Chapter 70: Back and Forth

Julian joins Jilly on the sofa on the balcony outside their new bedroom in the house they bought in Isla Paradiso, located conveniently near Nautilus Laboratories, one of Landgraab Industries' many research facilities where Fergus had sent he and Jilly to work for him. "Fergus just texted; he wants to meet with us at the lab tomorrow. He has an assignment for us."

"I have an assignment already," Jilly pouts playfully, stroking his knee, "What are you guys doing with all those octopusses, octopi, whatever, that I keep catching for you, anyway?"

"That's not my project," Julian clarifies, "But I believe they're experimenting with cell regeneration. And I think whatever Fergus has planned will take precedence over your scuba expeditions."

"Okay," Jilly says, resting her head against his shoulder. "Are you okay?" she asks quietly, "With being at Fergus' beck and call like this, I mean?"

"I am if you are, Jill," Julian answers non-committally.

"But, he's my cousin," Jill points out, as though her family relationship with their new boss makes her situation more tenable than his.

He could explain to her that everything Fergus had done went according to Geoffrey's plan, and if he was caught up in it now, it was probably more than well-deserved, but Julian tries to distance himself from the man he was before and simply speaks to a different truth, "I'm happy, Jill. Happier than I think I ever imagined I could be." That wasn't part of Geoffrey's plan, as far as Julian can tell, though figuring out what, exactly, his former self had actually wanted when all was said and done has proved near impossible, despite his access to Geoffrey's memories. Maybe Geoffrey never really knew himself.

Julian puts thoughts of Geoffrey to rest; whatever his former self had wanted is no concern of his now, and he has his own desires to look to. Jill draws her knees up against her chest as she nestles under his arm.

"Good," she answers simply, not being one to brood over things.

"I knew, the moment I first saw you, that you were the one," Julian broaches a new subject after a small, content silence.

"You mean love at first sight?" Jilly interrupts his carefully prepared speech, "That's silly. You didn't even know me."

"Even so, I knew in my gut that you were the one," Julian carries on.

"I thought you were cute," Jill says cheerfully, "Really, really cute. I definitely wanted to get to know you better."

"Which is why you blew off our first date," Julian laughs, following her down this sidetrack into their shared memory, leaving his prepared speech behind.

"I never did!" Jilly protests, and laughs, "Oh, you mean that day I blew off classes and you made Fergus call me?"

"You had promised to let me walk to class with you," Julian says.

"Well, that was hardly a date," she answers, "But still, I'm sorry if that's what you thought."

"I'm over it now," Julian answers, smiling fondly at the reminiscence. It wasn't that long ago, really. But so much had changed since their first meeting that it felt like years gone by. Closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, Julian decides to drop the tender preamble he'd practiced and put his proposal out there in the most direct and simple way he could, "Jill, will you marry me?"

"Okay," she answers as casually as if he'd suggested they order a pizza.

"Just okay?"

"Should I do the same act I did in the restaurant for the fake engagement?" she asks, her voice teasing.

"No," he answers with vehemence, pulling her onto his lap to embrace her fervently, "I don't want you to fake anything. I just want to know that you want this, that you aren't agreeing just to be agreeable."

"Julian, baby, you know that's not me, I don't do things I don't really want to do," Jilly answers, wrapping her legs around his waist as he buries his face between her breasts, "Of course I want this. After everything we've been through, we've stuck together. I just thought it was obvious that marriage was the next step for us."

Pulling their clothes off each other in a desperate hurry, they fall back onto the couch together in a deep passionate kiss.

"I love you, Jilly," he says, his voice husky as he comes up for air.

"I know, baby," Jill answers, "You don't have to say it."

"I like saying it," he answers, "And I like hearing it."

Jilly smiles indulgently, "I love you, Julian," she says, groaning as he enters her.

"Again," he begs, holding himself still inside her as he waits.

"I love you," she sighs, and he thrusts again.

"Again," he demands.

"I love you," she answers,  her response become as much a demand as his as they move in time with the back and forth rhythm of their words, until the words themselves lose their meaning and become the song of their lovemaking.

"It's a good thing we own this whole island," Julian remarks with a chuckle as they lounge together after making love on their balcony. Their new house sits alone on a small island named, appropriately enough, Isla Romantica.

