*unedited*

As they attempted to prep the kid, Josh, Hannah couldn't help but think about how Xavier couldn't get away from her fast enough. It certainly didn't help the struggle that was happening inside her. She felt like she had to make it up to him somehow, like force herself to give him what he wanted. She was the one after all who ruined the night.

Hannah groaned internally as she and her team spoke about how to sedate Josh. His stagnant blood was not going to be a good way to do it, if it could even be called blood. "We could try something under the tongue?" Cheryl suggested.

"I'm not sure if anything using that method will sedate him deep enough to not move during the MRI," Hannah said, pacing the room.

"Use that and tie him down?" Xavier's voice sounded behind her. "Sorry, I was waiting for the image but it never came."

"Oh shoot, sorry. We got sidetracked down here." Hannah went to her desk and picked up the photo. Tattoos were the least of her concern. It was unusual for a young kid to have one, as most places wouldn't tattoo kids. She wondered if maybe it came from some type of prison camp or something of the like. To her it looked a little like a warning, as in the center of the triangle was a cross with a snake. What if it was given by his people as a sign that he was infected with something and to stay away? Was it somehow contagious?

She handed Xavier the photo and then turned back to her crew, expecting that he'd leave as quickly as he had earlier. But instead, he places a hand on her shoulder. "Can we talk?"

Shaking her head, she said, "Not here. Not now. I'll come find you later."

He turned her to face him and this time managed to take her chin in his hand, forcing her to look up at him as he studied her face. "Promise?"

Acutely aware of her staff staring at them with curiosity, she nodded. "I promise." She didn't want them to ask any questions about Xavier and her, especially when she didn't have any of the answers herself. Cheryl knew that Hannah refused to get involved with guys. Flynn usually stayed out of her personal life. But she knew that something had shifted and they both somehow felt the need to get involved as they had all become best friends. Inseparable really.

"I'm not sure I believe that," he murmured. "But okay. I'll be here tonight at nineteen hundred. We can go grab a bite to eat or something." Clint stared at him from the corner of the lab. He was situated there until Mark relieved him in the evening.

"Okay," was all she could respond with. There were a multitude of questions running through her head, but none of them could be asked here without garnering more attention from her fandom. Like why the heck was he even still speaking to her, let alone asking her out on what sounds like a date.

He must really be desperate and she's the closest one in age to him. Ya, that's probably all it was. She knew she wasn't a catch, so there was no way he was really interested in who she was, just what she could give him. Yes, that was it. He just wanted her body, but it was useless to her and to him, so what was the point?

"Okay, come on people," she said after Xavier left, and to prevent any questions. "The MRI machine is on it's way and he needs to be ready for when it gets here."

"No he doesn't. It's not like the machine is gonna get legs and walk off, so spill the beans," Cheryl said coming over to her with her hands on her hips. She had the look on her face that said we aren't doing anything until you talk.

Warmth spread across her cheeks like a hot flash. "There's nothing to spill."

"Nu-uh, no way girl." Cheryl shook her finger at Hannah. "I can tell something happened."

Flynn was listening intently in the background, but was pretending to look busy. Hannah pulled Cheryl into her office. When Cheryl came back from work after Xavier left the other night, Hannah had already fallen asleep and didn't tell her about it. Her friend knew something had occurred based on how many beers were on the table, but hadn't pushed her for details and Hannah hadn't offered them.

"How am I supposed to offer you my sage advice if you won't talk?" her friend asked with her hip cocked and her hand resting on her waist.

Hannah plopped her butt down on her chair behind the desk and rested her head against the seat. "There isn't any sage advice to give. I'm not normal and never will be."

"Who the heck wants to be normal? Normal is far too overrated."

"That's easy for you to say when you still have all your working woman parts."

"How is it that you're older than me but haven't figured out that your parts or lack of them is not what makes you a real woman. You decide that yourself. It's all up here." She pointed to her head, then to her heart. "And in here. Only we can decide who and what we're going to be. And then we gotta figure out how to be happy with who we are."

Hannah sat there in shock. Those weren't the words she expected to hear from Cheryl. Her friend was much more mature than she realized. Most people looked at her and saw the blonds just want to have fun personality. She was flamboyant, but underneath was a richness about her that she hid from most of the world. "You are amazing, girl, you know that?" Hannah reached across her desk and grabbed her friend's hand, squeezing it.

"I know," Cheryl said with a wink. "Now, come on. Spill the beans."

Hannah groaned. Cheryl just wasn't going to let them get back to work until Hannah told her everything. "Shut the door. Flynn doesn't need to hear this."

Cheryl bounced to the door and slammed it shut, spinning around in her usual whirlwind speed and then sat down in the chair across from the desk. "Tell me everything."

And Hannah did, every last annoying detail, ending with her freakish meltdown. When she finished, she glanced up at her friend who had laughter twinkling in her eyes. "Oh my gosh, you didn't make him really come in his underwear, did you?"

