Tethered
AN: Edited! Don't know why FF did that.
2008, November.
Amy's hand grazed against the skin of her arm, Taylor's body lighting up like a Christmas tree in her mind's eye. Then she did it again, just to be sure.
It was fascinating - mesmerizing, even. Every nerve firing up, every muscle twitching and moving, everything moving in perfect, synchronized harmony.
She already knew that Tay's body was beautiful, but looking at it from this angle managed to leave her completely speechless. Mesmerizing and exhilarating, akin to seeing with an eye that had been closed for the entirety of her life, now wide open.
She scanned her body again - doing another pass, just to be sure.
She could wake her up. She could - she knew how now. Just a little twist - but she didn't want to. She would wake up in a couple of hours by herself if she was reading her senses correctly, and it was the sane thing to do, for her to catch a couple of hours of sleep after pulling that stupid, stupid stunt.
She felt a couple of tears gathering in her eyes at the memory, barely managing to keep them at bay.
Yeah, this was her punishment. Some hours of restful sleep with a mousy hawk to do overwatch over her and numerous pokes in the ribs when she fluttered those beautiful eyes open.
At least that was the plan until Carol barged into the room and dumped it into the trashcan - a lit one.
Carol looks at Taylor with a laserlike intensity, her eyes snapping from their cursory scan and zeroing on how Amelia's hand was holding Taylor's.
Narrowing of eyes, muscles coiling and shoulders squaring - Carol was gearing herself for a verbal spat, she could tell.
Could she, now? That was new.
"We need to talk."
Amelia snorted softly. "About my Powers?"
Carol nodded, eyes still fixated on her hand. "Yes, about your… Powers. Is what the paramedics said correct? You can heal?"
There was a hint of suspicion in her tongue, but Amy dismissed it. "Yeah, It looks like that. But that's not the only thing I can do." Carol's gaze met hers.
"I have Biology control… Biomancy? Bio-something. I can control the biology of the things I touch, so-"
"No."
Amy recoiled slightly, somewhat alarmed at the tone her adoptive mother was using. And by her body language, she could tell she was furious… And scared. What? Why?
"You can heal. That's it. That's all you can do and nothing else."
Amelia sputtered, confused and lost. Why couldn't she do more things with her power? She wanted to use it for all the good she could, goddammit!
"But-" an angry hiss almost cut her out, "I can do so much with this! I can make seeds that last longer in worse places, or just make better products, or, or-!"
"No. And that is final." She huffed, cracking her knuckles slightly by clawing her hand.
"We will discuss Name and Costume once we get back home. Your Power functions by touch, does it not?"
Amelia nodded, still too hurt and confused to do anything else.
"Then don't touch her," she snapped while pointing at Taylor.
"If you use your Power on another person without asking for the permission of the patient or the next of kin, you - we - can get into a lawsuit, and I absolutely do not want that."
Carol sniffed and crossed her arms. "Have I made myself understood, Amy?"
She nodded, hand having released Taylor's arm from her touch. She twitched. She wanted to scan her again…
Carol snapped her fingers. "Amy. Have I made myself understood? This time, speak."
Her hand twitched again, but she answered with a soft "yes, Carol."
Her adoptive mother scrutinized her for more seconds than strictly needed, searching for something. Then, she huffed and turned towards the door.
"Make sure to be in the lobby in the next fifteen minutes." And with that, she was gone.
Amy slumped in her chair, laying down her head on Taylor's side while her hands flew to her face.
Why was Carol being like this? She knew she was adopted, and maybe - definitely - unwanted, but this? This shit she pulled right now bordered on emotional abuse, as far as her knowledge went. She Triggered because she wanted to heal Tay, and now? Now she wanted to separate them?
She wanted to have her ask every single time she wanted to touch Taylor? To check her health and safety, to see if there was something wrong?
Absolutely unacceptable.
With teary eyes and a set frown, she touched the brunette's arm, and with a mental tug not dissimilar to tugging and being tugged at the same time, a mental highway formed.
She slowly let her grip slacken - then stopped having skin-to-skin contact completely, but the map of her body was still there. If muddled and out of focus, but it was still present, and by each moment that she held the linkage, it became infinitesimally more clear.
Amy giggled. Now Carol couldn't take her from Amy, now she couldn't take away the only thing that brought joy into the monotone colors that painted the world.
And Taylor couldn't experience it.
That brought her mood crashing down from the stratosphere into the ground in a picosecond.
She bared her teeth in frustration, pacing and tugging at her hair in frustration.
This was a marvelous thing, and she couldn't share it!
Huffing and throwing up her arms in frustration, she wrote a note with a piece of paper from Taylor's bag - why she always carried writing utensils was still a thing that eluded her, but at the moment it was something she appreciated and left her a note that told her how sorry she was she couldn't be there when she woke up, with a promise that she'll visit her as soon as she can.
Dissatisfied but placated, she met with Carol in the lobby after doing another last moment scan - she couldn't resist it - and followed her to the car without saying a peep. Victoria already was there, apparently having accompanied Carol in her retrieval. She tried making small-talk, but Amy was too busy submerged in the Link, watching and monitoring how distance affected it, and how good or bad her control was when not in direct contact.
Once home and at the bed, she could gaze all she wanted. Taylor was still asleep, yes, but that did not make her biology any more uninteresting. Watching how the brain underwent the different phases of sleep was fascinating.
Still, she hoped that Taylor woke up with a familiar face beside her. She couldn't imagine waking up in an unfamiliar bed with the only company being a fly or two and the howling of the wind past her window.
And then she had Victoria at the foot of her bed.
"How are you holding up, Ames?"
She scrunched her face, then gave a sickly sweet smile. "Counting that Carol all but dragged me away from the one person that I Triggered to protect, not that much If I'm being honest. You?"
Victoria looks at her, taken aback by the sudden influx of bitterness in her voice.
"Look, I know that you wanted to spend time with her, but you Triggered Ames, that is not a small thing, and we are - I am, concerned about you." Then she says in a smaller, softer voice, "and you could always spend more time with us, you know. We are your family…"
At which point Amy snorts. "Who, you say? Carol, the one that took me away from the Hospital and practically threatened me to not use my power at its fullest? Mark, that the only thing he has done today is grunting in my relative direction?"
She barked a harsh, ugly laugh. "The only one that gives a shit even in the most minimal fashion is you, Victoria, and you usually spend ninety percent of your free time hanging out with your friends anyway. Yours, not mine."
She huffs. "I have one friend. One person who has supported me no matter the circumstance nor the occasion, be it Carol's arctic attitude towards me or Mark's indifference or the fact that you were never there for me. So, excuse me for not wanting to leave her side."
At that, Victoria just looks at her with… Sad eyes. Amy can't stand it.
"Please, leave." She says softly.
Victoria hesitates, giving her one last look and opening her mouth, apparently intent on saying something more.
She doesn't.
With the click of a closed door, Amy's eyes glaze over while she lays in her bed, once again sinking into Taylor's biology.
Never alone.