Author's Note: While this is NOT a self-insertion, it is written in first person pov because nobody ever does that. Duh.
Another Author's Note: The rating is for suggestive language and situations. I promise I will restrain myself and not write any Brennan/Danny sex scenes, much as I might want to. (Okay, so in a way it is a Brennan fantasy, but who can blame me?) There is real content, though, so read it and skip the romance scenes if you wish.
Another Author's Note: My Mother read my story and the first thing she said was "Aidan is a boy's name." I know this. I just like it better as a girl's name. And there is something really sexy about a girl with a guy's name. And I will NEVER spell Danny with an "i". (yuck!) That looks like Bambi, and puts in mind ditsy girls with fake boobs and bleach blond hair. Danny is not ditsy nor does she have fake boobs or bleach blond hair. And she will never, ever wear cherry red lipstick, this I promise you.
Disclaimer Mock II: I forgot to mention, before, that I happen to own Danny. She is MINE. Brennan is not mine (*sob*) and neither is Shalimar, Jesse, Emma, Adam, Santuary, the Double Helix... This is getting exhausting, so I'll stop. You get the picture. But Danny is mine, and you can't have her.
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"She's coming around."
I blinked a couple of times to clear my vision and sat up to see a kind face with eyes that crackled with intelligence and awareness. "Hello." The man said, his voice identifying him as the one I had heard on the plane. Unsure, I drew back into the chair I had been lounging in. "Please don't be afraid. My name is Adam, and this is Emma." He gestured to a pretty brunette woman who came into my line of vision to smile kindly. "You're in a safe place, and we'll help you here."
"You can stop my dna from mutating?" I hardly dared to hope, even after Shalimar's reassurances.
The woman- Emma- smiled. "Well, he's already done that. You're fine."
Adam nodded. "I've stabalized your human dna so you won't ever lose yourself like that again."
I sighed in relief and pushed myself up. "Thats good," I said, since he seemed to want a response. I noticed that my hands were caked with blood and dirt and was repulsed. "Would it be possible for me to wash off?"
He smiled again. "Of course. We'll have time to talk later. Emma will show you where you can shower, and she'll give you a change of clothes." I was glad he had mentioned clothes; I had wanted to ask but thought it might be asking a bit much. I pushed myself off the chair and stood, waiting for my legs to support me with out shaking. I followed Emma out of the room, leaving Adam alone in the lab.
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I stood in the shower, letting the water cascade down my body, reveling in the sheer pleasure of getting clean, a purr escaping unchecked from my throat. I combed my hair out with my fingers, patiently untangling each snarl. Untangled, it fell almost to my waist in a long, straight sheet, black as satin in the water. I gave myself one last, thorough scrub, the soft scabs of my cuts peeling off along with the dirt, but I ignored it. Under the dirt, my skin was paler than pale, but I didn't care, it was CLEAN. After a bit longer, I turned the water off and reached for the towel Emma had left me, squeezing excess moisture out of my hair. Once dry, I pulled on the clothes the quiet brunette had given me to wear, loving the feel of the clean clothes against my clean skin. It was just a tank top and a pair of sweat pants, plus a couple of necessary undergarments, but they felt like heaven compared to the filthy things I had peeled off. After running a comb through my hair, I scooped up the latter set of garments between thumb and forefinger, holding them away from my oh-so-clean self, and walked down the hall in search of a trash can.
Instead I came upon the two who had rescued me, who were sparring on a round platform. A second man stood off to the side, blond with the beginnings of a beard and a laid back feel to his stance. Inhaling, I caught his new scent, the mixture of smells that each person possessed, like a fingerprint. He smelled of soap and computers and... I sniffed again to be sure. Yes, I could smell Emma on him, and I smiled to myself, having figured out why the young woman had seemed so preoccupied. I turned my nose to my two 'rescuers'. Shalimar smelled of sweat and feral and happy contentment, enjoying her exercise. Brennan... Brennan smelled mostly of fixed nitrogen, the smell you smell after a thunderstorm. I liked how he smelled.
