Hey guys,

Sorry I've been away so long, nursing school kicked my ass this semester (but I passed with straight B's, which let me tell you is a miracle), and then I went on a very long vacation. I'm back though and I'm really excited to get back into things with writing! Hopefully some of you have hung on despite my absence and I hope you enjoy this next chapter!

Love you guys as always and look forward to hearing what you think about this chapter! I'm going to try to get some mushy-gushy Kurt/Jane stuff either this chapter or next. But as you might have garnered my muse doesn't always take me in certain directions. But as always, I can promise this is a Jeller fic in the end, or at the very least a fix it with an ending that will lean in that direction.

Lots of love,

Fallen

Also a huge shout out to my amazing editor Marablackwolf! She is a life saver and I couldn''t say enough kind words about her! Editors are probably the single most important part of a stories creation because they temper crazy authors like me. Without them our stories would enevitably be full of grammatical errors, run far too long, and maybe not always take the best direction! So glad you contacted me, and hope you know how much I appreciate you and all the others editors out there!

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When Jane awoke the next morning she felt refreshed, a clarity that came only from a good night's sleep settling over her as she went about her morning routine. After her training and her shower, she even indulged herself by frying up a small omelet and toasting herself two pieces of bread. Her stomach had growled this morning; after keeping the food she ate yesterday down she knew she could keep the trend going.

Despite the conversation with Zapata, and the hope that came with it, she knew she'd shown the team too much weakness. It seemed to be working in her favor for the moment but she couldn't allow it to happen again.

Clearly, she had made a miscalculation the other day when she came into the office, and she couldn't afford another. She had been forcing herself to eat the bare minimum to function before this, and drink as little as she could get away with. But she understood now that she had to push herself further than that if she wanted to continue to maintain her façade of strength.

So, as she ate she forced herself to down two and a half glasses of water. Though with each swallow she had to fight her innate physical reaction to the intrusion. After what the CIA had done to her, every sip brought her back to the tub where they drowned her or reminded her of wet towels shoved over her mouth and nose, as water rained down upon her face.

She thought she might have loved the water once.

Upon occasion, her dreams would begin with bursts of memories of the beach. She thought Shepherd might have taken Roman and her to one regularly in the summer months.

But now even the shower felt like torture. Just the sound of water put her on edge.

Sometimes she wondered how no one had noticed, but she'd mastered the art of lying so long ago. Maybe the wonder was that she even realized she'd been lying at all, for it seemed as if truth had grown far more foreign to her than any lie she might come up with.

Still, she forced herself to finish her meal though her thoughts had turned the food to ash in her mouth and the water made her want to puke. Then she stood and moved to exit the apartment, meeting her detail on the street and following them to the car.

As always, the car ride to work passed silently between them. They never spoke to her, maintaining a professionally cool distance. Before, she would try to bridge the gap, chatting idly at them as they drove or walked around with her.

But she no longer made the attempt.

She understood why they would want to maintain their distance. Already she imagined they suffered at work having to guard the FBI's most notorious pariah. She doubted an illusion of warmth or friendship between them would help them in this regard. So, she did the little she could to help them, and made it clear publicly how little she thought or cared for them.

Sometimes she thought she saw a hint of gratitude in their eyes.

She tried not to let that hurt her.

When they finally arrived at the FBI she let them follow her up the stairs, avoiding the elevator as staunchly as everyone avoided her. After her full breakfast, she tackled the stairs like a pro, hardly noticing the hitch of effort it took her to get to her floor. They broke away from her as she pushed the door open and headed towards her desk.

Like normal she'd come early, but only about thirty minutes or so compared to her normal hour to two hours. She didn't know if the team had checked up on her habits with their new-found concern and she didn't want them to question her about anything else.

To her surprise though, most of the team, expecting Kurt already milled around the office. She did her best to skirt around them without notice but Patterson quickly spotted her.

Jane tried not to flinch as the blonde approached with a full smile on her face, "Good morning Jane! Nice to see you looking so bright eyed this morning, did you rest well?"

"Yes, thank you," Jane replied, not sure what else to say.

Patterson's smile seemed to grow brighter somehow; Jane really didn't know how she managed to be so perky all the time, "That's great Jane, have you eaten breakfast yet? Zapata and I were about to send Reade down to get us some donuts from the cafeteria, I'm sure he wouldn't mind grabbing you one as well."

