Darkness surrounded Marco. There was a peaceful stillness in the encompassing black. His head swam dizzily, and he felt as if he was floating, uncertain of which way was up or down. He slipped in and out of mental awareness, his mind a part of the serene liberation that was half sleep, half waking, hovering limply through its rather viscous embrace.

How long he remained in that pleasant stupor, he did not know, but he didn't mind it, not even fully aware of if he was indeed dreaming or not. That thought alone was a comfort, as there was peace in feeling nothing at all.

But the tranquility started to become pierced with snippets of memories. They came and left in quick blurred images that darted from left to right before him. He barely had an opportunity to recognize a vision before it was swept away again, unable to materialize into something more. It was as if someone were fast-forwarding through parts of his brain, trying to find a memory to settle on and watch. Each time a new memory broke into view it was wiped away again with a muffled pulse.

Such moments were interspersed with more of the quiet inky black, but the images came and went faster, the space between shrinking, the pulsing sound coercing his own heart rate to keep in time. He was being roused unwillingly from the stupor he was perfectly happy to remain within.

The images demanded attention; he felt forced into watching them clip by. He wanted to remain oblivious to any of it, eyes kept blissfully closed… until one blur of recollection was finally allowed to take shape.

Marco's eyes opened fully and he found himself partially walking, partially swimming towards the figure which molded into the likeness of Jackie. She was alone, standing firmly in the blackened expanse of nothingness but lit with enough light he could make her out as clearly as if she were standing at the beach beneath the sun, a reverse silhouette.

It was as if the part he had to play began to move his body on que. He had to reprise the role even though everything in him cried out not to.

She had her arms crossed over her chest while he was trying to explain himself. The words that came out of his mouth were so thick and muddled that even he couldn't understand them. When Jackie spoke, it was as comprehensible to him as if he were living in the exact same moment, but all over again.

"It can't work. You said yourself, this is my life. I want to keep it."

Marco again replied, inaudibly, struggling to hear his own words but hearing only muffled sounds.

Jackie's face flushed red against the whiteness of her hair, her inner fire plain to see spreading over such pale skin.

"We can't, Marco. It's two very different wants."

Again, even more forcefully, he tried to shout at Jackie. She was tearing herself away from him and he was struggling to try and hold on, the words completely inept. And Jackie kept on talking, interrupting his failed attempts at speech.

"… it would be wrong for me to keep you wanting something you'll never have with me."

Marco's arms swung slowly through the thick air around him, trying to make it over to Jackie but gaining very little ground. She merely stood there, staring him down as he struggled.

Then she grabbed hold of his face in her hands, the huge gap between them instantly bridged in half a breath.

Jackie's voice started to merge into another familiar tone, her white silken hair turning almost as black as the hue surrounding them, her skin darkening down several shades. Her eyelids dropped to cover half of her eyes.

Suddenly it was Janna that held his face in her hands, her voice coming through the dark in a sarcastic tone.

"I am sure. I've never doubted it, just the same as you've never let it go."

Somewhere in his mind, Marco knew this wasn't how the nightmare went, and yet it felt natural, the dream almost real. He swam his hands down to take Janna's hands, guiding them to his chest. His thumbs caressed over the backs of them to feel her warmth. He could almost feel the heat of her proximity, and her breath across his ear, so familiar. Nevertheless, where Jackie was next to him now stood Janna in her place. Jackie's words were on Janna's lips.

"Listen," she said, "you can't make it work. You can't force yourself to not want what you want, and you can't force me to either, or we'll both end up miserable. You do see that, right? So, I figure… now's a good time to give you an out."

She removed the silver pentagram ring on her hand. He knew what was about to happen and tried to prevent his hand from opening, trying to swim backwards to no avail. Even though nothing inside him would allow it, she opened his hand as if it took no effort, placing the ring into his palm and closing his fingers around it. He swallowed hard, having seen this happen before and rejecting his fate internally, shaking his head as hard as he could but unable to say anything intelligible. He could only relive the miserable double rejection.

"Stay amazing, ok?" she said, her image becoming noisy. As Janna made to kiss his cheek, her face flickered, going in and out like bad reception on a television station.

She blipped away, and Marco could feel his heart as if he'd fallen several floors too fast.

The ominous darkness blanketed around him again, but this time he couldn't passively accept it. The peace of the null void had been broken by his own memories, and the emotions that tore to his core. He thrashed his limbs wildly in awkward slow motion, swimming in an aimless direction. There was no escape from himself.

Then he heard a sound he could barely remember… tiny and almost like a sniffling echo. And then his mind's eye conjured up a frail image of the blond crying girl he'd once seen but couldn't recall clearly. He saw mainly her hair, tumbling down over her form like a silky golden river. But he didn't see her clothes, or even her arms and legs. Her face was hidden by the hair as her head was cast down. Yet, her voice tingled along his spine like a feeling of familiar hope.

He reached for her and the mage warbled. It couldn't stay phased into the same reality he was in. And all at once even though he hadn't blinked, she was gone.

Minutes passed, strands of time that seemed painfully infinite. He kept reaching out in the void as if he might see her again, until there was a flash of painful, searing white light that made him slam his eyes shut and twist reflexively away. He tentatively opened his eyes once again to blackness, but the flash of burning white hit a second time… then a third… and again, faster and faster in succession. He could feel the pain electrifying his brain and tried not to scream; he felt for sure that his eyes would explode out from the front of his skull.

The light increased its torture, his ears picking up the harsh shrill sound of it like metal shredding against metal. Knuckles clenched, he thrust them to his temples and staggered in the air, contorting into a floating ball. Even though his cry was stifled, he opened his mouth to scream anyway. He began to choke and gasp for air.

With a harsh pull of his neck he wretched backwards, slamming his head against something hard with a dull thud. His arms likewise connected with walls around him… curved walls. Even his knees knocked against whatever surrounded him. He was enclosed within inches of something solid trapping him on all sides. And, when his eyes finally opened, it took his mind several moments to interpret what he saw.

Two people wearing long white coats with high blue collars were scrambling behind long computer-like desks filled with glowing keys and buttons. They were rushing, looking his way, then back again at their keyboards and monitor screens, frantic to figure out, as much as Marco was, what was happening.

Marco's instincts kicked in as soon as he realized he couldn't speak, something blocking his airways that also was running down his throat. The realization hit him that he was underwater. Panic immediately set in, his feet and hands beating against the tube-like glass around him as hard as he could. His fingers tore at the device over his mouth.

There was a buzzing sound in his ears as the woman wearing the lab coat pressed a button on a panel right next to his tank and spoke through a type of intercom.

"Mr. Diaz, please, calm down. Do not panic."

How he heard her voice, he wasn't sure. He didn't care. His animal fight or flight response had already drowned the voice out in a flurry of his feet and arms against thickened plexiglass.

The woman stepped quickly over to her companion and tapped a bunch of buttons in front of him, much to his own disbelief and bawking expression. He made a move to stop her but it was too late.

There was a deep, heavy machine breath and the floor beneath Marco's feet opened to reveal a gate-like drain. The water drained out so quickly it seemed to want to suck Marco down with it. The fluid enveloping him slicked down his body and suctioned his clothes, taking him down to the floor as the water vanished down through the flooring.

"Mr. Diaz, please relax," the voice said again, just as calmly as it had before, but Marco was nowhere near able to obey it. He tried to tear the contraption away from his mouth only to find it so firmly entrenched down his throat he was afraid to rip out his lungs. His fingers reached around and tore wildly at the various tubes and wires plugged into a headband-like apparatus around his forehead. He ripped one of the wires out and the woman's voice went silent.

He huddled down in a sopping wet slump on the floor of the tube, shivering madly with the shock that was settling in. His voice could only come out in muffled whines.

A small hiss of air filtered through the mask covering his nose and mouth. It had no smell but the effect was nearly instantaneous. Before he could muster the wherewithal to stand up, his limbs got heavy, along with his eyelids. With each inhale his eyesight blurred further, until sleep overtook him.

There was a creaking sound that broke through the sudden tense silence. The man behind the long console crossed his arms and had swiveled his chair to face the woman.

"I told you it was handled. What the hell were you thinking?"

"It wasn't handled. Your memory scanner is not yet a tried and true tech. It's what caused this. This isn't my fault."

"That doesn't give you the right to just e-stop everything and open the chamber."

"He was already conscious. What'd be the use of knocking him out again?"

"Look, he'd just have gone right back in and thought it was all just a dream. Would've taken me two seconds. You just couldn't wait!"

"Useless to try anyway, with those adrenaline levels."

He shrugged, holding out his palm towards the slumped Marco as proof of his abilities.

"Whatever, just help me get him up to the pod."

"We can still get him back into deprivation," he said hopingly.

"No, it's reckless to try again. We have to try something else. Besides, he's damaged the breathing tube."

With an annoyed sigh the man got up from his chair and slipped his arms under Marco's armpits while the woman grabbed his ankles. They tottered a bit as they carried his dripping form over to a bed that was inset into a pod-like medical frame, dragging the breathing tube along the floor.

As soon as they set him down into the bed the woman put sleek, blue bracelets around his wrists and ankles that instantly began to glow once they clicked into place. She got to work detaching the breathing tube that was dangling from off his headband and then, painstakingly slowly, pulling the smooth hollow tube out from his throat inch by inch. It ran deep to his lungs, and she cradled the back of his head as she slid it gently out of his mouth.

"You know what kind of trouble we're in?" the man grumbled as he closed the clear lid of the pod once she was finished. Two button presses later and a warming device which ran along the inner bed frame quickly began drying out Marco's clothes from small triangular ports running all along his body.

The woman sighed, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose, then cringing, tossing them off her face altogether. "Look, I know. I know. We'll deal with it. He won't be able to escape the torpefy links."

"I don't think this has ever happened before. I sure don't know the protocol for dealing with it. If the higher ranks find out-"

"They won't," she interrupted, "as long as you fix that memory rig you're so fond of trying to use."

