FYI:
~Personal Thoughts~
ESP
%The Written Word%
[Flashback]
"Normal Conversation (Duh)"
* Com Link or Telephone *
*Sound Effects (usually just Kurt's bamfing)
{Background noise--music, crowds, etc.}
HYDRA
I cursed the pain that racked my body as I lay in the hospital bed. I was barely aware of my surroundings as the pain soaring through my body seemed to take up most of my concentration. ~I'll kill him if I ever get outta this bed.~
I went to touch my forehead with my hand and felt someone else's head resting on the edge of the bed. I smiled as I ran my fingers through the slightly long hair. The movement caused pain to sear through my shoulder so I stopped and simply rested it on Sam's cheek.
The head began to move on me and a hand took mine in it and squeezed. I squeezed as best I could back, trying not to wince at the pain it caused in my shoulder. ~Dislocated it when he yanked on me.~ "Al?"
"Did somebody…get a…license on…that Mac truck?" Talking was hard. With each breath by chest felt like it was going to cave in on me causing me to gasp again and the pain to start over again.
"Shh…don't talk. You've got a few broken ribs." I groaned. ~Broken ribs, ha! It's more like ground up ribs.~ Even the mental laugh seemed to hurt.
"That and…a dislocated shoulder…pair of black eyes…and at least one…stab wound."
"Only one black eye and there's actually six stabs."
"Glad I…don't remember…'em all. Prolly…look like…shit."
"Other girls would look worse with mascara running and all that." I forced a weak smile despite the pain it caused in my jaw. "It's kinda cute. Reminds me of a dog."
"Gee…thanks." I cracked an eye open to look at him and frowned. He had a big shiner around one of his eyes as well. "You're…hurt." I had to close my eye again…it was as if it weighed a ton or two and was work just keeping it open.
He shrugged. "It's nothing that won't heal. I'm just glad you're okay."
"Join the…club." I spoke softly hoping he'd take the bait.
"What?" I motioned for him to lean down and he did so. I picked my head up off the pillow briefly and kissed the corner of his eye.
"All better…now." I fell back into the pillow and cracked my eye open again to see him blushing and laughed lightly. I cursed as my ribs ached with pain but found it worth it. I closed my eyes again and realized when they were closed the pain seemed almost detached. "Guess…I'm not…invulnerable."
"You weren't thinking about your powers much."
"No…guess not." I felt the weight on the bed shift as he sat down on the edge of it still holding my hand in his. "How long…have I…been down here?"
He paused and didn't answer me for a while. "Two days."
"Shit…I've been…out for…two days?" I cracked both eyes open long enough to see him nod. "My mom…must be worried…sick."
"She's upstairs with the professor and Miss Frost with a lawyer. They're working on a restraining order for you. If everything goes well, he won't be allowed near Bayville or the Cove. You know that's an odd name for a town."
"It's not a town…it's several…Get an order…for one of 'em…and you take two steps…and it's useless." Breathing was becoming slightly easier as I continued talking to him, which I took to be a good sign.
"That makes sense. You realize you got to get outta this bed soon for three reasons."
"Yeah…what are they."
"First, school starts next week. Second we've got a game next Friday night and Coach'll have a conniption if his kicker's still bedfast."
"You said three…reasons." I opened my eyes and was determined to keep 'em open. He looked up at the ceiling for inspiration before looking back down at me.
"Third you promised to teach me guitar."
"Yeah…well…don't forget the soda…you owe me." He laughed at me.
"You don't forget anything do you?" I shook my head slightly deciding to try moving some other body parts other than my mouth and eyes. "Well, I'll up it to a movie ticket too, if you get outta this bed in the next three days."
"Make it a pair of tickets…for me and a friend…and it's a deal." He cocked his head to the side in confusion causing me to smile. "One for me…one for you."
"Are you asking me out?" He sounded slightly incredulous as I fought the urge to laugh knowing it would be slightly more pain then I wanted at the moment.
"Sure…what the hey…You'll be…paying." He grinned slightly as he squeezed my hand again. "If I go crazy…then will you still…call me superman…if I'm alive and well…will you be there…holding my hand?"
"Always." He smiled at me as I heard the doors swish open and closed again.
"Sweetie? Are you awake?" I looked past Sam to see my mom in the doorway to the med lab. Her face was stained with tears and looked relieved to see me.