"I bet any creep with a telescope on their balcony could get an eyeful, though," Jilly laughs.

"I'm going to pretend that we have absolute privacy here," Julian laughs with her, "Otherwise, I'd have to get up and take you inside. And buy more curtains, too, probably."

They laugh together, making no move to go inside, too content to just lay in each other's arms out in the warm evening air.

"That day you disappeared," Jilly breaks the small silence, her tone grown serious, "I looked everywhere, I couldn't believe you were gone. All I wanted was to get you back, I would have done anything to get you back."

"I knew you would," Julian answers softly, contrite now, "I used that to lure you in, to rescue us both. I'm sorry I used you that way."

"No, don't be sorry," Jilly replies hastily, "You didn't plan to be kidnapped, and you just did what you had to get us back together, even if that meant tricking me. You're a very sweet person, Julian, but you can be ruthless and cunning when you need to. I like that about you, and it will definitely come in handy." She rests her head back against his chest, laying her hand over his at it wanders down her stomach, "What I was trying to say is, I'm not romantic like you are. I don't talk about my feelings much, though I'll try, for you. And I just wanted you to know how much you mean to me. I was lost without you, and I'll never forget that."

"I'll never forget it, either," Julian promises as she releases his hand to continue its travels down her abdomen, "Do you want to go inside or...?" he asks.

"Hot tub," she says, taking his hands as she stands.

The next morning, Jillyan was able to get in a few hours of scuba diving, catching a few more of the requested octopi to bring to the lab before their scheduled meeting with Fergus. After delivering her catch, she finds Julian at his station, and throws her arms around his neck.

"You are so sexy in your science costume," she purrs against his shoulders, "Dorky sexy."

"And you can really rock a wet suit," he replies, turning to embrace her.

"Fergus!" Jilly exclaims when her cousin joins them, "You'll never guess! We're getting married!"

"Actually, I had guessed as much," Fergus answers, "You'll have to put off any wedding plans, though, until you finish this mission I'm sending you on."

"Like you delayed your wedding so we could rescue Julian?" Jilly replies, her fists balling in anger. Julian wraps a gentle arm around her waist, calming her with his touch.

"It's okay," he whispers in her ear, "We're in no rush. Let's hear what he wants."

"Both MorcuCorp and my grandfather did a lot of back and forth time-travelling to one particular time and place. You know what I'm referring to," Fergus says looking significantly at Julian, who nods in response.

"Where your grandmother came from?" Jilly asks.

"Yes. The number of divergent timelines created by both Farrell's and MorcuCorp's interference has created an imbalance in that area. Unfortunately, it's an area already heavily imbued with fairy magic, including a portal into the fae realm."

"You think there might be contamination?" Julian asks.

"My grandfather brought an artifact home with him from France, a nectar bottle, that should never have existed in this timeline. There's definitely contamination, but how bad it is, I can't say. I'm sending you two to investigate."

_________________________________

I haven't updated the rolls on my sidebar yet, but I'll reveal it here. It's Couple, 2 kids.

So, Julian is here to stay. The original rolled secondary career was Business, but I've decided to take the expansion gift and change it to ITF Astronomy career. Though Julian has actually been in the household all this time, he's not worked at all. In the story, his career was going to be about his continued attachment to MorcuCorp under Fergus' reign, and I rather prefer him being in the scientific research area over the business side of things. It certainly helps to go along with Jilly's adventuring. For those of you who have not played the scuba career, you can actually get dive jobs from the science rabbithole (and from City Hall and the Bistro, too) so Jilly diving for octopi as an assignment is actually a real thing she does for her job.

I've torn down the science rabbithole in IP and replaced it with an open building that has science & chemistry stations and stuff, plus rabbithole rugs for the science building and ITF's astronomy career building. (Thanks, Misty!) I will eventually post the lot on my Simblr for anyone who wants it. It will be an IP specific lot, since it's a beachfront lot and being non-level will probably only fit in that one location.

Chapter 69: Plans Gone Wrong

"Still nothing," Julian sighs after checking every news feed, every bit of industry gossip and corporate conspiracy site for even the smallest hint of a shake up at MorcuCorp, only to find, once again, not so much as a whisper of trouble. Something had gone wrong in his plan somewhere, but, what? Had Fergus not gotten the message? Was Tourmaline so incompetent that she couldn't find him despite the clues he'd left for Fergus?

