenna, for everything she had done before.

Granted she had almost screwed up earlier that day with finding Osito, Bane had handled the situation rather calmly, and had even gone as far to explain about the bear to Jenna. Isaac's reassurance, even though Jenna never accepted it when it was happening, proved to help her calm down again, and after returning inside, she found that she could finally breathe. But still, the fact that Bane had such an item was incredible to her, even if he had when he was a child.

She pictured him in this prison –in this pit– as a young boy, dragging the bear around by the ear as he ventured around, amongst the other prisoners. She could not picture his face, his height, his clothes or the type of body underneath, but she could picture a fresh-looking Osito being dragged against the ground, and Bane's gray eyes. She went on to picture this same boy taking out the knife from his bear and threatening a prisoner with it. She had seen the blood stains on the steel, but had Bane ever actually killed somebody with it? Jenna wanted to know, but she knew she would not obtain an answer. If it was something Bane didn't want to talk about, then she knew Isaac most certainly would keep his lips sealed about the topic.

But the fact that Bane still had the bear, after all these years, and had made sure to take it with him everywhere he stayed, all over the world, it seemed, was something incredible. Bane was the last person she would have ever expected to have kept such an item. Jenna had been nervous before, but now, now that she could breathe, her heart beat had calmed, and she was safe within her room and in her mind, she found the idea to be almost warming. She couldn't help but to feel as though finding the bear had proven something to her. She felt as though the softer side of Bane she had only ever witnessed a few times was solidified due to the bear, and more of a real thing that existed within him. It was stupid, Jenna knew, and probably untrue, but why else would Bane keep such a thing? It held sentimental value to him, regardless of what the object was.

Now, as the time turned to nine o' clock PM, after coming back inside from smoking a final cigarette with Isaac, Jenna brushed her teeth in the bathroom before she ventured downstairs to change. Bane's shirt was still laying on the floor where she had left it that morning, and Jenna bit down on her bottom lip as she stared at it, heavily considering putting it on again. She had other shirts she could wear to bed, but suddenly she could not shake the desire of wearing his shirt to bed. But why? Because today had been a rather good day? Because she had discovered new insight to Bane?

Because it's comfortable, she convinced herself, and with that thought, she undressed herself and put on his shirt.

Turning off the light and kicking her boots to the side, Jenna pulled back the blanket on the cot, and she laid down on it, shivering as she pulled the blanket up with her left hand. She moved to lay on her left side, but she paused, wondering if she could finally sleep on her right. She began to turn, accidentally twisting her arm as she did so, and she stopped, hissing in pain before she cautiously continued with her turn. Once she was on her side, she stared frustratedly into the dark as she wondered what to do with her arm. Laying on it was out of the question, and keeping it uncomfortably stretched outright and dangling off of her cot was out of the question as well. Defeated, Jenna rolled onto her left side again.

It took her a while, but Jenna had finally managed to fall into a shallow sleep. Her slumber did not last long, however, before Jenna opened her eyes to stare ahead into the darkness again. She let out a yawn, feeling as exhausted as ever, and her left side becoming sore, she began to turn onto her back, only to growl quietly in pain when that same, splitting pain ruptured through her hips, up her spine, and stung her neck and shoulders. Rather than dealing with the pain and staying on her back, Jenna sat up on the cot, the cold temperature of the room causing goosebumps to immediately cover her arms, and she allowed herself to shiver at she sat there in the dark. She couldn't keep doing this any longer. If Bane wasn't going to be the death of her, than surely this cot would.

She could feel her shoulders throbbing, even as she sat there, and she felt as though this was the final straw. For weeks now she had been unable to sleep soundly in her cot. In the beginning, she figured the only reason she had slept somewhat well was because she was just thankful for the cot in the first place. But now, she felt as though she was too big and heavy for the cot, and she had absolutely no room and no warmth when laying in it. Every other night she had merely laid back down and forced herself back to sleep, but now she couldn't escape dreading, even more so, how sore she would be in the morning, and the days to come. She knew this situation was becoming worse.

But what did it matter? She knew she was stuck in there. There was absolutely no way she could even consider sleeping in Isaac's bed. Last time she had, that had ended in near tragedy. Granted it would be different this time, she knew Bane would not accept this, Isaac would say no anyway, and she couldn't even bring herself to picture asking him in the first place. Her only option left was... Bane.

No, no, no, no, NO. She told herself. Don't you dare ask him. It seemed easy enough to avoid. Surely, dealing with her cot was much better than sleeping in Bane's room... next to him... if he even said yes in the first place. He won't even say yes, Jenna decided.

But, what if he does? She wondered when another stinging pain shot up her spine. He won't... But... what if he did? I could sleep for once... It's not worth it, she went on to think. How could she ever go on to do that anyway? It was uncalled for, it was disgusting, it was wrong, it was... almost desirable...

