Mychaell looked once again at Genevieve, she had cried so much that he doubted that she would have any tears left after this all. But that was not the thing that concerned him, the vacant stare, right before she almost hurt herself. Her snapping out of some kind of trans, it was concerning. So there were not only the night terrors, there was something really wrong with her. He sighed as he looked at her peaceful face, she was once again sleeping which gave him time to think about all of this. The door that connected the back of the house with the apothecary opened up, and Rycharde marched in.

"Where and how is she?" that were the first things out of his mouth. The frantic look in his eyes didn't leave even when he saw her sleeping.

"She is fine, but I have some questions." Mychaell replied, Rycharde deflated as if he knew what he was going to ask. "And I think the rest of the crew should hear it as well. Because after what I have seen and hear, I know one thing. You are not going to do this on your own." Rycharde nodded slowly, as if he was trying to accept the gravity of Mychaell's words. Which he knew that it wouldn't be easy, he always knew that Rycharde was a proud, and independent man. Not quick to admit that he needs help or was wrong about something. He once took pride in the creating of not one but two organizations that were fighting corruption, from which, now, only one remained. Jessica, or someone else from the crew, had overheard him, through the open door, because they were standing inside the door opening of the office. "I know that she has night terrors, and I think I also know why she has them. Jessica already told me that there were cases of people that tried to hurt themselves when they are in one. My first question is, has this come to pass?" Rycharde lowered his head in shame, but nodded. "And that is part of the reason why you aren't around as much." Again he nodded. Mychaell's gaze went to the others just outside the office, and they were sharing glances with each other. Maybe some of them don't know what a night terror was, and they were lucky in that regard.

"A night terror happens when a person relives their traumatic events, while they are fast asleep. It appears that the person in question just woke up after a nightmare, and are having a panic attack afterward. But they are still fast asleep." Jessica said, probably noticing the same thing. "And just like with people that have a panic attack they can do some strange things that can lead to harming themselves." Rycharde sighed loudly.

"Do they really need to know this, I can handle the night terrors. They have being drastically reduced, since she is here. Now they happen once a week." Rycharde said loudly, which was good to know.

"But what about the episodes when she is wide awake?" Mychaell asked, and right at that moment all the blood vanished out of Rycharde's face. "I was busy investigating some information, about our good friend Mister Dixton, when I heard her talking to herself. 'It is my fault that my adoptive parents were killed, that the others that I loved were killed. That a mission failed, that his father left, everything is my fault, and she needed to pay the price for those mistakes.' She was practicing with a knife, and those words drew my attention. Which was a good thing, because she already had the knife pointed at her heart." Jessica gasped. "She was not really there, her eyes didn't seem to move, and she kept repeating herself over and over. I had grabbed her arm before she could do anything, but I believe that I was just in time." Now he focused his attention on Rycharde. "Has she done this before?" And at that moment Rycharde broke in tears. Mychaell was shocked, about the sudden outburst. But this also meant that he had asked the right questions, and he already had his answer. Mychaell stood up from his chair, so that Rycharde could sit. He was able to see, from the corner of his eye, that Jessica was crying as well. She didn't have a pleasant past either, none of them had. But he always figured that Jessica's past was darker, not that she ever said anything about it. And he didn't want to course her more harm by asking.

"It has indeed happened, in the same way that you just described." Rycharde said, he sounded so defeated. "The first time, I was, just like you, just in time. I had gone away from the apartment, for a couple of hours. And when I opened the door, she was standing inside the kitchen with my gun. It was if she was in some kind of trance, repeating those words. And at one point I could hear not her, saying those things, but Justin. Which makes me sick to my stomach, my son, my flesh and blood." He shook his head. "After that, I stayed home, to keep an eye on her. I also made sure that everything inside the house that could be a danger to her, was locked up. The only thing that worries me is that window, but the main thing about those trances is, that she doesn't remember them. It is just like with the night terrors, she has no recollection of ever doing it. And I kept it hidden from her, mainly because I feel guilty." Mychaell now noticed that Genevieve's eyes were opened, how much of this had she heard? But Rycharde hadn't noticed a thing. "I am the one that left her with Justin, all because I didn't want her to be separated from the only family she had known. You see, Alia, my beloved younger sister, found Genevieve in the alley way behind the apothecary. She probably had lived on the streets for many years, and was hiding there from people that picked orphaned children up, abused them or even sell them. Alia and her husband Meak were trying to have children for years, but they were unsuccessful. That all changed when she found Genevieve, they took her in and treated her as their own. Which was again something I didn't want to break up. But Justin had other ideas, if what Genevieve told me is true, and I do not doubt her at all, then he killed his own aunt. Who has helped with raising him, after his own mother left him." Mychaell walked over to the bed and sat down. Genevieve had sat up, again something Rycharde hadn't noticed, and he wrapped an arm around her. Her cheeks were covered in tears, but she placed her head on his shoulder. She was so strong, it was painful to see her like this. The same could be said about Rycharde.