"It's been a whole week we've been holed up here in the mountains," Jilly complains, "Maybe I should just call Fergus..."

"You can't call Fergus," Julian say emphatically, "If MorcuCorp doesn't know where we are, calling Fergus will bring them down on us."

"Well, that might be better than just waiting here, not knowing," Jilly says, obviously frustrated by their long period of inaction, "You don't have to worry about MorcuCorp. If they tried to take you back, they'd have to through me."

"That's actually what I'm afraid of, Jilly," Julian says, smiling a little at her self-confidence and eagerness for a fight even as he raises a hand to his forehead in dismay at the thought of her throwing herself against MorcuCorp's assassins, "MorcuCorp is ruthless. If Fergus hasn't taken them down, they will come after us. We'll never be safe anywhere."

"Then there's no point staying here like sitting ducks, right?" Jilly reasons, "If we aren't safe anywhere, we should keep moving and make ourselves a harder target."

Julian sits beside her on the edge of the bed, wrapping his arm around her waist. "Life on the run won't be as exciting you think," he says gently.

"We'll do what have to, to be free," Jilly says, giving his shoulder a comforting squeeze, "I won't let them take you."

Julian leans close to her, brushing his lips against her neck. She's reckless, over-confident and tends to see herself as the heroine of some action movie playing in her head. But it's not all her fantasy, she's got the skills to back up her bravado, and their situation is dire enough that he might need to use them. It's a bit of a turn on, he has to admit to himself; like Geoffrey, he has a strong attraction to dangerous blondes. But Geoffrey, in all his engineering of the Brannon line descending from Pearl's son Farrell, never anticipated the role Elliot's line would play in their lives. He couldn't have designed a more perfect woman for himself, and yet here she is, the true love who broke his curse.

"You aren't wearing my ring," he observes in a whisper, pulling away from her.

"I thought it would be weird, since it was a fake engagement," Jilly answers.

"Jillyan, you know how I feel about you. There was never anything fake about it," Julian answers, and then sighs, heavy with a new resolve. He can't, he won't, drag her down with him, even if it means he has to lose her. "I would give anything to spend my whole life with you, but..."

"If you're about to say that I'd be better off without you and that you're going to turn yourself in to MorcuCorp so I can escape...I will knock you out and chain you up," Jilly cuts him off.

"This is serious, Jill," Julian insists.

"And so am I," she answers, "I'm not going to let you just walk off and pretend things would be better that way. If we have to live on the run, that's fine. But I am going to be with you, Julian. Whatever it takes. We are in this together."

"I couldn't live with myself knowing I was putting you in danger," Julian protests.

"Stop that," Jilly says, "This is decided. No discussion. You aren't going anywhere." She frowns at him sternly, "Now, we need to make plans for our next move..."

This time it's Julian who interrupts her, silencing her with a deep, passionate kiss. "We aren't going anywhere today," he whispers, "Except back into bed."

Their attention focused on each other, they don't notice the door open until Tourmaline, gun pointed at them, orders them to get off the bed.

"Fergus, what the fuck?" Jilly asks her cousin, standing as commanded, putting herself in front of Julian even as he tries to move her behind him.

"I got your message," Fergus says, looking at Julian.

"I meant for you take MorcuCorp down, not to become one of them," Julian answers, his glance moving from Fergus to his former agent and back again, "You can't seriously trust her."

"I'm not the traitor here, Geoffrey," Tourmaline answers, "I'm the one sticking to the plan. You engineered Pearl to be the catalyst, to awaken the latent power the Brannons carried in their genes. You lured Pearl's son to seek out his ancestors, so he'd encounter Reinier Landgraab's daughter, betting on them producing children. You did all this to create an heir you'd never be able produce naturally, a super-Landgraab with powers your family has never possessed. And now that all your planning has come fruition, you want to use him to destroy us. But he's smarter than that, Geoffrey, smarter than you. MorcuCorp will be better, and stronger, under his leadership."

"So, you're the boss of MorcuCorp now," Jilly says to her cousin, "Why is she pointing a gun at us?"

