It didn't occur to me just how tired I actually was until I climbed the stairs to Connor's flat and flopped down onto his sofa.

I felt out of my depth. It was all taking a bit of getting used to and I wasn't adjusting as quick as I wanted.

Peeing on a toilet felt strange.

Taking off clothes at any point for any reason felt wrong. Like it either needed to be done quickly or not at all to avoid being naked. Because naked still felt vulnerable. It was the same reason I couldn't relax in the shower.

It had been almost a month since I'd got back. Still couldn't sleep. I kept waking up, sitting up to check my surroundings, waking Nick up as every night I wrenched myself out his arms. And I wouldn't have felt so bad about it if it wasn't the only way I could actually fall asleep. Because without him so close every time I shut my eyes it was impossible to tell that I wasn't still out there.

Rex swooped down from the rafters and landed on my lap. I reached down to pat him on the back of the head. 'Hey buddy,' I said. 'Do you think? Gonna get used to being back here?'

He chirped and I made the decision that it was the right answer.

I sighed. 'Right… right. Anyone understands this adjustment… it's you?'

The door slammed shut and startled Rex. He took off and swooped back up to rest on a roofbeam. 'Anna?'

'Up here.'

I heard his footsteps on the stairs and I looked back over the top of the sofa arm to see his little upside-down head pop up at the top of the staircase. 'Um…' he glanced nervously back over his shoulder and a moment later another head came up beside him. 'This is Caroline.'

'Oh.' I quickly swung my legs down off the sofa and sat upright. 'Hi.'

'Erm, I've… err invited Caroline around to watch this DVD with us. You don't mind, do you?'

And the look in his eye suggested he was more nervous to ask me that than he had been to invite her round.

The tradition, I assumed. The five of us.

It had been a pretty big deal when I started dating; Tom and Duncan took Thursday nights seriously. We'd had to take a vote. Will had only been allowed in if he promised not to talk over any of the important bits and contributed to the snacks.

I smiled; of course I didn't, but before I could say anything Caroline herself started talking. 'Only, Connor and I were having such a good time. He's really funny, isn't he?'

I felt my brows furrowing like instinctively my body knew much quicker than my mind: she was telling a lie. For his sake I didn't want to believe it. 'Yeah,' I nodded.

'So, are you two a couple then?' she asked.

It took me a second to respond. 'Huh?' I replied, 'oh God no–' I quickly cut myself off as I winced. That didn't come out right. I was still finding the whole need for language thing quite complicated. I wasn't quite back to eloquence yet. I held up my hands. 'Cousins,' I explained. I turned to hide my own grimace and quickly tried to escape to the kitchen.

Connor lunged forward and followed after me. 'Hey,' he complained under his breath, 'you don't have to make it sound quite so unlikely.'

'Didn't mean to,' I insisted quietly. 'Who is she?'

'Don't know, she picked me up at the video shop,' he replied.

I chewed on the inside of my cheek. 'Picked you up?' I repeated.

'Yeah…' he said, 'a lot of women find me attractive.'

'Obviously,' I said. Then glancing back at Caroline over my shoulder, I studied her expression as she glanced somewhat warily around the room. There was something in it that didn't sit right with me. Reservations aside, I brought my attention back to Connor.

'I think she really likes me,' he said in a whisper. 'Try not to–'

'fuck it up for you?' I completed. 'Course.'

It was at that moment that both our phones went off. We simultaneously pulled them out of our pockets. Looked like it wasn't going to be me who fucked it up for him this time. 'Oh god,' he groaned, 'why'd it have to be now?'

I winced again and passed a sympathetic glance in his direction.

'Caroline!' he spun around and quickly hopped back over to her, 'I'm so sorry but something's just come up–'

'Work,' I offered.

'Work, yes,' Connor added to his statement. And I hoped it seemed believable to her because Connor's tone hadn't been all that casual.

'You guys work together?'

'Umhum,' Connor hummed in reply.

'That's sweet,' she said with a smile.

'I'm gonna have to go,' Connor sighed.

'Shame.' She cocked her head. 'Do you have a pen?'

'A pen? Yep. We have pens.'

God was it painful to watch him flailing. Scratching an ear, I pointed with the other hand to the desk but Connor was too distracted by Caroline to move from the spot to search for one. 'Desk,' I said.

My voice brought him to. He finally stumbled to the desk to grab one before he brought it back to her. She took it from him, pushed up his sleeve, and scribbled something down onto his palm.

'That's my number,' she said, 'call me.'

