These chapters keep getting longer and longer. Never thought I'd write so much until I hit the end…but here it is :)

Thank you for the reviews, and I hope you'll enjoy the last installment. I took a few liberties with the aftermath by the way.

Till next time :)

Thicker Than Blood

3.

Twenty days.

Jane has been missing for twenty days, and it is slowly driving Kurt crazy. The phone call was a trap. Two agents are dead. Nas is in a coma and doctors aren't optimistic. They had little –almost nothing –on Sandstorm now. And still no news from Jane.

Tasha is persuaded she turned against them. Reade balances between her being manipulated or behind the whole explosion. Patterson hopes she is still alive. So does he. Pellington is furious; he calls the mission a scandal and a massive failure in the way bureaucrats do. The man had been in the field, but that was years before he got sucked into the political balance that comes with the title of Director of the FBI. Sometimes, Kurt thinks he's forgotten what it is like to search for answers and having nothing to grasp at but straws. Mayfair still went out there when necessary at least. More than even, he misses her presence now.

Don't go there, he warns himself. Thinking of Mayfair reminds him of who Jane was, or is, and he wants to believe she is on their side. He needs to, because if he can't trust his guts again, he will go raving mad.

Twenty days pass. On the twenty-first, they receive the package.

TTB

Actually, Patterson gets the envelope in her personal mail. It's a medium-sized, brown envelope containing a small sketchbook filled with drawings. It was sent from a David Farewell, living in J. Dawson Street somewhere near New York. The sending address is, of course, complete fictive –and they check –but the blonde took exactly five seconds to identify the sender. The references are too obvious to be ignored.

"She sent it through the post office?" Tasha blurts in disbelief. "That's a huge risk –what if it had been intercepted, or even lost?"

Some drawings are hastily made, others incredibly detailed. They represent a various panel of things –from faceless characters, to animals, to buildings and even imaginary creatures. Kurt knows Jane has some skills with a pencil, but he would have never imagined she could be this good.

"She's sending us her own version of tattoos on Sandstorm," Kurt whispers in awe.

"It could be another trap," Tasha insists almost petulantly.

"I don't think so," Reade speaks up, surprising everyone. "This course of action is clearly a gamble. She must be under tight surveillance, or might have managed to earn some measure of trust by some way, or be very desperate, to have it sent through mail of all things."

"And we will waste out time figuring out what they mean," Tasha grumbles, clearly annoyed.

"Not necessarily," Patterson says, frowning as she analyses the very first drawing; different kind of plants drawn in excessive details. "This is a dahlia, and this is a black rose. They are symbols of deception, and you find them in some drawings –see here?" she runs through the pages until she stops on a giant snake wearing a cap and running through a thick forest, its stripes a perfect reflection of its environment. A small bunch of dahlias are drawn in its wake. "This one means it's relevant. This one," she shows a raccoon wiping the floor with its tail. "Isn't. I think the snake hiding in the forest means blending in. See how the stripes hide him? Blending in?" the team stares at her. Patterson rolls her eyes. "We played Dixit a few times, okay? And let me tell you, Jane is amazing when it comes to image association and symbolism."

"Dixit?" Reade asks, puzzled.

"We don't have time for this," Kurt interrupts. "Patterson, do you think you can decode this?"

The blonde's smile is determined and optimistic.

"Jane sent this to me, because she designed it for me," she says resolutely. Kurt can already see the wheels working in her brilliant mind. "I can do this."

"If you're right, this means it can be interpreted many ways."

Patterson's eyes harden.

"Maybe, but she knows me. And last time we talked about snakes…" she pauses. "I need to understand what she's trying to say, okay? Give me some time."

They leave her to concentrate.

If Kurt has to be honest, he is a little bit disappointed. He was hoping that whatever sign of life Jane would send would be directed to him. They have some kind of bound, or had a bound, he supposes. They haven't been really close lately –ever since she returned, actually. But he trusted her on the field. He let her watch his back. She knew she could trust him.

