Not
Myself
By Princess
Alexandria
Princess_alex24@hotmail.com
"Whatever they have you do, take it seriously." Christy was telling them as they ate their breakfast at a table to themselves. Many people didn't bother waking up for the first meal on the weekend. Erik planned to take it serious, their teacher didn't have to worry about that. "And if they let you all go in together, remember you are a team."
"Why are you telling us that?" Erik finally asked. It seemed like nothing new to him.
Christy just gave him a week smile. "If you and Jessi had thought to work together yesterday neither of you would have gotten wet. I want you to do better with this one."
"What? You mean we could have worked together?" Jessi spoke up right away and Erik could agree with the aggravation she was sending out.
"I never said you couldn't." Christy smirked at them. "You just assumed you couldn't. Don't make assumptions like that. Always assume you can work together unless someone tells you that you can't." Her voice softened. "You're guys' biggest strength right now is your ability to work together and your understanding of what each of you can do. Its something most of the students that start out here don't have, and it's the thing that will keep you all from looking weak out there."
"You really want us to do well don't you?" Jon stated the obvious.
"I want you to do your best." Christy looked at each of them. "And I'd be lying if I told you it wasn't personal. What you guys are able to do will reflect on me."
Erik could feel the determination in the others grow at those words and had to smile at Christy's almost instinctive understanding. She knew that would work, she had to.
********
Scott put the finishing touches on the simulation they'd use today and then glanced around the control room. This was a larger group than normally watched the new students in their first Danger Room session. The booth had a large window to overlook the room and a large table, where many of the observers sat to wait for the kids to change their clothes and get out there.
Emma sat at one head of the table nursing a large coffee and looking like she'd been on a bender the night before. Her hair and clothes were perfect, as normal, but her eyes showed a deep weariness and she seemed to be a bit slumped in the seat. "You alright Emma?" He couldn't help but asking. He knew she suffered from nightmares some nights, but it barely looked like she had any sleep at all. Even a few other eyes traveled to the blonde woman with some concern.
"I'm fine Scott." Her normal speech was slower as well, making it seem less like a reassurance and more like Emma admitted she wasn't fine. Still, if she didn't want to talk about it, it was nearly impossible to get her to.
Jean and Hank didn't look to rested either, but then Jean hadn't come to bed last night. The work on the samples from the new people took much longer than normal, and from the look Jean gave him she had something to tell him once they were done here.
The Professor was waiting as well. Scott wished the kids would hurry up, he hated making the Professor wait. Logan wandered in to see this as well.
The door opened again and Bobby escorted Christy into the booth. Scott noticed she was different than she had been, she stood taller and her eye took in the room quickly, before resting on the window. "The kids are almost ready." She reported and then it made sense why she was so late. Instead of just dropping the kids off to change, she'd hung around… probably talking and making everyone wait even longer.
The side door to the Danger room opened and Scott turned away from Christy to watched the four teens walk in, looking a bit uncomfortable with the suits they wore. Still they needed readings from the students as they used their powers and these suits would do that. The black outfits also had some light padding to help soften the blows these kids were bound to take.
"This is the Danger room. It's named that for a reason." He started talking into the microphone and they all turned to face him. The window was currently visible and he liked the way he had their full attention. Not all students took this seriously. He hit a few buttons in front of him and the plan metal gray walls vanished, to show a forest. He'd give them a semi-familiar setting for their first time. He watched the amazement in their eyes at the shift and let them look for a moment before speaking again. "In this simulation there are people after you. You need to avoid capture and take down as many of the enemy as possible."
********
Emma could see Christy tense up when Scott talked about taking down the enemy. For Christy that term meant kill, but that wasn't how Scott meant it. He wanted them unable to continue attacking. "Scott, specify what you mean by take down." She told him. He actually looked puzzled at that. Yes, they were dealing with kids, but Christy was upset. She obviously didn't want her kids becoming killers.
"Immobilize, contain, or otherwise prevent the enemy from being able to capture you." Scott clarified. Emma could see the Professor looking at her from the corner of her eye as she watched Christy seem to relax.
~I heard that you were able to get past her shields using Cerebra~ The Professor sent to her. Emma sighed. Yet another telepath she had to deal with.
~I did some looking around, but I'll do more later.~
~What did you find?~
~Charles.~ Her reluctance carried easily in her thoughts to him. ~I want to wait until I have the whole story. The connection with her is very slow and takes a lot of effort.~ She couldn't just tell him that this was her project like she could with Jean, because that machine was his. She'd borrowed it without asking and without mentioning it.
********
"You worried?" Logan's voice forced Christy to look away from the kids listening to the orientation to the room. He was studying her.
"No, they'll be great." She smiled at him.
The people at the table moved to the window that darkened a bit. It was time apparently. With Logan on one side of her and Emma on the other they watched as the kids moved to run.
********
"We need to be able to see them coming." Annie spoke quickly once the sound of the forest hit them and it was showtime. "Jon, get up in a tree and make sure no one is on the way." He jumped up quickly and Annie glanced at him quickly scaling the tallest tree nearby.
"My Empathy isn't going to be any good here. These people aren't real." Erik reported while looking around the brush for someone attacking.
"We need better cover than this. We're just sitting on a main path. Christy wouldn't be on the main path." Jessi added and Annie nodded. Christy would use the brush to hide her.
Jon crawled down the tree and kept his voice down. "I see movement heading this way." Annie stared at him a moment.
"How far away. How soon?" He didn't have an answer.
