Oh my gosh! Update! Yes! I've wanted to write this one for ages, but life kept getting in the way. there was so much i wanted to fit into this chapter, i hope it doesnt jump around too much. and holy dialogue, batman! ive never written so much talking. but it was all quite fun to do. I actually had to write this backwards, for whatever reason i just couldn't start it from the beginning. how bizzare.

WOW, These reviews! So many! What is this i dont even...!
They are so inspiring and kind! thank you all so much for taking the time to leave me a review! i really appreciate each and every one i recieve!
for the sake of me going to bed because i have work early tomorrow morning, i wont single out any reviews. However, I did notice many of you asked what kind of pairing this fic is. i wish i could answer that, but until i see how everything plays out, im not quite sure yetl. id like it to be a six/rex pair, but its kinda leaning towards friends or father/son... Well, when i know, you'll know. :)

Enjoy!

Six led the distraught boy to the elevators, biting his tongue to hold back the numerous questions bouncing around his head. Rex was clearly having some cognitive difficulties, but to what extent? How long had this been going on? What else had been affected? The agent quieted his thoughts and tried to focus on the current situation. Rex was with him, physically fine, and the proper help was less than a minute away with the shuttle elevators. His questions could wait until Holiday had a chance to examine him.

And that's when Noah found them.

"REX!"

The teen winced at his friend's livid tone. The blond-haired boy ran up to the duo, clearly upset and ready to chew Rex out for missing their game... again. Rex turned around to face Noah, apologetic smile on his face. Noah wasn't buying it. This was the last straw.

"I can't believe you! I waited for nearly 2 hours in that gym!"

"Noah, dude, I—"

"It took two buses and a bike ride for me to get here, and you didn't even bother to show up!"

"Noah," Six interjected, trying to stop this scene before things got messy. Noah boldly held up a hand to stop the agent from continuing.

"You've gotta be kidding me. You've been ditching me for the past month, Rex. Why?"

Six glanced at Rex. A month? This has been going on for a month? Why didn't he say anything…

Rex looked at the ground, ashamed. There was absolutely nothing he could tell his friend without revealing the truth; not one excuse he could use honestly. Rex remained silent.

In the chaos of everything that had been going on, he had completely neglected Noah. All the basketball games, planned hang-outs, missed calls and texts… they had really added up. Rex knew that Noah understood that Providence work came first, but there's no way everything he'd missed could be blamed on Providence. It looked like Rex was avoiding him on purpose, although it couldn't have been any farther from the truth.

"Wow. Not even going to try. Right." Noah sighed, hand on his forehead in frustration. If Rex was going to be a jerk, so could he. " It's easy to see why Providence had to hire someone to be your friend. Look at how you treat the only one you've got."

Six wanted to stay out of it, but he knew this needed to stop before it got out of hand. "That's enough—"

Noah looked down, hands clenched into fists. "For a while there, I really thought we were friends. But if you have to constantly make up excuses to avoid seeing me, then I must've been wrong. It looks like this is just a job after all."

Something in Rex just snapped at Noah's comment. Six watched in amazement as Rex's posture, expression, mood- heck, his entire aura -did a complete 180-degree flip. Rex went from depressed to furious in under 3 seconds.

"A job!? I'm sorry we all don't live in your perfect little world, Noah! There are other things going on than just what's on your agenda!"

"My agenda? You must be losing it, because I've been out here every time you called!"

"Look, if you can't handle not being at the center of the universe for a few hours, then maybe you should find somewhere else to hang!"

"Know what, maybe I should—"

"Wow! An original thought for once! I was beginning to think you couldn't function without White telling you ho—"

"I QUIT!"

Noah's comment hit Rex like a brick.

"…Wh-what?"

Noah stormed down the hall, picking any direction away from his so-called friend.

Rex was stunned. What the heck had just happened? One moment he was so unbelievably sorry, the next he wanted to punch Noah in the face. He hadn't meant any of it.

