"We can't use the test tube, Fitz."

"Excuse me?"

All I can do is blink, my mouth unable to form any words. Surely, I misheard her. The very thing that triggered the biggest argument between us, and here Sophie is suddenly going against exactly what she said hours before. "What do you mean 'we can't use it'?"

"I-" Sophie pauses, taking a deep breath before transmitting to me instead. I think I know why that test tube is so important, I think I know where it's from. Without waiting for a response, Sophie releases my hand to rummage to every file we could gather regarding the case, both our own information and any relevant public articles. Her eyes dart wildly, almost as if she's reading everything for the first time under a new lens.

Sophie, hold on a sec, I manage to transmit, my own thoughts racing so much as I reach out to grab her arm. She immediately switches to her left hand, flipping through the pages while muttering incoherently. Sophie, wait- Whether she's ignoring me or is too deep in her own thoughts I'll never know, but too little is being explained after she goes and drops something like that.

"Okay, okay Sophie stop," I finally reach over and grab her other arm, fully stopping her in her tracks. As she whips her head around to properly face me, I continue, Clearly you're catching onto something but I'm going to need you to catch me up too. Why else is this test tube so important?

The female Percipient hesitates, exhaling slowly before facing forward again. I'm going to need you to trust me for a minute.

You already know I do.

Okay but I'm going to really need you to trust me then. Sophie nudges me slightly to face ahead like her, probably to avoid any unnecessary attention on our conversation. I'm going to send you some memories now, but they're the ones that Jacob transmitted to me when we were at that warehouse a couple of years ago.

I can feel the blood draining from my face as I resist looking at her, instead opting to grab her hand again. Are you sure you want to go through that again? Is this- is he- really worth that?

You'll understand why, I promise, Sophie squeezes my hand for reassurance before closing her eyes, and I follow suit. My breathing hitches slightly when I feel her fingers on my temple, but I remind myself that Sophie has a reason for acting like this. A faint warmth blossoms where her fingers touch my head, signaling that she's properly entered my mind.

I only relish in the shared peace of my mind before Jacob's memories zip through in blurs of colours, almost nauseatingly so as Sophie's wrapped up finding exactly what she's searching for. Finally, the memories slow down enough for me to make out the alley behind the museum Michelle was killed in. Once David's in the picture and trying to run away, Sophie lets the memory continue properly in silence.

I can't help but wince as Jacob's foot makes contact with David's face, sending him back crashing into the wall. His blood glistens slightly in the moonlight as David slides down the wall only to be kicked against it by his own brother. Jacob seems to pause for a second, and judging by the way David attempts to look up, I assume they're exchanging words we aren't privy to.

After a few seconds of silence, Jacob's viewpoint zooms in on David as Jacob seemingly crouches down closer to his brother, all while David continues to plead with his brother. I force myself to not look away from the flashback as the Grahams brother finally succumbs to his injuries, his chest exhaling one last breath of air.

And that's when I see it.

The shimmer of something in David's fist as his grip loosens. Clearly, Jacob notices it too since he bends down and forcefully opens the deceased's hand-

Holding the very test tube in my possession right at this very moment.

"Oh shit," I whisper, whipping my head towards Sophie. This belonged to David?

Or Michelle, Sophie responds, opening her eyes again. Jacob's memories never showed who it originally belonged to, so it could be anyone's for all we know. She tightens her grip on the file in her paper, slightly crinkling the picture of Jacob. What we do know though is that Jacob needed that test tube so badly that he killed the last family he had to get his hands on it.

That last part stands out to me the most, but not because Sophie was wrong. She actually raises a better question geared more towards Mr. Wallace:

Just how did he get his hands on this tube?

Since there's no way Jacob would give it up that easily.

I frown as I reach into my pocket and pull out the test tube, aluminum foil and all. Bending over as if I'm fixing my shoe, I carefully remove the tinfoil, revealing the grey object still floating around in the solution. I shake it around gently and watch as the water currents flip the object toss and turn in an effort to maintain its shape. Something about the tube bothered me, but I hadn't felt comfortable exploring it properly with Mr. Wallace around. Whether it was the actual object inside or Mr. Wallace's behaviour towards it, I wouldn't know.

Donovan, on the other hand, was more than happy to swap out the test tube in the box with a fake, just until we reached the courthouse. This tube- magically "gifted" to the man by his friend- came with no explanation, and I didn't want to wait until we arrived to hear whatever Mr. Wallace wanted to convince us of.

Is that it? Sophie asks, glancing over my shoulder. Why is it in liquid?

It's in saline, I explain, remembering my encounter with Mr. Wallace. His words linger in the back of my mind, yet I can't seem to make sense of it just yet. He kept asking me if I knew what was in it, but I don't know why he thought I would.

Wait, let me see that for a sec. Sophie reaches over and quickly grabs the bottle from me, masking her motion with the excuse of dusting off something from my leg. Realizing that she's yet to properly inspect the bottle, I sit up and watch as the female Percipient narrows her eyes at the content. I can almost see the gears turning in her head as she suddenly stops turning the bottle around, her eyes suddenly widening. I know what this is.

I whip my head to face her so quickly that I almost cause Sophie to drop the bottle, but thankfully her reflexes are faster than Donovan's by a long shot. Now how the hell did you-

It's a contact lens.