Hannah leaned forward and dropped her forehead on her desk. "Of course, that's what you'd fixate on."

Cheryl burst out laughing. "Oh, come on. That was funny, and you know it."

Hannah crossed her arms over her chest and bit her cheeks, trying to remain serious, but it was hopeless. Laughter rang from her lips, joining Cheryl's. They were so loud that Flynn knocked on the door. "What's going on in there?"

"I'll have to try that with him?" Cheryl giggled.

Hannah turned her nose up, but chuckled at the same time. "I really don't need to know that. I work with you people." Taking a breath, she tried to gather herself to respond to him. "We'll be out in a second, Flynn."

But as soon as the words left her lips and his shadow disappeared from in front of the door, the girls burst into another fit of laughter. "I still can't believe you made him look like he peed himself and then made him go home like that." Cheryl got up from the chair and started walking like she'd just gotten off a horse. "He would have walked like this back to his room."

They roared with laughter, making Flynn walk back to the door again, knocking on it. "Are you girls drinking in there or something?"

After another few chuckles, Hannah took a deep breath, then let it out, trying to compose herself. "We really gotta get back to work."

"In a second, so what are you going to do about Xavier?"

Hannah got up from her chair and took her friend by the hand. They really had to get the MRI going. "I honestly don't know. Come on, let's go."

" Aw, this is so much more fun though,' Cheryl complained, but followed her out of the office anyway. The laughter did feel good, make her spirits lighter somehow, but she still had no idea what to do about the whole situation. Even if she could see herself as a whole woman that didn't mean others would. Men wanted to procreate, pass on their genetic material to the next generation and that wasn't possible with her. Eager to get her mind back in the work game, she picked up her clipboard and began to bark out orders to her team. Corey was there as well, getting himself suited up in his gear. Had he overheard any of the conversation. Oh god, she hoped not. Clint was in the far corner away from her office so all he would have heard is the laughter and Flynn's inquiries, which was good.

Hannah walked over to suit up as well. "We're going to try an oral sedative, see if that works as opposed to an intravenous one. We just need him to stay still long enough to run the scan."

"I'm hesitant to believe any will work," Corey said honestly. "His system doesn't seem to function exactly like ours."

"Only one way to find out, right?" Hannah leaned over the sink to wash her hands and then started climbing into her gear. Piece by piece in order of standard protocol. They helped each other with the final pieces of the gloves and the respirators. Three of them would go in to perform the MRI, much like before. Corey, Flynn, and Hannah. She wanted to keep everything as familiar for Josh as possible. He's less likely to freak out that way.

"Okay, is everyone ready?" Hannah asked, as they wheeled the MRI machine over to the decontamination chamber that separated the rooms. She'd go in first as there was only enough room for her and the machine in the small chamber. Once inside, the chamber did it's thing, cleaning off any bacterial components that might contaminate either side of the lab.

After she stepped into the isolation room, her team followed suit. Once inside, they gave the boy the sedatives and waited thirty minutes to see if it would take effect. Cheryl once again documented from the outside with the video camera set up on a stand.

Corey and Hannah played around with the portable MRI machine while they waited. "Hard to believe the technology they've come up with these days." Hannah commented. This machine ran on a rather amped up battery so you didn't even have to plug it in unless you wanted.

"I can't say I'm surprised. Things are being created faster than we can keep up now, especially money wise."

"I don't think I even want to know how much this device cost." She probably couldn't afford it, even on her salary, and it wasn't like she was making peanuts. "Looks like it's starting to work," she said, pointing to the kid who had since flopped onto his back.

"Great, let's give it another 5 minutes to ensure that it's fully taken effect."

"Sounds good to me," Hannah said. The last thing she wanted was for him to wake-up in the middle of the scan when they really didn't know how he would behave. He could put himself and them at risk. And he deserved them providing him with the best care possible, even though she wasn't sure exactly what that was yet. He has not eaten in days and they couldn't seem to get him to. It didn't matter what they put in the bubble, fruit, candy, meat, vegetables. He wasn't interested in any of it, even when she would put it right in his hand or touched it to his mouth. Could he be someone who didn't feel pain either? His stomach pains should be bothering him by now. She knew hers would be.

"Okay, I think we're ready," Corey said after trying to get the boy's attention with a poke and a deep throated growl meant to arouse him. "He seems to be out like a light."

"Given we don't know how long the sedative will have an affect on his system, we need to move fast," Hannah said, unzipping one side, while Flynn did the other and they lifted off the bubble placing it face up on the ground. They'd be putting it back on as soon as they were done.

"I really don't think we need to strap him down," Hannah said, watching him lay there still as a mouse. If she were having a test done like this, she wouldn't want to be strapped down. It was bad enough when she had her neck in a neckbrace, she couldn't imagine doing that to a little boy.