But no matter what he meant to say, the damage was done. Rex moved to follow Noah, but was stopped by a firm hand on his shoulder. The agent looked down at the upset teen, giving his shoulder a reassuring squeeze. "Let him cool down for a while. It'll be fine."

Rex replayed the last few moments in his head. Those words kept repeating over and over; 'I quit', 'I quit', 'I quit'. The more he thought about it, the worse he felt. Rex began to get dizzy as his thoughts started slipping in and out of focus. He could feel another episode falling into place, but this one was… different. For the first time, Rex was glad to have someone with him while his mind blanked-out.

While Rex was dazed, Six took the opportunity to lead the boy into the elevator, making sure they were the only ones aboard. It would be a quick, quiet ride to Holiday's lab, and then they could start untangling this mess. Six took a moment to send out an order via communicator for any of his agents to intercept Noah and keep him on base. As an afterthought, he also ordered them to stop him from contacting White. That would help keep Rex's current situation under wraps, and prevent a new one from being made later.

Almost immediately after he finished sending the message, Rex began to act strangely. He started swaying; at first Six thought it was to the elevator music, but when Rex stumbled and leaned up against the wall, the agent knew something was up. Six turned to help Rex, who blinked a few times and regained his balance. His eyes were glazed over, and he seemed to be confused. Six asked if he was alright, but received no reply. It was like Rex didn't even realize where he was.

The teen was calm at first, mumbling to himself quietly. Six tried to make out what he was saying, but from what he could hear it sounded like complete nonsense.

Six asked again. "Rex? What—"

Rex snapped out of his stupor, gasping as if he had been holding his breath. Realizing where he was, the teen panicked and death-gripped the small railing in the elevator.

"-topstopStopSTOP!"

Before Six had a chance to react to the frightened teen, Rex let go of the railing and formed his smack-hands. The agent ducked out of the way of the massive machines, which took up most of the room in the small elevator. Just as Rex was about to pummel the door down, a little 'bing' echoed throughout the cabin, indicating their arrival. Unfortunately, that didn't stop Rex.

The elevator doors exploded into the hallway, narrowly missing some nearby Providence officers. Rex leapt through the busted frame of the elevators, deconstructing his machines and collapsing to his knees. Six quickly stepped out of the elevators and observed the scene: no one seemed to be injured, damage was limited to the doors and some cracked tiles… He could cover this up.

The officers and scientists gawked at the sight before them. Six cleared his throat.

"Technical difficulties. Nothing to be concerned about. Resume your duties." And just like that, the crowd dispersed; running back to whatever it was that they got paid to do. Six just had that effect on people. When he spoke, everybody listened. God save them should they ignore one of his orders.

The agent made his way over to Rex, who was sitting against the wall, head in his hands. Six knelt down to the boy's level, closely watching every move he made.

"I didn't mean to—"

"I know."

"I just couldn't—I'm sorry—"

"I know."

"When did we—It was so fast—"

"I know."

"I… I could've hurt someone—"

"Rex. Look at me."

The teen stopped tugging on his hair and looked up at the agent.

"It's okay."

Rex crumpled at the older man's words, gritting his teeth and closing his eyes.

"It is so not okay! Look at what happened. I could've hurt someone!"

Rex looked over at his backpack, carelessly tossed out of the elevator. "I thought I could just… just go one day, anywhere, and it'd be okay. But if I hurt someone…"

Rex couldn't finish his sentence. It really was game over. He couldn't run. If he had another episode like this, he could seriously injure people. Or worse. Providence was probably the only place on earth that could restrain him should something like this ever happen again. But staying meant suffering through this process; his family watching him slowly fade away. There really was no solution.

Six offered his hand to his charge, and after a moment Rex took it. The two stood up; Rex nursing a throbbing migraine from the whole situation. Six put a hand behind the teens back to steady him, and the two began their walk to Holiday's lab.

"I will never let that happen, Rex."

