Something shattered - a coffee cup on the kitchen floor. But no one moved.

Jack's gaze, blank with shock, was frozen on her tear-streaked face as she tightened her arms around herself, hiding.

His eyes trailed over her, seeing...

He understood how he had seen what he wanted to see when she walked past him on campus for the first time, accepting with absolute certainty that she was Ira. But since then –

How long?

The differences, before merely intriguing, were stark now.

How long have I known?

The bright oceans of her eyes had washed away the cold, icy grey from his dreams, his nightmares.

The same strong cheekbones and jawline… but softer. His lips knew her face.

The way she held herself was sure and confident, not defensive and mistrusting. The way she launched herself in front of a crowd, losing herself to the movements of her body - the way she had been with him.

But she was also a young woman who had lost a part of herself, her rock. Her mother.

And realizing…he had lost her again, too.

But he felt something, something he couldn't place as his chest eased and loosened, as he suddenly shot a mental thanks to the heavens, God, Jesus, and every other celestial being that the young woman standing in front of him had no memory of the pain, the sorrow, and the abuse Ira had endured.

Her words repeated in his mind, falling over him like the rain over the city outside.

She wasn't Ira.

Who ya thinkin' 'bout?

He felt conflicted between wanting to reach for her, and mourning Ira -

Right now?

But a new pain appeared in her eyes…one he couldn't erase.

His hands stayed clenched at his sides, the ache in his shoulder like a tether to reality.

He suddenly felt painfully…old.

But he couldn't, wouldn't, leave.

All he could do was stare at her as the world shifted and changed, his old life crumbling away beneath him like an invisible foundation, one he never could've built on. As it slipped through his hands he realized…he hadn't been holding on to it very tightly.

He released the breath he'd been holding and recognized what he was feeling as he looked at her.

Relief.


And all she could do was stare back.

Her chest felt tight, and a headache was beginning in the back of her head from crying…she'd never cried so much in her life, except for -

As he looked at her, she felt even more overwhelmed – his figure so dark and strong, his arms tense and bare… bruised and beaten from last night, like his face. But his eyes smoldered like coals, barely glinting.

Echoes of voices and shouts erupted through the splitting, building headache. They had hurt him. But he was here, alive.

And he sees her.

From a different time.

He's always seen her.

Every time he's looked at me –

He saw her.

The one he lost.

The one he loved.

She wrapped her arms around herself, to hide her shame.

He's only been here because he thought I was her.

My mother.

She shook her head, wanting to hide from their gazes - everyone watching her.

She felt exposed.

All those memories, his face, their moments shared…his hands and mouth all over her.

She felt lightheaded.

She turned to the window and placed her palm on her forehead. It felt like it was splitting open.

"...that's what you saw?"

David's voice broke through her thoughts, soft and gentle.

Honey hesitated, "...I saw Ira, but it - it wasn't Tiff. It was her mother, Vivian."

Tiffany inhaled sharply at the name and turned to the room, seeing Medda beside Honey, her sharp blue eyes on her. That red hair –

All those stories…

Tiffany held her head, squeezing her eyes shut. "Everything she told me – it was true. And you –"

She forced herself to meet Jack's dark eyes again; he was barely breathing and his handsome face was pale. Her body ached from the horrible realization.

"Jack Kelly," she breathed, tasting his name.

His face hardened.

Her eyes blurred.

"Please, sit darling," Medda said gently, approaching her slowly.

Tiffany backed away instinctively, closer to the window. Medda stopped.

"How did you know?" Mush asked gently. "How did you know about -"

"Us?" Racetrack finished.

Mush, Spot, Racetrack, Snoddy, Specs, Bumlets, Boots...suddenly so quiet, suddenly so...tired.

She tried to slow her breathing as she thought back, back...remembering.

Her mother, hooked up to machines as her strong body shut down from the inside, withering away at an alarming and steady pace. The living room in their house on the rocky California coast, once accustomed to movie nights, parties, and laughter, transformed into a hospital and hospice facility…

A week before she died, she had taken her hand, her fingers so weak and cold, and told her a story.

A story she had lived in another life.

I was a different woman then, in 1900...

She shook her head, trying to piece it together. "W-we…I thought it was the cancer, inventing people and memories… the doctors said it wasn't uncommon. But I –"

She looked back to the kitchen, seeing all of them, hearing her mother's voice.

The newsies…they helped me. Or tried to at least.

She took a steadying breath, licking her lips. "None of it made sense…'newsies', strange phrases - 'see spot run…kid and the cat…bet the racetracks'..."

A shiver moved through the guys. Kat covered her mouth.