"Jilly, move away from him," Fergus answers, "You don't know who he really is."

Jilly pulls out of Julian's arms, stepping deliberately between him and the gun pointed in their direction. "I know exactly who he is," she says defiantly to her cousin, "And I know who you are. This isn't you, Fergus. So call your bitch off and let us go."

"It's not that simple, Jill," Fergus says, "He knows way too much to just let him walk away."

"So you're going to murder him?" Jilly shouts, "I won't let you!"

Jilly takes a step forward; beside him, Fergus senses Tourmaline tensing, her fingers tightening around the trigger, ready to shoot.

It's not a vision, really, not like his mother's Sight, though her ability, latent inside him, might play role in the new talent he's unlocked in himself. But unlike his mother's gift, Fergus' sight is based on physics and mathematics, his mind making rapid calculations that let him see the immanent consequences that would result from the current course of events. 

Real time slows around him as he peers ahead into the minutes that follow this one, watches as Jilly presses forward, angry, threatening. Tourmaline will then shoot her gun, killing her instantly. Fergus watches his cousin fall into a widening pool of blood.

And Tourmaline will shoot Julian as well, but not before he falls in grief over Jilly's dying body, not even trying to defend himself or escape his own death, overwhelmed by his loss.

This surprises Fergus. When he learned who Julian really was, any grain of trust he might have nurtured for his cousin's lover was destroyed. But his sight undeniable in its truth. Whether he's Julian or Geoffrey, he loves Jilly enough to die for her. And that's all the leverage Fergus needs over his former adversary, turning a potential threat into an asset to valuable to waste.

"Stand down, Tourmaline," Fergus orders, returning to the present to stop the future he glimpsed from ever happening.

"Sir?" Tourmaline questions him, but complies, pulling her weapon away automatically at his command.

"We're all family here," Fergus says, "I'm sure we can work out a suitable arrangement, without resorting to violence."

Jilly relaxes her stance, but folds her arm across her chest as she asks, "What sort of 'arrangement'?"

"You, both of you, will work for me," Fergus answers.

Chapter 68: A New Tomorrow

The dinner was magnificent, of course, exactly what one would expect from a 5 star restaurant, but neither of them had their minds on what they were eating. Too much was at stake tonight. After the plates are cleared, Jilly reaches her hand across the table, stroking Julian's cheek with a reassuring caress. His confidence is measurably bolstered by her gentle touch and her smile which promises that they will come out this night and see a new tomorrow. He nods slightly, questioning, and she presses her lips together, tilting her head slightly in assent.

He slips the ring out of his pocket and presents it to her. He wants to say the words, ask her to marry him as he'd rehearsed, but she reacts too quickly, drawing her hands to her mouth in mock surprise, and there's no point in him saying anything at all.

"Hands, Jilly," he whispers gently, "Your face needs to be completely visible."

Jilly blushes a little, pulling her hand down over her heart instead. "I'm sorry, I kind of got carried away."

"It's all right," he answers, smiling at her blush. He can hear the soft click of the camera coming from a table nearby. The plan is moving forward, "You're so beautiful," he murmurs, allowing himself a moment to just enjoy her. "Shall we dance?'

Julian takes her out on the dance floor, holding her in a close embrace as they join the dance. This time, it's his turn to be reassuring as she trembles, just a little, in his arms.

"It's going perfectly," he whispers in her ear, "We'll get through this, and by morning, we'll be free." Which is a slight exaggeration, he knows. Their freedom won't be assured for a few days at least, but Julian is more than confident that his plan will work. He has to be.

"It's just...Julian, you were never this devious before," she whispers, "It's not you..."

A sharp breath escapes his lips, understanding the question, accusation, maybe, behind her words. "Sometimes I don't even know who I mean when I say 'I'," he admits, "I've never stopped thinking of myself as Julian, but I have several lifetimes of Geoffrey's memories, his experiences, in my head. Even when we get free of MorcuCorp, I'm never going to be free of that. It's changed me, and it will probably continue to change me. My only fear is that the man I'm becoming won't be a man you can love."

"That won't happen," she whispers, moving in time with him, "I won't let that happen."

"Your confidence is what will see us through this, Jilly," he answers, believing, for the moment at least, that she can forge a happy ending for them with the strength of her will alone. 