Right?

Apparently not. And it kind of…hurts. He suddenly wishes Nas was there. She could offer some objective point of view on the situation. Tasha is too influenced by her personal anger with Jane, Reade too undecided and still recovering. And Patterson is busy decrypting whatever messages Jane had managed to slip under Sandstorm's nose to hold a conversation.

He wonders why she hadn't already returned to them. To him. Perhaps Allie was right after all.

The cake is good and everyone seems to be having fun. Kurt is debating on whether he should take a second slice when Allie finds him.

"Is Jane already gone? I thought I saw her leave," she asks him. Kurt looks around him and can't spot her. Jane is good at blending in, but even she couldn't hide in Allie's small apartment.

"She could have said goodbye," he mutters, annoyed. Allie, surprisingly, rolls her eyes.

"I can't really blame her, given the way you've been treating her," she says dryly. "No-one has spoken to her all evening. Your team didn't approach her –you didn't even look at her," she pauses and crosses her arms. "Is it true? That you didn't invite her at first? That she's only here because Patterson thought you had and she slipped at work of all places?"

"No, I-" he pauses, looks away. Allie is right, after all. "The team is uncomfortable around her, so at first I didn't think it would be a good idea."

"She's here because you pressured her to come," she interrupts, sounding disappointed. "Kurt, you are such a selfish prick sometimes."

And she leaves, shaking her head in disbelief.

He watches Tasha and Reade discussing, overheads bits and parts of sarcasm and camaraderie. Before finding out Jane wasn't Taylor, Jane would have been among them, sharing her impressions of just being sassy. Come to think of it, he can't remember the last time he's seen her smile.

"Guys!" Patterson's panicked voice brings them back. "You need to see this!"

TTB

The taking down of Sandstorm is faster than anticipated, but a lot more violent too. Jane's notes don't indicate their final objective, but they provide other details –the snake blending in turns out to be a reference to a doctor infiltrating their ranks; who turns out to be Borden. After that, they listen to Patterson more carefully. A cargo indicates the importance of their munitions, a Roman centurion leading a legion an approximation of their numbers, and other odd drawings the places she heard about and saw. They locate the headquarters using satellites and maps and prepare themselves better this time. SWAT teams are even lent for support.

At first, Kurt orders that Jane, Shepherd and Roman need to be brought back alive. But Pellington is quick to pull rank and counters by ordering those three must be shot on sight. When Kurt tries to reason him, his boss hisses:

"Too many lives have been wasted already on this case. If we behead the snake, the whole body will fall apart."

Kurt wants to argue more, but not many share his opinion. Shepherd is a very dangerous element, no matter how full of information or connected she might be. No-one cares about Roman and Jane's loyalties are too unstable in everyone's eyes to be considered reliable. He can only watch as agents gear up, and wonders if this is how Jane felt when Nas denied her a possible salvation for Roman.

The first fire exchange is violent and short-lived. Sandstorm members are well-trained, their reflexes are unparalleled but even they are caught by surprise. Many fall before they have time to regroup. The domain they are hiding in is large and it's a hunting game about to begin. Shepherd, as the Queen Bee, defends herself like the fierce soldier she is and is fiercely defended by her followers. Explosion starts to echo around the place –they have resorted to using the ammunition they have kept for the grand finale that will never happen- and FBI causalities begin to pile in turn. Kurt navigates through what feels like a battlefield. Bullets fly around him –a few graze him and he falls badly after ducking a grenade, but he keeps going on. His team is in the middle of the fight and he wants to find Jane desperately.

He never will.

Shepherd is cornered and detonates a mountain of explosives when they are about to arrest her. She takes seven agents down with her and injures twelve others. The main building flames up in minutes and the evacuation order is immediately given –too much risk and they lost enough people for one day. Kurt desperately searches for any hint, any trace of a tattooed body among the ones he comes across while evacuating. And when the building is destroyed in a last impressive deflagration of fireworks, his hopes burns down with it.

