Disclaimer: Ok, just see previous chapter
A/N: And now for the second chapter written entirely on my own personal computer!!!
Hope and Memory
Chapter 11: The Morning before the Storm
Gabe sat on the couch a cup of coffee in his hand and watched the news on the TV while he waited for Anne to get out of the shower. I was hard to imagine that just three days had past since her had found her bloodied and beating in that ally. She was healing remarkably fast too fast. He didn't know how or why but it scared him a little knowing this fact. But even so the emotional and mental healing had just begun and that was where he was going to focus.
He had taken a few days off telling his boss that a friend was in town. He had several personnel days a year and since he hadn't needed to use any of them in quite awhile his boss couldn't bitch too much. He would have to go back to work eventually; he knew this and that would mean Anne would be left alone. And that was not happening. So today was the day he introduced her to whom he hoped would become her new friends and maybe with a little luck family, even if that meant confronting Dree? Hell he should have done this a long time ago but at the time he just didn't have the hope. Anne had given that to him. She had given him a way to confront the past. And there was nothing that he could ever do to repay her for that.
The TV flashed for a second and something caught Gabe's eye. It was another report about these supposed mutant attacks. This time it was some lizard like thing in sector 4 that attack a sewer worker. He had to laugh at this. It was funny to think that so hybrid creature with at least semi- intelligent brain would be stupid enough to do anything of the sort. It just didn't work that way. Hell the thing was probably more scarred of us than we are of it.
Gabe had seen it all before; hell he even partly understood peoples fear of the unknown but he still didn't have to like it. Add the events in the news only proved his point. So he just sat there patiently letting the report firmly drive the point home that people were in desperate need of a wake-up call. And maybe just maybe he thought these so-called mutants would step-up-to-the-plate and do it.
Anne let the hot water wash over her. She stood favorably on her right leg keeping the other slightly raised. Her shoulder was also still very stiff and extremely sore, but since it was a bullet wound she kind of expected it to be. Gabe had said the physical damage was healing at an accelerated rate he had never seen before. All of the small cuts and bruises were gone or extremely faint and the nasty gash on her forehead looking like only a moderate cut. All in all she had to say she did feel ten times better than she had when she had first woken up physically at least.
The memory flashes were what really bugger Anne the most. They were coming more frequent than ever and almost anything could set one off. She hated not having control over them. She hated the helplessness the caused it was worse that have to gimp around the apartment on a spare set of crutches Gabe had lying around. But the thing she hated the most was the incredible burden it was putting on Gabe. He had already done so much for her. Yet, every time she had an episode there he would be with arms out stretched ready to provide a warm comforting embrace to easy the pain.
God, He was wonderful Anne thought as she began scrubbing herself down. The world needed more people like him. He had a compassion about him that seem so unusual yet so familiar all at the same time. It wasn't just for her either it was for any one that needed help. She ran her fingers though her long black hair and pushed it back behind her ears.
That's when the flash his her. And all she managed was a strangled cry as she tumbled to the porcelain floor of the tub.
There were bright lights being shined in her eyes and a voice that kept saying discipline is the key. Anne could feel the shot full of drugs being injected into her arm. The vertigo would start soon she new this but it was better than being coherent during the Electro-shocks. You are a soldier, a killer, and we will tell you what to kill. Do you under stand. No I am me. But the words she heard herself say weren't what she wanted. "Yes I understand." Noooo her brain screamed but her body didn't obey her anymore.
Anne lay there on the bottom of the tube shaking. "Please stop! Please stop!" She kept repeating to no avail. The images kept coming in wave after wave of unending terror. Her mind fought this trying to gain control. She was waging a battle and not fairing well.
Finally after what seemed an eternity the images started to fade slowly and with much convention on her part. Anne just lay there in the tube shaking slightly and crying softly to herself. The worst was over she had made it.
Slowly Anne got to her feet wincing slightly as she put to much presser on her weak and injured leg. "Damn!" she cursed stepping out of the shower wrapping a towel around her body. Slowly she turned of the faucet. She stared in the mirror for a few seconds trying to compose herself enough so Gabe wouldn't find out about the flashback she had just had.
