I wake up in this very comfortable and overly expensive bed. I stretch, feeling better than I have in a very long time. I look around at my new room. I feel so wrong for going through with this, but I have to. If Roman and I are truly the only ones that can help all of these people, then we need to cooperate. I guess Roman isnt having a hard time accepting his fate.

After a peaceful shower I am on my bed lotioning up when I hear Roman showering. Ever since that simulation in the obstacle course where Roman was shirtless, that is all I can think about when I hear running water. I imagine the muscles in his chest and abs and how huge his arms look. I have seen him shirtless before, but I just cant seem to get the thought out of my head.

I throw on my white jumpsuit and grab my 'LEADER' gloves out of the drawer. I know they want us to wear it, but I do not want to draw more attention to myself, especially after what happened yesterday. I guess I dont have much of a choice in the matter. Everyone knows we are the leaders and everyone knows that if they dont listen to us then there will be consequences. I am afraid for the people who choose to rebel. Im afraid of what will happen to them. I tie my hair in a bun and put my new black boots on. At least these dont have the word 'LEADER' on them in giant letters, but they are more comfortable than the other boots that we were supplied with.

I meet Roman outside of our rooms and he nods to me.

"Good morning." He says, walking behind me with his three security guards.

"Good morning." I say, yawning.

"I thought I was highly favored. Why do I still need three of you?" He asks the guards.

"Because you are dangerous. And we need the extra people for your girlfriend. Seems someone has got it out for her." One of his guards answers.

Roman frowns. "I can handle anyone who tries to attack her." He says confidently.

"Boss doesnt want you to have any altercations with the other inmates. That's our job." He answers flatly.

"Well tell your boss if someone touches her then we will have ourselves a good 'ol altercation and he will be short one inmate." Roman says with vengence.

My eyes get wide. I think he is a little crazy. Just a little.

"Roman listen to them. They will take care of it." I say, turning to face him.

Roman says nothing and keeps looking forward. I sigh and turn back around. I take it he isnt going to listen to them, or me. I should be grateful. He is willing to beat the hell out of anyone that messes with me. Cant say that about most guys nowadays.

We make it to the meditation room and everyone in there hasnt been hooked up to the simulation pods yet. The guards watch the door and Roman and I are standing at the front of the room, looking down at all of the people sitting on the ground. Some of them are glaring at us and shaking their heads. They must think we're traitors. Roman folds his arms and looks at everyone, maybe trying to intimidate them? I clasp my hands together in front of me, trying to develop a more authoritative pose.

"We will be monitoring your training from now on. It's time to kick it in high gear. Im tellin ya right now, you dont have to like us, but you damn sure have to respect and listen to us or you will find yourself in some deep shit. There is no light at the end of the tunnel and if you try to escape..." He turns around and looks at the guards behind the door. "Dont try to escape. I expect nothing but the best from all of you. This is your opportunity. Now go do your training." He says, waving them off.

I look at him. He really plays the 'bad cop' role very well. I watch as everyone gets hooked up to the simulation pods. I dont want to watch them get zapped for however long we have to be in here. I nudge Roman.

"Im gonna hook myself up." I whisper.

Roman looks at me. "Why?"

"Because. Im no better at this then them. Maybe if I learn how to navigate the system then I will be able to teach them. Im making sure everyone can do well." I say.

He raises his eyebrow and turns to watch everyone else. "If you want to."

I go to the isolated simulation pod and lay down. One of the guards hooks me up and puts the headphones on me. 

"You know how this game goes. Blue." The woman in the headphones speaks to me.

I try to think about the best way to do this. The first thing that comes to mind is obviously not going to be a good answer. If I can somehow time this thing to see how long it waits before it zaps you, I can think of some answers that will be acceptable. I wait and it zaps me. I take a deep breath.

"Blue." She repeats.

I begin counting. I am zapped after 15 seconds. Okay so I have 15 seconds to answer. I shake it off and think about an acceptable answer.

"Blue." She repeats.

