Author's Note: I kind of deflated after writing Blue. I literally didn't have anything for this chapter. So then I went through a list of possible characters I could bring in to help Pandora along and then well...you'll see soon enough. And then as I was writing this all up, I couldn't get all the pieces to be all cohesive-like. (I'm totally starting to sound like the Chinese drive-thru lady from Dude, Where's My Car) And then, I was like, "Just stop procrastinating already and post the damn thing!" Also, a sort of hint/explanation for this particular turn in the story...I watched Sky High recently. You remember Warren Peace and the whole "My enemy became my best friend..." spiel at the end of the movie? Yeah, it's kind of where I got this idea.
Music Suggestions: 'Broken road' by 12 Stones, 'So long' by Stereoside, 'I'm so sick' by Flyleaf, 'Liar' by Rains.
Disclaimer: (Insert undignified unlady-like snort here) Yeah right. Owning big TV shows like Dark Angel just isn't my bag.
Indigo
By the time she arrived at the door of the last person on earth she thought she'd ever have to turn to, the infamous Seattle rain began to pour from a dark, indigo-colored sky. Holding up the jeans that were twice her size and wiping her nose on the sleeve of the long sleeved t-shirt she'd grabbed from Mason's floor, Pandora extended her hand and rapped on the door loudly.
Staring down at the ground at the toes of her brand new Converse All-Stars, she kicked at the loose gravel on the makeshift path that led up to the door of the small rundown house as she waited. She couldn't believe all that had happened in the past two days. So little time to completely disassemble and rearrange everything she'd ever known.
She didn't even notice the light that suddenly came on until a dog barking threateningly startled her out of her revelry. Moments later, the door cracked open and a pair of dark brown eyes accompanied by a tousled head of straw-colored hair peeked out. The door opened completely.
"Pandora? Are you lost? What are you doing here?" Pogue asked, scrubbing his hands over his face and looking her over with a mixture of apprehension and bewilderment. "Are you...alone?" Pogue added warily, searching over her shoulder into the darkness behind her. It was like the trio reborn, with those three. The hero and the sidekick were never too far behind.
"Can I come in?" Pandora asked in a lost tone, looking every inch the drowned kitten with her hair hanging down around her face in wet clumps and the oversized shirt swamping around her as the rain continued to fall.
"Uh...yeah. Sure." Pogue replied in a confused tone, standing away from the door and dropping his arm to grant her access.
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"So, you gonna tell me what you're doing here? It sure as hell isn't because you enjoy my company...at four in the morning, no less." Pogue said conversationally as he walked into the living room and crashed on the couch.
"What happened to you?" Pandora asked curiously, changing the subject. She slowly lowered herself into the questionable looking recliner that was perpendicular to the couch.
"You're gonna have to be a little more specific, precious." Pogue retorted. "And answer my question first."
"I didn't know where else to go." Pandora said quietly, tucking her legs underneath her chin and wrapping her arms around them. "We used to be friends and then one day...wham! Almost literally a few times. What made you hate me so much?"
"You did." Pogue said frankly, folding his hands together and leaning forward onto his knees.
"Are you being serious?" Pandora asked cautiously.
"Cross my heart, princess." Pogue said seriously. "You had everything. The most awesome parents a kid could ask for that would do any and everything for you, instant friends, a personality that makes everyone love you, and you've got killer looks to boot.
"Now let's look at what I've got, shall we?" Pogue asked before she could comment. A harsh laugh escaped him before he continued. "All I had from the start was a mom that wished she never had me and never failed to remind me of the fact. I'm lucky the ungrateful bitch actually left me this rat-hole to live in when she was killed. My only friends are the ones I can keep under me and don't question my authority. I don't have a personality that invites people in, I have one that pushes people away. I don't like people, and the feeling is mutual most times. I've been alone since I was ten and I like it that way. I've been taking care of myself since I could walk and I didn't need anyone to take me in when my mom was killed right in front of me. So forgive me for being a little bitter when I realized how perfect your life was and tried to make it a little less so."
"Ugly." Pandora said uncomfortably, clearing her throat and looking at him pointedly. "You said I was hot, but you didn't contradict that with your own lack in the looks department. Why would you say it in the first place? And you are kind of on the lower end of the spectrum in that sense. They obviously didn't intend to send you out for undercover missions to seduce. And with your personality, who'd they pair your mother up with anyway, a nomalie?"
