My elbows were raised and my head ducked as I weaved my way through the sea of people while the alarms continued to cut through the air. I'd reduced the sounds to nothing more than background noise, directing my focus to the task at hand. As paranoia fell over the crowd however, the worried whispers were hard to ignore.

A series of chatter built up around me, all based upon the assumption that I was the enemy, and it sparked a fire in my chest. The urgency of the situation intensified, though as I reached the front of the crowd, I stopped dead in my tracks and stepped slowly backwards until I was once again hidden.

The doors I'd come out of were now lined with senior agents. They stood as guards to prevent us from returning to the building, and I knew there was no chance that I'd be able to convince them to let me pass, let alone have them let me go in on my own.

Which left me to find my own way inside.

I kept an eye on the agents as I moved, this time slower, trying not to draw any further attention to myself. The crowd, which seemed expansive as I trudged my way through the center, began to thin out as I circled the side of the building. Very few people had left the building through the east wing, as the housing quarters were found on the west side, and those who had were quick to join the other agents, not wanting to stand alone.

Hovering at the edge of the masses, I trained my gaze further along the building, and as I caught sight of a familiar gazebo in the distance, I remembered the door that led directly into the library. A hum of triumph coursed through me, knowing it was highly likely that, with the chaos that was ensuing, the side entrance had been overlooked.

Glancing over my shoulder twice for good measure, it was only when I was sure that I no longer stood as the object of people's concern that I made my move. I didn't run, but instead walked calmly, putting one foot in front of the other. The less I appeared to be acting out of the ordinary, the better off I was.

Once I was far enough away, I upped my speed, and just as a seed of optimism sprung to life at the sight of the unoccupied entrance, my steps staggered to a stop. Frozen, I watched as a shadow rounded the corner of the building, growing larger in the lights illuminating off the building. When I finally snapped out of my head, I jerked to the right, rounding the back of the gazebo and ducking swiftly out of sight.

My hands and knees dug harshly into the damp ground beneath me as I lifted my head to see two senior agents dressed for duty – wearing black cargo pants, tight black shirts, and their belts fully equipped. Having either been on night watch or recently returned from an assignment, their expressions were guarded and their footsteps heavy as they made their way around the building. When their eyes turned towards the gazebo, I dropped my head and laid horizontally across the grass, holding my breath and counting down the seconds until they averted their gaze, continuing their route around the building.

Staying in place as I exhaled slowly, I waited a few moments after the agents were out of sight to get to my feet.

My next movements were slow and calculated, because if I was already on people's radar as someone to watch out for, I didn't want to give them any other reason to question where my loyalties laid.

As I pulled the door to the library open, I stepped inside, laying my hands gently on the glass as I eased it closed behind me. When I heard the click of the latch, I felt a burst of relief flow from my muscles, but I knew I wasn't in the clear yet. The lights had been triggered in conjunction with the alarm, making it easy to find my way through the stacks, though I still made sure to stay light on my feet and hidden from view – just in case.

Stepping out into the hall, even the wariest of steps echoed against the stone. It was a drastic change from the scene outside, but somehow, I found the deserted corridors more intimidating than the suspicious crowd. If someone were to turn a corner, there'd be nowhere for me to hide, and just the thought caused my chest to tighten with an overpowering sense of anxiety.

But I couldn't back down.

I wasn't sure where Catherine would be in this state of panic. She may have very well been outside with the masses, but with a gut feeling leading my actions, I headed towards her office. It'd been a place I'd only visited once, my first day here, though over the last few weeks I'd seemed to have unknowingly memorized the route, making sure to avoid it at all costs.

Reaching the spiral staircase, I lifted my foot, and just as the bottom of my shoe hit the step, my breath caught in my throat as the alarms ceased overhead. Along with the sudden silence, every light in the vicinity abruptly flickered off, leaving me beneath a cloak of darkness.

My heart beat out of tune, shifting to a rapid staccato as I ascended the stairs. With my arms extended to the sides, my palms pressing lightly against the walls to guide me, it was only when I was steps away from the landing that I noticed the glare of light coming from the end of the small hallway.

