The next few days passed slowly for Mutant X. It took Emma and Faxon a day to recover, and together the two mutants went recover Eric. They found him in a condemned building, a shell of himself. They came looking for a man and found a vegetable.

"I'm sorry Faxon," Emma had said when they found him.

"It had to be this way," was the only reply.

The two mutants had parted at that building, Faxon refusing any offers of help to care for Eric.

"I thank you for kindness, but he is my brother. Go take care of your brother." So Emma went home, to her family, to see how her brother was doing; which wasn't so well.

Reality was proving harder for Jesse to grasp then they had originally thought it would. The problem wasn't his coping capabilities, it was more the fact that they had to convince him he was indeed back in his own mind and Eric wasn't in control anymore. Apparently, as part of his torture, Eric had created likenesses of Mutant X to torment Jesse and now Jesse wouldn't even let Brennan or Shalimar touch him.

"Jesse, it's over. No one's going to hurt you here," Shalimar pleaded for the millionth time as she tried to get Jesse to open the door to his room. With an aggravated sigh she slammed her fist into the wall.

"That's not going to help," Brennan said, coming down the hall.

"Well what great ideas to you have?!" Shalimar snapped, a little too harsh. The last few days had been weighing heavily on her. Her human mind understood Jesse was scared and confused; still trying to over come what was done to him. But her feral mind was hurt by the apparent rejection that her litter mate was showing. Looking at Brennan though, she had a feeling he was hurting more. It's one thing to have your brother refuse to see you, but your lover? Shal couldn't imagine it.

"As a matter of fact I do have an idea, if you'll let me try?" Brennan responded calmly.

"Good luck," Shal said as she stalked away.

Brennan waited to make sure she was completely gone before he went to work. He gave a soft knock on Jesse's door and said, "I know you're in there Jess, and I know you don't want to see me, but I'm coming in anyway." And before the molecular could respond in anyway Brennan zapped the lock and entered the room.

Jesse was huddled in a corner and had the look of a frightened and caged animal. He was defiantly trying to figure out away to get away and Brennan felt both guilt and hurt watching his lover. He quickly pushed his feelings aside and shut the door behind him, moving farther in.

"Jesse, I'm not here to hurt you. I know you don't believe that, but it's true. None of us want to hurt you," he said, keeping his voice calm and level. "You've been through a hell of a lot, and I don't even want to think about what he did. I know he hurt you, I know he did and I can't stand to think about it. But Jesse, it's over. He's gone. Emma went and got you, she got you away from him. And now you're safe, he can't ever get you again. I promise. Whatever he did, what he made us do to you, it was in your head. He took your mind and he abused your mind. It wasn't real. But this is real, I am real. And I would never hurt you. You've been here a week and none of us has even tried to come near you until now. Think about it Jesse, you know where you are, you know this is real."

Brennan stopped his speech and movement just feet from Jesse, it was the closest anyone had gotten to him in about a week. He could see the panic in the blue eyes of his lover and he could almost hear the frantic heart beat, but at least Jesse wasn't running away or trying to phase. It was a start, now weather or not it was a good start he wasn't sure. All Brennan could do was hold his breath.

Jesse head was a whirlwind of thought. What Brennan was saying made a great deal of sense, but so had the mindscape. "I'm not going to hurt you," was something that the Brennan in his head had said before he broke his leg and raped him. But then again, the Brennan in his head never took the time to talk to him, nor did he allow Jesse the luxury of space. Still, there was only one way Jesse knew that he could be sure.

"Where was our first kiss?" he asked, his voice shuttering slightly.

For a moment Brennan was confused, but he quickly caught on to what Jesse was doing and answered, "It was behind the Electric. It was right after a fight with Ashlock. We'd just freed about ten of his victims and we were celebrating. Remember, Shalimar almost kicked my ass when she saw us. She was ready to throttle me and you were laughing so hard that you could barely stand. It took us about five minuets to convince her I wasn't trying to rape you. Remember."

