Previous Part <<  >> Next Episode

James and Jessie were walking down a messy corridor that obviously belonged to the Technology department. James cleared his throat, "so what's the maths teacher like, annoying, boring, sleepy?"

"Ok," Jessie muttered in response.

"Um ok? Is he any of those qualities I just said?" James asked.

Jessie groaned, she stopped dead in her tracks. James nearly crashed into her as a result. She turned around and tried to ignore the fact that he was now right in front of her because of the quick stop. "Look I don't want to be rude, but can we not talk?"

"Um why not, oh wait I've been talking too much again haven't I? Sorry I do that a lot," James said nervously.

"Well you can't help that, you're male after all," Jessie muttered to herself. James raised an eyebrow. "Just no talking, I don't talk to guys."

"I have the feeling I'm going to get a slap for this, but you're about sixteen and your mum or dad bans you from talking to guys still?" James questioned.

"No and yes, I just don't like talking to them," Jessie replied. She turned around to continue down the corridor.

"Oh well we have something in common, I don't like talking to them either," James commented.

Jessie raised both eyebrows, "ok, you're one may I remind you."

"I know that, but I don't talk to myself," James said.

"Yeah but guys can talk to guys, you know cos they're all the same right," Jessie said.

James pulled a confused expression, "um no, they're not. All the guys I've tried to talk to seem to talk about football, how hot some girl that walked passed them looked, and insult each other to death."

Jessie nodded her heard, "so I've heard."

"Yeah, I hate football, I usually hung around with girls that are straight so I couldn't comment on any girls that I liked, and I have a hell of a temper and if someone insulted me I'd be expelled or something in the next hour. Oh and if I don't take the insults seriously which I usually don't, I insult them back a little too well. It shuts them up I guess," James muttered.

Jessie sighed looking rather annoyed, "so I'll insult you good and you'll shut up."

James quickly went ahead of her and stopped in front of her, she was forced to stop too. "Sorry I just wanted to tell you that I'm used to talking to girls, and not used to guys. I was hoping you'd talk to me then."

Jessie folded her arms, "oh I get it, you want to pretend to be nice so I'll lower my guard, meanwhile you're thinking how long will it take until I can get off with this girl."

James stared blankly at her, "noo, I'm just new who wants somebody to talk to in maths and maybe other classes, that's all."

"Well there's about twenty odd other people in that class that you can talk to," Jessie muttered.

"Look one of my friends was a little like you and..." James said.

"And you broke her, good work," Jessie said.

"No like I said before she was one of my friends. I don't know the reason why you don't talk to guys, but her problem was just down to bad experience so she didn't trust many guys. She thought all of them had just one thing on their mind, but after several years of me not trying not to hit on her, ask her out etc, she was a little more trusting of guys," James said.

Jessie smiled, "ah I see, you and Danny have talked before class haven't you? You, her and Trinity have decided to come together to get me to like men."

James looked confused again, "what? I was late into college, how could I have met them before that class?"

"I don't know, which one recruited you?" Jessie asked.

"Neither, I swear," James replied.

Jessie walked around him, "well you can tell them, nice try. The maths class is in the opposite building to this one, upstairs down a narrow corridor."

A group of guys walked up to James, one of them patted him on the back. "Hey well done."

"Well done, what do you mean?" he asked.

"You got an entire conversation out of that lesbian, score," the guy replied. He and the others laughed as they continued down the corridors.

James sighed, "yeah, great."

The Bridge:
Everyone were in their usual places. Kathryn was busy telling Chakotay a story. "And then I punched that man in the face, stood over and told him 'you can't do that, coffee is not a thing to be taken granted, it's a living breathing thing that loves to be drank'. And then he said 'you are crazy woman, coffee is not a living thing.' Then I said 'if I have to defend the entire coffee race on my own, so be it'."

Chakotay's head fell onto the side console, that woke him up. "Woah, what was that?"

"Then I said 'if I have to...'" Kathryn replied.

Chakotay groaned, "no no, I don't want to hear anymore coffee is a living creature stories."

In: "Sickbay to Janeway."

"Go ahead," Kathryn responded.

In: "Captain there's something wrong with James."

Kathryn glanced at Chakotay, "what do you mean?"

In: "We're losing him."

Kathryn dropped her cup of coffee on the floor, and for once she didn't care. "What?"

Sickbay:
Kathryn and Jessie stood nearby James' biobed, the Doctor stood at the station with Kes. Everyone looked sullen.

"I thought you said the treatment would help, not make things worse," Kathryn said angrily.

"In all fairness the treatment isn't responsible," the Doctor said.

"What is then?" Kathryn asked.

"We don't know exactly. A second memory pattern has appeared, it's almost like another personality has taken over," the Doctor replied.

"It's his, both are," Kes said. "When he first woke up we didn't detect anything, there was just his. While he was unconscious, same again."

"When I discovered the two patterns I realised that there was a different one when he was asleep," the Doctor said. "At first they'd just swap depending on his conscious state. The unconscious one decided it wasn't enough, so it started to mesh with his proper memory. Somehow he was seeing, feeling things that occurred in this second one."

"You said we were losing him," Jessie said.

"The second memory was unstable in his conscious state, that's why he fell er, into the coma," the Doctor said.

"Coma, you didn't tell me that," Kathryn grumbled.

"I was going to. If we don't bring him back to reality and perish these fake memories, he'll stay like this," the Doctor said.

"Surely you have an idea how to stop it," Jessie stuttered.

"I have a theory. He fell into the coma when the fake memories brought things from it into his reality, we should be able to do the same," the Doctor said. "We can't risk doing anything too hasty."

"If we give him something small, that doesn't belong there it might not be as big a shock to his system," Kes said. "It wouldn't be permanent, the unconscious would try to bring him back. This would only be a temporary measure to keep his original self still with us, until we think of something else."

"So what are you going to give him?" Jessie asked.

"Something simple, a headache," the Doctor replied.

Kathryn raised an eyebrow, "a headache? That can easily be explained away by the fake memory."

"It's the only safe option we can do, it will seem very abnormal to him if it's constantly there. If I'm right it'll provide us with some time," the Doctor said.

Kes cleared her throat, "if I'm right, not you. It was my idea."

"Yes sure it was," the Doctor smiled.

James was now walking down a busy street not far from the primary and secondary school. Several kids ran passed him. He kicked a can, which crashed into a fence and broke it slightly.

"Score indeed, they're lucky it's my first week," he muttered to himself. Several of the kids' parents pushed passed him while passing him a few odd looks. Ignoring them he turned into the school gates.

Just outside a classroom a younger and completely human B'Elanna was telling off an eleven year old Craig. "You're not supposed to look up girls skirts, Craig!"

"But I didn't, I swear," Craig protested.

Lena stepped out of one of the classrooms, she pretended to be surprised to see James, "wow James, you're not in trouble yet?"

"Very funny, not," James muttered as he took a hold of her hand. "Come on, we're out of here."

"What's the hurry?" Lena asked.

"Why would I?" Craig moaned.

B'Elanna was getting angrier by the second, "I saw you look up her skirt from under the desk!"

Lena looked up at James, "I don't wear skirts though."

"I know that, let's just go," he quickly lead her back the way he came in.

The sun had just set, all the streets lights were dimly lit up the wooded path and road Jessie walked along. She walked off the path through the trees, and ended up in a spacious park. A few people snuck out from behind the trees and followed her. She turned around, her eyes widened a little and she backed away. The people's faces changed into their vampire ones, then lunged forward to grab her. She struggled by elbowing one, and stepping on another's foot.

One man punched her in the face, the last one holding her pulled her roughly to the ground. She fell face first, the one who pulled her down tried bite her in the back of the neck. An arrow flew out of nowhere and dusted him. The others looked around to see who did it, then a figure jumped down from the trees. They all charged forward to fight him.

Jessie pushed herself up using her hands, then placed a hand across the bruise on her face. She moved around while still on her knees just in time to see the last vampire turn to dust. The dust cleared to reveal James, he quickly hid a knife behind his back.

"Jessie?"

Jessie stared up at him, not believing her eyes. He held his hand out for her, she reluctantly took a hold of it and he helped her up. "What were those things?"

"You don't want to know, are you all right?" James asked.

Jessie groaned as she crouched down to pick her bag back up, she cringed while she placed a hand back on her cheek. "No, really not."

"We should get you to a doctor," James said.

"I'm fine I just, you know look awful," Jessie muttered. "Where did you come from?"

"I live nearby," James replied. "I should get you home, I recommend an ice pack for the bruise."

"Don't think I'm not grateful cos I really am but that's not a good idea," Jessie said.

