I walked into the bedroom, my head was a storm of emotions. Bren walked up behind me and motioned me toward the couch. I hesitated, part of me wanted to turn around and return to the living room and talk to General Morgan. Instead, here I hid away like a child who everyone was trying to protect. I was angry, but not at my friends. I hated myself for making bad decisions and for being so weak. I heard Bren’s voice and looked up at him. I was confused when I realized he had both of my hands in his. He looked upset as he massaged my fists open, they were red and bleeding where I had unconsciously dug my nails in.

I pulled my hands away and walked towards the couch. I obviously couldn’t feel it because the Blue Cryo was still coursing through my body. I whispered, “stop worrying about me, you know It will be gone in minutes. I’m not worth any of this anyway.” The last part I said without thinking.

I felt a sharp jerk on my arm and I spun around. Now facing an angry Bren, I realized that he heard what I had said. We stood silently looking at each other. I was angry and I pulled away forcefully and said, “don’t look at me like that! It’s the truth!”

Sadness washed away the anger on his face. His feelings were obvious as tears escaped his one human eye. I flinched, I didn’t mean to hurt him.

I reached up and wiped the tears away. “You lost an eye because of me and you could have died. The others were hurt and Dr. Nemeroff was killed because of me.”

I pulled away and closed my eyes, “I also may have killed Lance.”

Bren reached out and grabbed both of my shoulders taking me by surprise, “Lance put you through hell and he would have killed you if you had not got him first. Don’t you dare feel bad about it!”

His arms dropped to his side as he sighed. “Listen Jax, Creso is dangerous and must be stopped regardless of your connection and involvement. There will always be casualties in situations like these ”

Frustrated, I snapped back, “it shouldn’t be this way. Dad shouldn’t have died. None of this should have happened!”

Bren pulled me into his arms and said, “and this is why we must stop him. So no one else dies because of him.”

There was a knock at the cracked door. Keri pushed it open and cleared her throat loudly, to make her presence known.

Bren and I separated and Keri walked closer with a tray of sandwiches, chips, and water. Bren took the tray and thanked her but Keri didn’t leave immediately instead there was an uncomfortable silence.

I stood behind Bren waiting for Keri to leave the room. I wondered if she had been listening to our conversation. I didn’t want to upset anyone else right now. I just wanted her to leave. I saw Bren shake his head no, I assume in response to Keri. Not long after, the door shut and Keri had left us alone.

I walked off towards the couch and waited for him to join me. He carefully set the tray down on the coffee table in front of us. He turned to look at me and said, “I’m not letting you leave this room until you eat something.”

I definitely needed to eat a little if I wanted to get myself healthy enough to deal with any of this. I reached forward and picked up half of a sandwich. I tried not to smell too much, worried that it would deter me from eating. I took a quick bite and swallowed. The flavors were not overpowering and I felt ok after the first bite. I hungrily grabbed the sandwich and devoured what was left. Bren poked me with the bottle of water and said, “Slow down. I know you are starving but don’t push it.”

I nodded and took the bottle from him. The water was cool and felt good on my scratchy, dry throat.

I sat the bottle beside me and leaned back. I was feeling more relaxed until I heard a deafening rumble outside. I sat up quickly ready to run.

Bren gently grabbed my wrist before I jumped up. His voice was calm and reassuring, “it is a helicopter, most likely General Morgan. The others will let us know if there is reason for concern. So just try to relax.”

Easier said than done, I thought. I was tense and trying hard to think of something else. I noticed Bren’s sketchbook was sitting where I had left it earlier. I pulled it into my lap and opened it up to the first drawing of me. I tapped one of my shoulders against Bren’s to get his attention. He turned to me and realized I had his sketchbook open. His face turned red as he slid it out of my grasp and said, “I guess you saw them all.”

I laughed a little and said, “hmmm…. I did! You should have said something to me earlier if you knew you liked me.”

Bren closed the sketchbook and layed in on my lap and said, “I wasn’t sure about what I was feeling and if you would even reciprocate.”

I turned sideways so I was facing Bren and said, “you could have tried.”

Bren moved closer and whispered back, “so could have you,” before kissing me.

The kiss didn’t last long before Jackie came flying through the door. Luckily it wasn’t shut completely or it would have been destroyed. He stood in a wide stance ready for whatever was coming at him. Bren and I both looked at the door, a tall man in a military uniform stood in the doorway. Fuchsia was standing behind him with a look of shock on her face and appeared to be trying to reason with the man.

The man roared at Jackie, “you may be my son, but you are a soldier and I expect you to act like one. Don’t expect special treatment from me.”

Jackie, out of breath, turned to Bren and I and said, “let me introduce you to my father, General Morgan”.