"Rycharde, you know that I respect you, and we all care for you. You have saved us in many ways, let us help you. Because you are not able to do this on your own." Mychaell said. Mychaell's gaze went to Genevieve, who slowly nodded. Again he wondered how much did she hear, somewhere deep down he hoped that she caught it all. If not, he would tell her, when they were alone. "I know it is not your fault, and a lot of the things you suffer from are done to you. But Rycharde needs his life back, and so do you. Being coop up in that apartment is not helping anybody." Rycharde now caught on that Genevieve was awake, but he said not anything to her. "During the day, you will work either in the apothecary or at the back of the house with Rycharde and myself. During the night, one of us will go with you and Rycharde." She again nodded, he then looked up to face the rest of the team. "Is there someone who thinks he, or she, is not up to the task? It will not be easy, and it will be emotionally tasking. I will not think less of you, none of us will." Jessica put her hand up, and he expected as much. She then looked at Genevieve, was she going to explain herself? She didn't have too, but he was not going to stop her either.

"I have being where you were, and I already had trouble to climb out of the black hole myself. I can not give you the support that you need," she said, and Genevieve gave her a soft smile. "I am however talking about the night shifts, I will keep an eye on you when you are working up front."

"Which will not happen that much, in the first couple of days." Rycharde said. "She is not a citizen."

"Then it is about time, you get your act together and arrange it." Mychaell said, without a hint of emotion. Yes, he went through a though time. And yes, reaching out for help is not easy, but it was highly time that Rycharde picked himself up. He now focused his attention to Genevieve. "I am sorry that I didn't ask you if you're alright with all of this first. But this needs to stop, you are a strong woman, and smart too." She took his hand, he looked at it. It was not the first time that they made skin contact, but this time it felt different.

"I will be fine," she said. But there was not much emotion inside her voice. He nodded and motioned to the others that they could go. Rycharde stood up as well.

"I need to sort out the files," he said.

"I have already done that, but there is a list with information about Mister Dixton." Genevieve said, Rycharde smiled at her.

"That is the Genevieve I know,"  he said before he left the room. He closed the door behind him, given them some privacy. Mychaell's gaze went back to his hand, she was still holding it. Was he going to say anything about it? Nope, he was not.

"How much did you hear?" He asked instead. She took her hand of his, and it directly felt empty. But she didn't give him a direct answer, which was fine. "Do you want me to tell you everything." She nodded, and he told her the whole story.

"I can't believe it, I can't believe that I am willing to hurt myself." she said, she sounded desperate. "I made a promise to do my best to survive, to live."  She shook her head. "What is happening to me?" He shrugged.

"I do not know, and I know, that you aren't doing this on purpose. Your brain, is trying to process the trauma. And this is me guessing, because I never being there, but I think that those episodes are simply your brain malfunctioning, just like a computer does." In his mind this made a lot of sense, he hoped that she thought the same thing.

"I don't want to hurt anybody, I do not want to be a burden." she said, her voice broke. He wanted to hug her, but then remembered that she might have a flashback to what happened to her.

"You are not a burnden, not to me. Not to Rycharde, not to anybody. Do you hear me?" He said and she nodded, but not with enthousiasme, which he didn't expect her too. "Are you alright with me hugging you?" She nodded and he wrapped his arms around her holding her tight. "You will never be a burden to me." 