"Oh, trust me, he definitely wouldn't mind," Zapata spoke up from the other side of the bull pen, "He owes us all some food after the incident anyway, isn't that right Reade?"

Reade put his hands up, "Why'd you have to bring that up Tasha? I was going to pick Jane up a donut anyway, I remember she used to love the one with the blueberries in it," He looked at her helplessly before muttering to himself, "Can't go one day without being harassed around here."

Zapata slung her arm over his shoulder, though she had to stretch to do it, "Don't look so butt hurt Reade, keep it up and I might just tell Jane all about the incident I was referring to."

Now he looked scared, but their friendly banter only made Jane feel more out of place. They hadn't included her in so long she no longer really understood her role in their games, "That's it, I'm leaving, and before you say anything I'm getting donuts and coffees for everyone. Jesus."

Before anyone could respond, he had shrugged Tasha off and headed for the stairs. Jane might have thought he'd been genuinely mad but she'd managed to catch the small smile tugging at his face.

"See Jane, that's how you have to handle the men folk when they try to cause trouble," Zapata explained as she walked up to join Patterson beside her, "They protest but we all know they secretly like being told what to do."

Jane did her best to smile and nod; after last night things between her and Zapata weren't as frosty as they had been before but she didn't think they were friends again yet.

"I'll try to remember that," she attempted to joke, though she felt as if her tone fell flat. Even after one of the first real nights of sleep she'd had since the CIA she still felt off; grey in comparison to the full palette of emotions the others seemed to display.

Patterson giggled, "Not as if you need any help in that department Jane."

"Jane's always been a bit of a man-killer, hasn't she?" Zapata joked back, but Jane froze at her words, images of Oscar floating to the surface.

When she looked down she could swear her hands were covered in blood, "Excuse me, I need to go to the bathroom," she whispered as she turned and fled to the bathroom. As soon as she got there she started to furiously scrub her hands trying to rid them of the blood. But no matter how hard she scrubbed it never seemed to go away.

Her finger tips had started to bleed, distorting the white porcelain of the sink when she felt delicate hands cover her own, "Jane stop, you're going to hurt yourself if you don't."

She hadn't even heard Patterson come in.

What was wrong with her?

"I just can't seem to get it off," she whispered, hating herself instantly for the confession.

Patterson just looked confused, her large green eyes filled with uncertainty and sadness, "Jane, there's nothing on your hands. They're perfectly clean, I promise."

Jane had to bite her lips to stop herself from saying anymore. She didn't need Patterson to think her anymore damaged than she already was.

As if sensing her discomfort, Patterson turned the water off, and slowly dried Jane's hands with paper towels. "Are you going to be okay now Jane? Zapata's worried but I didn't think you'd want to be crowded."

"I'm fine," Jane told her with a smile that didn't touch her eyes, "I didn't mean to bother you guys."

"You're never a bother Jane, I just wanted to make sure you were okay, you tore into here like a bat out of hell."

Jane shrugged and extracted her hands from Patterson's grasp, "Thank you for checking on me, but I'm ready to go back to work. I won't let the team down."

For some reason's Patterson's face seemed to twist at her words, "Jane, the team needs you to be better because we care about you not because of what you do for the team. You understand, that right?"

Jane ignored her, sure they'd had one good day but she knew the truth. She knew her value to them. She also knew what would happen if her value ran out, even if the others cared (which she doubted), Naz would see to it.

Her wrists ached at the mere thought. The ghost sting of cold metal tightening around them enough to make her sick.

But she couldn't afford anymore weakness, so she gave Patterson her best smile, "I'm fine, really Patterson, just got in my own head for a moment. You know how important the work we do here is to me."

Patterson didn't look like she believed a word Jane said, she smiled but somehow it didn't seem to make it to her eyes, "Of course, now should we head back out there? Reade should be back with those donuts any second now and I think I'm pretty close to cracking one of the tattoo cases."

Jane nodded, her eyes drifting back down to her hands- still covered in blood- as she followed Patterson back down the hallway into the bull pen.

"You okay Jane?" Zapata asked quietly, walking to stand beside her, "I didn't think before I spoke…" She trailed off but she looked genuinely troubled by what had happened.

"It's okay, I'm good," she responded, her eyes haunted though she forced a smile to her lips, "I just have a lot on my mind. Sorry if I worried you."

Zapata shook her head, "Its nothing, like I said last night, I'm trying to be better, Jane. Worrying about you is part of that."