"I still don't understand why we're doing this," she says, "Why not just let me call Fergus and tell him what we're doing? How can you even be sure he'll get the message from some internet article about our fake engagement?"

"You know Fergus," Julian explains, "He doesn't trust me at all. And he's naturally wary of whatever is presented to him, so he inspects everything carefully and looks for other angles to approach things. So, we're giving him what he wants, a puzzle to solve, a code to break. And the key to MorcuCorp's back door."

"And you're sure he'll get all that? From one article? What if he doesn't see it?"

"He'll see it. Tasha's a long time subscriber to this particular feed. Hack journalism, conspiracy theories.  MorcuCorp has been running it for decades, creating stories about itself. It's part of how they control their image. Geoffrey has kept himself out of the limelight as much as possible, to keep questions about his eternal, unchanging, presence at bay, so his sudden public appearance with a 'mystery girl' will spark their readers' interests, even if it is a bit of society fluff. And of course, your picture in the article will make sure Tasha shares this with Fergus. I have every confidence that he'll spot the cypher in the article immediately. I designed it for him. When he figures it out, he will act on it. His life depends on it."

Julian twirls her around, letting go of their plots and schemes long enough to enjoy their dance.

His phone buzzes in his pocket, the signal he was waiting for it. "The article is out," he tells Jilly as they swing to the music, "It's time for phase two. Are you ready?"

"Let's do this," she nods.

Timing is crucial now, but she's so beautiful, right now, in this moment, that Julian can't help but take his time, drawing her close to him for a long, passionate kiss.

"I love you, Jilly," he whispers, squeezing her one more time.

"I love you," she answers,"Now let's go."

The bodyguard, a MorcuCorp agent, is an inconvenience imposed on him by Tourmaline, one he could not refuse without arousing her suspicions even more.

"Your car, Mr. Landgraab," the bodyguard greet him.

Jilly giggles and teeters unsteadily in his arms as they approach, as though she was a little too buzzed to walk without support. Right on time, Julian's phone buzzes in his pocket.

"I've got a call," he says to the bodyguard, "Help my fiancee into the car, will you? She's had a bit too much champagne tonight." 

Jilly giggles as she stumbles toward the waiting bodyguard, who extends an arm to help her to the car. Julian takes his phone out of his pocket. "Tourmaline, what is it?" he answers in a clipped, harsh tone, as though annoyed by the interruption.

"Daedalus has been attacked," Tourmaline informs him, using the code name for the computer that controls the entire central cloning facility, where all the important DNA, like his own, is stored. "The self-destruct code has been entered."

Jillyan elbows the unsuspecting agent in the face, grabbing his arm and throwing him to the ground.

"Use your security override," Julian instructs Tourmaline in  clipped, angry tone, knowing that nothing Tourmaline does will stop this now. He saw to that.

"It's not working!" Tourmaline answers, agitated. She's always had the shortest temper, Julian muss to himself, which makes her easy to control. She'll be so involved in stopping the damage happening on the surface that she won't detect the real threat until too late. "Whoever is doing this not only got past our security, but locked us out! This can't be happening!"

Jillyan pins the bodyguard down securely beneath her.

"Handle it," Julian barks, just as Geoffrey would, "I'll be there as soon as I can."

"He'll be out until at least tomorrow evening," Julian says as he slips the needle into the guards neck. "Daedalus is down. All the DNA is destroyed. They'll never make another clone of me." He lets out a sigh, relived of  burden he was hardly aware he was carrying. "And Tourmaline will be too preoccupied with that emergency to start searching for us right away. That should give us enough time to disappear. The rest will be up to Fergus."

As the guard falls unconscious, drugged, Jilly takes the phone from his pocket, removes the chip and smashes it. Julian does the same with his own phone, now that its role in his plan is finished.

Quickly, they stow the unconscious guard out of the way beneath some bushes on the restaurant's grounds, where he'll be safe and unseen until he wakes, and they walk nonchalantly to their car, like a couple in love, enjoying the evening.

Chapter 67: The Prisoner

"Trust me."

The words whisper in her ear, twist around in her mind like ribbons swaying in a breeze. Who's voice is that, anyway?

Jillyan feels her legs, one ankle sliding over the other calf. She must have fallen asleep.