Then Shalimar saw me and smiled in greeting. "Hey, Danny. Almost didn't recognize you."
Brennan turned around and stared, which boosted my ego just the tiniest bit. When Shalimar elbowed him, he stuttered. "Ah, yeah, you... you clean up well."
I allowed myself a smile. "Thanks. I was wondering if there was a place I could maybe burn these?" I gestured to the rags I held in my hand.
Shalimar jumped down from the platform. "You can just throw them away. All our trash gets burned anyway." She held open a cabinet and I dropped my old clothes into the can concealed there.
"Thanks. I'm Aidan Foster, by the way. Don't think you got my whole name, before." I felt I could trust these people, all of whom, except for Adam, smelled slightly exotic, which signified, for my sensitive nose, that they were New Mutants.
She smiled and took the hand I offered. "Shalimar Foxx." The blond Emma-scented man came to offer his hand.
"Jesse Kilmartin."
I recognized that voice. "From the ring-thing?" I pointed to Shalimar's hand.
He grinned and released my hand. "Yeah. That's a comlink. We use them to talk to each other." He tugged his off and offered it to me.
"Neat-o!" I exclaimed, knowing I sounded about twelve years old, but not caring. I looked up from the ring to grin at him. "Like on some science fiction show!" I handed it back.
"Yep," he said, amused by me, but what-the-hey, he was taken anyways. He slipped the ring back on his finger and a couple of symbols appeared on the band, which had been smooth silver before.
The smell of fixed nitrogen got stronger, and I looked up to find Brennan standing to my left, and I raised an eyebrow, inviting him to say whatever it was he wanted to say.
He cleared his throat, obviously uncomfortable. "That was a nice jump, back in the valley."
"Thanks," I said, then waited for him to continue, for he obviously meant to say something else. The waiting was getting slightly embarassing just as Shalimar nudged him and glared slightly.
"Um... I'msorryforcallingyouamonsterYou'renotreallyamonsterDoyouforgiveme?" He spat the words out faster than humanly possible, and though I understood perfectly, I liked watching him squirm under the glare of his teammate.
"Huh?" I asked, keeping my face straight- barely.
He sighed, composing himself. "I'm sorry I called you a monster and a killer and a phsyco."
I grinned, having enjoyed my moment of torture. "Actually, phsyco was my word."
His lips twitched and we almost smiled at each other, but Shalimar cleared her throat and he sobered. "All the same, I'm sorry." He offered a hand, and I shook it. "Peace, then?" he asked, with a slightly hopeful note in his voice.
I smiled a cat's smile. "For now." I dropped his hand, then tilted my head to one side, still looking at him. I raised my eyebrows, to myself, beginning to get his measure. I smiled dangerously again, glaring at him to cover up my amusement. He was already groveling, no need to make him more embarassed. "Don't get too comfortable though," I practically purred, making sure the half-threat, half-promise had its desired affect before I pulled back and turned around to walk down the hall towards the lab I'd been in before, feeling a need to have things explained and knowing, somehow, that Adam could explain them. I did slam a lid on my half-aroused *ahem* urges and tuck the smug feeling I'd gotten from knowing that Brennan too, had not been completely glacial towards me, into a tight corner of my mind before entering his lab though, and promised myself I'd think about that later.
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Adam was in the lab, just as I'd known he'd be, having already identified the mellow mixture of disenfectant, books and his teammates as his. He smelled like a leader, I noted from the door frame, like a sturdy, dependable leader, though Shalimar almost smelled more dominant. I was beginning to rely on my nose a lot, I noted, and decided I would ask him about it. I walked noiselessly to his side and looked at the screen he was so engrossed in. The distinct double helix of dna slowly revolved around, colors swirling and changing.
"Mine?" I asked finally, and grinned when he jumped about a foot.
"God!" He pinched the bridge of his nose and squeezed his eyes shut. "Emma does that. I hate that."
"Sorry," I said, not the least bit sorry. I gestured to the screen. "Now about this dna..."