"Hi Mom." She ran into the room and Sam jumped to the side to not get run over by a mother-daughter moment. She threw her arms around me and I could feel my ribs aching again. "Can't…breathe…really." She pulled back smiling as she placed her hands on my cheeks to check that I was real.
"I was so worried, sweetheart."
"I know…I'm sorry."
"Just so long as you're alive, that's all that matters. You're all I have now. You can't…" I felt a lecture coming on but she stopped herself and smiled. "I'm just glad that you're going to be alright."
"Yeah…me too." I smiled as best I could and pushed the pain into the back of my mind. I could see Sam heading for the door. "Hey…where do you think…you're going?" He stopped and smiled sheepishly back at my mother and I.
He looked panic stricken as my mom rushed him and pulled him into a hug. "My hero. Thank you, she's everything to me." I felt a laugh about to spill out at the sight of Sam awkwardly trying to peel my mom off.
"I'm not really…"
"Nonsense. You saved my little girl's life." I was grateful to realize I could still roll my eyes at my mother's back. Instead of being freed, Sam was drawn into the hug even tighter. "Sam, right? Thank you Sam." I finally burst out laughing but quickly stopped at the pain it caused. Sam shot me a glare and I just kept smiling. My mom finally released him but kept holding on to him by the shoulders. "I can't thank you enough."
"I think you have. I'll just be going." He quickly dodged out of her grip and out the doors. My mom turned and sat down in the chair that Sam had been occupying and she took up the job of hand holder.
"He seems like a sweet guy."
"Yeah…real sweet." I closed my eyes and willed sleep to return. ~Sooner the pain goes, the sooner I get up and moving.~ I reopened 'em again when I had the sensation of someone watching and saw a tall lanky boy standing behind the glass door to my room staring with demon-like red and black eyes. ~Great, with the pain I'm getting hallucinations.~ With that thought, I drifted off to sleep.
CANNONBALL
Since I'd gotten booted from the med lab by an overly excited mother, I decided to act semi-normal and eat dinner. Everyone else had already finished and only Bobby was still sitting at the table. I sat down at the table smiling as I loaded my plate up with chicken and potatoes. "Okay, what happened? You look like you got laid or something, man." I looked up surprised at Bobby who was grinning like a Cheshire cat. "She's awake, huh?"
"Yeah, finally."
"Seriously though, you better wipe that grin off or there's going to be rumors going around." ~That's what her dad thought.~ I grimaced at the memory of his maniacal ramblings.
"Get a life, her mom was down there."
"Okay, well, now you don't have to get all angry on me." I looked up and realized that I must have been pretty angry looking.
"Sorry, I was just thinking about what her dad did…" I shook my head in disgust.
"Yeah, that really sucks." He got quiet and thoughtful as he leaned back causing his chair to go back on two legs. "You think they'll be able to get him locked up?"
"Doubt it." I poked at the potatoes with my fork wishing it was him. ~He deserves to suffer like she is right now.~
"You know you should just ask her out. Make my life easier."
"What?!?!"
"Come on, I have to put up with you moaning about how you're such a whino and she digs you for some odd reason. She thinks you're cool and you keep acting like a nobody. Just ask her out for God's sake and leave me alone. If you don't I'll ask for you."
"Too late. She already asked me out." I poked at the potatoes again and took a big bite to distract myself from Bobby's astonished stare.
"She asked you? What do they have her on down there?"
"Nothing, Doc McCoy's afraid to give her too many meds. The whole water thing."
"Then she must really like you." He jumped up and looked out the window. "Darn I thought pigs woulda been flying or something." I shook my head at him as he sat back down across from me. "You know she's not that bad looking when she's not all bruised up."
"I thought you were trying to win over Jubes."
"I am…can't I look at someone else though?" I glared at him as he laughed. "Alright, don't get your shorts all tied up in a knot. Besides, I can't touch her you dope. No competition here." He held his hands up innocently. I sighed as I picked up the now empty plate and dropped it into the sink.
"I'm gonna go see if her mom's left yet."
"What's her mom got to do with anything?" He raised an eyebrow suggestively and I glared him down.
"She keeps hugging me and calling me a hero. I thought I was going to puke." He laughed as I exited the kitchen to head back down to the med lab. I peered through the glass doors to see that the room was empty except for her sleeping.
"Bonsoir, petite homme." I stood up straight and turned to see Remy standing behind me.