When? The last thing she remembers, she was looking for Julian. That wasn't a dream, she's sure of that.

"Trust me," he had whispered, right before...what? After that, her memory goes blank. There was a prick in her neck, like a needle, and then, nothing. 

Had she been drugged?

Trust me.

Where the fuck is she?

The room is so neutral and pale, it reminds her of the MorcuCorp lab where she been searching for Julian. But, despite the unsettling pristine emptiness of the room, it's clearly not a laboratory cell or hospital room. More like a hotel, if anything, though there's something off about this place, even for a hotel.

The wall length windows look out over a beach somewhere, nowhere Jillyan has ever been. Wherever she is, prime real estate like this is expensive. Whoever owns this place has a lot of money. Probably more than her own family, who are pretty wealthy by anyone's standards.

Is she a prisoner, or is she a guest? How did she get here?

Trust me.

The room has two doors, right by each other. Jillyan has no way of knowing what is behind either of them, what she might expect to find if she opened either of them. Perhaps the door is guarded. Or maybe there's no one out there, and she could run, escape.

But, Julian. She came looking for Julian, and she's not going anywhere until she knows what happened, how he got that message out to her, if that was even Julian who did send that message.

Trust me.

Behind one door, Jillyan hears the sound of running water, like a shower, vague and muffled. Of course, a bathroom. A bedroom like this would have an en suite. But who's showering her bathroom? Julian? Unable to take the doubt any longer, Jillyan reaches for the door's handle, and pulls.

It is a bathroom, but empty. Another door stands across from the first one, adjoining to another bedroom? Jillyan presses herself against the wall; the sound of the shower is louder here.

The next room is some kind of closet, she discovers. Though she's been inside ancient Chinese tombs, underwater caves and even the experimental chambers of the Horticultural Research Center, nothing she's seen has quite creeped her out like this huge walk-in closet, unnaturally bare and clean, like a museum exhibit. Does anyone even live here? she wonders, and imagines herself entirely alone in this mansion by the ocean, wandering from empty room to empty room.

Maybe she's dreaming this.

This closet has two possible exits, the door to her left, or the open doorway, partially covered by a curtain, ahead. The doorway tempts her with its view of the open sky over the balcony she can see outside the window. Though she can see only part of it, there's obviously a large room beyond that curtain, as pale and clean as the room she woke up in. But behind the door the sound of the shower is louder, and more, she hears a male voice, singing.

It's Julian.

She pauses in front of the door. He drugged her, didn't he? Lured her to that lab with a phony message, drugged her and brought her here. She glances again at the sky outside the window. She could run, she thinks, run and run until she finds a phone so she can call Fergus...

Trust me.

She can't run. Not without knowing what's going on.

Quietly, she steps into the bathroom, finding at last the shower, the man singing, Julian.

It is Julian, right? she wonders, remembering what Fergus told her about MorcuCorp clones. He thought Julian might be a clone. She notices his tattoo, but maybe they all have tattoos, identical men with identical designs inked on their bodies...Julian couldn't remember getting his tattoo.

She's gotten this far, and there isn't a lot of time to figure out her options. He's unarmed, obviously, and not very likely to have any needles or syringes on him. 

The sound of the shower masks her footfalls as she slips up behind him, taking him by surprise.

She grabs his arms, puling them behind his back, wishing she had some kind of restraints or something.  

"What the hell, Julian?" she demands, all the many specific questions she wants answered distilled into one simple generality, "What is going on?"

"Jilly," he says her name, with a longing in his voice that makes her falter, her hands loosen their grip on him. She's missed hearing him whisper her name like that.

Sensing her uncertainty, he pulls free and turns, pinning her, not ungently, against the shower wall. "Jilly," he whispers her name again, "I've missed you so much."

"At least you knew where I was," she answers. The days since his disappearance had been torturous, not knowing where he was or what happened to him, "And for all I know, you're a a clone," she adds angrily while she thinks about the best ways of breaking his hold on her. She knows of several...but she still wants answers more than she wants escape, so she stands still in the prison of his arms, unresisting.

"I am a clone," he replies, and here eyes widen in shock. She wanted answers, yes, but maybe not that one..."But not in the way you mean."