"It's standard protocol in a circumstance like this," Corey reminded her and put the straps on himself before securing Josh's head too. Hannah gave in because there was nothing else she could do.

They checked everything over with the machine and were surprised to find that the kid's heart had shriveled up, and nothing else about the boy's system showed him to be alive in any way, except his brain activity.

Corey sat there at the screen scratching his head. "I had expected to find something that rationalized his behavior, but this just makes it all the more confusing. He shouldn't have any brain activity. It should be depleted of all oxygen by now without his heart functioning."

She was equally confused, and maybe even more so as he had more medical training than she had. Corey called in Dr. booth to come and look over the findings, while Flynn and Hannah took the straps off the boy, and prepared to put the bubble back on him.

Flynn reached up to remove the head piece when all of a sudden, the boy reached up, grabbed Flynn's forearm and bit down hard and refused to let go. Clint raced over and tried to pull Flynn free, but the kid had a good grip. In the process of trying to yank him away, Flynn's suit tore and before they could pull him back, the kid bit his bare arm.

Hannah had remained frozen in her place, unable to process what was happening. The kid leaped off the table and raced towards Hannah.

Xavier saw the action from the window and raced towards the door to enter, but was tackled by Director Adams. "You can't go in there."

"I have to go in there," he yelled, his heart racing. Now he couldn't even see what was happening because he was on the floor. He tried to elbow Adams to break free, but couldn't. The man had a hold on him that he couldn't escape from.

"I want to go in there, too, but we can't. We aren't prepared."

"Then let's get prepared," Xavier ordered the Director. When Hannah screamed, he tried to buck the director off his back. "This is my job. I protect this crew."

"We need to go down to stores and get more suits before we can. Can I trust you to do this safely?" Director Adams asked. "I have a duty to protect you too.'

"Okay. Fine, damn it!" he grumbled, then jumped to his feet as soon as Adams let him. He twirled around to look in the observation window. Clint had the kid in a hold and was trying to get him back on the table so they could strap him down. Flynn was sitting on the floor cradling his arm, and Corey was wrapping some tape around it to seal the hole until they could get out of the unit. Hannah couldn't seem to budge from her position, her body visibly shaking, looking on the verge of passing out.

"I'll go grab more suits," Clemmens offered, and took off out the door.

Xavier was worried because now an injury had to be assessed, and they still had no idea what they were dealing with. He signed in relief when Hannah finally managed to move after Clint got the kid on the table, and helped strap him down before sealing him in the bubble. And then to their surprise the kid turned docile again, and just sat there as they stared at him.

Director Adams walked over to the intercom and said, "Flynn, I'm afraid we're going to have to ask you to isolate yourself in the unit as well."

Flynn's head snapped up, his eyes blazing. "You can't keep me locked up in here with that thing."

Hannah touched his arm and whispered something they couldn't hear, and it seemed to calm him down. She went over to the intercom and pressed the button. "There are isolation rooms in the clinic. We'll take him there through the back way."

"He'll need to be in an isolation tent during transport," Director Adams said, then the man used his vocera and told Clemmens to bring one of those up as well.

Xavier breathed a sigh of relief as he watched the bubble get placed back over the struggling boy. Now that things were safe again, he would be able to breathe and return to his office. "Director, I need to go research the tattoo on the boy's hand. It could be our only lead as to what is going on here."

"Go, then report back as soon as you can," the director ordered, worry filling his voice. "I need to know what we're dealing with ASAP."

"You and me both, sir."

Xavier touched the intercom. "Hannah, I'm going to go to my office, but I'll check on you and see how things are going shortly."

She mouthed, "Okay," before turning her attention back to Flynn, who looked as spooked as a man watching his wife give birth. Cheryl had her hands in front of her mouth, trying hard not to cry.

Xavier touched her shoulder. "I'm sure everything will be fine."

'What if it isn't?" she whispered as she bit her lip.

"Then we'll do what we always do. Deal with things as they arise. He's strong. He'll be fine," Xavier said reassuringly before he disappeared out the door. Taking a couple deep breaths, he made his way through the station. He's never seen anything like that before. And it was definitely not what he expected to happen, not after watching the kid sitting there doing nothing for days. What caused him to change? What made him attack Flynn?

He's had numerous opportunities to attack the crew whenever they put their hands in his bubble but he never did, so what made him this time? There were too many uncertainties now. There was no way they could ever let that boy back out of the bubble until the CDC came and transported him away.

Once the situation calmed down a little, he was going to give Hannah a piece of his mind. What were they thinking, taking the straps off the boy before putting the bubble back on? If they only would have waited they wouldn't be in the spot they were now. They could very well be dealing with a biohazard. What if the boy was a weapon that had been planted there for them to find? Someone who wanted the station. They really had no idea what it was all about. What he was all about.

But he was going to find out.