Suddenly, There's a Valley - Part Two
Beverly McIntyre

Storm was restless and had been that way for most of the night. She had tossed, turned, and managed to get very little sleep. There was something in the back of her mind that kept nagging her , keeping her awake. It was about four o'clock when she had finally figured out exactly what had been keeping her awake. Around three in the morning she had fallen asleep once again, but this time she had a dream. In it, she was playing with a small, black puppy when suddenly a bright red semitruck ran the poor creature over. Storm woke with a start when her conscious mind had finally grasped what her unconscious mind had been trying to tell her. The leader of the X-Men was infected with Longshot's concern for the small puppy laying downstairs.

Muttering to herself for not catching it earlier, she tossed her blankets off and got out of bed. She grabbed her silken robe off of the chair next to the bed and put it on. She quickly exited the room, figuring the sooner she checked up on the puppy, the sooner she could get back to sleep. The former thief of Cairo quietly descended the stairs and made her way to the abandoned room where the puppy was being kept. She paused outside the door when she heard a muffled noise come from the other side.

Ever so quietly, she opened the door, not quite knowing what to expect. What she found inside was not high on her expectations to find. She was not the only casualty to Longshot's innocent concern. Wolverine sat in the middle of the room with the shoe-box that held the small creature sitting on his lap. There was a flashlight sitting beside him, pointing at the ceiling. It provided a scant amount of illumination. In the dim light, Storm could make out a short, squat can being held in Logan's left hand. His right hand had something smeared over the tips of his fingers. He gently lowered that hand into the box. Being extremely tired, Storm was hoping that the brown stuff on his fingers was dog food.

"C'mon pup. Y'need to eat. Yer not going to last much longer if you don't."

"Has she eaten anything, Logan?" ,Storm asked as she crossed over and gracefully plopped herself in front of him and the shoe-box. Wolverine did not look up. He had smelled her coming. He also wasn't particularly surprised that she was there. If he had been affected by Longshot's instant bond with the pup, he couldn't doubt that she would also be concerned.

"No, she hasn't even attempted to sniff at the food. Look Ro, you can even see her ribs clearly." Storm looked down into the box and felt her heart sink. Wolverine had pulled the dish towel off, and Storm had a good view of a barely breathing dog that was emaciated. Hoping it was just a trick of the shadows, she picked up the flashlight from beside Wolverine and pointed the beam of light into the shoe-box. She felt her heart sink even lower when she saw that she was not being fooled by any shadows. Is it my imagination or is this dog breathing more shallow than she did yesterday? Oh Longshot, I do not believe that your little puppy will make it much longer. She sighed as she set the flashlight back as it was before. Logan continued to try to bait the little puppy to lick the food off of his fingers. "C'mon pup. Eat."

Curious as to what exactly Logan was trying to feed the puppy, Storm took the can of food out of his hand. Logan let it go easily since he was too preoccupied trying to coax the pup to eat. Storm brought the can of food over near the flashlight. The brown food inside had the consistency of semihard mush, a most unappetizing trait. As she brought the can near her nose, she felt her stomach lurch. It smelled absolutely repugnant.

"It is no small wonder the puppy will not eat this. It is clearly most unappetizing."

"Don't blame me. Rogue and Joseph bought this. But it's all we got."

"Then I have a feeling Longshot will be very distraught by the end of the day," she said as she set the can a good arm's length away. Logan tried brushing a little of the food on the pup's lips to get it to try to eat something. The pup did not even budge. Wolverine sat back, resigned.

"She's not eating. She's not going to make it. I don't want t'be the one who breaks this to Longshot. He's got his heart wrapped around her."

"Do you think this quick bond he has made with her has something to do with why Alison is not here with him?" ,Storm asked as she watched the puppy quitely breathe.

"Could. It's been awhile since I've ever seen those two lovebirds apart. Thinking this might have to do with Ali's miscarriage?"

"Possibly. But we will never know until we can ask Longshot about Alison. Every time I try to bring up the subject with him, I'm always interrupted, usually by Dakota."

"You thinkin' Dakota might be doing that on purpose?"

"It certainly seems that way, but what reason would he have to do so?"

"Maybe because Longshot asked him to until he felt it was right to tell you X-Men why he was here." Both Storm and Wolverine turned to the voice coming from the doorway. Dakota stood in the doorway in a pair of blue, silk boxer shorts and a baby bottle full of warm milk in hand.

"How long you been standin' there?"

