The Serum

Part 6



AN: uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/fic_writers - Fic Writers Anonymous - I couldn't resist. Come join, please, so I'm not stuck talking to my other muse - she's insane.

And I know there's no way she could have been promoted that fast, but I couldn't resist...

Posted as a text file bcz I have a new computer and it doesn't get along very well with fanfiction.net. Soz about the formatting quirks.



Her head span as she tried to sit and she only got as far as the side of the bed before she threw up violently. She closed her eyes for a moment, hoping it would stop the spinning.

"What is it with you policemen, try to break the back of your head open on a wall and then expect that you can just jump out of bed when you wake up." She opened her eyes to find a nurse stood over her. "Stay still or you'll be sick again." She warned. Eliza lay back against her pillow and then rolled onto her side as she realised that the pain was centred in the back of her head. She closed her eyes and lost consciousness again.

She opened her eyes to find Granger by her side.

"Hey Ella." He whispered.

"Hey." She whispered back, finding her throat too thick to say more.

"I didn't mean to wake you, I just thought you should know. Tanny's fine, she'll be back on duty in a couple of weeks. James has just come out of surgery and he'll be OK too. Might take him a while longer to get back on his feet, but he's good. You have a bad head injury so you've got another day's observation in here and if they clear you after that then you can go home. Your hubby was here earlier, he's been sat with you the last couple of hours, but he had to run off somewhere."

"June?" She croaked, curious.

"You shot her Ella. She's dead. If it makes you feel any better it was self-defence. We didn't even see her move, let alone have time to shoot at her before she was on top of you." He sighed. "We thought she'd killed you too."

"Take more than an out of control feral to kill me." She murmured as she slipped back into unconsciousness.



She dreamt strange dreams that night, as Shalimar stood in a room facing off with June. The redhead's eyes flashed feral yellow as she went to pounce, she seemed to slow to Shalimar, her muscles tensing and relaxing in a carefully prepared sequence that the body knew without having to think about it. She seemed to have an age to flash her eyes in reply, her own body tensing as she pulled down on the trigger.

But Shalimar didn't carry a gun...

The next day she woke to Richard's face, smiling down on her.

"Hey gorgeous." He greeted. She smiled back. "They want to run a few tests on you and then they'll let me take you home. You gave us quite a scare. Even Granger looked a little shocked at this one." She laughed gently and was glad when it didn't cause her world to spin.

"I think I scared myself this time."

"I assume she was feral? Granger was going on about her speed. I think he was trying to find a reason to explain why he didn't get her before she got you."

"It wasn't his fault. They're not equipped to deal with new mutants."

"You aren't either Eliza. You shouldn't have gone up against her." She caught his eye, making sure he held her gaze, enunciating carefully, as if it would help her explain.

"I was the only one there who knew what she was. I was the only one who had a chance to get them out alive, Richard." He sighed and looked away from her intense gaze.

"I just hate that you still love putting yourself in such dangerous situations."

"I'm a cop. Richard. It's my job."

"And you just couldn't live without the adrenaline after Mutant X could you."

"Richard, please don't. Not here. We've had this argument before. I'm not in the mood for it today."

She kissed Richard gently on the cheek as she got out of the car. She was still not allowed to drive after her injury and was restricted to desk duty for another two weeks, but was looking forward to getting back to work. She had been forced to take it easy the last couple of days, migraines reminding her when she forgot and tried to over exert herself. The office was bustling as it normally was on a weekend, people milling all over the place, organized chaos everywhere she looked. She made her way over to her desk quickly, feeling a little claustrophobic. Everything was too loud and a punk with blue spiked hair made her jump as he dropped his keys on the table across the room. Granger appeared in front of her desk, finding her with her head in her hands, making her jump again.

"Nice to see you, Ella. Now go home."

"Sir?"

"You look like shit. You're not up for this. Have another three days off and then come back. You'll be no good for anything if you don't take better care of yourself. I'm surprised Richard let you out like this."

"He protested."

"Good for him. Shame you're too hard headed to hear it. Jaylynn is heading home in a couple of minutes, she'll give you a lift. I hope you didn't drive in like this."

"No, Richard brought me in."

"OK." He looked around himself, seeming to fight an internal battle for a minute. "Look, I need to talk to you. Jaylynn will meet us outside. Come with me."

"Outside?"

"Problem?"

"No, it's just... No, no problem. I'm coming."



"Are you one of them Ella?" The question caught her off guard as she closed the exterior door. They were in the staff car park, quieter than the chaos in the front of the building where everyone was trying to get in to have their grievances heard.

"One of who?"

"Don't play stupid with me, you know exactly who I mean. The others, the ones who are different to us." She looked him in the eye.

"No, Granger. No I am not one of them."

"Are you sure?" She span away from him.

"Fuck. I put my life on the line for friends and I get this shit? What is this?"

"What's a feral, Ella? Tell me that." She closed her eyes, still facing away from him. Searching for the strength and will power to come up with something suitable. "Tell me why your eyes changed like hers did." This caught her attention.

"What!?"

"You heard me. I saw your eyes change when you faced her off. None of us saw her move, how did you see enough to get a shot off?"

"You trusted me before that day, Granger. How did that change in a day?"

"I saw your eyes flicker, Eliza. I saw something in your eyes that wasn't human. You're a good cop. I do trust you. But I want to know what you are. Believe me when I tell you that it won't make any difference in the way I treat you, I just want to know."

"Granger, what I used to be... you don't need to know. But until that day, believe me when I tell you, I thought I was as human as you are."

"Hey Sarge!" She turned as she saw Jaylynn coming out of the office calling her. She waved back and headed over.

"Eliza." Granger called her. She turned, backing away from him towards the car. "Take care of yourself, OK? I'll see you in three days." She turned again; not looking back as she got in and Jaylynn drove her away.

She waved at Jaylynn as she drove away and turned to the large apartment building, feeling better just for the cleaner air and the quieter atmosphere. She could hear children feeding the birds on the lake behind her and their laughter made her smile as she headed up the stairs to her apartment.

Richard would still be at work, having gone there straight after dropping her off. She set the keys down on the living room table before heading into the kitchen to make herself a cup of coffee. It took her a few minutes to realise what was wrong with the image as she glanced back into the open space of her living room. There was a coat on the sofa. A woman's coat. Not her coat.

She found herself walking soundlessly towards her bedroom, not thinking about what she would do when she got there, just walking. She began to hear noises when she neared the door, people talking. Richard's voice. She felt herself tense, her hands forming unconscious fists. She pushed the door open hard. She stood open mouthed for a moment. Well that hadn't been what she had been expecting...