"Ok partly home, when we get to a busier place I'll leave you alone," James said. "I wouldn't feel right if I left you alone after that."

"That's really sweet of you," Jessie mumbled. "You don't mind at all, do you? I haven't been that nice."

"I don't mind, it's expected," James said. They began walking through the park.

College, next day:
Jessie, Danny and Trinity stood in the middle of a wide corridor talking amongst themselves, two other groups of students were doing the same thing.

"I'm not stupid you know," Jessie said.

"You obviously are, I mean he seems to like you and he tried to talk to you, which is pretty brave of him might I add," Danny said. Trinity tried to keep a straight face. She and Danny avoided Jessie's new icy stare. "We had nothing to do with it Jess."

Trinity shrugged, "exactly, he probably just wanted to break the obvious silence." She noticed students were heading to their class rooms. "Damn too late."

"Have fun with your skiving period Jess, meet you in the canteen later," Danny said. She and Trinity headed off.

Jessie rolled her eyes as she turned around to go the opposite way down the corridor, against the swarm of teenagers. In the midst of the swarm, a group of older lads purposely appeared in her path. Since she did not have much time to avoid them, she crashed into them, knocking her to the ground. Her bag emptied across the floor.

She tried to ignore the sound of a lot of students laughing or sniggering, as she started pick up everything from her bag. James walked up to her once the crowd had cleared a little, he knelt down in front of her. "Want a hand?"

"Uh, thanks yeah," Jessie muttered in response.

"Let me guess, group of five guys, two with really badly bleached blonde hair," James said as he picked up two notebooks.

Jessie sighed, "yeah, they always do stuff like this."

"Do you want me to kick their ass for you?" James asked.

"You've done enough already. Look about yesterday," Jessie looked uncomfortable as she stood up. "I usually don't you know, talk to guys at all. So I'm sorry I was rude."

"It's ok. Should I be complimented that you actually spoke to me, or insulted?" James carefully asked.

"Well I only snapped at you cos you were annoying me," Jessie replied quietly.

"This is your first apology right?" James muttered.

"You didn't let me finish. It wasn't your fault, nobody warned you about me. Lots of guys annoy me and I don't even bother speaking to them. I probably spoke to you cos you were trying to be nice, plus I wouldn't have apologised to you if I found you actually annoying like the others," Jessie said.

A few students pushed passed James, he looked back at Jessie looking quite annoyed, "why do people keep doing that?"

"Maybe they like you," Jessie smiled.

James stared blankly at her, "you, you're just as bad as my sister, have you two met?"

"If your sister is the same age as us then yes, if not then no," Jessie replied.

"Well she's only six," James said.

"You're saying I'm just like your six year old sister, nice," Jessie muttered. She turned around, and headed the way everyone else was going.

"Huh, that can't be a good thing," James muttered to himself, he slowly followed her, cringing at the nasty headache that came out of nowhere. "This isn't the way to class." They both entered the canteen, as usual everyone in it turned their heads to look at them. James made his way to the coffee machine.

"I don't go this period," Jessie said. James picked up a plastic cup of coffee from the machine, gestured his head to it. "No I have no money."

"Why not?" James asked while putting another pound into the machine.

"I don't see the point in doing coursework about those stupid bubble things and business crap," Jessie huffed in response. "Sorry."

"What for? At least you have a reason that doesn't have the word 'bothered' in it," James said. "Which do you like?"

"Hot chocolate, why? And my reason does have bothered in it, I can't be like you," Jessie smirked a little. James pressed one of the buttons, a plastic cup dropped down and filled with hot chocolate. "Why did you..."

"Why not?" James replied with a shrug. "So what do you do for the next hour and a half, or whatever it is?"

"Nothing, wander or sit around, then go to lunch," Jessie replied.

"I thought you had no money," James said.

"I don't," Jessie said, pulling her bag to her front.

James sighed, "what's the town centre like?"

"Nothing you're used to," Jessie giggled.

"What's so funny, and huh?" James said.

"You sounded so American there," Jessie smirked at him. She sat down at the nearby table, James walked over to lean on a chair next to hers. "Where are you from, and don't say England."

"I was born here actually, I lived in San Francisco a lot of my life," James replied.

"Oh really," Jessie said.

"I'm only half American ok, nothing wrong with that," James said, sipping at his coffee.

"Hmm that sounds like a story," Jessie said with interest.

James straightened back up, "it's a very soap like one, no one ever believes it. All I'll say is my mum's American, dad's English but he's out of the picture."

"Fair enough, if you're still interested in going to Durham we'd better leave now," Jessie said as she climbed to her feet. They walked out together.

About twenty minutes later:
For once it was sunny and a little warm, with only a few clouds in the sky. James and Jessie walked down a path alongside the river, the trees nearby sheltered them from the sun. Not far ahead stood the stone bridge that went across the river, leading people going across it into the main part of the town.

"It's complicated," Jessie sighed.

"Is it? You're just going to tell me some guy screwed you over for no good reason. Not that there's any good reason for it in the first place," James said.

"You got it wrong, I've never been with anyone," Jessie said.

"That's hard to believe," James said.

"Not really, guys only pretended they liked me, the rest never even bothered. I've learned that I'm not girlfriend material, which is ok. I've never met a guy who's been boyfriend material anyway," Jessie said.

"I think you're wrong, those guys probably did like you," James said as they started to go up the steps on the bridge.

"If they liked me why not buy me chocolates, or compliment me without pervy or cruel sneers," Jessie muttered.

"They do it to impress their friends, I saw it all the time. It's funny though, these are the same guys who grow up, wondering why they can never get a decent girl," James replied.

"Impress their friends huh, why don't they just date them?" Jessie said.

James grinned at her, "that would solve everything. Did you want them to bring you chocolates or flowers?"

Jessie shuddered, "eugh no, I'm allergic to some flowers. Though getting the chocolates sounds good, as long as I didn't have to date the guy to get them."

"What if he was decent?" James asked.

"No offense but that's laughable," Jessie smirked. "I seem to attract the jerks."

"That's probably for the best," James said.

"Oh thanks," Jessie muttered.

"No I mean it's easier than attracting the ones who appear nice," James said.

"They're usually the biggest jerks in disguise," Jessie finished his sentence. "I know, why do you think I'm keeping my eye on you mister. You're too nice to be really be nice."

James laughed, "yeah right, I'm not nice. You can ask my step dad, he'll tell you the same thing."

Jessie pushed up her shoulders, "I'll give you one thing. There's no one to impress with your act." They began walking across the busy bridge. "Who are you trying to impress?"

"I'd say you, but I wouldn't use the word impress," James replied.

"What word would you use then?" Jessie asked.

"Not sure, just trying to get you to like me I suppose," James said..

"Why me though, am I a challenge?" Jessie questioned.

"No, well yeah if I wanted to date you," James replied. She nodded in agreement, smiling. "Maybe I like you, in a friend way."

"Really?" Jessie said, her facing lighting up a little. "I like you too, in a friend way." She put her arm around his arm to his surprise.

"Why?" James questioned.

Jessie laughed to herself, "oh don't do the 'I'm a big loser' routine. Surely there's got to be some part of you, you like. Just don't give me a male answer."

"Male answer?" James said, shriveling up his nose. "Oh no, I don't like that. Obviously the sound of my voice as I can't shut up."

"Maybe you should put your sense of humour on that tiny list," Jessie said, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah one of these days I'll have to remember to go pick it up from the shop," James said. He lead her into a coffee shop. "You want a drink?"

"Eew no, I don't like coffee. You said it was your mum that was the coffee-holic," Jessie replied.

"She is. I'm more after those slushy things, and I'm not rich enough to get two. We can share one," James replied.

Jessie smiled sweetly, "sounds good. Summer fruit, raspberry or chocolate."

"Yeah let's mix them all together," James smiled back.

Later they sat at a table with a large see through cup sitting in between them, inside it was a thick chocolate slushy with two straws.

"I did thank you for saving me, right?" Jessie questioned, twirling her straw in between her fingers.

"I don't know, probably. It doesn't matter," James replied.

"It does to me, you saved me," Jessie said.

"You're welcome," James said.

"So do you always go round saving damsels in distress?" Jessie questioned.

"No, I just like walks," James nervously stuttered. Jessie raised an eyebrow. "Stuff usually happens while I'm out, and I'll help if I can. I don't look for trouble."

"If you ever find Trinity or Danny in trouble, just leave them to it. They probably aren't," Jessie said. "If you know what I mean."

"Yeah, you're nothing like your friends. Why do you..." James said.

"Hang with them, they're fun sometimes," Jessie said. She leaned forward to take a drink, James did the same at the exact same time. They both noticed each other, smiled awkwardly while backing away a little.