She shook her head, wincing as she remembered what her mother said. "She said, 'Medda, my friend, had hair as red as the curtains in her theatre'…"

Medda braced herself on the back of the couch.

And she remembered what her mother said about Jack…but she couldn't bring herself to say it aloud.

Jack…my poor Jack. I told him I'd drive him mad, but he didn't listen...Jack Kelly didn't listen to anyone. But neither did I.

She felt so stupid.

She gasped, looking up at all of them, "How did I not see it before?"

"This isn't your fault," Honey said as she crossed the room to her, wiping the back of her hand over her cheeks. "You've had so much pressure on you –"

"Bullshit." Tiffany pulled away from her friend. "You knew."

Honey held up her hands, pleading, reasoning. "No, not until I saw –"

"You knew who they were -" Tiffany pressed, a sob building in her voice. "- who they had been."

"How could I tell you?" Honey asked heatedly. "How could I tell you about any of them, about any of this? How could I distract you like that before the showcase? You never told me what Vivian said to you before she died, and I never asked, I couldn't - you were so upset –"

Tiffany turned on Jack, suddenly feeling her shame succumb to something more dangerous: rage.

"He's one of you, isn't he?" she asked. "Cage – he knew her too?"

"He saved you," Spot said carefully.

She turned on Spot, remembering from her feverish dreams… Cage's tearful eyes, his heart breaking. She rubbed her arm, where two needles had pierced her skin, and her eyes flicked to Kat.

The guys turned quickly on Spot - she saw Jack's eyes cut across the room to him.

Spot waved them off impatiently, swallowing tightly, "I'll - I'll tell ya bums later...Jus'..."

Spot met her eyes again, the same piercing look he'd given her in the rearview mirror in his Townie all those weeks ago. "He knows - he's awake - like us... an' he risked his life ta save us las' night."

Her anger cooled.

She touched her head again. A fucking migraine. She felt her body sway but batted Honey's hand away.

"...and Phillip?", she said angrily, remembering.

Jack bristled, the emotions rolling off him like smoke.

Tiffany looked at him, determined to drag it out of him. "...he thinks I'm her too."

He swallowed, his dark eyes glinting on her face. Different than before.

She laughed once, hard and without humor. She turned back to seek out Medda's face. "He said, 'I should do you and sell you, just like last time'."

Medda's eyes turned steely, "She – Ira - ruined him."

"If he had known who you really are," Honey said, shaking her head, "There's no telling what he would've done, for revenge."

She shook her head, her lips smiling sadly at the cruel irony. "There's nothing he could've done to me – the worst has already happened."

She looked at Jack, feeling shame wash over her again. How many times could her heart break in an hour?

"She's gone," she whispered to him, her eyes tired and stinging. She thought of her mother's face. "...and I didn't believe her."

She waited. The room waited.

He inhaled slowly, his eyes steely as he exhaled. His voice was low and husky, soft, when he finally spoke. "Ya gonna tell me your name now?"

She felt a spark of surprise flit across her face. Something had changed between them, as she knew it would, but…

He didn't look at her with hate, anger, or disappointment. His gaze was still tender on her, and her cheeks instantly warmed. She hated herself for it, feeling wrong, feeling stupid.

Her name… she hadn't said it in so long. It used to be listed next to her parents' in magazines, headlines from movie festivals, award ceremonies, movie debuts.

She thought of them, smiling and laughing. Saying her name.

"Kira… Kira Knight."


Who ya thinkin' 'bout?

Right now?

"Kira," he said quietly, reading her eyes as he savored her name.

Her face blanched as he said it, her body trembling. Everyone else in the room seemed to fade away.

She shimmered and changed before him as the world outside stopped. After a moment, her face smoothed and calmed, and she looked to the room, her eyes landing on Medda. She took a labored breath, pulling herself together from the inside, and slightly squared her shoulders as if she were taking stage.

Her voice was measured and controlled. "She called me 'жар-птица', 'firebird'...her phoenix."

He felt a shiver go down his spine and felt it go through the room. Mush sank onto a couch armrest, watching her.

Her voice was thick as she remembered, as she decided to endure the memories, for them. Knowing they should know. Knowing..she was giving them the closure they'd been searching for.

"Dance was the first thing she ever taught me, the first skill she ever gave me."

He imagined her, small and young in a studio by the ocean, a wide room filled with sunshine. Her mother…Ira… watching her with pride.

He remembered the look on Ira's face when the doctor had told her she would never have children after Medda saved her from the underground. She'd been so numb... to everything.

And now she stood in front of him, Ira's entire world.

Kira.

She turned to the window, closing her eyes. The sky had darkened as the storm grew and broke against the wall of glass. Honey stayed close to her.

