We all moved into the house. When I shut the door everyone was there, waiting. They rushed us but I couldn't speak. Something in me collapsed. I hadn't realized until I shut the door behind me how scared I'd been, how tense and desperate or how utterly and completely relieved I was. I sat down hard on the floor in front of the door and put my head in my hands. I did it! No one was hurt. We were safe, for the moment at least. I was shaking. Why was I shaking? I didn't know if I was laughing or crying. I heard Ben start the story but Colin walked past him and knelt in front of me.
"Jemma," he said softly. "Jemma, are you ok?"
I looked up at his weary face. His dark beard needed trimmed. I was laughing. "Yes. I'm sorry. I'm fine. I did it Colin. They left."
He was smiling too, "I know. And now you need to get some sleep."
I agreed completely. "I will. Give me a hand?"
He helped me to my feet and we went into the library. Everyone was talking. Conversations were started and interrupted and restarted by someone else. Despite what I'd said about sleeping we talked over every detail. No one was particularly thrilled by me giving Agent Knoll permission to come in the house, but Ben's continued assertion that I had done something close to a miracle in getting her to leave, and that she had been telling the truth about trying to find a peaceful solution swayed everyone in the end. But there were so many questions, details had to be rehashed over and over again before everyone was satisfied. It was full daylight before silence finally fell.
"Well," Colin said as he walked back from the bar, "Jemma, I would say we all owe you a big thank you. This is all very encouraging but I still think we should take shifts watching the house. Just in case."
Kennedy groaned, "Oh come on Colin. It's daylight. They wouldn't be stupid enough to come back now."
But David spoke up, "No, he's right. We have to be careful. They could just be waiting for us to relax before they come back." I agreed with him but I was also very tired.
"Alright," Colin stood up and walked around the room, "I'll take the first watch so you all can get some rest...."
"No." Anna had been quiet during most of the discussion and strangely looked no happier now that the threat was gone. "I'm the only one who has had any sleep. I'll watch first."
"I'll stay with her." I don't know why I said it. I had been nodding in my chair for the last hour, my eyes felt gritty and I was having trouble concentrating, but it felt like the right thing to do,"I might as well watch now while I'm awake. Once I get to sleep you're not going to be able to wake me up for a while." I stood up and stretched. Hopefully these would be short shifts.
"You don't have to do that." But Anna looked grateful all the same.
Colin agreed that working in pairs was a good idea. He ushered everyone to bed and promised he would be back in a couple of hours to relieve us.
Before leaving Nate joined Anna and I, "Jemma, you did great." He couldn't seem to find anything else to say.
"Thanks."
"Well...yeah. Good night." Anna looked sad as she watched him go.
I put a hand on her arm, "Come on. We might as well get to watching."
We entered the dark AV room. Anna found a chair but I knew I wouldn't be able to sit in the dark for long without passing out. I wandered around the room looking for a light switch. I found plenty of switches but none of them did what I wanted. I did manage to retract the big projection screen and shut of an entire section of the monitors.
"Sorry, sorry!" I frantically turned the switch back on. I gave up looking for the lights but still didn't want to sit. I wandered around the room fidgeting with the equipment and looking longingly at the big cushy chairs.
"This is going to be a long few hours if you don't talk to me." I had made my way back to where Anna was sitting staring at the sunlit yard and gardens.
"Sorry. I just don't feel much like talking," she answered quietly.
"Oh, please humor me. I really need to talk. Anything. Hey you know what would help? Music! Do you know how any of this stuff works?"
"No, sorry. I would love to have some music though. You'll have to ask Colin." She gave me a little grin, "I could barely turn on my DVD player at home."
"Me too! I was forever pissing off the IT department at work. I could destroy a computer in minutes."
She looked up at me from her chair. "You must miss it, being a nurse. It must have been great helping people and stuff."
I sat down next to her, "Actually, I hated it." I smiled at her shocked expression. "I was a paper pusher. I was never cut out for the whole caregiver thing. Not that I didn't care about people! I just wasn't very good at knowing how to connect with them I guess. I imagine you would be much better at it than me."
"Me? What makes you think that?"
"I don't know," I spun around and around in the chair, "You just seem like the kind of person who is good at making other people happy."
"You think I am? I guess I have always wanted to see my friends happy."
"Did you have a lot of friends? Before, I mean?"