"Yes," he agreed, turning back to the screen. "About this dna." He tapped the screen and the picture zoomed in. He pointed to several violent, orange-yellow spots. "These are your feral dna." He touched a square in the corner and another picture joined it, this one with much less orange-yellow spots. "These are Shalimar's, who may, in this case, be typified as a completely normal, in-control feral. The ratio of her feral to her human is approximately 1:5. Yours is more like 1:2, closer to 1:1 than any other feral I've encountered."
"Is that bad?"
"It can be. Fortunatley, you seem to have a strong constitution. Your sense of humanity is strong," he clarified.
"I understood what you meant." I nodded at the screen. "Keep talking."
He did. "Your human dna has been fighting the takeover your feral mutations have attempted, and while it seemed to weaken, they are now almost completely stabalized."
"Hm. So I lost the battle, but I won the war. With help." I shot him a grateful glance, which he acknowledged with a wave of his hand. "Is there anyway way you can reverse the changes?"
He thought for a minute. "Even if I could, would you really want me to?"
I frowned. Give up my incredible new sense of smell? Give up my new found speed? I didn't want that, I realized. "I guess..." I said slowly, "If I have to be abnormal, I might as well be really abnormal. Mom always said I never did anything half way." I smiled, remembering all the times she'd said that. Then my smile faded as I remembered the last thing she'd said to me, that she never wanted to see a freak like me again.
"You miss her," Adam suggested softly, reaching out to touch my shoulder in sympathy.
I shook my head. "No," I whispered, sniffling and fighting back tears. In doing so, I turned the tears into anger and felt the killing instinct coming back. Find her. Kill her. Rip her to shreds, it whispered seductivley in my mind's ear.
"NO!" I yelled and ran blindly out of the lab, shoving past Emma, who had appeared at the door. She cried out but I didn't stop- I wasn't sure if I could stop myself from killing her. I ran through Sanctuary headlong, feral speed blurring things as I passed them, until I collapsed on the floor, sobbing into my hands. Would I never be free of this monster?
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How do you like it? Tell me! Please. (*makes puppy dog eyes at you*)
Another Author's Note: The rating is for suggestive language and situations. I promise I will restrain myself and not write any Brennan/Danny sex scenes, much as I might want to. (Okay, so in a way it is a Brennan fantasy, but who can blame me?) There is real content, though, so read it and skip the romance scenes if you wish.
Another Author's Note: My Mother read my story and the first thing she said was "Aidan is a boy's name." I know this. I just like it better as a girl's name. And there is something really sexy about a girl with a guy's name. And I will NEVER spell Danny with an "i". (yuck!) That looks like Bambi, and puts in mind ditsy girls with fake boobs and bleach blond hair. Danny is not ditsy nor does she have fake boobs or bleach blond hair. And she will never, ever wear cherry red lipstick, this I promise you.
Disclaimer Mock II: I forgot to mention, before, that I happen to own Danny. She is MINE. Brennan is not mine (*sob*) and neither is Shalimar, Jesse, Emma, Adam, Santuary, the Double Helix... This is getting exhausting, so I'll stop. You get the picture. But Danny is mine, and you can't have her.
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"She's coming around."
I blinked a couple of times to clear my vision and sat up to see a kind face with eyes that crackled with intelligence and awareness. "Hello." The man said, his voice identifying him as the one I had heard on the plane. Unsure, I drew back into the chair I had been lounging in. "Please don't be afraid. My name is Adam, and this is Emma." He gestured to a pretty brunette woman who came into my line of vision to smile kindly. "You're in a safe place, and we'll help you here."
"You can stop my dna from mutating?" I hardly dared to hope, even after Shalimar's reassurances.
The woman- Emma- smiled. "Well, he's already done that. You're fine."
Adam nodded. "I've stabalized your human dna so you won't ever lose yourself like that again."
I sighed in relief and pushed myself up. "Thats good," I said, since he seemed to want a response. I noticed that my hands were caked with blood and dirt and was repulsed. "Would it be possible for me to wash off?"