Most of Sandstorms operatives are dead, very few on the run and even less arrested. The case is delegated to another team for 'fresh eyes', according to Pellington, and Kurt's team is politely suggested to take some time off.

They don't hear about Sandstorm until another month, when Kurt is given a partial report of what had been said during interrogation. He skims over the objectives and looks for the part that interests him the most. He nearly misses it, narrowly remembering that Jane's chosen name is Remi, but he finds out what happened to her, and why he didn't see her on site.

The operative who gave in reported that Remi was caught sneaking away from the camp. Shepherd had her executed in front of an assembly. Three bullets: chest, abdomen, stomach. And then her body was carried away to be buried somewhere. The only one who knew where she was buried was the same person who killed her; Roman.

Tasha and Reade cry upon hearing the news. Patterson clenches at the little sketchbook, the last of Jane's gift to them. Kurt drops the file, buries his face in his hands, and just like when he found Taylor's remains, screams in rage.

TTB

No-one mentions seeing Roman, or his body being found, though it was reported he was sighted on the site during the FBI's raid. The team clings to the hope he survived and escaped and is currently in hiding. They look for him off the book, but with no real success. Time flies, but some things remains. Tasha flinches whenever she hears Russian or Bulgarian, Reade pinches his lips whenever the name 'Jane' is spoken and Patterson smiles fondly –and sadly –whenever they come across someone wearing a tattoo. Nas eventually wakes up, but her arm is paralyzed and she will never be allowed on the field again. Still, Zero Division promotes her and sends her to another facility somewhere else in the US –classified information, she tells Kurt on their parting dinner.

Kurt lives in limbo for a while. Losing Taylor had hit him hard the first time –both times, actually, but losing Jane is something else entirely. He is placed into a mental institution for a few months to help him recover, and once he is out, he buries himself into work. Allie gives birth to a little girl, and Kurt is here to see it. He asks she gets Taylor as a middle name, and his request is granted.

Roman remains unfound and after four years of chasing a ghost, they finally believe he truly died in the explosion of Sandstorm headquarters. Zapata and Reade both get to lead their own team, and move out of State. Only Patterson remains in New York, she loves her current job too much to even think of leaving it. Pellington is on his way to retirement and is hinting that Kurt should take over his position. Kurt doesn't know if he truly deserves it, but he has a few years to decide.

In the end, he's the only one still chasing Roman, on his personal time. His leads turn into dead ends, although he does busts a few bad guys on the way.

Four years and two weeks after Sandstorm is torn down, something eventually happens.

It has been a long day. Kurt is tired when he returns home, barely keeping his eyes open. Today's case had included a car chase and running through the streets of Brooklyn. Patterson has been unusually snappy today and paperwork hell to work through. All he wants to do is warm a pack of noodles or finish the pizza leftover he knows is lying in the fridge. He never sees the blunt object that hits the back of his head and blacks him out.

When he opens his eyes, Kurt finds himself fighting a huge headache. His hands are tied to the armchair but loosely enough he could break away if he tries hard enough. But he doesn't, not yet. Not when Roman himself is sitting in his couch, right across him. Kurt feels the anger pumping through his veins, every bit of resentment that he thought had cooled off with time resurfacing like a geyser out of the ground.

"You," he hisses angrily.

He had never actually met Roman face-to-face, but thanks to Jane's drawing he recognizes him immediately. The lights have been turned off in his apartment, a single lamp in the other end of the corridor leading to his bedroom clears the living-room, but barely. He can't see the younger man's face clearly, but the scar over his right eye is there and his chin shaved clean. He looks younger than his actual age and in good health, but his eyes are fixed on him and his shoulders tensed, ready to bounce anytime.

"What do you want with me?" Kurt asks aloud, still pulling on his restraints. Damn, they aren't as loose as he first believed.

"You've been looking for me," Roman says instead. His voice is rough and deep and slow, softer than his sister's. "I should ask what do you want with me?"