"That. That is what you focused on." Pogue said incredulously, leaning back on the couch and resting his arms across the back. "Although...there are those rumors about Mole..." Pogue added in a speculative murmur, his head tilting as his gaze drifted away from hers.
Pandora just shrugged one shoulder unapologetically.
"I'm all shits and giggles like that." Pandora said in a flat tone. She then looked over her shoulder and untucked her feet from underneath her gracefully and stood. "So...got anything snackable around here?"
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Alec stared at the tired and forlorn figure that was once his godson as he headed for the couch and laid down facing away from them. What the hell was going on lately? He was still troubled over what had happened with Sebastian. When he found Sebastian at the party after Pandora had left, the boy was quiet and sulking around–kind of like he did himself when he'd screwed up monumentally with Max.
And the next day, for the first time ever, Alec witnessed Sebastian go berserk over a female in heat. He still had the nasty bruise under his right eye to remember the event. It had taken everyone at the meeting to contain and sedate him. And after a thorough sweep canvasing the whole of TC, they couldn't find one female–X5 or otherwise–in any stage of heat. Sebastian adamantly refused to tell them who had triggered the switch, but Alec had a faint niggling suspicion at the back of his mind as to who Sebastian was protecting. It was something he wasn't quite ready to confront yet.
The argument with Max started easily enough after they brought Sebastian home, as always, but when he glanced over at a subdued and still slightly dazed Sebastian on the couch, he saw an opportunity to divert the boy's focus.
"You see, Sebastian, this is what you need to do to get back on track with Pandora." Alec said matter-of-factly, turning his head away from his argumentative wife for a second to wink conspiratorially. Sebastian glanced up at him with a speculative eyebrow raised, rolling onto his back.
Max frowned back and forth between the two before her eyes widened in surprise when she found herself being picked up and hauled over Alec's shoulder. She pounded at his back angrily as he started walking towards their bedroom.
"Put me down, you jackass." Max tried to say in a forceful tone, but failed when she started laughing.
"And I just meant the shoulder throwing aspect. Pandora isn't having sex until she's thirty." Alec informed Sebastian over his shoulder.
Sebastian shook his head at their antics as well as to clear the cobwebs the drugs were still hanging up in his system. He was pretty sure he and Pandora weren't at that level of "working things out". He stood and walked to the door. He really wasn't in the mood for a preview of what his relationship with Pandora could be like. Besides, he kind of needed to find her before any sort of making up could take place.
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"I'm getting too old for this, woman." Alec said seriously, tumbling her onto the bed and kicking the door shut with his foot.
"You must be if you're senile enough to think that my opinion has changed on this whole possessive over your woman-caveman move you keep trying to put on me." Max deadpanned, bending her elbows under her back and blowing her hair out of her face.
"Well, you are still here. So maybe this is something you like...you know, deep down." Alec retorted, sauntering towards her. Coaxing her knees open, he settled in on top of her and smiled down at her.
"Nah," Max said, shrugging her shoulders in a dismissive gesture. She reached up and patted his face depreciatively, her fingers tracing delicately over the bruise. "I just like your pretty face."
"Really?" Alec returned, his playful tone taking on a seductive notch. He leaned down and trailed the tip of his nose along the column of her neck before pressing a light kiss behind her right ear. "Just my face?"
"I'm not real sure about the rest yet." Max breathed out, her breath hitching when he bit at her neck in response. "I wouldn't mind if you wanted to help me reconsider..."
"Well, I hope you've got the time." Alec said against her skin, pulling at the hem of her tank top. "Because I've got a feeling this is gonna take awhile."
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"Wow. When did I become Mr. Popular?" Pogue asked sarcastically, casting a glance over his shoulder before returning his gaze towards "Part Two" standing at his doorstep. He was wondering what was taking Pandora's other half so long. "I haven't had this many visitors in my entire life."
"Is Pandora here? Let me in." Sebastian asked, his tone threadbare and worn as he tried to glimpse over Pogue's head into the house. "I've looked everywhere else."
"Now I see why she came here." Pogue muttered, leaning against the door and closing it slightly. "I don't think she's up for visitors."
"So she's here." Sebastian said, pushing against the door. He glared when he met resistance. "Let me in."
"Afraid I can't do that." Pogue stated, shrugging one shoulder carelessly. "At the present, she scares me more than you do. Not to mention, she's got the home advantage in my house. She's already threatened to cripple me and throw me from the premises–in pieces–five times since she's been here."
Sebastian's hand shot out and yanked Pogue through the open crack in the door.