She shook her head, "Not really. We moved a lot when I was a kid and I was kinda shy so...and people just seem to move on. Nobody stays around for long."
"Yeah. Although I had this boyfriend once with the amazing ability of never moving on."
She laughed. It was good to hear. "So do you...or did you before...you know, have a boyfriend?" She asked.
"You mean when I changed and all? No. I gave up on finding a decent guy ages ago. I like the single life."
"There are good guys out there." She looked distant for a moment, "But yeah, I was never very good at relationships either. The couple times I tried at least."
We sat in silence for a few minutes. I occupied my time by watching the monitors. It looked peaceful and sunny and warm outside. My eyes fell on the big garden. "I really want to go out there sometime" I pointed at the screen that showed the walks and benches.
"I've been out there a few times. It is very pretty. Celia's always complaining because the gardener left and she doesn't have time to keep it up right." She looked sad again. "Jemma, do you think we will ever be normal again?"
"I don't think we will, no. The change is probably permanent..."
"That's not what I mean. I mean will we get to have jobs or houses or walk in a garden...have real lives?" She looked at me pleadingly.
I know she wanted me to comfort her, tell her she would do all those things and more, but I couldn't. It didn't seem right to lie to her now. "I don't know Anna." I slid my chair closer to her, "But I know we will be alright. I have spent my whole life disconnected from everything and everyone, but I don't feel that anymore. I feel closer to the people in this house in a week than I ever have to anyone. I can't explain it. Before the change I felt like I was missing something, something I couldn't find. But I don't anymore. The change caused that. It woke me up and I am grateful for that. No matter what else happens."
I hadn't realized I felt that way until it all came pouring out. I had lived more in the last few days than I had in my whole life. Anna was staring at me, her beautiful face full of sadness and confusion. There were tears in her eyes again. Damn, I was trying to help and again I'd just made her cry! This was why I sucked at being a nurse!
"Hey!" I hopped out of the chair, "Are you hungry? I bet Fletch is in bed. I could nick us something from the kitchen. I make pretty mean toast."
Anna gave me a weak smile, "Yeah, I am. Thanks." She turned back to the monitors. I bolted for the door before she could start sobbing, or hugging.
I was right. I found the kitchen empty when I got there. I had to search for a while before I even found a loaf of bread. I was searching the huge refrigerator for butter when I heard a noise behind me. I spun around and found Sean standing in the back doorway.
"What the hell Sean! You scared me!" I let the fridge door shut. "Announce yourself or something next time." He moved into the kitchen. "What are you doing?" I asked suspiciously.
"Same thing you are, looking for food."
"Why aren't you asleep?"
He started opening cabinets along the back wall of the kitchen. "Couldn't sleep."
"You've been up for 24 hours, you need to get some sleep." I gave up on butter and started searching for jelly instead.
"Yeah. I'll get there. Why aren't you with the beauty queen? If you need a break I could go spend some time with her." He gave me a wink.
"Why are you such an asshole?"
"What's a matter angel, jealous?"
"Yes, I've always dreamed of catching a egotistical, misogynistic, alcoholic. I can hardly still my pounding heart."
"But I have superpowers and so do you." He moved closer to me and gave me a look that really would make most women's hearts pound. "Imagine what we could do..."
"I would really rather not, thanks. And everybody in this house has abilities so not really a selling point." I scowled at him.
"Don't tell me you aren't enjoying it. Waking up one day a superhero." He put a hand on my hip and moved closer.
"We're not superheroes Sean. We're people that something really shitty happened to and now we're just trying to stay alive."
"Shitty! Are you kidding! This is awesome! We could do anything we wanted." I turned away and walked to the other side of the kitchen more to get away from him than in hope of finding anything useful. But he followed. "Think about it." He looked off dramatically as he leaned into me. He was wearing a v neck shirt and I could just see the dip of his collarbone. Ugh stop looking! "We could rob a bank and move to a little island." He moved his hip against mine. "Have the locals build us our own mansion. Hell we could take over an island if we wanted. Our very own island!"
I slammed the cabinet I had been searching. "You're what people are afraid of! You're the reason we have to hunker here in fear! Because people are afraid all of us are like you!"
He turned to fully face me, "You like the power. I see it. You like what you have become. You want to use it."
I was disgusted by what he said, but that was partly because he was right. It made me feel dirty and angry, at him and myself. I slammed another cabinet, "You're wrong." I left the kitchen as quickly as I could.