Several Hours Later:
Jessie stood around the bus stop on the college side of the road, hugging herself while shivering underneath the shelter to get away from the pouring rain. James walked out of the college grounds and looked both ways to cross the road, then he noticed her. He walked down to join her, "hey."

"Hi, welcome to English weather," Jessie trembled. "It's hard to believe it was warmish and sunny two hours ago. The news said it would be all day."

James looked toward the bridge on their right, a bus slowly drove toward them. He quickly fished around his pockets to get money out. She put a hand on his arm, "don't, it's fine." The bus stopped beside them. "It's a waste, I don't live far away." She shook her head at the driver, he drove the bus off.

"What are you doing at the bus stop then?" James asked her.

"It has a shelter," Jessie replied.

James took the jacket he was wearing off, then put it around her shoulders. She put her hands up to stop him. "No it's ok, I've been too warm all day. The rain's a relief," he said.

"Really?" Jessie raised an eyebrow.

"I'm not doing the 'give the girl a coat' routine honest," James meekly said. Jessie smiled, she slipped her hand down his arm to take a hold of his hand. "Why do you er, keep doing that?"

"Sorry, I just feel safer this way," Jessie shyly replied. "Do you want me to let go?"

James looked down at their hands, "no but." He moved to stand in front of her, and fiddled with the jacket. "You should put it on properly."

"Oh," she said, slipping her spare hand through one sleeve. She let go of his hand for a second to put the other one on. He smiled as she took a hold of his hand again. "I thought you left early every day to take your sister home."

"I wanted to see if there was any point in coming back, I got back about four," James said.

"You should tell your mother that college sometimes finishes at quarter passed four," Jessie said.

"Maybe, but that would mean actually going to the last lesson," James said as he began walking back the way he came.

Jessie stayed by his side, "hmm god forbid. Look Trinity and Danny have this night out planned in Durham, it'd be great if you can come."

"I don't think I'd like to spend the night trying to keep Trinity from touching me," James said.

"That's part of the reason I asked you. Danny and Trinity talk to guys a lot, leave me alone. I doubt you'll see much of Trinity," Jessie mumbled.

"All right, sounds good. Where should we meet?" James questioned.

"My place is fine, my mum's out tonight," Jessie replied.

"I don't know where..." James said.

"Well I'll show you. By the time we get there she'll be gone," Jessie said. "And before you ask, yes it's all right with me for you to know where I live."

"Jess you've only known me for like five minutes," James muttered.

"Yeah but it's weird, it seems like longer," Jessie said.

James smiled, "yeah I know what you mean."

Later:
Danny and Trinity emerged from the dank, tiny busy station all dressed up for clubbing. They met up with James and Jessie standing just outside. Jessie stared at her friends with distaste, "hmm I didn't know we were going whoring."

Danny laughed as Trinity casually put her arm around James. "You're just jealous Jess."

"Of what?" Jessie scowled at the two girls.

Trinity moved her arm so she could link it with his. "Easy, cos we both have a good wardrobe."

"Uh all I heard was the word easy," James said, moving his arm out of her grip. She sighed in disappointment. "So where are we going exactly?"

"A pub, not a strip club," Jessie smirked.

"Yeah I'm not sure I'd feel comfortable in one of those," James mumbled. "Especially with a group of girls."

"I wouldn't put it passed them," Jessie commented, passing her two female friends a dirty look.

Later they stood or sat at a busy bar inside a crowded pub. Trinity had moved her attention to a different unfortunate guy, this one looked almost six foot tall and unlike other guys seemed to at least tolerate her company. The other three were far enough away from her.

Danny looked around, her face lit up as she immediately spotted a guy familiar to her. "Johnny?" She left James and Jessie alone to run up to him.

Jessie groaned, James looked at her with amusement. "That's a bitch."

She glanced at him, clearly annoyed. "What?" she huffed before storming off. James frowned then followed her to the quieter area where the toilets and back door was.

"What's wrong, did I..."

"You called me or Danny a bitch," Jessie replied, pulling a face. "I think."

"I said that's a bitch as you seemed disappointment to be left with me," James said.

Jessie sighed, "oh good, I mean for you. I only groaned as Danny and Trinity are easily impressed by any guys they see."

"Well not everyone can be as, uh, can't think of a word for it," James said.

Jessie smiled, "I dunno, all I can think of is picky."

"There's nothing wrong with that," James said.

"What, the word I chose or me being picky?" Jessie asked, smiling sweetly.

"Second, there's got to be a better word than that," James shrugged. "Does it count as being picky if you haven't actually picked anyone?"

"I wouldn't worry about that," Jessie said as she stepped a lot closer to him. She put a hand on his arm, he reached out to take a hold of her other hand.

Meanwhile a petite woman in her forties pushed through the crowd. Her face grew angry as she laid her eyes on them, just as they leaned in for a kiss. She marched toward them yelling at the top of her voice. "Get the hell off my daughter!"

James and Jessie quickly separated. "Mum," she squeaked, nervously glancing between him and the woman. "It was just..."

"Oh I know what it just was," the woman snarled. "You stay away from my little girl." She pulled Jessie away from him by the arm.

"Mum wait, he's a good guy really," she stuttered.

"Yeah right, I thought you'd know better Jessie," the woman muttered.

All Jessie could do now was stare after him as she was dragged to the exit.

James nervously bit his lip, then he turned around to walk to the back exit. Outside a group of friends were standing around chatting, all holding drinks. Nearby a couple were in a close embrace, the guy had his head buried in the girl's neck. James walked down the alley, trying to ignore everyone. Then he heard the girl gasp for help. He turned around to pull the man off of her. She ran off down the alley.

The man turned to him muttering, "what's your problem bud..." He then seemed to recognise him, "Slayer."

"Whatever. You have no idea what great timing you have," James muttered back. The group nearby turned around to watch the two fight.

James kicked him into the wall, then pulled a knife from his jacket and lunged forward to dust him. The knife went in but nothing happened. The man gasped, stumbled back as he held onto the knife. He slid down the wall, then his entire body went limp.

James widened his eyes, turning a little pale in the cheeks. Some of the group watching everything rushed to the man's side. One checked his pulse, while another quietly talked on his mobile phone. "I don't, don't understand," he stuttered. "Is he?"

The guy checking the victim's pulse looked up at him, shaking a little. "Yes."

James backed away, "no no." Everyone heard police sirens in the distance. He turned around, jumped up to grab the second floor window ledge, and used that to swing up to the roof. Then he ran as fast as he could.

Meanwhile on Voyager:
Kathryn and Jessie stood impatiently in the Doctor's Office. Tuvok entered Sickbay, the Doctor immediately pounced on him.

"This better work," Jessie grumbled, glancing briefly at Kathryn. "Do you check on every crewmember this thoroughly?"

Kathryn laughed, then quickly turned back to worried and annoyed. "You mustn't have met many members of Voyager."

Jessie rolled her eyes, "oh I have, forget I said anything."

"Done," Kathryn said.

"I wonder when Tuvok's getting here," Jessie muttered, narrowing her eyes slightly at the Captain.

Kathryn turned around to look toward the door, "huh, doc what are you doing?" Jessie also turned to see Tuvok push the Doctor off of him, they both quickly got onto their feet.

"What? The narration said I pounced on him," the Doctor blushed. "It's not my fault that the writer didn't say 'not literally'."

"Or has a bad sense of humour," Kathryn commented.

Tuvok brushed himself down, "so illogical." He noticed everyone staring at him. "Now as I was saying before the Doctor jumped me."

Danny appeared at the doorway laughing rudely, "that's a good one, what did I miss?" Jessie rolled her eyes.

"Jumped on me," Tuvok corrected himself. Danny continued laughing. "Never mind."

The Doctor groaned, "are you sick or something?"

"Of course she is," Jessie muttered.

"I meant Mr Tuvok," the Doctor said.

"No, the reason why I came here was to offer a suggestion," Tuvok said.

"Yes we know," Kathryn groaned.

The Doctor glanced between everyone, "I didn't."

"We must bring Mr Taylor back to reality, even just a little bit to keep his mind intact," Tuvok said.

"We do know that already, and we've tried," the Doctor grunted. "It hasn't given us enough time to figure this out."

"Whatever's doing this to him is intelligent," Kes added on. "It managed to fight against the headache we gave him, so it seemed normal."

"Intelligent suggests a lifeform," Tuvok said.

"That wouldn't surprise me," Kes sighed.

Kathryn frowned, "can we figure out who this is later? What's your idea Tuvok?"

"Let me guess," the Doctor groaned.

