The radio started playing when she opened the door and flipped on the lights. Tina smiled as she looked around, this used to be Craig's room, according to Michael, and it still held some of his possessions. Books he read, sports awards, and a large painting of a garden and ocean with his name painted in the corner hung over the crackling fireplace.

Looking around, Tina frowned. Who had lit the fire?

"I'm in here," Michael called, "hope you like what I'm cooking."

"What are you doing here, Micheal?" Tina chuckled, finding him in the kitchenette.

"You need to eat," Micheal said, dishing up a salad next to a piece of Salmon.

"It smells good," Tina sighed as her stomach rumbled, "you didn't need to do this."

"Yes, I did," Micheal smiled, "if Bre heard you were living on hot chocolate and cookies; she would skin me."

Tina smiled, "You're scared of your little sister?"

"Not exactly," Michael frowned, taking the two plates to the table and sitting, "more like a healthy respect."

Tina sank into the seat opposite, "Why are you doing this? Don't tell me it's for Bre."

Michael paused his cutlery positioned over his Salmon, "It gives me a chance to check in with you."

"And?"

Micheal stared at her before nodding, "You've been around people like my brother and sister too long."

"Have I?" Tina asked, staring at Michael, "perhaps I have, but I don't think that is it. What is going on, Mike?"

Chuckling, Michael took a mouthful of food, "You eat, and I will talk."

"Fair enough," Tina nodded, selecting food to eat.

"I have a .... proposition for you," Micheal said, "a job offer."

"What kind of ... job offer?" Tina asked, closing her eyes as she tasted the Salmon, her body humming with happiness.

"How would you like to join my team?" Michael asked.

"Team? What team? Is it outside of the Agency?" Tina frowned, "besides, I'm not military. I don't know how to do anything in a fight except weird a frying pan."

"I'm not looking for specifically military personnel," Michael smiled. "I'm looking for talented people who know how to dig, never give up and are dedicated to one thing ... keeping innocents alive."

"I think you forgot determination," Tina grinned, "why me?"

"You have all those things," Micheal returned her smile, "but one other thing. You're focused on the children and hear things they wouldn't tell any other adult. Plus, you pick up things an enhancement ordinarily wouldn't. Besides all that, you're brilliant at organising things and people."

Tina chewed slowly as she watched him eat, "You're serious."

"Deadly, and to answer your question, this team will be a section of the Agency," Michael said, "I want you to start working with us immediately."

"Where?" Tina asked, "I haven't finished settling the families yet."

"One thing about any team of mine ... it can be mobile, attending to many things at once. I have your gear over there," Michael nodded toward the sitting area, "you can start any time you want to and work from anywhere."

"Wonderful," Tina smiled, "I haven't said yes."

"I'm hoping you will," Micheal paused, "you will ... won't you?"

Tina finished her meal, pushing her plate aside, "There is a lot on my plate at the moment. If you're okay with me continuing with the work I'm already doing plus your work ... I'm in."

"Fine with it. Brilliant!!" Michael smiled, "now, what is bothering you?"

Tina frowned slightly, "What do you mean?"

"It's in your eyes," Michael said, "something happened, and it's bothering you."

"Yeah, I'm not sure what to make of it," Tina sighed, collecting the dishes and moving to the sink.

"Is it an event or a person?" Michael probed.

"Person," Tina said, rinsing the plates and stacking them in the dishwasher.

"New or old," Michael probed again.

"New .... very new," Tina said, her brow puckering between her eyes, "super new."

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Micheal chuckled, "Nigel or Devon?"

"Nigel," Tina sighed, leaning against the counter while Michael made coffee.

"Tell me," Micheal said simply.

Tina sighed, "I knew him in the Facility. The person I knew was kind, gentle, good-hearted."

"Okay, what's changed?" Michael took down mugs and placed them on the counter, "milk? Sugar?"

Tina shook her head, "Black. He's still much the same, but it's how he watches the children and the older children watch him. It's as if they know him, and he knows them."

"Have you spoken to him?" Michael asked, watching Tina.

Nodding, Tina shrugged, "Tonight, he followed Devon into the kitchen, where I was having hot chocolate with John before the other children joined us."

"And?"

"Something about him felt ... off, different ... wrong," Tina shook her head, "he wasn't the same person I knew in the Facility. Something ..." Tina sighed, "maybe I'm just tired."

"Could be that as well," Micheal nodded, handing her a cup of coffee.

Tina breathed in the smell of freshly brewed coffee, sighing as she followed Micheal into the sitting area.

"It could be, but I'm wondering what your offspring have to say," Michael smiled at the bump pushing against Tina's t-shirt, "you'll need to start wearing bigger T-shirts."

Tina grinned, "I have a few of Craig's with me. I haven't asked the babies, but I know I wouldn't have noticed how he looks at and tracks the children if I hadn't encountered my offspring."