He smiled again. "Of course. We'll have time to talk later. Emma will show you where you can shower, and she'll give you a change of clothes." I was glad he had mentioned clothes; I had wanted to ask but thought it might be asking a bit much. I pushed myself off the chair and stood, waiting for my legs to support me with out shaking. I followed Emma out of the room, leaving Adam alone in the lab.
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I stood in the shower, letting the water cascade down my body, reveling in the sheer pleasure of getting clean, a purr escaping unchecked from my throat. I combed my hair out with my fingers, patiently untangling each snarl. Untangled, it fell almost to my waist in a long, straight sheet, black as satin in the water. I gave myself one last, thorough scrub, the soft scabs of my cuts peeling off along with the dirt, but I ignored it. Under the dirt, my skin was paler than pale, but I didn't care, it was CLEAN. After a bit longer, I turned the water off and reached for the towel Emma had left me, squeezing excess moisture out of my hair. Once dry, I pulled on the clothes the quiet brunette had given me to wear, loving the feel of the clean clothes against my clean skin. It was just a tank top and a pair of sweat pants, plus a couple of necessary undergarments, but they felt like heaven compared to the filthy things I had peeled off. After running a comb through my hair, I scooped up the latter set of garments between thumb and forefinger, holding them away from my oh-so-clean self, and walked down the hall in search of a trash can.
Instead I came upon the two who had rescued me, who were sparring on a round platform. A second man stood off to the side, blond with the beginnings of a beard and a laid back feel to his stance. Inhaling, I caught his new scent, the mixture of smells that each person possessed, like a fingerprint. He smelled of soap and computers and... I sniffed again to be sure. Yes, I could smell Emma on him, and I smiled to myself, having figured out why the young woman had seemed so preoccupied. I turned my nose to my two 'rescuers'. Shalimar smelled of sweat and feral and happy contentment, enjoying her exercise. Brennan... Brennan smelled mostly of fixed nitrogen, the smell you smell after a thunderstorm. I liked how he smelled.
Then Shalimar saw me and smiled in greeting. "Hey, Danny. Almost didn't recognize you."
Brennan turned around and stared, which boosted my ego just the tiniest bit. When Shalimar elbowed him, he stuttered. "Ah, yeah, you... you clean up well."
I allowed myself a smile. "Thanks. I was wondering if there was a place I could maybe burn these?" I gestured to the rags I held in my hand.
Shalimar jumped down from the platform. "You can just throw them away. All our trash gets burned anyway." She held open a cabinet and I dropped my old clothes into the can concealed there.
"Thanks. I'm Aidan Foster, by the way. Don't think you got my whole name, before." I felt I could trust these people, all of whom, except for Adam, smelled slightly exotic, which signified, for my sensitive nose, that they were New Mutants.
She smiled and took the hand I offered. "Shalimar Foxx." The blond Emma-scented man came to offer his hand.
"Jesse Kilmartin."
I recognized that voice. "From the ring-thing?" I pointed to Shalimar's hand.
He grinned and released my hand. "Yeah. That's a comlink. We use them to talk to each other." He tugged his off and offered it to me.
"Neat-o!" I exclaimed, knowing I sounded about twelve years old, but not caring. I looked up from the ring to grin at him. "Like on some science fiction show!" I handed it back.
"Yep," he said, amused by me, but what-the-hey, he was taken anyways. He slipped the ring back on his finger and a couple of symbols appeared on the band, which had been smooth silver before.
The smell of fixed nitrogen got stronger, and I looked up to find Brennan standing to my left, and I raised an eyebrow, inviting him to say whatever it was he wanted to say.
He cleared his throat, obviously uncomfortable. "That was a nice jump, back in the valley."
"Thanks," I said, then waited for him to continue, for he obviously meant to say something else. The waiting was getting slightly embarassing just as Shalimar nudged him and glared slightly.
"Um... I'msorryforcallingyouamonsterYou'renotreallyamonsterDoyouforgiveme?" He spat the words out faster than humanly possible, and though I understood perfectly, I liked watching him squirm under the glare of his teammate.