"Guess I'll just step out for a minute, then." Pogue said casually, shutting the door behind him quietly before he continued speaking. "From what little I've learned of this situation, I don't think she wants to talk to you. Or anyone else in your little social circle you all've got going on." Pogue replied, his eyebrows rising and his lips forming a grim smile.
"Listen, just get her to come out here so I can try and talk her into coming home." Sebastian said in a frustrated tone, pushing his hair out of his face as his gaze fell to the ground.
Pogue held his hands out in surrender. It would seem this girl brought trouble his way whether he wanted it or not.
"Whatever, dude." Pogue replied in an agreeable tone. "I've been trying to kick her back out the door since I let her in. Let's see if you're the magic key." Pogue added unbelievingly as he grasped the knob and reopened the door, backing in and slamming the door shut.
Sebastian looked up at the sky for patience and shuffled from one foot the other as he waited.
"Man, you must have really screwed up with her." Pogue said, stepping back outside and closing the door moments later. He then turned back to Sebastian. "Cause I've been nothing but a real jerk to her for her whole life, and now nothing I say or do can get her to leave." Pogue finished with a rueful glare, folding his arms across his chest.
"What did she say?" Sebastian asked impatiently.
"She said...and I quote...'piss off and have a lovely day'." Pogue responded in a light tone, a fake smile accompanying the response.
"You're paraphrasing, right?" Sebastian asked skeptically, a frown forming.
"Are you kidding?" Pogue replied, a smirk quirking up his lips as he leaned against the door frame. "It doesn't get any better than this. A little love quarrel with the misunderstood hero and the under-appreciated best friend. Tragic." Pogue continued sarcastically, false sympathy oozing from every word. "Seriously. I haven't watched afternoon TV in years."
Sebastian's eyebrow twitched angrily and a snarl was on the tip of his tongue. However, he was in no shape to be fighting and forcing his way anywhere or on anyone. Breathing deep instead, he glared menacingly a few moments more before he turned and walked away.
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"Alright. That's it." Pogue stated after he watched her finish off her third bag of his chips, standing up purposefully and striding towards Pandora. "Time's up. Get out."
"What? No." Pandora said incredulously, shaking her head resolutely as he stood in front of her and stared down at her ominously.
"You've hidden here long enough and you wore out your welcome five minutes after you sat down. You've been moping around with your sworn enemy for the past twelve hours. Go home." Pogue explained as he yanked her upwards. She immediately began struggling.
"No! I don't wanna go back. They'll all be there waiting for me. Sure, you hate me or whatever, but at least you're honest about it." Pandora argued frantically, her eyes shining with unshed tears.
"Jeez, look at yourself. Quit whining about the first and only little snag in your perfect life. Whatever it is they all did to you, they're willing to do whatever to make it better. They'll do anything you tell them to do because of that nagging little conscience you all insist upon having. Tell them to stand on their heads and walk only on their hands for two days or to shower with vinegar and wash their hair with Veet. Or just tell them to stop nagging you and pretend that whatever it is that happened didn't happen. Look, I don't care, just as long as you're not here anymore. Got it?"
Pandora huffed out a deep breath through her mouth and frowned at him but let him lead her to the door. As he tried to push her out of the door, she put her hands out and dragged her heels.
"Wait." Pandora said suddenly, looking at him over her shoulder.
"Oh my God! What now?" Pogue asked in an exasperated tone, still trying to push her.
"Thanks. I kind of needed all that." Pandora said, smiling a small smile briefly. She then pointed her finger over her shoulder in his face with a firm expression. "And no more pushing. Seriously. I totally hate that."
"Good God, just go already!" Pogue said, giving her a gentle final shove out the door and shutting it behind her, ducking his head to hide the smile that crept onto his face unbidden. He might have actually liked her if she didn't already have the world at her pedestaled feet.
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I had to put a little happiness in this chapter and besides, I haven't really written much for Max and Alec lately. And if there's any confusion about why they're so busy getting it on that they don't even notice their daughter's missing, it's because they think she's still at Mason's. They don't know about the heat and her running away. Also, don't fret, I did not just introduce another love interest for Pandora. Pogue is just a barely sociable acquaintance. He's the same Pogue from way back in Yellow that was picking on Pandora. I needed someone for her to run to as well as someone to make her go back home and like I said at the beginning, I just watched Sky High a little while ago and I totally love Steven Strait's character in that movie. It was like a light bulb lighting up in my head. Anyway...until next time...