Nodding, Michael sipped his coffee, "I'll have him monitored and tracked."

"Thanks, Michael," Tina sank into the corner of the couch, "what have you been up to?"

"The usual," Michael said glibly, "saving the world. Keeping us hidden, monitoring things that ordinarily I would think unnecessary but have now become very necessary."

"Sometimes I wonder what my life would have been if Tyler hadn't sold me out," Tina murmured.

"Oh, we would have all had different lives if my sister had been sane," Michael sighed, "but we cannot think about the "what ifs" and "could-have-been" we need to find a way to be content with what we are and what we have. We have a choice."

Tina smiled, "Choice." Suddenly she stilled, her eyes sharpening, "That's it ... Nigel is behaving as though he doesn't have a choice."

"You think he was sent to infiltrate our ranks?" Michael asked.

"I'm not sure," Tina said, telling Michael about the young girl and her waking nightmare. "I read somewhere young light throwers are sensitive to other enhancements designed to conceal themselves, intentions, identities and a whole list more. Usually, they are dormant ..."

"When do they become active?" Michael asked.

"There were two situations when that happened," Tina said, "I'm not certain which those are, I'll have to look it up, but John said everyone has been fine until recently."

"How recently?" Micheal became alert at her words.

"In the past few weeks and some as recently as this week," Tina said, her eyes lifting to Micheals with dawning knowledge, "the same time frame as the changes happening with Craig."

Micheal nodded, "Someone is triggering them. But who? There are few newcomers."

"Let me do a little of that digging you recruited me to do, and I'll come back to you," Tina smiled, yawning, "I'm getting indications they need me to rest."

Michael grinned, "Already calling the shots, hey," he rose, placing his coffee cup on the side table, something catching his eye; he reached for a photo frame, "I didn't know he kept this."

"What?" Tina asked, looking over Michael's shoulder.

"I won an award as a teenager," Michael whispered. "My parents refused to display the photo because it had nothing to do with goals ... I thought they threw it out."

"Clearly, Craig was very proud of you," Tina said, "what was the award for?"

"Excelling in the Creative Arts," Michael murmured, "I headed the drama department and helped out in the Music and Art department in my final year."

"Wow," Tina smiled, "that would definitely put a spoke in the Science-is-life direction."

"Science is life?" Michael glanced at her, a twinkle lighting his eyes, "where did you get that?"

"I wasn't sure what to call your mother's plot to get all of you down the path she planned everyone should go," Tina shrugged.

"It's a good name," Micheal replaced the frame turning to Tina, "thanks for the dinner and chat."

"Well, I ate it but thank you for cooking it," Tina hugged him, "it was good to have company."

"You and Craig will have your time," Michael whispered, "just hang on and know my brother loves you with every fibre of his being."

"Does he?" Tina swallowed, emotion clogging her throat, "I'm... I'm not sure anymore."

"Don't follow how you feel," Micheal said, "know that everything he does is to keep all of you safe."

Brushing a kiss on her forehead, Micheal left the suite leaving Tina to her milling thoughts. Gathering the coffee cups, she staked them in the dishwasher, pressed the start button and flipped the switch for the kitchen lights. Wandering into the sitting room, she looked around again; it reminded her of the one she shared with Craig at the compound.

"Stop it, Tina," she whispered, shaking her head, "just don't go there."

The last encounter she had with Craig ran through her mind, emotions ebbed and flowed, but mostly she felt loneliness.

Wandering through the suite toward the bathroom, Tina ran her fingers over various surfaces, allowing her senses to take in the smooth lines and the roughness of the fabric and absorbing the differences in the textures. Between the meal and talk with Michael and now indulging her senses with the fantastic feeling of touch, she felt the craziness of the long day ebb away. Sighing, Tina moved into the bathroom, her fingers trailing along the wall beside her. She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply before opening her eyes on her exhale. These continuous thoughts and feelings about something she could not address immediately would drive her crazy if she let it.

"Shower and sleep," she whispered, flipping on the shower and stripping off her clothes.

Looking at her reflection in the full-length mirror, Tina's eyes travelled to the node-like marks on the top of her hip bones. Absently her fingertips trailed over the area as memories flashed through her mind. The feel of the clamps holding her down while needles punctured her bones, extracting DNA to make her sisters. Her screams of agony and pleading for no more haunted her mind and emotions.

A sudden thought followed the memories. Nigel showed her how she could make her experience a positive one. He had couched her thinking. How to keep positive and inject a little individuality into each of her sisters. She would not have lasted if not for Nigel. She owed him ... or did she? Somehow, she still could not shake the feeling of being a test subject, a prototype of sorts before design changes were made.

Turning from the mirror, Tina shook her head, pulling her mind from the darkest area of her past. Stepping into the shower cubicle, she sighed as the warm water washed away her tension and the day's dirt.