"Berry." I say.

"Okay. Sun." She says.

"Burn." I answer, my heart pounding.

"Good. Rose."

"Thorn." I answer, getting more nervous after every answer.

"Excellent. Birth." She says.

"Death." I breathe and look over at Roman. He gives me a nod and I go back to my training.

"Wonderful. House." She says.

This is hard. House... home... family... party... life... only ten seconds left... 

"Crashers." I say without thinking. I prepare to get zapped.

"What?" The voice says, not zapping me.

"House Crashers. It's a t.v. show." I say.

The woman thinks for a moment. "I'll allow it. We need your creativity Angel. Congratulations. You have passed Phase 1. Come back tomorrow for Phase 2." She says.

The guard unhooks me from the simulation and helps me to my feet. I walk over to Roman and he hasnt moved from his spot since we got in here.

"Do you wanna do the meditation?" I ask.

He cuts his eye at me. "No."

"Why not? If we cant do it how will they expect them to be able to do it?" I ask.

"You passed didnt you? How did you do it?" he asks, turning to face me.

I keep my voice as low as possible. "15 seconds to answer." I say above a whisper.

A smirk spreads across his face and he goes to hook himself up to the meditation simulation. I watch as he is zapped a few times, but then, it goes away. I smile as he answers the questions, but does not get zapped. A woman comes over to me crying. I just stare at her. 

"I cant do it! I dont know what they want me to say! I guess Im just too nice!" She yells, falling to the floor, convulsing because of all of the electric currents running through her body.

I kneel down to her level and touch her shoulder. "Im nice too."

She looks up at me, tears in her eyes. 

"It might not seem like it, but I failed this everytime. Until today." I say to her.

She frowns. "Tell me your secret!"

"Calm down. You dont think you know what they want you to say, but you do. Imagine why we are here, then imagine what their answers would be to this. You can do this, just think." I say, patting her on her shoulder.

She gets up and walks over to her station. She gets hooked up and surprisingly she doesnt get zapped. I think about whether it would be in my best interest to share my own secret with anyone but Roman. On the flip side, I will ensure that everyone will pass, keeping the Evil Twins happy. On the other hand, I want to keep some of the power between us.

Roman walks over to me and nods. "Thank you. I wonder what Phase 2 is."

"I dont wanna know." I say flatly.

We exit the room and they separate us. I walk over to Roman's guards.

"Where is he going?" I ask.

"With Ivy." He says.

I go over to Roman and grab his arm, pulling him from in front of his guards. They wait for him, leaning on the wall.

"I want to sit in on your simulations." I say, hoping he wants me to.

"Why?" he asks, frowning.

"I want to see if our simulations are similar." I answer.

"I told you that you're in just about every one of them. Why do you want to see?" He asks, folding his arms.

"I just... maybe you have more answers in yours than I do in mine." I say, looking down.

He grabs my hand and his guards along with my guard walk us into the simulation room. They close and lock the heavy doors and Ivy looks at both of us, shocked.

"Umm.. hi!" She says.

"Im sitting in on Roman's simulations." I say before she can ask anything.

She nods. "Okay. Roman let's get you hooked up."

She hooks him up and positions the monitor so that we both can see what's going on.

"Ready?" She asks him.

"Ready." He answers, closing his eyes.

It's a wonder he actually fits in the same seat as me, he is so large, but I guess they made an effort to get a 'one size fits all' chair in here. They prick his finger and he passes out, being sucked into his simulation. I sit down, watching the screen. It's black for a while and then...

"Roman.." I whisper.

"Shh. Close your eyes." He says softly.

I remember this! This is the lake that he brought me to! Back before we got kidnapped! He just threw me in the water and he is laughing. I resurface on screen, clearly pissed.

"What the hell?!" I yell at him as he is laughing at me.

I look down and groan. "My clothes and my hair is soaked! I hope youre proud because that was not funny! I thought you were trying to kill me!"

"Actions speak louder than words." He says simply, holding back a laugh. "But isnt it a beautiful lake?"

