It’s Not Good That We Dwell, It Just Doesn’t Sit Well

She woke with a spine-chilling scream, her hands shaking as she tried to sit up. Immediately his arms were around her, one hand holding the back of her head, feeling the sweat that had collected on her neck, the other around her waist. He felt moisture settle on his back, as terrified sobs racked her body, and she hyperventilated in shallow puffs. Soothingly, he squeezed her tighter.

“Shh…shh…it’s okay, Renee, you’re okay, I’ve got you…” Jack whispered into her hair.

“S-she killed you, she killed you…”

He continued to hush her. “I’m right here, I’m okay, she’s not here, she can’t hurt you, she can’t hurt me…” 

It took several minutes of Jack holding and reassuring Renee for her to finally calm down. Her teary blue eyes met his as he brushed a strand of hair away which had stuck to her face.

“Again?” He asked, voice cracked from sleep. It was clear he was so upset by how often this exact scene had played out in recent days, and many others like it. Last night had been bad enough.

Jack opened his eyes to the sound of a door opening. Renee wasn’t next to him, causing him to furrow his brow. A worried sensation came over Jack. After getting his gun, he paced through the house, quietly calling for her, hoping she’d just gone to get water. The front door to the porch was ajar. 

Warily, he stepped out, bewildered to find her walking aimlessly towards the road in her pyjamas. Putting the gun down, he ran after her, saying her name over and over again to try to get her attention. He had to grab her wrists rather hard to pull her back and she still didn’t seem to react. A car drove past just seconds later. 

Walking them both back to the porch steps, he noticed how glazed her eyes looked. Quickly, he turned her to face him, squeezing and shaking her shoulders, trying to call her name. It took considerable force for her to wake.

She looked around and then at him, confused. Jack quickly released his tight grip and she rubbed her upper arms gingerly. He hated knowing that he’d probably leave bruises, but also knew that she would have been hit by the car had he been gentler. Renee murmured something under her breath, communicating with her eyes that she was disoriented.

“You were sleepwalking.” He answered.

Nodding, she let him take her hand and guide her back inside. He held her tight to him when they settled back into bed, unwilling to allow his guard to come down.  

There had been a lot of sleep-talking and nightmares over the past few months, they were somewhat used to it by now, but the previous night scared him more, the fact that she’d seemingly lost control of her body. It was worrying both of them, after all, she’d been to therapy after everything happened a year and a half ago, the bad dreams and visions and flashbacks had all stopped.

So why were they returning now with such ferocity?

Before she could respond, one of her hands fell to her stomach. Renee sighed, a frown coming across her face. “Baby’s kicking.” In any other scenario that would be a good thing, a gentle sign of the life growing inside of her, but she felt guilty when it happened in the middle of the night because she knew it her fault. The kicks always felt more frantic, distressed almost, as though the baby could sense her fear.

“Not in any pain though, right?” He asked, worried.

She shook her head, rubbing her hand placidly. “No, no, it’s fine. Just a little unexpected wake-up call.” Renee let out another deep exhale. “Which means I probably won’t be falling asleep either.”

Slowly, Jack moved down the bed. He kissed her stomach gently. “Hey, this is your dad.” Jack mumbled. “I know your mom’s probably scared you by waking you, but please calm down and go back to sleep. She’s okay.” His eyes met hers with a look of adoration and she smiled bittersweetly. The pregnancy hadn’t been entirely planned, after all, he was already a grandfather to Angela and now Teri, Kim and Chase’s newborn daughter. But it was moments like this that reassured her that he’d meant it when he’d said he’d wanted to keep the baby, that he wanted a family with her.

Pulling her close towards him, he kissed the back of her neck and she felt herself calm down in his arms, just a little. Even the kicking felt less urgent now, as though Jack’s voice really had soothed the baby.

“I-I don’t understand why this keeps happening. I went to therapy, I worked through this. It’s not like I’m actively scared of Althea anymore. She’s dead, it’s over.”

“Therapy aside, Althea could have killed you when you faced her, it’s okay to still be processing that, Renee.” He said, tucking a hair behind her ear. “Think about everything we’ve seen and been through these past few years.”

Her head shook to indicate otherwise. “You don’t get it, though. I have been held at gunpoint, I have been near bombs seconds away from detonating, I have maintained quarantine sites, but none of that compares to how terrified I was looking into her eyes. It’s not just that ‘she was going to kill me’, it’s that she wanted revenge, she wanted to hurt me and make me suffer. And I could see it. She put these visions, these images in my head and I still can’t shake them. That’s why I made sure nobody would hold back. That’s why I didn’t care how much it hurt me to feel Michelle go after her because at least I knew she was dead.” 

He made a noise of assent. She was right, he’d never really faced Althea up close and personal, so he couldn’t understand. Just like he couldn’t understand what Michelle had been through. It still bothered him, just a little, that Michelle had been the one to go after her. Having to watch Renee scream so violently, having to watch her in so much pain had terrified him. A few gunshots would have sufficed, but Michelle’s desire for making sure Althea was dead in her own way was again something personal that he had to respect. At the end of the day, the four of them were all fine, the past was the past, all they needed to focus on now was moving on.

“I-it’s still strange though. The nightmares at the beginning were no different to other ones I’ve had in the past. They’re upsetting but it’s mainly just twisting the existing memory in my mind, it’s familiar and I just get stuck replaying it. Something about these ones recently just feel so…real. Because it’s not just me seeing her in front of me again. I see Althea hurt you, or our baby, or our friends and family, with so much detail, like the screams are actually ringing in my ears, like the blood is real, and i-it’s not like I’ve ever seen these things happen before, that’s what I don’t understand. They feel more like predictions, but it makes no sense because…” Renee took in a breath. “Because she’s dead. Because these things can’t actually happen.”

“That’s all you need to remember then. Michelle killed her. Althea is dead, she can’t hurt you or me or anybody else, okay? I don’t like how much this works you up. You need to take care of yourself, Renee.”

“I know…”

She smiled as his hands cradled her waist. The baby bump wasn’t particularly big at this point, but that didn’t matter. He interlocked his fingers with hers, resting almost protectively there.

“It’s going to be okay, it’ll pass. But I’m here for you in the mean time.” He whispered.

“I love you.” Renee mumbled.

“I love you too.”

“Michelle?” 

She turned to face Renee in the break room. “Yeah?”

After the Chrismos Lukos case had wrapped up, Renee had put in a request to transfer to CTU, so she could be closer with Jack. It made them both feel better knowing that they could check in on each other throughout the day, knowing there was no worrying that one of them was disappearing on a field mission. As a result, she and Michelle had grown closer over the past couple of years. She and Jack were frequent babysitters for Alice, and Tony and Michelle promised to return the favour when they had their baby. The moment Renee had given Michelle permission to let Althea have it had been a defining moment in their relationship though. Both of them understanding that making sure Althea was dead was for the greater good, despite the protests of both of their significant others. They still regularly looked at the collated evidence together, still fascinated by the ordeal. Jack and Tony, especially Tony, had both expressed, explicitly, that they didn’t like it, that they thought it was an obsession they needed to let go of. But both of them had also argued that it was important for someone to have a sense of expertise in the LA branch, just in case a copycat cult decided to make itself known, or even just to help Alice, who was still learning to transform.

“This is going to sound stupid but…” Renee sighed. “Do you think Althea could have…done anything to me when she hurt me? I know the link would have died when she did but I still feel like there’s some part of her that’s in me.”

Her brow furrowed. “I mean it was a link but it’s Althea so maybe it just had a bigger effect. Does Jack know? Did you see Doctor Fineman about this?”

Renee made a hesitant face. “Not exactly. I mean he knows it still bothers me, I haven’t just been having nightmares now, I’m walking and talking in my sleep too. And it still feels…” She shuddered. “More real than any other nightmare I’ve ever had. But the doctor thinks everything is fine, I get more sonograms than any other patient he sees, and that’s not even including the regularly scheduled ones. Maybe…maybe it’s all just in my head.”

Michelle’s expression was consoling. “She did nearly kill you, I don’t think that’s something that anybody could get over easily. Everything we’ve learnt is still a lot to grapple with.”

Even though Jack had said so similarly last night, it felt good to hear it from somebody else.

“It could be hormones making it worse too.” 

She nodded. “Yeah, you’re probably right. But thank you. Sometimes I feel like I’m not allowed to bring it up.”

Michelle scoffed. “Can’t even say two words about it to Tony. He just wants to act like everything’s finished, like it was just one bad day, but it’s not. It’s something that affects all of us, especially Alice and I. I think he just doesn’t want to admit he’s still overwhelmed by the whole thing.”

“He’ll come around. Or if not, one of us will make him.” Renee raised an eyebrow coyly.

“I think sometimes he just wishes he had his perfect little human wife back.” She mumbled, giving a small shrug.

A few doors down in one of the boardrooms, Jack found himself alone with Tony. The meeting had just finished, and they were both shutting off the projector, as well as shuffling and filing papers. Looking up, Jack noticed the heavy bags under Tony’s eyes, like he hadn’t slept. It wasn’t unusual to see him tired, what with working at CTU and now parenting too. But he’d barely been present during the meeting, and at one point he’d had to nudge him so he wouldn’t fall asleep. Just because Hammond had let the two of them take charge of CTU again didn’t mean he wouldn’t look for any excuse to take that authority away from them again. They couldn’t afford any slip-ups.

“Rough night?” He asked.

Tony shook his head, sighing. “Yeah.” He squinted, looking back at him. “Looks like you had one too.”

Jack let out a breath. “It’s Renee, she keeps having nightmares. Nearly got herself killed walking out onto the road the other night. We just can’t seem to figure out why, she was fine for a while, but these last few months all of a sudden…”

He gave a sympathetic look but shrugged. “We all do.” Tony’s voice was a little short, as though it were more of an annoyance he was tired of rather than something he was concerned about. “I had to hold Alice for hours last night, she wouldn’t stop crying, saying that Althea was going to come back, that she didn’t want us to die,” Tony shook his head “eventually she just slept with Michelle and I. But I could still feel how scared she was all night.”

“How is she doing otherwise? She’s at school now, right?”

“Yeah. Teachers say she’s struggling a bit but we’re doing everything we can so…” His voice trailed off with a worried note. Jack knew that his linkage with both Michelle and Alice was taxing on him. But it also meant he’d taken on fatherhood so easily and so naturally, it was clear to anyone just how much he loved their daughter. They’d had to homeschool her for the first year, she was in weekly therapy to cope with the trauma, and frequently checked by Doctor Fineman for any sign of things going wrong in the supernatural department. 

“And she’s been agitated lately, Michelle thinks it might be the fact that we’ve been suppressing Alice’s transformations for too long but I think she’s just exhausted.”

“She can’t stay like this forever, Tony she needs to start learning to change-”

“No. She’s a kid, she shouldn’t have to deal with that yet, if ever. The doctor had said her age might be the key, that she may never have to transform.”

Michelle rolled her eyes. “It’s not like she already hasn’t. Trust me, it’ll be worse if we keep putting it off. I know what it feels like to try and stop it from happening, just admit you’re the one who can’t handle it!”

“She’s my kid too, I deserve to have a say about it. And I say that I don’t want her to have to live with it.”

“Poor thing, after all this time that one day still affects her so much.”

Tony again seemed bitter. Jack knew something had changed in him after that day. Something was still bugging or haunting him. But he wouldn’t open up about it and dodged every question related to it. Was it something between him and Michelle? Was it simply still just a matter of processing? He at least wished there was better communication. After all, the four of them had all been there, they should be leaning on each other for support, not shutting each other out.

“Althea single-handedly nearly killed her, nearly killed Michelle, nearly killed Renee, nearly killed me. As if we don’t see enough shit on a regular basis, the bodies, the bloodshed, the bombs, we’re still recovering from seeing things that we’ve been told our whole lives aren’t true and aren’t possible. How the hell are we supposed to move on from that?”

He walked out of the boardroom, slamming the door behind him. Jack watched him walk back to his office and bury his head in his hands, realising that it was probably affecting him more than anybody else. The argument he and Michelle had had when they’d first tried to transform her back came to mind now. Tony was a stubborn person to start with, no wonder trying to cope with the acceptance that he had a supernatural wife and daughter hadn’t been easy for him. Part of him probably still thought it was wrong, probably still disagreed, wanted to just put the past behind them. But they couldn’t. Jack understood that, even though he wished the same deep down. It was a horrific event, but also a pivotal one. He’d encouraged Renee to get help for what she’d seen, he’d even gone to therapy himself and he hadn’t been eye-to-eye with a monster.

Renee suddenly came into view through one of the windows, mouthing ‘lunch?’ at him. He looked at the clock and then nodded back at her with a small smile. 

Jack couldn’t deny he was worried about Tony, but at the same time, he knew his worry for Renee had to take precedence.

He left work early, unbeknownst to her. The combination of the fatigue from countless sleepless nights, and his growing realisation that he couldn’t keep his pent-up emotions from eighteen months ago inside of him anymore was becoming too much to bear. When Tony got home, he didn’t turn the lights on, instead opting to sitting on the couch despondently, with his head between his knees. He was shaking. There were things he needed to say that he couldn’t. Issues had slowly arisen between them which were becoming harder and harder to suppress. They were seeping into his sleep, his work, his demeanour to other people, into every aspect of his life.

His phone buzzed. She was calling him. He picked up.

“Hey, where are you?”

His voice came out thinly. “I’m at home. Just…wasn’t feeling well.”

“Are you going to be able to pick her up from school?”

He squeezed his eyes shut, and she could tell he wasn’t.

“I can get her, don’t worry. Feel better, okay?” Her voice was so sweet and full of concern, it made this whole thing so much harder.

It had all manifested as a habit. One that was shameful. One that had to stay private. It wasn’t harmful, he’d told himself, and technically he was right, but he’d found himself needing to do it more and more often as time had gone on. Walking over to the kitchen, he moved the drain cleaner and sponges aside to pull out a slightly dusty bottle of whiskey. It had been a gift from one of his Marines friends who’d died in the line of duty many years ago, one he couldn’t bear to get rid of, even when he’d thrown away all the other alcohol in the house since coming back from rehab. Only in the last eighteen months had it tempted him, beckoning him to relieve his pain like a siren. He’d had to fight the urge and push it down day in and day out, yet he’d felt like the more he resisted, the stronger the desire felt. And it was exhausting.

So when he was alone, he would allow himself to stare at the bottle, hold it in his hands, but do everything in his power to prove to himself that he didn’t need it. And after some time, with shaking fingers, he’d stow it away again. Today however, his grip inched closer and closer to the cap. He tried to give himself a reason.

He had a daughter to take care of and be a good example for.

He didn’t want to go back to rehab.

He and Michelle had enough on their plate as it was, they didn’t need to deal with his problems right now.

Thinking about Michelle made his thoughts stray onto a different path.

He remembered how sharp her nails had been when they’d dug into Althea’s chest, how deep they’d plunged.

He remembered how mutilated the body had looked, and telling himself that no, a wild animal hadn’t been the cause of it all, but rather, his wife.

He remembered the blood around her mouth, so dark, so thick, and the way she’d simply gotten up and wiped it off.

He’d felt sick then. And he felt sick now.