It's such a simple answer that I blank for a second, barely processing her words through rapid blinking. A what.

Contact lens, Fitz. Sophie gestures to her eyes, Like what people use to see instead of glasses.

Okay, I'm not that stupid, I glance over at her, rolling my eyes. But a contact lens... "Would make perfect sense," I whisper under my breath, mentally kicking myself. Suddenly, I'm viewing Mr. Wallace's behaviour in a new light. His emphasis on me figuring out what the object was...because I had said how saline solutions can be used on our eyes.

And how people clean and store their contact lens, Sophie adds, gripping the bottle tighter.

I furrow my eyebrows as I take back the test tube and gingerly wrap it back up in its foil. I don't know if we can use this in court anymore, though. We don't know any one of their eye prescriptions, let alone just Jacob's. We don't know which eye it's for either.

Sophie deflates slightly next to me, but only momentarily before she grabs my arm, lighting up again. No, but there could be some DNA left!! Maybe there's some sort of test we can run!

Wouldn't we need the DNA of all three of them to find a match?

The blonde only smiles at me, the most animated she's been the entire ride, We may not have them, but I'm sure Caroline or Steven can find them..! This is it, Fitz! She shakes me slightly, a hopeful smile gracing her features. Maybe this is what we needed!

...

I barely have time to close the door before Sophie's already racing towards the pathologist and chemist, leaving me to deal with the confused glances of Mr. Wallace and the others. While Sophie explains the situation to them, I make a quick pit stop at the Sovereigns instead. "So we may have a problem," I start, lowering my voice a bit. "We need the test tube a bit longer, we need some tests run on it." I smile apologetically as I pull the male Sovereign away, promising to return him later.

Donovan pales a bit, exhaling sharply, "Okay so that's definitely a problem then. Do we know how much time we have until the trial starts? Does Mr. Wallace need to hand this over to the court or something?" He looks forward, taking in the people around us. We arrived early enough to avoid rushing in with the general public, but certain news outlets have already started to unpack and prepare. "We're going to have to account for putting it back in the box and everything too."

Cursing under my breath, I instinctively put my hand in my pocket, making sure the vial is still there. "Okay, let's start with how to put it back," I murmur, taking in our group. Mr. Wallace is occupied with some sort of call while Caroline and Steven talk with Sophie and Audrey. When I land on Laurel and Benen, I can't help but smile, "What if they help us sneak it in? That should shave off some time, wouldn't it?"

The male Sovereign's wicked grin is all I need for approval, "Let me catch them up to speed, you go ask about these new tests we're gonna have to do." He rubs his hands together as he walks away, muttering about this secret weapon for even better pranks. All I can do is pray that whatever he's thinking of is still legal at this point.

As I make my way over to the larger group, I transmit to Steven, Can we talk for a bit?

Sure, kiddo, what's happening? Steven turns his head a bit to face me, his eyebrows furrowed with concern. Everything okay?

"Did Sophie explain everything to you yet?" I ask, almost whispering as we further our distance from Mr. Wallace.

Steven clicks his tongue and nods, "Okay so here's what we know. Neither of us can run any tests on the prescription and things like that since we don't have any sort of equipment to do that, especially out in public like this." Seeing my expression though, he quickly adds, "But what we can do is get a sample of the saline solution it's in and swab around for any sort of DNA sample, which Caroline's already doing. That way, we won't be holding onto something we shouldn't be holding onto for long."

I nod slowly, releasing a breath I didn't know I was holding.

"That's not all there is, is there?" Steven asks, stopping me in my tracks, "What's wrong?"

I open my mouth a few times, not exactly knowing where to begin. "It's kind of a weird colour for a contact lens, isn't it?" I ask. Steven looks at me, waiting for me to continue while I'm still trying to formulate my next thought yet. "I mean, I know that some shades of blue eyes almost look grey but this is almost unnatural, or am I crazy?"

The pathologist hums in response, "You're definitely not wrong, but-" He suddenly stops in his tracks to look at me. "Do you still have it?"

"Oh yeah, I do," I murmur, quickly handing the vial over to him, "it's just that Mr. Wallace has no idea that we have this."

"I just want to check one thing...¦" Steven holds the test tube up to the sunlight, watching the lens glow a lighter yet still unnatural shade of grey. A few seconds of silence pass by before Steven's eyes widen as he whips around towards me again. "Fitz, you're sure you got this from Wallace?"

Startled from his immediate change in reaction, I can't help but take a step back, "Well I mean, his friend apparently got it for him but yeah...we took it from him, why?"

I'm met with a slew of curses as Steven starts pacing back and forth a bit. After what seems like a few minutes, the pathologist comes back to me. "Change of plans, we need to do those tests immediately," he explains, already pulling his phone out to make a few calls. "I'm so sorry to ask this of you kiddo, but I'm going to need you to stall for Caroline and me."

I only manage to nod my head as my head wraps around what was said. "How are we going to do that?" I ask, looking over as more people arrive for the infamous trial. "Is there anything we can do?"

"I'll talk to Wallace and see if you can get some alone time with Jacob before the trial begins," Steven says while flagging down Caroline. "That should occupy everyone but especially Wallace until we get back.

"Cause if this is what I think it is, Jacob's not going to go on trial anymore. And we can't let that happen."