"I don't even know what kind of clone I mean," Jilly complains, "That was Fergus' idea, he said MorcuCorp uses clone agents and you might be one."

"Yes, they do. Use clone agents," Julian says, dropping one hand from the wall to wrap it around Jilly's waist, pulling her close to him, "I'm not that kind of clone. I'm the only one of my kind currently in existence."

"And was Fergus right, about you working for MorcuCorp?" she asks. One hard thrust of her knee into his groin would take him down, she thinks, and she could escape. But that isn't what she wants. What she wants is to take her hand and run it over his chest, to press her lips against his and taste his tongue...what she wants is her Julian, back with her. And she'll she see this through until she gets it.

"I thought Fergus was crazy and paranoid," Julian says, "But, I've got my memories back now, Jilly. And Fergus was right. Right about nearly everything. But not about me...not entirely, anyway."

"Are you working for MorcuCorp or not?" Jilly asks again, noting the way he dodged her question, "It's a simple question. Yes or no?"

"It's not a simple question at all actually," Julian says, "And this shower probably isn't the best place for this. Your clothes are getting wet. And I'm not wearing any."

Jillyan giggles, breaking the tension that had become like a wall between then.

He gave her a shirt to put on, so she could get out of the wet clothes she'd slept in. He hadn't put any thought into his choice, he still doesn't think of these clothes as his clothes, this room as his room, despite the memories that tell him who he is, or was, and what belongs to him. But seeing her in that shirt stirs an old memory of another woman who had a habit of wearing his shirts to bed.

Peridot is dead, he realizes as the memory completes itself. Geoffrey was a cold, hard bastard sometimes. Julian pushes that memory aside and looks at Jilly. Unlike Peridot, she doesn't bother buttoning the shirt all the way up. She's not trying to be seductive, he knows, she's just not conscious of the effect the sight of her bra peeking through her open shirt has on him. He can't lose her, not now.

"You asked me about my tattoo," he says, "I remember getting it now. I was just the latest in a long line of clones, just like the man I called my father. We're supposed to be perfect, above the rest of humanity. But the knowledge that you are physically identical to all your predecessors tends to make you feel less 'special' and more like a faceless number. The tattoo was my way of setting myself apart, I guess. I later learned that there was another clone who did the same; he was known as a traitor, actually. That used to amuse Geoffrey."

"Who is Geoffrey?"

Julian rubs his thumb over his palm, bring himself mentally, "Geoffrey is the man whose memories I carry," he explains. Jillyan cocks her head to the side, perplexed. He takes a deep breath, "Geoffrey created Julian."

"You're a clone of Geoffrey," Jilly says.

Julian shakes his head. "From what I can put together, Geoffrey came up with this plan to get past Fergus' ability to read memories. He had his memories hypnotically suppressed, and had false memories and a false identity implanted. And that's me, Julian. That's why my memories were incomplete snapshots. I was only given enough of a background to get past Fergus. I wasn't supposed to fall in love with anyone."

"Fergus said I might have broken you," Jilly tells him, getting it now.

"Jilly, if anything, you fixed me. You made me real," Julian says, sitting beside her on the bed.

"But you have your memories back," Jilly says, "Doesn't that make you Geoffrey again?"

"I think that's what was supposed to happen. But it isn't working like that. The memories are there now, but I still don't feel them as my own. All I have that's truly mine are my memories with you, Jill. Everything is else is like watching a movie through some other person's eyes."

"That's how Fergus describes his ability, too," Jilly says, "But that doesn't explain why you drugged me, or what we're doing here. Wherever here is."

"Tourmaline, she's Geoffrey's second in command, I guess, decided this operation had failed and she pulled me back. That cell you found me in, that's where they were holding me for as long I persisted in claiming that I was Julian. I knew, because I remembered having that facility built, that there was no way out, no way to be rescued. So I did what I had to get out, I pretended to be Geoffrey. And I came up with a plan to lure you here. Drugging you was Tourmaline's idea, and I couldn't disagree with it without giving myself away, I would never hurt you Jilly, but I had to get you in here in a way that Tourmaline would believe."

"So, you're the boss of MorcuCorp, now? You couldn't have just flown me in on your private jet?"