And it was coming from Catherine's office.

Closing my eyes for a moment, I stayed put, forcing any thoughts of backing down out of my head as I reminded myself of the bigger picture. Catherine was hiding something – something important, and I was going to get the truth out of her, one way or another.

With my resolve hardened, I climbed the last of the stairs and saw that the door to her office was wide open. My hands clenched at my sides as I saw the silhouette of her shadow against the far wall, but I didn't make it another step.

A man's voice – deep and assertive, broke the silence. "You know that if you keep this up your agents will fall – one by one," he spoke, confident in his words, "and all you're doing is speeding up their demise."

It felt like a black hole had opened within my chest, sucking every organ and feeling towards the center.

Had people's assumptions been right? Had my mother been linked to the Gemini Clan all those years ago?

Worse yet, was she still?

It should have been fear that erupted inside of me, knowing that Catherine could've possibly been part of the plan to orchestrate my attack just so that she'd be able to watch over me, but instead it was anger. My blood boiled and my fists shook as something snapped within me.

I marched towards her office, each step heavy and filled with purpose, but as I reached the entryway, the scene before me caused the colour to drain from my skin.

Standing behind her desk, Catherine held a pistol between her hands, her arms extended straight in front of her as she pointed the barrel towards a man on the other side of her office. Her eyes were narrowed in a menacing gaze, and I could clearly see the veins in her neck pulsing as she clenched her teeth. "You need to leave, now," she said firmly, the underlying threat evident as the man across from her curled his lips upwards in a sickening grin.

"Now why would I want to do that?" he replied tauntingly, as though the gun pointed in his direction was nothing more than a piece of plastic. "You know why I came here tonight."

Up until then, I'd gone undetected – both Catherine and the man too focused on each other, but when a sudden, muffled whimper of fear slipped through my lips as I inched myself backwards, both gazes spun swiftly towards me.

"Aspen," Catherine gasped, her irises flashing with terror momentarily before she reestablished her guard.

"Well, well," the man drawled, a wicked gleam filling his features, "it looks like tonight's operation was worth it." He paused, his lips stretching wider at the fact that I cowered backwards another step. "It's good to finally meet you Aspen."

"Who are you?" I stuttered, my fingernails digging into my palms – deep enough to draw blood. "How do you know who I am?"

"Aspen," Catherine said sternly, her gaze now firmly on the man as she shifted her finger onto the trigger, "get out of here."

The laugh that passed through the man's lips was deep and malevolent, growing louder as it echoed off the walls. "Now Catherine, I'm sure she's waited a long time to be reunited with her parents," he said, "why deny her the chance?"

His words were a painful punch to the stomach, the air leaving my lungs in one fell swoop, causing me to stagger backwards. My eyes widened and I threw my arm out to the side, resting my palm against the wall to regain my balance. My gaze flitted towards Catherine, willing her to deny the accusation, but as the silence dragged on, her lips twisted painfully, cementing the words to be true.

"No." I shook my head in denial. "No, you're lying."

When he moved to step towards me, the sickening sound of a gunshot lit up the air. A high-pitched scream followed as I brought my left hand up to cover my open mouth in disbelief, my eyes trained on the bullet that had sunk into the wall not even three feet away from me.

Catherine had fired as a warning, but with the blazing heat that lit up her gaze, it was clear that the next bullet would be aimed at a different target.

"Leave now Damon," she said, her voice deadly.

My whole body tensed as he walked towards me, but seeing as I blocked the only visible exit, there was no way around it, much to my dismay. "I'm sure I'll see you again soon," he spoke, his words a whisper against the side of my face as he strolled past me, leaving nothing behind but the ghost of his presence.

Catherine slowly lowered the gun in her hands, clicking the safety back into place as she tucked it into the holster that rested on his hip. "Aspen – "

I cut off her plea, squeezing my eyes shut. "It's true, isn't it – " I swallowed, the words leaving a bad taste in my mouth. " – what he said? He's my father?"

When she failed to respond, I opened my eyes, watching as she met my gaze squarely and nodded her head grimly.