A more genuine smile tugged on her lips, and Zapata smiled back. Before they could say more the elevator let out a ding and Reade emerged, two full boxes of donuts in his hands.

"If this isn't enough to satisfy you vultures, then there's nothing I can really say to you at this point," He told them all with a harried look on his face, "I think every person I passed tried to snake these from me, so you all best appreciate my effort."

"Oh, we do, don't worry Reade. But we're going to appreciate those donuts a whole lot more, try not to let it bother you," Tasha shot back, throwing Jane a smirk as she practically hauled her over to the donuts.

Patterson flittered through to grab one before hustling off to her lab, calling over her shoulder, her mouth already half-full, "Got a hit, meet in the conference room in twenty minutes."

Reade handed her a donut as she approached, and she smiled when she realized he had indeed remembered her favorite kind. "There's two more in the boxes, I'll make sure to fend off the others so you can eat them later."

His kind smile made her look away. She really didn't know how to handle the way the team had been behaving the last few days. It took a considerable effort not to expect them to laugh at her, to reveal this all to be a part of some sick joke they'd been playing on her.

"I see you brought us all donuts Reade, I'm guessing this is the makeup for the incident? I'd almost begun to believe you'd forgotten," Kurt materialized behind Reade, reaching around him to grab a Boston cream donut.

Reade just let out a groan, "Why does everyone keep bringing that up? Give a man a break, help me out here Jane."

She just shrugged, "I don't even know what they're talking about so I think you're on your own."

She started to shuffle backward, uncomfortable with this new inclusion and Kurt's unexpected presence. She just wanted to go to her desk, eat a bite or two of the donut and then prepare for the case.

Kurt's voice stopped her, "Jane, good to see you looking so rested today, are you following the doctor's instructions?"

She nodded glancing up at him, and trying to decipher the look in his eyes, "I've been cleared by him, there won't be a repeat." If only because she had zero intentions of getting on an elevator again.

"Good, well Patterson thinks she's cracked another case, are you feeling up to field work? Patterson could always use you here." He seemed to smile at her, and the expression looked genuine. But she didn't know if she believed it.

"I'll be fine in the field," she told him after a momentary pause. For a second it almost looked as if he were going to reach out to her but she didn't know if it had been a trick of the light.

He nodded and gave her one last hint of smile before heading towards his office. As soon as he opened his door, she moved away from Reade and Zapata towards her desk. She had ten minutes now before they had to meet in the conference room for the next case.

She took a bite of her donut as she sat down at her desk, and her eyes closed with a hum of satisfaction. She couldn't remember the last time she'd had one of these, it must have been at least a month before the CIA. But she found that without conscious thought she managed to finish the whole donut as she scrolled through her work emails looking for anything important.

As she brushed the crumbs from her desk, she noticed the others getting up and heading towards the conference room so she stood to follow them. By the time she squeezed in through the door everyone else sat around the table, most everyone shot her a small smile as she moved to sit- all but Naz, who sat across from her gave her a pointed frown.

Jane doubted anything she could do anything to please that woman, short of perhaps dropping dead.

As if sensing her eyes, Naz spoke, "Nice of you to finally join us Jane, I was beginning to worry that you might not be taking this mission as seriously as the rest of us."

An awkward silence met her statement, and the room seemed to freeze. But her words hit Jane like a freight train, "It won't happen again." She stated, trying to project strength when all she wanted to do was fade into oblivion.

Naz's beady eyes seemed to cut right through her, "See that it doesn't, I'd hate for the director to decide you're too much trouble."

Jane only nodded, her eyes drifting to the table as she tried to ignore the piercing gaze being shot across the table at her. She heard Zapata say something but her mind was too far away to really hear it. By the time she tuned back in the room felt charged with anger, and it's oppressive weight seemed to choke her.

She tuned back in just to hear Naz get the final word in whatever argument had just erupted, "No matter how you feel, Agent Zapata," distain dripped from her words, "The matter comes down to bureau politics, and we all know Jane is skating on thin ice as is. If you really cared for her, you'd have given her the same warning I just did. But I do believe Agent Patterson had something to share before your outburst."

Jane sometimes wondered when the woman before her had turned to ice. But maybe like Shepard she'd been born that way, with a heart too full of hatred and a lust for power for true emotions to ever take root.