"I suggest a Vulcan mindmeld. I may be able to appear in his dream state," Tuvok replied.

"It's bad enough when Vulcan's do mind melds on each other, let alone a human coma patient," the Doctor muttered.

Jessie glanced at him then Tuvok, "does it put him in any bigger risk."

"Worst case scenario is that it won't work," Tuvok said.

"Excuse me, I'm the Doctor. There's no telling what will happen if something goes wrong. Mind Melds are so unpredictable," the Doctor said.

"He's already in a coma, there's only one way it could get worse and I doubt that'll happen," Kathryn said.

"But if something does happen the fake memory may find it difficult to explain away what's really happening," Kes said.

Jessie pulled a face at her, "don't even suggest it. He's almost died enough."

"If it is an intelligence, it's most likely trying to kill him anyway," the Doctor muttered. "I am one hundred percent against this plan."

"But if the patient is unable to make the decision, who does instead?" Kathryn said, raising an eyebrow.

"Family, I'm the closest he's got," Jessie muttered in response.

"Oh god," the Doctor groaned quietly.

"Tuvok, do it," Jessie ordered.

Tuvok looked at Kathryn anyway, she nodded her head. "Very well."

Not long later:
Tuvok stood beside James' biobed with his hand in the meld position on his face. Jessie, Kes and the Doctor stood anxiously nearby. Kathryn remained in the office, watching through the glass.

"My mind to your mind, your thoughts to my thoughts," Tuvok chanted, closing his eyes. James' twitched slightly, the station nearby beeped to get the Doctor's attention.

"What was that?" Jessie questioned.

"I'm not sure, whatever it was it was only for half a second," the Doctor replied.

Tuvok's eyes did the same, then they opened. They tried to adjust to the lack of light while he looked around at his surroundings. He appeared to be in a quiet part of what seemed to him was a primitive looking town. A streetlight coming from a few metres away, and the faint moonlight was the only source of light.

"Interesting." Tuvok looked up at the closer building as he heard some cluttering around above him, as usual his eyebrow raised.

A dark figure jumped down in front of him, even managing to startle him. He looked around frantically, "where did you come from?"

"Mr Taylor," Tuvok said. "Do you know who I am?"

The lack of light wasn't on either men's side. Tuvok's overall appearance was too dark for him to figure out. "No, how do you know my name?" James' eyes widened, "oh crap." He quickly turned to run off.

"Wait," Tuvok calmly as usual said. He started to follow him. "You're only going to make this harder for yourself."

James didn't look back. "Yeah what's they all say," he muttered, climbing onto one of those large company bins to help get over a wall.

Tuvok stopped, glanced behind him as police cars with flashy lights drove up to where he appeared. He quickly did the same as James to follow him. They both ended up in what appeared to be a dead end.

"They must make these to stop people escaping the police," James muttered to himself in annoyance.

"Police?" Tuvok said.

James swung around to face him. "Look I didn't mean to do it. I was just, he was trying to kill a girl." His face lit up a little, "oh find her, she'll tell you."

"I'm not with these police," Tuvok said, stepping slowly closer. "All this, it isn't real. You know me from another life, this one's slowly killing you."

James stared blankly at him, "ookay, I think you had a bit too much to drink pal." He turned away again. "And so did I, yeah."

Tuvok quickly stepped forward to grab his arm, he missed only a little as he turned back around. The next and last thing Tuvok saw was his fist coming towards him.

Sickbay:
"This is odd," the Doctor said, staring at his beeping station.

Jessie and Kes jumped a little as James' arm suddenly moved and his fist went into Tuvok's face. "What the?" Jessie stuttered.

"Well the meld's over," the Doctor smiled. "I can't believe it."

"What is it?" Kathryn said, rushing out of the office.

"That certainly did something. His vital's have improved, Tuvok's appearance must have triggered something," the Doctor said. His face fell, "we need something bigger, he'll go back to his previous levels in ten minutes. If we get something bigger, it might be enough to get him out of the coma."

Jessie turned to look down at James again, the punching arm lay where it must have dropped after it did it's job. "Coma patients don't just punch people."

"Don't complain, it's a step in the right direction," Kes said as she went over to Tuvok's side. "Maybe Tuvok will tell us the full story when he wakes up."

Meanwhile:
In the middle of a small deceiving nice looking housing estate, the young watcher Daniel Ronnie Lavine stepped out of his cheap second hand van on the driveway. He headed for the upstairs flat he owned, glancing at the car next to his in distaste. It had two broken windows and spray paint written on it.

"For god's sake, would it be wrong to set my new Slayer onto anyone who tries that with mine." He then noticed the state of his door. The lock part of it had been smashed in, the door itself was open a little. "It really wouldn't be." He pushed the door open, then headed up the stairs. Right away he spotted James standing in the hallway. "You, why kick my door down?"

"I didn't," James replied, still looking slightly shaken up. "Look I'm in trouble."

"You think you have problems, those guys who live opposite me keep breaking my lock and threatening to throw bricks at my window," Daniel grumbled.

James rolled his eyes, "if I have a spare five minutes ok."

"Great, now tell me about it," Daniel said as he headed into his kitchen.

James followed him, "I killed someone I thought was a vampire. He said 'Slayer' in the usual way though, but I staked him and nothing happened. He died like a normal guy."

"Hmm I've heard of this," Daniel muttered. "Maybe you just missed, vampires love to screw with Slayers lives by playing dead."

"No, I've been doing this for years, how could I miss?" James said.

"I don't know, it usually happens when one is distracted with something else or like you said is new. Sometimes they follow some dumb TV show about someone called Bluffy who stakes through the stomach and still kills them," Daniel rambled on. "I mean what is up with this planet, I thought it was Earth that the problem originated from anyway. Some even have this crap about invitations and only wooden stakes."

"You have some issues don't you?" James muttered.

"Hey I grew up on this planet like you, listening to this crap from my father," Daniel said, pulling a face. "Eew, I'm turning into him. Next I'll be wearing geeky glasses, styling my hair like an old man and acting all ponsy."

"Yeah um, unlike your issues, mine actually are big enough to ruin my life," James said.

"Are there any better affordable flats closer to you than stupid Stanley?" Daniel asked. "Speaking of which, how did you get here?"

"On something called a bus, now can we get back to the important stuff?" James groaned. "Police are after me and I don't know what to do. There were witnesses, and the victim of the supposed vamp ran off."

"All we can do is prove it's a vampire, you can't get charged for murder if he was already dead," Daniel said.

"So either I'm screwed cos I'm going to jail for murder, or I'm screwed cos I'll be in the mental institution," James muttered.

"It's easily proved," Daniel said. "Fine, leave the country. I can easily sort that, change your name. It's so easy to get around security and checks on this planet."

"Really? They've increased security since last September you know," James said.

"Yeah sure," Daniel groaned. "Watchers have connections you know."

"Well can't you use them to get me off the hook?" James questioned.

"If we were on warp planet yes, probably. Most cultures who are, are usually more enlightened," Daniel replied. "I would be able to explain it was a vampire as they'd be able to understand Games, and have made first contact with other races. Here all I can do is protect you, this entire planet is a big mess, I don't see it improving anytime soon."

James frowned, "fine, but I can't ask my family to move again for me. I'll have to go alone."

"Yes well that's the kind of sacrifices a Slayer usually has to make," Daniel said.

"I know," James uncomfortably said. "I have one thing to do first." He turned back to leave.

"The only things you really need to pack is stuff you can replace," Daniel said. "Besides you can't say goodbyes, the police will go to and stay at your house."

"I'm not going home," James muttered, he disappeared from Daniel's sight.

Jessie walked to her front door to open it, she found James standing there in front of her. "James, you shouldn't be here."

"I know," he said, his eyes filled with regret. "I'm in big trouble, and I'm..." Jessie stepped closer, she placed her hands on his arms. "I'm scared Jess."

She looked behind her briefly, then led him to the side of the house. "What happened?"

"There's something you need to know and understand me first. I'm not exactly a normal guy," James mumbled.

"I know that, or we wouldn't be talking now," Jessie said.

"No, not that. I'm stronger, I protect people, well supposed to," James continued to mumble. "But I made a mistake, now the police are after me. My watcher, the guy who was supposed to train me, can get me out of the country but..."

"Out of the country?" Jessie muttered in disbelief.

James shook his head, "I don't wanna go. No matter what I do about this, I'll not be able to see you again and that hurts me more than I thought. I came here so you wouldn't think I was the kind of jerk who kisses and runs."

"Your mistake couldn't have been that bad," Jessie said.

