I do not own any American Gothic characters, this is a work of fan fiction. This story is a continuation of my previous stories Emotion, Old Friends, Family, Difficult Decisions, Reflection, Spirit, Acceptance, Whole Again, Homecoming, Oh Father, Birthday Surprises, Misguided Feelings, New Year, Picture Perfect, Kinship, Big River, Sunday Morning Coming Down, To Beat The Devil, Best Of All Possible Worlds, Little Girl Lost, Wicked Games, Monster Bash, It Takes Two To Tango and Nobody Wins.
It was a bitter cold December evening in Trinity South Carolina, heavy rain poured down all over town and the strong wind caused the branches of a tree to bang heavily against the window of the hospital room; however, the occupants in the crowded room where Judith Temple had once jumped out of did not pay attention to the coming storm.
'What did you do!' Merlyn shouted accusingly and Lucas.
Lucas stood motionless holding his newborn baby boy, attempting to control his rage; however, the longer Matt tried to resuscitate Gail, the worse it got and he could feel his rage slowly leaking out of him.
When Gail had given birth to their son everything appeared fine, then an inordinate amount of blood started flowing out of her and she passed out. Rita had instinctively rushed to find Matt Crower, while Lucas was left trying to wake her up and keep hold of their child. It had not taken Matt long to stop the blood flowing out of Gail; however, that was when her heart stopped and Lucas' skipped a beat. He would not lose her like this, she would not get off that easily.
His rage began to grow the longer it took for her heart to start beating again and Lucas was about to step in; however, that's when the children entered the room. Caleb stood motionless, staring from Gail to his baby brother and Merlyn did not hide her true feelings about who she thought had caused this situation. Lucas took a deep breath, in an attempt to drown out the irritating girl and that was when the baby started crying.
Lucas did not know what to do with a baby, this was never just supposed to be him. He knew his emotions were causing the storm outside and at that moment in time, it was taking all of his self control not to release his twin to reek havoc on anyone it chose, just to distract him from his current predicament.
The sound of Matt putting down the paddles he had been using to kick start Gails heart, pulled Lucas out of his trance and he handed a reluctant Merlyn the baby. He began to pace the room then saw Matt starting to use his hands, in a last ditch attempt to resuscitate his love and that pushed him over the edge. 'Get out!' he yelled at everybody in the room and caused them all to stop what they were doing.
Merlyn had never seen him this way and sensed his rage, so pulled Caleb out of the room while she held the baby tight.
Matt continued to push on Gail's chest, until Lucas grabbed his hands and pulled him away. When he turned to Lucas about to shout at him, he spotted genuine concern on the mans face and hoped he had some way of fixing this. 'You better bring her back' Matt warned, then left the room against his better judgement.
Lucas stared at Gail's still body and took a deep breath to calm himself. He ignored the long drone of the machine indicating she had flat-lined and pushed away his anger at the current situation. Lucas moved towards her, grabbed a chair and sat down beside her. He picked up her hand gently, then rested his forehead on hers and closed his eyes.
Lucas continued to inhale deeply and forced himself to focus. He would not lose her like this, it was not an option he was willing to entertain. He knew he was meddling with forces that he had no right to be messing with, he had only interfered in these matters when he had an airtight deal with someone in need and even then he had only done it a handful of times. Lucas knew there would be consequences for this, as the powers he worked with would expect a sacrifice; however, he was Lucas Buck and anything that tried to go against him in this instance would be damned.
The rain outside turned torrential, it was accompanied by gale force winds which smashed the branches of the tree outside the hospital room against the window. Lucas drowned out all other noise and focused on the light within Gail, it was fading quickly and he tried to pull it back; however, something pierced through his brain and prevented him from taking hold of it.
When Lucas failed to take hold of her light, he summoned her darkness. He had not wanted to go down this route, as her darkness could see this predicament as the opportune moment to snuff the light out within her and he could not guarantee which Gail would come out of this; however, he would do whatever it took to bring her back and deal with the consequences later.
Lucas concentrated hard on Rosemary, then challenged her to come out and take him once and for all. He felt the hatred within her and smiled, this part of her really did not like him and the thought amused him. Suddenly he felt the rage rise within her, he took a quick intake of breath and squeezed her hand hard, then his hand was pried away from Gail's and the connection was lost.
'No!' Lucas yelled and turned towards the damned soul who had dared to interrupt him. When he saw Caleb stood next to him and Merlyn behind him holding the baby, he quickly took hold of his twin who was ready to burst out and punish the guilty party. 'What did you do boy?' he asked through gritted teeth.
Caleb skulked behind Merlyn and she stood tall, whilst slowly rocking the baby. 'What I told him to' she said sternly.
Lucas laughed and shook his head. 'Merlyn Ann...I swear when I'm through with you, you're gonna wish you stayed dead' he threatened, then started to walk towards her.
Merlyn took a step back and shielded Caleb, who clearly did not know what to do. 'I dare you to try this now' she goaded, happy that he was finally showing his true colours in front of Caleb.
Suddenly Lucas felt his boots stick to the floor, it was the same feeling he got when he tried to approach Gail when she was in labour. He quickly turned around expecting to see his love awake; however, she still lay lifeless on the bed. As his attention had momentarily been taken away from the object of his anger, he noticed the monitor had started to beep, indicating Gail's heart had began to beat again. He sensed she was still not fully with him, but this was a start.