He had enough on his mind right now and Anne didn't want to add too that. They were sapose to be going to meet some of his old friends today. She was also aware that something had happened with one of them and it had ended up real bad. She didn't know details but she new it was painful for Gabe to talk about it. On a lighter side of thins, She was really looking forward to just being able to get out of the apartment. She had been stuck inside for a couple of days and was starting to get a nasty itch of boredom. Satisfied that she was as composed she would ever be she opened the door to the bathroom and walked out.
Anne saw Gabe sitting on the couch drinking a cup of coffee and watching the morning news. He was dressed in his standard black jeans and a black tee shirt with some type of picture of saying on the front. To days tee shirt said 'When I grow up, I want to be just like me' She smiled at the phrase and Gabe.
"Good morning." Anne said as she walked though the living room and into the bedroom to change for the day.
Gabe watched her walk out of the bathroom favoring her good leg. He had told her several time that regardless of how fast she was healing she should be using the crutches he had given her, but she had persisted in limping or hoping around when ever possible. He smiled until he noticed that her eyes were a little hollow and her skin seemed a little paler that usual. Instantly he knew she had an episode but the look on her face told him he shouldn't mention it. She was so strong a good quality he thought but he wished she would be more open about what she saw in those flashes. Talking was the only way she would be able to deal with it. He had tried to tell her that a few times the past couple of days but she had just kept silent and cried into his chest.
So instead of saying a word he just smiled at her as she walked by. "Good morning. So what can I get you for breakfast?" He asked as the bedroom door shut behind her.
"Coffee would be wonderful and food would be nice." Anne stated from be hind the door.
Gabe smiled at her response. Always joking around, she might have just had a flashback but her recoveries from them seemed to becoming quicker with each one. There wasn't much comfort in that, but there was some and Gabe held onto it with both hands. Standing he walked into the kitchen and began breakfast.
Anne stood at the foot of the bed contemplating what to wear. It was a limited selection consisting mostly of Gabe's oversized tee shirts and a few pairs of sweat pants that she would have to role up to keep from tripping. While they were out today Gabe said they would pick her up some proper clothes for her.
Anne knew that he knew about the episode. She was glad he didn't say anything it would have probably made her start crying all over again. She hated trying to hide things from him but she needed to some of this out for herself. Shaking off that train of thought she hurriedly picked a shirt and a pair of sweats and walk out of the bedroom to have some breakfast.
A/N: And now for the second chapter written entirely on my own personal computer!!!
Hope and Memory
Chapter 11: The Morning before the Storm
Gabe sat on the couch a cup of coffee in his hand and watched the news on the TV while he waited for Anne to get out of the shower. I was hard to imagine that just three days had past since her had found her bloodied and beating in that ally. She was healing remarkably fast too fast. He didn't know how or why but it scared him a little knowing this fact. But even so the emotional and mental healing had just begun and that was where he was going to focus.
He had taken a few days off telling his boss that a friend was in town. He had several personnel days a year and since he hadn't needed to use any of them in quite awhile his boss couldn't bitch too much. He would have to go back to work eventually; he knew this and that would mean Anne would be left alone. And that was not happening. So today was the day he introduced her to whom he hoped would become her new friends and maybe with a little luck family, even if that meant confronting Dree? Hell he should have done this a long time ago but at the time he just didn't have the hope. Anne had given that to him. She had given him a way to confront the past. And there was nothing that he could ever do to repay her for that.
The TV flashed for a second and something caught Gabe's eye. It was another report about these supposed mutant attacks. This time it was some lizard like thing in sector 4 that attack a sewer worker. He had to laugh at this. It was funny to think that so hybrid creature with at least semi- intelligent brain would be stupid enough to do anything of the sort. It just didn't work that way. Hell the thing was probably more scarred of us than we are of it.
Gabe had seen it all before; hell he even partly understood peoples fear of the unknown but he still didn't have to like it. Add the events in the news only proved his point. So he just sat there patiently letting the report firmly drive the point home that people were in desperate need of a wake-up call. And maybe just maybe he thought these so-called mutants would step-up-to-the-plate and do it.
Anne let the hot water wash over her. She stood favorably on her right leg keeping the other slightly raised. Her shoulder was also still very stiff and extremely sore, but since it was a bullet wound she kind of expected it to be. Gabe had said the physical damage was healing at an accelerated rate he had never seen before. All of the small cuts and bruises were gone or extremely faint and the nasty gash on her forehead looking like only a moderate cut. All in all she had to say she did feel ten times better than she had when she had first woken up physically at least.