"Those men who attacked you, that's the people I usually fight. They're vampires, crazy I know but somehow I narrowly missed the heart on one guy, he played out he was human. You think I'm crazy don't you?" James said.

"I'm not sure. You're freaked, scared, no denying that. I saw one of those guys disappear like in the movies, or that show. What can you do that isn't so drastic?" Jessie questioned.

"Nothing, the police will think I'm nuts. Unless I kill the guy in front of them, after shoving crosses and the holy water part in their faces to be sure," James replied.

Jessie raised her shoulders, "could work."

"No, it couldn't. The best way is to leave, your mother doesn't want us near each other anyway," James said.

"Wait behind the hedge or something, give me ten minutes," Jessie said. She rushed back into the house before he could say a thing. He did as he was told.

Half an hour passed, one of the upstairs windows opened. He heard Jessie's voice whisper his name, so he looked up. She pushed a big bag out of the window, it slid down the lower level's roof and dropped. James caught it but almost dropped it in shock over the weight. Jessie climbed out of the window, slid down the tiles underneath. He moved to stand directly in front of her.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm coming with you," she casually replied, stopping on the edge of the roof.

"No you're not," James muttered.

"And why not?" Jessie grumbled.

"You'd dump your life here for a guy you've known for a few days?" James said with a raised eyebrow.

"No, there's not much to throw away and well even if we did fix this problem of yours, mum was going to get you kicked out of college," Jessie muttered. "Now, little help as I can't climb back up."

With a sigh he held out his arms as she got ready to drop down to the ground, he caught her. They held onto each other. "You don't even know if I'm telling the truth or not."

"No I don't, don't care. Wherever you're going, I'm going too." She moved forward to kiss him again. This time they lasted longer than a few seconds, and weren't interrupted. "You're worth it," she smiled.

"You're amazing, you know that?" he said, blushing slightly.

Jessie did the same, "now I do."

Daniel stood waiting at the back of a hospital looking anxious. James and Jessie walked up behind him, he turned around slightly only to jump back where he was. "Don't do that! Who's this?"

"A friend," James replied.

"Uh this isn't a day trip, we've got your innocence to prove," Daniel grumbled.

"It won't work, they'll not believe he's a vampire. All I'll be doing is getting a few more witnesses to me killing him," James said.

"Not with that attitude, now why is she here?" Daniel asked.

"Well if we fail, she's coming too," James replied.

Daniel stared blankly at them both, Jessie smiled nervously. "You're kidding right. Your last watcher told you about the no girlfriend rule?"

"Give me the lecture when I'm not listening. Where's the morgue?" James said.

Daniel groaned, then lead the way into the hospital muttering angrily to himself. Jessie pulled a face as she walked alongside James.

Not long later they were standing around in the creepy dark morgue. Daniel played around with a mobile phone in his hand while James stood nearby the crypt drawers, and Jessie stood in the centre of the room.

"So how do you plan on proving he's a vamp, video camera?" she questioned.

"Not really, you can play tricks with those and they'll think we made a mini movie," Daniel replied.

"If the guy's awake and stuff it might work," Jessie said.

James opened one of the crypt drawers, peeped inside. "Uh there's a box in this one, oh."

"What?" Daniel groaned.

James quickly closed, turning back around with a disgusted look on his face. "Body parts."

"Eeew," Jessie pulled an identical face.

Daniel put the phone by his ear, "yes hello? I have information about a murder case."

James stared at him, "that's your bloody plan, tell them on the phone?"

Daniel shushed him, "yes, the victim found behind a club in Durham tonight. Yeah he's not dead."

James rolled his eyes, "there really should be an age limit for watchers." He shook his head as he began to leave

"Morgue yes, I was going passed and I heard something. Yes thank you," Daniel said to the phone. He went forward to grab his arm. "Wait I know what I'm doing."

"No you don't, they'll not believe you," James said.

In the corner of her eye Jessie noticed one of the drawers open on its own, the vampire stuck his head only a little. "Damn claustrophobia." He noticed he wasn't alone in the room, "crap."

Police then burst in, Daniel managed to look impressed for once while everyone else looked very worried. "That was quick," he muttered, putting his hands up. "I made the call."

"You didn't mention him," one officer said, looking toward James.

"Yes uh, this is complicated," Daniel said. Everyone noticed Jessie gesture her head at the vampire, he quickly snuck back inside.

"This is impossible," an officer said.

Daniel raised his shoulders meekly, "I told you, didn't I?"

James edged to the side to pull the drawer open. The vampire pretended to be properly dead again. "For god's sake, everyone saw you already." The police moved forward to grab him, he instinctively knocked one of them away with his arm. When they managed to hold him back the vampire jumped out to attack the other officers.

"Back up," one reported into the radio. "Hospital Morgue."

James tried to kick the vampire while being held back with the police. When I say held back, they held his arms but he still forced them forward so his kick would reach it's target. "Let me go, I have to..." he grumbled.

It was too late, the vampire had knocked the remaining officers unconscious onto the ground, he was now busy dipping to figure out who to bite first, then remembered Jessie and Daniel so he faced them. Daniel pulled out a dagger, then stood next to Jessie to protect her.  

"Ugh, sorry guys." James threw the men holding him over his shoulders. At that moment backup arrived. Amongst the backup was Tom and even Damien. The vampire quickly pretended to look scared, putting his hands up. James stared at him in disbelief, "I don't believe you, how many times are you going to frame me here!"

"Please don't kill me again," he stuttered.

James rolled his eyes, "yeah that's realistic." He threw a knife at the guy, he turned to dust. The rest of the police froze, Daniel cringed slightly.

"What the?" Tom stuttered.

One of the guys who the vampire knocked to the ground stumbled to his feet. "About time you arrived," he harshly said to backup. The other remaining officers pulled themselves up, not believing what they had just seen.

Damien and another of the backup remained at the door as the rest edged nervously toward James. The one who spoke moved to stand next to Damien. Tom spoke up, "James Taylor-Janeway, you're under arrest for the murder of... what's the guy's name again?" Another officer groaned.

"Why's that cop seem annoyingly familiar to me?" James muttered, looking at Daniel and Jessie for an answer. They shrugged.

"Um no he's not," Damien smiled smugly. He and the other two each pulled out a gun. Damien's was trained at James, another toward Jessie and Daniel, the other to the rest of the police.

"What are you doing?" Tom demanded.

"This is none of your concern," Damien replied.

"Did I ask you to speak," the one with the radio hissed. He began to fire at the other police officers. James was about to move forward but Damien stepped forward too, aiming his gun at his head. Everyone else tried to duck as the second guy started to shoot too at the police, but the room was void of stuff to hide behind. Only James, Jessie and Daniel were left seconds later. One guy pointed his gun toward Jessie and Daniel.

"What about the civilians?" he asked. Damien glanced briefly at him, James then quickly moved to stand in front of Jessie.

"Damn it, I have to stop doing that," Damien muttered to himself, re-aiming his gun.

"Go, run, I'll block," James whispered to the two behind him. He moved to keep the gun path to Jessie and Daniel blocked as the rushed to the door.

"No one will believe them," Damien commented.

"Yes, too bad you can't give our thanks to your watcher for telling us," the lead guy sneered.

"What are you talking about?" James muttered. He backed toward the door, one shot a warning shot at him. "Look, if you wanted to kill me you would have already. See you hopefully never." He turned to run after Daniel and Jessie.

James, Jessie and Ronnie stood around outside James' house, waiting behind Ronnie's van. Police cars were parked badly outside, most of the officers there headed back to their cars. Two were arguing with Kathryn at the front door.

"I don't care what those people say, my James doesn't kill people. He helps people. The witnesses even said the victim was a guy with a girl, he pulled him off her and she ran off. She was probably in danger."

"And then what, decided he was the law and stabbed him?" officer one said.

"No, that part doesn't sound right. Why don't you do some actual policing instead of accusing an innocent boy," Kathryn snapped.

"Come on mum, just let them go," James muttered.

Daniel sighed, "this is a serious case, even if she did let them they'd leave a few to watch the house."

"Back to your place then, I suppose," James said. He and Daniel snuck back into the van.

Jessie remained where she was, then noticed Damien's group getting out of a new car on the scene. "James, trouble." The two guys backtracked to look.

"Oh god, mum and Lena, they must be..." James stuttered. Daniel put an arm out to stop him.

"Let me go, police aren't after me."

"But those three will recognise you," Jessie pointed out.

"I'm counting on it," Daniel said. He moved out of the hiding place, then headed for the house. James and Jessie stayed where they were, out of sight of everyone else.

Damien and company surrounded the officers talking to Kathryn. "Don't talk to me like that, you've got the wrong boy," she scolded. "Now you're not searching my house again."