"You scared me. And I'm not that short."
"Y' right, y' grown some in de past six mont's. Watchin' de fille? Could fall int' de stalker profile." I ignored his comment.
"How's Rogue?" I looked behind him into the opposite room where Rogue was strapped down to a bed. Something was wrong with her but no one was saying quite what.
"Still not herself." He had a far off look in his eyes that made the normally overly happy Cajun look sad. "She still bein' possessed."
"What's that supposed to mean?" I shot him a curious glance.
"Not'in'. Don' worry 'bout her, mon ami. Y' got y' own fille t' worry 'bout." I looked back at Al and sighed.
"Al, she didn't deserve this."
"Friends o' Humanity?"
"No, her father. Came up here and beat the snot outta her 'cause he didn't like the fact that she'd been put in a private school."
"Dose are de unes who should be locked away." He ran a hand through his hair and looked nervously back towards Rogue who was now stirring and didn't look happy about her bondage. "I bes' check on her." He ducked back through the sliding doors and I couldn't hear what he said but could tell he was trying to get her to calm down. ~Whatever happened to her, musta been pretty bad.~
I entered Al's room and sat down in the chair next to her bed and watched her sleep. Occasionally she'd stir with a groan of pain then settle back into peace. "Who's he? He's been staring at me for the past hour or so. Don't know for sure since there's no clock down here."
I looked up surprised that she was awake. Her eyes were shut but she seemed pretty aware of her surroundings. "That's Remy."
"The guy from New Orleans?"
"Yeah." She nodded slowly. I could see her tense up as she struggled to push herself into a sitting position. "Woah, hold on there!" I found the remote that changed the bed's position and handed it to her. "Don't make yourself hurt worse."
She nodded feebly as her head rose up as the bed moved. "Thanks." She dropped the remote but looked pleased that she was at least sitting. "So I guess that's Rogue."
"I think so at least."
"Well, she either is or she isn't."
"Rogue's powers are kinda mental. I think that's her body, but I don't think she's in charge upstairs."
"So she's loony right now."
"I guess you could say that."
"It's funny that my mom thinks you're a hero."
"Why?"
"'Cause I think the same thing." She turned and smiled at me her eyes now open. They shone a brilliant green, which surprised me because I woulda thought with all the pain she wouldn't be too happy.
"Well, Logan was really the one who took care of your father. I just watched really."
"Who knocked him off of me and stopped him from killing me?"
I paused when I let the question register. "I did."
"Then you're my hero." She seemed to make it final with the way she said it and I sighed in defeat. She rolled over on her side and groaned slightly but then smiled as she propped her head up on her hand.
"You're going to hurt yourself."
"Naw…I'm already hurt. Besides no pain, no gain."
"Logan was going to run you down some huge lecture about how you shoulda told everyone 'bout you dad, then he decided the pain was punishment enough."
She smiled wistfully then frowned. "I'm sorry. You're prolly in trouble for keeping my secret."
"A bunch of extra training sessions." I shrugged. I knew they were putting them off until after school started or until Allison was moving around again.
"I shouldn't have made you do that. I shouldn't have made you promise."
"You didn't make me do anything. I had plenty of chances to spill."
"But you didn't. You kept both of your promises too. The one not to tell, and the other one to protect me."
"I think I bombed out on the second one." I looked down at my hands in my lap avoiding her look.
"I'm sitting here talking to you, aren't I?" She looked back out the glass door and grinned. "While the doc's away, Hydra will play. Think you can help me up?" I looked up at her surprised to see that she was swinging her legs around and was trying to stand up.
"Hey, you…"
"Hay's for horses. Give me a hand."
"Okay, but I can't promise it'll be very helpful." She grinned as she put her bare feet on the floor and placed a hand on my shoulder for balance.
"I'll be moving around before the end of three days." She stopped leaning on the bed and focused her weight onto her feet unsteadily. Her eyes flew wide though as she lost balance and I just barely caught her before she fell. She threw her arms around my neck and nearly dragged me down as well.
"Maybe you should take it easy." She pulled her head back and glared at me.
"You aren't trying to weasel outta that movie are you?"
"What? No."
"Good, then help me out here." She leaned on me heavily as she took a few wary steps. "See, I'm just a li'l stiff." She let go of my shoulder and took another few steps but tripped over the end of the bed. Again I caught her as she landed face first into my chest. When she looked back up at me her face was flushed causing me to blush as well from embarrassment.
