Adam turned from his workbench, holding a test tube up to the light and grinning. The shiner that decorated his left eye had almost disappeared, as had the limp that had developed during the long walk back to civilization. He leaned against the counter, pretending not to still be exhausted several days after the timely rescue by the distaff members of Mutant X. Shalimar glowered at him, wanting him to rest; Adam carefully ignored the look. "You'll be happy to know that I've successfully synthesized an antidote to the beast feral's dilemma. Thanks to the chemicals that I was able to recover from Jesse's blood, I have been able to create a cure. A cure, I might add, that doesn't require the poisoning of my team. It even will clear up the residual five o'clock shadow for most of them."

"Wonderful," Brennan groaned from his place on one of the clinic beds. He stuffed the pillow a bit further down behind his head. His arm was casted properly this time, with fiberglass and a sling that came with a label instead of shredded tatters of cloth. "I hope you're not expecting me to deliver it to them. I hate the outdoors." His voice was slurred, courtesy of some pain-killers administered not an hour ago. Shalimar patted his hand—his good hand—in sympathy.

"Me, neither," Jesse muttered, equally as blasted on drugs.

"You." Adam came over to peer into Jesse's eyes, noting the dilated pupils and lethargy. "You're lucky to be alive. How are you feeling?"

"Feeling no pain," Jesse murmured, the words all but garbled. "Thanks, Emma."

Adam grinned sideways at the empath who still had both hands to either side of Jesse's skull, pouring in the healing thoughts to the raw brain cells. "You'll be feeling this way for the next several days, Jesse, until I'm certain that the rest of the poison is out of your system. I've got you on medication that should prevent any problems. Until then, you're at risk for more seizures."

"Not a problem. I think I'll just sleep here for a while." Jesse closed his eyes, already half-asleep. "The Helix?"

"Located it yesterday," Shalimar told him.

"Yesterday?" Jesse tried to sit up, and failed. Emma grumbled, and settled him back onto the bed, readjusting the covers. "How long—?"

"Three days."

"Three days?" Brennan too was outraged. "You told me one."

"That was two days ago, Brennan," Shalimar smirked.

"Are you trying to tell me that I—?"

"Out like a light," Shalimar assured him. She stroked the dark hair off of his forehead soothingly. Brennan tried to look daggers at the tiny blonde, but found himself too tired to get the expression to come off properly. "It was cute. You snored."

"I do not snore."

"You do now. We rented a plane to get back home, piled you both in, and listened to both of you snore the entire trip. We couldn't hear ourselves think." Shalimar took pity on the pair. "I was able to talk to the beast mutants shortly before we left, left them a way to communicate with Sanctuary. They called in to say that they found the Helix and that they would be hauling it out of the ravine as soon as we brought the cure. They'll do a trade: the Helix for a cure. It'll be in pieces, of course, but that will give you and Jesse an incentive to hurry up and get better so that you can help."

"What, an incentive to fix the Helix? All the pieces that it's in?" Brennan laid himself back on the bed. The artful wince that he gave turned into the real thing when the broken bones grated against themselves. "Ouch. It may take a while for this arm to heal."

"And I'm really not feeling as good as I thought," Jesse added, not opening his eyes. "We may not be able to get to it for at least a week. Maybe two."

"Or more," Brennan opined.

"Not a problem," Adam told them, a gleeful glint in his eye. "You can stay here in Sanctuary with me. The girls will take care of the upcoming mission."

"Mission? What mission?"

"The one in Acapulco." Shalimar kissed Brennan on top of his head. "You remember Acapulco? Beaches, bars, beautiful people who want to be friendly?"

"Acapulco?"

Emma stroked Jesse on the cheek, sending the molecular further into dreamland but not so far that he couldn't understand what was going on. "In your dreams, Jess. In your dreams."