*******

It was strange, but working inside the apothecary brought back some normality to her live. Helping costumers, making the ointments and pills, smashing the herbs, filling up the shelves. She had forgotten that she loved to work inside a shop like this, it also brought back fond memories from her childhood. The time before she joined the Freedom Fighters, she always helped Meak and Alia in the store, doing stuff just like this. The time when Justin just left her alone, because she was nothing more than an annoying kid. Those were his words, not hers, but then again she was free.

"Genevieve, can you grab some ginger from the back?" Jacob asked, which was a code for you are needed in the back of the house. She just placed the last box with tea on the self, which were her idea and not to her surprise a direct hit.

"I will," she replied. "Do you need anything else?" He shook his head, her gaze went over the others and they too shook their heads. "Alright then." she took the basket that she carried to the back and placed it on the shelf. She took some ginger and put it in the basket, before she went on to the headquarters of the Freedom Fighters. It was funny, and a bit disturbing how similar the set-up was with the headquarters in Benevolence. Mychaell came towards her, and she graced him with a smile. He was so kind to her the last couple of days, something she hadn't suspected of him. She had heard him talk with Rycharde and most of his words were hars and cruel, especially when it came to her. But that was before he, and she knew what was going on with her.

"How are you feeling?" He asked, something he always did when he saw her. Even if it had being just a couple of minutes.

"I am getting there. You were right working inside the shop, or here in the back is helping." she said. "But what can I do for you, or was it Rycharde that needed my help?" He lowered his head.

"It is Rycharde, he has once again a fight with the new program." Mychaell said with a groan. "And to be honest with you, I had enough." She chuckled, which brought a smile upon his face. He turned around, and together they walked over to Rycharde's office, who was slamming his fist against the desk, cursing. For a second she didn't see Rycharde, she saw Justin having one of his tantrums. One that resulted with her getting beat up. She stepped back, and Mychaell caught it directly. "Rycharde, stop!" he shouted. Rycharde stopped and looked at her shocked.

"Genevieve, what is wrong?" he asked. She opened her mouth to say something, but the words didn't leave her mouth. Her breath fastened, but none of the air reached her lungs. This was something that happened to her before, something Justin took pleasure in. "By the wasteland, she has a panic attack." Mychaell wrapped her in a hug and began to move gingerly. While Rycharde placed a paperback against her mouth, while motioning for her to breathe slowly. It worked, the flashbacks faded towards the background and her breathing slowed down enough for her to get some air in her system. "Here we go, nice and easy. You are not in any danger, I was not mad at you. I was mad at this cursed program."  She knew that, she already knew that before she entered the office.

"I am sorry," she said. But both men shock their heads. They knew that this wasn't her fault. "Justin would also scream and shout to a lifeless object, before he took his frustration out on me. While he kept on saying that it was my fault, even though I had nothing to do with it." Mychaell let go off her, and looked her straight in the eyes.

"Justin is dead, he can do no more harm to you." he said softly. He then focused his attention to Rycharde. "But maybe it would be best if we are a bit more mindful about curtain outbursts." Rycharde nodded in agreement.

"I will pay more attention, Mychaell why don't you grab some calming tea for the three of us. And then Genevieve can help me with this cursed program. How in the wastelands name designed it?" Rycharde said.

"Georgie," Genevieve replied. "She joined the team, right after you left. She was a genius with computers, she created this program and gave it to me. Before, she told Justin that she couldn't get it to work. He killed her right then and there. Of course, after it, he blamed me for her death." She stood up, her legs were still a bit shaken. Still, she got to the chair and sat down, Rycharde had a whole list of names on a piece of paper. Some of them were scratched through, so does were already done. At least that was what she assumed. She typed in the first name on the list, and let the program do its job. "You need to give the program a few minutes, it is basically hacking every computer inside the city." she said, and she opened up another tab on the computer and started to do the finances. After a couple of seconds a small sound went off, and she printed the results. She typed in another name, and went back to what she was doing. Mychaell came in with tea. "Can I have those new case files?" she asked. Mychaell gave them to her, and she looked through them and penned down some more names on the piece of paper. "Hmm, this job seems simple and quick. Maybe Derick and Vanessa can do it right away. It is not busy inside the store, and we can use that money." She gave the file to Rycharde, who looked at it and nodded.

