3:00AM

Sighing loudly Mariah rolled over wrestling with the blankets in a fruitless endeavour to keep them over her and Ray without disturbing her boyfriend... Fiancé. (she was going to have to get used to calling him that eventually) Looking at the clock she wasn't surprised to see that it was three am. The sky outside was dark and all around her there was silence, everyone else was probably asleep…

"What's eating you?" Ray had been lying still for some time hoping that his girlfriend… fiancée (he was going to have to get used to calling her that eventually) would relax and drift off but he could tell now from the way she was breathing that she was upset. He couldn't see her expression in the dark, but he knew her well enough to tell when she was upset.

"Did I wake you?" Mariah asked sounding apologetic as she rolled over to face him, she could just make out his prone body in the dimness

"Twice" he responded smiling in the darkness "I should have asked you what was wrong the first time. So..." he shifted in the bed sitting up and switching on the bedside lamp "Want to talk about it?"

"No"

"Liar"

"Ray it's pointless talking about it" she sat up and faced him "It's just…" she stopped looking miserable

It almot broke Ray's heart to see her so sad so he shifted closer to her "Tell me" he urged taking her hand in his and smiling sympathetically "it might make you feel better."

"Ok, you remember a few days before the funeral when I told you about my meditating and what I saw during it?"

"Yes…" Ray nodded slightly guardedly "you saw Hilary"

Mariah saw the change in his expression and she pulled her hand away from his "Well it happened again. I saw her"

"Mariah you're hanging onto your memories of her while you med…"

"No" Mariah shook her head determinedly "it started out as a memory but then I saw her and she looked…. Different. There were bags under her eyes, she was pale, tired, her hair was longer and in serious need of a wash, plus she was wearing this grey tracksuit type of thing. Hilary would never wear a grey tracksuit."

"Ok" Ray nodded "but what do you honestly think this all means?"

"I…" Mariah paused shaking her head "I don't know but…" silence settled over them as Mariah tried to think it all through in her head. She didn't know what to think of her visions but she knew Galux wouldn't help her to see things that had no meaning. She got angrier as she turned to look at Ray again, he was gazing at her pityingly "Don't look at me like that!"

"Mariah, it's grief"

"No" Mariah shook her head determinedly "It can't just be that, I may not understand what this means but it's not just grief."

Ray placed an hand on her shoulder leaning in closer "Kai saw her body, he looked at her face and…"

"I know all that" Mariah sighed shrugging him off "You see? This is why I didn't tell you" She lay back down on her bed rolling to face away from him. "Never mind, you don't understand"

"I want to" Ray whispered lying down next to her and trying to hug her despite her pushing him away "Mariah look at me" reluctantly she turned to face him. "I want to understand… but it's like I lost a sister, it's hard… I've never really lost anyone that close to me before… Even when I left you guys behind in the village I still knew you were all ok, I even had occasional contact with some people. This time I really lost someone"

Understanding his feelings Mariah smiled soothingly and rolling back to face him placed a hand on his cheek "I'm sorry, I sometimes forget that she was your friend first"

"We went through a lot together" Ray whispered his eyes filling with tears "I miss her, and it's easier not to think about her so much"

"I know, and maybe these visions are just imaginings, but I can't stop thinking about it."

"Can we talk about this a little more later please?" Ray pleaded yawning as he flicked off the lamp "I really need some sleep, I've got work tomorrow, ugh I sound old"

Giggling Mariah nodded and this time when Ray pulled her into his arms she allowed him to hold her. "Goodnight old man!" she glanced over at the alarm clock, he was right, it was a bad time, she really needed to sleep.

It was three am when Renaldo got up the courage to open up the package that had been delivered to him. He carefully pulled away the brown paper to reveal the metal box inside, gingerly he lifted the lid and gazed down at the sleek shining metal of the weapon he had ordered for Kai. It was a colt .357, a weapon that Kai would find easy to use but a gun that wasn't so uncommon that it would be easy to trace.