"Pulling memories up on the monitors and erasing them are two different things," he huffed, but then smiled self-assuredly, "but hey, I'm really good at the latter. Your poor pet's life here might depend on it."

The ridgeline above her eyes jerked from arched surprise to creased down in anger. "He is not 'my pet.'"

"Oh come off it. You've been more excited about this bring-in than any others we've done. He was always your favorite subject to track. Couldn't wait for the tag order."

"For purely scientific reasons, I can assure you, Dumont."

The use of his last name made him put up his hands in self-defense, also a move to calm her down before she went further. "I get it! I know… easy, I meant nothing. Just make sure this doesn't get personal is all I'm urging you."

The soft sound of the drying fans filled the space quietly until she snobbishly mumbled. "Why would it?"

"You don't really have to hide things from me. I've worked with you for years. You think I don't know? It's probably the main reason you signed up."

She pushed by him and grabbed one of the tablet pads they frequently took their notes on. "We don't have long before he's awake. Let's finish up with some of the side tests before he does."

"I think we need to make sure we're both on the same page here, Amber," he warned with a more stern voice. "What we've got here is a real problem, and it could cost us more than our jobs if we make the wrong play. You understand that?"

"I-I uh, don't think it would come to that. No, we won't make the wrong play."

"Good. We can indulge a little into the territory you want to dip a toe in, because I admit, I'm slightly curious too, but at the first sign of trouble we have to pull the plug. No exceptions."

"I get it."

"The higher ups only have singular goals in mind and as much as they don't tell us, I do know they aren't the forgiving types."

She relented, casting her eyes down at the tablet in her hand. "I've heard. We've got our orders and we'll fulfill them. They don't need to know anything else." She added quickly, "That is, I mean-"

"I'm on your side, you know," he smiled reassuringly, giving her the smallest of pats on the shoulder, "and I know you're solid with us. I'll get the last of the basic tests run with the blood vials and try to make sense of the footage we have from his stasis. He'll be awake in less than twenty so figure out how you want to do whatever it is you want to do. I'll follow your lead. With any luck maybe we can get more answers while he's conscious."

"Thank you," she said with a meek smile.

A crowd of people were milling about near Britta's taco stand. It was a brilliantly sunny day, and Janna was happy she had managed to grab a seat at one of the cement tables that had an oversized umbrella, to get some shade from the oppressive brightness. Alfonso and Ferguson were seated at the table also, joined shortly thereafter by Sabrina, Ferguson's girlfriend with their baby. She moved the stroller beside Janna and took her seat next to the small space leftover next to Ferguson, whose large size took up most of the whole bench.

Janna's natural urge when the stroller pulled up was to casually try to put a few more inches between her and the squirming bundle inside the colorful little seat, but this time she resisted, even daring to have a peek over the edge of the fabric. Inside was a rosy-cheeked infant with a surprising amount of reddish hair plopped lightly atop its head, as if a pixie set a glob of cotton candy there. Its little form was covered in the chubby baby pudge of an almost three-month old, dressed in a blue onesie with a dinosaur on the front.

Sabrina's hair was a rusty shade of brown, tied back into a ponytail. She smiled when she caught Janna having a longer look than usual at her baby.

"That's Toddy," she said with a bounce to her voice.

"Oh, uhm, hello little man," Janna said to the small face whose eyes were large and exploring. A bit of drool dribbled on his lips and he kicked his tiny feet all at once as if acknowledging her voice. "I guess you've got daddy's hair, huh?"

"Yep," Ferguson said between gulps of taco. "Little squirt has my hair but has his mother's eyes."

Janna looked into the baby's eyes again and could see the pale light green of Sabrina's eyes glistening back, though somewhat blankly.

"I see that," stammered Janna, trying to find something to say. "He's a real cutie."

Ferguson laughed and leaned forward on his chubby elbows. "Watch out Sabrina, Janna thinks I'm a real cutie."

Sabrina snorted a laugh. "No, she means Toddy!"

"Yeah, but he gets his good looks from me."

"And me! So, does she think I'm a real cutie too?"

Ferguson narrowed his eyes and shot a dangerous look across the table to Janna, pointing a taco in her direction. A bit of refried beans from the bite he'd newly just taken dripped onto the table. "She's my girl, so keep your hands off."

Alfonso stifled his own laugh and brushed Ferguson's arm aside which was hanging in the air across from his face. "Easy Gus! You know she always liked me best."

Janna let out an incoherent burst of air from her lips to blow away her bangs. "Sha-right."

Everyone at the table had a good laugh while Janna was grateful for the bit of distraction. A sense of nostalgia rolled over her while hearing them, remembering their time back in school together. She looked over the three faces and how they'd changed, if only slightly, with their age and the tacked-on responsibilities of their jobs and, in Ferguson's case, family. She looked once more down into the stroller at Tod.

"So, Janna, you had something on your mind?"

She snapped her neck back up and faced Sabrina. "Oh, uh, yeah, listen it's… it's about Marco."

The trio waited for her to continue, but the seconds of dead air were growing louder. Ferguson slowly grabbed for another taco without taking his eyes off of Janna.

Alfonso's nasally voice rushed in.

"What's wrong with Marco? Why isn't he here with you?" His pupils suddenly shrank as a new thought dawned on him. "You broke up with Marco!?"

Ferguson was hitting the bottle of hot sauce as quietly as he could over his taco when those words blurted out. "Is that true?!"

Janna shook her head hastily and put up her hands. "No-no guys. That's not what happened."

"He broke up with you?!" garbled Ferguson is surprise, nearly choking on the bite he hadn't had time to swallow properly before speaking. Alfonso slapped him a few times on the back before giving him a glaring look with narrowed eyes.

"What?! Sorry, I'm hungry," he apologized.

"Look," Janna went on, "Marco sort of… proposed to me like a week ago and-"

"You're getting MARRIED!?" squealed Sabrina who was so overwhelmed with the news she jumped up from her partial-seat and rushed around the stroller to give Janna a squeeze before she could stop it.

Janna cringed and froze in the giggly, girlish hug while Oscar, the rather spiky-toothed employee of Britta's Tacos, walked over to see what the commotion was about.

"Hey, you better keep it down." He pointed to Janna with a sheepish look on his face. "If the manager finds out I let you eat here I could get fired."

"Relax Oscar," said Janna as she helped Sabrina regain her composure by removing her hands from around her body.

Sabrina let Janna go and they both returned to their seats, Sabrina so eager to hear what Janna would say next that she too set her elbows onto the table and her chin in her hands, leaning forward like an expectant toddler for a treat. Her eyes glazed over with the romantically stupefied look of someone reading a romance novel.

"You're not still banned from eating here are you?" Alfonso balked. "That's crazy!"

Oscar ducked his head slightly and returned to the stand as a new customer came up to the ordering window. "Thanks again for the uhm… help, Janna. Just, low profile, OK?"

"What's he mean by help?" Alfonso looked from Oscar then back to Janna. His eyebrow raised suspiciously behind his black-framed glasses.

Janna spoke quickly to avoid having to explain longer. "I helped him get a management position at Britta's and he sells me tacos whenever the boss isn't around, K? Look, guys," she rubbed her forehead with two fingers, starting to become overwhelmed with the weight of her worry and inability to communicate without being interrupted by silliness, "this isn't about all that. I need to talk to you about Marco and me, and how I can't find Marco anywhere. This is serious. He disappeared and I was hoping maybe one of you could tell me you heard anything."

The group all looked at each other, shrugging and shaking their heads.

"I haven't heard anything," Sabrina said, followed by Alfonso stating the same. He plugged away at his phone only to come back with, "I haven't gotten a text from him in ages."

Ferguson furrowed his brow and wrinkled up his nose so much that his freckles seemed to disappear. "Uhhh, last time I saw Marco was… was when he… dang, Janna, I'm sorry but I don't know exactly."

"Well, try to remember. It's important," Janna pushed.

He thought harder but drew a blank, slumping his shoulders. "I guess last time was somewhere around four months ago. We don't often get out due to the kiddo now, you know? Last time I saw Marco was the baby shower I think."

"Yep," Alfonso confirmed, showing his phone. "That's when we got together last, actually."

"Oh, damn that is a long time ago," she sighed.

"Janna! Tell us what happened!" insisted Sabrina.

With a heavy breath, Janna told them what had happened the day Marco had left the apartment complex. She retold everything just as it had been, though sparing them from hearing what emotional state she was starting to slide into. She kept her eyes focused on a crinkly taco wrapper idly moving with a small breeze between the saltshaker and pepper, glancing up only once in a while to make eye contact, though her errant gaze was distant.

Ferguson steadily took crunching bites of his taco until he finished, Sabrina slurped the last of her soda, and Alfonso nervously checked his smart phone for anything that Marco might have posted.

"Man, he hasn't played 'Martial Arts Zombie Killer' either in the last week. That's like his favorite game."

Tod started to make a fuss, reaching out with his hands and opening and closing his fingers. A single bubble of spittle dripped down his chin as he looked around at the adults.

"Janna, wanna come with me to the bathroom real quick?"

Sabrina's question found it's way into Janna's ear and made her stop her brain process of retracing Marco's possible steps after leaving his car behind.

"You know, I'm normally not one of those girls that goes off with others to the bathroom to do makeup, Sabie."

The woman rolled her eyes and pursed her lips, giving her a glance that was almost conspiratorial. It took Janna a moment to comprehend why she would have asked such a thing, but the look given by Sabrina helped her understand that she wanted to speak to her in private.

"I think Toddy needs a diaper change, and you can help me," she said, in case Janna needed a reason to accompany her.

"Yeah, yeah… sure, sure," said Janna as both she and Sabrina headed towards the outdoor bathroom facility provided by the park.

As soon as they both got through the door, Sabrina turned and held out Tod towards her, surprising her with Tod's face held up into her own.

"Do me a fave and let me use the restroom while you hold Toddy? Thanks!"