I realized, walking back to Anna that I hadn't actually managed to find any food. Well, I wasn't going back to the kitchen so she would just have to wait. But when I walked into the AV room Anna wasn't alone. Mel was there. She didn't look up when I came in.
"I was just telling Anna I would take over." She said.
"It's only been an hour Mel. Are you sure you've had enough sleep?"
She shrugged her slender shoulders. It was amazing how a person so small and pale could look so hard. "I don't need as much sleep as I used to. I haven't slept more than a few hours a day in weeks." She looked at me finally, "I'll be fine." She did look well rested. Better than Anna and I at least.
"Colin said we should work in pairs."
She turned back to the screen in front of her. "Yeah, so one of you didn't pass out. I can manage. Besides, he'll be here soon." I wasn't really in the mood to argue with her. I was so tired I was beginning to feel nauseous. Anna didn't seem ready to put up a fight either.
"Ok. Well, thanks."
Anna and I made our way to the upstairs hall. The bright light from the big window hurt my eyes. Anna mumbled something about sleep and went to her room without looking back. When I made it to my bedroom I was happy to see the curtains blocked out most of the light. I slipped my jeans off and was asleep as soon as I closed my eyes.
My sleep was plagued by strange dreams. In one I was the real Jemma Johnson, the girl from my book, defending the land by fighting off dragons with her shiny sword and trusty shield. I woke up once and saw the sun still shining brightly outside. I was too tired to even roll over and eventually drifted back to sleep. When I woke next it was dark outside. I got up feeling irritable. Why wasn't there a damn clock in here? It's not like Colin didn't have the money. I showered quickly and made my way downstairs. I was starving again. I intended to find Fletch and demand he make me a cheeseburger.
But when I got to the kitchen Fletch wasn't there. Instead Celia was standing over one of the big sinks washing dishes and humming. She stopped and smiled warmly when she saw me.
"Hello Ms. Jemma! I imagine you are hungry, yes? Well Fletch went off to bed but he left plenty to choose from." She moved to the big fridge and began taking out covered dishes. "Sit, sit!"
I took one of the stools around the island and watched her work. I couldn't see what she was fixing but it smelled wonderful. She brought out a large orange pitcher and placed a glass in front of me.
"Lemonade. I made it myself." She laughed as she filled up my cup and went back to working on the meal. He cheerfulness was infectious. I found myself smiling as I watched her round little figure bounce around the room in her sensible shoes. When she was done I had four plates in front of me. She looked proud as she wiped her hands on her blue dress. There were little buttery rolls and sweet potatoes with brown sugar, turkey slices in gravy, stuffing, and fruit.
"Thank you Celia. This is better than what I get on Thanksgiving!"
She smiled and patted her grey bun, "Well it's good for you. All this stress and you're just a wisp of a thing anyway! You had better eat just as much as you can!"
The wisp part wasn't quite true but I was starving so I was happy to obey. I ate and watched her flit about the kitchen cleaning and putting things away. Every now and then she would ask a question, about my life, my family. In no time I was telling her details of my childhood I had not thought of in years.
My mother had been a kind woman who lived her life for me and my dad. Growing up I'd always considered her weak because of that. My dad was not the nicest man and I was a brat sometimes too. I wanted her to be stronger, get mad, stand up for herself. But after she died I realized she was actually so much stronger than I ever gave her credit for. One of my biggest regrets was not being able to tell her that.
"Oh but she knows child." Celia said as she dried her hands again on a striped towel. "And you should be proud of yourself! There are a lot of people in this world that don't understand how hard or how important giving love is."
I thought she was giving me too much credit but I felt too good to argue with her. When I was finished eating what I could hold, I thanked her and I went to find the others. I wasn't quite sure what for though. After the last few days this respite from danger, no matter how welcome, felt sort of uncomfortable. Evidently I wasn't the only one that felt that way.
I found Colin in the library bent over a table scattered with papers and an open laptop. I said hello but he was obviously engrossed in whatever it was he was doing and didn't want to talk. I headed for the AV room. I figured watching would help pass the time but I found it already occupied by Ben and Mel. After five minutes it became obvious I was intruding and I had no desire to stay anyway. The bar was empty, Sean must have finally gotten to sleep. I thought of visiting Kennedy but didn't want to wake him if he was doing the same. A big grandfather clock in the dining room showed it was close to eleven o'clock. For once I wasn't weary to the bone and now I had nothing to do. I considered going back to the library and finding a good book but I was too restless to want to sit.