"I'm only the boss of MorcuCorp as long as I pretend I'm Geoffrey," Julian explains, "Geoffrey wouldn't have sent a plane, he would have set a trap for you."

"Well, I'm here now," Jilly says, wrapping a comforting arm around him, "Let's go. We can get out of here. Go back to Isla Paradiso. Or China, or wherever..."

"It's not that simple, Jill," Julian sighs, "They aren't going to let me just walk away, not with the knowledge I carry. Tourmaline would kill me first. I'm not entirely certain she's not planning to get rid of me, anyway. I'm a prisoner here, Jilly. And I need you to rescue me."

"You have a plan?"

Julian shakes his head, "Not yet. There are so many loose ends to this. And we are going to have to get Fergus on board. I'm going to need you to follow my lead whenever we're dealing with the MorcuCorp people though. I have to be Geoffrey or we're both fucked."

"I trust you, Julian," Jilly says.

Julian smiles as they touch their foreheads together.

"There are things you should know," he whispers, telling her about the history of this operation, from the creation of Pearl and her seduction of Heath Brannon through Jack Horner's unwitting role as a spy for the corporation.

"Dad would just die if he knew..." Jilly says.

"Then don't tell him," Julian suggests, "MorcuCorp cut him loose, I know that much. And nothing really bad ever came of the information they got from him."

Jilly nods, relieved at that. "But, wait," Jilly says, adding some things up in her head, "You say Geoffrey was in charge of all of that?" 

Julian nods, "It was all his operation, from the beginning."

"He was alive when my great-grandfather was. He was alive when my grandfather was a baby...How old are you? Are you immortal?"

"Not anymore," Julian says with a smile, "Geoffrey had been under a fairy curse. He wouldn't age or die, ever, unless he managed to find true love."

"That's a weird curse," Jilly observes.

"Well, fairies," Julian says, "Their minds don't work like ours. The curse is broken now."

"You're sure?" Jilly asks.

"I've never been more sure of anything."

"I'm glad you set that trap for me," Jilly sighs, falling into his embrace, just glad to be with him again, no matter how precarious their circumstances, "And I'll get you out of here, somehow, I promise."

"I came to inform you that your prisoner had escaped," Tourmaline's cold voice chills the warmth of their reunion, "But apparently you already know."

"Follow my lead," Julian reminds Jilly in a low whisper, squeezing her once more before releasing her to stand and face the MorcuCorp agent.

"Miss Brannon is my guest, Tourmaline, not a prisoner," Julian says, arms folded against his chest, "She'll be needing a new wardrobe for her stay. Have someone attend to that."

Everything about him changed in an instant Jillyan notes, watching the agent stammer her obedient acquiescence to his commands. The man he was just a second ago, her Julian, is no longer recognizable, despite his appearance. He had been like that in the shower, too, quick to turn her hold on  him and pin her to the wall...that was not Julian's style at all.

"I need a word with you, in private," he says to his underling in his clipped, commanding tone, not even glancing back at Jilly as he leads Tourmaline out of the room.

"Are you really going to let that Brannon have the run of the house?" Tourmaline demands when they are out of Jilly's earshot, "She could escape! What the hell are you doing, Geoffrey?"

"What I'm doing is salvaging an operation that you did your best to undermine, Tourmaline," he says, letting just a hint of anger into his tone, enough to remind her who is in charge. "I counted on you, all of you, to keep this end of things running while I did what needed to be done. But you dropped the ball, and now we are scrambling just to get back to where we were before this operation started."

"You have the girl," Tourmaline points out, "Use that to lure Fergus in."

"This will go a lot easier if she trusts me," he answers, "I need you to play along with this, even if you don't understand what I'm doing."

"Yes, sir," Tourmaline huffs in response, obviously not happy with the situation.

"You switched off so easily," Jilly says when Julian finally returns to her, "I didn't even recognize you."

"It's not easy, Jilly," Julian confides, "I'm walking a very fine line here, playing Geoffrey while remaining myself. I'm not sure Tourmaline is convinced by it, but she's going along with it, for now. One slip, though...," Julian shudders to imagine what the assassin might do to them both, "I'm doing my best to play Geoffrey, but I'm afraid of what might happen if I lose myself in that role. I need you to hold me together, remind me of who I am, until we can get ourselves out of here."