"Since 'every time I bring up the subject with him, I'm always interrupted, usually by Dakota.'" He shrugged. "Sometimes I just show up when people start talking about me. Anyway, had any luck gettin' the pup to eat food?"

"No, she's not even biting." Dakota strolled over and set himself down next to Storm.

"Ah. Then maybe your approach is all wrong. She's a dog, not a fish," Dakota said as he reached for the box. Wolverine gently picked up the box and handed it to him. Dakota carefully nestled it in his lap.

"Har. Har. You been takin' one-liner lessons from Drake?"

"No, just watched one too many episodes of Star Trek." Dakota squirted some of the warm milk on his finger tip and tried to stick that finger into the puppy's mouth. He had a little trouble trying to get the puppy to open her tightly clamped jaws. It took a little cajoling, but he managed to get his finger in her mouth. He rubbed his finger against her tongue, hoping the taste of warm milk would entice her to eat. The puppy whined and stirred but did nothing else. When Dakota removed his finger from the puppy's mouth he had a small string of saliva that went from his finger to her mouth. He grimaced slightly and rubbed his finger on the dish towel that was bunched up in the corner of the box. "Well, that didn't work."

"She is going to die, isn't she?" ,Storm asked as Dakota put the bottle into the box and got to his feet.

"Looks like it, but there's always a chance she won't. If there's one thing Longshot has taught me, it's that there's always a chance. I'm going to take her to the vet later. Maybe they can do something for her."

"But where are you going with her now?"

"I'm going to try another angle to get her to eat." Dakota turned and with the shoe-box cradled to his chest, quickly exited the room.


Longshot nestled down deeper into his pillow. His dreams had turned from happy to very disturbing in a short matter of time. He was now looking for the puppy who got lost amongst the foliage in the jungle he was in. He kept calling out for the puppy, his calls getting more frantic as time rolled on.

Dakota carefully crept into the room with the shoe-box tucked under his arm. He tip-toed over beside the bed, being very careful not to wake Longshot up. He set the box down next to the bed and carefully scooped the puppy up.

Longshot was now using a magic carpet he had stumbled upon to fly around the jungle to find the puppy. He sped around with no caution for the large trees that loomed all around him. In the distance, he saw somebody waving at him. Longshot buckled down and urged the carpet toward the person. Maybe he would know where the puppy went.

Carefully, Dakota brought the puppy near to Longshot, close enough so she could smell him.

Longshot found the person was no he; it was Dazzler. Her abdomen looked a little distended.

"You smell that, little one," Dakota whispered into the little puppy's ear. "That's the scent of someone who cares a great deal about you. He wants you to live. Can you live for him?" Because if you don't you'll break the very heart of innocence.

"Longshot! Where have you been?" Alison patted the slight bulge in her belly. "You know I'm pregnant. I can't do this all alone."

The small, black puppy's nose sniffed at the large lump in front of her. There were so many scents, but there was one she recognized. It was the scent of the Comfort that had found her yesterday. Every time the Comfort had been around, she had felt a little better. But the Comfort's scent had changed; it was a little more bitter. Like there was a deep sadness eating away at inside of the Comfort. She had to help him somehow.

"The puppy will be due any minute now."

Dakota carefully pulled the puppy away from Longshot. He cradled her to his chest with one arm as he crouched down and picked up the shoe-box with his free hand. He quietly backed out of the room and shut the door partially behind him.

"The puppy? I thought you were having a baby."

Dakota walked to the stairs and sat down on the top step. He set down the box next to him. He picked the bottle up from inside the box. He brought it toward the little puppy's mouth.

"No, silly. We're having a little puppy with black fur. Now, are you going to help me or-" Alison stopped in mid-sentence and got a pained look on her face. She pitched forward with a scream of agony.

The puppy smelled something come near her mouth. Maybe this was a way to help the Comfort. She tried to open her mouth to let whatever it was in, but she found she barely had the strength. She had managed to get her mouth partially open when an odd taste splashed on her tongue. It tasted so much like Mother.

Longshot jumped frantically down from his flying rug. He landed in something soft that tried to pull him down. He fought against it until he was free. When he looked to where Alison had been, he saw a familiar, long hallway. He stumbled forward into the hallway that had once been a part of the palace he had lived in.

Dakota smiled slightly as the puppy sucked tentatively on the bottle. He smile widened as she gained strength and began to drink more and more of the milk.