"I will give it to them right away." He replied and left the room, Mychaell took the printed results and studied them.

"Is there a reason why you wanted him out of the office?" Mychaell asked. She nodded and opened up the program. She pointed at the screen, as he stepped closer. 

Benevolence industries

The company graced the screen, and Mychaell frowned. She then opened one of the files she just asked for, and there was it again.

"Wait I have seen that company before, on the results on the search of mister Dixton." He said, and she nodded, he again narrowed his eyes. "You know that company," it was not a question. She only replied with one single nod.

"I wish I didn't, but it was Justin's." she said. "Which means that it shouldn't be active, but why did it offer us a job?" He nodded slowly.

"It doesn't make any sense," he said. "But you can go back to what you were doing. I can put in the rest of the searches." She smiled at him, again he was so sweet.

"I will finish the finances first, I am almost done with it anyway." she said, and he nodded, leaving her to it. Another search completed and she printed it out. And she continued to do it, until the finances were in tip-top shape. And she went back to the front, together with her basket and the ginger.

"Great to have you back," Jessica said. "Can you make more lavender tea backs, a costumer placed a huge order." Jessica gave her a copy of the order, and it was indeed big. Which couldn't hurt the business at all, Genevieve nodded and went directly back to work. 

********

The day passed by, and it was time for them all to go home. Today it was Mychaell's turn to keep an eye on her, although nothing had happened the last couple of days. Still, she was happy that they all wanted to look out for her. Last night it was Vanessa's turn and it was a fun girls night. Painting each other's nails, brushing their hair, talking about everything and nothing at the same time. All the things she loved to do with Georgie, and a view other girls from her former group. But Justin didn't like it, so their get-together became more sporadic until it never happened at all. She hates the fact that Justin took so much from her, and the only thing she did was take his life. And after what she has seen today she was not sure about that either.

  Benevolence industries

The name of that company will hunt her forever, just like Justin's. But the company should have being destroyed with the rest of the city, with Justin. But right now the name was popping up in every person they look into, and even on cases presented to the Freedom Fighters of Maraud. It was at least strange.

"Are you alright?" Mychaell asked. And she nodded, they had arrived at the apartment while she was lost in thought. "You know that you can talk to me, or say when this is not the case." She nodded again. Rycharde was already home and dinner was waiting for them when they entered.

"Hey, the two of you can start without me." Rycharde shouted from the kitchen. He didn't even step out to greet them, which was not so strange when it came to him. She sat down at the dinner table, and sighed. She was hungry, they, Mychaell and she had left the store a bit later. And all because of the great tea order, she had lost count of how many tea bags she made. At some point in time, Mychaell just started helping.

"Do you want to take a shower first?" She asked Mychaell. But he shook his head, so after dinner she took a quick shower and let herself fall upon the bed. It didn't take long before Mychaell entered her room as well. Rycharde had made a bed on the ground for all the boys that would come over. Only Vanessa was allowed to be in Genevieve's bed according to Rycharde. Mychaell was wearing sweatpants and a simple tank top. He looked so tired, and ready to go to bed. She gave him a soft smile, as he laid down on the mattress. "Good night," she hoped that he would get a good night sleep. He turned towards her.

"Don't," he said. She looked at him a bit confused. "Don't blame yourself for all of this, don't say that you are sorry that I was not able to go home on time. I was the one that suggested this, and if I wanted to complain about something which I do not. I can only complain to myself." She blinked a few times, and then smiled. He knew her a bit too well, maybe that was because every time she broke down was in front of him. She got up from her bed, he pushed himself up so that he was sitting. Following her every move with those deep blue eyes, she wrapped her arms around him. "Thank you, and I think right now you needed a hug." He chuckled and wrapped his around her as well.

"Thank you," he replied. "Now jump into to your own bed, before Rycharde comes to check on us. I heard from Joshua that he does that at least twice." She chuckled, he indeed that but after Joshau told her this as well, she had asked Rycharde to stop with that. They were here to help, and him checking up on her would defeat the purpose. But she let go off him, and jumped into her own bed. Sleep overtook her rather quickly.