Abduction

I'm really sorry it's been so long. I've just had one of those weeks. All I can say is sorry and I'm doing my best.

Everything was blurred. She felt as if she were deep under water. Where was she? When was she? She didn't know. Nothing made sense. Why was she like this? She couldn't move. She could barely feel.

Sam lay like that for what seemed a very long time, then it began to come back to her. She'd been abducted. She didn't know where she was. She felt so bad because... Vallium. She'd had a lot. She still felt weak, cold, but she was fairly sure she could move now.

She turned her head to the left, opening her eyes. Daylight. It was a moment before she saw Agent Cross, still lying there. He met her eyes with a look of resigned sorrow.

"You were out for a long time. It got light ages ago. That said, I'm surprised to see you awake at all. Fifty mg, plus a 35mg time release and, just to be sure, they put you on a 5 mg drip not long after sunrise."

"So I'm up to forty mg." This didn't scare Sam. It only surprised her, partly by not scaring her, partly because she was conscious. She knew it took fifty mg to put her right out, surely forty mg should be doing more to her than this.

"How are you conscious?"

"I'm resilient to Vallium. The first symbiote I had taught my body how to fight it."

"The first?"

"I've had two. I guess my resistance must be proportional to my exposure."

There was a long silence. Agent Cross broke it.

"Major, I've given you all the important legacy, but there are a few other bits. Are you awake enough to remember?"

"Sure. What?" Sam wasn't lying. She only felt a little tired now. It was unbelievable. The Vallium should have been doing more to her.

"It... it doesn't matter if you forget. They're... they're not important. They're just goodbyes."

"That's important." Sam replied quietly. Agent Cross didn't respond. He just carried on.

"O'Riley wants, wanted, someone to tell his Dad that he should move to Florida if that's what he wants to do, that he's a silly old bugger and that O'Riley loved him. Bishop didn't have any family. He just wanted to make sure that Ralph Mundels got his dog. Grant lost his wife, but he wanted to tell his daughter that he's sorry he won't walk her down the aisle and that he believes, believed Ed will make her happy. Abbey just wanted someone to tell her Mum that she loved her. Poor kid. She was twenty-two. She was Twenty-two and they murdered her." Agent Cross's voice was shaking with either anger or pain. He took a deep breath and forced himself on. "Kings was divorced, but he still wants someone to tell her that he thought she was the best damned woman alive. Singer wants, wanted, someone to tell his Dad thanks, he said he'd know what for." Agent Cross's voice cracked again as he continued. "He was my best friend Major. I... I just can't quite believe he's gone, or any of them are. I guess it'll hit home when... when..." He stopped abruptly, leaving the rest unsaid. "Major, I know I've asked you to remember a lot, but can you take a message from me?"

"I..." Sam didn't know. She felt so responsible already. Agent Cross had left her with the last testimonies of six people, six people who'd known for six days that they were going to die and had faced their fates bravely enough to leave a message behind. "OK."

"I... I just need my wife to know that... that I love her, that I'll always love her and that... I've thought of her right through this, and that I'll... I'll be thinking of her when... when it happens." Agent Cross silenced himself, breaking down into noiseless sobs. Sam didn't know what she could say. He had given up. Completely resigned himself to his fate. She couldn't just let him dwell.

"What's her name?" The only question she could think of.

"Francesca." He replied shakily. "Cesca most of the time."

"How long have you been married?" She had to keep him talking. She didn't know what else to do."

"Three years. I met her five years ago."

"Where?"

"A bar in DC. We hit off right away. She was working for a motel chain, she was mad at her boss for some reason, and we just got talking. Eighteen months later, I asked her to marry me. She said yes on the spot. We've got a penthouse now, near where she works." He was just speaking at random, or it sounded like it.

"Tell me about her."

"She's beautiful Major, like a goddess. Shining black hair, moves like a dancer the whole time. She says I think that because I don't watch enough dance. She's like that. I'm never gonna see her again. I remember the first night we met. I walked her home, the sight of her when she was out of the bar in the moonlight. She was like a drug. I couldn't look at her enough. I was crazy about her from then. I'm never gonna see her again. She always said my work would be the death of me. She was right. It will be."

"Don't talk like that." Sam almost growled. "Don't you go giving up on me. I've gone to other planets, I've escaped from their prisons. I'm not gonna die in some warehouse for a science project, and neither are you. Do you hear me?" Sam didn't know why she'd said it, but her words steeled her, thought she knew they were empty. Agent Cross didn't reply.

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