I made my way back to the kitchen thinking to chat up Celia again but she was gone now too. I walked down the narrow hall and into the big open room Anna and I had parted in the night before. But it was dark and a little creepy being there alone so I kept walking. After walking down a couple halls I had never seen before and through a second, more normal looking kitchen I found myself in what I thought was the west wing of the house.
Colin's house was beautiful. It seemed whoever decorated it couldn't decide on any one theme or era so just went with everything. There were parts that reminded me of a old victorian house with dark wood panelling and tall vases and oil portraits. Some parts were bright with modern artwork and loud colors, and others looked like they belonged in a rustic log cabin. It was like walking through a large, comfortable museum or lots of cool hotels mashed together.
I turned the corner after leaving a particularly bright and cheery sitting room and realized I had no idea where I was. Ok, so a large, comfortable museum with no map. I was standing in a little ingress trying to decide if retracing my steps was worthwhile when I heard voices from the way I had just come. Relieved I walked toward the sound. Surely the others knew their way around better than me. I couldn't tell who was talking but the voices were coming from the little sitting room I had passed a few minutes before. I must have just missed them. I reached for the door but stopped when I heard my name.
"...crazy to even think about right now. Jemma's got everything sorted for a while."
It was Nate's voice. I should have knocked right then and went in or walked away at least, but I hesitated. Then I heard Anna answer.
"I don't care." She sounded weepy again and a little desperate. "I didn't want any of this. No one has to know. I could be safe, so could you..." She hesitated for a moment and when she spoke again it was quiet, breathy. "You could too Nate. We could make it work."
Ok, this was obviously meant to be private. I felt terrible for hearing even this much and I felt something else too. Jealous? There was a caress in Anna voice. I mentally scolded myself as an idiot and turned away from the door. But before I got more than a few steps away, the door to the sitting room flew open and a teary-eyed Anna rushed out. She hurried the other way and didn't seem to notice I was there. I backed a few steps further away before Nate walked out. He saw me and looked surprised.
"What are you doing here?"
"Um..I got lost and was just trying to find my way back." I tried to look innocent, it's not like I had heard anything terrible really. "Is she ok?" I pointed the way Anna had disappeared.
He sighed and looked back, "Yeah. She's just stressed out by everything. She'll come around." He sounded worried though. He turned back to me. "I can help you find your way back to the library if you want." He laughed. "Maybe. I've been wandering around this place for weeks and still get lost sometimes."
"Actually, I'm not quite ready to join the general population. I'm feeling a bit restless. I would like some company though. Maybe you could show me around?"
He smiled, "Sure."
I felt uncomfortable at first, about the overheard conversation, about my feelings, whatever they were, about what had happened between us before, but it faded as we walked and talked. Being with Nate was like that. He had a presence that made me feel at ease. Maybe it was his gentle nature despite his size. As we walked we talked about what had happened the night before, whether Agent Knoll would keep her word, and if or when she may come back. We talked about the house and our old lives. I was surprised to find that Colin had lived in the house by himself, except for the hired help, since he was a teenager. His father had passed away and left him everything. I found it a little depressing, it was a beautiful house but it must have been very lonely living here alone all those years.
We entered a rec room with a pool table, foosball, a big horseshoe leather couch, a bar, and a jukebox. I laughed as I looked around the room.
"I love this place!"
"Yeah," Nate walked behind the bar and started pulling down glasses and bottles of liquor. "I come here sometimes. I like it better than the big one. I always thought it was a little weird to have a bar in your foyer but Colin said that was his dad, half scholar half drunk." As he talked he poured drinks. He handled the bottles like he knew what he was doing. I asked him about it.
"I worked a few months as a bartender once. I didn't like though. Spending hours with drunk people every night gets to you quick." He pointed to his face. "That's how I got this nose. Too bad I didn't get Coop's ability. I could've fix it."
"I don't know, I like it." His faced colored at the compliment. "Hey, do you think that jukebox works?"
"It does but it's all old stuff."
"I don't care. I've been dying for some music. Do you think it will bother anyone?"
"Nah. There are no living quarters around here. Everybody is probably awake anyway."
Nate was right about the selection, it was old, but there was good stuff. I put on some Billie Holiday and rejoined Nate at the bar. He presented me with a bright blue drink in a tall thin glass.