Longshot walked down the oppressively silent hallway. His boots thundered on the marble floor. He walked to a lone door, set in the center of the wall at the opposite end. He felt a feeling of great sadness settle upon him as he reached for the door handle.

Both Storm and Wolverine came up the stairs to see Dakota holding a puppy that was rather hungry and was drinking the milk like there would never be enough.

Longshot opened the door and saw the sight he had been dreading all his life. Alison lay on her side with her back to the door, sobbing. Longshot slowly walked to the grand bed she lay in. His throat was slowly closing with each step. He reached out to touch his beloved on the arm.

Dakota had handed the feeding puppy to Storm. She gently cradled the creature as it fed. A smile of relief spread across her face. Maybe the puppy was not going to die. Dakota and Wolverine turned to go back down the stairs to get another bottle of milk and some food. They had made it halfway down the stairs when an anguished cry screeched out in the night.

Dakota was the first in Longshot's room, shortly followed by Wolverine. Longshot thrashed in bed, trying to fight the ghosts of his unborn child and the little puppy that were trying to strangle him. Dakota dodged an errant fist that swung at his face as he tried to wake his friend.

"Longshot. Longshot! Wake up, buddy! It's only a dream!" Dakota shook his friend until Longshot's eyes popped open. He snapped into a sitting position, nearly smashing heads with Dakota in doing so.

"NO! PLEASE! I DIDN'T WANT YOU TO DIE!"

"Longshot. Kid. It's okay. You're among friends now. It's okay." Wolverine reached out and placed a calm hand on Longshot's shoulder. Longshot's entire body shook with the bottled up fear and sadness. "It's okay. Yer back among friends."

Longshot's cry had brought Rogue out of a dead sleep. She had jumped right out of bed. She grabbed her gloves and a robe off of the back of a chair as she flew out of the room. She put them on en route.

Dakota took the puppy back from Storm as she moved to sit beside Longshot on the bed. She carefully put her arms around him, drawing him closer. Longshot let himself be pulled over and tried to blink back the tears that were running down his face.

"What's goin' on here?" ,Rogue asked as she flew into Longshot's room. Longshot sat nestled in Storm's arms as she quietly whispered words of assurance to him. Wolverine stood to one side of the bed looking like a fish out of water. The only relief Rogue found was that the puppy was in Dakota's arms and sucking on a baby bottle half-full of milk like there would be no tomorrow. "Longshot, sugah, you okay?"

Rogue crossed over to the bed and sat at the far edge of it. She wanted to go over and hold onto him like Storm was, offering comfort in some tangible way. But for the billionth time in her life, she would have to make do with her presence being felt from a distance.

Longshot remained quiet for a little while, trying to let both of his hearts slow down and for reality to finally settle in his mind.

"Th-the puppy," he said quietly. "Where's the puppy?"

"Right here, pal." Dakota stepped forward with the puppy in his arms. "Alive and very hungry."

Longshot wiped the tears from his eyes and reached out to hold the little dog. "C-can I hold her?"

"Sure." Dakota leaned down and gently deposited the pup that was still suckling from the bottle into Longshot's arms. Storm shifted slightly to watch as Longshot held the bottle so the puppy would have to spend less energy to drink. Longshot looked up at his tall friend.

"You got her to eat. Thank you."

"I'd say you're welcome, but I have a feeling that you have more to do with why she's eating than I do."

"I do?"

"Uh-huh."

"Then is she going to get better?"

"Well, we'll take her to the vetrinarian in a few hours and see what they can do for her. But from the looks of things, I say she's got a good chance to live now that she's eating."

Longshot silently watched the puppy drink for awhile. Storm stayed there with him with her arms wrapped around his shoulders. Rogue and Wolverine left after a little bit to go get another bottle of milk and a fresh can of dog food. Dakota made sure Longshot was going to be all right and then excused himself. As he left the room, he mumbled something about toothpaste and payback.

When the bottle was getting near empty, Storm suggested that they go downstairs and check up on how Rogue was doing warming the next bottle of milk. Longshot nodded in agreement.

As Storm and Longshot went down the hallway, they passed by a window. The sun was starting to come up over the edge of Xavier's estate. Longshot paused in front of the window as Storm continued on downstairs. He held the puppy up to show her the rising sun.

"Look at that, pup. That's the sun rising. I think you and I got quite a few more of those to go through." The puppy stirred in his arms since she just finished the last of the milk in the bottle. She gave a weak yip for some more. "Yep. We're going to see some more of those."

~Fin~