All at once the bundle was thrust into her arms, leaving her no room to object.

The baby wasn't nearly as heavy as she anticipated, and it was easy enough for her to turn his little form horizontally to rest against her chest, to hold him in a more comfortable way. Toddy, in response, squeezed his little fists and made a small burbling, cooing sound, calming down as he listened to Janna's heartbeats.

Sabrina had quickly disappeared into one of the stalls. The rest were all vacant, leaving Janna there holding the small boy alone, nobody doing their makeup in the mirrors next to her or moving around to use a hand dryer, grab a tissue, or otherwise cause her to feign casual acceptance of her newly acquired job as baby-holder. While she was submerged in anxiety over Marco and unsure of her next move, a thousand thoughts coursing through her mind, her nervousness about holding the boy ebbed. She looked down at his peaceful face, oblivious of the trials of life, and it was as if time decided to slow down. When she lifted her head, she saw the reflection of a different woman in the bathroom mirror. Her own eyes stared back, a woman holding a baby that might as well have been her own, and it was content. Its tiny fist was placed directly against her breast while its head nestled against her heart. A part of her inner psyche paused her mental acrobatics of worry if only for those few moments, allowing her to see herself as she could potentially be with Marco.

She smiled, using just a single finger to rub over the back of Tod's hand.

"Janna!"

She flinched, only just realizing that Sabrina had finished in the bathroom and was already done washing her hands, now staring at her with a strange grin playing on her lips.

"Oh! Sorry, didn't notice-"

"Yeah, I can see!" she laughed, quickly peeling Tod away from Janna's arms.

She felt the small warm thing leave her chest, a twinge of regret replacing it.

"Geeze, Janna, if I didn't know better, I'd think you were put under some spell."

Janna brushed it off with an embarrassed smirk, removing her hat and combing her fingers through her dark hair. "Nah, man, I was just thinking about Marco. Got a little lost in thought."

"Uh-huh," the other woman said idly as she took Tod to a baby changing table and got to work unbuttoning his onesie with one hand while fishing through her large baby bag with the other, her hand deftly choosing the correct items with just a touch, pulling out baby powder and a fresh diaper. "I wanted to ask you while we could talk for a minute alone."

She put her hat back on, "What?"

"About Marco proposing. Did you say yes?"

"You didn't need me to come with you to the bathroom to ask that. I'm sure Ferguson and Alfonso want to know too."

"Once those boys start talking about 'Ninja Death Kill' or whatever video game, they're lost. They'll be comparing achievements until we come back out there, watch."

"Well the answer is… I didn't give him an answer."

"You mean you didn't say yes or no?"

"That's pretty much what it means to not give an answer."

"Ohhh!" Sabrina growled playfully, poofing the baby powder over Tod's bottom and wrapping his diaper up all in one seemingly fluid motion. "I know that! Just tell me what happened."

"I'd been trying to this entire time!" she looked down at Tod. "You look like you're a diaper master already, wow."

"Now who's stalling?" she smiled, her eyes warmly narrowing. She buttoned up Tod's outfit and cradled him up onto her shoulder. "Go on, before someone else come in here."

Janna took her advice and hurried to explain. "Marco proposed and then talked about children, and I wasn't sure about that part. He got all upset before I could really explain, and I was hoping I'd not have to so… I kinda just played it off."

"Janna being Janna, hmm?"

She sighed, "I figured we had no reason to discuss it right then and there, plus I don't really believe I'd be ready for a baby."

"I have a secret for you. You're never really ready, even when you think you are. Sometimes great things come unplanned. Look at Toddy. Ferg and I didn't exactly plan for this. Now we're set to plan a wedding. I thought I was happy before, and now I'm even happier than I was. Who knew? Feels like, being whole, you know? You, the love of your life, and your baby bean."

One side of Janna's mouth pressed into her cheek as she shrugged. "I guess?"

"What are you going to tell Marco when you see him?" she pressed on, closing up the changing table.

"I'm going to tell him… well I have to find him first."

"Obviously! But then what?"

"I'm going to say… we can give it a chance." She winced as she expected a second squealing explosion from Sabrina, and was not wrong, as the other woman went through a stereotypical giggle-jump followed by incoherent excited sounds like a kid being told they were going to Disney World.

"That's wonderful news! Then little Toddy will get someone to play with, won't he? Won't he?" She started to talk baby talk as she held up Tod to her eye level, rubbing her nose against his as she spoke. "We just have to go find that runaway Marco first, don't we? Yes we do!" She tossed him playfully and the baby laughed in tiny, shrill spurts.

Janna put a hand to her head and then adjusted her hat, so Sabrina didn't see her exasperated motion, then followed Sabrina out of the bathroom.

As they got closer to the guys sitting at the taco table they could already make out what they were talking about, as their own excited dialog filled the air. Ferguson was wildly using his hands towards Alfonso.

"There was this one time that Marco, like, took his electric power sword and rammed it through a zombie's skull through its eye-hole and then jump-kicked it at the same time, because like, lag, and then the game glitched and sent the torso flying but the head was still stuck on the sword for the rest of the match! It was awesome!"

Sabrina softly whispered to Janna, "See?"

Janna chuckled lightly. "Well, it's not really about game achievements, but yeah." She took her seat at the table and spoke louder as soon as Alfonso stopped laughing. "I wish I could've been there to see that! But hey, seriously, have you checked Marco's on-line groups where you guys game and chat? Anything there at all posted by him over the past week?"

Alfonso sadly shook his head, "Nothing. Checked. We thought maybe you could check your bank statements and see if he used his credit card?"

"Dude, we don't have linked accounts just because we live together!"

"How should I know? Was just a suggestion. I figure he took his wallet and would've had to spend money somewhere."

"Was my idea," admitted Ferguson with a shy, apologetic air. "Once Toddy came along Sabie and I got a joint account at the same bank, not that we check each other's accounts like stalkers, just saying we know if each other spends money."

Sabrina didn't sit down, instead clearing some of the wrappers and napkins off the table and throwing them away. "Janna said Marco didn't give her time to really respond to the proposal before he got upset and left. Now he has been gone a week, but to where? Did you check at the Echo Creek Lodge?"

"Yep," Janna replied. "They wouldn't tell me much at the counter," she grumbled with a snobbish huff, "privacy issues… but I have my ways. Got a friend working the clean-up crew that owed me a favor. Anyway, that's a no. He hasn't been there."

"If he isn't there, and hasn't been to our place, or to Alfonso, then… uhm," her voice drifted as she realized something while speaking, now unable to stop her sentence without it being awkward. "Uhm… maybe try… Jackie?" she mumbled hesitantly.

Janna opened her eyes wide. "What?! He wouldn't!"

"I just had to ask, Janna, I had to, sorry! I don't think Marco would, but, I mean, you kinda have to know or else you're going to have to go to the police and file a missing person's report. Wait, did you check with his parents?"

"I really didn't want to involve them any more than I had to. I did call, and no they haven't heard from him."

"They must be worried sick!"

"No, I made sure to ask about him really casually. I didn't want to upset them unless I had to, which I would do if I end up having to go to the police."

"Then, it can't hurt to go over to Jackie's… just to see if she saw him."

Janna sighed angrily. The idea hadn't even occurred to her to ask Jackie and now that it was brought up, it was unsettling her to not know the truth. She stood up from the table due to her anxious nerves and to keep herself from saying anything she didn't mean.

"You guys'll let me know if you hear anything, right?"

"For sure," said Ferguson and Sabrina at the same time.

Alfonso likewise agreed, then nervously added, "Marco wouldn't do that, Janna, I… don't think."

She smirked her usual sarcastic grin and said, as nonchalantly as she was able to feign, "I know, dude, chill. I'll just go over and see if she's heard anything. I know it's no problem." She clenched her jaw to keep from saying more.

Marco could feel his head throb slightly, the back of it pulsing every now and then, causing him to slowly come out of the gas-induced sleep. His eyes fluttered, and soft light filled his squinting eyesight dimly before allowing him to see more clearly. He could see that he was in another type of tube, with glass enclosing him, but resting this time on a soft bed of fabric surrounded by a high rim like a bedrail.

He made to reach up with his hand but found it to be almost immobile. The same with his other hand and feet. He tried to strain to move but the glowing bands around his wrists held him down as if they were lead.

"Hey, what's going on!" he half shouted, grunting as he tried to break free.

"Mr. Diaz, I see you're awake," came a familiar female voice. "Hang on, allow me to make you a bit more comfortable."

He saw the upper part of the woman come into view, with her white lab coat and high blue collar, brownish hair tied in the back. She had put on her mock glasses again and pushed a couple buttons somewhere off to his side. The tube glass before him slid open.

"There, now we can see face to face," she smiled.

"Where am I?" he angrily barked. "Why do you have me… " he looked down at his glowing wrists, "tied down like this. What is this?!"

"Relax, Mr. Diaz. Those bands are your wrists and ankles are torpefy links. They help restrain you to keep you from hurting yourself during our tests."

"Tests?! What are you talking about? Am I at the hospital or something?" He swallowed hard, gulping down some air. "And, did you have something in my throat?"

"Again, you're safe here, just don't fight the restraints too much or you'll get a shock. Now that you're awake we can actually run a series of stronger scans. I'd say try to remain still but I know you already are, so we can commence with those tests now."

"Wait! I don't consent to this! Who are you? Where's Janna?"

The woman didn't reply, merely peeking up at him with narrowed eyes as she tapped in some notes on her tablet. Without another word she raised a hand over towards her partner which Marco couldn't see, then gave a nod. A metallic arm as large as those used to build cars on an assembly line raised from the floor beside Marco's tube. It angled itself fluidly and with barely any sound, the head of it being long and flat like a table light full of LEDs. It positioned itself at his feet, overhanging his bed.

"What are you gonna do?" Marco asked nervously.