Tony took the lid off in one swift motion and had a generous swig. His inner monologue was cursing him, reminding him exactly how many years, months, and days it had been since he’d last done this, since he’d last succumbed. He was already regretting the decision, the burning sensation unwelcome and so unfamiliar after all this time. He was ashamed, he was disgusted, he was disappointed in himself. 

But he continued.

And at the same time he didn’t see any other option for trying to forget this. When he’d been to rehab, he’d learnt how to cope with his wife being missing, he’d learnt to cope with issues from his childhood that hadn’t been resolved. But rehab hadn’t prepared him for seeing his wife, who he loved so much, kill someone with such vengeance, even if that person had deserved every bit of it. 

Leaning over the sink, he coughed, spitting out whatever was in his mouth, apologising compulsively under his breath. Tipping the rest down the sink, mentally apologising to his friend too for good measure, he threw it in the bin, needing to remove it from his hands, not wanting the temptation to be there any more. Needing to distract himself, he went to the office and started working on catching up from what he’d be missing today.

When Michelle got home, she immediately went to the kitchen to find an aspirin. She’d been struck with a sense of nausea, guilt, almost, on the drive home from Alice’s school, and nearly had to pull over, worried she wasn’t okay to be behind the wheel. In the background, Michelle heard Tony say hello to them both, not sounding particularly ill. Pouring herself a glass of water, she downed the last couple of pills from the packet. When she threw away the box, she paused, seeing the large, empty glass bottle in the bin. Fishing it out, she frowned at the label. Now it made sense. 

He’d had a drink, not just that, a big enough drink that she’d felt the effects of the alcohol.

For the past year and a half she’d been convincing herself that whatever was happening between her and Tony would pass. She had put it down to stress from work, from the unexpected shock and overwhelm of raising Alice, which as wonderful as it was, was incredibly tiring, especially with the emotional link between them all. But deep down she knew things weren’t okay. She’d felt apprehension in him, but he wouldn’t talk about it. Alice’s frequent nightmares aside, they weren’t being intimate nearly as often as they used to. And when they did, it was lethargic, it felt routine and obligated. It was different too. He’d become reluctant to being vulnerable with her the way he used to, instead feeling the need to exercise more control. It upset her. It wasn’t that the kind of sex they started having after she’d changed was the only sex they could have. There had been a balancing act, both of them having control, both of them being vulnerable. It was beautiful, it made them love each other more than they’d even thought possible. But now it felt like a rejection of her, of the other side of her in particular.

She walked into the office where he was, and shut the door behind her, hoping that Alice was preoccupied with her homework enough to not listen out. He didn’t look up until she firmly planted the empty whiskey bottle on the desk.

“You want to tell me what’s been going on?”

Tony gave the bottle a cursory glance, cursing himself for not throwing it out properly, but also knowing she probably would have found it somehow anyway.

“Because we’ve both been dancing around our issues and pretending they don’t exist for a while now, but clearly we can’t do that anymore. You know it doesn’t take a lot of alcohol to make me feel sick. I was in the car driving her home today. Do you realise I could have gotten into an accident?”

He felt a pang of worry now. He hadn’t clicked that his drinking would affect her.

“Why did you do it? What made you so overwhelmed that you needed to drink today?”

Tony didn’t respond.

“Answer me!” She said, voice worried. “I don’t like that you’re hiding things from me. I can feel you’re upset, so just tell me what’s going on so we can work through this. We’ve never not been able to talk about things together, so what’s changed?”

He shook his head, speaking roughly. “Everything. Everything’s changed. The minute you killed her, everything changed.”

Her brows knitted together as she tried to understand and feel what exactly he meant. Then she slumped her shoulders, noting the repugnance in his gut.

“It still scares you.” She said in realisation. “It’s not that you were scared when Althea tried to kill you, it’s that you’re scared of me and what I did. Why, Tony? Because you’re scared I’ll do that to another criminal, because let me remind you, the dead children you saw were her doing, not mine, or because you’re scared I’ll do it to you?” She crossed her arms.

“You didn’t have to do that, Michelle. You could have just let her bleed out and die. You didn’t have to maul her.”

The disgust in his voice was making her angry. “I told you to walk away.” She said coolly. “Why didn’t you?”

“Because I didn’t know what was going to be worse, watching you do it or letting my imagination run wild with the thought of it.”

“I told you at the beginning that this was something you’d never understand. What you call Renee and I ‘obsessing’ is us tracking down every innocent life she and the sick people who lead alongside her killed. And you still haven’t answered me. If you know that I was in control when I did it, then why does it scare you, why does it bother you?”

She felt anger rise within him, as though he had a confession ready to burst at the seams. He didn’t want to say it, she knew. But at this point she didn’t care. She was already upset. She already hated that he was keeping something from her, so what difference was it going to make?

“Just say it, Tony.”

He gritted his teeth, looking her in the eyes now. “Because it reminded me of Nina, okay?” He yelled. “Because watching you wipe the blood off of you like it was fucking nothing, was the way she looked when I saw her after she killed Teri, like it was an inconvenience to her, like it bothered her. It was psychotic, it scared the hell out of me. I had to tell myself over and over again when I met you that you weren’t her, that you were kind, that you would never do the things she did. So how do you think I was supposed to feel when I saw you do that, huh?”

It was a low blow and he could feel how much it hurt her, even the way she stepped away from him, taken aback by the abruptness. In fact it took him a second to process what he’d just said, he was almost surprised by the words that had come out of his mouth.

Michelle didn’t know what she’d expected, but that hadn’t even occurred to her as a possible reason for his behaviour change. She could still remember him promising her in the early days of their relationship that he would never make that comparison between them, that he’d worked through all of it.

So hearing it now felt like he was going back not just on his acceptance and trust of her abilities but on his acceptance and trust of her entirely.

“Fuck you.” She replied, harshly.

Leaving before he could respond, Tony heard her go to Alice’s room and then theirs. Following, he could already see Alice’s backpack zipped up and ready to go.

“Where are you going?”

She flung him a dirty look.

“I’m taking Alice and going to my brother’s. We’re going to talk about this later. But for now, since you’re making me sick, literally, the least I can do is sober up by getting away from you.”

His cheek twitched but she’d made her mind up by the looks of it, and didn’t want to argue in front of Alice.

“Don’t worry, I won’t tell him that you’re drinking, just that you’re being an asshole.” She sneered.

Tony’s sour attitude had become evident in all of his relationships as of late, so he was sure Danny would have some choice words to say. Alice had already run to the car, cheerfully saying goodbye to him. As Michelle went to follow, standing at the door, there was a small flash of concern.

“Just think about what Althea did to our daughter. Maybe she wasn’t our daughter when I did that.” Michelle pointed at him, keeping her voice low but harsh. “But I want you to ask yourself how you’d feel if we’d found Althea after we’d found Alice, and how you would have reacted. She is the reason our daughter wakes up screaming in the middle of the night. She is the one who took me away from you for a year and a half. She is more powerful than you could ever understand, Tony, so forgive me if I couldn’t trust that she was dead unless I did it myself.”

“I-I swear I don’t know what came over me. I didn’t mean it.” He said, pitifully. “I…Michelle, please.”

She shook her head, speaking sadly. “You know what you said.”

The door shut and he let the words hang over him, feeling worse than ever, ashamed at what he’d said to her, and even more upset knowing that it had truly affronted her.

All this time he’d been upset, he’d thought he’d had every right to. That being the only regular human in their household he had a right to express how intense all of this was. But now he realised that he’d been selfish, that he hadn’t once thought about her feelings, just because she’d seemed fine about everything.

Had he really gotten so caught up in his anger that he’d forgotten why she had even become capable of doing what she’d done to Althea in the first place?

She’d gotten up in the middle of the night again, but Jack hadn’t heard her. Renee was quiet, and whatever small semblance of control she usually had when this happened had dissipated. 

He did however, notice the sudden presence of her body weight against his, and the feeling of something pinning his throat down. Moaning, he struggled to move as he opened his eyes. She was holding a large knife, the tip piercing the delicate skin around his neck. Her eyes were their usual teal but glowing with a distant quality to them. Spluttering at the sensation, he tried to push her off, but found himself unable to. Not just because a part of his brain was screaming at him not to push his pregnant girlfriend off of him, but also because she seemed to have so much extra strength as the held him in place.

Renee started pressing in deeper, dragging the blade across, and instinctively his hand flew to jab her throat with his thumb. She coughed violently, rolling off of him, squeezing her eyes shut as she tried to catch her breath. He was attempting to stabilise his own breathing too, grabbing tissues to wipe the trickle of blood that was gliding down his neck. When she finally opened her eyes and regained awareness, seeing the stained knife at her side, seeing him wince, wiping away crimson stains from his neck and finger tips, she whimpered. Looking up, her eyes were back to normal, but full of horrific realisation. Renee’s bottom lip was wobbling.

“I-I was going to hurt you. O-oh my god I was…” Tears welled at the corner of her eyes. Her body started to shake. She looked down at her hands as though they’d been acting autonomous of her. “W-what’s happening to me?”

“I-I don’t know…” He said, his own voice trembling. Jack went to move closer, to hold her, to let her know he was okay.

She shook her head, backing away from him on the bed. “N-no. I don’t want to do it again. I-I can’t.” 

Before he could respond, she darted to their bathroom, the same way she did when she had morning sickness, locking the door behind her. Jack heard her cry, breaths rapid and unsteady. Grabbing his phone, he called Michelle.

“Dessler.” She mumbled, half-asleep.

“S-something’s wrong with Renee.” He cleared his throat. “I don’t know what, but it’s something to do with Althea, it’s the only thing that makes sense. She…she did something to her.”

Michelle jolted upright, voice rife with alarm. “What?”

Jack took in a breath, trying to abide his own panic, not wanting Renee to think he was scared of her. “S-she tried to kill me. I woke up, h-her eyes were glowing, there was a knife in her hands.”

“I-I think you might be right.” She said gravely. “We have to go back to the safe-house. I’ll bring everything I have on Chrismos Lukos. This needs to be contained.”

His eyes kept flitting to the bathroom door “I’ll call Larry. He’ll want to help.”

“Okay. I’ll leave Alice with Tony, and I’ll see you both there.”

After hanging up the phone, he walked over to the bathroom, knocking on the door. “Renee? Can I come in?” 

The stifled cry she let out indicated otherwise.

Jack sighed. “It’s going to be okay. Michelle, Larry, and I are going to help you. We’re going to fix this, Renee.”

He heard fumbling and then the click of the door. Her eyes were bloodshot and her hands were still quivering. 

“I-I don’t want to hurt you.” She croaked. “I-I’m so s-sorry. W-what’s wrong with me, Jack? W-why did I?”

His arms wrapped around her and he hushed her, trying to implore in every sense of the word that she wasn’t going to, that they were going to fix this, that everything was going to be fine. But deep down he was so scared. Everything to do with Chrismos Lukos was supposed to have ended when Althea died, when all of the other leaders, the only people who’d had a chance to rebuild the cult, died, when everybody else involved surrendered. 

So how in god’s name could this possibly be happening?

—

Tony rubbed his eyes at the sound of an impatient knock at the door. He squinted in confusion to find Michelle, clearly stressed, holding a sleeping Alice in her arms.

“W-what-?”

She passed him to her. “I need you to stay with her and take her to school tomorrow, tell her that I’ll be back soon.”

“Michelle, what’s going on?” He asked, now concerned at the lack of confidence in her voice.

“Something’s happening with Renee, she tried to kill Jack in her sleep, we’re going back to the safe house until we figure it out.”

His eyes widened. “Woah, woah, what? I’m coming with you.”

“No.” She said vehemently. “I don’t want Alice near this, and I don’t know what to trust right now, so she’s staying with you. Besides,” she scoffed “you don’t want anything to do with this, so I’m sure you’d prefer to stay out of it.”

Turning to leave, he called her name one more time. She faced him, the worry plain in his eyes. “Just…be careful, okay? If you need help, call me, alright?”

There was a hint of appreciation in her expression and he sighed, before looking down at a squirming Alice, who was waking up at the noise.

“Where’s mommy going?” She murmured, gazing out at Michelle walking away.

“She’ll be back, she just…has to go some place.” 

He watched her car speed away, now feeling more worried than he’d been in a long time for her. Tony clutched Alice tightly to him.

“She’ll be back.”

When they arrived, Renee was quick to lock herself in the holding cell, and Jack could only look on, heartbroken, as she cuffed herself and sat huddling her knees to her chest. He tapped on the glass and she looked up. “We’re going to figure this out, okay? Everything’s going to be fine, Renee. You’re going to be okay.”

She gave a slight nod, as though unconvinced, and mouthed that she loved him.

“I love you too.” Jack said, and he fought back the tears brimming over his eyes, not wanting her to see him just as afraid and upset. He dialled Larry’s number, not having wanted to do so while Renee was in the car with him. Answering half-asleep, Jack realised it was well past midnight for him, but knew this was serious enough to wake him up, just as it had done for Michelle.

“Larry, how soon can you get to LA?”

His voice was a little cracked from sleep. “What’s going on?”

“The CL stuff might not be over like we thought. There’s something going on with Renee, we’re at the safe-house we used the first time. We could use your help.”

Jack heard shuffling around, as though he was getting out of bed frantically. “I’ll get there as fast as I can.”

Walking into the kitchen, Jack noticed that many of the snacks they’d bought all those years ago were still there, albeit expired. Michelle had already place her laptop and spread out papers on the table. There was no need for going off the grid entirely this time. But they still couldn’t say for sure how long they would be gone for. And as much as they felt like bringing CTU or the FBI in was the appropriate thing to do here, after all, they’d made a department specifically for this kind of thing, they didn’t have the time to catch people up. The people who knew and understood the most about it all were the ones directly involved. If they could handle it on their own, and handle it quickly, why did they need to bring anybody else in? 

Although they had to admit this was a little different to the previous instances.

“Never thought we’d be back here again.” He sighed.

“Should have worked an ‘unexplained supernatural leave’ clause into our contracts when we came back.” Michelle muttered.

Jack laughed through his nose, shaking his head in disbelief. 

“So tell me what’s going on. Renee already told me she’d been having vivid nightmares and was sleepwalking, but what else? I need any kind of clue that can give me a starting point.”

“Well tonight was a little different. I woke up, she had a knife to my throat.” He touched the wound he’d obtained, realising it was still bleeding a little, and grabbed another tissue to suppress it. “Eyes were glowing and she seemed really…out of it, like she didn’t know she was doing it. When I woke her up she freaked out, she had no idea what had happened.” 

She nodded. “How long has this been happening now?”

He hummed in thought. “I mean she’s had nightmares ever since that day, but they went away mostly when she started going to therapy. These past few months have been bad though, I think about four…” His voice trailed off, eyebrows suddenly raising. “How could I have been so stupid?” Jack uttered under his breath. “Oh my god, how could I not have made this connection earlier?”

“What?”

“It started when she fell pregnant, Michelle.”

They both gave each other a grim look, both of them thinking the same thing, that somehow the baby was involved, but not wanting to say it aloud.

