After the paint fight, I collapsed to the floor in exhaustion, breathing heavily, and Jessie sat on my waist pinning my arms under her knees.

She cocked her head and looked at me before saying 'You know you remind me of Scott except you don't have the "rich kid" attitude.'

'Rich kid? Nina never said Scott was rich.' I replied trying to sit up.

'Yeah his parents were important scientists. My mum was working for them in their lab when she was killed during an experiment.' Jessie replied sadly, getting up off my arms.

'The Genova Project.' I gasped.

'How did you know about that?' Jessie asked puzzled.

'I read about it in the papers, something about chemical treating of DNA to recreate the imprinting of genes that occurs in embryogenesis for use in cloning.' I replied.

'Well my mum was poisoned by chemical vapours in the lab. I don't know what they were but they killed her instantly. My dad was angry about and killed Scott in retaliation by damaging his car's brake cables. He swore me to secrecy saying that I'd be all on my own if they put him away for it. But now I can't help wondering if he also killed Scott because he wanted Nina.' Jessie told me in a whisper.

I held her in my arms and whispered 'I'm sorry.'

'It's not your fault she told me softly.

'Maybe it is. You haven't said anything about why I look so different, my eyes, my chest, my nonexistent belly button, but I know you've been thinking about it and I think I should tell you.' I replied.

'Tell me what?' Jessie asked.

'That I'm a product of the Genova project.' I replied.

'What? How?' she asked shocked and perplexed.

'After Scott's death his parents attempted to clone him using the Genova techniques and others used to speed up development. They were highly experimental and I was the first clone to be created and a disappointment to them.' I started and continued to tell her of the other clones creations and how they were deformed. I told her of my powers and how I escaped after our creators decided to kill us.

'You see the chemicals used also caused mutations to the DNA, the effects of which were magnified during the process of cloning and growth acceleration making us deformed, they had to use the chemicals in order to make us develop properly in the first place but it also increased the risk of mutation, ruining the attempts.' I finished, looking for any trace of disgust or horror in her eyes but instead finding understanding.

'Don't blame yourself. You didn't ask to be born, it was their way of getting over their grief. You had nothing to do with my mum's death.' Jessie replied, holding me tighter.

'But I'm a freak.' I told her.

'No you're special. Being different doesn't make you a freak. You have emotions too.' Jessie whispered in my ear.

'I think it's time we got cleaned up, don't you?' she said getting up.

We showered together, taking comfort from each other's touch. Caressing the contours of each other's body, it felt like we were becoming one. I lost myself in her eyes and the curves of her body and she too seemed to be in the same state, aware of herself and me only.

The trance was broken when the water turned cold. 'Ahh!' Jessie shrieked and I leant over and turned it off. As we got out the shower shivering I picked up my watch and looked at it. 'Six o'clock!' I thought. We'd been in the shower over an hour and our skin had turned wrinkly in places.

We both got dried and dressed, heading down the stairs for something to eat. We spent most of the night talking about anything and everything, my memories of her through Scott's experience, my dream, her mother and my "parents". Eventually the conversation came round to recent events, Nina and me, Nina and her dad, and finally me and her.

'You didn't sleep with me just because you were on the rebound from Nina, did you?' she asked, voicing her uncertainty of me for the first time.

'Why would you say that?' I asked, taking her hand into mine.

'It's just that it happened so suddenly.' She told me, gripping my hands tightly.

'Doesn't all true love? Anyway I felt something there for you when I met you at the hospital, just that my worries for Nina kept it hidden from me. Now that I've been able to spend time alone with you that feeling was able to get my attention. And no it's not a residual Scott thing.' I told her and she started to laugh.

'What's so funny?' I asked, confused and just a tiny bit hurt.

'I'm sorry, I just had to be sure.' She replied.

I pulled her towards me and looked into her eyes. 'You're my first and as far as I'm concerned my only. You had or never will have anything to worry about us. You accepted me as I am so accept this.' I whispered.

She smiled and held me tight, her head resting on my shoulder.

