“So who’s this Logan guy?” I asked Alec.

He had gotten me a seat and I was sitting next to Kira’s bedside. Krit had gone to help Syl and Lena care for some of the other wounded that were trickling in. Alec leaned against Kira’s bed.

“Logan,” Alec rolled his eyes, “is Max’s former ‘we’re not like that’ boyfriend. He just hasn’t gotten over it very well. I mean, Max is only not with him to protect him. She’s realized that she’s a danger to him. But he’s too...whatever to see that. You really have to meet him. He’s one of those rich guys whose all aware of the sufferings of the people somehow. He’s tons of fun.”

“I take it you don’t like him much.” Kira said.

“Hey, I love Logan.” Alec said, but I got the distinct impression that he didn’t mean it at all.

“So, about your...um...part?” I ventured.

“Oh. That. I forgot to tell you. Max told Logan that we were together to sort of push him away. I didn’t have the heart to tell him the truth, so I’ve been playing the part of Max’s boyfriend to help her out. One of these days she’ll fess up and tell him. I know she will, but that’s too much for her to deal with right now what with all that’s been going on.” Alec explained, “Didn’t get the wrong idea did you?”

I shook my head.

“Max would kill within the day if you two were together any more than you are already.” I teased.

“You’re probably right.” Alec agreed, “Here I thought I was pretty damn lovable.”

“What do you think is going to happen now?” I asked.

“If it was me, I’d say split up for awhile. Lay low until we find another place where we can stay. TC is nice because the norms can’t stay here for too long. I don’t know how easy it’ll be to find another place like this.”

“Splitting up and laying low is probably the safest plan.” Kira agreed.

I chose not to comment on the fact that Kira and Alec had actually agreed on something. I was still too tired to put up with any animosity. Besides that, I didn’t particularly enjoy the thought of splitting up. It was kind of nice to be surrounded by others like me again. I’d sort of missed the feeling of belonging and acceptance that I’d felt during my stay in Terminal City. Plus, what if Alec and I were split up. Max would need Alec with her and I was new to this operation. I had no right to go with Max and her team. No, Kira and I would probably be put off on our own once again and who knew if I would ever see Alec again after that. I frowned at the thought. The few days we had spent together really had changed everything in my world. Just as life without Kira had been unimaginable before, life without Alec was unbearable now.

“What’s wrong, Jess?” Alec asked, noticing my frown.

“Nothing.” I lied.

It was really difficult to lie convincingly to the two people who knew me better than anyone else in the world. Both of them sent me looks that showed they weren’t very convinced.

“Did you fail deception or something ‘cause you are one horrible liar.” Alec teased.

“I’m fine at lying. You two just know me too well.” I replied.

“She lies about as well as an X-6 jumps.” Kira remarked.

“Ouch. Poor X-6’s.” Alec laughed.

What the heck was going on here? Had Kira and Alec just teamed up together to make fun of me? I wondered minutely if they had given Kira some kind of drugs. The idea that Kira was coming to stand Alec more was lost amidst indignation.

“If I didn’t feel so horrible, I’d leave. I don’t have to take this.”

“Well, that lie was a little better.” Alec said to Kira.

“She’s improving.” Kira nodded, smirking slightly.

I glared at them both and struggled to stand up. In a split second, Alec was off the bed and pushing me back into my chair.

“Okay, okay, I’m sorry. Don’t get up. You need to rest a little. Geez, you and Max. You just don’t seem to get the whole letting yourself heal thing, do you?”

“You’re one to talk.” I said, but my voice lacked any real sting to it.

“Hey, I’m fine. Check it out.” Alec said, lifting his shirt.

The bandage was gone and the skin had healed fairly well. He wasn’t bleeding anymore and there was now a large scar. I reached out a hand to touch his skin and smiled slightly, glad that the encounter with CAT hadn’t retrograded his healing.

“I should show off this baby while I’ve got it,” Alec mused, “Chicks dig scars.”

I gave him a disgusted look.

“Hey, you couldn’t keep your hands off me.” Alec smirked.

“Obviously, you’re feeling better.” I said, rolling my eyes.

“Sleep is good.” Alec nodded, “You know what else is good? Food. You hungry? I‘ll get some food for you guys. Might as well take advantage of the mess hall while we‘ve still got it.”

Alec didn’t wait for a response, but hurried out of the room. I watched him leave. He was acting a little strangely.

“Well, this was nice while it lasted, I guess.” Kira mused.

I looked over at my friend, brow furrowed slightly.

“This.” Kira explained, gesturing around as if to indicate everything around us, “Terminal City.”

“Yeah.” I agreed, “I’m sorry it played out like this.”

“We should probably split soon.”

I glanced at Kira in surprise. Why leave any sooner than we had to?

“I’m fine and you should be okay to move pretty soon. We should get moving as soon as possible before CAT has a chance to attack again or start tracking us down. A bunch of transgenics swarming out of the city will be conspicuous. We should go before all that starts happening.” Kira said.

I could tell by the look she was giving me that she knew I didn’t want to go. I wanted to stay as long as possible. But she was right. Now would be the best time to leave, before everything got crazy. We could slip out now while everyone was still trying to recover from the attack. The going would be slow for awhile while I regained my strength, but we’d still be making progress, putting distance between us and this place. I frowned.

“You’re right.” I said quietly, staring at the floor.

“Hey, I don’t want to leave either.” Kira said, the tone of her voice making me lift my eyes to look at her.

I caught her glance slide sideways for a split second. Turning my head, I saw she was glancing in Krit’s direction. I bit back a smile and nodded.

“I know.” I agreed, “Why don’t we have some of the food Alec’s bringing, rest for a little, and then we’ll go. Who knows the next time we’ll have a meal ready for us.”

Kira accepted the truth of my statement with a small nod and leaned back on her pillow.

“Or a comfortable bed.” she commented.

My thoughts skipped back to the night I’d spent on Alec’s bed with him.

He grabbed my arm and pulled me towards him. I let myself be pulled down, resting my head on his chest and pulling my feet up onto the bed, carefully resting my injured leg on top of my good one. He wrapped his arms around me. I felt like if I spent the rest of my life in that position I could die happy.

“Jess?”

I glanced up at Kira, realizing that I had gotten a little absorbed in my reminiscing.

“Hmm?” I asked.

“What are you thinking about when you do that? God, I’ve never seen an X-5 get so wrapped up in their thoughts.” Kira remarked, “I was asking you if you had any idea where we should go.”

I shook my head.

“I don’t know.”

I couldn’t think about leaving anymore. Not when we had just gotten here. I had just barely found Alec again.

I turned my back to the bar and checked out the people in the room.

“494.” I breathed when I was about six feet from him.

How different my life would be now if he had never decided to disobey protocol and stop by that bar. I would still be 613 doing an extended exercise in escape and evade, never really taking the chance to live. As much as I had hated Manticore, I’d never really left it behind until I found the person who had been ordered to take me back to it. It was horribly ironic.

But none of that mattered. We had to lay low again if we wanted to survive.

Except that it did matter. Now that I was Jess, a person and not a number, I couldn’t revert to my old ways. Not completely. Alec had ruined that for me. I tried to get angry at him for messing up my life, but it seemed like I had no more anger left in me. I’d used it all up those years I’d spent hating him.

“We could try Canada.” I offered.