The flat head on the arm lit up while the arm gradually moved along the bedside. A thick green beam of solid bright light cast down from it, methodically moving over Marco's body. He clenched his fists ass it traveled along himself, unsure if he felt a small heat coming from the beam that was touching him or if it was just in his mind. Nevertheless, he clenched his jaw and looked away from the light.

It moved over his head, that much he was sure. He could see the back sides of his eyelids glow red and then the machine made a three-beep warning sound. Once the light was gone from his eyes he felt safer to take a glance at where the machine's position; it was on his forehead.

"W-What is it doing now!?"

The woman had come to lean over his bed and inspect the line of light, then hummed curiously while the light turned purple, then green again as it went back down Marco's frame.

Marco stifled a scream. "What are you DOING to me!"

But the woman didn't respond, her eyes tracking the line of light until the cyborg-like arm reached his toes. It had finished its process and so went into the maneuver to reposition itself back into sleep mode somewhere off Marco's viewing range, out of sight.

"It appears," she began, "that a deeper scan of you while conscious has given us a bit more information. I have a full work up for you. You're perfectly healthy, Mr. Diaz, but there is a bit of a mutation, if you will, with regards to your DNA."

"What?"

"That's not really the correct term for it but it's the closest I am willing to share with you right now."

Marco's patience had worn thin. His initial fear was replaced with growing anger as he tested the limits of the torpefy links. He'd managed to move his left wrist just about half an inch when he felt a buzz move up his arm.

"Yee-oww! Hey! Will you explain to me while I'm being held captive here! I have rights!"

She spun on him. "Here you are under our… protection, Mr. Diaz. But whatever rights you think you have do not apply here. We are doing work for a greater good that supersedes your 'inalienable rights.' Heh, it's funny how they say it that way."

A male voice laughed from somewhere in the room. "Little do you know what aliens there are, eh? Maybe even in this room."

The woman observer shot her partner a look but then turned back to Marco.

"I'll cut you a break. If you're willing to help us out, then maybe we can let you go once we find out the answers to our questions."

"You haven't answered any of MY questions! All you've done is keep me here as your prisoner in what looks like some hospital bed!"

Marco couldn't see past the bed frame into the small lab tech-like room he was in. He could only hear the movement of a squeaky chair rolling across the floor from someone other than the woman staring down at him, and the occasional beep and sputter from computer consoles. The room felt cold to him, and the air smelled sterile and overly clean.

He continued but decided to restrain his anger. He took his voice down a notch, trying to be calm even though every sinew in his body was beginning to tremble.

"Where am I?"

The woman answered matter-of-factly, "You're safe."

He furrowed his brow and spoke slower. "Okay, let me try to ask something else. Who are you?"

"We are the Watchers, observers of… humanity."

"Look, can you just give me a straight answer? Here, try asking me something and I'll answer, no games."

"Alright, Mr. Diaz. My question is: have you had any obvious paranormal experiences that you can recall within the past year of your life?"

"Oh boy, you mean within just the past year?" he questioned aloud, barely holding back the sarcasm his tongue dripping with. "No, no I can't say I have. I maybe might have seen a UFO one night but then again it could have been a meteor. That's about it."

The woman raised her chin, taking a stiff breath. "That wasn't so bad, was it?"

"Where am I?" he insisted, nails biting into his palms.

"You're in an underground facility belonging to the Watchers."

"OK, progress, good. Now, where is Janna?"

"Your current girlfriend? She's wherever you left her. We have no interest with her."

"And how long have I been here?"

"Since last Friday so… six days."

"Six days?! I've been gone a week?!"

"Just about."

"And why are you holding me hostage?"

The woman paused, mulling over the question. Finally, she leaned on the side of the bed, poking her glasses back up the bridge of her nose with one finger. "I've already given you that answer, Mr. Diaz. You are helping us do necessary research."

"Necessary for who, and why?" He tried to sit up but was held back by the glowing bonds which kept him firmly planted. "Can't you just turn these things off for a minute or something?"

The man's voice broke into their conversation. "You should come look at this."

"Excuse me," said Amber, and she turned quickly to go to her partner.

"Wait!" Marco uselessly called out, annoyed when there was no reply and even more irritated that he was stuck helplessly staring up at the white ceiling.

Amber placed a hand on the chairback of her partner, looking at the rows of computer monitors, the centermost of which was flickering with Marco's recorded memories.

"Right here is when things got hairy." He spun a dial and tuned the quality of the image in as crisply as he could get it. "Right… here." What was displayed on the screen came directly out of Marco's brain when he had been in the sensory deprivation tank, looking somewhat like playing a first-person role-playing game.

The screen flashed white and then the voice of the crying girl could be heard, and her blond hair seen if only for a few moments. Marco's hands were reaching out towards her, trying desperately to reach her, and then the screen flashed white and went black.

"Something here coincided with a disruption in the signal. Everything was running fine until then. I could run through all of the memories, forward and backward, but then this occurred. And the really strange part was I tried to skip over her thinking she was just another of his girlfriends. It forced itself to play out and I couldn't fast forward."

"And you didn't think to tell me this before?" she growled, lowering herself over the back of his chair to get a closer look at the monitor when he rewound the footage.

"I wasn't exactly sure what happened. I wanted to study it more before coming to you with the conclusion."

"Do we know this girl?"

"There's literally no record of her that I can find in Mr. Diaz's memories except for these frames. I think it's just a nightmare vision, nothing more. I cross checked her description across the database of the people who most often interact with Mr. Diaz. There was no match."

"But what does this mean then?"

His eyebrows raised and he shook his head in disbelief. "I don't know, but I can guess it has something to do with the deep scanner when it did its little purple dance after it hit his forehead. It also scans for inconsistencies and my guess is this is just a recurring nightmare, not based on an actual event."

"How do you figure?"

"When the light turned purple it recorded a spike of activity in his amygdala. This is associated with PTSD. His is overly sensitive. And, like you were so quick to point out, this tech still needs… to work out some kinks."

She stood back straight again and rested a finger on her chin, eyes staring blankly forward while she took in the information. Meanwhile, Marco was huffing and puffing, both trying to get loose and get her attention.

"Uh, I'm still over here being a prisoner!"

The man's eyes only moved to look at the table, then up at the woman. "It doesn't really matter what we tell him. We've gotten all of the samples and scans we need at this point. Everything is accounted for. The residue in the cell structures do not come directly from him so he's the wrong mark. I've got to report to base and send everything along."

"Wait a minute, the wrong mark?" Her voice raised but then she quickly hushed it to a harsh whisper. "That can't be! You mean all this time we were tracking the wrong person? The agency doesn't make mistakes like that!"

"I'm just going by what the actual tests say. It wasn't that we tracked the wrong person. He does have the aether residue. But it's not emanating from his own cells. There's nothing here that makes him any more special than any of the others… well, except for how the instruments respond strangely, but that has nothing to do with the hard DNA results." He saw the disappointed look come over her out of the corner of his eye, but pretended not to notice. "However, he is a good candidate for fertility trials… we keep track of him and his progeny and see what results. There is promise there."

"Hellloooo!" Marco howled.

"I-I guess. Do what you have to do," she said, turning sharply on her heel and going back to Marco like getting ready to scold a child.

"Let me ask you more questions, Mr. Diaz!"

"Let me ask you to undo these handcuffs!"

"Not going to happen."

He scornfully glared her down. "Then why should I cooperate?"

Amber's face had been stern, but it softened slightly as she looked at him. Her eyes made an effort to look away towards other things shyly, but it was of little use. And when she sighed, it was as if she was removing a heavy façade from off her shoulders.

"Mr. Diaz… Marco… we are not your prison keepers."

She pushed a button and the torpefy links around his wrists unclicked, losing their luminescence and falling open, allowing him to sit up. There came a stunned sound from the woman's male counterpart but she shook her head in his general direction, waving a hand in a downplaying fashion.

"It's all right," she said both to her partner as well as to Marco, and even to herself. "You can't actually escape from this room. You don't have the necessary genetic clearance."

"Genetic clearance?"

"Yes," she held up her hand to show him her palm. "None of these doors open with something as archaic as keys. You see that pad on the wall over there? I know you've been looking… don't think I can't tell you trying to figure your way out of this room as we speak. That's the exit door, and that's the palm scanner. It only reads certain DNA signatures."

Marco sat up and brushed his hair back, then rubbed his wrists. The feeling of even partial freedom was promising.

All around the room Marco saw walls full of monitors that trailed down into keyless computer consoles that were as slick as anything he'd ever seen on a sci-fi show dealing with space travel. Across the room he saw the stasis tube he had once been in, and next to that another row of monitors with a man sitting in front of them he thought he recognized.

"Hey, have I seen you two before? Wait, you're those weird cosplayers we saw at the convention, aren't you?"

"Yeah, right," the guy said, gathering together a bunch of vials full of fluids that looked like blood and other matter, scanning them with a gun-like apparatus that ingrained a barcode onto each glass surface. "We're super nerds, can't you tell?"

"So, what is the work you're doing for the world again?"

"I didn't say," said the woman. "We are trying to help our world… err, yes the world, in pinpointing certain DNA problems."

"Uhm… what exactly do you mean? What world? Like Africa or something?"

"Look, we are the Watchers, but although we look like you, we are not like you. Think of us like a different species."

"So, I've been abducted by aliens?" he said half jokingly.

She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "Yeah, you can say that."

He checked his body for intrusions. "I don't see any scars. You guys didn't anal probe me did you!?"

The man laughed out loud as he clanked together the various vials and set them onto a round disk in the corner of the room. As soon as he did so the platform glowed with an eerie green swirling light. The slew of vials levitated, spun around, and, right before Marco's eyes, disappeared down through the green slurry of light.

"W-what!" Marco's eyes shot to twice their size in dismay.

"That's just a small transport portal, Diaz," the man groaned. "Get a grip will you? You act like you never read a comic book before, Mr. Sci-Fi Convention Goer."

"You're s-seriously aliens!?"