I turn around, getting behind Roman. "It sure is." I push him in the lake, and he falls. I stare at the lake. "It is beautiful." I say, smiling.

Roman resurfaces, smirking. "Touche Angel. Enjoying the view?"

"You know Im freezing now, right? The point of this was to leave me freezing huh?" I turn around when I see a light flashing our way and I feel Roman tug on my foot and pull me into the lake with him. I scream before I go under and resurface quickly.

"Do you even know if I can swim??" I yell at him.

"You dont have to know how to swim." His light eyes and wet hair is shining in the moonlight as he pulls me into him by my waist. "I wont let you drown." He says softly. He gazes into my eyes and I blush, looking up at the moon. 

"You know how to pick interesting dates." 

He smiles, putting me against the grass. "Im an interesting person." 

He holds me against the side, making sure I dont drift away, as we are staring into each others eyes.

I dont know if this is supposed to be his fantasy or a memory that he should remember, but it's embarassing me.

I take a shaky hand to his wet face to remove a stray hair away from his gleaming eyes. I feel him leaning in and I hold my breath. He looks down and jerks me up onto the grass. I let that breath out and sigh. Damn. I stand up, my clothes weighing me down, and I walk to the bench nearby. Roman comes and sits next to me.

Ivy smirks at me. "That scene happened, didnt it? You both have had it in your simulations."

I blush. "Just keep watching."

"Despite the romance, I really do think this scene is important, I just haven't been able to decipher what it means, though." She explains.

"Someone broke into my house last week. I guess thats why Ive been so paranoid. They didnt take anything, it didnt seem like they did, but, I just feel like Im being watched." I say, finally.

Roman turns to me. "You dont have to worry."

I look at him. "Why?"

Roman slips his fingers in between mine and smirks. "I wont let anything happen to you. Or your Mother."

"You cant do anything about a robber..." I say, trying to be smart.

Roman shakes his head. "You dont understand. I will find that robber and beat his ass. Nobody messes with my Angel."

"Believe that." He says.

I look at Ivy. "Okay something about a robber, losing our memories, but it doesnt seem like it's giving us any new information."

"Maybe not yet. You have a tendency to duplicate yourself in your simulations. Roman hasnt done so yet. Perhaps today is the day. If he can insert himself into the scene consciously, then maybe he can tell us what is going on. I'd like to think some of his memories have come back already." She says, putting it on full screen. 

Roman is tossing and turning on the chair. I hope he is okay. Im always so messed up after a few hours of this.

He lowers his eyes and pulls at my arm gently in the video. "Come here."

I slide over to him as he places his free hand on my waist and pulls me in. He kisses me, and I respond, kissing him back, showing my approval. He removes his hand from my waist and I scoot back, shaking a little. I look down and Roman smiles.

"That felt really good." He says deeply.

We stand up from the bench, hand in hand, walking to his car. He drops me off at home, never letting go of my hand and as we are standing in front of my door yet again. I look into his deep brown eyes and he smiles a little. 

"Did you see that Ivy?" I ask, getting scared.

"See what?" She asks, scanning the screen.

"Someone was following us! It was that guy that was following me before! I wonder if that guy is here with us!" I say, making a new discovery.

"Thank you for being a good sport about me throwing you in the lake. Most women would-"

"Punch you in your pretty face?" I say, cutting him off.

He laughs. "Probably. Thats why youre special."

He brings my fingers to his lips and kisses them gently.

"Goodnight Angel." He says.

"Goodnight Roman." I respond, doing my best to hold in my excitement.

I sit back in my chair, my heart pounding. That scene scared me more than I remember, and also, it was embarrassing seeing our love life play out in front of Ivy. She has probably seen this so much she is used to it. She must think we're gonna get married or something.

"Dont get too comfortable. I told you there are plenty of scenes in each of these sessions. Relax. We've got hours of Roman's fears, desires, and foreshadowing to enjoy." She says, putting her feet up on the table.

~~~.~~~