We went upstairs at around eleven o'clock that night and we lay in bed exploring each other's bodies slowly with our hands in a sensual rather than sexual way and eventually fell asleep in each other's arms.

I was woken early by a loud banging sound downstairs, my heart thumping loudly as I realised that Jessie no longer lay next to me. I ran downstairs in the dark to find Jessie's dad dragging an unconscious Jessie through the shattered door.

'What the fuck do you think you're doing?' I yelled at him.

'Taking back my daughter you son of a bitch.' He snapped back.

'By force? You're a brilliant father aren't you! What's the matter? Your mistress Nina left you so you need to have another young girl to batter around?' I taunted angrily, my fists clenched.

He snorted in rage and raised the gun in his hand and fired three times, all three bullets hitting me, one in the shoulder, another in the chest and the last in my abdomen. I fell to the floor, blood oozing from my body as pain flared throughout. There was a sound of a car driving away as I fought to keep consciousness.

Gritting my teeth I pulled the metal slug from my abdomen which luckily missed the organs and then the one from my chest which had hit a rib breaking in and then stopped within it. Dripping blood and breathing shallowly as pain stung my chest I padded into the kitchen, my left arm hung limp as my shoulder was shattered, the bullet having gone straight through, and burnt my wounds healing them. My left arm was still stiff as bone healed slower than skin, though my rib was sufficiently repaired for me to breathe normally again. I pulled on some clothes and shoes before finally running out into the street, heading in the direction I believed that the car had gone.

'Johnny!' I heard a voice scream and turned, seeing Nina running up behind me, tears streaming down her face.

Rage and disgust swelled up in me as she grabbed my arm.

'What do you want?' I yelled at her pulling away.

'I couldn't stop him! He was so mad when I told him.' she cried.

'What!?' I yelled.

Nina just continued to sob.

Breathing deeply I then asked in a slightly calmer tone 'Look, do you have any idea where he'd have gone? I doubt he'd take her back home.'

'I don't know. Can't you find her like you found me?' she replied between sobs.

I didn't reply to that. Telepathy was no good if she was unconscious, nothing for me to link to. As for the bio-link I couldn't use that unless I was telepathically linked in the first place so I couldn't locate Jessie that way. Just as well I didn't know her father well enough to try it on him cause what was going on in his mind would make it a place I'd have no desire to go.

Finally I answered 'Where is her mum buried?' I asked suddenly struck with inspiration.

'The North Road Cemetery. why?' Nina stammered in reply.

'It's the past, he'd feel safe there.' I replied and walked up to a nearby car, smashing the front side window.

Luckily the car wasn't alarmed, there usually wasn't any need since this was a nice area. Nina gaped in surprise as I opened the door brushing the glass from the seat before clambering over to the driver's side and tore the ignition from the under the steering column and hotwired the car. The engine burst into life, rumbling away as I let Scott's memories take over and put my feet on the pedals.

'Get in!' I yelled to Nina as the car engine revved louder.

She paused for a second and jumped into the passenger seat closing the door behind her. I pressed the clutch and changed into first gear driving away heading to the Cemetery hoping I could get there quick enough. Nina sat sniffling softly without saying a word as my hands and feet worked of their own volition my eyes only half seeing the road as my mind was preoccupied. Anger scorched inside me as I gripped the steering wheel, visions of what I'd do to him when I got there playing over and over. We pulled into the cemetery, driving through tall iron gates that hung open a broken chain dangling from around the lock, the bars bent from the force of being broken open.

'I guess you was right.' Nina murmured softly.

I stopped the car and got out, noticing a car with a crumpled front, dripping oil and emitting steam parked nearby. I crept over to it slowly and found it was empty. He was out there with her somewhere. Motioning Nina to follow I headed out into the rows of headstones, walking in a line through the darkness, my legs brushing against stone and flowers, crosses and slabs of stones as far as I could see.

I could hear breathing and malicious whisperings out there somewhere but the darkness and eeriness of the graveyard made it hard to discern. I stood on a twig cracking it, the sound reverberating loudly around me and causing a figure to rise a couple of rows down.

