A/N: Yup, you're seeing correctly. The sequel is here! (grins) After all I couldn't just leave the story where I did, now could I?

DISCLAIMER: Trust me, no profit is made out of these fics and I own absolutely nothing concerning the series (sobs a bit). But this is a very nice guilty pleasure. (smirks)

WARNINGS: A SEQUEL. (To 'The Others'.) Violence. Gore. Language. And, without a doubt, there shall be whump. Adult themes. Uh… Anyone out there…?

Awkay. Starting new stories is always nerve-wrecking so best to get on with it. (takes a deep breath) I really, truly hope that you'll enjoy the ride!

The Others 2 – The Age of Terror

It was raining when a small private jet landed to a isolated airport only a selected few knew of. The noises of ever awake London's beat didn't disturb the environment's peace while a lone figure waited until the aircraft had stopped fully, then approached with slow, confident steps. A woman emerged from the jet just as the observer reached it, as though having sensed the presence.

There was a tense look on Maeve Donovan's pale face. A hint of relief appeared, though, when she saw the arrival. "Thank gosh…! Jason told me that he'd contacted you but I wasn't sure…"

"Of course I'll help." A pair of sharp eyes that were dark with concern and fear shifted towards the aircraft. "How is he?"

Maeve sighed. "Stable, I think. But the journey took its toll on him. He hasn't woken up yet."

The other nodded slowly, taking a few precious moments to process the situation. "Right…", a barely recognizeable voice sighed. "Let's get moving. This is a secure location but we shouldn't waste time."

Maeve nodded eagerly. Just before they made it to the jet the woman looked towards the other. "Thank you, for doing this. You're taking a huge risk."

"He's one of my best friends. I'd even say he's family. I'll do anything I can to help him. Besides…" Emily Prentiss moved the sleeve of her long, black coat. Just enough to reveal a series of numbers tattooed to her skin, knowing that Maeve understood. During his phone call Jason revealed that a similar line had been etched on Spencer during his captivity. "He's one of the four people that I've trusted enough to reveal my secret willingly. I can't lose him."

Maeve stared with quite open stun for a moment. You're one of us?, was clearly written on the woman's face. Then, quite rapidly, the shock transformed into steel hard determination. "I can't lose him, either. So let's get him to a safe place."

A World Gone Crazy

Five Months Later

The blue eyes of reporter Fiona Wargas were grim and she took a deep breath. She even ran a trembling hand through her shortcut, dark brown hair, which was a nervous habit she'd imagined was well behind her. And then came the signal that she was on air.

"It's been five months from when a nation wide war was declared between the Others and the human kind. Since then constant battles have been raging on and tremendous losses have been suffered on both sides. The state of war has been the target of a great deal of international attention. A wide range of public debates have been issued. Some of them question whether a similar course of action should be taken in other countries as well. Several nations have already decided to do so. A lot of people have been collecting names onto addresses and arranging protests to ensure that the most basic rights of those Others that have been captured are respected. The most recent one of them was published just this morning, at around the same time as two more countries announced that they'd follow in the footsteps of the United States."

Fiona took a deep breath, trying to collect her thoughts. Her eyes strayed to the papers before her until she found her focus once. "Today the president signed several new regulations against the Others crossing the border. Specific scanners will be used to ensure that no dangerous individuals will be able to leave the country or enter it."

By some miracle Fiona made it through the rest of the broadcast. She was just about to leave the studio when the sight she met made her freeze dead on her tracks. Her heart stopped for a couple of seconds.

There, only steps away, five agents walked in. One of her colleagues pointed towards her. As soon as her eyes met one of the agent's she knew that her time of hiding was over.

Jennifer Jareau could still remember a time when she enjoyed her job, no matter how distant those days seemed. Now… Now her main duty was interrogating the captured Others, most of them women and teenagers who were scared for their lives. While some of them had actually committed to severe crimes most were genuinely kind and gentle souls that'd simply gone a little astray in moments of sheer despair. And she was comdamning them to a fate she was much happier not trying to imagine.

"Penny for your thoughts", David Rossi, who was giving her a ride home, suggested.

JJ stared out the window, deep in thought. It took long before she found her voice. "I just… Today I interrogated this young man, and…" She gritted her teeth. It didn't help erase the stinging sensation in her eyes. "Dave, you wouldn't believe how much like Spence he looked! He… He kept begging for his mother to be left alone and I couldn't even…" At that moment she truly broke down for the first time since the beginning of the entire madness.

They stopped to a red light. David sighed, wrapping one arm around her. "I know", he murmured. "That's why I resigned a few hours ago. I don't want to be a part of this anymore. I just hope that this whole mess ends soon."

JJ couldn't say that she was surprised. A couple of days earlier she filled out a request to be placed to other tasks. Hopefully her wish would be granted before her current job description would drive her mad.