Michelle ran a hand through her hair. “It could be a coincidence, we don’t know that for sure. But it does mean we have a timeline. Whatever is in Renee’s body is probably affecting the baby too, so if we don’t get it out before she delivers it…” She shook her head, not wanting to think about the consequences. “Look, the last time Althea had any contact with Renee was when she stabbed her, right? Which was long before she was pregnant, so that’s where we have to start.”

“The link died with Althea though.”

She tilted her head. “Unless it wasn’t a link, but something else entirely. We just assumed it was because at the time it was the only thing that made sense. I need to see the shape of the scar, hang on.” Grabbing her phone, she walked over to the holding cell.  

Renee flinched, seemingly shocked out of her spiralling worry.

“I need a photo of the scar on your hip, okay?”

Nodding fervently and moving her cuffed hands out of the way, Renee let Michelle pull her shirt up, taking a few photos at various angles.

“Try and get some sleep, okay?”

“N-no. I-I’ll lose control and hurt someone again. I can’t fall asleep.” 

Her face softened and she clasped Renee’s hand. “You’re safe and secure here, nothing’s going to happen. You can’t hurt anybody. Please Renee, it’s not good for you or the baby to force yourself to stay awake.”

Renee nodded, trying to take some deep breaths, still trying to calm herself down.

Walking back, she could see the same concern on Jack’s face. “She’s trying to keep herself up. She’s scared it’ll happen again.”

Jack sighed, wiping a tear from under his eye.

Michelle rolled up her sleeve, comparing the scar from her link with Alice to the photo of Renee’s hip. She tutted. “That’s what I thought. It’s not the same, so it was a different ritual.” Passing the phone over to Jack, she divided the index of rituals into two.
“Look for anything that involves a scar of that shape. There might be more than one.”

So they looked and looked through the plethora of shapes, their eyes constantly flitting back to the image of Renee’s scar for comparison. There were a few false alarms, some shapes that looked almost, but not quite like Renee’s. There was a meticulous nature to the carving of the scars, so crucial to determining their purpose. But after a while everything seemed to look the same. Eventually they narrowed it down to half a dozen procedures or so, all of which were related to combining energies or spirits somehow.

“I don’t know if this helps, but I remember that Althea didn’t scratch Renee, she stabbed her to make the link. I thought it was weird since she’d already partially transformed.”

“Do you know what weapon she used?”

Jack’s brow furrowed in thought. “A dagger. I think it was bronze? Curved, had some symbols etched into it, maybe?”

Humming in acknowledgement, she took the information in, pushing some of the papers aside, until there was only one ritual page in front of her. Jack watched her grow ghastly pale, staring with her mouth agape at the piece of paper.

“No…” She whispered.

“What?”

Her head swung from side to side, as though she was reading again to check and hoping that she was wrong.

“Michelle, what is it?” He asked, worriedly, feeling his heart start to race.

She looked up, the same worry apparent in her face, before speaking gravely. “It’s a ritual for possession.”

“Possession? As in…please don’t tell me Renee is having Rosemary’s Baby.”

Michelle tilted her head, continuing to read the details. “It’s not quite like that.” She sighed. “From my understanding, Althea sealed part of her spirit in Renee’s blood so she could exist in two living bodies.”

His brow furrowed. “But Althea’s dead.”

“‘Living’ is a slight mistranslation. It doesn’t mean alive, just means that the body hasn’t decomposed. Which in the case of someone like Althea with a lot of power and energy, means for a long time. The belief is as long as the physical body exists, the energy can too. It’s the whole ‘energy can never be created or destroyed’ thing. Until it decomposes completely, the energy stays in the body. And there’ll always be traces in the source.”

Jack still couldn’t understand. “If Althea did this when she stabbed Renee a year and a half ago, then how could this have only come up now? Most bodies decompose within a couple of weeks.”

Michelle shook her head, a serious look in her eyes. “Don’t underestimate how powerful she is. If she wanted to make sure her body stayed intact for over a year, decades, even, she could have. Easily.” 

He bit his lip, feeling a chill wash over him.

“I never saw it happen in front of me, but from my understanding, these possession rituals are rarely used. Part of the ritual process is about ‘ownership’ of the spirit, this idea that it’s yours and only yours. But I read more about it in case something ever happened to me or Alice.” She shrugged, before speaking in a mumble. “I guess I never really could convince myself they were gone for good.” Michelle cleared her throat again. “But it’s like this.” 

She took out a blank piece of paper and a pen, passing it in front of Jack so he could see. Michelle drew a circle with a large capital ‘R’ in the centre. “This is Renee’s body, and this is her spirit.” She pointed at the circle and then the letter. “There are rituals where somebody can entirely imbue their spirit into somebody else, but that takes more time. Althea only did this partially, think of it more like partitioning rather than transferring.” Michelle drew a letter ‘A’, slightly smaller, but under the ‘R’. “It’s still Renee, she still has control over her body, and it helps that Renee is a strong person, but Althea’s spirit was still lying dormant in her blood, trying to get any control she could.”

“What could she have done in that time?”

Michelle lifted her shoulders. “It would mean she’s been listening and observing everything that’s happened. Eavesdropping on our conversations, eavesdropping on Renee’s thoughts, feeling any emotions she would have had, essentially stalking us as though Renee’s been wearing a wire for eighteen months.”

Jack felt his stomach turn, like he was still being watched now. He tried to think of what they’d talked about, what they’d done, intimate, private moments they’d had that he now realised hadn’t been so ‘private’.

“But when she fell pregnant…” She wrote a small letter ‘B’ in the circle.“Renee’s vigilance and control had to be divided, right? Part of her attention and energy would have started going to the baby. So combine that with a loss of consciousness in being asleep and…”

“Althea was able to take control.”

She nodded. “Exactly. But at least this means it’s fixable. If we were to burn Althea’s body to accelerate the decomposition, then the spirit would also die in Renee’s blood, since it was only ever a piece of it to start with. These partial links need both bodies to survive in order to work. And then in theory, the blood that flows to the baby would be fine too.”

He let out a breath, slightly relieved. “Okay that seems…feasible, right? Didn’t they just bury all the cult members in a mass grave?”

“Yeah. We thought it’d be safer to prevent any mixing of wounds, plus we weren’t sure if anything could be transferred in ash, so none of the bodies were cremated for that reason either. In fact, I think we left everything pretty much how it had been that day. Other than the leaders, most of the other bodies probably would be decomposed by now, so it should be safe. In terms of Althea’s body, I’m not sure how long it would take to burn, whoever does it would probably have to wait it out for a few hours at least. They’d need some protection to make sure they don’t inhale any of the ash.”

Jack’s phone started to ring. Picking it up, he saw the caller ID indicated it was Larry. “Hey Bauer, I’ve just landed in LA.”

“Larry, I need you to do me a favour. I need you to go back to the final Chrismos Lukos site and burn one of the bodies. You’ll need a gas mask and some gloves.”

“What’s this about? You said it had something to do with Renee, right? Is she okay?”

Letting out a breath, Jack put the phone on speaker, allowing him and Michelle to explain what had happened. Larry promised to be as fast as he could, but the waiting around still felt agonising. Eventually, he called back, saying he was on site. Michelle pulled up schematics on her computer, guiding him to the back hall where she’d killed Althea. There’d been none at the time of the raid, but CTU had made them after for the sake of investigation.

Larry pulled the sheet back, already gagging as he hadn’t put the gas mask on properly yet. The lack of ventilation meant there was a putrid stench radiating throughout the room. He fumbled to adjust the mask, also feeling incredibly unnerved upon seeing just how mutilated the body was. However he wouldn’t dare question Michelle about it, and that wasn’t the priority right now anyway.

“Jesus, this body looks like it’s two days old. You’re telling me it’s been here over a year?”

“That means there was a lot of remnant energy, no wonder she was able to take control.”

He muttered something about resting the phone down so he could use both hands. The splash of pouring liquid, presumably gasoline, sounded through the phone. Making sure the mask was secure, he dropped the match and watched the body catch alight, immediately trying to keep his distance. The fire was entrancing almost, not the deep orange he expected, but bright white and everlasting. Given that it was only one body, the flames were considerably large, as though he’d burned an entire forest. They also seemed to be containing themselves solely to the body, like an imaginary perimeter had been drawn around it.

Jack and Michelle walked over to where Renee lay, asleep. They were grateful she’d finally gotten the chance to rest, but there was still such an uncomfortable look on her face. Renee didn’t seem to react to Larry’s action, to their confusion. But as they continued to watch her, she seemed to be okay. She didn’t stir when they opened the door. Walking over to the bed, Jack sat on the edge, brushing hair away from her face. He did this for a while, hoping that they’d resolved the situation, that she would stay like this and everything would be okay. The fair skin on the inside of her wrists was pink and irritated at the tightness of the cuffs. He unlocked them, letting her hands rest comfortably in front of her. She never used to be a particularly heavy sleeper, so he was a little surprised that she didn’t wake, but he was sure it was just the exhaustion catching up to her.

Michelle watched on from the door, taking her own sigh of relief. Larry’s voice sounded in her ear, indicating that the fire had stopped, that the body was gone. He said he’d stay for a while, checking that he wasn’t starting any more fires with the latent heat and embers, but that he’d get to the safe-house to meet up with them as soon as possible. It was early in the morning now.

Walking back to the kitchen to pack up their things and head back, Jack left the door ajar.

She’d wake up in a few hours, then they’d go home.

Larry took the time to pace through what was essentially the graveyard of Chrismos Lukos. He had never been able to at the time, what with all the investigation and collecting of evidence. Then he’d had to go back to DC before he’d gotten the chance. Even though they were quite sure Renee was fine now, he figured it couldn’t hurt to look for anything that might have been missed or forgotten. Walking down the hallway, he noticed what looked like some kind of sacrificial knife. Feeling more than a little unsettled at the eeriness of the whole situation, he picked it up, figuring another weapon on his person couldn’t hurt. Upon inspecting it closer, he noticed it was bronze and engraved with symbols.

He entered a small, adjoining room, stopping immediately at the masses of pink crystal shards scattered across the floor. Carefully, he dodged them, walking towards the back. Most of the room was barren, with many pieces of evidence likely already taken and catalogued away. There was a film of dust across the large bench at the back. One of the drawers was stuck, as though something was jamming it and preventing it from shutting properly. Furrowing his brow, Larry went to open it, grunting as he needed to use considerable force to do so.

A small, wooden jewellery box fell to the floor. Lifting it up, the lid opened with a creak. There was a variety of small crystals of various colours and textures. Pilfering through, he found a small piece of paper. There was smudged dark red ink on the outside. He couldn’t tell what it said but the shapes seemed to be repeated over and over. Squinting, he could see Althea’s name, followed by something that started with an ‘M’. The brush strokes indicated a fountain pen had been used, and the curvature was somewhat familiar to him. His stomach lurched when he found a gold wedding band. 

A wedding band that was identical to the one on his now quivering finger. 

He tried to catch his breath, knowing that the style of ring was common, that anybody could have had this. But he gasped when he found a gold engagement ring, set with emeralds and citrine.

“Oh, Larry, it’s beautiful. How did you…”

He shook his head, laughing a little. “I couldn’t decide on citrine or emerald, both reminded me of your eyes. But then I realised that’s what makes them so beautiful, because there’s so many colours all at once.” 

Julia blushed, kissing him softly on the mouth. Her hazel eyes were always something he adored about her. From the day they’d met, he’d made note of how captivating they were. How depending on the light, depending on what she was wearing, they could look so different, a unique spectrum on every occasion. So when he’d gone to have her engagement ring made, he knew it had to be special, that it had to reflect her.

Feeling his breath hitch, he had to plant a hand on the bench to steady himself. Suddenly he felt as though a hoard of unresolved questions had arisen. Larry could swear they’d given him all of Julia’s things they’d recovered when they’d found her. But then again, Chrismos Lukos had gone into hiding very quickly, likely taking everything with them, regardless of whether or not they needed it. But how had the rings stood the test of time nearly twenty-five years later? He was sure they’d changed locations more than once so why had they been so careful to take this with them? Who had been in charge of Julia’s things? Had she given them to someone else personally or had one of the leaders simply claimed it all as their own?

Frantically, he called Jack’s number. Somehow he felt as though this was important, possibly even still relevant to Renee. Something about the presence of these objects meant that Julia had not been forgotten by the members of Chrismos Lukos. And given they’d just established that possession and transferring spirits was possible, Larry had to know for sure that Julia was well and truly dead. He’d said his proper goodbyes now, in his mind, he was finally mourning her the way he should have. If she was alive or living on somehow, he had to know so he could prepare himself for another tsunami of emotions.

“Bauer.”

Larry took in a shuddering breath.

“Larry, what’s wrong?”

Michelle now looked at Jack’s confused expression, pausing her organisation of the papers. He put the phone on speaker.

“I-I found some of Julia’s things in one of the rooms. I think it might be Althea’s. I-I don’t know what to make of it I just…” He took in another breath, clearly on the verge of panic.

“Just calm down and take a few deep breaths, Larry. We’ll look through her file, hang on.”

Althea’s file came up on the screen of Michelle’s computer. There was very little information there. No date of birth, just an estimated age of about twenty at the time of her death. That was one of the things that had been the most terrifying. Althea wasn’t some mighty elder, she was young and petite, seemed so innocent and inexperienced, yet there had been so much malice and deviance in her expressions, a known killer. A devious old soul, almost. No genetic information either by the looks of it. There wasn’t even a surname, no indication of legal recognition, as though she’d been in hiding her whole life. She tried to think of any possible connection to Larry’s wife, besides the fact that both of them had been leaders of Chrismos Lukos at some point. Bringing up Julia Moss’ file separately, what stuck out to Michelle was the time frame in which she was first reported missing, and the puzzle pieces in her head slowly started to fit together.

“Larry.” Michelle grabbed the phone from Jack’s hand, speaking grimly. “Is there any chance Julia could have been pregnant when she left you?”

“I’m going to cherish this forever. If we ever have a daughter, I’ll make sure she takes this, and that she passes it down.”

His heartbeat thundered in his ears.

“Larry?”

He sprinted back to where Althea’s body lay, now completely charred. A metallic chain glinted in the dim lighting. He picked it up, hissing at the heat of the metal but trying his best to hold it securely. There were two pendants, the quartz crystal that belonged to all the leaders, and a circular locket. It wasn’t immediately obvious that it was a locket, but Larry knew exactly what he was looking at. After all, he was the one who’d bought it for her.

“No…no…”

Popping the locket open, the faded photo of him and Julia confirmed his suspicions.

“Did I just…” He gulped. “Did I just burn my daughter’s body?”

Michelle squeezed her eyes shut. “Yes…Althea was….I think Althea was your daughter, Larry. I’m so sorry.”

The phone fell from his hands as he removed the gas mask and turned to retch, feeling nauseated by the still-lingering stench and the realisation of what he’d just done, of what this meant. All this time, he’d had a child, he’d had a piece of her, a piece of Julia, and he hadn’t known. But this piece of her was the same piece of her that he’d despised, that had terrified him. Althea had done treacherous things, and now he wondered if he could have stopped her. He wondered if he could have found her, he could have saved her from the ways of Chrismos Lukos even if he hadn’t been able to save Julia.