"What's going on here, kiddos?" I froze not daring to turn and look back at the door. I closed my eyes and willed my imagination to stop playing tricks on me.
"Hi Logan." ~Well, maybe we're both now seeing/hearing things.~
"Kicks, why are you outta bed?" I helped her stand back up still refusing to turn around.
"Needed to stretch some." She grinned sheepishly at him over my shoulder as I finally turned around.
"It's not what it looks like…"
"If I thought it looked like something, your head would have been separated from your body by now, bub." I slowly nodded as I helped her to sit back down on the med bay bed.
"I'm going now…" Allison looked like she was frozen to the spot as she turned from Logan to me and watched us leave.
"Look, bub, you have a death wish or something? I told you not to be keeping things from me and I find out too late that you are, and now…" Jumpy didn't describe me at the moment; paranoid was more like it. Logan was a short man with an even shorter fuse and he seemed quick to defend any of the girls' honors. Now that Rogue had come back he seemed even more short-tempered then before.
"What's wrong with Rogue?"
"She's not herself."
"I figured that much out." ~Come on, would someone just tell me what's going on already?~
"She absorbed someone--completely." We all knew that Rogue absorbing people left a little piece of their psyche in her mind and if she was to hold on too long she could take everything. Logan stopped walking causing me to pause as well in confusion. "Look, you get upstairs and don't let me find you out after curfew again, bub."
I bit my lower lip and headed towards the elevator to go back up to the dorms. ~So Rogue did it…she pushed the bar and now she's not herself…she's somebody else. That's what Remy meant when he said she was possessed.~
HYDRA
It was boring sitting in the med bay all the time with nothing to do. I was pretty grateful when Kitty showed up with a pile of my belongings. "I like thought you might like these."
"Thanks." I sat up propped against the pillows as she dropped 'em on the edge of the bed. "What's this?" I held up my new photo album to find it already started.
"Like we thought you might like it if someone put in the pictures from your birthday." I opened it up curiosity getting the best of me. "Isn't Roberto like an awesome photographer?" I nodded silently as I flipped through the few pages. Most of the pictures were candids of people dancing and on the last page was a shot of me slow dancing with Sam. Heart doodling surrounded the photo and Kitty was grinning at me from the chair she sat in next to the bed. "Like you two make a really cute couple."
"Kitty, we're not a couple." I did my best to glare at her but felt like I was failing at the moment.
"Nonsense. Just like look at how cute you two are." I closed the album as I glared at her again. She ignored it as she took the album from my hands and flipped it back open to that page. "You're like totally flirting with him there!"
"Kitty! Stop reading things into it. It was just a dance…"
"Whatever you say. I still like totally think you two should go out." I rolled my eyes as she finally took the hint and left.
"Well, it seems that you're good to go Miss Williams." I sat up grinning at Mister McCoys release from the med bay.
"It's about time too!" He just shook his head in amusement as I got outta the bed and went to leave. On a table near the door something caught my eye. "What's that?" I stopped and took a better look at the object. It was dark brown wood and oblong. The only thing unusual about it was the red spots that dotted it.
Mister McCoy was slow in answering as he watched me for a sign of recognition. I picked it up to continue studying it and surprised myself when a blade popped out. "It's the knife your father used…" I pushed the blade back into the block of wood and turned it over carefully. Under my closer inspection I could see that the entire thing was stained red with some spots being darker than others. ~That's my blood.~
"Do you think I could keep this?" I could feel the anger in me building. Already I was planning how I'd make him suffer from the same fate. ~But this time, I'll make sure I finish the job.~
"Is that a good idea." I snapped outta my thoughts and realized just how crazy I was sounding. I felt embarrassed of the thoughts I'd had just moments earlier. ~Was I just thinking about murdering someone?~
"It's just closure. You know, if I have it, no one else can use it." He nodded as I left cradling the knife still in my hands.
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
Yes Lupine Draconis you get a cookie! * Author pulls out a sheet of fresh hot chocolate chip cookies with extra big chunks and offers one to Draconis *
Okay, now for the big news. I'm gonna change my screen name in about a week or so. I'm gonna change it to CIAgent Writer. So keep a look out for that. Hopefully that won't cause to many problems for people. I'm not changing any of my story titles or anything so if you lose track of me just search for my stories.