The confirmation was the final nail in the coffin for tonight, shattering the façade I'd built up. In the dark recesses of my mind, I knew that there was more to the picture than just the black and white facts, but in that moment, I couldn't conjure up a scenario in which anything made sense. "I'm sorry," I choked out, a plethora of emotions rolling over me at once, "I can't do this right now."

I was fast learning that I was incapable of facing any aspect of my past dead on, and just like when she'd told me the truth about being her daughter, I turned away from her. This time however, she didn't call out to try and stop me, because it was clear there was nothing she could do or say to make this better.

----------

Returning to my room that night, I had the remnants of tears staining my cheeks, as well as an overworked mind as my head hit the pillow. I tossed and turned, willing myself to forget the last hour had ever happened, but it was no use. When the sun began its ascent into the sky, I was still awake, listening to the shuffling feet and quiet chatter outside grow.

Unable to muster the energy to lift myself from bed, I made use of the fact that my mind refused to relax and tried to sift through all that I knew.

Catherine and the man who'd infiltrated the Division last night – Damon, my mother had called him – were my parents. Watching the two of them stand on either side of a gun had been terrifying, but it also made me wonder exactly what had happened between the two of them in the first place. Had my dad been a mistake my mother had made, or was it once love that the two of them had shared?

Either way, it was clear that there was now a divide between them, and the one conclusion my mind immediately jumped to was that Damon, whoever he may be, was a part of the Gemini Clan.

It made sense – why she would've given me up as a baby, why she'd supposedly been put on trial all those years ago, and why she'd held him up at gunpoint.

Rolling over in bed, I heaved in a deep sigh as frustration and anger coursed through me, and with my face dug deep into my pillow, I screamed. It was the only release I could think of, and as the thick material absorbed the high-pitch sound, I could feel the dissipation of stress from my body.

It wasn't much, but it was something.

Only hours later did I leave my room, when my stomach craved something of sustenance and I had successfully lazed around for as long as I could. I'd reorganized the few things I had, gone through a few notes I'd taken while learning French, and simply watched from my window as other agents walked the grounds – moving in small groups with worry flooding their features.

The paranoia grew larger as I walked the halls, succumbing to the scrutinizing looks and conversations that dropped to hushed whispers as I passed by. After last night, it seemed that everyone was out of the loop – all wanting to know who had set off the security alarms, but even though my thoughts were conflicted, I stayed tight lipped.

I had no idea if Damon had managed to get away unseen, or if he'd been alone, and it wasn't something I wanted to be thinking about.

Keeping my head ducked, I avoided making eye contact with other agents as I made my way towards the Grand Hall. Even as I joined the short line for food, I could feel the piercing stares hitting my back, and they didn't waver as I moved through the room towards the back. Facing the wall as I found a seat away from the crowd, I willed the phrase out of sight, out of mind to do wonders, tapping my fingers rhythmically atop the table as I ate.

It was only when I was nearly finished that I heard footsteps approaching, causing my shoulders to tense and my arm to freeze in mid-air, only to exhale and relax as I stiffly turned my head to see Kira heading towards me.

"Aspen," she sighed gratefully, "there you are. I've been looking everywhere for you."

I quirked an eyebrow. "And you didn't think to check here?"

"It's not exactly lunch time," she pointed out – which was true, seeing as it was just after two in the afternoon, "and I figured you'd be hiding in your room or holed up somewhere quiet after last night."

I could hear the pity that seeped into her words as she trailed off, though I didn't let it show. After I'd stomped off, abandoning both her and Finn in the crowd, she had no idea that I'd made my way back into the building and up to my mother's office before the sirens had been cut off. To the best of her knowledge, I'd let anger overtake my actions and had had to walk away, and though an unnerving feeling rushed through me as I withhold the truth from her, I knew that I had to. At least for the time being.

"You must've just missed me then," I replied breezily, "I came down about twenty minutes ago."

She nodded in understanding, taking a quick glance at my tray. "Joe asked me to find you," she explained. "He said he had something he wanted to work through with you before the end of the day."

