The constant noise felt like an irritating fly humming around her and along her senses. Heat and ice flashed through her with the smell of...no taste of metal... no ... not metal. Iron.

Where was it coming from?

Breathing in, she gasped as pain sliced across her nerve endings. Something restricted the movement of her chest. Mumbled words could be heard, but she couldn't make sense of them. Inhaling, Tina attempted to form words but could only moan. Movement fluttered at her side.

"Tina," Rose whispered near her ear, "don't move. We got you."

"Stop the buzzing," Tina begged.

"The buzzing is the plane engine," Rose whispered, "we're going to touch down soon, but that needs to happen before we can get you to the base."

"What happened?" Tina whispered, trying to open her eyes but finding them too heavy.

"Do you remember being shot?" Rose asked.

Tina frowned, or she thought she did. Something felt heavy and uncomfortable.

Shot?

When was she shot?

Darkness played around the edges of her mind. She didn't want to go back. She didn't want to be lost in a place where things happened, and she couldn't remember. She didn't want to do that … not again.

"Sleep, Tina," Rose whispered, "we got you."

Tina drifted. The sensation of being held felt warm, inviting and reliable.

Craig watched silently as Tina struggled to wake. He read her fear of sleeping again and heard Rose's whispers as she tried to reassure her sister. He sat holding her hand, but he wasn't sure she could feel it. Tina finally slept again. Still, he sat silently, holding her hand. The other hand lay protectively over her swollen abdomen. Fortunately, the babies were unharmed. It appeared the ability of the fourth came to life, protecting its siblings and mother from certain death.

"We're going to land soon," Rose said, glancing at Gina, who sat next to Craig, staring at Tina. Rose met Craig's gaze; he was as concerned about the child as she was, his slight nod drew a smile to Rose's lips, and she returned to tending her sister.

"Gina," Craig murmured, his deep voice drawing her gaze to his, "you need to strap in ... we're going to land soon."

Watching her movements as she buckled in, he helped her pull the seatbelt tight over her tiny form when her attempts didn't move the belts.

She smiled at him, "Thank you."

Returning her smile, he strapped himself in before returning to holding Tina's hand and praying that Hana and Rose could save her. A flashing light and a dinging noise near the cockpit door warned them that they would be landing soon. Raising Tina's cold, pale hand to his lips, he gently placed a kiss before resting his cheek against it.

"Don't leave me," he whispered, watching her chest's slight movement as it rose and fell.

The sudden descent and the jarring touch down of the wheels on the tarmac brought his mind to the tortures of all the possibility and what-if scenarios the situation plagued him with.

Rose, Scot and Jarred moved quickly, getting Tina out of the plane. Craig felt a small hand slip into his own. Looking down, he found Gina grasping his hand while standing next to him at the top of the stairs. She watched the other children get off as Tina was moved to the back of a black SUV with a covered open back.

"Don't you want to go with the others?" Craig asked.

Gina shook her head, simply holding tighter to the part of his hand her small one grasped. Craig followed the children out of the plane, walking slower so Gina could keep up. Taking them across the tarmac to the SUV where Tina was being secured and helped Gina into the back seat before entering himself.

"Let her go with the others," Tania said, stopping next to the open car door, "Michael has a team of medical staff who can look them over, making sure they are healthy."

Craig looked at Gina to resolutely shook her head, "I doubt she will go; she has refused to leave my side since the rooftop. She can stay with me. Hana and Rose can look at her when they have a moment."

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Tania stared at him with her unfathomable stare before looking the Gina and returning her gaze to him ... waiting. Craig returned her gaze, noting Tania seemed to be struggling with something.

"What is it, Tania?" he asked.

"She needs to be looked after," Tania said, "you're focused on Tina at the moment. Who is going to watch her?"

"I'm not the only one focused on Tina. Gina seems to be as well," Craig said, "if she needs anything, I'm sure she'll tell me."

Gina nodded, still staring at the front of the vehicle. She seemed distracted, thoughtful and distant … yet present.

"Anything else?" Craig asked, looking at Tania.

"No," Tania said, "would you mind if John came with you?"

"Who is John?" Craig frowned.

Tania motioned to a nervously waiting young boy who ran across the tarmac toward the SUV. Craig noticed how the child's worried expression glanced toward Gina repeatedly. Understanding dawned. Craig knew that look and had felt that look often. Responsibility. John felt responsible for Gina.