"Seriously," the woman said, unable to prevent a small smile from appearing in the corners of her lips. "But don't worry, no anal probing. We just did a lot of scan work-ups. You know, MRI, EKG, CT scan, X-Ray, along with cell culturing and gathering of bodily fluids. Just standard alien-needed fare."

"Look, I don't know who – or WHAT – you guys are or if you're filming me for some new reality show, but, I'm not having it right now and it's freaking me out, so why not just let me go and we'll say we're even!" He started to claw at the links at his ankles.

"Can't until we hear back from the agency. You're stuck with us until then but it's usually not a long wait… just long enough for my partner to get the memory removal program in sync."

"The agency!? Who's that? I want to keep my memories! You can't do this to me! This is America!"

Both of the Watchers chuckled.

"Oh, Mr. Diaz, you're so naïve," said Amber. "We are everywhere. We are in your town, your cities, your states and countries. We're on every continent, in every school and division of government. We are… part of all things, but hidden, silent, always watching. We help make the laws you stand on but we are also above those laws."

"This can't be happening," he said, feeling slightly overheated, his pulse hammering so fast he felt almost faint. The links glowed a sharper blue and sent a shockwave up through his legs, making him yelp and fall back down.

"What did I tell you about the bonds?" she said, pulling up a stool next to his bedside.

"Let me go; just let me go back home. I won't say anything. Pfft, who'd believe me?"

"They wouldn't, you're right, but it's not something we can just do. We have our orders. You're actually lucky we're even speaking. We don't usually get this opportunity."

"I'm honored," he said while sitting up and crossing his arms across his chest as if cold. "You abduct me, torture me, and steal parts of me you have no right to do. You expect me to cooperate and then you tell me you're not even human! Now we're waiting for some secret agency that has infiltrated the rest of the world to even let me go. And to let me go you're going to turn my brain into pudding – Terrific day I'm having."

"I'm Amber, by the way," she said. "And I'd say you're having a good day, considering how this all could have gone."

"Could have gone? How can it be worse?!"

She looked away and didn't reply. Something came up on her tablet and she distracted herself with reading it.

"Why me?" he asked, slumping his shoulders. "Is there any way to get out of this without getting rid of my memories?"

"After everything we've talked about? Impossible. You were never even supposed to be aware that we exist."

She looked away from the tablet screen and into his dejected brown eyes, feeling sympathy for his situation. His boyish nature and hopeless look reached out to her often sheltered emotional impulses. She felt his allure even though he wasn't aware of it.

"Marco, you're just one of hundreds of thousands of humans that are helping us out with our research. We found you, though, because you also carried a unique signature about you. It alerted the agency to put you into our program for further study."

He listened, but was fighting aggravation and hopelessness. He couldn't help but scan the room trying to figure out a way to escape, and how he might overpower the other man in the room. It also got under his nerves that the man didn't pay him much mind, as if he was of so little concern he was nothing more than another lab rat, though he didn't see any animals in the room.

"What exactly are you even studying?" he said, just trying to keep the conversation flowing but not really caring for the answer.

"Fertility, actually. And in that area you're quite a promising subject, according to my partner. Of course, I could guess that just by looking at your physique. I don't need tests for that!"

The man made some rebuttal of noise but otherwise stayed buried in his work, plinking away at his tablet screen.

"Do I even want to know how?" Marco asked blindly. "If you're not even human, how can we make a difference for you? Uhm, also," his voice cracked, "is that the way you normally look or are you some kind of shape shifter?"

She spread her arms and looked down at herself. "This is my standard look."

"Are you suuuure there's not like… a reptile skin under there and you're just using some camouflage?"

Her eyes became slits. Even though she knew he had no concept of her world, she felt ticked at the very suggestion. "I am no monster, Mr. Diaz."

"Are you a cyborg?"

She intentionally took a deep breath, huffing with annoyance.

"You look human, like me."

"Think of us as distant cousins. Look-" she lowered her voice, then began again, more softly than before and with all hints of aggravation put aside. Almost timidly, she tried to get more on his level. He could have been wrong but he thought he saw her pout her lips as she spoke again. "Mr. Diaz, I could offer you an out."

He looked directly at her, opening his mouth to speak but she continued, rather coyly.

"I could use your help with one thing, and if you do it for me, I can get you back to your normal life a little easier."

"You mean you'll not wipe my memories?"

She shook her head. "No, that still has to happen. But, instead of doing a more pervasive procedure that could set you back too much, we can tweak it, to make it less arduous on you and you will only forget the past few days without any lasting aftereffects."

"Why wouldn't you just do that in the first place?"

"We have certain rules we follow. While this whole thing with you talking with us and knowing about our plans is unorthodox, the standard rule for dealing with mind wipes usually resets the brain to a point around a week back, yes, but it comes with some consequences because it's a generic procedure. That doesn't mean we can't alter it for a special circumstance like you."

"You do this procedure often?"

"No."

"Wow, that fills me with confidence."

"You want the truth, right? It's not every day we divulge our existence to others. We just have it as sort of a back-up plan for when people get too close to the truth. It wipes their memories and garbles everything up so any memories to do come back appear like bad dreams or drunk hallucinations. Where do you think all of the stories come from about alien abduction? The abduction happens, but the stories are about beams of light and grey beings with big black eyes, big heads, and skinny little bodies. Nothing makes a whole lot of sense. The array used for memory wipes sorta causes all of that but it's too technical to get into how it works with the brain."

"But… you can make it better?"

"Correct. We can make it so you won't have those strange experiences when you wake up. You might not know what happened during your lost time but you also won't suffer any post-traumatic stress."

"How would I explain my being gone to Janna, to my friends and family? They must be worried by now."

"We have a solution for that you needn't worry about. But tell me, are you interested in helping me?"

He saw in her eyes a glisten, and her mouth had the hint of a smile on it.

Relenting, he smiled back but only to make her feel more comfortable. "If I can't escape, then at least let me out of the rest of these link things, then we'll talk."

"Agreed."

Marco couldn't believe when the links darkened and clicked open. He drew his feet up almost against his chest, then looked up to her. "Wow, you were serious."

"I am nothing if not dedicated to my goals, both for the agency but also for… more personal ones."

The man in the room spun on his chair. "Are you sure about this?" He was speaking to Amber.

"I'm sure," she replied in haste, though without looking back at him.

"Because this is the part that could sink us both."

"You said you were on my side. I will pay it forward on your behalf, should the opportunity arise."

"Mmmph," he muttered. "Very well, carry on. Just giving you a friendly reminder."

She swiveled back on her chair and got even closer to Marco, her elbow overhanging the bedframe and her breath gently hitting his cheek, she was so near.

"Now Mr. Diaz, I need your help getting pregnant."

Janna had been sitting in her car for almost twenty minutes, parked across the street from Jackie's duplex. Her hands gripped the steering wheel so hard that her knuckles had gone white, contrasting against the usual dark tan color of her skin. She took many glances out the driver's side window at the building, almost expecting Jackie to come jumping out at any moment. She took several deep breaths trying to muster up both her nerve but also to settle down her stomach, which roiled in a torrent of taco spice mixed with suspenseful fear.

Finally, the sun overhead had gotten the better of her, beating down through the vehicle windows to increase the temperature within. Since she had turned the car off when she'd parked, the heat was almost at a level to cause her to sweat. It had grown more uncomfortable to sit there than to act.

She swung the car door open, immediately feeling a cool wind rush in to bring her relief.

As she made her way up the walkway she thought about what exactly she'd say to Jackie, how to approach the subject delicately, and to be prepared to deal with possibly finding Marco inside. All of the worst-case scenarios pranced along the corners of her mind though she fought to think more positive. It was entirely possible that Jackie hadn't seen Marco, which would be good news. But then she realized that wasn't exactly good news at all, since it meant that he would still be missing.

She looked both ways while she trekked up the path, then reached out her hand to knock on the door of the house on the left. She was certain that was Jackie's residence, and a skateboard was resting against the wall right next to the door, complete with stickers slapped all over it.

She could hear someone walking down stairs inside, the thuds coming closer; she swallowed down the oppressive lump in her throat.

As the door opened she saw a woman with skin darker than her own, let alone the pallid cream of Jackie's. Her hair was slicked back and black, with deep purple eyeshadow highlighting her chocolate eyes.

The woman at the door greeted her with a lipsticked smile and a hearty "Bonjour!"

"Oh uhm… " All of Janna's built up pressure instantly deflated with embarrassment, though she played it off in her typical collected fashion. "My bad. I think I knocked at the wrong house. Sorry about-"

"Janna!"

The voice came from inside the house, and within the span of two seconds another person was bounding down a flight of stairs. It was unmistakably Jackie, wearing a black denim jacket to make her nearly white hair stand out even more than its norm, a slice of dyed teal running like a river along one side.

"Hey girl! How long's it been?"

"Jackie, good to see you," she half-lied, trying to keep her cool. She didn't want to sound unenthusiastic.

Jackie placed a hand on the shoulder of the woman that had opened the door.

"This is Chloe. Chloe, meet Janna. We went to school together."

"Ah! Nice to meet you, Janna," Chloe said with a flutter of her long eyelashes. Her French accent made her name sound more fluid and less hard-edged, with a 'Jah' instead of a 'Jan.'

Janna gave her a finger gun salute, "Hey."

"I met up with her in France," Jackie said, the hand she placed on Chloe's shoulder moving down to her waistline, even drawing her in. "She taught me all about the beauty of French architecture, and how to do sweet parkour off it! Now that she's moved in a while, I'm showing her the coolest of Echo Creek life."

Janna's eyes saw the hand placement, then drifted back up to see their faces. "You live together? Like, live together, live together? Not with Armstrong anymore?"

"Oh Janna," smirked Jackie. "I wasn't with Armstrong long. He was more of a rebound guy. After Marco I decided I need to refocus on the things I genuinely wanted out of life. I joined up with this French tour program and learned a lot about myself."