But before she could give it too much thought Patterson stared, her voice betraying her discomfort, "Well, now that's settled, let's get started. So, things have been quiet since we dealt with the Venezuela bombings last week. But this morning, I got a hit on one of Jane's tattoos," As she spoke, she fiddled with her tablet, pulling up a picture of the scorpion tattoo placed on the outside of her left thigh. Jane remembered that before she had almost liked that one. But electrical burns now spattered through the imagine making it nearly unrecognizable. "This scorpion- when we were first investigating the tattoos I searched all the obvious things. But I managed to miss the most obvious connection of all."

As she spoke, she pressed another button and a logo that reminded Jane of a flattened umbrella popped onto the screen, "Now most of you should be familiar with this, it's the logo for the private military organization Electra. Of course, you're probably thinking, 'Patterson what does this have to do with a scorpion?' Well I promise you I'm getting there. Now at first, I didn't understand why these popped up together either. But when I did some digging I discovered that Electra has a private group within their organization called "The Scorpions". They are their most elite unit, and they have a reputation for getting up to nasty business. They get the job done, but there has been a lot of noise raised about their methods within branches of the military that they interact with."

She paused gathering her breath, "Sadly though, as we all know, this isn't exactly out of the ordinary for private military organizations. So, I wasn't sure what about this unit was so special, until I dug deeper. I found out that in the last month 6 members of this group have gone missing, each seemly picked up one day and walked out of their lives. No one has seen or heard from them since, but it wasn't until the 7th person went missing last night that things started to appear fishy. This time whatever happened didn't go as smoothly, and the victim, Sonja Redding, was able to post an s.o.s message to her private server."

"So, how do we know that they're all connected?" Naz asked, her eyes seeming to bore into Patterson's from across the table.

"See, law enforcement still doesn't think they are, but I did some more digging," Images began to pile onto the screen, appearing to be from multiple homes and one office. "See, here's what bothered me, look closely at all these locations, in the top corner of the room is a small symbol."

The images enhanced until they could make out a small poppy with a dagger through its center in the top right corner of each room. "Now the first time I ran this image through the data base I got a whole lot of bad tattoos, but the second time I ran it through this popped up."

Images, clearly from the Middle East popped up on the screen; people lying dead in doorways, blood soaked walls, and crumbled burned ruins flew across the screen, "In these, this same image was found, and it took me a while but I was able to match the majority of these images to missions carried out by the Scorpions."

"So, what are you thinking?" Reade asked, "Do we have a rogue on our hands or is this someone getting revenge for something the Scorpions got into while they were overseas?"

Patterson gave a small shrug, "I'm not sure yet, but right now it looks like whoever is doing this has 7 of the 22 members of Scorpion. There have been no bodies found, but someone with this level of skill would have no problem hiding bodies. But, until we find otherwise, we have to operate under the assumption that these 7 people are still alive."

"Do we know who the commander of this unit is?" Kurt asked, already ready to get the show on the road.

"Yes, former Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Hudson, he left the Marines eight years ago and formed Electra almost immediately. It only took them two years to earn the reputation as one of the most ruthless and efficient private contracting groups in the country."

"I'll pull some strings and see if we can't get a meeting with him," Naz told them, "Is there anything else Patterson?"

"Nothing relevant, I just don't understand why there isn't something being done about this. You'd think Hudson would be more concerned that his best unit is being picked apart."

Kurt just shook his head, "I'm sure if he's doing anything about it none of us would hear about it. These are the kind of people who are used to operating outside the law."

"Well something tells me he's not going to welcome us all sniffing around," Reade said, and Jane silently agreed. The man in the photos had the same look in his eyes that Keaton did. The look of a man who got enjoyment out of other people's suffering.

She hated that fear instantly coiled in her stomach at the sight.

"Alright, Patterson keep digging, Reade, Zapata I want you to head to the most recent crime scene and see what you can find. Naz get us in contact with the General. Jane, you and I are going to head over to Electra's headquarters and see if we can get anyone to talk to us."

She nodded, getting up from her chair to follow him as the other dispersed from the table.

Something in her gut told her that this case wasn't going to be an easy one and apprehension built inside her as they headed towards the locker room to get ready for the case. She'd learned to trust her gut and she had a feeling they were all going to regret stumbling upon this case.

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So I'm leaving us there for the moment, to build up for the next chapter! I promise A. lots of Jeller, but B. lots of danger.

POLL Time!

Next chapter would you like to see:

A. Jane get injured

B. The team kidnapped

C. Kurt be injured