He echoes his question with genuine curiosity, as if he cannot imagine the pain he caused them, or doesn't care. Kurt tightens his fists.

"I want justice. You are a terrorist and you murdered your own sister."

Roman doesn't blink at the accusation. He merely stares at some spot over Kurt's shoulder and nods…and Kurt realizes Roman didn't come alone.

"He didn't quite kill me, actually."

The voice is as rough and sharp and blunt as he remembers. He hadn't heard it in years, so he doesn't dare to hope and stands very still until-

Jane steps into his view and stands by her brother, very much alive. Her hair is longer, falling just under her shoulders in soft waves, following the current fashion. It changes her a bit, makes her look serene even though the line of her eyebrow is still severe. She too, looks healthy and fit as ever.

"Hi Kurt," she says. Kurt can only stare for a while. And when he finds his voice again, he asks one word:

"How?"

4 years earlier, Sandstorm headquarters.

Her hands are tied in her back, and she is forced to kneel. Mitch found her carrying a letter and trying to sneak out of the compound. He brought her to Shepherd and made her confess her intentions. Remi doesn't lie this time. She thinks Shepherd is taking things too far, that the original plan wasn't supposed to cause so many deaths, that power has gone to her head and she enjoys it too much to be objective. So Shepherd decides to make an example out of her and brings her outside in front of the other members of her organization. Roman is powerless and can just watch the events unfold before his eyes.

"Kill her," Shepherd orders him. He is forced to choose; either he follows his mother, either he dies along his sister. Remi doesn't look up. She took a bad beating from Mitch earlier and can hardly talk anymore. Roman feels his heartbeat drum up to his ears. Every eye is on him. He feels the weight of his weapon in his hand and the pitiful state his sister is in.

"I'm sorry Roman," Remi speaks croakily and finally meets his eyes. Her face is bruised, her eyes sad and apologetic. She shouldn't have put him in this position; he had brought her back and she had betrayed them again.

And there, he knows what he has to do.

He barely realizes tears are sliding down his cheeks when he raises his weapon. His finger pulls the trigger once, twice and a third time. Remi slumps on the ground lifelessly. Red is slowly staining the ground and spreads around her. Everyone is stunned into silence. Only Shepherd nods, satisfied. But when they approach to take her body-

"Don't touch her," he snarls. He stares at his mother, hopes she can't see how terrified he feels. "Let me burry her. In Remi's memory."

She allows him, knows now is not the moment to offend him. So he picks his sister's body gently and carries her to the back of the car. Her eyes are closed, she almost looks asleep. He deposits her in the trunk and drives off. An hour later, he pulls over from the road and enters a small clearing. A bike is hidden there, has been hidden there for days now along with an emergency go-bag.

Roman wipes the tears away from his face and opens the trunk again. Remi stares back at him, looking both guilty and relieved altogether.

"Did it work?" she asks.

"They think you're dead," he responds and narrows his eyes. "How are you?"

"You hit the right places," she assures him. She couldn't wear a bulletproof vest, too visible from the outside, but she did manage to work out around that technicality. Her undershirt has three small parts of bulletproof tissue sewed in three remotes places. She anticipated that Shepherd would want Roman to shoot her himself. His gun contains paintball bullets that would stain her in red when hitting the squares. The biggest risk was for her to be given new clothes, or her clothes being torn. In that case, Roman would have shot her to the head and then shot Shepherd for making him kill the most precious person he had in this world.

It still impresses him how good Remi is at backup plans. Even if this one relied heavily on anticipating Shepherd's reactions.

"You said two days," he goes on. Remi nods.

"Two days, three at most," she confirms. "If anything goes south, any tiny detail you find suspicious, you get the hell out of there and meet me at the rendezvous point." She steps out of the trunk and takes the keys of the bike he hands her. She hesitates a moment, then asks: "Will you be alright? I asked you to betray our own mother…"

Roman stares at her. He can't describe exactly what he is feeling right now, but he thinks he knows why he agreed to help her in the first place.