The way that Jackie was speaking, Janna heard loud and clear the undercurrent to the question she had been silently asking. She was both shocked and slightly relieved at the new turn of events that even she couldn't have conceived of.

"Hey Jackie, you know it's cool with me," she reassured.

Both Chloe and Jackie looked at each other and smiled, Jackie nuzzling into her girlfriend's cheek and pecking her with a kiss. "Like I said… I learned A LOT about myself. But how've you been doing? You and Diaz still a thing?"

"Actually," she scratched behind an ear, "that's sorta why I came over."

"Did Marco get stuck babysitting and then decide to abduct his own sister to raise?!" Jackie laughed, then waved for her to come inside.

Jackie's house was fairly elegant, yet simple, splashed with white and blue colors as if the place belonged on beachfront property. In the main living room were even two upright surf boards, signed with a good number of signatures from her travels. Their glossy coats reflected the bright light of the room. Everything else well in order and not even one of the several dozen photo frames hung on the walls was askew. There wasn't a piece of paper or pen left disorganized. Against the wall was an electric guitar in a stand while over the wooden floor was a large round tan carpet, printed like a sand dollar. Curtains made completely out of white cowrie shells hung down like beaded partitions, acting like doors to access other areas of the cozy home.

The pair brought Janna in and offered her a seat on the white and blue striped couch or one of the many cushions or bean bags lying about. She plopped down onto one of the indigo cushions in front of the coffee table; the others did the same.

Janna explained the reason for her visit, omitting the part about suspecting Marco of potentially cheating, and asked Jackie if she had seen or heard from him within the past long week. She sat back on her palms and looked, for all intents and purposes, like she wasn't at all worried. Jackie, on the other hand, held enough concern in her expression for the both of them.

"I'm sorry but I haven't spoken to Marco much since the break-up. He took it pretty hard, from what I was told." She ran one hand behind her neck and squeezed Chloe's hand with the other. "He's a good guy. I still feel bad about how he took it, but I think it was for the best. I'd never have found Chloe if it wasn't for him, and now you're able to pursue your crush."

"Pssht, crush… please," Janna chuckled. "I picked on him only because it was fun."

"Which you'll get to do now for the rest of your lives," she smiled back. "when you find him."

"For sure," she said, "but since he isn't with you… and not with anyone else we know, I don't know where to look."

Jackie crossed her legs while Chloe looked on reassuringly, not able to contribute much but trying to provide her emotional support. Jackie's smile had waned as she continued.

"Janna, after the argument Marco and I had, I think he probably didn't wait for your answer because he didn't want to relive what happened again. He assumed the worst."

"I didn't mean for that, but he sprung it on me so fast. I didn't think Marco was being as serious as he was. Now that I know, and I've had time to think, I don't mind being a woman with a ring on her finger and, well, yeah I guess grow a minion inside me that can later do my bidding."

Jackie laughed suddenly.

"What's so funny?"

"It's just that out of everyone we know, I took you to be the last one to be married with children. I'm just trying to picture what a baby would look like with both of your features! So adorable!"

"Jackie, please."

She continued to snicker. "I can't help it. It's so sweet."

Janna didn't return the laughter. Instead of a smile her face grew sullen. She didn't bother continuing to hide her frown or to keep up her own act. She got serious.

"I really kinda blew it, didn't I?"

"With Marco? No… I mean, Marco'll come around again. He's probably just really hurting right now. That means he really loves you, you know?"

"No. I mean – yes – he loves me – but no, It has to be more than that. He wouldn't have left his car, not told anyone where he was going, and just disappear. I mean I know he sorta did that before when you two broke up, but it took a while to get to that point. And we all knew where he was. He didn't try to hide himself when he hermited away."

"I would say to give him some space, but it does feel like it's been a long enough time already, even for Diaz. You guys didn't exactly have an argument to set him off, plus he left a plate full of nachos… " She drifted off while thinking.

"I thought he'd come home that night. I wanted to at least talk about things."

"It is what Marco does do well," Jackie admitted.

"Excuse me," Chloe interjected. "I do not know zis Marco but I can see he means a lot to you both, yes?"

Janna listened a little harder to Chloe's words due to the accent, nodding along.

"Zen, perhaps I can help you to find him?"

"But how?"

"Vell, back in France ve study many kinds of things that are, how you say... spiritual? We do not only do great parkour! I vas studying also how to remote view places and people vith ze power of ze mind. Have you heard of zis?"

Janna's eyes bulged, intrigued and enlivened at the mention of something so esoteric and occultic. An immediate sense of camaraderie kicked in, the same familiarity one would find while joining a like-minded group of super mega fans surrounding a particular fantasy game or genre of movies. She felt that Chloe was likewise a part of a deeper, secret type of learning that few ever wanted to dabble in, and it excited her to find a fellow practitioner of the new age arts.

"I've definitely heard of it!" she said, "Buuuut it takes a huge amount of discipline. I've tried a few times but could never get out of my body to have the full out of body experience. Best try I had I think I was only a few inches outside my body when I suddenly snapped back in! My entire body jumped about a foot in the air and I almost rolled off the bed!"

Jackie was dumbfounded as she sat there watching as the two girls exchanged rapid-fire stories and just as animated hand motions. Seeing them, to her, was almost akin to watching a comedy show on tv that dealt with a bunch of cool-but-still-nerds living together in an apartment complex while attending a university. She got the jokes but it was all so unreal, trying to figure out exactly what they were talking about.

"I understand the words you're saying, but I'm sorta lost on the whole out-of-body thing."

"Relax, Jackie," Janna replied. "Think of it like turning yourself into a surveillance camera that's impossible to see and that can travel all around the entire world in the blink of an eye."

"You're being serious?"

She scoffed, "Yeah. Why else did the government run secret programs with the men in black dealing with telekinetics and psychics and stuff back in the seventies?"

"Uhm, I had no idea."

"I'll have to give you a history lesson some time."

Chloe placed her hand on Jackie's arm. "It is real but it is also not easy, but I have done it a few times myself. Only problem for me to try is I do not know vhat Marco looks like. I'd need to see a photo to help try to remote view him."

"A photo? That I can handle," Jackie said with relief, uncrossing her legs and getting up to scan the walls of the living room.

There were so many photos from large portraits with decorative shell frames to small tiny instant photos hanging on twine by small clips, strung like banners on the walls, and every other size in-between. Some were even attached to a cork bulletin board by thumb tacks.

She plucked one of the photos from the cork board and paused a moment while looking it over. A blush and nostalgic smiles crossed her face.

"This one should do."

Jackie handed the photo to Chloe and once again took her seat. "Is it good enough to use?" she asked.

Chloe looked over the photo. It was taken at a beach, with Jackie having covered Marco's whole body in sand up to his neck. She had used a piece of driftwood to draw fish scales all over him and placed two large abalone shells on his chest, turning Marco into a mermaid. His brown hair was covered in seaweed and sand but his smile showed through it all, and she studied his face hard. She made sure to memorize it as much as possible, right down to the mole on his cheek.

"Ah, zis is good to use. It vill verk."

She grabbed Janna and Jackie's hands and told them to do the same with each other, making one linked circle.

Concerned, Jackie gripped Chloe's hand tighter, bringing it to her lap. "This isn't dangerous for you is it?"

With a soft flutter of her eyes, Chloe dipped her head with a glowing blush. "Jaaackie, it's okay, I promise. Now, I vill try to view your friend but you must both be very quiet. Keep thinking of Marco's face viz positive energy and imagine channeling that energy through your hands to me. I'll see vhat I can see."

Janna instantly complied and went into a deep zen-like meditation without effort, while Jackie looked at both of the concentrating women a few seconds more before shrugging to herself and settling in. She closed her own eyes with a few deepened breaths and decided to give it her best effort, for Marco's sake.

"W-who-oa!" Stammer-shouted Marco, backing up against the bed railing while facing the woman optimistically glaring him down. His hand swept air and he had to re-balance himself so as not to fall off the side of the bed and onto the mechanical robot arm-scanner. His jaw was agape, gawking at the very notion of what she'd just mentioned. "That is NOT something I'm willing to do!"

"Of course that would be your immediate response," she cooed slyly. "Now, take a minute to breathe and think it over."

"I don't think it requires a lot of thought to know that I'm not just going to sleep with some woman I don't even know – that KIDNAPPED me and… and… isn't even human apparently!"

Amber gave a small, snide chuckle. "Mr. Diaz, what do you take me for? I don't want to sleep with you, however fun might that be. I'm a professional molecular and aetherological biologist. I do not require much from you but an additional DNA sample."

"Aether-oh-logic what?" He shook his head sharply. "N-no. You can't use me as your…" he paused mid-sentence, disgust overtaking his features. His mouth gasped while his tongue curled back. "Well, you know what! I'm not that!"

"I don't intend to use you, please don't look at it that way. This is an adult conversation, Mr. Diaz."

"How else am I supposed to look at it? Also, stop calling me 'Mr. Diaz.' Honestly I'm shocked you're even bothering to ask me."

"Why do you say that?"

"Uh, YOU kidnapped ME. You could've just taken my DNA at any time."

"Oh believe me, we already have."

"Wait, what!?"

"We've taken all of the samples we could gather from you while you were unconscious. Not just blood work."

His rage began to build, a shiver of it entering his voice. "If you've done that to me already, then why are you asking me now!?"

"Lower your voice and lets talk without emotion ruling over our judgments first, agreed?"

Marco visibly clenched his teeth and glowered her way like an irate chained dog.

Amber continued. "Marco, I work for the agency to try and find a cure, so to speak, for our fertility crisis. Certain individuals are promising for our studies, and again you were flagged because of, well, we don't need to rehash all that. But, my agency is nothing if not very keen on keeping track of every detail; that means every one of our marks that we track such as yourself, to the little things like our vials for DNA. No medical supply goes uncatalogued. Every test we take is monitored and recorded and then sent directly to the higher ups."

He snarled. "So?"