All the boys who had been in the abbey knew how to use guns. They left the abbey and learnt how to protect themselves, it was a defensive gesture that they had needed after the trauma they suffered. Kai had owned a gun before but her gotten rid of it soon after the BEGA challenge. Boris had disappeared and everyone had begun to feel safe again.

Picking up the firearm Renaldo held it expertly judging it's weight and checking to see what condition it was in. The gun was in good order, clean and fairly new by the looks of things, inside the wooden box there was enough ammunition to keep Kai going for a while but Renaldo had ordered more, he had no idea what Kai would eventually get himself into but Renaldo had learned long ago that it was better to be safe than sorry.

It was three am when Kai awoke gasping and trembling, angrily he shook his head from side to side trying to shake the last remnants of his dreams away. His dreams these days were an odd mixture of bizarre nightmares from his days at the abbey and vivid imaginings that Hilary was beside him, laughing, joking, making him happy.

He glanced briefly at the clock and decided that he may as well get up now, he rolled out of bed landing on his hands and knees and pushing himself up to his feet.

Walking into the bathroom her turned on the shower and stood under the spray. The water was cold but he didn't get out to wait for it to warm up he just stood under the cold water hanging his head and letting the water drench his hair. Goosebumps covered his skin and he gave a shiver but gritting his teeth he remained where he was.

As he stood there he tried to think about where his grandfather might be, where Hilary's grandfather might be, where Boris might be. He then smiled manically as he started to think up ways he would hurt those men and Lando….

Lando he would hold under water, he would let up just before he stopped struggling, allow him to breathe, and push him down again.

Of course it might not be death by drowning, he wasn't sure yet, he was considering slicing open one of Lando's veins, tying him up and then allowing him to slowly bleed to death.

Suddenly an image of Hilary popped into his mind.

He frowned angrily, the last thing he needed was Hilary on his mind.

Hilary was good, she was forgiving, she wouldn't want him doing this. He knew that but… he couldn't forgive them.

For the first time in his life he had experienced happiness, true happiness. He had dared to hope for a future with someone and they had taken that away.

He would make their deaths slow, painful, terrible, and they had only themselves to blame.

It was three am when Tyson was discovered sitting in the kitchen with a peanut butter sandwich. Tala grinned at the idea of his best friends arch nemesis simply sitting there like a kid with a sandwich and a glass of milk. The great and powerful Tyson Granger!

"Couldn't sleep?" Tala asked marvelling at the fact that Tyson was in his pyjamas and still wearing his baseball cap!

"Nah, you?"

"Nope"

Tala walked over to the fridge and pulled out the jug of milk, he poured himself a glass and then after returning the milk to the refrigerator he sat down opposite Tyson.

They heard the shower start up, looking at each other they both immediately knew who it was

"Kai"

There was a short silence.

"He's after vengeance" Tyson remarked, not exactly asking him for confirmation, but not exactly telling him the situation.

"I know"

"Renaldo will be helping him."

"I know"

"You going along with it?" Tyson asked taking a bite of his sandwich

"That I don't know" he smiled sadly

Another silence in which Tyson ate and Tala drank. As soon as Tyson was finished he stood up and placed his plate and glass in the sink. He was about to turn the tap to fill the sink when he realised that doing so would alter the temperature of Kai's shower. He moved away from the sink and turned to look at Tala

"Hilary wouldn't want us all to avenge her death"

"I know" nodding Tala gave a little chuckle

"Doesn't mean that I'm against it though," Tyson spoke informatively "you guys ever need help..." he didn't finish his sentence merely raising one eyebrow meaningfully but Tala understood what he was getting at.

"I'll remember that" Tala said gratefully "and thanks"

It was three am and Millie was still awake, hours ago she had bid Max goodnight and was now sitting in the suites kitchen eating crisps (potato chips for the Americans out there) Millie read through the report again, this time though she made notes in a pad of all the things that didn't seem right. This time she was not just reading it for a matter of form, this time she had something to work out, why had Horatio arranged the cremation to go ahead early?

The doctor who had examined Hilary's body made a point to say that it looked like she had struggled as she drowned but that some of the bruising was consistent with being held down. Their first thoughts went to Lando but she wondered why would someone who was also in danger of drowning take the time to drown someone else before getting to safety? It didn't make sense.