“Hang on…” Michelle whispered, now shuffling through the papers she’d just organised. A churning sense of anxiety was slowly building in her gut. Jack had an awful feeling that they’d made a grave mistake, that Althea’s immense power hadn’t just been because she was a leader. The writing was upside down from his angle, but he could see that she was looking through the short-list of possession rituals they’d found. 

“We were wrong, weren’t we?”

She sighed. “It’s difficult, but not impossible for someone pregnant to survive the rituals. The point is, if Julia was pregnant, it changes everything.  Because they’re within a single body, parent and child both get the power. Then, once the child is born, they become stronger and stronger as they get older. I read somewhere that because this is so rare and prosperous for Chrismos Lukos, some parents will even try to transfer their own power to their child, even die for it so their child can have most, if not all of it. But the catch is, they still share a soul. The child can never be anything other than a spiritual ‘replica’, I guess, of the parent. In this case, it would mean Althea wasn’t her own person, she was just a shell for Julia. So even if Julia’s body is gone, she lives on through her, including all abilities. Julia and Althea are one and the same.”

“No!” Larry shouted, voice rife with emotion. “I watched them kill Julia in front of me, don’t you dare try and tell me she is alive.”

Michelle took in a breath. “Larry, I can’t even imagine how hard this is for you, but I need you to do something for me. The only way we’ll know for sure if Julia did this specific ritual is whether there’s something written in her blood. She would have written down Althea’s name over and over again somewhere and kept it secure.”

His mind went back to the piece of paper he’d found in her room. Going back to where he’d left the jewellery box, his fingers quivered as he unfolded the paper, now realising that the word that followed Althea’s name was ‘Moss’. Julia had thought of him, Julia had still considered Althea his daughter, even though he hadn’t been there for her. He also couldn’t deny that the dark red ink was most certainly blood. “Michelle, I-I’ve found it. You’re right. Piece of paper, name in blood, it’s all there.”
 
“What does this mean in terms of Renee?” Jack asked.

“If Althea was never her own person, she had no spirit to transfer right? Only Julia’s. So really, the original source of the link is Julia.” 

Jack’s eyes widened. “So if it’s been Julia inside of Althea this whole time, and you can only break it by destroying the original…”

Michelle nodded. “Then she’s still inside of Renee, and burning Althea’s body did nothing.” She exhaled sharply. “That’s why she barely fought me off before she died. As soon as I killed her, it basically sealed her spirit inside of Renee, because she’d already started the ritual. They shared that last moment of pain when I killed her but then it was complete. Ever since then she’s been inside of Renee trying to fight to take over her. She probably realised that that was her last chance to keep Chrismos Lukos going, and hoped that by doing the ritual, she would be able to let Julia live on in Renee.”

“Shit…” He uttered.

“What?” 

He had taken away all of the protective measures because they’d thought she was fine. It was just creeping towards the middle of the day now, they didn’t even realise how long they’d been looking through the information and guiding Larry. With all the commotion, they’d barely paid attention to outside noise.

“I left the door open and took the cuffs off.”

They bolted back to the holding cell, and Jack’s heart dropped. 

Renee was gone. 

The sound of a ringing phone jolted them out of their stunned silence. She saw it was Tony and answered the call.

“Yeah?” Michelle tried to mask the unease in her voice.

“Why didn’t you tell me you were picking her up early today?”

Her brow furrowed. “What?”

“You picked up Alice from school, right?”

Michelle’s breathing shortened. “Tony…she’s not with me. Oh god…” Her spare hand fell to the wall, trying to stabilise herself. 

“Michelle? What’s happening?”

She looked up at Jack, white as a sheet, voice heavy with a sense of foreboding.

“She has Alice.”

Michelle had her head between her knees, trying to take deep breaths while Jack drove around aimlessly. Larry was still on the line. Tony was still trying to get information from the school, but none of the teachers seemed to have any idea what he was talking about. At first, he thought they’d been bribed or blackmailed, so he’d pushed harder, but they genuinely seemed clueless. 

Jack’s phone rang a few times until Chloe picked up with her usual frustrated ‘O’Brian’.

“Chloe, I need you to trace traffic cams from my location. Renee’s gone somewhere and we need to find her.”

“What? Aren’t you supposed to be at work? So is-”

He shook his head. “I don’t have time to explain. She should have gotten out about an hour ago, maybe more.”

She hummed. “Yeah. I’ve got her leaving the safe-house on foot.” Chloe furrowed her brow, looking intently. “That’s weird. She just grabbed some guy out of his car at a stop light, took the car and sped off. What’s up with her?”

“Just follow the car.” He replied shortly.

“Okay, okay, fine.” There was a pause. “Looks like she went to an elementary school, came out with…is that Alice?”

Michelle let out a sob, gripping the upholstery on the seat tightly. Once upon a time, in a situation like this, she would be able to keep it together, but she could feel Tony and Alice’s fear within them, enhancing her own anxiety so intensely it made her chest ache. Clutching her shirt, she didn’t know if she was going to have a heart attack, throw up, or both. Leaning over, Jack rubbed between her shoulder blades.

“We’re going to find her, okay?”

“I can feel her, Jack, she’s terrified.”

“Jack, Renee’s headed to one of the old Chrismos Lukos sites. I don’t have schematics, but I imagine it would have lots of man-made tunnels like the rest. I’ll send it through.”

He let out a breath. “Okay, thanks. Send it to Tony as well, tell him to meet us there.”

“Alright. Good luck with…whatever you guys are doing.”

Jack still couldn’t figure it out, he’d gone through so many documents these past few hours, his brain couldn’t take it anymore. “Michelle, what could Julia possibly want with Alice? She already went through the main rituals, why would she go to so much trouble?”

“I-I don’t know.” 

“Either way we need a plan.” Larry’s voice came through slightly crackled from the bad reception at his location underground. “How are we going to get Julia out of Renee’s body when we find her? I can’t exactly ask anyone to go dig up my wife’s grave in DC and cremate her.” 

She wiped under her eyes, trying to shift her focus by looking through her notes. “There’s no guarantee that alone will work anyway. The fact that she was strong enough to survive it all while pregnant means her spirit is probably powerful enough to latch onto another body without needing the source to stay intact. This means we have two options. If the person she’s occupying dies, and we burn the body to stop the chain of transfer, then her spirit will die too. Or, we can transfer the spirit to another living body. If it is transferred, it has to be done very precisely. The exact spot where she was stabbed the first time needs to be cut open, with the same sacrificial knife, there’s a mantra that needs to be said, and then the blade can be pierced into somebody else.”

“Which in Renee’s case is the spot on her hip, so we’d have to be careful not to hit her stomach.” Jack added. 

“Wait.” Larry said. “But then Julia will just be possessing somebody else. That won’t fix anything unless they…kill themselves right after before she can take control.” His frustration was seeping through his voice, masking his immeasurable worry and guilt. 

“Then I’ll do it.” Jack said.

Michelle whipped her head around to face him. “No. Renee will never forgive you if you sacrifice yourself.”

“It’s the only way-” 

“Jack.” She said, firmly. “We will find another way that doesn’t involve one of us dying. Besides, we don’t know exactly what her plan is, there’s a good chance she might want to and would be very capable of hurting us. Transferring the spirit isn’t going to be easy, she’ll fight back, we need numbers.”

They thought for a moment. Jack then spoke very sadly and softly, as though admitting defeat.

“I can’t believe I’m even thinking about this, but…the time between transferring the spirit and that person dying wouldn’t be very long, right?”

“What do you mean?”

“So if someone has minutes, seconds even, to live, we could still transfer Julia’s spirit into their body?”

Her brow was still furrowed as she tried to understand what he was getting at. Then Michelle’s eyes widened, her voice horrified. “Jack, you’re not seriously considering using the baby?-”

“I don’t care if Renee never speaks to me again, if she hates me for the rest of her life, if it means we save her before this gets any worse. We’re running out of time. She’s already taken Alice, you and Tony are going to have to make sure she’s safe too. If you want to make sure there’s enough of us to keep the situation contained, there’s your answer.”

There was a desolate silence between the three of them. A muttered ‘Jesus Christ’ from Larry could be heard through the phone. Michelle squeezed her eyes shut, pressing her lips into a thin line, before looking through the pages again.

“I don’t want to condone this in any way, but technically what you’re saying works, Jack.” She sighed. “Renee losing the baby might be the only way we end this without any of us dying. Otherwise, Julia will just live on forever if we keep moving her spirit from person to person. It has to end. I just wish it didn’t have to end like this…”

Larry felt anger course through him, anger that had started when he’d discovered Althea was his daughter. He felt partially responsible now, cursing himself for not doing more of his own investigation so that he could have found Althea, raised her in a healthy, happy home and stopped any of this from happening. He also knew that Jack would likely be the one to want to do the deed here, and it made him sick to think of how much that would add to his already haunted past, how much it could destroy his and Renee’s relationship. He hung up, gathered all of Julia’s things, as well as the sacrificial knife, before taking off, heading to where Jack and Michelle were arriving.

Tony had just gotten there himself, stepping out of the car with his gun and flashlight in hand. He perked up at the sound of Jack’s car engine. His eyes softened when he saw Michelle, completely and utterly distressed. He’d felt it himself, knowing that wherever Alice was, she was terrified, knowing that Michelle was feeling the same level of worry that he was, if not, one hundred times more. They might both be linked to Alice, but Tony knew that no matter how much he wanted to protect Alice, his desire to do so would never match Michelle’s. In a few short steps, he took her into his arms. She squeezed tightly, needing to feel him against her, the anxiety only growing as their bodies came into contact with each other. Moisture settled onto his shirt as he rubbed her back, sniffling.

“It’s going to be okay…” He said, unconvincingly. “We’re going to find our baby, she’s going to be okay…You and I can both still feel her, which means she’s okay. She might be scared, but she’s alive and she’s okay.” His voice broke as she let out another cry upon hearing the word ‘alive’. Truth be told, they couldn’t tell who’s anxiety was who’s, but they both had to at least try and tell themselves that they were feeling her. Pulling back, he kissed her forehead as they followed Jack inside.

Their guns were drawn, flashlights hovering around as they called out Renee and Alice’s names, before realising that ‘Julia’ would be more appropriate. The tunnels then started to diverge, and they agreed to split up, knowing that their phones were on and had reception, which would allow them to communicate. Michelle still felt like the rapid thumps of her chest were drowning out everything else. The beam of light in front of her was shaking with the tremble in her hand. She wasn’t entirely concentrating, she knew, just simply looking for anything that wasn’t nothing, anything that didn’t resemble a dead end, anything that didn’t resemble the hopelessness she was starting to feel.

A hand suddenly clasped itself over her mouth and she let out a muffled scream of Tony’s name. She struggled against the grip, but whoever was holding her was strong, the other arm pressing a knife to her throat.

“You’re going to do exactly what I tell you to, okay Michelle?” 

The voice was familiar, but the usual kindness behind it had disappeared, instead replaced with a venomously sweet, almost hypnotic tone.

A warm, heady sensation washed over her. She felt like she was falling asleep, catching a glimpse of a pair of glowing, teal eyes. Michelle tried to resist again before passing out. The last thing she heard before she did was a whispered hush.

Tony furrowed his brow as Michelle’s phone rang out and went to voicemail. He’d called a few times now after his initial yell of her name yielded nothing. His search with Jack hadn’t come up with anything, but they were at least sure they were approaching the largest room of the site, the common area for most of the members. Something felt off, but Tony couldn’t quite place it. Something was missing. He was afraid, he was full of adrenaline, but some of it felt as though it had faded, creating an eerie calmness.

“I’m sure all the tunnels link to the main room, we’ll find her.”

He let out a frustrated sigh. “I didn’t like any of this before, now my daughter and my wife are missing, along with your possessed girlfriend.”

Jack huffed. “Don’t act like it’s her fault. You think any of us expected this?”

“I know it’s not.” He defended. “Nobody had a choice in any of this, I get that, but for the love of god, can we just acknowledge how insane this is? Every time something like this comes up you all act like it’s no big deal, but for me it is, alright?”

Jack thought about this and made a noise of understanding, noticing the sheer fear in Tony’s eyes. It was all still confronting and terrifying, they just seemed to have gotten good at pushing it all aside to focus on the urgency of the situation. But maybe it hadn’t been so easy for Tony to do that. He remembered that he’d been brought up religiously. There was probably a degree of existential confusion there. Could he blame him?

But before he could say anything, they noticed a familiar red-headed figure standing indifferently on the opposite side of the main room. Tony charged toward her, fuming.

“Where the hell is my daughter?” He demanded.

She turned to them with a smirk. Her eyes were so cold, there wasn’t a shred of sympathy in her expression anymore. Even the mannerisms seemed different. Stony, harsh, cruel, almost.

“I don’t know, she ran off somewhere.” Renee snapped, looking down at her fingernails, as though it had been a nuisance. A wicked smile crept across her face as she looked up at Tony. “Glad to be rid of the brat, though.” She sneered, showing a set of small bite marks on her hand. “Seems her teeth are already coming in.”

Cheek twitching, Tony moved into her space. “If you so much as laid a hand on her, I swear to god I will-”

Renee tutted. “I wouldn’t finish that sentence if I were you. After all, this body is on loan. Wouldn’t want to make her lose the baby, would we?” She met Jack’s gaze now, a sadistic glint in her eyes, as Tony conceded, stepping back. “Oh, I can just feel Renee fighting to take control, Jack. I’ve spent a long time trying to win, can’t believe all it took was you reassuring her that she would be fine, and finally, she let her guard down.”

He felt nauseous now. It was Renee’s body, Renee’s voice, Renee’s eyes, Renee’s everything, but it wasn’t her. And hearing her voice say that only reminded him of what he ultimately had to do.

“What exactly are you trying to do, Julia?” Jack asked. “Why did you take Alice? What does she have to do with this?”

She faced Tony again. “Well, I had to get your precious wife here somehow. Speaking of…” 

Jack and Tony looked at each other as Julia called Michelle’s name sweetly. Tony’s stomach dropped when she walked in, with a sluggish gait. He couldn’t sense anything from her, just his own anxiety and Alice’s. It was so strange for him to not feel her intensely, the sensation entirely subdued. Even when she slept, Tony could still feel her a little, but not now. As she neared, he could see her eyes were completely glazed over as though she’d been drugged. But unfortunately, Tony knew that whatever was going on wasn’t that simple.

Michelle walked in front of her, then stopped, standing and staring blankly into space. She didn’t react to the concern on his face or at the call of her name. In fact, nothing seemed to faze Michelle, not even as Julia moved so close to her, she would be able to feel her breathing on the back of her neck. The way she brushed a strand of hair away from Michelle’s face, the way she looked at her almost possessively made Tony’s skin crawl. Julia then took out a large, silver knife. Jack recognised it as the one she had taken from their kitchen when she’d tried to kill him in his sleep. He swore she’d left it on the bed.

Julia made an incision on her wrist, to their confusion, whispering something in Michelle’s ear as she passed the knife over. Barely flinching, Michelle sliced her arm open deeply, moving to let the blood drip onto Julia’s wound. She started uttering something under her breath, almost compulsively. Tony noticed one of the old ritual scars on her upper arm was glowing, as were some of the faded marks on the walls and embedded crystal shards. His stomach sank realising he couldn’t feel any of it. Whatever was going on, it was affecting their link.