Any bed would do her justice by this point, even if it was Bane's bed. Besides, what if the day was coming where Bane would make her start doing things for him again, like running errands and such? If Jenna's back and neck pain grew worse, she'd be unable to preform these duties to Bane's expectations, and that would lead her to get in trouble or hurt again. What if this problem progressed to the point of her constantly being tired and cranky towards everyone, a feat that was easy for her to achieve, and even toward Bane? That would lead her into more trouble, for sure.

Stop. You're just trying to convince yourself to go ask...

Jenna remained still as she stared into the pitch black darkness. All these thoughts and feelings were leaving her more exhausted than she had been upon waking up, and suddenly, unfortunately, she could not escape the desire to at least try.

He's been better lately... we've been better lately... things are looking better... maybe it's worth a shot... just so I can sleep... just this one night...

Her mind was still screaming no, but her body was already pushing the blanket off of herself before she stood from the cot. Simultaneously, she felt a force pushing her back, willing her to stay in the room, but an even stronger force was pushing her on to the door and outside of it.

The basement seemed darker than the blackest cave, and Jenna wouldn't have been able to see an inch in front of her if it wasn't for that dim, orange and flickering light escaping out from underneath Bane's closed door that was leading her to it. She approached it, his door growing nearer and nearer, and once she had reached it, she stopped short, her heart beginning to race. But she had somehow managed to convince herself to do it, and now she had come too far to turn back. Bane could either say no, and Jenna would retreat back to her room, feeling embarrassed, but able to avoid any of these other disgusting feelings that were coming back to her. Or, Bane could say yes, and the outcomes would be both great and terrible. She would get to be comfortable and warm, and hopefully achieve a deeper sleep than she had in weeks, but on the other hand, she would amongst Bane, in his room, with him probably right next to her. She'd have to fall asleep thinking about him directly, and feel that fluttering in her stomach and those tingling shocks all night long...

But, in this case, it seemed as though these feelings were better than feelings of physical pain, and she couldn't even imagine how she would feel after obtaining a better nights sleep. It's worth a try... she reminded herself, and with a deep breath, she finally left three, very small knocks on his door, a part of her hoping he would not answer, while another part of her dreaded that she had woken him up, even with that candle lit.

But when she heard his chair rolling against the floor, and him standing up before more than likely stepping to the door –she knew his boots were not on– the door opened, revealing a seemingly taller-than-usual, shirtless Bane.

"Jenna?" He asked, his eyebrows furrowing as he looked down at her, noticing immediately that she was wearing his shirt, which she kept held down in front of her with both her hands, her arms stretched out and flattened. "It's nearly one in the morning. What do you need?"

His voice was quiet, and most importantly, calm, and this helped Jenna to calm down some. She hadn't realized how late it was, however, and she swallowed before she finally looked directly into his eyes.

"I'm sorry for bothering you... I just... I couldn't sleep."

Bane stayed silent for a moment as he continued to stare down at her. "Okay..." he finally replied slowly. "And... what do you want me to do about that?"

"I-I was wondering..." Jenna trailed off, her eyes wandering onto the floor as she felt herself backing down, but she had already started her question, and she had a feeling Bane was already anticipating what was coming as he continued to seemingly glare down at her. She took a deep breath before she finally forced her eyes back to his, trying to hold onto her courage. "...can I sleep in here? J-just for tonight," she added quickly, not only for Bane's reassurance, but for hers as well.

Bane's eyes had widened slightly, but he did not give her an answer right away. Truthfully, he wasn't sure how to answer. There had once been a time when he was so content kicking her out of his room when he wasn't there, or just whenever he felt like it, but he had never actually pictured Jenna sleeping in his room, in his bed, with him. A part of him was demanding for him to turn her down. Just because he was over the anger and ready to get on a better track with her did not mean he had to allow this. But on the other hand, Bane could see how terribly nervous she appeared to be, and he could only imagine the amount of courage she had to build up prior to knocking on his door. That was admirable.

You are just trying to convince yourself to say yes, he thought to himself. Maybe he was, maybe he wasn't, but either way, the desire to say no seemed to be receding the longer the seconds ticked on. What harm would it do? He wondered.

"Why?" He asked, his way of purposely prolonging his time to think about it.

"My back, and neck and hips," Jenna began to explain. "They hurt, and the pain's been getting worse. It's the... cot," she added honestly. "But it's not that I'm not thankful for it, it's just–"

Bane couldn't help but to chuckle. "I understand, Jenna, for your sake." He understood? Did that mean his answer was yes? It's just for one night. Consider it a favor for her.