10101010101010101010101

The two walked into Holidays lab, where the good doctor was working furiously. Six led Rex over to the examination table and had the kid take a seat. They watched as Holiday ran from computer to equipment and back again, with no less than 6 test tubes in her hands. Papers and data-pads were spread everywhere around her workspace, and she had at least 5 different communication links running at once to keep her connected with other labs. She didn't even notice the pair walk in.

Six walked up to the main computer and calmly shut down the communication programs one by one. Holiday nearly dropped her test tubes.

"Six! What on Earth do you think you're doing?"

Six continued strolling through the lab, escorting the other personnel out and instructing them to take a good, long break.

"I'm in the middle of an extremely time-sensitive experiment here!"

The agent continued on his path, stopping at the computer to disable the recording devices in the lab, including the security cameras.

"Look, whatever it is, I'm sure it can wait."

He finally stopped at the main door, shutting and locking it.

Holiday sighed. There was no stopping him when he got like this. "Six. These new samples could help us develop a treatment for the incurable evo's. You know how important this project is to me."

"We've got bigger problems right now."

Holiday let his words sink in for a moment. Glancing around her lab, she noticed Rex for the first time since he arrived. She crossed her arms in annoyance.

"I realize the importance of teaching Rex about punctuality, but I still think my specimens take precedence right now."

Six let her weak sarcasm blow past him. "When was the last time Rex had a full examination?"

Holiday brushed a stray lock of hair behind her ear as she recalled the boy's schedule. "Let's see… He gets a 'head-to-toe' full exam once a month, nanite samples taken every two weeks, his overload level checked once a week, and the biometric readings are constantly running." She quickly glanced through a chart on the main computer. "Actually, it was his full exam that he missed last week, so it's been over a month. Why?"

"Have you seen any strange results in any other tests? Even the slightest change?"

"Nothing. He's always been just fine on his full exam, so I didn't see a problem just letting it slide until next week." Holiday worriedly glanced at the teen sitting on the table. "Six, what's going on?"

Six walked up to Holiday and put his hands on her shoulders, making sure Rex was out of earshot.

"He's starting to forget things, Holiday."

The doctor's face paled. "What? So soon! Are you sure? How much—how fast—when—" Six put a finger on her lips to hush her, afraid that Rex would overhear.

"According to Noah, maybe a month. So far, I know he's forgotten certain events and places. He's also had trouble with my name twice today."

"He forgot it?"

Six thought for a moment. "No, he knew it. But he couldn't say it."

Holiday started biting her lip. Pronunciation was part of the procedural memory, or 'muscle memory'. That part of the brain basically recalls how to physically perform a specific task, such as playing the piano, without requiring intense focus. His retrograde amnesia shouldn't have affected his muscle memory at all…

Rex's memory loss wasn't recurring; it was getting worse.

"If this continues, Six…"

The agent finished her sentence. "We may lose everything. The 'cure'… and Rex."

Holiday took a deep breath and closed her eyes. This was not happening.

"Heeey, I'm still here you know! I can tell you're whispering stuff back there!" Rex shouted across the room. Holiday smiled a bit. At least Rex was still Rex for now.

"I'll need to get started immediately. CAT scans, EEG's, a very detailed report of anything that's happened in the past 2 months, not to mention the basic nanite tests, possibly a sleep study… I almost don't know where to begin…" Holiday scooped up a data pad and began listing and preparing the numerous different tests. She ran a few fingers through her hair. "Six, I can't do this alone. If I inform any lab assistants about this, there's a chance they'll blab to White. And if he finds out his 'secret weapon' is malfunctioning, there no telling what he'll have done to keep Rex… operational."

"Holiday, you know I'll do whatever it takes."

"Good. It looks like you'll be my new undercover lab assistant then," she smiled.

"Just give me basic directions."

"And my undercover mole."

"Nothing gets to White before it goes through my ears."

"And undercover… excuse-creator, I suppose."

"I've been doing that since Rex got here."

"And undercover—"

"Holiday," Six stopped her. "I've been doing this job a lot longer than you think. I know what needs to happen for this to run smoothly." Holiday sighed, and looked up at the agent. This had to work.