The memory flashes were what really bugger Anne the most. They were coming more frequent than ever and almost anything could set one off. She hated not having control over them. She hated the helplessness the caused it was worse that have to gimp around the apartment on a spare set of crutches Gabe had lying around. But the thing she hated the most was the incredible burden it was putting on Gabe. He had already done so much for her. Yet, every time she had an episode there he would be with arms out stretched ready to provide a warm comforting embrace to easy the pain.
God, He was wonderful Anne thought as she began scrubbing herself down. The world needed more people like him. He had a compassion about him that seem so unusual yet so familiar all at the same time. It wasn't just for her either it was for any one that needed help. She ran her fingers though her long black hair and pushed it back behind her ears.
That's when the flash his her. And all she managed was a strangled cry as she tumbled to the porcelain floor of the tub.
There were bright lights being shined in her eyes and a voice that kept saying discipline is the key. Anne could feel the shot full of drugs being injected into her arm. The vertigo would start soon she new this but it was better than being coherent during the Electro-shocks. You are a soldier, a killer, and we will tell you what to kill. Do you under stand. No I am me. But the words she heard herself say weren't what she wanted. "Yes I understand." Noooo her brain screamed but her body didn't obey her anymore.
Anne lay there on the bottom of the tube shaking. "Please stop! Please stop!" She kept repeating to no avail. The images kept coming in wave after wave of unending terror. Her mind fought this trying to gain control. She was waging a battle and not fairing well.
Finally after what seemed an eternity the images started to fade slowly and with much convention on her part. Anne just lay there in the tube shaking slightly and crying softly to herself. The worst was over she had made it.
Slowly Anne got to her feet wincing slightly as she put to much presser on her weak and injured leg. "Damn!" she cursed stepping out of the shower wrapping a towel around her body. Slowly she turned of the faucet. She stared in the mirror for a few seconds trying to compose herself enough so Gabe wouldn't find out about the flashback she had just had.
He had enough on his mind right now and Anne didn't want to add too that. They were sapose to be going to meet some of his old friends today. She was also aware that something had happened with one of them and it had ended up real bad. She didn't know details but she new it was painful for Gabe to talk about it. On a lighter side of thins, She was really looking forward to just being able to get out of the apartment. She had been stuck inside for a couple of days and was starting to get a nasty itch of boredom. Satisfied that she was as composed she would ever be she opened the door to the bathroom and walked out.
Anne saw Gabe sitting on the couch drinking a cup of coffee and watching the morning news. He was dressed in his standard black jeans and a black tee shirt with some type of picture of saying on the front. To days tee shirt said 'When I grow up, I want to be just like me' She smiled at the phrase and Gabe.
"Good morning." Anne said as she walked though the living room and into the bedroom to change for the day.
Gabe watched her walk out of the bathroom favoring her good leg. He had told her several time that regardless of how fast she was healing she should be using the crutches he had given her, but she had persisted in limping or hoping around when ever possible. He smiled until he noticed that her eyes were a little hollow and her skin seemed a little paler that usual. Instantly he knew she had an episode but the look on her face told him he shouldn't mention it. She was so strong a good quality he thought but he wished she would be more open about what she saw in those flashes. Talking was the only way she would be able to deal with it. He had tried to tell her that a few times the past couple of days but she had just kept silent and cried into his chest.
So instead of saying a word he just smiled at her as she walked by. "Good morning. So what can I get you for breakfast?" He asked as the bedroom door shut behind her.
"Coffee would be wonderful and food would be nice." Anne stated from be hind the door.
Gabe smiled at her response. Always joking around, she might have just had a flashback but her recoveries from them seemed to becoming quicker with each one. There wasn't much comfort in that, but there was some and Gabe held onto it with both hands. Standing he walked into the kitchen and began breakfast.
Anne stood at the foot of the bed contemplating what to wear. It was a limited selection consisting mostly of Gabe's oversized tee shirts and a few pairs of sweat pants that she would have to role up to keep from tripping. While they were out today Gabe said they would pick her up some proper clothes for her.
Anne knew that he knew about the episode. She was glad he didn't say anything it would have probably made her start crying all over again. She hated trying to hide things from him but she needed to some of this out for herself. Shaking off that train of thought she hurriedly picked a shirt and a pair of sweats and walk out of the bedroom to have some breakfast.