"So," she pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose, standing and turning her back towards him as she spoke, "that means I can't use any of the samples we took from you. It also means that if you agree to this proposal we need to be a little creative."

She discreetly pulled a small plastic-looking cup from her lab coat while not facing any of the active monitors. Her male cohort was also busy making a lot of clacking noises moving objects around his table and acting busy, at the same time working the screens as if trying to intentionally make the transmissions garbled.

Marco recognized the cup. It was one of the most common sterile cups used in doctor offices: a white screw-on lid and foggy exterior were unmistakable. It was commonly used to take urine samples.

"You've got to be joking," he said.

"I managed to borrow this while dealing with another mark inside a small no-name clinic. It's sterile and untraceable by my people."

"You don't 'borrow' pee cups."

"It was a nicer way of putting it."

He uneasily asked. "You don't want a urine sample, do you?"

"Mr. Diaz-"

"I'm not using that cup."

She slid it back into her coat pocket and rounded on him again, keeping her voice gentle and placative.

"Marco, I understand the position you're in."

"Oh, do you? It seems like I'm the one prisoner here and not you but go ahead… humor me."

She slowly took her seat next to his bedside. "I know you've wanted children."

He slightly bit his lower lip, unprepared for her words that bit him harder inside than his teeth currently were to his skin.

"I know you dream of expanding your bloodline, to continue your family and raise a child that you get to shape the identity of. You've wanted it so much you were willing to fight hard enough you broke your first true relationship with it."

"Stop it. Just stop using whatever you know about me to fuel your arguments. It won't work." But even he was beginning to doubt.

"You felt destroyed inside. That is how I feel too. I'm a woman that will quite possibly never have a baby of my own. So you see, we are more alike than you realize. I'm fighting with you for my own personal dream."

"Why don't you steal a sample from the agency. You expect me to believe they will notice if a little bit of a sample is less than another sample?"

"The agency is not like your government, Mr. Diaz. Oversight is not a thing that goes unpunished."

"If it's that bad then why work for these people? Leave or fight back."

She furrowed her brow. "I chose to work for them because I believe in their cause. The aim is to help all of my people as a species, not just be self-serving. I deny myself not just for my own safety but I know the goal is greater than my wants alone. There are countless women right now in my position."

Marco turned away, still angry with her but somewhat acquiescing to her predicament, if it really was true. He wanted to stay furious and use that heat against her, but when he peeked back in her direction he realized she had nothing to lose by telling him the truth.

"But I want to raise my own baby. That's part of why I want kids."

"Your child would be raised well with me. It would want for nothing."

"You're an alien. I'd never see you again, right? I mean… you're still going to make me forget?"

There was more overly loud button pressing and monitor noise coming from her partner's direction, but their eyes were both locked onto each other.

Amber nodded slowly, realizing that his voice had changed its tone despite himself. She felt she could convince him to her aims. "You know I must."

"But then I'd never know I had a child. I'd never see her or him. I'd be back where I began."

"But you'd be making that choice here and now, while conscious and knowing. And, Marco, with the way you left your current girlfriend, and with what she said, what if this is your only chance to have a child?"

The rage was replaced with a tremendous empty hurt that spread out within his chest like a bleed that couldn't be stopped, a wound unable to be cauterized, even by fire. He swallowed, blinking hard, mulling so many thoughts over in his mind at once, the painful memories of his past like recurrent gnashing teeth. Reminded of his loneliness made his personal demons stir to the surface.

"Why are you asking me, when you can just… take it from me when I'm out? When you've taken away my memory?"

"I'm not your torture master. I respect you for who you are and give you a choice even if it goes against mine. I don't see you as a lesser being. You are kind; I would be no better than most of your rather selfish species to do anything less than offer a choice."

"And you're asking me specifically because… ?"

"Because, Marco, you're intelligent. You're physically fit and strong. Healthy. Solid genes." She waited a moment, then added. "Plus, you're easy on the eyes."

His brown eyes quivered, pupils shrinking slightly, nervously, unsure how to respond as he drank all of her emotions in that he could read in her body language and voice. As much as he wanted to hate her to help use it against her in some way to escape, he couldn't.

"I uhm… can you give me a minute?"

She tilted her head and gave him a tender beam of affection. She had shed her former, down-to-business self, and risked bearing all to a total stranger, and hoped a dream would come true.

"Well there isn't much personal space in here but, we'll be over by the deprivation tank." She idly slipped the cup into his hands and gave her head a quick twist to inform her partner to join her. "Turn on the tank's cleaning system, would you?" she said to him as he got near. "Marco? You have total privacy, whatever you decide, for the next ten minutes."

The man pulled a thick lever and the deprivation tank that Marco had once been in slid closed, nozzles at the top spraying hard water down into the cavern. The noise was surprisingly echoey and filled the fabric-less room with noise.

He looked down at the cup in his hand, staring at it for almost half of the time he was allotted. He considered that it could be the last chance he'd get to reach his dream, even if he'd never remember it. And if he didn't remember it, he figured, why would he care?

The sprays fanned water in circular motions around the inside of the tank like. Amber and her partner watched it like going through a car wash. Once, she looked at her partner, who returned her glance and shrugged hopefully, and she smiled in return. "Thanks for this," she whispered.

"Don't. It's still a risky deal. What will we explain to the agency when one of their own turns up pregnant? I mean, if you even can? The genes have never directly mixed er… like this."

"I'll handle it."

The water of the tank began to gurgle, a new spray of pinkish fluid raining down along the inside to decontaminate. Marco had spun the lid of the cup off and his eyes were closed. He inhaled deeply, then opened his eyes again to stare into the cup.

He thought about Jackie, and Janna, and wondered what the use was in fighting.

He looked behind him, the two lab coated strangers talking amongst themselves though the sound of the tank cleaning drowned them out. He looked at the walls of tech he didn't recognise, and the monitors that displayed himself staring back, the lights reflecting off the computer keypads and buttons, sorted unused vials and medical equipment. Then his eyes looked once again at the singular doorway of possible escape, and the palm pad next to it.

The cup in his hands called to him on a deep personal level, tempting him nearly to the breaking point. But in one swift motion he tossed the cup and leapt up from the bed, vaulting over the side. His feet were already in a sprint as soon as the soles of his shoes touched the floor.

He raced to the door in under a second, slapping his palm onto the pad and hoping silently to himself that the woman had been lying, or that some code might pop up on the small screen that he could use to gain access.

But nothing happened at all except for a computerized bleep, the sound of which he could tell meant only denial.

As he panted, he could hear the two other people in the room walk up behind him. He allowed it, his forehead knocking against the door that kept him from his freedom. He had fully expected they would manhandle him, grab him and restrain him again with the blue bands, or even worse, but they didn't lay a finger on him.

He waited for what felt like minutes. They spoke not a word. Once he collected himself, he turned around slowly.

The woman and the man stood before him, unconcerned.

"Genetic access restriction. Not for humans," the man said dryly.

"I gathered that but I had to take the chance," he retorted.

When he looked at Amber he finally noticed that in her hand was pointing a small gun-like device, directed at him. It was tiny, barely larger than her palm. He steadily rose his hands up.

"Wait-"

"I am so disappointed, Mr. Diaz - Marco. I really thought we could come together on this."

"Let's talk first, OK?"

She leaned her neck back, her eyebrows lifting in an expression of remorse. "Oh Marco, the time for talking has passed. You've made your choice, now I have to make mine."

He saw a flick of her wrist. He moved to block but there was a bright purple light. A zip sound fizzled in the air. He shouted, but it didn't stop the tiny bead-like bullet that fired.

Janna, Jackie, and Chloe were sitting with their hands linked for what seemed to Jackie like over an hour, maybe more. She became acutely away of her tailbone aching from sitting too long frozen in one spot. The sun was setting outside, casting a rich warm orange light through the windows.

Janna held an intense internal focus, her mind hearing Marco's laughter and his jokes, his impetuous optimism and love of snacking on nacho chips. She tried not to replay their last talk again in her mind but she instead thought about the ring, which she had brought with her in her pocket, tied with small string to the little owl stone carving.

She heard Marco's voice in her mind, telling her she'd make a great mother. She could almost feel his arms embrace her as she explained about the totem animal carvings. The more she heard him whisper it in her ear, the more she started to believe it, even desire it, out of herself.

Jackie opened her eyes to watch Chloe. She wondered how much longer it would take, and if it would be successful... or was even truly real. Chloe looked like she was meditating as hard as Janna, like two monks up on some misty mountaintop somewhere. She didn't know how she could tell if Chloe was having an out of body experience or how her body didn't just not fall over in sleep. All she could discern were her eyes moving rapidly back and forth beneath her eyelids.

She awkwardly resumed her uncomfortable sit between the two while trying to adjust her legs, without breaking their hand chain or causing a break to their concentration.

She had just started to slip into a sleepy, trance-like state when Chloe jumped, drawing back both her hands. Every part of her went alert all at once like a rabbit hearing the snap of a twig. Her breathing went faster as she hurried to explain.

"I have seen him!" she shouted. "He is vearing a red hoodie, yes?"

"You were able to find him?!" Janna excitedly replied. "Yes, he put that on when he left!" She hung on every word Chloe was about to say.

"He is in a park, or, how do you say - a forest? Yes!"

"Is he okay?! What forest?! Where?!"

"Ah, I seen a fountain and a building like a hotel very nearby. Not many other landmarks around. Uhm, a store where you buy medications too."

"Did the building have a statue of an opossum out front and the fountain have cement benches around it?!"

"Yes, yes!" she confirmed.

"That's Echo Creek Lodge!"

Jackie looked to Janna while Janna did the same. They both spoke at once. "The forest preserve!"

"But ve must hurry! There is a problem," worried Chloe. "Marco is on ze ground!"

"Oh no!" Janna tried to reel in her panic as she hoisted herself off the pillow. The other two women joined her.

Jackie grabbed for Janna's arm. "We're coming with you."