"What is this?"
"Something of my own making," he said as he took up his own glass, "Being a bartender had some benefits."
The drink was strong but very good. We sat and listened to Patsy Cline, and The Andrews Sisters, and Chuck Berry and talked. I couldn't forget what was happening, not completely, but for a few hours I could push it far enough away to feel human again. I was very thankful to Nate for that.
"Why are you looking at me like that?"
We were on the big sofa listening to soft Jazz. I was more than a little tipsy and was getting sleepy and my mind had drifted somewhere else.
"Sorry," I smiled at him, "I was thinking about the last time I was in a bar."
He got up and placed his glass in the sink behind the counter. He came back and sat next to me. My stomach fluttered at his sudden closeness. "I imagine it was more fun than this."
His hand brushed against my knee. Such a small, inconsequential touch but here, from him, it made me pause. It made me want to get up and run away from him. It made me want to grab him and force him to do it again. "Actually, I was thinking the company was better this time."
He leaned closer and brushed my hair away from my eyes, his fingers moved slowly along my cheek. "I'm glad you think so," he said softly.
And then he was kissing me gently. I could taste the bite of liquor on his soft lips and felt the rough stubble on his face. He ran his fingers along my neck. I wrapped my fingers in his hair and pulled him closer, kissing him harder. He moaned and moved his hands along my shoulders, my arms. His big arms closed around me, pulling me closer, pressing me against him. My heart beat faster and faster as I kissed him again and again, as he moved his tongue along mine, and I felt his warm hands on my skin.
Suddenly he drew back. We were both breathing hard and for a moment I fought the urge to pull him back to me.
"I'm sorry." He said roughly.
"Nate..."
"No, no...I shouldn't have taken advantage like that."
"You didn't..." I sputtered. I didn't understand.
"You are tired, we all are, and we've been drinking and...I'm sorry." He got up and walked to the end of the couch.
"Oh..." My heart dropped. He was looking for a way out. He was drunk, he was tired. And he'd gotten caught up in the moment and now come to his senses. It stung worse than it should have. I got up and turned my back to him.
"Jemma, I..."
"No, no," I tried to sound nonchalant, "I understand. You're right, I am tired. I think...I think I will try to get some sleep. You should too." I needed to get out before I said something stupid. I flung open the door. I had no idea where it went, I didn't care as long as it was away from him.
I wandered around aimlessly for a long time. I tried to push away the anger and disappointment that came on in waves. By the time I found a part of the house I was familiar with I had managed to settle on just being embarrassed and a little pissed, but mostly just embarrassed. I wanted to get to my room without anymore interactions. When I emerged from a door behind the bar I was happy to see it was empty, but I could see Colin still hunkered over his papers and I could hear someone else talking on the other side of the room. I crossed my fingers Colin was engrossed in his work and made my way to the staircase as quickly and quietly as I could. I had one foot on the bottom step when Colin spoke up behind me.
"Oh, Jemma! Good, I was hoping talk to you. Do you have a minute?"
My heart sank when I heard my name, but I put on a smile and turned away from the stairs. As walked over I saw Ben in the shadows. He looked ready to speak but I tried to convey that would get him murdered with a look. It must have worked because he sat back grinning but silent.
The table in front of Colin was covered with dozens of documents, articles, and folders. Colin looked no better rested than he ever did. He waved a hand over the papers.
"So, I've been doing some research and I think I have found where they are holding the changers." I had picked up a graph that looked liked an overview of spending for food or supplies of some kind. It took a minute for his words to sink in.
"What? What do you mean found them? I thought the government was holding them?"
"Well, yes they are but we didn't know where. At first we did. They were asking people to come in so they had a place all set up, but after they decided to not let anyone leave they moved and nobody knew where. They gave some story about public safety and proper containment but really they just wanted to make sure nobody staged a rescue attempt. Anyway, after the law went into place they moved again, this time in secret. But I've been doing some roundabout tracking and I think I've hit on the place some of them are being kept now."
"Some of them?"
"Yeah, they must have rounded up hundreds of people just around here. I don't think they are keeping all of them in one place."
"Ok, so where are they?"
"Well it's taken a lot of time to pin it down but I think they're here," he pointed to an area outside the city on an enlarged map. "It's state owned property but all it has on it is a bunch of old warehouses and some abandoned factory buildings. But look," he handed me a stack of papers. "For the last two months they've been moving big shipments of supplies; medical equipment, office stuff, food, AV stuff, which isn't unusual until you dig a little deeper."