"Actually we are," Damien said.

"Go and intimidate a deserving family," Kathryn groaned. She slammed the door in their faces.

Daniel stopped behind the group, "looking for something?" The officers all turned to look at him, Damien and the others narrowed their eyes. Damien stepped forward.

"Is he here?"

"Why would any accused murderer come home, it's always the first place police check," Daniel said.

"Are you a relative or friend?" one of the officers asked.

The leader of trigger happy group raised his hand, gesturing him to shut up. "Stay out of this. You'll tell us where he is or..."

"You owe us some answers first. Why do you want him, and why did you kill those other policemen?" Daniel said.

The other officers frowned in confusion. "What?"

"Oh yeah, you'll find some extra bodies in the morgue," Daniel said. "These lot have a solo gig going on."

The leader groaned, turning to point his gun at the lead officers head. The other two did the same with the others. "We're taking this case Georgie."

"My name's Andrew, and you've got to be kidding," officer one muttered.

"Try us," Damien laughed.

Other police officers emerged from their cars again, Daniel shrugged his shoulders. "This place is a bit more public guys."

"Tell us where the Slayer is or these idiots die," the leader snarled.

"The what?" one of the officers said.

Meanwhile James and Jessie looked a bit worried as they looked on. "I hope your spy has a plan," she said.

"Watcher," James corrected. "And so do I."

"Whatever his name is, he's still creepy," Jessie said.

"Uh oh," James muttered as he noticed some officers glancing toward the van.

"If he's anywhere, he's probably in there," Damien said.

"Shush," the leader snapped. "You're giving him to them."

Daniel rolled his eyes, "why would I bring him here." Some officers decided to head for the van.

"Crap, what do we do?" Jessie asked.

James edged to the side to open the van door, "we get in the van."

"Oh god," Jessie groaned, she climbed in first. They sat in it, ducking so no one could see them through the windows.

"Ah!" the leader snapped. "If anyone goes near that van, I'll kill these guys."

"Do you want me to get you a muffin too?" Daniel mockingly asked.

"Maybe a raspberry one," Damien replied. The other two groaned.

"Idiot. If all of you other cops don't leave, I'll blow their heads off and that includes everyone in this house too," the leader said.

"What about the kid?" Damien whispered. The other two looked very annoyed with him now.

"Do you think we're kidding?" the second one demanded. "We'll prove it to you that we're serious." He shot the guy he was holding hostage, he aimed his gun toward Daniel. "Get out of here!"

"Fall back," one officer ordered. The rest of them rushed into their cars again. Soon the cars had drove away out of sight.

Jessie peeped through her window, "they're gone. I can't believe it."

"They'll probably come back with a surprise attack or something," James muttered. "This is why they should arm police here."

"Um no, those three are good examples of why they shouldn't be," Jessie said.

"That was too easy, let's get the kid and get out of here," the leader whispered to his teammates. He casually shot the officer he was pointing the gun at, Damien did the same.

"What about the watcher?" the second guy asked.

"No, he'll be useful," the leader replied. "Boys, get that door open."

"I don't think that's a good idea," Damien said, glancing directly at Daniel. His two teammates groaned.

"You know, we're getting really sick of you blundering fool..." the leader snarled. Damien quickly turned around and shot his friends. After they fell to the ground he turned to face Daniel again.

"What was that supposed to be?" Daniel asked.

Damien smirked as he put away his gun. "There will be more coming for your two Slayers, you really don't want these guys to get their hands on them."

Daniel stared at him suspiciously, "why are you telling me this, and why did you do that?"

"Wow you watchers are idiots, aren't you? I thought that was just a myth," Damien rolled his eyes. "They'll probably want to capture you as well. We should hide your two kids, I know where one is but where's the one already Chosen?"

"You have given me no real reason to trust you. You've killed people and..." Daniel said.

"He's in the van. I'm not an idiot," Damien muttered.

"Of course not," Daniel scoffed.

"Oh yeah," Damien said. He took the gun back out and aimed it at the van. "I saw it move, but if you're telling the truth and no-one's in it, then it's ok for me to shoot out the windows."

"No," Daniel blurted out. "It costs a fortune to replace those."

"Uh huh," Damien smiled. He knocked on the front door. "If I'm not allowed to shoot, I'll take a look then."

Daniel rolled his eyes, "fine."

The front door opened, this time Chakotay was there. "My wife wants you to stop hassling us."

"Oooh, big scary man wants us to leave his little wife alone," Damien teased. "That's cute, where's your daughter?"

"Oh my daughter now is it? Haven't you got anything better to do?" Chakotay grumbled.

Daniel looked toward the van, gesturing his eyes and eyebrows. James reluctantly left the van, and headed over. Jessie more so.

"You can't be serious about this," he muttered.

"I think I know who these people are," Daniel whispered to him.

Chakotay glared toward James, "what are you doing here? This is the last place you should be."

"Don't I know it," James muttered, using his own glare on Daniel. "You're either going to get me arrested or killed."

"This is why you should listen to me. More of those guys will come for you and your little sister, do you really want them dissecting you for the rest of your tiny lives," Damien muttered.

"So I was right," Daniel said.

"What are you talking about?" Chakotay demanded.

"Shut up," James groaned, rolling his eyes. "More police are going to come here you know, we can't just stand around and talk." He snatched Damien's gun off him, "we'd better get inside for now."

"Excellent idea," Damien said, fidgeting slightly. "Can I have that back?" James pointed it at him. "Really, you can keep it."

"Thanks," he said. Everyone quickly shuffled into the house.

Voyager:
Kes hovered a regenerator in front of Tuvok's swollen eye. Jessie and the Doctor remained at James' bedside.

"The headache thingy isn't working, whatever Tuvok did, did," Jessie said.

"The headache isn't strong enough to reach him most of the time. It'll be when he's at his weakest in that life. As for Tuvok he may not know him there, and/or really bad timing," the Doctor said.

Kes sighed in annoyance as Tuvok attempted to raise the wrong eyebrow. "Something startled him, he was on edge and it was night."

"Sounds like a five year old describing a story's scene," Jessie muttered.

"That's an exaggeration, I'd say more like a FV writer describing a scene," the Doctor smiled, looking oddly proud of his obvious joke.

"Indeed," Tuvok commented.

"Can you please refrain from saying anything else while I treat this, you got more than a swollen eye," Kes said.

"We need a new plan," Kathryn said, emerging from the office. "I hope somebody has one."

"Tuvok probably couldn't make an impact as whatever's doing this can easily exclude him from this new life," Kes muttered.

Jessie looked deep in thought. "Is there a way for Tuvok to meld him again, but bring someone else along for the ride?"

"Sounds risky even if he could," Kes commented as she finished her treatment.

Tuvok stood straight up from the biobed. "There is a technique called the bridging of minds..."

"Here we go," the Doctor groaned.

"That will allow another person to enter into his unconscious," Tuvok said.

"Great," Jessie said, moving to sit on the neighbouring biobed. "Hook me up then."

Danny popped into Sickbay to laugh again, "hook me up."

Everyone, even Tuvok turned to look at her and more or less screamed, "shut up Danny!"

"God, James goes into another coma and everyone gets twisty," she muttered.

The Doctor shook his head, "I don't recommend this anymore than I did a regular mind meld. Have you ever done this bridging of heads before?"

"Minds, and no," Tuvok replied.

The Doctor was about to continue protesting but Jessie butted in, "come on, let's do this thing. He needs our help."

"Very well, you will need to kneel down close to his head," Tuvok said. She did as she was told. Tuvok did the meld on her and James with obviously different hands.

Kathryn, James, Jessie, Daniel and Damien stood around the living room of the house. Daniel kept checking through the curtains for any new arrivals.

"That's horrible. What do these people hope to accomplish with experiments?" Kathryn questioned.

Damien shrugged, "I don't know, it seems like a waste to me. You can't copy Slayers, they know that. It seems futile to me."

James looked around, fidgeting slightly. "Does anyone else feel that?"

Damien suddenly grew nervous, "yes, yes I did."

James looked at him with narrowed eyes, "you don't even know what it was, did you?"

"Then why did you ask?" Damien smiled smugly.

Daniel walked over to stand beside James. "What is it?" he whispered.

"I'm not sure, it feels like something's coming," James whispered back.

"That's probably more police. We haven't got time to waste, we need to get out of here," Damien said.

"I need to get more weapons before I go anywhere," James quietly said to Daniel. He nodded, then left the room.

Damien groaned, "oh come on, how long are you going to keep that gun trained on me?"

"Until you give me a reason to stop," James replied.

"Uh I told you everything, what more do you want?" Damien rolled his eyes.