"Are you John?" Craig asked

The child nodded, "Yes, Sir."

"I hear you want to come with Gina and me," Craig said, watching John glance at Gina again before nodding, "can you help me look after her?"

"I've been looking out for Gina for a long time, Sir," John spoke with determination causing Craig to smile.

"Good," Craig nodded, motioning for the child to join them, "we can look after both of them ... together."

Turning to Tania, Craig found her smiling, "Anything else?"

"No," Tania grinned, "who would have known?"

"No idea what you're talking about," Craig quipped, winking at Tania, who closed the door and headed toward the SUV with the other children.

The vehicles left in convoy, moving quickly toward the airfield exit. Rose could be heard murmuring to Tina in the back, who was moaning, probably with the discomfort of the ride.

"Will she be okay?" John whispered, looking into the back of the vehicle.

"She has to be," Gina said, "I need to thank her."

"Thank her?" John looked at Gina then, "what happened?"

Gina quickly told John what had happened, "She saved my life."

The commotion heading toward the infirmary would have been warning enough without the flashing lights of an incoming emergency. Hana looked up as Rose ran in, blood on her hands and clothes, her usual neat ponytail held tendrils pulled loose, hanging down the sides of her pale face.

"Who?' Hana said, pulling on gloves and out the emergency gear.

"Tina," Rose swallowed hard, "gunshot wounds."

"No, you're kidding," Hana frowned, "are you sure?"

"Absolutely," Rose said, "my sister was enhanced. She just didn't know it."

Jarred and Scott entered with the stretcher coming toward the bed indicated by Hana. Looking over the still form, Hana noticed red covering most of the right side. The right leg had a bandage wrapped widely around an area; it was red and seeping.

"We need to cut these off," Hana said, moving into action, "out," she pointed at Jared and Scott, "and guys ..." she waited for a beat as they looked at her,"… thank you."

The men nodded, heading out to leave Rose and Hana to work on Tina.

"Tell me what you found," Hana said calmly, going to work to save her friend's sister.

Rose quickly filled Hana in, "Hana, I've never felt such heat, pain and determination ... it's as if Tina willed the woman to die, and she did."

"The babies are unharmed and strangely alive," Hana said, looking at the ultrasound, "there should be more damage, but there isn't."

Tina moaned, opening her eyes, "Rose ..." she whispered, "love you ... Rose," she whispered, closing her eyes and exhaling.

"No," Rose cried out, "Tina."

"What is it?" Craig asked from the infirmary door standing with two small children.

"They cannot be here," Hana said, starting chest compressions.

"John," Craig said without looking at the children, "please take Gina down the passage. You'll find another passage on your left, and the second door down is our suite. You can find food and drink in the fridge. Have a shower, both of you, and watch TV. I'll be there as soon as I can."

John nodded, taking Gina's hand and leading her out the door. Craig moved towards the bed, watching Hana work on Tina. Suddenly he knew what needed to be done.

"Give her my blood," he said to Rose, who stared at him blankly.

"A pint of blood is all the nanobots she needs," he said, "quickly."

Rose helped Craig roll up his sleeve and sat in the chair next to the bed, offering his arm to the needle for the transfusion.

"He doesn't have the same blood type," Hana said, "it won't work."

"Doesn't have to be the same blood type," Rose said, "it worked with Bre. It can work with Tina. It has to work with Tina."

Hana watched Rose push the needle into Craig's vein and Tina's before opening the tap on both ends, allowing the blood to flow.

"Who are the children?" Hana asked Craig continuing with chest compressions.

"Tina saved Gina from being kidnapped again," Craig said, leaning back on the seat. Relaxing so the blood would flow would hopefully happen faster, "John feels responsible for Gina. He's not much older, perhaps two years ... a child himself, but he sees himself as the adult."

"Rose put a heart monitor on Tina," Hana said, "we need to know when I can stop doing this."

Rose moved to the side of the table, attaching the pads for the heart monitor to Tina's chest.

"Stop," Rose called, "we have a heartbeat."

"How long before we know when he's given a pint?" Hanna asked, "it's hard to monitor it this way."

"He'll know," Rose said, "I don't know how but he knows."