"Well Mrs. Kennard-Porter," the man in the suit said with an evil grin as he circled me like a vulture, "you are a woman of heart."
 
"I struggled against my restraints and looked up at the man in tears, "please. Let me go, I have a wife and daughter at home. Please."
 
"The fact that you have all of those things makes this experiment the more interesting," the man said, his evil smirk growing wider on his dark features.
 
"I am not a fucking guinea pig!" I cried desperately.
 
"For years," the man said disregarding me, "I was a lost soul. I was so busy trying to find my soul that I ended out losing my heart…"
 
"I can see that," I spat venomously.
 
"By the time I found my soul and I had lost everything in my life that completed my heart, and I became heartless," the man continued as if I hadn’t spoken at all.
 
He turned his back to me for a minute then turned around with a syringe in hand. I started whimpering desperately and thrashing against the restraints, "please!"
 
"I finally found a way to make someone lose their soul," the man said laughing almost maniacally, "then I will watch as you became heartless like me! I’ve been pleased by the sight many times before."
 
"You’ve done this to other people? You fuking monster!" I cried spitting in his face aggressively.
 
"Yes I have," he said grimly wiping my spit off his face like it had happened so many times, "and once this serum is in your blood, you will be able to spot my other test subjects easily."
 
He rubbed a cloth filled with peroxide on my arm and I started to cry and thrash desperately. "Please! Don’t do this! Ple-AHHHHHHH!" I screamed as the needle penetrated my skin. There was a fire under my skin and I released screams that were unfamiliar to my ears. The burning feeling was spreading all over my body and I squirmed desperately as a river of tears spilled out of my eyes.
 
"Don’t worry, one day you’ll find your soul again," he said almost kindly but all I felt in my body was anger, hatred, despair, and emptiness. He released my restraints and carelessly let me fall to the floor in a heap.
 
Sobbing, I looked up at him and said, "can i at least know the name of the mother fucker who ruined my life?"
 
The man looked down at me with an evil grin and said, "Cameron."
 
"Cameron," I spat angrily, "I fucking hate you!"
 
"I bet you’ve never hated anyone in your entire life," Henry said leaning in close to me. I wanted to punch him but I had no strength in body. With a malicious smirk, Henry raised his fist into the air and slammed it into my head. Then the world went black.
 
I don’t know how long I was unconscious but I woke up to the sound of desperate voices.
 
"Tina!" someone cried. I recognized the desperate voice as Shane’s.
 
"Baby, wake up!" I heard a tender voice say. I recognized it instantly as Bette who, from the sound of her voice, was having a hard time not panicking.
 
"Come on TK, please!" the voice that could only belong to Alice said.
 
"What the hell happened to her?" the heavily accented British voice said, which immediately gave her away as Helena.
 
My eyes fluttered open and the world started to focus around me. I felt like I was falling into some sort of abyss. I felt so hollow and empty inside and the moment my eyes focused on my friends, and my desperate wife, my eyes overflowed with tears.
 
I felt myself being lifted into a sitting position and pressed against Bette’s firm body. Bette’s arms wrapped tightly around my waist and her chin rested on my shoulder as she cried. I remember how she cried this way that night in SheBar, after we had kissed. I gasped when I felt something seeping into me. It was the only thing I was able to feel. I felt safety, comfort, and love. With a desperate cry I wrapped my arms around my wife’s slim neck in attempt to keep the feeling as long as I could. I turned my head to the side and laid my temple on her forehead just letting the only emotions I could feel surge within me.
 
I closed my eyes momentarily to release the tears that had pooled in my eyes and I opened them again. I noticed Shane looking at me weirdly. As if she knew. I knew Shane had great intuition, but there’s no way she could know about my disgrace, and she’s not on of the test subjects.
 
"TK, what happened?" Alice said putting a comforting hand on my upper back.
 
"I-I don’t remember," I lied. Bette tensed, instantly recognizing my lie but Alice was none the wiser.
 
"Don’t pressure her," Helena said motioning for Alice to stand up, "she’s been hit on the head pretty hard, she should go home and get some sleep."
 
"Hell no," Bette said sitting up straight, I almost cried out as the feeling of warmth started to fade into darkness, "if the fucker that did this to her gave her a concussion, she could go into a coma! She cannot sleep tonight."
 