When Nick rang again I was already in the car so I put him on speaker so that I didn't have to pull over. He called my name as soon as the line connected.

'Here,' I replied.

'There's an office building, south London, I'm sending you the co-ordinators now. Stephen and I are here already. Chatter said there was a possible creature sighting. The fireman outside said it was a chemical leak but we're actually inside the building and it's more like a smoke or a fog.'

My phone bleeped as the text came through, and Connor went to check the co-ordinates. 'Any attacks?' I asked, leaning slightly in towards the receiver just to ensure Nick could hear me over the sound of the car engine.

'Not that we know of.'

'Do you need to grab a medical kit?' Connor asked.

I shook my head. 'Got one in the boot.'

'Anna, listen, I need your help with something. We think there's a creature in the fog but we can't get close enough to make an identification. Do you have any ideas?'

I had several. Most of them attached to at least a couple of bad memories. 'The fog,' I returned, 'it smells?'

'Like shit!' I heard Stephen yell from somewhere on the other end.

'Sounds Precambrian,' I replied. 'Could have some sort of soft-bodied Annelida or Mollusca gastropoda. The fog is their atmosphere, anything inside will find our air as toxic to them as the fog is to us. Needs the fog to breathe. Clear the fog, clear the building,' I explained simply.

'Right,' Nick responded, 'right, okay, have you got anything in that boot of yours that could clear fog by any chance?'

Focusing instead on the road as I took a turning to head downtown towards the building, I left the silence as the response.

'We could stop by the A.R.C,' Connor suggested, 'it's on the way. See if there's anything in the arsenal.'

'Aye, right, okay,' Nick agreed. 'Can you be quick about it?'

There was a noise that echoed from the other end of the phone line, which immediately made me and Connor glance at one another. 'What the hell was that?' Connor demanded apprehensively.

'There's people trapped up here,' Nick replied. 'We're gonna go in and get them. I've got to go.'

'Careful.'

'Aye,' he returned, 'see you soon.'

We'd been through all of it. Every weapon, every piece of equipment the A.R.C had stored up in the arsenal, and still we were emptyhanded. I leant against the nearest shelf, rubbing a hand across my forehead in frustration.

'None of this stuff is any use!' Connor complained.

'This is the latest in hi-tech weaponry. There's equipment here that'd make James Bond cry with envy,' Leek replied.

'And I understand that but we need something that's going to clear fog.'

He just shoved his hands into his pockets and shrugged. 'Well,' he responded, 'find something that'll clear fog then.'

Connor groaned, balling his hands into fists in frustration and punching the shelf nearest to him. His ring chimed as it hit the metal and a switch was flicked in my head- a light bulb moment- and I immediately straightened and groaned at myself for not realising it sooner.

'Garden centre.'

Fully aware that time was of the essence, I followed Connor's example and jogged behind him down the hallways towards the exit. I wasn't paying attention. Connor stopped and I had no warning. I couldn't stop myself in time. 'Hang–' Connor's words died in his throat as I crashed into the back of him and both went down, hitting the floor with a thud.

'Ow!'

'Connor…' I complained. Though luckily for me I'd had a softer landing. I braced a hand against his back and pushed myself off him.

'Did you see scars on that guys neck?' he said.

Looking back down the corridor– because I'd barely even registered anyone else there– I shook my head. 'No. Was looking where I was going.' I offered him a hand and helped him back up onto his feet.

'it's just… I swear that was the guy from the shopping mall…'

'What?'

'The cleaner,' he said.

I cocked my head. 'That guy's dead, Connor,' I said, 'no way he survived without medical attention.'

'Then what happened to the body?'

My eyes narrowed. What?

'Me and Cutter went back when you were… well after I'd shot you. The body was gone. It vanished. Cutter said he must have got himself out.'

No one had told me that. 'Not possible.' I shook my head.

'I'm telling you, that's him.'

'Must be some other explanation,' I replied, 'because the cleaner…' I trailed off. In my experience people just didn't come back from wounds like that. And if they did by some miracle survive they wouldn't be healed perfectly a few weeks later.

'Unless it was his scarred evil twin, I'm telling you- I swear it was him,' Connor contemplated.

I sighed. As much as I would have like to spend time tackling the theoretical physics behind the issue, there just wasn't time. '…later, yeah? Don't have time to follow him... so let's go and deal with it later.'

Connor nodded reluctantly. 'Yeah. Yeah, you're right. Go on, you lead the way.' And he gestured for me to go ahead of him down the hallway. 'I'm not having you falling on me again; you're all elbows!'