Title: Midas
Beta: ericadawn16
Genre: Gen/Angst
Characters: Alex Hunter
Rating: G
Spoilers: For "Under the Radar"
Summary: Seven-year-old Alex is sick, and her grandfather tells her a story to distract her.
Warnings: Mentions of non-canon character deaths.
Notes: Written for Day Six of WomenFest.

This is a pre-series fic, but it does contain some information relayed in "Under the Radar".

It was a nice sunny day. It was the kind of weather meant for running around outside and riding your bike and playing tag. Seven-year-old Alex stared out the window with a scowl and plucked restlessly at a ball of lint on the comforter draped over her. She would have been outside, but she had this dumb old head cold and a stupid ear ache. It meant she had to stay inside, and she didn't want to.

Petulant and grumpy, Alex sulked for another ten minutes before her grandmother Sadie walked in with a bowl of soup, a small mug, and some crackers on a serving tray. Alex brightened; it was the special tray, used for special occasions like birthdays and anniversaries. Grandma Sadie fluffed the pillows for her so she was sitting up in bed a little more and then she set the tray carefully on the bed. Alex felt very important and grown up with the special tray.

She was extra careful not to spill her soup or tea. "How do you feel, baby?" Grandma Sadie asked. She brushed Alex's hair away from her face and frowned. "Still a little warm, my poor little girl."

Alex snuggled back into the bed, sleepy and full from the soup. She wished her mommy was there to hold her, or that daddy would read to her. Alex let out a fretful sob that ended in a wet cough. "I want them back. I want them back," she cried. But they weren't coming back. The cemetery was where they stayed now, and no one who went in the ground ever came back.

Grandma sat Alex back up so that she leaned against her, and arranged the blankets a little more around her as she started to rock her back and forth. "I know, little one. I miss them too. Stop crying, baby, you'll make yourself worse," She started to hum and eventually Alex's tears slowed down. The combination of the soft melody and the gentle motion mixed with her exhaustion, and finally lulled Alex back to sleep.

A fierce pain in her ear woke her sometime later. She tried a couple of different positions, but nothing would stop the ache. Frustrated and hot, Alex tossed off her blankets. She had to use the bathroom, but when she stood the world went a little spinny on her. She would have fallen, except that Grandpa was there to catch her. He swept her up in his arms and carried her down the hall.

"Look what I caught. My Mausi, yes?" he said as she giggled, the pain in her ear almost forgotten. Grandpa had a funny way of talking sometimes, and he called her funny names sometimes, but Alex didn't mind. It was like when Grandma called her baby or lamb, or when she called them omi and opa.

He set her down at the bathroom at her request, and when she came out a few minutes later, he scooped her back up. "Now we will get you something to drink, and I will tell you a story."

A few minutes later, Alex sat on her grandpa's lap in his favorite chair, a blanket draped loosely over them. Alex sipped on a juice box while grandpa pulled out a book. She'd never seen t his one before. It looked old, the cover was worn and frayed, and the writing was funny inside it.

"A book of fairy tales, from when I was a boy. I will teach you to read this some day, but for now, listen to the story."

Alex snuggled against her grandpa and listened with sleepy interest about a man named Midas who was granted a gift by a god - that everything he touched would be turned into gold. "Everything?" Alex asked in wonder. "That would be a lot of gold!"

"Yes, it would be a lot of gold," her grandpa said. "More gold than you could ever imagine, Mausi. But sometimes even things we think are good can turn out to be bad."

She found out why soon enough. Midas couldn't eat any food or drink anything. "How'd he go to the bathroom?" Alex asked. "What if he rubbed his eyes? What would happen -"

Grandpa chuckled and pressed a kiss to her forehead. "Now you see the problems, yes? They don't answer all your questions in the story, Mausi, but they are good ones to ask. Always remember to question things if they sound too good to be true. It will keep you safe."

The worst part of the story was that he turned his little girl into gold. Midas was very sad. Alex would be sad too. If she turned everything she touched into gold, she wouldn't be able to snuggle with grandpa and grandma. She wouldn't want to lose them after her parents had gone away too.

Midas was lucky that the god who'd granted him his gift was willing to to help him get rid of it. He had to take a bath (was that how adults solved everything?) and then he could use that same water to free his daughter from the curse. So it had a happy ending. Alex was glad that Midas had saved his little girl.

"Remember the story, Alex. It's a good one to know," Grandpa said. He pressed a kiss to her forehead and closed the book. "How would you like to hear about another treasure, Mausi?"

"Another one?' Alex asked. The pain in her ear wasn't as bad now, and she didn't mind staying inside if it meant Grandpa would keep telling her stories.

"Another one. This story started many years ago, when I was a young man..."

~fin