"Hey! Don't ignore me!" Rex shouted in the background. The two turned around and slowly headed back across the room to Rex.

"I'll call Bobo in here; he'll need to know what's going on." Six whispered.

"Please tell me that's a joke."

Six looked at her seriously. "I can't help you, monitor communications, and watch Rex at the same time."

Holiday made a face. "I don't think he'll be anywhere near as observant or careful as we'll need him to be."

Six adjusted his shades. "It'll only be when I'm not with him, which won't be very often. Besides, Bobo's the only one around here who's free 24-7. And he can keep his mouth shut."

Holiday straightened out her lab coat. "We can't leave Rex alone anymore. At all. He's going to hate that, you know."

"He'll deal."

The two approached Rex, who had gotten into his backpack and pulled out his red ball to bounce off the wall. The teen winced as Holiday pulled out a needle and a few scanners.

"Consider today payback for making me miss those meetings," Holiday said with a smirk. "You're gonna be hanging out with us for the next 12 hours."

Rex groaned and laid back onto the table. It was going to be a very long evening.

1010101010101010101

"The persistent tardiness, weak training sessions…And all this time I thought you were just getting lazy." Six muttered. Rex stuck out his tongue at the agent and grabbed his goggles, pulling off a few wires still attached to his head. "Me? Lazy? Come on, now." The Agent raised an eyebrow at the teen. "Ok, ok! Maybe just a little." Rex's smile faded. He tried to keep the details to a minimum, but they were sure intent on prying out every single problem he was having. They just never stopped asking questions!

"One more question—"

"Last! One!" Rex interjected.

Six looked the teen in the eye. "Why didn't you let us know?"

Rex was quiet for a long time, thinking carefully about how to answer. "I don't know." He looked down at the ground. Counting the floor tiles seemed to be a recurring theme today for Rex. "I knew what would eventually happen, and I just didn't want you to worry away the time we had left."

Six and Holiday were shocked at Rex's statement. Bobo was the first to make a comeback. "You go out there an' risk your life fightin' evos 10 times your size on a daily basis, an' now you think we're worried? Where've you been, kid?"

Rex scratched the back of his head, at a complete loss for words. Suddenly, an alarm sliced through the silence in the lab, jolting the group from their conversation. Holiday rushed the lab's main computer, quickly typing in codes on the massive keyboard. A moment later, multiple windows popped up on the screen. The doctor speed-read a few, and swiftly turned around to face the group.

"We've got reports of an evo downtown. Six, do you think you can handle it on your own?" Holiday asked.

"Whaaat? Seriously, Doc?" Rex hopped off the table and threw on his jacket.

Six's eyebrow twitched. "Don't even start. You're not going. If you fight anything like how you've been training lately, you'll just slow me down."

Rex huffed and crossed his arms. "Hey now, I haven't been that bad! I'm sure on the battlefield it'll all come rushing back." Bobo and Six glanced at each other, clearly unconvinced. "Right, kid. And I'm gonna grow wings and fly to the moon." Bobo grunted sarcastically.

"Hey, anything's possible with nanites." Rex grinned. Bobo sighed and rubbed his temples. The kid was gonna be difficult today.

"Stay here with Holiday until I return. I mean it." The agent moved towards the door. Rex rolled his eyes and ran a few steps to catch up to him, ever-defiant. Six swiftly whipped out a katana and blocked his path, not even bothering to turn around. Rex skidded to a stop, shocked.

"Stay. Put."

A tense moment passed where neither of them moved. Finally, Rex took a small step back, distancing himself from his partner's sword. Six waited a moment longer before skillfully folding up his weapon and dashing out the door.

Once the Agent was gone, Rex stormed out of the lab. They were partners! They were supposed to fight back to back! And yet here he was, being treated like a child. The teen ran to the nearest staircase, ignoring the calls from Bobo and Dr. Holiday. He was his own person, and he could make his own decisions.

Rex grinned. He always did have a problem following orders.

Thanks for reading!