'Jessie!' I cried out as I saw the writhing figure in his arms.

'Won't you just die!?' her father yelled raising his gun and turning to run.

'Get down!' I called to Nina as there was an explosion as he fired the gun as he ran off away through the rows of stones dragging Jessie along. I rose from the dirt to chase after him but a faint cry made me turn round.

In the faint moonlight I could see that Nina had been unable to get down in time and had been thrown onto her back, blood trickling rapidly from the ragged hole in her top. She took a breath, coughing madly as blood bubbled from her lips as I strode to her quickly, falling to my knees to take a better look. Her green eyes were already glazed, her chest no longer rising and falling with breaths, crimson blood still gushing from the wound. I pulled aside her top and saw why, the bullet had gone straight through her chest, piercing her heart, killing her almost instantly. I sat numb with shock and sadness, closing her dead eyes unable to do anything else for her.

Tears started to form in the corners of my eyes and then a scream caused my head to jolt up and see him dragging Jessie away to the clock tower. It was then the shock and sadness was washed away under a wave of anger and rage fuelled by a deep burning pain. I rose to my feet, my bloodied hands clenching into tight shaking fists. He had caused me so much pain, he was the reason for my creation, my deformities, the painful tests I had to endure, the reason I had to run, he had taken Nina from me twice now, murdered her while I stood there and now he was taking Jessie from me. No fucking way, NO FUCKING WAY!!!

I snarled in the darkness, tearing over the grass between the graves, clods of turf torn from the lawn as I made my way to the tower where he was waiting for me. The wooden door was kicked in, the frame splintered where the lock had torn away. I paused by the door, trying to stop my shadow falling in the doorway giving my presence away. I couldn't risk the time to envelop myself in a timeless world regardless of the time it'd buy me. Besides my mind wasn't tranquil enough for me to attempt such a thing, the rage blurring my rationality, urging me on to action. I slipped through the door quickly, pressing my back against the rough stone wall as it rasped at my bare arms. The small landing lay bare and the stairs rose before me, the only way there was to go. I moved forward gripping the rail of the stairwell, glancing up to see if he was up there but the darkness obscured the square spiral of the staircase. I placed a foot on the bottom stair gingerly, applying little pressure to prevent my being heard and continued upwards in a similar fashion, always looking up and my back near the wall where the shadows hid me.

I finally reached the top, a small square of stone slabs separating me from the open door of the clockwork room. There was no place left for him to go, yet the place he hid was chosen perfectly, the noise of metal cogs turning each other endlessly covered any sound either he or Jessie could make to warn me of their whereabouts. I could only make out the numerous metal teeth, the shafts that held the cogs and a pendulum that kept it all running smoothly in the dark musty room, the clock face merely a metal plaque on the other side of the wall and the only light being the faint moonlight through the glass window in the far side wall. Throwing away all caution I dived into the room, sliding across the floor to hopefully avoid any attacks, the friction building up and burning me through my clothes as I came to a halt by a cog. I could sense Jessie close by and made my way towards her presence when a flare of anger caused me to duck, a metal pole slamming into the cog where my head had been. I looked up into burning eyes, Jessie's father hissing angrily as he pulled back the bent pole.

'Why do you haunt me? How many times must I kill you?' he roared over the clockwork.

'You brought this on yourself.' I snapped and charged at him from my knelt position, throwing my arms around his waist and slamming him backwards, the pole falling from his hand as he grunted, the clank of metal on stone in my ear as we fell to the ground.

He rained his fists down on my back as I struggled to pull my hands from under him, ramming my forehead into his gut winding him. I finally pulled my hands free, slamming a fist into his face as he lay pinned under me, pain creasing his features, taking the anger from within him. I wanted to shower him with pain like he had caused me but I knew that I wouldn't be able to hit him enough.

'Johnny.' Jessie cried weakly behind me and I was glad she couldn't see the madness in my eyes.