“Michelle!” He yelled in disbelief. “What are you-” Tony shook his head, realising that Julia had some hold over her, that talking to Michelle would be pointless. He then turned his gaze to Julia. “What are you making her do?”

The mock smile returned. “Well isn’t this what you wanted Tony? Michelle does this, she’ll lose her abilities and go back to normal. She’ll be your perfect little human wife again.”

He placed his thumb to his forearm, desperately feeling around for any kind of sign that they were still linked, anything he could use to help. Tony’s panic started to grow. The link was possibly the only thing he understood and could use to communicate with her. He wouldn’t be able to use his own fear to alert her, to remind her of what was going on. He realised further that Alice’s fear wouldn’t be able to help either.

“Oh, that’s precious, you think she can feel you.” She simpered. “I didn’t have enough power to get the two of you to help me, but it was easier than I thought it would be to suppress your link. I had the feeling you and Michelle were having problems, but I didn’t think it was that bad, Tony-”

“Never mind that, she’s going to bleed out! It’ll kill her!” Jack shouted. The blood was spilling messily down her arm, it looked as though she might have pierced an artery.

“Well her sacrifice will be for the greater good then. She ripped my heart to pieces, I’m not letting her die that quickly.” Fury rose in her voice. “All of you worked to destroy everything I had, including killing the daughter I gave everything to, the least you could do is give me something to work with. If I’m going to rebuild Chrismos Lukos from the ground up, the power I have to start with won’t be enough.”

“You sick bitch.” Tony said gruffly. “Michelle, stop! You don’t need to do this!”

A scoff left Julia’s mouth, before she spoke with a malicious hiss, keeping her wound close to Michelle’s. “She won’t listen to you. She wants what I want, that’s why she’ll do anything I tell her. She belongs to me now.” Jack watched in disgust as Julia brought Michelle’s forearm closer to her face, licking away the blood that hadn’t fallen into her own gash. “I’m only drawing on the darkness that’s within her, Tony.” She said, voice dripping with venom, before resting her hand against Michelle’s cheek. “Deep down, she wants this too.”

“She’s not like you, she would never be capable of doing what you did.”

“I beg to differ.” She said, smirking. “You saw what she did to Althea. You know she enjoyed it-”

“Shut up.” He said, raising his gun with shaking hands and pointing it at her. “J-Just shut up.”

“Tony, stop.” Jack warned. “You know she’s lying, she’s just trying to get inside your head. It’s not really her, you know that.” He turned to face Julia. “If Larry knew what you were doing, he would despise you.”

That seemed to trigger something within her. With a clench in her jaw and a furious look in her eyes, she pushed the knife deeper into Michelle’s skin, causing more blood to form at the surface and fall into Julia’s wound. Michelle’s knees shook but she didn’t cry out in pain, too intently focused on the things she was saying to transfer her power.

Tony grabbed Michelle by the shoulders, pulling her towards him. Her arms were frozen in place as she continued to deepen the cut and mumble under her breath, Tony thought it might be Greek. He told her to stop, over and over again, shaking her, trying to do anything to snap her out of it. More forcefully, he managed to push the knife from her hands. Desperately, she tried to grab it again, lunging forward to the ground. Tony used the opportunity to lift her up into his arms. She squirmed, fighting his grip and screaming hysterically. He could feel flashes of anger within him, as though she were fighting, not against him, but with him, as though trying to bolster his effort to break her from Julia’s persuasion.

“Come back to me, Michelle, please. Please, don’t let her take control of you, please, you don’t need to do this.” He then started apologising and shouting out her name, almost manically. The blood was all over him too, as he struggled to keep her pinned down. It scared him that he wasn’t feeling the same pain, as though the connection between them was being severed.

“T-Tony…” She gasped, her eyes trying desperately to lock onto his. 

“Michelle! S-stay with me, sweetheart, you have to stay with me-”

A tear formed in the corner of her eye, her voice weak. “G-go find Alice. I-I can fight her on my own…P-please…” She took in another breath, back arching off the ground as she winced in pain. Blood trickled from her eyes in thin streams down her cheeks. “G-go find our daughter. Go!”

“No! No, I’m not leaving you!”

He was getting through to her, he wouldn’t be able to find Alice without Michelle, he had to stay, he just had to keep her from Julia’s control. Suddenly she started convulsing again, her eyes unfocused. The quality of her voice became more monotonous and Tony knew he’d lost her again.

“Michelle!” He shouted.

Julia moved to pry Michelle from Tony’s grip, but Jack stepped between them. He couldn’t bring himself to hurt her, he couldn’t, but he planted his hand just below her collarbone to put distance between them. Looking at him with an irate glare, she pounced on him so quickly he barely had the chance to breathe. Her teeth started to elongate, the blue of her eyes reminded Jack of icicles, and the deep growl that was emanating from her throat sounded anything but human. 

“Renee, if you can hear me, please-” He begged.

“She’s mine now, Jack.” She snarled. “Michelle will give me her power, and I will make sure Renee never gains control again. And I’m not going to let you get in the way of that.”

Jack tried to move but found his efforts futile. She was too strong. He knew that now would be a good opportunity to do the transfer ritual, seeing as Julia was right where he needed her, and not actively putting up a fight, just making sure he didn’t go anywhere or try and help Tony. But one, he didn’t have the knife he needed, nor did he know the right thing to say. Michelle was the only one who knew and understood the information, and right now she was incapacitated. 

So for now, all Jack could do was make sure Julia didn’t kill him in the meantime, feeling completely and utterly afraid of what she could and would do to him.

To his relief, a familiar voice sounded, echoing throughout the room.

“That’s enough, Julia.”

In the background, Michelle was still shrieking and yelling that she needed to do it, that she had to do it for the greater good, the sound smothered by Tony’s hand covering her mouth. By the looks of it now, he’d managed to cuff her wrists. He was still struggling to keep her down, and the wound was still bleeding considerably, but at least she wasn’t making it worse or giving away any more of her power to Julia.

But with Larry here now, maybe they had a chance.

Julia’s eyes widened, hands no longer pressing firmly into Jack’s body, and he could roll out from under her as they both stood. She’d transformed so swiftly back into human form Jack had to remind himself again that he wasn’t looking at Renee.

“Larry…” She breathed as he moved towards her. The expression on his face was unclear. Jack couldn’t even imagine how he felt. He wasn’t exactly seeing Julia in front of him, but being able to communicate with her was surely overwhelming him. Confusing too. After all, he had learnt so much about the gritty details of the cult, and of her role as a leader, including the fact that she’d hid their daughter from him. That daughter had then gone on to continue the path of butchery started by her mother and was also now dead.

Her hands went up to cup his cheeks, running across his shoulders and down his arms, taking a good look at the husband she hadn’t seen in over two decades. He simply searched her eyes, trying to tell his brain that despite the lack of hazel there, he was still looking at Julia. She gave him a genuine smile, eyes welled with tears, so different to the maleficent being she’d been just a few minutes earlier.

“I’ve missed you…”

Thumbing at her cheek, he felt a pang in his chest at the adoration she was returning to him. It seemed so easy to be lost in her eyes. It seemed so easy to just pretend Julia was here with him. There was kindness and love in his heart that he thought he’d never feel again. The more sensible part of his brain telling him that this wasn’t right in any way, shape, or form was being tuned out.

Jack suddenly wondered what Larry was here to do. He’d assumed he’d come to help as he’d mentioned on the phone but had all of the plans in his head now gone out the window? For the first time in so long, he was in front of his wife, he was talking to her, she was talking to him, telling him that she missed him. He thought about how he’d feel if it were him and Teri in this scenario. Would he really be able to rationally look past the reality of the situation and stay strong? Or would his love for her absolutely wipe out any sense of logic?

She wrapped her arms around him, pulling him close. He seemed to be leaning into her, his hands reaching lower around the hem of her shirt, eyes roaming downwards. Jack saw the curve of her belly and felt tears prick the back of his eyes. He was reminded that Renee was in there, desperately fighting to regain control. He was reminded that Alice was still missing, without a clue as to where she could be found. He was reminded of all who were being affected and pained by Julia’s presence, and Jack could only pray that Larry was going to be able to think of them too.

Larry didn’t know what to say by the looks of it. Of course, he’d grieved and missed his wife dearly. And despite her visual appearance and voice disagreeing with his memory, he certainly could feel Julia’s presence with him now. But he had to remember what she was doing. She was possessing somebody else’s body, she had kidnapped a child who as of right now, was nowhere in sight. And although he had no idea what was specifically going on with Michelle, he had a hunch that the pool of blood around her and her hysteria was related to Julia too.

“I-I know it might be strange seeing me like this, but…” She caressed the outside of his face, not bothered by the blood from her cut dripping onto his collar. “It doesn’t have to be…” Her eyes crinkled as she continued to look at him.

“Tell me, Julia…” He held her hand against his face, taking in a breath. “Was Althea really our daughter?”

She looked away as though a little ashamed, but her expression was soft. “Oh, I wanted you to know about her so badly…” Julia whispered. “She was beautiful. But she had to carry on the legacy, she had to take charge, she had to take on my power. I couldn’t let you steal her away from what she needed to do.”

The warmth in his chest subsided a little. There was no hint of remorse in her voice. She’d prioritised Chrismos Lukos over letting their daughter be raised by him. She’d stolen the child’s identity by forcing her spirit to take over. Memories of their final meeting in her original body started to come back to him. So did the arguments. He remembered how utterly devoted she was to the cult, that she was willing to throw their dreams and life plans away. She’d risked her and Althea’s lives because she was so desperate to go through the rituals.

“But I promise you I won’t do the same with this one.” Julia moved Larry’s hand to rest against her stomach, and Jack felt anger rise in his chest.

He furrowed his brow. “What are you saying?”

“Don’t you see?” She let out a small laugh. “We can be together again. This time will be different, you can help me rebuild Chrismos Lukos, you can lead by my side. We’ll just pick up from where we were.” Again, she gave him a look of sheer devotion, eyes full of warmth, hands squeezing his forearms. They looked at each other for a moment, and again, Jack couldn’t read Larry’s expression. It seemed almost blank, the way Michelle had been before. He was terrified now. If Julia persuaded Larry now, then they truly had nothing left. Reaching her hands around the nape of his neck, she tilted her head, moving her head in closer, and Jack felt a wave of despair.

He was too far gone now, Jack knew it. He cursed himself for not reading the ritual information, for relying on Michelle just because she knew more, without realising that she would have been prioritising Alice. He felt wholly responsible for everything he was about to lose.

Larry’s hand suddenly seized Julia’s waist tightly, the other moving to his back pocket.

“Get out of her body, Julia.” He gritted through his teeth, voice heavy with disgust. Larry stabbed her hip, precisely where Althea had done so eighteen months ago and spoke what Jack realised must have been the relevant prayer aloud. The scream that left her mouth was resonant and full-bodied, one tone higher, familiar, the other lower, more demonic, as though powered by the two voices which had been battling for so long. Larry then pulled the knife back out. But Jack could see that he wasn’t moving it towards her abdomen.

Which meant he wasn’t transferring Julia’s spirit to the baby.

“Larry, no!” He yelled, but it was too late.

He had already taken the darkly stained dagger and driven it into his own chest, twisting it with a pained yet cathartic cry, and finishing the remainder of the prayer. Renee was unsteady on her feet and Jack moved behind to catch her as she collapsed back into his arms. Jack saw now the dark, blue-black blood pouring from the wounds on her hip and wrist. His hands went to staunch them, and he was shocked by how sticky and thick it was, unlike anything he’d ever seen before. 

Larry staggered back a little, letting out a relieved sigh. His eyes went to Renee’s wounds again, and to his relief, within seconds the blood was now bright red and less clotted. Jack looked at him and then down at Renee’s wounds, bewildered at how quickly they had changed. The lesion on Larry’s chest had also seemingly healed. Jack realised now that Larry must have been successful, that Julia’s spirit was entirely contained within his body.

But what now?

“Make sure…” He took in a breath. “Make sure you burn the bodies. Mine and Julia’s.” Larry coughed. “Don’t let her do this to anybody ever again.”

Jack gave a slightly confused nod, eyes still flitting between Larry and Renee. 

“And tell Renee I’m sorry.”

“What?”

Pulling the knife out, Larry groaned, before dragging it across his throat, slashing his carotid artery. Blood flowed down to stain his light-coloured shirt and he spluttered, spraying some of it around his mouth. The blue of his eyes was bright, glowing slightly. If they needed any more confirmation that Julia was inside his body, it became certain when he laughed a little, almost manically.

“No!” Jack screamed, watching Larry fall to the floor, bleeding profusely. He felt his heart drop and now understood the meaning of his final words. 

Tony gasped as Michelle’s eyes rolled back into her head, the screaming finally stopping, leaving only a deafening silence behind. He suddenly felt a shooting, heavy pain in his forearm and an overwhelming sense of fatigue throughout his body. The link was back. She slumped her body against the floor and he started babbling her name, trying to get her to wake up, the rise and fall of her chest so weak from the loss of blood.

He looked over, meeting Jack’s eyes with horrific understanding.

They had succeeded. Julia’s spirit would be no more, she was gone for good.

Her eyes opened wearily. Upon seeing his face in her field of view, she mumbled his name. Tony had already taken the cuffs off and made a makeshift tourniquet using part of his shirt. Blood was still seeping through and had dried on her skin, and he knew there was a chance she would pass out again, but all that mattered now was that she was okay. He stroked her hair, sighing as he saw her eyes were their usual deep brown, consciously aware and scanning her surroundings.

“Did we find them?” She asked weakly. It seemed the elapsed time between Julia taking control of her and Julia dying was not apparent to her. Not even that brief moment of awareness when she’d practically begged him to leave her.

“Julia, yes, but she’s dead now. She’s out of Renee’s body. She can’t hurt anybody anymore.” He looked over to where Jack was still trying to wake Renee up and where Larry’s body was. Her eyes widened as she did similarly.

“How?”

He sighed. “Larry…Larry performed the ritual, got Julia into his body and…and sacrificed himself so he could trap her for good.”

“Oh god…” Michelle breathed.

“But Alice ran away from her when they got here. She’s still missing. ”

“What?” Her voice cracked as she squirmed against him, trying to get up. “Why haven’t you been looking for her?” She seemed so horrified, so confused, all the panic returning to her at once.

“Y-You were dying!” He shouted, voice still trembling with shock. “I couldn’t…I would never forgive myself if I let that happen to you. I could still feel Alice, I had faith in her that she could hold on, but I was losing you. T-the link was disappearing, I-I couldn’t feel anything from you. If I’d let you go, Julia would have drained the life out of you and I…” Tony shook his head as though still in shock that she was okay, that more importantly, she was alert, she was with him. “I couldn’t let that happen.” He whispered harshly, slumping his shoulders.

She noticed now the weakness of her arm, the blood staining her skin and Tony’s, and how dizzy she still was. He seemed relieved that she was okay, but she could still see so much worry in his eyes as though that had nearly not been the case. She had to wonder what had been so monumental that it had put the search for Alice on hold. She was still so confused. After all, she didn’t remember anything other than wandering through the tunnels alone. That, and a moment of excruciating pain. But it didn’t matter what had happened. What was important now was trying to find her.