Her breath was shaky but her voice was strong. "She was the best dancer in Hollywood from 1979 to 2009… the best in the country. She had her first big break at 14," she laughed in spite of herself, sniffing and biting her lip. "She choreographed everything - music videos, films, showcases. She won - every dance award imaginable." She stared at the raindroplets chasing each other down the window. "No one knew where she came from. She didn't tell anyone about her childhood, never talked about it, not even me…only that her family came here when she was a baby, from Russia. Vivian Volkov."

Her family name from her previous life… the guys' heads snapped to Medda – Medda's eyes were wide on Jack.

He sensed the rock in Kira's chest, threatening to break her wide open as she continued.

"She met - she met my father on set for one of his productions. Erik Knight...producer and director. He always told me that he never stood a chance." She smiled sadly, swallowing tightly. "They really lo–" She swiped her hands under her eyes, not looking at Jack or the others' reflections in the glass. "They were crazy about each other. They were the 'it' couple. They took the industry by storm, got married…had me."

Her voice thickened with emotion. "We were - so happy. They taught me everything. They took me to fundraisers, and introduced me to the industry, the flow. They never put anything above us, our family...we always came first. But -"

Her face darkened. "She had migraines, terrible nightmares – screaming in the middle of the night. Horrible days when she couldn't get out of bed. So haunted by something - I asked her why, she refused to tell me. She started going on long trips and brought back girls, young women, boys… she paid for their boarding and schooling. She started a dance academy. It wasn't until I was a teenager that I realized what she was doing. Who she was saving."

She turned and met Kiki's watery eyes.

Jack knew the guys were hanging on her every word as he was. His brain was distracted - but he managed to focus on her words, just her words.

Her breath caught, and she looked up at the ceiling. "My father, he - he was killed in a car accident...and it broke her. It broke me," her voice almost whimpered, but she straightened. "We were never the same. We clung…tighter to each other. Depended on each other for everything. The nightmares got worse."

She looked at Medda's heartbroken face, and Honey's shimmering eyes.

"Doctors prescribed her pills, did CT scans - and that's when they found it… a tumor in her brain the size of a softball."

She wrapped her arms tightly around her torso. "It was all over the news, magazines wrote about her like… she'd already died."

"It was awful," Jade murmured, her face pale and streaked with tears.

Kira swallowed, composing herself. "All I had was dance. It became my everything. It distracted us both – she instructed me every day, sometimes for over six hours, sometimes from a chair. She was…so strong."

Jack swallowed, knowing…

She sniffed, wiping her face and biting her lip, not looking at any of them. "It was at her bedside when she told me…she'd been abducted, raped, tortured, almost killed. I – I didn't want to believe her. She – she told me what happened to her." She shook her head and squeezed her eyes shut. "But her memories mixed with stories from the – nineteenth century, it didn't make any sense –"

She shook her head as if to erase the memory. "I - I thought it was...a trauma response. The doctors said the same thing - I didn't believe her... I didn't believe her."

Thunder rolled outside. Her mouth twisted.

"She – she told me that my name carried the best of her. That I would do what she couldn't. That I saved her –"

She covered her face with her hands.

Honey moved to hug her tightly, holding her as she cried, the sob building in her chest releasing. Jade went to them too.

Tyler moved for the first time from behind Medda and Kat, crossing the room to hold the girls in his arms. He murmured to Kira, "I'm so sorry... I'm so sorry."

Jack looked at the others, the guys and Kat staring at him - shocked, heartbroken. For a long moment, they stood silently and listened to the storm outside.

"But the dreams…"

Kira and her friends turned, their eyes landing on David.

David looked at Jack, "you dreamt…of Jack."

Jack's body hummed as Kira looked at him from the safety of her friends' arms.

Honey looked at Jack too as she spoke, her brows furrowed, thinking. "...she didn't dream of him, until after –"

"- you tried to contact Vivian," Jade said to Honey in amazement, looking down at Kira. Her voice was breathless, "I'll be damned."

"A transference," Honey whispered, her bright eyes locked on Jack.

"It doesn't matter," Kira said roughly, a look of betrayal crossing her face as she dropped her eyes from Jack and pushed her friends' arms away. She turned back to the window, shielding herself. "This whole time, since the beginning…you've only seen her –"

"No," Jack said, low and fast.

The girls looked at him, Kira's eyes pierced him in the reflection of the glass.

Jack looked at her tenderly, his voice softening. "'s not true."

Kira's bright eyes flared like blue flames as she turned to him, her voice a tight whisper. "How can you say that to me?"

Jack's jaw tightened. He wished they were alone.