I pulled myself off her father who lay there helpless, breathing sharply and turned to look for her, the darkness obscuring my burning eyes. I walked through the cogs and found her curled up in the corner, her T-shirt torn and dirty, her wrists reddened with finger marks.

'Jessie.' I said softly, dropping down to my knees and wiping her tears away and taking her hands. It was still dark and I could barely see her face, so I used my voice and touch to reassure her.

'My dad.' she murmured.

'I took care of him.' I told her and then my vision flashed as something hard smashed me in the side of the head, tearing me from her.

'Damn you Scott, you won't take my daughter away too.' Her father growled, the gun in his hand.

I sat up, blood trickling down my temple and over my cheek as I looked into his eyes and saw the insanity dancing there.

'I'm not Scott.' I retorted and spat the blood that flowed into the corner of my mouth.

'You think I don't recognise you? You think you're so clever escaping that car, dodging those bullets, well let's see you dodge this one.' He said menacingly and I found myself looking into the gun barrel.

I started moving as he pulled the trigger but the only sound was a click as the chamber was empty, there were more and more clicks as he pulled the trigger frantically, his eyes flooding with hysteria as I rose like an avenging demon, my hand slamming into his throat as I threw him back into the wall He bounced off the wall, his body shuddering from the blow, as with a guttural snarl I bunched my fists and smashed him across the face spinning him round straight into the window.

There was a shattering of glass as he went straight through the window, the force of my punch and his body weight pulling him through in a shower of shards and thin strips of lead. There was a sickening thud as he hit the ground and I leant out the window to find him spread-eagled, face down on the tarmac. I stood glaring at him, my breaths deep and sharp as I reined in my anger. He had got to escape the misery I so wanted to visit on him, admittedly he had to die to do it but rather him than me or Jessie.

I turned back to Jessie scooping her up in my arms as she wrapped her arms around my neck and rested her head on my shoulder.

'Where's my dad now?' she murmured faintly, drowsing off slightly.

'He's gone sweetie.' I replied softly and carried her to the car and drove off, leaving Nina among the graves with a small pang of pain and guilt in my heart.

We returned to Jessie's place, sleeping in her bed and waited for all hell to break loose.

The police came the following afternoon, someone having found both Nina and Jessie's father at the cemetery. So far they believed it was a murder/suicide, an idea helped by mine and Jessie's statements of her father's and Nina's relationship, and Nina's accident. Luckily they didn't question any of this and we were left alone. Jessie grieved her father's and Nina's deaths whilst I merely grieved Nina's. It was such a mistake that she had been taken. Seeing Jessie's pain over losing her remaining family made me feel a little guilt but I was there for and as she got better so did I. Nina's mother was distraught over what happened but there was little Jessie and I could do for her except support her in our shared grief.

Jessie and I decided to leave town a couple of months later, the memories all too painful, plus I was beginning to get paranoid that all this had caught the attention of my "parents" and they was searching for me. Every year on the day it all happened we returned to visit their graves just as I was doing now.

'Are you ready?' Jessie asked softly, placing her hand on my shoulder.

I turned and looked up into the swelling of her belly, smiling at the thought that she was carrying our first child. I gently squeezed her hand, standing up replying 'Yeah' and rubbed my hand over her bump.

So far all was going well, my worries that my unnaturalness would affect our baby had been dissipated over the months as Jessie's belly grew. She kissed me softly on the cheek, leaning against me for support as we walked back to our car to leave this town of pain and the spectre of my parents.

Author's Note:

I wrote most of this story when I was 15, up to the point where Jessie is taken and Nina arrives and then wrote the ending following that recently, six years on after leaving it untouched. It's presented as written back then with only a few minor edits, mainly little grammatical changes, some additions to make sense and alterations in some of the scientific parts due to improved knowledge. The main edit was the removal of the graphic sex scene between Johnny and Jessie. but hey I was 15 what do you expect? Sex consumed 98% of my thoughts back then. The reason I'm telling you all this is to explain any major differences in style between the two parts. Anyways the 21 year old me likes the version as it stands now. I hope you did too if you've read this far.