Jesse nodded his head and breathed a sigh of relief as he slumped to the floor. Brennan was by his side in an instant ready to hold him as the silent sobs and shutters rocked his body.

"It's alright Jess…I've got you…You're alright…" Brennan murmured as he rocked him slightly.

Te two stayed that way for awhile, until Jesse's tight muscles relaxed and Brennan became the only thing holding him up. "You going to sleep on me?" Brennan asked.

"Not quite," came the muffled response followed by, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry I put you all through so much lately."

"Why do you always do that?" Brennan asked with an amused air. "You always put the blame on yourself; I'm pretty sure you didn't ask for your mind to be taken from you, or what was done to you. I'm pretty sure you didn't ask for reality to be turned inside out. But then again, I have been wrong before…"

Jesse chuckled, "I probably should have taken Faxon seriously though when we meet. And I probably should have been more careful. To think one touch could have done so much…"

"What do you mean?"

"On my way to the car, someone bumped into me. He knocked me down. Then when I got back to Sanctuary, things started to get strange and that's when I blacked out. From there on, I had no idea what was happening. I knew I was at Sanctuary, but at the same time I knew I wasn't in Sanctuary. I could hear you and Shalimar calling me, and then Adam and Emma, and I'd even try to call out to you guys. That's how he got the idea to use likenesses of you. Except Emma, he was afraid of her, guess he should have been. Still none of this would have happened if I'd been more careful."

"Yes, well hind sight is always twenty, twenty," Brennan mumbled as he kissed Jesse's head.

"I'm still sorry. I couldn't break away from what he did…" Jesse mumbled.

"What did he do?"

It took Jesse sometime to come up with the words to describe his hell, and even longer to say it. But finally he managed to tell Brennan what had happened in the mindscape, and upon being pressed, what Eric had made the likenesses of Mutant X do to him. When he was done Brennan could barley contain his rage.

"That bastard. That rat bastard…" he hissed, his free fist hissing from the electrical energy running through it.

"Brennan…it's ok…I'm alright now…" Jesse said, trying his best to calm him.

Brennan snapped out of his blinding rage and gently forced Jesse to face him. "I would never hurt you, never. What he did…I would never do that to you. You believe that, right? You know that?"

Jesse leaned in and brushed his lips softly over Brennan's, and before deepening the kiss he whispered, "I know."

"Ugh, what's taking him so long?" Shalimar growled as she paced the rec room. Brennan had been in the room with Jesse for nearly two hours now and the feral was just dieing to know what was happening.

Emma looked up from the magazine she was reading and sighed, "It takes time Shalimar."

"Yeah well, he's had plenty of time," Shalimar declared turning to go, "I'm going to go see what's going on."

All of a sudden Emma's face turned beat red and she squealed like a school girl, "Shalimar don't!"

The angry feral spun around to snap at the red head but her words were lost when she saw Emma sitting there giggling.

"Emma? Are you alright?" Adam asked as he entered the room. He had been in the kitchen when he heard the feral growling and had come in to try and calm her. Now he was looking at a hysterical Emma and a very confused Shalimar.

"Oh…I'm…fine," Emma answered while trying to catch her breath, "I…I just think It'll be a good idea to leave the boys alone 'til morning. After all, it's been awhile since they've been able to spend sometime together."

For a minute both Shalimar and Adam stood there staring at the red head, but then a light dawned on Shalimar. "No way…" she said, both doubtful and relieved.

"Uh huh," Emma confirmed.

But for all his smarts, Adam was still in the dark about what the two girls were carrying on about. "Um, ladies, mind telling me what's going on?"

"Jesse's back," they both said in unison.

The end.

Well that's it for this one folks, hope you enjoyed it. Hang around for my other stories pleanty more of B/J and Jesse torture to come. Promise.

As always thanks,

Tye.