She sniffed and took a deep, shuddering breath, managing to compose herself a little just before the light turned back green. "Spence… How do you think he's doing?"

David smiled a little although she could see lines of worry around his mouth and eyes. "I'm sure that he's in someplace safe, recovering. Missing us. Driving Maeve insane with his homesickness unless she's found a way to distract him."

A chuckle erupted from JJ. It left a nice, warm feeling inside. It wasn't until then she realized just how long it was from the last time she laughed.

While turning to the street where JJ lived they saw a group of special trained soldiers barging into a house. They exchanged a look, both knowing what it meant. Another one had been spotted. JJ knew those people. They were the first ones to welcome her family to this neighborhood, a nice couple of her and Will's age with two small children.

David shook his head. The attacked house's shadow was dark and long behind them. "The world has gone insane."

JJ couldn't have agreed more.

JJ finally breathed a sigh of relief when she made it home and dropped her ridiculously heavy bag to the floor. The relief lasted until she realized how quiet it was. She swallowed and frowned. "Will? Henry? Are you guys home?"

A mother's intuition led her towards the living room. Sure enough, some movements could be heard. She peered in. And felt the whole world twist and turn around her.

There was Henry, with a glass he'd dropped to the floor. But he wasn't picking up the pieces. Instead, with an expression of intense concentration, he was in fact putting the shattered pieces together. Soon enough the glass looked like it'd never been damaged.

JJ stared, her eyes stinging hellishly from both tears that wanted to erupt and keeping them open for too long without blinking. Eventually the words slipped through trembling lips. "Oh my god…!"

But… She wasn't… So how could Henry be…?!

That's when she became aware of the second presence. She turned her head to meet the sad and perhaps even scared eyes of Will LaMontagne. "I… Jaye, there's something I need to tell you."

Since the beginning of the entire sanity Aaron had lost track on how many times he'd thought about giving up his job. He could tell that the rest of his former team was thinking the same although they'd been barely allowed to see each other for months. The only member he'd been allowed to maintain was Penelope. He'd heard that Alex Blake quit months ago. It was highly likely that Derek Morgan wouldn't be far behind. JJ and David… He didn't have the slightest clue where they were at the moment. As for Spencer… He didn't even know if the youngest member of his team was alive. The uncertainty was worse than anything else.

Fortunately, as it was he had a new case to distract him. In a way, at least. Apparently the Others were planning on an attack against the minister who helped create restrictions against them, Oliver Trask. His new team had been assigned as the ones responsible for the man's safety while the politician gave a speech in the middle of the city. Aaron hated the task from the bottom of his heart, mostly because he had hard time fighting the urge to put a bullet into the man's skull himself.

Those far from pleasant thoughts were interrupted by the sound of his cell phone ringing. It was Penelope. Aaron growled but accepted the call anyway. He knew that she wouldn't call him if it wasn't something important. "Yes?"

"We… We got it all wrong!" Penelope blurted out immediately. She sounded borderline hysterical. Was she running? "The minister… He was never the real target. It was all a ruse."

Aaron frowned. Dread rose inside him, sharp and all consuming. "If the attack isn't directed at him… Then where?"

"That's why I was in such a hurry to contact you. I've already alerted all possible authorities." Sheer terror colored Penelope's voice. "The real target is the bureau."

The second time Derek Morgan met SSA Dr. Erica Leonor wasn't the slightest bit more pleasant than the first one. There, sitting in a interrogation room that was even smaller than the previous one from months ago, he knew for a fact that he was in a deep trouble. There was a look of a successful predator on Erica's face.

"So, agent Morgan…", she began, without a doubt stretching her words on purpose. She dropped a thick file to the desk between them. "I assume that we both know why you're here."

Derek squeezed his mouth as tightly closed as he could, a small tremor passing him. He counted his options, knowing that he had none. A cold, hollow feeling settled into him. He'd known the risks from the start. Still…

"You've been caught helping the Others", Erica stated the accusation out loud.

At that Derek couldn't hold his silence any longer. "I've been helping their children to safety. I've been helping them transport food to those who have been stranded into conditions in which they have no hope."

Erica sighed, appearing irritated. "Whatever your excuses are, what you committed to was a severe crime and shall be treated as such by the Board. We're in a state of war."

Derek shivered with rage and revulsion. His eyes narrowed dangerously. "So it's perfectly acceptable to let their children and weakest ones die?"

"They haven't showed us any mercy. Why should we give them such?" Erica got up, obviously having had enough of him. "I'm handing your case to the Board. They'll call you in as soon as they've reached a verdict. As of this moment you're no longer an agent." She glanced towards him once more. "Consider your loyalties, Derek. You may find them gravely misplaced."

Derek's lips opened for some poorly chosen, heated words. He never managed to suck in enough breath. Just then a shrill alarm sounded right before a deafening explosion went through the entire building. A blast of energy sent him against the wall and all of a sudden there was only darkness.