“Hey, hey, easy.” He helped her as she stumbled.

She shook her head fervidly. “No, no, I’ll be fine.”

“Michelle-” Tony grabbed her bicep.

Pushing away, she spoke with more conviction than he thought possible from someone who’d nearly bled to death. “You can explain what happened with Julia later. Right now, I need to look for our daughter. I can still feel her fear, Tony. And not just that, but despair, she’s giving up. She doesn’t think anyone’s going to find her now. If we send CTU or the police, they won’t have a clue, but we do. We can feel her. We just have to focus.”

“Tony, go look for her.” Jack said. “I’ll take care of Renee. She’s breathing. She’ll be okay. We’ll make sure the body’s secure later.”

His expression softened but was still full of worry. “Okay, we’ll go together. Let me lead you out.”

Her heart was thundering as she trailed Tony out of the labyrinth of twists and turns through the cavern. There were still questions in her mind. She was so shocked about Larry and concerned about Jack and Renee too. But Alice was her only priority right now. When they came back outside, the afternoon sun was beating down on them as Michelle panted, already out of breath from such a short distance, running a hand through her hair. She called Alice’s name so loudly, so gut-wrenchingly deep, so desperately, the birds nearby fled. Tony yelled out as well, wondering where the hell they should even begin. Although somehow he didn’t feel like she’d run out to the road or back towards the urban area, something about this forest was calling to him, as though imploring that she was somewhere inside.

He watched Michelle’s eyes widen, despite not hearing any kind of response himself. Before Tony could open his mouth, he heard a cry of pain and watched a familiar dark brown figure dash past him. She was still considerably fast despite the limp in her stride. He was unsure how much power she'd lost, if any, but guessed adrenaline was likely filling in the gaps. Following the rampant howls, Tony swore that something was responding to them. At first, he thought it was an echo, but then he realised the responding noise was higher pitched. Michelle would stop intermittently to catch her breath and change direction. He was barely keeping up himself. But he also didn’t want to let her go too far, in case she collapsed and he wouldn’t be able to find her. He became less worried about that as he realised that somehow through their link, she was guiding him. 

Tony realised just how emotional he was feeling, as though on the verge of a breakthrough. It was as though all of their anxiety was peaking at this very moment. Never before had the urge to protect Alice and Michelle consumed him so dearly. When they'd had no clues, when Julia was their focus, he’d felt aimlessly troubled, like he didn’t know where to start. But now he could feel the emotions intensifying, which he realised was because the three of them were drawing nearer to each other.

At some point, it was too much, and Michelle had sprinted much further ahead, leaving him behind, his breaths shallow, hands resting on his knees. The burden of concern weighing him down suddenly lifted. All was silent, save for a few chirping birds. There was a lightness, an easiness overcoming him, and Tony realised it was relief.

She had found her.

Michelle had found Alice, and more than that, she was safe.

But he knew Michelle was barely holding on, and he mustered his strength to follow the straight path she’d taken.

He settled upon a small clearing, not dissimilar to one he'd found her in many years ago. It was peaceful and secluded, as though capturing the reassurance they now all had. Tony felt tears well at what he saw before him. The smaller wolf was cradled against a larger one, letting out small yips as her fur was cleaned. It was clear how exhausted the bigger wolf was. She could barely keep her eyes open and the bandage on her front leg was completely soaked. Walking forward, the corners of his lips upturned as Alice’s piercing blue eyes met his, full of recognition. Running over, he was nearly bowled over as she stood on two legs, tall enough to almost reach his hip. Leaning down, he laughed a little in disbelief as he kissed her forehead and ran a hand through her fur. He noticed it was darker than Michelle’s, almost black.

“You're okay? You’re not hurt anywhere?” Tony tried to inspect her body for cuts, but other than a tremble in her legs, she seemed fine. She whined in relief, and her eyes were wet with tears. He was sure Alice was still shaken by the whole thing, but she was okay. More than that, she was strong. Tony had known that from the day he'd met her.

Sitting down, she curled against him, fitting in his lap somewhat compactly. It had been hard to tell how big she was from a distance. Still, he looked down with adoration, watching her move around playfully. Her teeth were definitely sharp, just as Julia had said. Tony had known from the beginning that Alice would grow up to be incredibly powerful. It was something that both relieved and scared him, as if parenting wasn't going to be hard enough. But he’d never felt more fond of his daughter until now.

“I remember when your mother did this on her own for the first time.” He mused quietly, looking over at Michelle, wiping a tear from under his eyes. “I think it was the moment I fell in love with her all over again.”

And as he said it, he knew it was true. He realised how wrong he was for resenting her over what had happened with Althea when instead, he should have supported her. Hell, he should have been proud of her. She’d fought so hard and been so brave. She was the reason the cult no longer existed. And instead, he’d let a fear of the unknown get the better of him. As he reflected this, he felt a warm clutch in his chest, realising that Michelle was returning the affection to him, that she understood. Her amber eyes met his and he sniffled. Slowly, she paced over to him, leaning to nuzzle and lick his face, letting out a soft purr. He scratched between her ears but could feel her body weight was leaning into him too much, and it reminded him that she was still hurt. She finally let the exhaustion consume her, knowing Alice was safe now. Michelle lay on the floor in front of him, body barely moving, and he gently stroked her back.

Standing, Tony groaned as he lifted Michelle up and draped her across his shoulders so he could carry her. Alice was nipping at his ankles. He looked down at her with a soft smile.

“Let’s get you both home.”

Jack could still feel his heart race. It had been several hours since Julia had left Renee’s body, but she hadn’t woken up yet. He kept telling himself that she was just drained, that a year and a half of being possessed was likely taking its toll on her body. She was still breathing, now half sat up in his arms, but Jack hadn’t wanted to move her in case he exacerbated any injuries. He kept brushing his hand against her face, just hoping that she would come around soon so they could take her to Doctor Fineman. There was also a desperate need to make sure the baby was okay, otherwise, it would mean Larry died for nothing. He still felt a wave of sadness overcome him, knowing that Larry had sacrificed himself for so many reasons, and he was so grateful, but also so heartbroken that it had to have been that way.

Stirring against him, Jack sighed with relief as Renee’s eyes opened. She furrowed her brow as she met his tear-laden gaze. Her movements were slow, as though her whole body ached.

“W-what happened?” She whispered.

“It’s over now. For good, this time.” His hand grazed down over her stomach. There was blood staining her shirt from the wound on her hip. Jack had been applying pressure there with his jacket, so it had stopped bleeding some time ago, as had the cut on her wrist. From what he’d seen of Michelle’s, hers had been much more severe. “How are you feeling? Does anything hurt?”

“N-no, I don’t think so. I-I’m just confused. Where are we?”

He didn’t want to overwhelm her just yet. “We’re going to get you checked out, okay?” 

Jack supported her as she sat up. Renee whimpered as she noticed the spilled blood and motionless figure in front of her. At first, she couldn’t tell who it was. There was just so much of it everywhere, some of it a strangely dark colour. 

But the FBI badge on the man’s hip stuck out to her.

“L-Larry?” She quivered, moving forward to take a closer look. Jack went to grab her, to hold her back so she wouldn’t see too much, so she wouldn’t be distressed further. Renee quickly broke free, screaming his name, so shocked, still so confused. Turning around, the anguish on her face was clear. Her eyes seemed to be asking ‘how?’

“H-he did it to save you. He did it to save the baby.” Jack's voice cracked, feeling his grief surface now too. He took her in his arms and held her as she sobbed, hands gripping each other tightly.

The phone in his pocket buzzed. Looking down but not moving back from the hug, Jack noticed it was Tony.

“Oh thank god, they found her…” He said, relieved, before quickly typing a reply.

“Found who?”

The fact that Renee had no idea what had transpired since they’d gotten to the safe-house was making this so much more painful. He would have to explain all the gaps in her memory, including what her body had been used for. Jack refused to refer to any part of this as Renee being controlled or Renee being forced to do these things. And he refused to let anybody else refer to that either. Her body had been a vessel for Julia. Julia was the one that did this. Julia took Alice. Julia hurt them. Julia was the reason for Larry’s death.

None of this was Renee’s fault.

He put his hands on his shoulders, looking back at her teary eyes, before speaking softly. “I-I’ll explain in the car, okay?” 

She nodded, frowning, letting him take her by the hand to guide her out.

With every part of the story, more and more questions came up. Jack didn’t realise just how much had happened and just how much they’d learnt in only a few hours. He couldn’t quite explain everything, but he promised he'd get Michelle to help. When they arrived at Doctor Fineman’s office, before he could open the door, she broke down again in a torrent of cries. He’d wanted to wait at least until they knew if the baby was okay, but she’d insisted on knowing everything now, in every awful detail. Jack had tried to implore that it was well and truly over for good, that everybody else involved was okay. But she was still so appalled at what had been done, unable to fathom that she’d lost complete autonomy of her body.

“His last words were to tell you that he was sorry.”

Renee squeezed her eyes shut before wiping away tears with the heel of her hand.

“Don’t blame yourself for this, Renee. She used you. You had no control over any of this.”

“I-I know. And I feel better that you, Tony, Michelle, and Alice are all okay now. I just can’t get over…” She took in a breath. “I just can’t get over that he gave his life for us.”

“In a way…” He said solemnly. “He’s finally faced his demons, faced his grief over Julia. At least I think he’s died at peace with himself.”

That seemed somewhat acceptable to her, judging by her slow nod. Stepping out of the car, they walked into the clinic, her hand squeezing his. Doctor Fineman at least had an understanding of the supernatural side of things, and was both fascinated and saddened to hear about what Julia’s spirit had managed to do.

The tests seemed to come back fine, not that he’d ever picked up Julia’s presence beforehand, but from what he could see, there was no sign of infection or anything wrong. He then started the ultrasound, with every passing minute until the image appeared feeling more and more worrying. The gentle thump of the baby’s heartbeat sounded and the two of them let out a collective sigh. Jack smiled, watching the scan, the doctor’s confirmations of assurance fading to background noise.

“Well, I think whatever you and Michelle came up with seemed to work, Jack. It also helps that you’re only in your second trimester Renee.” 

He continued checking her vitals and other charts, again confirming that she was okay. A thought suddenly occurred to the doctor.

“While I’m here…do you want to know what you’re having? I know you’d both mentioned wanting to keep it a surprise but…”

Her shoulders lifted a little as she faced Jack, indicating that she didn’t seem to mind. He smiled at her.

“Sure.”

The doctor spread the gel around more, squinting at the screen before nodding and smiling. “Looks like you’re having a boy.”

Jack kissed her knuckles, and she again was reminded how much he loved her and wanted this with her.

She felt more relieved now than she had throughout the pregnancy. 

There would be no more midnight wake-up calls, no more exhausting days from sleepless nights, no more visions of horrible things happening.

It was over.

Tony had arrived with Alice and Michelle at Dr. Fineman’s clinic not too long before Jack and Renee had. He realised just how grateful he was to have had him all these years to rely on. Someone who respected the secrecy of this whole situation but still cared enough to have supplies on hand for them. He had hooked Michelle up to an IV and given her a blood transfusion. It was fortunate that in the years they'd known him, Michelle had donated blood somewhat regularly in case of this exact scenario. The doctor had always been worried about interactions between her blood and regular human blood.

It still worried Tony how weak she looked, her body barely moving. He had to focus intently on the slight movement of her abdomen to keep himself sane. Never had he been so appreciative of being linked to her and able to sense her heartbeat. That brief moment where Julia had suppressed their link so she could persuade Michelle had terrified him more than he’d realised. He didn’t ever want to be disconnected from her again. 

In the meantime, Alice had fallen asleep in his lap, still quivering with latent adrenaline. The doctor had said he could give her the necessary concoction to let her and Michelle transform back while they slept later. She whimpered a little, and Tony hushed her, holding her closer to him. This was going to take a long time to process, he knew. But he wasn’t going to ignore it like he did last time.

Jack and Renee walked in a little while after. 

“How is she?” Renee asked quietly.

Tony’s breath hitched when he heard her speak. He still couldn’t shake the sound of Julia's voice from his mind, how menacing she’d been, what she’d threatened to do, what she’d nearly done. He wasn’t sure he’d ever be able to separate that from Renee. He couldn’t be angry, he couldn’t hold it against her. He didn’t want to. But when he looked up to see her eyes bloodshot from crying and so much genuine worry on her face, he realised that maybe it wouldn’t be so difficult after all. Tony knew he'd been hard on her at the beginning but realised now more than ever just how much he respected everything she had done for the three of them. Tony also knew that ever since she and Jack had gotten together, there’d been a light behind his eyes he hadn’t seen since before Teri died. She didn’t deserve to be punished for something she hadn’t done.

“She’ll be okay…” He cleared his throat, continuing to placidly stroke Alice’s fur. “Both of them. What about you?”

Renee nodded. “I’m fine. Baby’s safe and sound. Can’t ask for more than that.”

He gave her a small smile as she and Jack sat by the bed.

Michelle woke not long after, blinking tiredly at him.

“Hey…” Tony said softly, kissing between her ears. She purred quietly.

Renee stood, walking over to face her. “I’m…I’m so sorry, Michelle.”

Her confusion was apparent, even without a human face.

“You…you have no idea what happened, do you?”

Tony shook his head. “Michelle didn’t seem to remember anything.” 

“I’m sure she’ll want to know.” Renee looked worried, ashamed almost, and Tony realised that this was possibly harder for her than anybody else.

“She won’t resent you, Renee. She’s the one who figured this whole thing out, she would never hold it against you. Not after all you’ve done for her.” He met her gaze, speaking earnestly. “And I don’t either.”

“Thank you.” She sniffled. In the corner of his eye, Tony could also see Jack looking appreciatively at him.

Somehow even without a link, when Renee looked into Michelle’s deep eyes, she could tell that what Tony said was true. She remembered that Jack had said that Michelle had given Julia some of her power. Julia would have likely taken most of it, but maybe a little had seeped into Renee’s soul too. While she certainly didn’t feel any different, she got a subtle sense of ease when she looked at Michelle. Maybe there was a small connection there after all.

When the doctor returned, everybody cleared out, letting Michelle transform back first. She was so exhausted that she was barely conscious enough to feel her bones move. The doctor had built on what Renee had given him all those years ago, managing to create a mixture that accelerated the process considerably. When she stood up after adjusting the clothes over her human body, Tony was surprised the pallor of her face had disappeared, that she seemed okay. Michelle threw her arms around him, squeezing strongly, and feeling him sniffle as he buried his face in her neck.

“I’m glad you’re okay…” He mumbled.

“Me too…”

When she noticed Alice stir in the chair where Tony had set her down, she bent to her level, petting the fur on her back. Michelle whispered her name, watching as the little wolf opened her eyes. Upon seeing Michelle, she whined.

“It’s going to be okay, sweetheart. You were very brave. We’re so proud of you for doing that all by yourself. But we’re going to help you go back to normal, okay?”

She whimpered in response again. Lifting Alice into her arms, Michelle sat back on the bed, keeping her secure in her lap and placing a blanket over her. At the same time, she signalled for Tony to administer the other syringe of the doctor's mixture. And slowly but surely, she too returned to her human form. They both had winced, feeling her adjust to the pain, reminded of the first time Michelle had done it all those years ago. But that pain soon disappeared as they felt relief flood through her instead as she hugged Michelle tightly.