"Colin, where did you get all this stuff?"
"Internet, some money in the right places, and the most important pieces I got from Stacy, the woman we met with the other group?" I nodded. "Well, she had been doing some digging herself but had hit a wall so she gave me everything she had hoping I could figure it out."
"But why? Why try to figure it out?" I was afraid I already knew the answer.
"So we can get them."
"Colin..."
"Who else is going to help them Jemma? If you were stuck in there, god knows what happening to you, and remember you almost were, wouldn't you want help?"
"Yes, Colin, of course. But don't you think we have enough to deal with here? I know it sounds terrible but we just managed to stop the FBI from storming the house and we have no idea if they might come back. I told them we wanted to talk about dealing peacefully. How will it look if we go storming a one of their places? How can you possibly think we could do that without people getting hurt, on both sides?"
"I don't care." I hadn't heard Cooper join us. He spoke with heat, "They say we are terrorist, we are the dangerous ones, but what they are doing is heinous. Someone has to help those people and we can't sit here hoping someone else steps in do it."
I shook my head, "Even if we went, what would we do? We have a couple of people here that have useful abilities, but not enough to do something like this. I mean a place like this is bound to have massive amounts of security. We probably wouldn't even make it to the front door."
Colin began shuffling through papers on the table and pulled out one from the mess. "I have a plan for that actually. The shipments are all pretty top secret but I've tracked enough of them to know they are on a schedule, a very specific schedule, and I know the route they take." He pulled out a stack of grainy pictures and handed them to me, "See? I got these from a gas station CCTV. Same trucks pass by this same station on the same days at the same time."
"Ok, how does that help?"
"We stop one of these trucks and drive it in with it."
I sighed and rubbed my eyes. "And then what? You have no idea where you're going, no idea what you will find when you get in there."
"No, but I don't think we ever will." He shook his head and rearranged some papers. "I've been planning this for months, Stacy's information just gave me the last piece. I've done a lot of research on the grounds and this truck will hopefully get us in and back out without notice. I don't think there's any way I could come up with a better plan. If we are going to do it, this is our best option. At least the best were likely to have." He looked at me and grinned. "Our last plan worked out right?"
I ignored his quip. "Or we could just not go."
"Well, actually you won't be going."
"What? So you want to break into a heavily guarded government secret base without the one person in this group who is bullet proof?"
Cooper snickered, "I don't see how that's a problem considering you don't actually want to go."
"I don't want anyone to go! But if you do this craziness it would be stupid to leave behind one of the few people that could be useful."
Colin laid a hand on my shoulder, "I laid out this plan before you got here and besides, we need you here Jemma. You are the one Agent Knoll expects to be here, you are the one she'll want to talk to if she comes back."
"I'm sure anyone can talk to her..."
"Really? You ok with leaving the negotiating to Ben? Or Stephen? Or Sean?"
"You are not going to leave me here! What if something happens to you? How would we know. We're just supposed to sit here and, what, cross our fingers and hope really hard you don't get killed? No, no way! It's nuts!"
"I've already set up a secure channel for us, seemed prudent after everything. We'll be able to tell you what's going on, give you updates as we go."
"Updates! And if your update is 'oh god, oh god, we're all going to die'? What are we supposed to do then?"
"Nothing." I started to argue but he held up a hand. "I mean it." He didn't raise his voice but he made it clear he would not hear debate. "If something happens to us, it was our choice to go there. Everyone going has already agreed to this. We know what we are walking into and it won't do anyone any good for you to go running in to avenge us. You can claim we went rogue and you had no idea what we were planning. That should allow you to keep up negotiations if things go bad."
"I will not..."
"You will. You will do what you have to do and I will do what I have to. We each have a job to do Jemma and yours is here."
He was right but that just pissed me off more. This plan was madness! "Ok, let's say you do this, how do you know they aren't watching the house? Which is pretty likely you know. You wouldn't even make it to the highway."
"Actually, I assume they are. I have that part covered too."
"But..."
He held up a hand again. "Jemma, this is something I am going to do. No, the plan is not perfect, but I'm not willing to wait any longer. We're going in two days."
"Two days!"
"Yes, that's when the next shipment is set to go out. Me, David, Mel, and Nate..."