Lucas let out a relieved sigh and felt the hold on his boots loosen, he turned around to the children who had backed up all the way into the corner and laughed. 'Momentary lapse...' he smiled at Merlyn, '...it won't happen again'
Merlyn saw the control return to him and sensed the change in Gail, she shook her head at her cousins unconscious assistance to him and let out a long sigh.
Lucas smiled when the realistion crossed over Merlyns face and held his hands out for the baby. 'Come out from behind there son...cowardice doesn't suit you' he said to Caleb and left the room to find Matt Crower.
Merlyn walked towards Gail and stroked her arm. 'You're infuriatin'...' she sighed and felt her cousins head, Gail's mind was not responsive and she did not know what to do. '...Wake up damn it!'
Matt entered the room, just in time to see Merlyn hang her head sadly and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. 'I don't know what he did, but it worked...now go and trust me to do my job' he ordered.
Merlyn forced a smile and nodded, she did not trust Lucas with the children and knew Gail would want her to keep an eye on them.
Gail Emory walked casually past the stalls of the county fair, wearing a long peach thin strapped dress with her long brown hair flowing over her shoulders. The place by the River they had chosen to hold this event was a beautiful spot and she admired the view out onto the water.
It was unusually quiet at the fair, the stalls did not appear to be attended by workers and there were no children around as you would expect; however, she was enjoying the peacefulness and hoped she had the place to herself for a while longer.
The warm summer breeze blew across her face and through her hair, this caused her to take a deep breath and admire her surroundings. It had been a while since she had felt so relaxed with no responsibilities; however, for the life of her she could not understand why that would be the case.
Something stirred behind a tree and it caught her attention, when she saw a dark dog skulk towards her she smiled warmly and knelt down to give it an affectionate stroke. 'You look familiar' she said aloud and continued to stroke the dog. When it nuzzled it's face into her lap, she was hit by a strange sense of deja vu.
The wind picked up and a strong gust blew her over, Gail laughed as she ended up laying on her back and the dog came to lie beside her. After she had regained her composure, she turned towards the dog again and stroked it whilst propped up on one elbow. 'Somethings not right...I can feel it' she whispered to her mysterious companion and smiled when he whined, in an indication that he felt it too.
Gail looked all around her, let out a long breath, then bit her lip unconsciously. 'Where are all the people? It's one of the most popular events of the year, but there's no children playing or parents running around after them. Hell, there's no-one manning the stalls...' she laughed, then let out a sigh. '...What the hell is going on?'
Gideon arose and licked her cheek, then moved down to her knees and gripped the bottom of the dress in his teeth, which had slid up when she had fallen over. He gently pulled the fabric and waited for her to come to terms with what was happening.
Gail narrowed her eyes curiously at her mystery companion, then sat up. 'You want me to get up?' she asked confused, not understanding why she believed it was acceptable to talk to a dog.
Gideon let go of the dress and backed up towards the tree he had appeared from, indicating he understood her. He stood for a moment staring at Gail, then ran past the tree.
Gail watched the display and shook her head, this was all so strange; however, she was intrigued. She got up from her position on the ground and brushed the dirt off her dress with her hands, then began to follow her mysterious friend. It occurred to her when she got closer to the dogs current location that she had followed the animal without any concern whatsoever. She had no idea where he was leading her or why she felt the animal was trustworthy, she had been taught better than this and it was not like her to follow anyone or anything obediently without question.
Gideon stopped at the edge of the riverbank and waited for his Master, when he sensed her near his position he sat down obediently and stared into the water.
Gail glanced in the direction of the dogs gaze and caught sight of a boat on the river, she squinted her eyes in an attempt to see who was in the boat; however, without her glasses there was not much hope of that. As the boat rowed closer to the shore, her mouth dropped open when she realised who the occupants were.
'They're cute aren't they?...' came a sweet voice from behind her, '...He's not much to look at but when he's with Christie, somethin' changes about him'
Gail continued to watch her Mother laughing with Gage Temple in the boat ahead of her, then turned her head away in disgust. She loved her Mother deeply; however, there were other ways to deal with falling out of love and she should have had more respect than to go frolicking about with a man such as Gage Temple.
Suddenly she became aware that the young woman who had been previously stood behind her, had walked away and sat on a bench to her right. Gail turned towards the young woman and stared at her curiously. Her golden blonde hair hung wild over her shoulders, not much different to Gail's and her petite figure was hidden underneath a long vest and a pair of ripped blue jeans.
The young woman reminded her of someone she used to know, she could not place the resemblance; however, the letter M was stuck in her mind.
The young woman pulled a porcelain doll from behind her back and placed it on her knee. 'My little Merlyn, you love to look out into the water don't you?' she smiled at the doll.
Merlyn, that unusual name meant something to her and she began to feel uneasy. She glanced around again, noticing there was still no-one here but her and this young woman, then a feeling of suspicion swept through her. Gail looked towards the river quickly, not wanting to take her eyes off the woman for long, and noticed the boat was gone. When she turned back towards the young blonde woman, she jumped back when she appeared right in front of her face.
'What did you think would happen? You thought you were different but you're not...now you're here with us' she said and a wicked grin came across her face.
Gideon stood up and jumped towards the woman; however, she disappeared before he could get his teeth into her. He ran back towards his Master and sat down in front of her feet, glancing around protectively.
Gail stared at the spot where the woman had been and her body gave off an involuntary shiver. This was not right and she desperately needed to find out what was going on.
-To be continued-