A small flat in a quiet yet beautiful area on the edge of London was like from some different world. There were no signs of the war. Instead the only sounds heard were the tv that was open on a quiet volume and a breakfast being cooked. The food's beautiful, alluring scent of promise floated in the air.

It was that scent which woke up Maeve. She stretched and a yawned, then shifted to discover that the other side of the bed was empty. Of course. She sighed and pushed herself to motion.

Sure enough she found Spencer cooking. There was a look of deep focus on his face, yet his eyes never once stopped straying towards the TV-screen. Knowing that he wouldn't notice her for a while Maeve took the opportunity to observe the love of her life.

The past few months had been a long, painful process of recovery and that time wasn't made any easier by the fact that Spencer had wanted to go back home every single day since first waking up, so much that it ached him. It took three weeks before the injuries and the infection that followed them settled enough to allow her and Emily a small breath of relief. It was around then Spencer was finally able to stay awake longer than three minutes at a time. And there was, of course, the pain. They weren't able to get their hands on even nearly enough medication to soothe the agony that had to be gnawing the young man's whole body. Spencer never complained but Maeve could tell that sometimes it was still a struggle. Once he finally got to his feet after the first seven weeks, shakily and weakly at first, Spencer discovered that sometimes moving around helped. Nightmares haunted the genius' sleep, with such force that they couldn't live in a apartment building anymore. Although she hated even the idea Maeve couldn't help wondering if it was the pain or intense bad dreams that woke him up this morning.

It wasn't only Spencer's body and mind recovering, though. It was their relationship as well. It wasn't easy for him to overcome the fact that for a while he imagined that she was dead, even though she had the perfect reason for staying away. Maeve, on the other hand, couldn't shake away all those endless hours during which she'd been sure that she'd lose him. She knew for a fact that some nights both of them stayed awake for a while observing each other, just to make sure that the other was really there. But slowly yet surely they were overcoming those wounds. They'd been apart for much too long and they were determined to make the most out of the time they'd be given.

That was when Spencer finally sensed her presence. He flashed her a radiant smile that almost distracted her attention from how pale he seemed. "'Morning."

She grinned and made her way to him. She loved the sound he emitted when her lips brushed his cheek. "'Morning to you, too. Watch it or I'll get used to you cooking all the time." She kissed him again and he responded eagerly. "How long have you been up?"

"Not long." For a Vegas-kid he was a absolutely horrible liar. His eyes were soft when he focused on her before continuing with the breakfast. "I didn't have the heart to wake you up."

And Maeve didn't have the heart to point out that his nightmares woke her three times the night before. As it was she wrapped her arms around him and pulled him as close as humanly possible, mindful of the still sore spots, then breathed in his familiar, comforting scent. Sometimes this, being with him and actually having him close, felt like a sweet dream. Too good to be true.

Of course the universe couldn't just leave them alone.

They were just finishing the breakfast when something on the TV caught their attention. It was footage of a entirely too familiar building. Or well, of what little there was left of the building. A explosion had torn through it, smashing what was once Spencer's second home to pieces.

'A NEW TERRORIST ATTACK FROM THE OTHERS', the title screamed.

Maeve's whole body went cold. Several people there… She considered them friends. In a way Spencer's substitute family was hers as well. She wondered, with a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach, if they'd been in there. If they were hurt or worse.

Then she glanced towards Spencer. If he'd been pale before at the moment there was no color on his horrified face. If he hadn't been sitting he would've without a doubt fallen to the floor. His whole body was trembling violently.

It was his team. His family. And although there was no way he was recovered enough for the absurd plan Maeve knew exactly what he'd say long before the half-whispered words floated out.

"I can't… I can't just hide here any longer. Not when…" He shuddered, as though even the thought hurt physically. "I need to go back there."

TBC?

A/N: And it starts with a BANG. (shudders) Are Morgan and Garcia okay? What will happen Reid comes back home (because even wild horses wouldn't hold him back now)? And what about Henry and Prentiss?!

Quite a bit of questions, and we're only at a start. (grins) So, you guys, I'm asking you. Would you like to read more? I've got quite a bit of plans for this one…

In any case, thank you so much for reading thus far! Who knows, maybe we'll meet again someday soon.

Take care!

Akira Nishikawa: Quite a nasty place to leave it, no? (grins) But indeed, this is where a brand new story begins. I'm thrilled that you enjoyed the first story so much and I really, really hope that the sequel turns out worth the wait!

Huge thank yous for the review!

Guest (1): I'm so, so thrilled to hear that! I truly hope that you'll enjoy the sequel as well.

Massive thank yous for the review!

Guest (2): Not quite yet. Those plot bunnies SCREAM to be unleashed. (snickers) Hopefully the sequel turns out worth the wait.

Colossal thank yous for the review!