“Are you okay, mommy?” She asked quietly. “You were bleeding when you and daddy found me.”

Michelle sniffled. “I’m all better now, honey.”

“Is Aunt Renee okay?”

Tony bit his lip. He barely knew how to explain everything to Michelle, let alone Alice. He had to wonder whether she’d be able to grasp the concept of possession at six years old. Whether she’d be scared of Renee, whether it would ever fade from her memory.

“What do you mean, Alice?” She pulled back, tucking a strand of hair behind her daughter’s head, feeling the same concern Tony was.

“The lady who took me from school…she looked like Aunt Renee, she sounded like her, but…it wasn’t.” She furrowed her brow. “I asked her what she was doing to Aunt Renee, I…I knew there was something bad inside of her, that she was sick. But then she said something about waiting for you and daddy and Uncle Jack and I wanted to try to find you. I was worried she was going to hurt you too. Then…I started hurting, my teeth felt funny, my arms and legs were hairy, and I was scared. That’s…that’s why I ran away.”

She let out a breath. “Your Aunt Renee is fine, she’s back to normal. But you did the right thing by running away.”

“What was wrong with her?”

“It’s…it’s complicated, sweetheart. You don’t need to worry about that. Right now…” She glanced at the clock, it was close to midnight now. “Let’s just go home and get some sleep, okay?”

She was standing in the dim lighting of their bathroom now, wearing the t-shirt she usually did to sleep in, and looking at herself in the mirror. Her thumb gingerly rubbed the jagged scar on the inside of her forearm and then the raw, pink skin near her wrists. The old ritual scar further up had faded ever so slightly.

“What did she make me do, Tony?”

There was discomfort in her eyes, and he could tell the lapse in memory deeply concerned her. He sighed, coming behind Michelle, resting his chin against her shoulder, and running his hands down her arms.

“She, uh…” He took a breath to maintain his composure. “She made you try to…hurt, no, uh, sacrifice yourself so she could have your power and reform Chrismos Lukos from the beginning.” Michelle touched the scar again, peering closely to examine the shape. She nodded slightly. Despite how messy and frantic it had seemed at the time, Tony could see there had been a distinct, swirled pattern to it all. It was another permanent battle scar on her body, one more permanent reminder of just how much she’d endured to gain the strength she had.

He kissed the bruise on her shoulder before lifting her wrist and kissing there too. “Those ones were mine, sorry. I-I had to hold you down and cuff you so you wouldn’t lose more blood, I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

“I know you didn’t, it’s okay.” Michelle replied softly.

“You’d already given Julia a little and…” Tony sighed. “I had to stop you. You were saying all these things…that it was for the greater good, that you had to do it, at one point you were saying Alice and I would die if you didn’t. I snapped you out of it for a little bit, but…her hold on you was just too powerful.”

Michelle hummed in thought. The gaping wound in her arm aside, she hadn’t felt different when she’d transformed, certainly still as fast and strong as usual. But from what Tony had said, he was somewhat sure Julia had gained the strength to pin Jack to the floor. So there’d obviously been some transfer, even if Julia had had some power to start with.

Tony suddenly took a sharp breath, completely overcome with the day’s events. “I-I can’t believe I nearly lost you.”

Her eyes met his in the mirror, full of sympathy. “It’s over-”

“N-no.” He said, shaking his head. “No, I need to say this. I was horrible to you yesterday and I have been nothing but horrible to you for the last eighteen months. I’m sorry. I’m so, so, sorry, Michelle. If I hadn’t been in denial, I could have stopped what happened today, I should have cared more about trying to understand everything. I-It terrifies me to think that I could have lost you and Alice today, that I would have felt your hearts stop beating, that it would have been my fault. B-but I’m going to spend the rest of my life trying to make up for it, I swear to god I-I-”

She could sense his guilt, and brought her hand to rest against his cheek.

“Look, I won’t deny that what I did to Althea was…violent. We should have at least had a conversation about it.” Michelle bit her lip. “I should have thought about how it would impact us, how you would have felt seeing me do that. I didn’t…I didn’t like it either, but-”

“N-no, you did what you had to do, and you told me to walk away, I was the one who didn’t listen.” He said, desperate to avert that he didn’t want her to blame herself for anything. “And I should have never let myself make that comparison between you and her. I…I don’t know how I let myself feel that way about you. I haven’t even thought about Nina, in any capacity, in years, it scares me to think I even brought it up, let alone used it against you like that.”

Her face grew concentrated in thought. “I…I might, actually.”

He furrowed his brow.

“Alice kept saying that she knew Renee was sick, she said she could feel it, maybe she was able to sense that because of some ability we don’t know about yet. But the point is…if she was feeling whatever negative energy there was from Julia’s spirit inside of Renee all this time,”

His eyebrows raised. “And we feel everything she does…”

“Then maybe some of that tension between us from before was because of Julia’s presence.” She shrugged. “If not all of it.”

“I mean it makes sense, but don’t blame it all on that. It’s still my fault for not bringing it up, for not at least addressing that something was up between us.” Tony sighed. “I think I’ve just been trying to cope with everything by connecting it to the past, connecting it to what I know. But the fact is…” He laughed through his nose. “None of this is ever going to be like anything else we’ve seen before and will see again. And I just have to accept that.”

“If I could give up my abilities, would you want me to?” Again, she met his gaze in the mirror.

Tony realised just how much she was genuinely asking him. He realised just how much he’d been rejecting her and felt so much worse now. When it had first happened, they’d both embraced it as a new side of her. Michelle, more than anything, had been resolute and had continued to affirm just how much it was a part of her. But now the fact that she was questioning his approval made his heart ache, the fact that she was now doubting that she was allowed to be that way, all because of his behaviour.

He shook his head, turning her to face him, and she knew by the firmness of his voice that he wasn’t lying. “No. Look I won’t deny that it scares me still. I think knowing the strength you have, the fact that it’s beyond any other human always will scare me, just a little. But more than anything, it never fails to awe me. It’s beautiful, it’s a part of who you are and I love it just as much as I love the rest of you.” Tony tucked a hair behind her ear. “I love that it means we have a stronger bond with our daughter more than any other parent out there. I love that you get to share that part of you with her as well and that it helps to keep us safe. As overwhelming and insane as it is, I would never, ever, want to go back to before it all happened. I can’t imagine you now without having that other side.”

She could feel him convey so much genuine wonder and tenderness to her through that message, and for the first time in so long, she felt as though they were being open with each other again. Michelle cupped his face, kissing him thoroughly, releasing a shaky breath as he started to reciprocate. His hands gripped her waist and walked her back to lean against the bathroom counter. The mutual feeling of warmth, of adoration, of need, grew between them, each knowing that the other’s feelings were true, were real. He peeled her shirt off, gently kissing her neck, her collarbone, and her chest, before moving further down and trailing her stomach with his tongue. Tony pulled her pyjama shorts off, and the way his eyes met hers, so full of love, nearly brought her to tears. His mouth slid along the inside of her thigh teasingly but didn’t take long to reach her centre.

Michelle’s hand fell to his hair, her fingers clenching as he continued to work her over. She bucked against his mouth involuntarily, and he felt her shudder against him as though she were trying to suppress the noises coming out of her. Alice was a heavy sleeper, so he knew that wasn’t why she was doing it. And he didn’t want her to feel like she had to hide any longer.

Pulling back, he looked up at her again. 

“Louder.” He said with a slight rumble before pushing his tongue inside her again. She purred quietly, and his hands caressed the soft skin of her legs. “Let me hear you, Michelle.”

She didn’t even bother trying to subdue the whine that elicited her as his lips closed around her clit. Moving his mouth faster, she began to pant his name, keeping his head in place and gasping as he blew cool air against her, alternating with the pressure of his tongue. Michelle came with a deep moan, pulling him up towards her. One hand was still tangled in his hair, the other around the nape of his neck. Her kiss was deep, lips moist, tongue slipping into his mouth so she could taste herself. She sat up on the counter, trying to take his shirt off without breaking contact between them. They’d forgotten how electrifying it was, focusing on feeling not only their own arousal but each others'. And every touch of skin just made it better.

Tentatively, she kissed his neck, suckling softly. 

“Show me who I belong to.” He said breathily, pushing her head against him.

When she realised what she wanted, she growled her approval into his neck. Grazing her teeth, Michelle bit the skin enough for him to whimper but not enough to draw blood, leaving a small purple ring behind. She continued to do this on his shoulders and chest, feeling him almost lose his balance when she did it on the side with the scars that linked them. Keeping one hand splayed across his back, she used the other to yank his boxers down and slowly start to stroke him. Looking up and seeing his dilated pupils staring back at hers completely present in the moment, only affirmed to Michelle how much he wanted her. She sped up her movements, causing him to jerk into her hand.

Hooking one of her legs around his waist, she guided him towards her, teasing his tip at her entrance before letting him thrust against her. She sighed, her head falling back against the mirror, hands around his lower back to push him inside of her, slowly building up a rhythm. To her confusion, he stilled.

“Not like this…” He muttered, before picking her up, barely giving her the chance to wrap her legs around him. Leaving the bathroom, he carried her over to their bed. Tony sat down, keeping her on top and pecking her lips lightly before resting on his back, giving her a lustful look.

A pang of affection shot through her heart when she realised why he was doing this.

And she knew it wasn’t out of pity, it wasn’t out of obligation or guilt.

He wanted her to be in control.

She hadn’t felt him want that in so long, it was already making moisture well in the corners of her eyes. Michelle planted her hands on either side of him, leaning down to kiss him in return as though communicating that she understood. Continuing what they started before, Michelle groaned loudly, to his appreciation, as she sank down on his length again. She slowly ran a hand up his chest, feeling the heat radiating from his body. Tony grabbed it, placing it over his throat. Squeezing just barely, his eyes alone told her how much he enjoyed it, how aroused he was by her doing this to him, by her exerting that power over him. She let out a breath as his hands moved up to tease her nipples. He grunted as she pushed against him, her own hands coming to touch his so they could both please her, before returning to his sides. Her nails dug into the skin of his back as she continued to rock against him.

The concentrated look on her face, combined with the slightly throaty moans escaping her was too much for him, and he raked his nails up slowly from her lower back to her shoulders. Michelle trembled a little, with the array of ritual markings on her spine and the tranquilliser shot scar on her shoulder being such reactive areas. Moments later, she tightened around him, frantically pumping her hips. She reached out to interlock their hands again, not wanting to break any contact, letting out a small sob. He cried her name as he tensed, coming inside of her not long after.

So overwhelmed by the headiness of it all, Tony sat up in a single motion, letting her breasts rest against his chest, feeling her body weight collapse against him. Both of them found themselves crying, and he made every effort to kiss her tears away, holding her to him as her hands gripped his forearms tightly. She felt completely connected to him for the first time in so long. There was no tension, no holding back, no hidden messages. It was raw, and it was real. She leaned back, fingers touching and holding his face, before pressing her forehead against his. 

Still feeling her arms around him, their exhausted bodies collapsed onto their sides. Their legs entangled, hands snaking around each other’s waists, heavy breaths so warm against their bare skin.

“I love you…” He breathed.

Her hand came to wipe a tear from his cheek. “I love you too…”  

Larry Moss was given a proper FBI memorial in DC about a week after his death. They’d ultimately ruled it a suicide. After all, only his prints were on the murder weapon. For safekeeping, Tony and Jack had cleaned the knife, removing any trace of the abnormal blue-black blood. So much of Larry’s blood had spilled, so it hadn’t been too difficult to simply make it stained again. They’d also made sure Michelle’s blood was gone. Nobody had paid too much close attention. After all, there had been four witnesses, with Michelle and Renee simply sharing a replicated version of Tony and Jack’s stories since they didn’t have any memory of the event. Yes, they’d tried to stop Larry, but he’d ultimately slit his throat to speed up the process. It was the only way to explain a suicide with two wounds. Chloe had helped erase all the phone calls and location history, even though she didn’t know the complete truth. The story was that they had simply been tying up loose ends and happened to figure out which location was the first Chrismos Lukos site. When they'd told Larry, he'd been so overwhelmed by the information, causing him to fly down.

As with any investigation, there’d been a level of suspicion. But the motive they’d woven about Larry being too overcome with Julia’s death, even over twenty years later, to the point where he’d taken his life in the very place that he believed she’d once fled to join, seemed fitting. Eyebrows were still raised at the fact that it just so happened to be the four of them who saw it. After all, they were the four people who’d covered evidence about Chrismos Lukos only a few years ago, but ultimately the physical factors had agreed with everything. As per Larry’s request though, Jack and Tony had secretly dug up and burned both Larry and Julia’s bodies, making sure they didn’t leave a shred of evidence behind, making sure that Julia’s spirit was now gone for good. The four of them could never tell anybody about what had happened. There was always a chance they’d implicate Renee for some part of it, and none of them wanted to risk it. 

They sat next to each other at the funeral, feeling the stares of the agents involved in the investigation. Renee was barely keeping it together most of all. She’d been good friends with Larry and he’d been a mentor to her when she’d started at the FBI. So the thought of him giving his life to save her and her baby was something she didn’t think she’d ever get over, a debt she could never repay.

There’d been several eulogies from other agents, as well as Larry’s father and sister. Jack had felt the need to give one too. After all, he was still grateful for the very first day they’d met, back at that fateful safe-house. Larry had trusted him, had trusted Renee, had trusted Tony and Michelle with something very personal to them. He’d helped tremendously afterwards by sharing information that he’d collected over the years, and was always part of the investigation, no matter how much it was clearly hurting him. And they were proud to say that they’d seen it through, that it was over for good now.

However, Jack had kept the speech reasonably general. He couldn’t talk in excessive detail about the Chrismos Lukos case, since some of it was still generally unknown to the public. Any risk of a subtle clue as to an inconsistency in their stories had the potential to destroy everything. So against his own wishes, he focussed more on Larry’s life, on his achievements and help, and strayed clear of the details or reasons for his death. Throughout the masses of teary faces, Renee’s was the only one he was looking at, as though wordlessly communicating that they both wanted the same thing, that they were so sorry they couldn’t honour him properly.

The will had also been an interesting issue, with Larry specifying his burial instructions somewhat vaguely. Thankfully, Larry’s sister had thought to call the FBI, who’d eventually gotten ahold of Renee.

“His will says ‘Lay me with her if I have peace’. I’m assuming ‘her’ is Julia?” Janis asked.

“I-I believe so.” Renee replied.

She hummed in thought. “It looks like he reserved two plots, one next to her, one that’s…almost on the opposite side of the cemetery. Which one do I tell his family to use?”

Renee remembered what Jack had said, that his death had brought finality, had brought a conclusion to everything. That he had indeed said goodbye to Julia. That he was at peace. 

But was it really right for his body to spend eternity beside her? Then again, the Julia that Larry had fallen in love with was the one buried in the ground. The Julia he’d despised, the Julia who had broken his heart and caused him nothing but anguish and pain for so many people, had died within him. 

The original words, the original request replayed in her mind, ‘if I have peace’.