The trio rushed from the house and piled into Janna's car. It took her two tries to fit the key into the ignition slot to get the vehicle started, her nerves were so wild. She put the car in gear and tried not to be too heavy-footed on the pedal as she thought about which road was the fastest to take to the park. Catching every single red light along the way was making them all lose their minds.

As a distraction, Janna kept trying to pull more information out of Chloe.

"What happened as soon as you got out?"

"It took me a vile. I vas afraid I vans't going to accomplish it but then finally I felt my spirit lift and I vas free. Janna, you must try zis sometime. It is a very good feeling, almost as doing a perfect backflip."

"And then?"

"Once I vas outside of my body I pictured Marco, and vith your help I vas able to focus harder. I saw his face, and then I saw ze trees all around."

"Did he look okay?"

"Zat is the problem. I cannot tell why he is on ze ground but he vas not avake. I checked the area all around for ze landmarks to know where he vas, then I voke up to tell you both."

"Was anyone else around him?" Jackie asked.

"No, he vas alone. I am sure he is zere right now."

The car bucked as a red light turned green and Janna's foot pressed down fast. The tires gripped the road and launched them forward with the power of far too much horses than the speed limit would allow for.

"Whoa Janna, chillax! I wanna find Marco too but we'll get pulled over!" Jackie made sure her seat belt was still intact.

"Sorry, I just… " she trailed off, biting her lip closed.

Jackie's hand touched her shoulder. "It'll be OK. We'll make it."

"Was Marco… alive, Chloe?"

"I am so sorry, Janna. I could not tell zis."

They painstakingly made their way through the town of Echo Creek, the sun dipping against the horizon, every stop light ironically mocking them. Finally, they arrived at the Echo Creek Lodge, pulling into the first available parking space.

All three of them jumped out of the car and headed for the rear of the Lodge. Beyond the combined rear parking lots of the Lodge and the local convenience store was a prairie that opened up to a forest preserve.

"Which way do we go?" Asked Jackie.

Chloe shook her head and shrugged, doing a leap over a chain which kept the area closed off to walkers and joggers. It was not the kind of recreational park opened up for the masses to use. A small, rusty sign noted 'No Trespassing.'

"Vioala!" she smirked.

Jackie followed suit while Janna merely lifted the chain and ducked underneath it, knocking the sign right off its weak connection points. "Heh, oops."

Once they had all crossed they crept through the brush where the forest wasn't as closed in with debris. Janna was in the lead, almost sure of where she was headed.

"Janna! Do you see him?" Jackie called out.

"No. But I feel something. I can't explain it, just follow!" She felt for the ring in her pocket, fingering the small stone owl.

The moon was being uncovered fast, the sky darkening with twilight. Janna knew it was a good omen, letting her spirit lead the way. Even though dusk was falling and they would all soon lose crucial daylight, for the first time since she left her apartment she felt more upbeat and assured than ever before.

She squeezed her hand around the owl.

They didn't get far into the forest before she spotted a telltale pile of red.

"Marco!"

She was first to his side, pushing away bramble bushes and getting small cuts from the thorns. She reached Marco with a gasp and rolled him onto his back, immediately checking for his breathing.

He moaned, and she laughed in relief.

"Diaz!" Jackie knelt down and looked him over, then helped Janna to lift him into a sitting position.

It took Marco some moments to regain full consciousness, mumbling incoherently and swaying as he tried to stay upright with their help.

Once he managed to stabilize, he opened his eyes fully, first taking in Janna's face, and then the other two women.

"J-Janna? Ja-Jackie?"

"Marco, you're safe! What happened!?" Janna enfolded him in her arms. "Why didn't you come back home?"

"Back home?" His head whirled around suddenly, his stomach lurching. He fell onto his elbow and wretched for a moment, vomiting up a mess of purple and yellow.

"I-I'm sorry," he said. "I… don't know what happened. I… I got upset and left, but, where am I now?" He looked around, seeing trees and grass. "Where a-am I?"

"Are you OK?" Jackie asked, touching his forehead. When she moved his bangs out of the way she saw a dark bruise. "You look like you got hit really hard. Did you get mugged? Does this hurt?" She pressed the spot slightly.

"No," he said. "I don't feel anything."

She pressed slightly harder. "How about now?"

"No, nothing. Stop it."

"And you don't remember anything since you left?" Janna asked.

"I… " he tried to think but came up blank. "I guess I don't, except maybe bright light. Does that count?"

"Not unless you got hit by a car."

"I don't feel any pain, but I don't remember."

"Wow! Well whatever happened you must have hit your head pretty bad. Marco, you've been missing for days!"

"D-DAYS?!" he winced. "I only just left the house! I haven't been out here th-that long!"

Chloe knelt down next to Jackie. "Ve should take him to ze hospital to check his head. He might have a concussion."

"No-No, I feel fine, honest," he said, right before hurling again.

"Look, we take you to the emergency room first just to check you out," Janna said. "We'll go straight home afterwards." She shrugged and took on her standard cool demeanor in an effort to appease him, though she was more concerned than she let on.

The women lifted Marco carefully, both of his arms draped over their shoulders. He stumbled between them, taking baby steps, slowly regathering his wits. He looked dreamily up towards Janna. "You brought Jackie and… and her friend, and… came to look for me?"

"Duh," she snarkily said.

"I'm sorry I left like that."

"We can talk about that later."

"If you don't want to get married-"

"Marco!" she shouted, Chloe helping to get his feet over the chain fence, "Just quit. I came looking for you to tell you yes."

"Y-you're saying yes?"

She rolled her eyes, the light of the day newly turned to night. The light of the moon gently played in her eyes and over the smile revealing her teeth. "Yes, Marco."

"And… " he bagan but she shushed him.

"And even all the rest."

Jackie clicked her tongue. "Classic Diaz." She gave a relieved laugh and the other girls joined in.

"And all the rest," he repeated to himself.

They loaded Marco into the car and Janna gave Jackie the keys to drive, taking the back seat with Marco.

"Try to stay awake." advised Janna. "Just in case you do have a concussion. Oh, and if you have to throw up again, please let me know right away. I don't want that all over my car."

"Noted," he sighed, leaning his head down onto her shoulder and trying to make a joke. "I'll at least try not to sleep."

Janna made a miffed noise.

Contrary to their first trip, they managed to get mainly green lights while driving back through Echo Creek, heading for the hospital. Everyone was quiet for a while, the hum of the car a soothing drone, like a promise that things would return to normal.

Janna placed the small stone owl in his hand. "Do you remember this?"

"The owl stone? Yeah. Why'd you bring it?"

"It's your totem, Marco. You're linked with the moon. I swear it helped us find you. It must've really liked those nacho chips."

He took her hand and squeezed it.

Without saying anything more, she did the same.

Janna's car drove into the emergency parking lot of Echo Creek's hospital, the vehicle being tracked by two pairs of observing eyes. A familiar van was parked in the lot.

"You needn't worry. The array was off the generic wipe setting when I handed it to you," the man muttered to his associate. "I dialed it back."

She slid her glasses down. "Mark this moment. For once I am grateful you decided to take a more customized approach. But why did you do that for me?"

"I know you really wanted it to work out. Even though it didn't, I know you'd have regretted causing him any lasting issues. I'm not totally an asshole."

She raised a brow at him. After he noticed her look, she smiled. "So, what did you do to cover up?"

"Ah, just a basic cocktail. A little false bruising here, a bit of upset stomach there. He'll be back to himself by morning and they'll presume amnesia due to that noggin. Plus, our people inside will make sure they all get back to daily life as soon as possible."

"So, what now?"

He quirked his own brow. "I would ask you the same. After what happened, do you still want to track this mark?"

Amber thought about it, then said. "Yes. I still care enough to see our orders through, and how this all ends. Don't make it personal, right?"

"It's what I said all along."

"Until next time."

He grumbled aloud, throwing his hands into the air.

Janna wore Marco's pentagram ring while he kept the small owl strung on a pendant around his neck. After what took place in the hospital, they decided to marry spur-of-the-moment that weekend once he was back to himself, his condition dismissed as a temporary amnesia brought on by an undisclosed hit to the head, though no fracture or concussion, or inflammation of any kind was discovered.

Jackie and her girlfriend; Alfonso; and Ferguson's family all attended the quiet and quick legal non-ceremony, serving as witness to their union. Shortly thereafter, there appeared to be another indicator of such, Janna's belly starting to become larger within the ensuing months.

Janna often chided Marco for his eagerness at seeing the baby, but in her own alone time she placed a hand to herself to feel the small kicks now and again, wistfully imagining how it would change their lives, and how cool it would be to grow a minion, what it would look like. She knew Marco was going to make the best father, and she couldn't deny it, and was hoping that his enthusiasm would make up for some of the courage in the matter that she lacked at times.

Together they would make it work, and Marco was beyond overjoyed. He could understand, now, how his mother and father were so elated when they raved about raising him up, and eager to relive the experience again with their soon-to-come grandchild.

One day Janna was feeling tired so retreated to the bedroom to take a nap. She had gotten bigger, well into her later months, and every day energy was easily snapped up and drained doing usual tasks. The baby's room was prepared in a nighttime theme with owls and other night creatures, and Janna wouldn't rest easy until she had added in the last touches: extra diapers, a pile of burpy cloths, the eyeball baby monitor, and baby-to-be's first plush toy - a purple dragon with yellow horns.

Marco had set down a popcorn bowl, ready to veg-out while watching an anime series, when there came a knock on the door.

He paused the television and hurried over, wiping his hands on his pant legs before grabbing the knob and opening the door.

There before him was a woman, standing there with long blond hair flowing down over her shoulders, her blue eyes like sapphires glistening as they met his gaze. Her voice seemed familiar though he didn't think he'd ever met her before.

She held the hand of a young, almost teen child at her side with hair the same color as his own.

"Hi, Marco," she nervously said.

Chapter 7 was written by SledgePainter.