The house started to shake a little like there was a mini earthquake. Kathryn's coffee spilt onto her lap. Damien looked very nervous at this point.

"Ok that's not a good sign, now stop pointing," he stuttered.

Jessie looked freaked out, "what's going on, we're in England we shouldn't get earthquakes."

James shuddered slightly, "oh god." He turned to his mother, "mum, have you got anything to tie up that guy with?"

"No why would I?" Kathryn said. "I'm not kinky or anything so why would I?" She took the gun out of his hands, quickly aiming it at Damien. "There, happy."

James looked disgusted, "no, how come whenever you say stuff in that tone, I get worried." He headed the way Daniel went, "I'd better check on Lena."

Kathryn blushed a little, then for some reason only just noticed Jessie's presence. "Who are you?"

"A friend," she replied.

Damien smiled a little, "a female friend, that's juicy."

Kathryn stepped closer, still holding that gun. "Keep talking like that and I'll be bleaching your blood from my carpet."

Daniel appeared at the doorway holding some weapons in his arms, he dropped them all to the ground. "Where's James? Great. Girls, weapons." He noticed Kathryn already had one, "younger girl, weapons."

Jessie reluctantly started to make her way across to him, just then a bright light engulfed the entire house. Everyone blocked their eyes, Damien quickly moved forward to grab the gun from Kathryn. When the light died down Jessie and Daniel noticed a sky blue portal had opened up in front of the back wall. Kathryn noticed that her and Damien's roles had reversed, she cleared her throat to get attention from the other two.

"Thank god your freak son cares more about the ickle sis, huh," Damien smiled deviously. With his other hand he fished a device out of his pocket that looked like it was from Voyager's time.

"I knew you weren't to be trusted. Did you create the portal?" Daniel grumbled.

"Now that would be telling," Damien said. He pressed a button on the device, then brought it to his face. "Good timing boys, it's all clear."

Daniel quickly handed Jessie what looked like a phaser rifle, just not as advanced. He picked up a sword, and collected a few knives.

"That's not going to be enough," Damien smiled.

"Ok, what's going on? What's the portal for?" Jessie whispered to Daniel. "And how do you work this thing."

"It's already set up, just aim and the red button," Daniel replied.

Meanwhile upstairs in Lena's bedroom another portal exactly the same had opened up. Chakotay and James both stood in between it and Lena.

"Hey I'm her father, I should protect her," Chakotay grumbled.

"Don't remind me," James groaned, looking disgusted. "This is my job you know."

"Your job is arguing with dad, I knew it," Lena commented cutely.

"Anything could come out of that thing, I should protect her while you fight or something. You know I'm right," Chakotay muttered.

"Maybe I should just throw you at the portal to see what happens," James said.

Just then a dozen different kinds of demons stepped out of the anomaly, one by one. Lena and Chakotay looked pretty freaked out when they saw them. "Bogeymen, daddy get them," Lena said, hiding behind her dad's leg.

"Aaaw how cute, let's make the boss proud," the lead demon said.

Damien meanwhile backed into the downstairs demons which had done the same thing. "Now remember, no killing family." He pointed at Daniel, "maybe him though, and her." Jessie accidentally slipped on the fire button, one demon got knocked to the ground. "Definitely her."

"Oops," she said.

On both floors the demons charged forward to attack.

Upstairs Chakotay picked up his daughter while James went forward to fight the demons.

"Cool," Lena said, watching her big brother. "Can I do that?"

"Hell no," Chakotay replied, carrying her out of the bedroom.

Downstairs Kathryn and Daniel pushed the sofa in the way of the demons, while Jessie seemed to fire randomly at the demons. A few of the demons jumped over the sofa, Daniel quickly took the weapon off of Jessie and started firing at them. "Arm yourself then get out of here!" he yelled.

Kathryn and Jessie knelt down briefly to pick up a few weapons, Kathryn ran out of the room but Jessie stayed behind. She threw one of the knives at some of the demons closing in on Daniel. He skillfully fought two with the sword he had. One lifted the sofa, throwing it into the wall.

Kathryn bumped into Chakotay and Lena at the bottom of the stairs. "You don't want to bring her down here."

"What, I can't take her back up," Chakotay stuttered, gesturing his head up the stairs. One of the doors nearby them opened suddenly, a demon lunged forward to grab Chakotay. He quickly let go of Lena before he was pulled backwards through the door.

"Daddy!" she cried as Kathryn picked her up. She quickly covered her eyes with one hand, then threw one of the knives she had toward the demon. It only stunned him for a second, this gave Chakotay the chance to fight back. He was then pushed backwards onto the floor, a couple of demons marched out of the door. One didn't look happy with a knife in his side.

"For god's sake girl, get out of here!" Daniel yelled as he was forced into the wall by three demons.

Jessie looked behind her then in front, whatever way she went she would have to deal with demons. "Crap, crap." She went forward to go to help Daniel, more surrounded him so she couldn't see what was happening. Moments later she heard a thud coming from there, the demons moved off. She gasped, "oh god." Daniel had been clawed and stabbed, he lay bleeding on the ground where he stood before.

Two demons headed over to her, the ones who attacked Daniel remained behind them. One tried to grab her, she kicked it as hard as she could in the leg. It backed off a little, then she swung the sword she picked up carelessly in front of her but it put off demons from coming closer. As she backed to the door Damien rolled his eyes, pointing the gun again.

"Useless minions, she's only a little girl." He fired just as Jessie closed her eyes, and whispered something. The bullet slowed right down as it got within a metre of her. It stopped completely, then dropped to the ground. She then turned to go into the hallway, slamming the door behind her.

Kathryn and Chakotay both were trying desperately to fight the demons, Lena stood nearby the door with Jessie. They looked at each other, both exchanged nervous, "hi." The fight between Kathryn, Chakotay and the demons wasn't going well. The door Jessie came through smashed to pieces as a fist went through it. Jessie quickly clutched onto Lena. She started whispering again, Lena looked up at her confused.

A knife flew down from upstairs, killing the one who was attacking Kathryn. James then jumped down to join everyone. "Upstairs is clear, portal's closed," he quietly said to them. He blocked the demon's way to Jessie and Lena, they rushed upstairs first, then Kathryn followed them. James ignored the demons holding Chakotay against the wall, punching and choking him.

"James," he muttered. "Little... help."

"What?" James said, shrugging casually. The other demons attacked him. "Sorry, a bit busy." Chakotay managed to roll his eyes.

Upstairs Jessie handed Lena over to her mother. "What would you call the centre of the house?"

"Um, what?" Kathryn muttered.

"Just tell me," Jessie said. Kathryn frowned, pointing toward the wardrobe nearby her. Jessie rushed over to sit down there, cross legged. "Just keep quiet for five minutes."

"Charming," Kathryn muttered.

Jessie closed her eyes, then began to chant quietly. The other two girls thought she was just plain nuts until a light shone on her out of nowhere.

Meanwhile James looked annoyed as he had an opening to help Chakotay. "Ugh, can't you just do it yourself." He marched over to help, by this time Chakotay had turned blue.

Lena looked up at her mother, "what's she doing?"

"I don't know," Kathryn uneasily said.

Jessie opened her eyes which had turned red, "banish." Suddenly an orange shockwave came from her, it went straight through the outer walls and to the edge of the garden.

Downstairs the shockwave appeared nearby the stairs, it grew like it did upstairs. Each demon it hit disappeared in an orange shimmer.

Kathryn looked outside to find an orange bubble surrounding the house. Police had arrived again on the scene.

James and Chakotay looked at each other, confused. "What the hell was that?" James muttered.

Chakotay pointed at his bruised neck, shrugging his shoulders. All he could do was croak a little.

Damien burst through the door looking peeved, "you!" He pointed angrily at James, "where did you get that witch from. I swear I'll tear her apart too!"

"Witch?" James said.

Upstairs Kathryn and Lena stared blankly at Jessie after turning away from the window. "That was cool," Lena commented.

Jessie stood back up, then walked over to them, "thanks, it was nothing."

"How... how?" Kathryn stuttered.

Damien meanwhile was stuttering just like her. "Where, where... how did you... where is she!"

"I don't know any witch," James muttered. He stepped forward but Damien pointed a phaser at him this time.

"Watcher briefed you on alien technology didn't he, this'll vaporise you," he snarled. "Where is that girl you were with?"

"You think Jessie's a witch?" James said, trying not to laugh.

Chakotay tried to speak, "who?"

"Oh, I've spent too long with this plan to have it messed by a little witch like her," Damien groaned. He pressed a button on the device he had, he disappeared in a transporter beam.