"I'm free now," I said, twisting as I stood from the bench and grabbed my empty tray, "I just figured he'd be busy today."

She shook her head. "Catherine and a few of the top agents are working to figure out the logistics of everything that went down last night – who was involved, how they got through our security, and what exactly they wanted."

I didn't know what was worse – knowing the truth (at least a part of it) and having to keep quiet, or not knowing a thing and letting the unknown haunt your thoughts.

"Joe hasn't been all that involved though, as far as I know," Kira continued as the two of us left the Grand Hall and headed for the room he always had on reserve for our training sessions. It didn't take long, and as we approached the open door, I saw Joe standing alone. His head was down, his attention being taken by the phone in his hands, though as he glanced up and saw the two of us, he hurriedly tucked the phone into his back pocket.

"There you are," he said, his lips pulling upwards as he waved the pair of us in. "When I told Kira to fetch you, I didn't expect you'd be back so fast."

From the mess spread out across two of the tables, I took that to mean that he wasn't done setting up whatever he had planned. There was a mass of thin wires tangled up across the surface, all hooked up to an old-style looking laptop, but what threw me off was the arm band and loose wires that added to the pile.

"What is all this?" I asked as I stepped further into the room, running my hands over the machine before looking back to Joe for an answer.

"It's a lie detector," he replied, moving around the table to unravel the mess. "As an agent, it's important to be able to keep calm and stick to the plan, even in extremely stressful or life-threatening situations. I figured, after everything that went down last night, today would be a good day to hook you up and see how well you can do keeping to a story I've prepared. All you'll have to do is answer the questions accordingly and trust your instincts. But also, remember that this machine picks up the changes in your heartbeat and spikes in blood pressure, so you'll have to remain calm throughout the entire situation."

Impressed by the machine, and intrigued at what he had in store for me, I agreed, taking a seat in one of the chairs. Kira helped Joe with the set up – starting up the program on the computer and tightening the wires that had to be attached to my body. When all was said and done, I had an arm band squeezing tightly around my bicep, three nodes attached to different sections of my head, two nodes resting at the base of my spine, and three of my fingers wrapped in node rings, the wires all running back to a small box that was attached to the laptop.

Kira was just finishing the readjustment of the nodes on my back when I heard the click of metal and felt a heavy weight fall around my ankle.

Looking down, my heart beat sporadically in my chest as I saw that my left foot had been shackled to the base of the chair, and before I could do anything else, I felt a belt slide across my stomach, locking me down.

"What the hell?" I exclaimed, my eyes wide as I looked between Kira and Joe, trying and failing to shake myself free of the holds. "What the fuck is going on?'

There was regret in Kira's eyes as she stepped away from me, but that only cemented that this had been part of the plan all along. "I'm sorry," she spoke, her voice filled her emotion, "but this is for your own good. I saw you last night... and you can't let your emotions control you like that in the field – there's too much at stake."

I could see the tears forming in her eyes, her words accompanied with an undertone that could only come from experience, but that didn't matter. What mattered was that she'd been an accomplice in locking me down and making me immobile, and I didn't know if this was part of the drill, or if this was something much, much worse.

When I opened my mouth to ask what she was talking about, all that came out was a strangled groan as Catherine walked through the door.

"You did this?" I hissed moments later, glaring at Kira as she moved backwards, heading for the door.

"Yes, and when this is over, I hope you remember what a waste it is to push away the people trying to help you," she replied, her voice quiet but her words firm, causing a dagger to spear my chest in a way to painful to describe.

Clenching my eyes shut, I could feel my heart pounding furiously and could hear the roar of blood in my ears, but not another word was said as she left the room, closing the door on her betrayal.

a/n: Sorry about the week without an update, but I've got a deadline creeping up on me, and I had to put my focus on something else last weekend (and most weekends) until it's finished. I really hope you enjoyed this chapter, and the big reveal in the middle... though I'm sure this chapter raised more questions than it answered! Like always, remember to leave vote and leave your opinions/feedback/theories in the comment section! <3

In other news... I'M OFFICIALLY GOING TO WATTCON IN OCTOBER and hopefully I'll see a bunch of you there!