He’d laid his life on the line without hesitation, without arguing or trying to find another way. He’d sacrificed himself to put an end to everything Julia had perpetuated. And he’d promised to work hard to do so. His promise, his sole purpose in life had been to understand and stop the wretched doings of the cult. Which he had done now.

So maybe he was content enough to rest next to her. 

Because part of him had died the day he’d lost her too.

After the crowd had mainly cleared to go to the repast, the four of them found themselves staring at his headstone. 

“I hope I did the right thing…” Renee sighed.

Michelle was quick to reassure her. “The fact that you put so much thought into it is enough for him, I’m sure.”

Jack’s hand went to squeeze her shoulder, and her face screwed up in sorrow. 

“Come here…” Jack took her into his arms.

“He died a hero, and no one will ever know. They’re making it sound like a coward, like he just gave up.” She cried. “I-I know why we couldn’t, and I am so grateful that you did it all to protect me, but it just breaks my heart to think that nobody will ever know the truth. That nobody will know he died with honour.”

“But we do. The people involved most directly do.” Tony gave her a commiserating look. “So I think it’s just up to us to make sure we honour him, that we work hard to keep people safe, the way he did.”

She nodded, giving him a small smile.

“Should we be getting back to the house?” Michelle looked off into the distance, noticing most of the cars parked for the funeral were gone, save for the couple they’d loaned for their stay in DC. 

None of them seemed particularly eager to do that. They all dreaded the mild interrogations that would be sent their way, the looks and glares like they somehow could have or should have done something to save him, that it was somehow their responsibility.

“Why don’t the four of us go out for some food instead?” Jack offered.

Their anxiety about being around everybody else seemed to fade with that offer, so they agreed.

Jack hovered a little longer as the others started walking back, whispering a small ‘thank you’ to the grave before joining them.

Her brow furrowed when she walked into their bedroom, finding the lights dimmed, save for a few flickering candles. She caught a whiff of lavender and vanilla. The covers were pulled back on the bed, with a soft throw blanket thrown on top. Jack was sitting on the bed, smiling at her softly. He was in his pyjamas and noticed hers were already laid out.

“Have a shower, get changed…then I’ll explain, okay?” His voice was so gentle, eyes so full of concern.

Nodding, she sighed as she took her work clothes off. Jack tilted his head sweetly when he realised just how much the bump had grown. She didn’t come out of the shower for a long time, and if he wasn’t mistaken, he could hear her crying. The grief had been hard on her, as it had for everyone, but especially her. She was trying so hard to stay strong, trying to keep a straight face at work even as they filed the last of the paperwork related to Chrismos Lukos where it could be sent to archives for good. In particular, she was trying to stay strong for the baby, because after all, Larry had died to save him, so Renee knew she had to at least put the effort in for that.

But it was hard. 

There were still so many days when she’d wake up and Jack would know by the look in her eyes that she wasn’t going to be able to get out of bed today. So he’d simply inch over and wrap his arms around her as she sobbed. He would cry too, telling her how much he loved her, and their son, but more importantly that it wasn’t her fault, it wasn’t her fault. She would tell him the same, knowing he blamed himself too. He would make sure she ate, make sure she drank water, make sure at some point she got up and washed her face even if he practically had to drag her to the bathroom. He wasn’t going to watch her destroy herself.

She sat next to him on the bed, now wearing the pyjamas, where he revealed an array of snacks, noting all of her favourites seemed to be there. It was as though he’d gone out with a grocery list of her cravings. There were also cups of tea, one of which he passed to her, and she now noticed that he had a movie paused on the screen, the remote by his side.

Renee laughed through her nose as she squinted at the television. “Ferris Bueller?”

“I wanted us to just have a night off. I’ve made sure Tony and Michelle cover our shifts tomorrow as well. You’ve been working hard and I know that that helps you, but I also want you to make sure you take care of yourself.” He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “You’re taking this a lot harder than anybody else, and I don’t blame you. I’m not going to act like I understand exactly what you’re going through, I’m not going to act like the pain is all going to go away. But if I can make you feel good, make you laugh, even just for a little while, then that’s something.”

He cleared his throat. “I’ve also, uh, booked you an appointment with your therapist. The one you saw for the nightmares all that time ago. I know it’s probably the last thing on your mind but…when I was in rehab, therapy was the only thing that actually made me feel like I was capable of being happy and moving on. Y-you can cancel it if you want, I don’t want to force you. But speaking from experience, I know it can help more than you think.”

“Okay…I’ll…I’ll go. It can’t make it worse, right?”

Jack seemed relieved by this, watching her settle back, taking a handful of the food and sitting against the headboard. He pulled the blanket over her as she sipped the tea. When he joined her, she pressed ‘play’ on the remote. The distraction was good, she had to admit. The corners of her mouth upturned just a little, and as the movie went on, they found themselves inching closer towards each other. Her head was leaning onto his shoulder. Eventually, they moved so she was lying between his legs, her head resting against Jack’s chest.

Their hands intertwined, slowly creeping up to the baby bump, and he felt her breaths move in and out of her body. She looked up at him, thumbing over the scar on his neck from when Julia had attacked him the first time. He grabbed the hand and kissed it, before giving it a confused look.

“Jesus, that’s still there?”

She snickered.

“Tony and Michelle don’t know what’s coming if Alice is already leaving scars.” Her voice took a relieved tone. “God, I’m so grateful she’s not scared of me.”

When they came to see them after that day, they were so worried that Alice would be terrified of Renee after what Julia had done to her. After all, Jack’s own recovery in dealing with that day was so focused on distinguishing Julia from Renee as two separate entities despite the identical appearances they’d had. But to their surprise, Alice seemed to somehow know intuitively.

Renee was taken aback by the hug Alice gave her, her blue eyes so bright as they looked up to meet her gaze.

“I’m glad you’re you again, Aunt Renee.”

“What?”

“Mommy and daddy kept trying to say that the lady who took me from school the other day looked like you but wasn’t.” A crease formed on the girl’s brow. “But I knew that already. She had your hair and your eyes, but she was mean. You’re not mean. The bad lady was just making you sick.”

They let out a collective sigh, feeling, not for the first time, that the power and level of potential within this child were more than they would ever fathom.

“Just another miracle from that day, I think.”

The movie eventually finished, and she was surprised to be feeling better. Not happy, necessarily, but a little more content, and a little less sad. Jack’s strategy had worked. Hell, everything he’d done had been great. He knew exactly what to say, never patronising, never letting her feel invalidated. He’d respected her boundaries and space, knowing that work was good at giving her purpose and routine, and not forcing her to take leave. He’d taken care of the little things she’d forgotten about, understanding that her brain was a little preoccupied right now.

But she wanted to make him feel good too. She knew he was grieving as well. And after all, the fact that they were safe and sound was something to cherish, something to hold onto.

Her fingers traced patterns on his thighs, and she shifted to face him. He looked down at her, leaning in as she grabbed both of his cheeks and pulled his mouth to hers. The kiss was soft, tender, as though thanking him. Sitting up a little straighter, he was confused by her hands slipping under his t-shirt.

“Wait…wait…” He met her eyes, confused. “Don’t force this. I like taking care of you and making sure you’re okay. You don’t owe me anything.”

“It’s fine…” She whispered. “I want to.”

He studied her expression for a minute and realised he didn’t feel any tension or apprehension in her body. She did, however, look tired, and Jack knew that neither of them were in the mood for anything particularly intense. Nodding, his lips met hers again, and he guided her to lie on her side under the warmth of the blanket, with him behind her. 

Jack pushed her hair back, feeling her writhe a little as he kissed the nape of her neck before moving to her shoulders and back. He loved the constellation of freckles on her skin, the way they looked in the soft lighting of the room. His lips continued to move over her body and she sighed, his hand tentatively coming between her legs.

“Still okay? If it’s too much we can stop.”

She nodded, bringing her hand to where his was and guiding it downwards. Her back arched against him and she let out all the air in her lungs against him as he made slow circles. He was still kissing her neck, making sure she felt comforted, making sure she knew he was there, even if she couldn’t see him. Renee squeezed her eyes shut as he slid a finger in. He was growing hard at the quiet noises she was making and felt her hand come up to the back of his neck.

Readjusting slightly, he positioned himself so he could enter her. Again, he asked her if she was still feeling in the mood, and judging by the playful impatience in her voice, he knew she was. They didn’t always like doing it in this way, they liked being able to see each other in the moment, they liked being able to each have a little power over the other. But right now, they didn’t need that. Right now, they needed something gentle, something soft, something to just ease the tension and stress that always seemed to be within them.

“Keep your eyes open.” He mumbled just under her ear lobe, and she realised that the full-length mirror was within her field of view. She saw the concentration on his face as he entered her and shuddered. They settled into a languid rhythm, their warm bodies pressed close together as he slid in and out of her. But she loved being able to watch him, she loved not only hearing him groan but also feeling his body rumble against hers. She realised she enjoyed watching herself as well. Her hand moved down to her clit again and she let out a soft whine. Time seemed to still as they continued until she eventually came with a full-bodied exhale. When Jack came, his groan was muffled as he pressed his mouth against her shoulder blade. 

He grabbed tissues to clean them both up, and he was glad to see that she was half-asleep. Her sleep had been somewhat sporadic, what with the hours they worked, and the grief sometimes leaving her sitting despondently on their porch, staring at the stars.  

But hopefully, she would sleep soundly tonight.

Renee mumbled that she loved him as her eyes fluttered shut. 

He kissed her belly first, then her forehead, before curling up beside her, hand draped over her waist.

Four Months Later

Jack was still teary as he watched Renee hold their son, gently rocking him in his arms. There was so much relief and happiness consuming her right now, more than he’d seen from her in a long time. Therapy had helped. Of course, it didn’t mean every day was perfect, of course, there were still days where she’d think about Larry, where that day, or what she remembered of it, would replay in her mind. Part of her grief, she realised, was that she blamed herself for not somehow sensing that Julia had been inside of her body when they’d taken down the cult. But none of them had had any idea that possession was even possible when that had happened. So she’d worked on it. She’d worked on accepting that none of them could have expected it, that none of them could have done anything differently to stop it.

He was filling out the birth certificate, which was taking a long time, given that he was unable to take his eyes off of them. His hair was strawberry blonde, eyes bright blue, already curiously inspecting his surroundings, as if it couldn’t be more obvious he was the product of a CTU and an FBI agent.

A thought occurred to him. They’d settled on a name a while ago, but now Jack felt as though he had a more fitting idea, one that Renee would hopefully be happy with too.

“I know we said we wanted to name him ‘Theo’ after your dad…” He started.

She gazed up at him.

“What about…what about naming him Lawrence? We could use ‘Theo’ for a middle name.”

Her expression softened, mouth falling open slightly as she looked down at him again and nodded fervidly. After filling out the rest of the details, he moved closer to her, and she passed him over. Jack cooed to him softly, feeling like it was a lifetime ago when he’d done this for Kim. Flashes had come back when he’d held Kim and Chase's second baby, Teri, not too long ago, but knowing that the child in front of him was his own felt even more heart-tugging.

It didn’t take long for their friends and family to start showing up, each bringing some combination of chocolates and flowers along with enough stuffed animals to create a zoo. When Alice handed Renee the stuffed wolf, she gave Tony and Michelle a knowing look, who were both stifling laughter.

“Her choice, we swear.” 

The hospital room grew crowded eventually, and Tony, Michelle, and Alice took the cue to leave first, again insisting that they would be happy to help with anything they needed. Michelle noticed that Alice had fallen asleep in the back seat as they parked in the garage and now felt like she had the opportunity to get something off her chest. They’d been talking more these last few months, doing a lot of healing together, making the necessary space to bring up all the things they’d pretended didn’t exist, and being proactive in making sure they dealt with things more constructively moving forward. So she knew it was important to take every opportunity to talk together since they were always so busy. 

“You know how…” She started. “You know how we never figured out what power I gave to Julia? We just assumed I’d be weaker or a little slower or something?”

Tony looked over, feeling a sense of anxiousness from her, not particularly bad, just plain nervous. “Yeah?”

“The scar that faded a little was from the eleventh ritual. Me and the other person were given these…I don’t know, voodoo dolls of each other. We had to take turns stabbing pins in until someone couldn’t take it anymore. The point is, it was about ownership, it was about autonomy, containing your spirit, this idea that the beast is yours and only yours.”

“Michelle…finish it. You know it’s only going to be one of us that makes it, and it should be you. You’re stronger.”

She shook her head, the tears of pain sliding down her cheeks. There was blood all over both of them. Neither had wanted to hurt the other, they’d avoided most of the central body area, so they were bleeding profusely from their arms and legs mainly. They’d both hoped that would be enough, but they underestimated the endurance they’d obtained from the previous rituals. Still, neither of them had actually had to kill anybody yet, or at least not as part of the rituals. Everything else had been about endurance, or in one particular case for Michelle, justice. Now, it was about ruthlessness.

“I-I can’t. I can’t kill you.”

He lunged forward, snatching the doll from Michelle and driving the pin into its centre. She watched with horror as he screamed in pain, a large circle of crimson forming on his chest. But as he fell to the floor, she squeezed her own eyes shut, crying out as a new scar formed and burned into her arm. A surge of power coursed through her, just as it had each and every time before.

She was the only one left now.

She had made it to the Ritual of the Beast.

“Julia must have started with that one to try and build her own transformation, but I just felt like it took the edge off of something. I couldn’t figure it out for so long, but I think I know now.” Michelle took a deep breath, biting her lip. “I’m pregnant.”

He let out a small laugh of disbelief, and she could immediately feel a sense of joy rise within him, although the grin on his face said it all. “You’re…you’re serious?”

“I mean I’ll go to the doctor to get checked for sure, but I did the test this morning and well…it’s not like we’ve been careful since we thought it wasn’t possible.” She raised an eyebrow at him.

“So it wasn’t food poisoning we both felt the other day?”

She looked down into her lap sheepishly. “You’re okay with it?”

He gave her a look of bewilderment. “Of course I am. Are you?”

“A little scared still, but otherwise…yeah. I understand more about myself and Alice now than I ever did before, so…yes. I want to do this with you. You’re sure you really want to though?”

“I mean…the thought of running after two kids who can transform into wolves scares me a little too, but that’s not going to stop me or make me resentful. I love raising Alice with you and I know I’ll love raising another child.”

“Really?” Michelle met his eyes.

“Really.” 

“Technically, we don’t even know what abilities this one could have. I mean it’s only going to get half of me and it could manifest differently, maybe they’ll have persuasion, something else entirely, I don’t know.”

He took his hand in hers. “Whatever happens, we’ll be ready for it. At least it’ll mean Alice can look out for them and be able to protect them.”

Both of them looked back at their sleeping daughter with nothing but adoration. Getting out of the car, Tony carried Alice back to her bedroom. He kissed her forehead and pulled the covers back before tucking her in snugly. Michelle simply stood at the door, watching him turn the nightlight on, watching him do everything to make sure she was comfortable. He joined her when he finished, and again both of them found themselves staring, fingers lacing together, before moving to their own room.

“Oh, and by the way, it might not just be two little animals to run after.” Michelle noted as they both settled into bed themselves after washing up.

The crease in Tony’s brow was obvious, even in the dark.

She smiled. “Alice wants a dog.”