Cooper stepped up, "Colin..."
"I know you want to come Cooper but I've already explained it. We need to make it a small group otherwise we risk not getting in at all. We need the truck to get in and we need it to smuggle all those people back out. But it will be full when we drive it in and there's only so much room in the cab. It will look pretty suspicious if we drive up sitting on each other's laps. I need to take people who can help with getting past the guards and whatever else we have to go against, and we'll need Nate to tell us where to go. This place is pretty big and the changers could be anywhere."
"What about Sean?" I asked.
"I thought about it, his ability would be dead useful, but he's a hothead and I want to do with as little damage as possible." Colin looked regretful, "I just don't trust him yet."
I didn't know what else to say. I understood why they wanted to do it but it was a stupid, crazy, reckless plan. I could tell though, short of physically trying to stop them, they were going to do it whatever I said. "Have you talked to the others about this?"
"The ones that I want to come, yes. It was their choice to go or not. I wouldn't make anyone come that didn't want to."
"But you would make someone stay that wanted to come?"
He smiled, "We need you here Jemma."
Just then Kennedy and Sean emerged from the AV room closely followed by Stephen. Kennedy was laughing hardily and patting Sean on the back.
"Oh, Jemma!" Kennedy exclaimed. "It's good to see you! You have to tell Sean here to stop! All this laughing hurts!" He held his side dramatically.
I felt bad for not checking on him sooner. I walked over and felt his side. "Does it still hurt? You seem to be moving better but you should probably still be resting just in case."
"Oh no, no! It's fine, really! I feel much better. Thanks to you of course. I was just giving Sean a hard time."
Sean laughed and moved closer to me, "Hey angel, I'm feeling a little light headed. Want to help me to bed?" I rolled my eyes but otherwise ignored him.
Kennedy turned to address Colin, "Whose turn is it in there? I've stared at those dang screens all I can for one day."
"No one. I think we can drop the watching for the night at least. I've turned on the alarms so no one will get in without our knowing and if they were going to sneak in they would have tried by now I think. Besides, we all need to get some rest." I turned to speak but he forestalled me again, "It's very late. We can talk tomorrow." I sighed but he was obviously done discussing the matter. Maybe I could change his mind tomorrow, when we were all better rested. That reminded me of something.
"Can I have a clock? In my room I mean."
"Of course. Sorry, some of those rooms haven't been used in years. I'll have Celia find one for you."
"Thanks." Everyone moved for the stairs. Ben tried to approach me but I took the stairs two at a time. I was in no mood to deal with him. I was surprised when Sean followed me up.
"Where are you going?"
"To bed."
"Your room is on the other side of the house."
"Nah, Colin only had me over there while I recovered, at least that's what he said. Personally I think he had me over there in case I went nuts and wanted to blow the place up. Anyway, I'm up here now. Nice room too, want to see?"
"No."
He laughed, "Oh, you do angel, you just don't want to admit it yet." He winked and walked away. I just shook my head as I watched him go.
I still wasn't tired enough for bed when I got to my room. I took a shower. I found some soft pants and a tank top. I sat on the couch and was just wishing I had a TV when there was a knock at the door. I assumed it was Celia bringing my clock but my stomach hit the floor when I opened the door and found Nate standing there.
"Colin said you might...that you were looking for...here." He mumbled and held out a small digital clock.
All the feelings I had forgotten while talking with Colin came back. I reached out and took the clock. My fingers brushed his but that just inflamed my embarrassment at what had happened.
"Thanks." I moved to shut the door.
"Jemma..." He hesitated but just I stood there staring at him. "Jemma I don't..."
"I'm really tired." I had little desire to hear him explain how kissing me had been a mistake. Or to have to explain to him that it was alright he didn't want to. My ego could only take so much.
"Oh, yeah. Sorry." He moved back and I shut the door.
I laid in bed and stared at the walls for a while. I was angry and felt stupid about being angry. I hardly knew Nate. We kissed once! Why did his rejection hurt so much? Nate was leaving in two days on a rescue mission that could very likely end up with him dead and I was being a child because he didn't want to make out? Ugh. It wasn't like me to be so emotional. I got caught up in those emotions and now regretted my behavior. I even got up at one point to go talk to him, but I stopped before I made it out of the bedroom. He was probably sleeping now anyway. I fell asleep finally and spent another night plagued by strange dreams.