Another one? Bane wondered. He had already done her a favor, many, actually, and considering her reactions yesterday and her actions in his room earlier that day, why should he allow this? But as he focused his sights back onto Jenna, and watched her shiver as she struggled to keep her shirt –his shirt– pulled down to cover her legs as much as she could, suddenly he didn't want to deny her of this.

Regardless of his reasons, or what would come of it, he silently stepped back, opening the door more as he did so, and he glanced away as soon as Jenna lifted her eyes up to see what he had done. Her heart skipped a beat as her breath hitched in her throat, and she shuddered upon realizing that he was actually saying yes. Whether she had been anticipating this answer or not, suddenly Jenna felt as though she couldn't move upon being welcome to actually sleep in his room.

But before too much time could pass, Jenna forced herself to take a large step into his room, and as soon as she was inside, her anxiety increased by one-hundred percent upon turning around to watch Bane close the door. As he started toward his desk again, Jenna quickly turned around, and after eying the various papers on the desk among a few other items, one of them being a large, black handgun, she swallowed before turning around just as Bane had approached the chair.

"Um... what side?" She asked him, standing at the foot of the bed behind the chair. Bane looked up to her before he sat down and nodded toward the the side of the bed closest to the colorful boxes, and Jenna nodded before she stepped over toward the boxes, being reminded instantly of what was sitting inside of the light blue box in the middle.

His white blanket and sheets were pulled all the way up on the bed, and laid flat against the mattress and underneath the two white pillows that sat side by side on the top. Biting her lip, Jenna gently lifted up the pillow she assumed was okay to claim as hers for the night as she drew back the blankets, exposing a black sheet underneath. Once the blankets had been drawn back, an action she had prolonged longer than necessary, she swallowed before finally turning to sit down on the bed, and she swung her legs onto the top it before she moved them under the cool blankets. Still shivering, she scooted down slightly, and she could feel her heart pounding against her chest with mighty vigor as she laid her head on the rather fluffy pillow while pulling the blankets up.

From where he sat at his desk, Bane had been listening to her, and picturing her actions in his mind. He could picture her face clearly, frightened, her eyes probably darting to him every now and again, but he could not imagine what was going on in her head for the life of him. Although she had probably not meant to do so loudly, Bane had heard the faint sigh she let out as she finally stopped moving, and finally he tore his eyes away from the wall in front of him to glance back down to the plans he had been writing out.

Laying on her left side, Jenna closed her eyes, but they immediately popped back open as more and more realization flooded over her. She stared ahead at the wall on the other side of the bed, watching the light flicker against it, and she couldn't remember his mattress being so stiff all the times she had laid in his bed before. It had seemed so different then...

But it was a bed, and anything was more comfortable than that cot by this point. Bending her legs at the knees and curling into a ball from underneath the warming blankets, she finally closed her eyes, reminding herself of the reasons she had done this in the first place. The longer she laid there, the heavier she could feel her eyes becoming as sleep began to come to her, but in the back of her mind, she couldn't avoid dreading when Bane would actually be joining her.

Swallowing, Jenna opened her eyes. Don't worry about it, she told herself. Just sleep. But still, as if just realizing the kindness Bane had done for her, she continued staring at the wall as she parted her lips to speak.

"Thank you," she said to him in a small, gentle voice, and for the first time, it felt as though this particular thank you was sincere. Bane stayed silent, but finally, when Jenna closed her eyes again, she felt her body relax, and within minutes, she was asleep.

I never say thank you enough to all of you, my wonderful readers, for all of the support and reviews. I know I always ask you to review, but please know that I appreciate all of the reviews, favorites and alerts. Without them, this story would be nothing.

So now I'd like to let you all in on something that I wrote the other night and posted on my other Tumblr blog where I post other short stories and drabbles. I wrote a dream-sequence (inspired by the song 'We Don't Care' by Demon Hunter) involving Jenna, Isaac and Bane that takes place a day or two after Bane discovered what Jenna and Isaac had done to betray him. An alternate course of events has happened instead of what the story portrayed: Bane has not forgiven them, tragedy has occurred, and again this is a dream Jenna is having about the situation. So please give it a read and find a way to tell me what you think! If you want as well, follow me on that Tumblr page! A complete list of all my sites are on my profile.

The link for this is on my profile for my secondary CTAVR Tumblr page. Once you're there, click on the title "Feels Like We've Run Out of Air" at the top, under my name, and you're set!

Also, you should join my Facebook group dedicated to Bane (and Barsad), Mercenary of the Shadows. The link is on my profile, just follow the directions listed next to it.

AND Jenna and Joey have tumblr accounts! Go follow them and bother them with conversations and questions and stuff! THEY are the ones who will answer you. Links can be found on my profile! Go have some fun!

I hope you enjoyed this latest installment, please leave me your thoughts!

Till the next chapter, readers!