Why was the time of death not properly recorded? The time of death was placed between the hours of 8-12 pm, that struck her as very odd! She knew for a fact that the death couldn't have happened until after 11. Hiro and Arelam had returned home at 11:15, Hiro, Tyson and Hilary had driven after them and it was at least a ten minute drive to the site where Hilary had fallen so that would make the actual fall at about 11:25. How had no one picked up on this? Why was the time span for the time of death so questionable?

And another thing bothered her… there was no mention of her gunshot wound, in a report like this all marks on the body should be written down and explained away. Millie knew that it could just be a mistake by a doctor who couldn't be bothered with an old wound but somehow as far as Millie was concerned that didn't seem right either.

She continued reading, before she had pretty much just skimmed the report reading the big stuff and ignoring the scrawled writing that was near impossible to read.

'Condition of teeth surprisingly good' OK Millie found it hard to believe that a man would forget to comment on an old gunshot wound but would somehow find time to comment on the condition of Hilary's teeth. And what had that got to do with anything anyway?

This time she took her time decoding the nearly illegible writing until a phrase jumped out at her, 'Virgo Intacto'. Millie knew her Latin but what the report was saying was an impossibility. Sitting at her computer she looked up the phrase. Virgo Intacto. In minutes she discovered that it was a phrase used by doctors and police to describe someone who was still a ******.

Millie looked at the report and then back to the screen. This was impossible unless Hilary had lied, unfortunately there was no way to check. She couldn't exactly go up to Kai and ask him if he and Hilary had really…

Her phone began to buzz, pulling it from her pocket she looked down at the text she had received, Kai and Renaldo were downstairs. Glancing at the clock in the corner of her screen she saw that it was before five, Kai and Renaldo were early picking her up. She shut down her computer quickly and decided to pack it and take it with her. Shoving her notes and the report into her bag she stood and stretched. Max already knew she was leaving early so she didn't see the need to wake him. She scribbled a quick note to him and left it in the kitchen before leaving the room and running down to meet the two men.

It was three am when Jake Tatibana was awakened by his partner, she sat on hte edge of his bed shaking him into consciousness. He moaned and tried to roll away but to know avail she was insistent on shaking him.

"Jake get your lazy *** out of bed now!" there was an urgency to her voice that made him curious.

In a final desperate bid to wake him up a small amount of freezing cold water landed on his face

"What did you do that for? What's going on?" Jake asked his mind a little muddled from sleep as he sat up shaking his head.

"Get up asshole and I'll tell you!"

"Shut up…, you know I haven't been sleeping well since…" he broke off running a hand through his sleep tousled hair.

"Yeah… sorry" Cheryl sat down next to Jake and wrapped an arm around him "I know"

"I only joined to keep her safe, everything I've ever done, everything -since I was eleven years old- I've done it to protect her. And I failed."

"At least he didn't get to put plan A into action" Cheryl told him gently "that could have ended up being worse than death for her. She's at peace, it's not what you wanted for her but.."

"Lets change the subject" Jake stood up and again ran a hand through his hair "Why did you wake me up?"

"We've tracked him down" Cheryl grinned triumphantly "he's in Russia"

"Excellent" Jake's face became angry and hard, he walked over to the closet and pulled out his case, he then walked over to the chest of drawers and placing his case on top began packing his clothes away. He only had a few sets of clothes all in one drawer and when it was emptied of clothes there was only one item left to pack. Crouching down Jake felt underneath the chest of drawers and pulled out a small handgun.

He held the gun in his hand staring at it for a moment before standing and tucking it into the back of his trousers adjusting his shirt to cover it.

"Ready?" she asked, he turned to find Cheryl watching him carefully

"Yeah… you?" he looked nervous as he questioned her.

"Ready when you are." she told him softly.

"Are you getting sentimental on me agent Sawyer?" Jake asked amused

"You're the one who got emotional" she stood up her usual sarcastic façade back in place "I've packed my stuff and reported in already we can leave the minute you're ready to go."

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