Kira looked at the guys, shaking her head. "It's what you've all thought this whole time, thinking I was –"

"Jack's telling ya the truth," Spot said hoarsely, his eyes hard and gleaming.

"He is," Kat added.

Mush's eyes were gentle on Kira's face. "...you're so different."

Kira stared at them.

"But you saw something else," David pressed, stepping forward to the middle of the room. His attention was locked on Honey. "At the docks…you didn't just see Ira - Kira's mother."

Honey's expression darkened, her expression screaming at David.

But David only lowered his chin, not backing down.

Racetrack, shaken from his thoughts as he broke his stare on Jack and Kira, looked at David's back with furrowed brows. "What are ya sayin', Davie?"

David's voice softened. "She saw who killed her."

Honey closed her eyes.

Jack watched as Kira's face fell. Honey hadn't told her.

"...what?"

Jade looked up, locking eyes with Spot for confirmation.

Kira stepped in front of Honey to see her face. Honey reluctantly looked at her, her face resigned.

Kira shook her head, "You only said…that you saw her, Ira. What is he talking about –?"

Honey sighed angrily. "I can't tell you just now, I need –"

Kira wheeled on David. "What do you mean, 'killed her'?"

"Ira was murdered," Jack answered evenly, bracing himself as Kira wheeled on him. He met Honey's stare. "February 12, 1901."

"My birthday," Mush said, his thoughts far away.

Honey looked at Mush sadly.

"...and you saw who did it," Jack said unapologetically.

Kira's head spun around, seeing the truth on their faces…Jack knew she believed them.

Her voice, measured and low, shook as she carefully stepped closer to her friend. "Claudia –"

"Don't," Honey shook her head, pleading. "Don't do this. Don't make me tell you."

"She needs to know," Spot said firmly.

Honey's fierce gaze landed on Spot, "Then you tell her and break her heart."

Kira stared at her, reading the hurt in her friend's eyes. "It's someone we know?"

Honey said nothing.

"Claudia, please –"

"I need to talk with Joselyn," Honey said flatly, her eyes rimmed with bitter tears.

"Why would she –"

And then Kira registered the look on her face.

Kira stepped back, Medda's long robe gripped in her other hand as she stared at Honey - Claudia. She shook her head and her lips paled.

"No."

Honey's hands tightened into fists, her nails digging into her palms.

Kira's eyes flared, and her voice was barely audible. "You're wrong."

"I wish I were," Claudia breathed, tears filling her bright doe eyes. "Kira –"

Kira inhaled sharply, her face contorting with anger, fear, and pain. "You're wrong!"

Claudia reached for her best friend, "Kira, she loves you, she loved your mother –"

Kira turned to Spot. "He – he called her 'Elizabeth' - you heard him. She – she's one of you?!"

Spot said nothing.

She met everyone's gazes before turning back to Medda, pleading with her as she gasped for air, as if she were drowning. "No…no, she can't be."

Medda, with wet pale cheeks and a straight back, looked at Kira imploringly. "She was William Pulitzer's niece, engaged to Garrison Rockefeller…Ira's kidnapper. He is Phillip."

Kira's breath left her in a rush, her body caving inward in the middle of the room. She swayed, and Jack instinctively reached for her – but Claudia reached her first.

"Your medicine – Kira where is it?"

"Wake me up," Kira gasped, wincing. "This is a dream – this is a dream –"

Honey tried to hold her up as she began to collapse. "Jack –"

Mush reached for her, and together he and Jack gently laid her on the closest couch, backing away from her to give Claudia space.

Her body would've shut down eventually, seeing the stress and exhaustion on her face, in her eyes... Jack felt responsible.

"Tell Denton ta go by the house," he murmured, looking up at David. "Her medicine. It's in her bathroom, behind the mirror."

Everyone moved slowly as if waking from a dream themselves. David dragged a hand over his face and pulled out his phone. Jack looked at Spot, Race, Mush…his brothers. Kat…speechless and upset as she watched Kira.

Medda went to the bathroom. He heard the faucet running, and she came back with a wet cloth, laying it on Kira's forehead.

Kiki spoke for the first time. "How could you keep something like this from her? From us?"

Claudia, tears streaming down her face, glared at her friend. "I didn't know. I only found out when we went there -"

"The docks," Boots said absently.

Spot's voice was venomous, "Where she was killed."

"She needs to tell her," Mush said. "... Joselyn needs to tell her."

Jade snapped out of her thoughts, looking up from Kira. "...she knows?"

Jack met Spot's cold eyes. Jade placed her hand on her forehead, "Oh my god…"

"So what's the truth?" Racetrack asked the room. "Is she on Kira's side, or his?"

They could only look at each other as Medda stroked Kira's cheek, feeling more lost than before.