"Where is the girl I brought here?" James asked Chakotay. He shrugged, pointing up the stairs. "Finally, you're useful for something," he said, rushed up the stairs.

Damien rematerialised next to Jessie, he grabbed her by the throat before she knew what had just happened. "You have no idea how much you've ruined me, I should have shot you before you had a chance to."

Kathryn looked on helplessly, she had no weapons and she couldn't leave Lena alone. "Hey, she didn't do anything, it was me."

Damien laughed, "yeah right." Jessie kneed him, but he kept a hold of her anyway. "Ok that's it." James entered to the room just in time to see Damien stab her with his spare hand, then pushed her through the window that was just nearby. "Well, that's that."

Kathryn couldn't believe her eyes, Lena pouted angrily, Kathryn kept a tight hold of her just in case.

Damien turned around, not realising James had been right behind him. He grabbed him by the throat, "mum get Lena out of here." Damien's eyes widened as he noticed James' was red. "Now!"

Kathryn picked up her daughter, then rushed out of the room. As she headed down the stairs she heard Damien screaming hysterically, then silence. Lena looked up at her mother, she looked horrified at what she just heard. "Chakotay."

"What the hell?" he croaked.

"Ok you can't, I'll call," Kathryn said, leaving Lena with him. She went into the living room to pick up the phone that lay on the floor. While she talked on the phone James walked down the stairs, he went straight passed his sister and step dad and went into the kitchen. He opened the back door that lead into the garden.

The orange bubble seemed to have faded away. Police had gathered around the middle of the garden. A few noticed James, then went over to arrest him. He pushed them out of the way, as well as other police that didn't notice him. He stopped in front of Jessie, she lay on the grass with shattered glass surrounding her, some of it stained with her blood. The wound in her chest hadn't bled that much at all. Her eyes were open, but they were lifeless.

Two police officers went to stop him again, he grabbed one and threw him into the nearby police car, and pushed the other one away. Then he knelt down next to Jessie, he gently stroked the side of her face as he leaned over her.

The remaining officers at this point didn't know what to do. James slowly stood back up after kissing Jessie's cold forehead. He pushed his way through the officers in his way, any of the ones who tried to stop him he was more forceful with. He grabbed one that stood by Daniel's van, and threw him into another police car.

Nobody dared to stop him as he went into van, and drove it away.

Voyager:
The Doctor and Kes looked panicky as she worked at the station, and he at the biobed panel. "Lifesigns are fading, we're losing him."

"Is Jessie and Tuvok..." Kathryn stuttered.

Kes looked to the side of her station, "they're in. I don't know if they have any time left."

The Doctor shook his head, "he's only got ten minutes, unless Jessie can perform a miracle I don't see them getting to him in time."

"I don't understand, what's killing him?" Kathryn questioned.

The Doctor sighed, he looked down at the panel. "He is." He looked toward Jessie and Tuvok. Her eyes began twitching, they then opened. She looked around to find herself in the back of Daniel's old van. It screeched to a halt, throwing her to the floor.

"Ow, stupid thing, who's driving this hunk of junk," she grumbled. Moments later the doors to it swung open, she looked around to find a sword in her face. It quickly moved away again. She glanced up to see who it's owner was. "James, oh god."

He stared at her with his dark black eyes, not sure what he was seeing. "Jessie, how is this... you're..."

"Ok um. I don't know how to start here but um, you're hallucinating," Jessie muttered.

"Really?" James said. He turned around and walked off. "That explains that."

Jessie pulled a face, "ok that's not what I meant." She quickly climbed out of the van, looking around to figure out where he walked off too. She noticed the van had been parked crookedly across two lanes, right next to traffic lights. A few cars were beeping at it as it was blocking their way. Jessie looked at them helplessly, then noticed James walking down a nearby alleyway. "Wait! I didn't mean that you, you were hallucinating! I mean this is!"

James picked up his pace, he crossed a few more roads and went to walk on the path alongside a road going across a high, green bridge which went across a river. He stopped to lean across the side of it. Jessie ran to catch up with him. When she was only a few metres away she saw him climb onto the ledge, her eyes widened in panic. "No!" she screamed, running to him as fast as she could.

The beeps on the heart monitor on the biobed started to become less frequent, Kathryn's face turned pale. "Kes, prepare for resuscitation, quickly!" the Doctor ordered. Kes rushed to his side after picking up a hypospray and a small device from the tray.

Meanwhile Jessie got to James, she didn't want to dare pull him or he'd lose his balance. She glanced briefly at the drop below them, which was about twenty feet and he had chosen the spot above the road below, the riverside was only a few metres away from it. "Please don't do it James, whatever it is, it isn't worth it."

"They didn't warn me about hallucinations," James muttered to himself.

"No, I'm not one. I'm the only thing that's real here," Jessie stuttered.

"Then what does it matter then," James said, closing his eyes.

"No I mean, you're real. So am I, if you do this..." Jessie said, she reached out to touch his arm. "See, I'm real. Please come down."

James looked down at her, "no, you're dead. I saw it, he stabbed you and I didn't stop it! It's my fault you were there."

"Oh, I died," Jessie said quietly. "As you can see I'm not dead, nobody stabbed me look." She reached out to hold his hand, "the Jessie who died, it wasn't the real one. This is all your imagination."

"What are you, what... you talking about?" James said, shaking his head. "Oh god, I'm talking to it now."

"Hey, have you been suffering a headache or did you see a tallish man, big ears, calm looking, telling you that this wasn't real?" Jessie questioned.

James glanced down at her, widening his dark eyes. "What, how?" He looked around, shaking violently. "For several days, it only happens sometimes."

"That's us, the Doctor's trying to bring you back into reality. The man you met is a Vulcan on our ship, he connected us so I can talk to you. I'm there, by your side," Jessie said.

"Vulcan. They're emotionless, telepathic..." James muttered to himself, looking back down at her. "He said. No how can that be, I don't remember any ship. We can't possibly..."

"Something's in your head, it created this false life to try and trick you," Jessie said.

James shook his head, looking like he was ready to break down in tears. "That's not possible, you're not. You're not her, I saw her die. I only knew her a few days, but I felt like I knew her... for years."

"Why do you think that is?" Jessie softly said. "Look at me, when you met me days ago, did I seem familiar at all?"

"Yes but I dunno why," James mumbled. He stared at her, "your hair, it's different. I've never seen it like that."

"You look different yourself, you look several years younger than the James I know," Jessie said. "Look if you jump, as your mind's stuck completely in this other life, it will kill you there too. I don't want to lose you, you're very special to me. We're going to be parents, you and I."

"What, we didn't..." James stuttered.

"Obviously not here you didn't," Jessie said. "In reality we've been together for two years nearly, we've known each other since we were four. You're my best friend. Please, just come down."

"I don't remember," James mumbled.

"You will, I'll help you. Just step down, carefully," Jessie said. James stared at her as he stepped down, she sighed in relief. "I'm not sure what else to do to get you back. Oh what the hell." She guided his hand to her stomach, then kissed him. He closed his eyes only for a second, when he reopened them they were blue again. Everything around him seemed blurry, it was clearing up pretty quickly. He heard a continuos beeping sound come from nearby.

"Heart rate returning to normal," the Doctor smiled. "The memory pattern's still there, but it'll fade."

Tuvok moved to stand out of the way. Jessie used the biobed to stand back up, she stood by James' side and held his hand. "It worked, right?"

"Whatever you did it worked," the Doctor replied.

"Where am I?" James asked, looking up at Jessie. Her relieved glance faded away quickly.

"What's wrong?" she stuttered.

"Don't panic, it'll take a while for it to all come back," the Doctor replied. "He should rest here for at least another two days. Make sure he does."

Jessie sighed, "I will." She smiled down at James, "it's ok, you're in Sickbay on Voyager. You're going to be ok, I'll stay right here with you all right?"

The Doctor walked over to Kathryn, "his memory should return in an hour or so, probably longer. It's best if we just let him be."

"Let me know when he's back on his feet," Kathryn said. She nodded at Tuvok, "good work."

"Captain, it was Miss Rex who..." Tuvok said.

"I know, but he's familiar with her, I don't want to startle him just so I can thank her now," Kathryn said. Tuvok nodded as he left, Kathryn followed. James caught sight of her just as she went through the door.

"Mum," he whispered.

"No sorry James, she's not here," Jessie said, taking a hold of his other hand. "It's ok, you'll get it all back, promise."

Kes stared after them, then looked towards the door, frowning in confusion. She looked down at her station, and began to work on it. A list of the crew's medical files appeared on it, she selected Kathryn's.

****THE END****

Previous Episode <<  >> Next Episode