"You and Shepherd both used me at some point," he speaks slowly, conveying thoughts into words. "But her eyes are cold and yours are warm when you look at me. We've always have each other's back." He pauses, swallows. "And you promised…a new start."

"A new start, so we can just be us," she echoes. She steps close, cups his cheek and pulls his forehead against hers. Their eyes are close again and he can read the firm determination and the truth she believes in them. "I will come back to get you Roman. Wait for me, I won't be long."

Brother and sister exchange a silent conversation. Roman rises and lets Jane takes his place on his seat. Kurt can see her thinking, pondering what she wants to say and what she wants to hide from him. After a short while, she speaks:

"As a SEAL agent, I had another legal identity set up in case I needed to disappear," she explains. "And while I was at it, I drew one for Roman. Shepherd didn't know about them. All I had to do after faking my death was to get those identifications back and book a flight out of the US." She smiles crookedly and admits: "Though it took good planning, good timing and a huge chunk of luck. I won't get into more detail, for safety measures."

"Yours or mine?"

"Neither. Both. Take your pick. We were just stopping to say 'hi' and ask you nicely to stop searching for Roman. Or me," she adds after a beat. "We found a way to help in our own way, to make a difference on a smaller scale. Your researching is compromising our work, and people rely on us to survive now."

"And what if I don't?" he finds himself asking defiantly. Roman's body shift slightly, becoming threatening in a matter of seconds.

"Then we ask not so nicely," he growls.

"Roman," Jane calls softly. Her brother falls back but doesn't look away from Kurt. He stands like a watchdog, Kurt realizes, protecting her but still obeying her orders. "We are dead to the world, Kurt," she goes on, her soft gaze returning on him. "Don't resurrect us, please."

He holds her stare and sees no lies, no malicious intent, just a quiet determination and the same cool detachment he doesn't recognize. Right there, right now, he understands why she was chosen to manipulate him.

"Why didn't you return to us when it was all over?" he asks eventually. This is the one thing he needs to know. Jane's smile is bittersweet.

"What for? You had Allie and Nas, Zapata and Reade didn't care and Patterson has her own life to live. There was nothing for me at the FBI, except maybe another one-way ticket to the CIA's custody. And don't tell me you could have fought it," she adds before he can speak. "I'm not naïve enough to believe your word had any power against Pellington's."

He wants to argue, but can't. She's right. He couldn't even convince his boss to spare her during the raid.

"So you ran and let us deal with the fallout?"

"They would have killed Roman either way," she retorts, unapologetically. "And I was not about to let that happen." She rises from the couch. "We'll leave you now. Sorry for the…" she motions at his tied hands. Kurt can't help but snot.

"Yeah, about that…was it really necessary?"

"Roman thought so," Jane replies with a hint of amusement. "He's been a bit overprotective lately."

"I'm not the insufferable pregnant one," Roman mutters, rolling his eyes. "And the doctor said you needed to limit strenuous activity."

Kurt blinks and stares.

"Pregnant?" he repeats, stunned. Jane smiles again, albeit shyly, and reaches for her currently flat stomach.

"Couple weeks now, I just found out recently. My husband is trilled…and so am I."

"Husband?" he repeats again. This is turning out to be the weirdest evening of his life.

"Husband," she confirms, more solemnly. "He knows everything about my past and accepted everything." She smiles softly. "He's the kindest man I've ever met. And Roman likes him, very deep inside." Her brother snorts, not quite agreeing with her statement. "Goodbye Kurt. I wish you well."

Roman steps closer and Kurt knows he's about to be knocked out cold again. So he focuses on Jane, her serene expression, her hand still over her stomach, her eyes watching her brother with fondness. He thinks about how different things could have turned out, that if he hadn't tried to push her away she could be with him, that this child could be his. But he has buried his head in the sand for too long, dismissed her efforts and worse of all, assumed she would still be there when he turned around. He has waited too long, wasted too much time. And when blackness envelops him again, Kurt thinks that when he wakes up, he will finally let her go.