DS #10 Storms of Quicksilver (1/?)
By Carol M.
See prologue for details.
Here's some intro to Katie and her role in the Fawkesy family. Don't worry, action and angst to come very soon. Enjoy!
Three weeks after Prologue
"Cat. C-A," Katie started to falter. "Um…"
"Come on, you know this," encouraged Darien from his position across from her on the couch.
"T?" asked Katie.
"Yes!" said Darien with excitement. "Okay, last one. Dog," he said as he looked at Katie expectantly.
Katie took a deep breath. "Okay. Dog. D-O…D-O…" She looked up at Darien for encouragement.
"Keep going, you've almost got it," he said.
"G?" said Katie, slightly unsure.
Darien smiled widely and started clapping his hands. "Bravo, bravo you're going to kick butt in the spelling bee."
Katie beamed excitedly. "Just as long as I beat Freddy Taylor," she said in a slightly miffed tone.
Darien raised an eyebrow. "Do I detect a little tension between you two young spelling scholars?" he asked curiously.
Katie stepped forward and collected her word list from Darien, putting it inside her backpack. "He teases me."
"He teases you? How does he tease you?" asked Darien.
"He always pulls my hair and calls me names. Sometimes he pushes me in the mud at recess," answered Katie. "I hate him."
A small smile appeared on Darien's face. "Wow," he said with amusement. "You know Kates, sometimes boys can be kind of stupid.
"Stupid?" said Katie.
Darien nodded. "Yeah, you know, sometimes when they like a girl, they'll do all this crazy stuff to impress them like teasing them, pushing them, things like that."
Katie frowned. "Why would they do that?"
Darien shrugged. "Cause most boys don't have a clue when it comes to girls. Take it from me, I should know. Just ask your mom about all the crazy stuff I've done to try and impress her."
Katie giggled. "She's told me."
"Oh, so you two have been gossiping about me?" asked Darien teasingly. "What did she tell you exactly?"
Katie sat next to Darien with a small smile on her face. "Like the time you tried to hook up her new computer and ended up destroying it."
"Hey now, that wasn't my fault. It was a manufacturer's error," replied Darien innocently.
"Sure it was, daddy," said Katie. "What about the time you tried to bake a cake and blew up the oven?"
"Well now the way I remember it, you were the one helping me with that cake. You should have known better then to let me anywhere near an oven," said Darien.
"I was two years old," answered Katie.
"Yeah, you still should have known better," countered Darien.
Katie laughed and started playing with Darien's hair. "Your hair's getting kind of big," she said as she spiked it up even higher than usual.
"Are you saying I need a haircut, shorty?" he asked.
"Yeah," said Katie.
"You know what happens when the word haircut is mentioned in this house," said Darien as he began to tickle Katie.
"No!" laughed Katie. "Stop, stop! Okay… you don't need a haircut!" she cried out as Darien continued his assault.
"Good girl," said Darien as he let up.
"What are you two doing?" asked Claire as she popped out from the side of the kitchen.
"Daddy was tickling me," said Katie.
" I was not," said Darien innocently.
Claire smiled with amusement. "Yeah right, Darien." She glanced in Katie's direction. "Sweetie, can you help me serve dinner?"
"Sure," said Katie as she hopped off the couch. She turned back and looked at Darien's hair. "I was just kidding, daddy. I like when your hair gets big. It's fun to play with."
Darien beamed. "You always know just what to say, Kates."
Katie smiled and skipped off into the kitchen behind Claire.
Darien sank back in the couch and observed his two ladies preparing dinner. Tingles ran through his body as he watched Claire smile at Katie's attempts to serve green bean casserole without spilling any on the floor. Claire's hair was up in a tight ponytail and she wore just a hint of make up, leaving her greenish eyes to sparkle against the light of the kitchen. Darien sighed. His wife had managed to grow prettier with every passing day, making him love her even more.
He glanced from Claire to Katie, noting how similar they looked when they stood side by side. Katie had thick blonde hair that went all the way down to her waist. She was already tall for her age and also incredibly slender. She also had similar facial features to her mother. But she had Darien's eyes. Big brown puppy dog eyes that she used against her father at least twice a week. He was putty in her hands.
Life had been a roller coaster for the past couple of years. After Royce McClellan had decided to use him as his own human terminator, Darien had developed an extreme fear of QSM, even suffering from panic attacks and depression months after he was rescued. In response, Claire had worked diligently to keep her husband from going mad by watching the monitor with a close eye and occasionally going through cycles where she gave him smaller amounts of the counteragent more often.
They had all gotten lucky. Darien had only gone quicksilver mad about five times in as many years. The only problem in the horizon was Darien's impending immunity to the counteragent. It hadn't happened yet and probably wouldn't for another couple of years, according to Claire, but the threat was still there. It was something that Claire was ever working to find a solution to and something that left Darien with nightmares several times a week.
And then there was Katie. She was the shining star of the Agency. Bobby and Alex's niece, Eberts favorite video game buddy, the Official's granddaughter, Claire's best friend and Darien's little girl. Darien and Claire had decided right off the bat to tell Katie everything about the quicksilver gland and the threats that came with it. Katie had taken it in stride, her only condition to having a father with an invisibility gland was that he show it off one day in her class for show and tell. She couldn't quite grasp the concept of top secret government weapon.