"Okay, fine, but at the very least, she should rest, not neccesarily sleep," Helena said, "I’ll go over tomorrow to see how she’s doing."
 
"Thanks, Helena," I said trying my best to produce a smile, but I could never smile if I didn’t feel it in my soul.
 
"Come on baby," Bette said releasing me and standing up. The feeling went away and despair filled me up again. I almost wanted to cry out but I restrained myself. When I felt Bette grabbing one arm and Shane grabbing the other I snapped back to reality and shifted my weight so that they could help me to my feet.
 
"I’ll go with you!" Alice cried desperately.
 
"No, Al," Helena said grabbing her arm, "she just needs some space.
 
Alice sighed deeply and said, "fine, I’ll just go with you tomorrow morning then."
 
It was then that I realized that I was in a different location. What street was this? I didn’t recognize it. I looked at the street sign and recognized it as a street in Downtown LA, was that hellish warehouse somewhere nearby? I felt myself being guided forward and I came out of my thoughts again.
 
We got to Bette’s car, where Shane opened the back door and climbed in, then helped Bette lay me down. I laid my head gently on Shane’s lap as she caressed my hair so softly. Poor Shane had had a very rough time when Jenny died, and she had often come to Bette and me for comfort and advice. She had that constant sad look in her eyes since it happened, but recently her eyes got that brightness it used to have because she had been granted the custody of her brother, Shay. It was nice to know that she was there for me as Bette and I were there for her.
 
"Let me buy a water bottle from that liquor store, just hold on," Bette said rubbing my calf affectionately and closing the door. I missed her touch already. She’s the only one who had the ability to make me feel something when everything was so numb.
 
I felt a soft kiss on my forehead and I looked up at Shane who gave me that odd look of understanding. No, there’s no way she could know. No way she cou…
 
"Cameron got you didn’t he?" Shane said so softly it ws almost a whisper.
 
My eyes widened and I looked at her in desperation, "how? you’re not…please don’t tell anyone!" I cried in defeat.
 
"Shh, shh," Shane soothed so gently it actually made my body relax, "no, I am not one of the heartless, but Jenny was."
 
"What?" I cried, "but J-Jenny is dead! She did become heartless, I remember! She did horrible things…"
 
"Shh," Shane soothed again, "I tried to help her find her soul without losing her heart, but I couldn’t. She lost everything and I couldn’t do anything about it. She lost Tim, and Marina, and then…"
 
"Everything went spiraling out of control," I finished when she trailed off, "i don’t wanna end up like that, Shane."
 
"You won’t."
 
"I don’t wanna lose Bette, and Angie, and all of you guys! I couldn’t bear it!"
 
"You won’t!"
 
"How do you know!" I cried in a panic, "we all thought Tim loved Jenny and he left her so easily! What if Bette leaves me? I can’t handle this!"
 
"Yes. You. Can!" Shane said grabbing my face and looking deep into my eyes. I saw the faith she had in them and I let her speak, "T, Tim didn’t love Jenny even a quarter as much as Bette loves you! You will beat this! Jenny was weak, but you are strong! And Bette’s even stronger, she can help you…"
 
"No!" I interrupted, "you can’t tell her anything!"
 
"What? Why not?" Shane said, "they should know."
 
"Because, I don’t want Bette to live with the fear that I could lose my heart and stop loving her and Angelica," I cried.
 
"That kind of love can never be defeated, T," Shane said tenderly, "the kind of love you have for them is out of this world, Tina. Jenny didn’t have that, and at the end, that was her destruction. You will beat this, T. I know it."
 
"You knew Jenny would fail didn’t you?" I said.
 
"That’s why I was helping her," Shane said wiping away a tear that had escaped her blue orbs, "look, I won’t tell Bette a word, but you should really consider telling her."
 
I cried softly and whispered, "I’m scared."
 
"I know, T," Shane said pushing a strand off of my face, "just lean on Bette and she will help you find your soul."
 
The car door of the driver’s side opened and Bette sat in her chair looking back at me worriedly. She handed back the water bottle and said, "ready?"
 
Shane looked at me as if asking me the same question but in a different context, and I, uncertain, answered, "yes."