"Huh?" I asked, keeping my face straight- barely.
He sighed, composing himself. "I'm sorry I called you a monster and a killer and a phsyco."
I grinned, having enjoyed my moment of torture. "Actually, phsyco was my word."
His lips twitched and we almost smiled at each other, but Shalimar cleared her throat and he sobered. "All the same, I'm sorry." He offered a hand, and I shook it. "Peace, then?" he asked, with a slightly hopeful note in his voice.
I smiled a cat's smile. "For now." I dropped his hand, then tilted my head to one side, still looking at him. I raised my eyebrows, to myself, beginning to get his measure. I smiled dangerously again, glaring at him to cover up my amusement. He was already groveling, no need to make him more embarassed. "Don't get too comfortable though," I practically purred, making sure the half-threat, half-promise had its desired affect before I pulled back and turned around to walk down the hall towards the lab I'd been in before, feeling a need to have things explained and knowing, somehow, that Adam could explain them. I did slam a lid on my half-aroused *ahem* urges and tuck the smug feeling I'd gotten from knowing that Brennan too, had not been completely glacial towards me, into a tight corner of my mind before entering his lab though, and promised myself I'd think about that later.
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Adam was in the lab, just as I'd known he'd be, having already identified the mellow mixture of disenfectant, books and his teammates as his. He smelled like a leader, I noted from the door frame, like a sturdy, dependable leader, though Shalimar almost smelled more dominant. I was beginning to rely on my nose a lot, I noted, and decided I would ask him about it. I walked noiselessly to his side and looked at the screen he was so engrossed in. The distinct double helix of dna slowly revolved around, colors swirling and changing.
"Mine?" I asked finally, and grinned when he jumped about a foot.
"God!" He pinched the bridge of his nose and squeezed his eyes shut. "Emma does that. I hate that."
"Sorry," I said, not the least bit sorry. I gestured to the screen. "Now about this dna..."
"Yes," he agreed, turning back to the screen. "About this dna." He tapped the screen and the picture zoomed in. He pointed to several violent, orange-yellow spots. "These are your feral dna." He touched a square in the corner and another picture joined it, this one with much less orange-yellow spots. "These are Shalimar's, who may, in this case, be typified as a completely normal, in-control feral. The ratio of her feral to her human is approximately 1:5. Yours is more like 1:2, closer to 1:1 than any other feral I've encountered."
"Is that bad?"
"It can be. Fortunatley, you seem to have a strong constitution. Your sense of humanity is strong," he clarified.
"I understood what you meant." I nodded at the screen. "Keep talking."
He did. "Your human dna has been fighting the takeover your feral mutations have attempted, and while it seemed to weaken, they are now almost completely stabalized."
"Hm. So I lost the battle, but I won the war. With help." I shot him a grateful glance, which he acknowledged with a wave of his hand. "Is there anyway way you can reverse the changes?"
He thought for a minute. "Even if I could, would you really want me to?"
I frowned. Give up my incredible new sense of smell? Give up my new found speed? I didn't want that, I realized. "I guess..." I said slowly, "If I have to be abnormal, I might as well be really abnormal. Mom always said I never did anything half way." I smiled, remembering all the times she'd said that. Then my smile faded as I remembered the last thing she'd said to me, that she never wanted to see a freak like me again.
"You miss her," Adam suggested softly, reaching out to touch my shoulder in sympathy.
I shook my head. "No," I whispered, sniffling and fighting back tears. In doing so, I turned the tears into anger and felt the killing instinct coming back. Find her. Kill her. Rip her to shreds, it whispered seductivley in my mind's ear.
"NO!" I yelled and ran blindly out of the lab, shoving past Emma, who had appeared at the door. She cried out but I didn't stop- I wasn't sure if I could stop myself from killing her. I ran through Sanctuary headlong, feral speed blurring things as I passed them, until I collapsed on the floor, sobbing into my hands. Would I never be free of this monster?
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How do you like it? Tell me! Please. (*makes puppy dog eyes at you*)