Out of the five years that she had been in his life, Darien only had only one bad memory when it came to Katie, a memory that left his heart cold just thinking about it. It had happened about a year ago. He had gone quicksilver mad and hit Katie. He hadn't really physically hurt her besides a few bruises, but he would never forget the look of terror in her eyes as he had approached her and slapped her repeatedly across the face. As soon as he was sane again and realized what he had done, Katie had curled up next to him and hugged him while he cried and apologized to her until his voice gave out. She had forgiven him instantly, but it had nearly killed him. It was even worse then raping Claire or trying to kill Bobby. This ate away at his soul, knowing that he had hurt his innocent little girl. Claire had been angry at first, but had soon forgiven him after she saw the torment that it was putting him through. He would spend the rest of his life trying to make it up to the both of them.
"Darien, time to eat," yelled Claire, knocking him out of his thoughts.
"Yes ma'am," said Darien as he got off the couch and headed towards the kitchen in their cozy home. They had bought the modest three-bedroom house two years ago, finally ditching Darien's loft apartment for good. It had a large kitchen, which made Claire happy, a pool, which made Katie happy and a huge big screen TV, which made not only Darien, but Bobby happy as well. "What's for dinner, girls?" he asked as he sat down to the table.
"Ham, potatoes, and green bean casserole," replied Claire as she sat down a plate of food in front of him.
"My favorite," said Darien as he forked a mouthful of ham into his mouth.
Claire smiled and sat down at the table next to him. "It was Katie's idea," she said as she placed a napkin in her lap and poured a small glass of wine.
Darien raised an eyebrow in Katie's direction. "Is that right?" he asked.
Katie nodded. "Yeah," she said shyly.
Darien glanced at Claire. "Our kid's something else, isn't she?" he said proudly.
"You don't have to tell me that, Darien. Eberts is thinking of making Katie his assistant file clerk," she said in amusement.
"Oh, well, Katie, that is an honor," said Darien. "Eberts is very picky when it comes to choosing who he files with. Your Uncle Bobby couldn't take the pressure."
Katie laughed. "Uncle Bobby has been teaching me Hopkido. And Auntie Alex has been teaching me about boys."
Darien choked on a bit of potato and started coughing. "Boys? She's teaching you about boys?" he said incredulously.
Katie nodded pleasantly. "Uh huh."
Darien glanced at Claire and shook his head. "Great, just great."
Claire smiled. "Oh Darien, calm down. Alex has just been giving Katie tips on how to not be so nervous around some of the boys in her class."
"What a minute. You knew about this?" asked Darien.
"Darien, I had my first boyfriend in the first grade. He gave me a plastic ring, and I thought I was in love," said Claire dreamily. "Of course, our relationship only lasted about two hours, but let me tell you, it was one of the fondest two hours of my life."
"Oh, so now you tell me. How am I supposed to compete with the first boyfriend?" asked Darien, sulking slightly.
"Are you jealous, daddy?" asked Katie.
"I think he is," said Claire teasingly as she glanced at Katie.
"Daddy's jealous, daddy's jealous," said Katie in a singsong voice.
"I am not," said Darien as he chewed on some more ham.
"Are to, are to," said Katie.
Darien blushed and smiled slightly. "Okay, so I'm jealous."
Claire leaned towards Darien and planted a soft kiss on his cheek. "No need to be, honey."
Katie wrinkled her nose in disgust. "Ewww, kissies."
Claire sat back in her chair and drank a bit of wine. "You'll change your mind one day, sweetie."
"Yeah, it better not be until you're at least thirty. I see you kissing anybody before then and you're grounded," said Darien.
Claire elbowed Darien teasingly in the ribs and joined Katie in laughter as the trio continued to eat their dinner.
Hours later, Darien lay beside Katie in her bed, finishing up the last of her bedtime story Cinderella.
"And they all lived happily ever after," said Darien as he closed the book and set it on her nightstand. He grabbed Katie's treasured stuffed bunny and snuggled it into her arms. "Sleep tight, shorty," he said as he placed a gentle kiss to her cheek.
Katie wrapped her arms around Darien's neck and pulled him in for a tight squeeze. "Night daddy," she said in a tired tone.
Claire walked into the bedroom and sat down on the bed next to Darien and Katie. "So what did we read tonight?"
"We finished Cinderella," responded Katie.
"Oh, I love Cinderella," said Claire dreamily. "A handsome prince to the rescue," she said as she gave Darien a quick smile. "I guess this means I get to read to you tomorrow night," she said to Katie with excitement.
"Uh oh, watch out Katie, she's going to be reading you Scientific American," said Darien in a kidding tone.
"I am not," responded Claire. "It'll be a surprise, honey," she said as she leaned in and kissed Katie on the forehead.
"Goodnight mommy," responded Katie as her eyelids started to close.
Claire switched off the lamp and Darien pulled Katie's covers up to her chin. Then hand in hand, Darien and Claire walked to their bedroom and got into their own bed. Claire lay down on her back, while Darien curled up against her, resting his head against her chest. His hand wondered down to her belly where he began to rub ticklish circles through the silk of her blue nightgown.
Claire laughed and tried to get away. "Stop that," she yelled as she brought her hands to Darien's sides and began to tickle him back.
"Aw crap, that's not fair, I'm sensitive," yelped Darien.
Claire cocked her head. "Don't I know it," she whispered in a seductive tone.
"Did I detect a challenge in there Dr. Fawkesy?" asked Darien.
"I believe you did," replied Claire in a smug tone.
Darien bent down over her and pressed his lips against hers, letting his tongue gently slip into her mouth. Claire accepted his tongue and began to massage it with her own. At the same time she began rubbing her hands through his hair and against his scalp. Darien moaned and lifted his head, gazing deep into Claire's eyes. "I love you," he whispered softly.
Claire pulled his head back to her. "I love you too," she said as she began to ravage his mouth with her own.
The couple made love and then fell into a peaceful sleep, unaware that everything was about to go to hell.
TBC