"Okay, we run for now. Hide. We need to see what we're up against." Annie made a decision. "Off the main path and move quietly. Keep down." Some of the things she said didn't need to be said anymore. They were used to this from Christy's games, but she felt the need to speak right now, while they could. Once the enemy got closer they'd have to rely on hand signals and expressions. A telepath really would have been handy.
********
Christy stood still and watched her students move into the brush. A small smile crossed her lips as they moved almost as one to reach down and put the dirt on their faces, even Annie, who with her green skin was least likely to be spotted. It was a move she had done out of habit a few times when playing in the woods with them, and one they picked up quickly, even Jessi who had been disgusted the most by the action, but eventually gave in after being caught a few too many times by the other team.
They moved to spread out a bit, but stayed so that they could see each other.
"Were you military?" Scott asked her without looking over at her. Christy barely glanced past Emma to see him.
"No." She could see why he said that though. Her kids' movements reminded her of some war movies.
********
Jessi held out a hand when she heard someone approaching and Annie noticed it and sent the silent message down the row. They all pushed themselves further into the disgusting dirt underneath them and waited. Jessi pulled her forcefields tight to her body, but she was ready to toss them out if the others were in danger. Unfortunately with the distance between them, Annie was the only one close enough for Jessi to protect. Erik should be on the other side ready to protect Jon if need be.
The men that came down the path were a bit of a surprise. Jessi expected something a bit harder than a street gang. This must be level one, like in a video game. The large boys wore torn jeans and t-shirt and walked a bit loudly. It was only four guys. They should be able to take them out. Jessi didn't even see any weapons.
She glanced over at Annie, but Annie motioned to wait. Once the guys were past Annie waved to the trees and Jon went up as quietly as he could.
He came back down and moved to them as quietly as if they were going against the F.O.H. and not some school yard thugs. "I don't see anyone else. It's just them."
"Man, this is too easy." Erik whispered once he got closer.
"It's just the beginning." Annie said and then looked down the path the boys took. "Well, Erik and I will take the left side of the path and Jon and Jessi can take the right. Once we flank them we can attack." She continued to quickly outline the plan and the others gave her their full attention. "We have to win this one easy. It would be embarrassing to lose."
"Don't worry Sprout, we got this covered." Erik smiled at Annie and then they were off. Jessi really hoped they weren't stuck with those code names they made up. She would never had picked the one she got.
********
Christy could hear everything they said. The suits had comm. devices so that the control booth could and heard the whispers when Erik called Annie Sprout. She didn't bother to explain their code names. Ororo might want to know what hers was if she did that.
"You are planning on something a bit harder after this right?" Christy said as she watched the four men her kids were supposed to fight walk down a main path, oblivious to the fact they were being followed.
"If they manage to pass this one, yes." Scott was a bit low on patience. Christy turned to raise an eyebrow at him, in a silent message that she didn't appreciate that.
********
Annie hated not being able to be the one to take the guys down, but she couldn't let that cloud her judgment. She was the leader and Christy had told her many times that meant thinking of the good of the team first, and she shouldn't try and do it all herself.
She gave the signal and Jessi moved to toss several forcefields at the lead guy. While the gang was distracted Erik used his telepathy to toss a branch at another and Jon leapt out to slam two guys head together. They'd knocked them all out and none of the team got hurt. It was a good plan. "Okay, lets keep moving. Round two is gonna be on the way." She glanced at the men and was surprised when she noticed Jessi moving closer to them.
"What are you doing?"
"Making sure they don't have any weapons. It's what Christy did when…" The silence said it all. Annie just nodded. That night had been a shock to all of them. No one thought Christy could actually kill someone, or would actually kill someone to protect them. Annie had only imagined Christy fighting someone like Annie's father, she never thought Christy would have to go against people like the F.O.H.
Once Jessi found nothing they set out to try and find another good location, and Jon stayed in the trees as they moved, keeping an eye out.
********
Scott was impressed with how they worked together on those four. Annie hadn't been a part of the attack, which disappointed him, because he wanted to see how they all fought. Well, maybe this next round would pull her out of hiding. He programmed in the next group of men to be bigger and smarter.
"Annie's holding back." He said to Christy as he worked.
"No, she isn't. You don't say Erik or Jessi held back and they didn't actually touch anyone." Christy didn't seem too happy with his comment. "Annie leads. It was her plan and it was a good one."
"Can they fight?"
"They are fighting. This is how we fight."
"No I mean hand to hand combat." Scott was feeling like Christy was purposely not understanding him.
"With my type of fighting, if you get down to hand to hand combat, you've already failed."
He wanted to push for more information but now wasn't the time. He knew what he needed to so he could program the simulation to see what the kids did know… and to push them.
********
Jon was in the tree when he noticed the men, and they were too close to them by far. With wide eyes he waved down at Annie to get her attention and when she did look did his best to convey the problem without speaking. These men might hear them.
When he saw what the lead man carried he moved down from his post as fast as possible. "They have Tranquilizer guns." He whispered to the team. "Four of them. Bigger, and they are looking at the forest, not just the path."
"We can't just run can we?" Jessi sighed, and Jon looked at her with sympathy. She had stood with Christy against the last men they came across like this in real life. "I can keep darts out of two people for a little while. It's hard though, and I won't be able to attack."
"If you can cover me I might be able to pull a few guns out of their hands." Erik added quietly. He then looked over at Jon and Annie. "You'd have to move really fast, because no one will be able to cover you."
Jon looked over at Annie when she opened her mouth. He felt bad about her probably sitting this one out too. "Jon, carry me with you to the other side of these men, so we box them in." Annie then turned to Erik. "You get me one of those guns and I'll be able to cover them."
"You got it." Erik nodded and they split up. Jon had carried Jessi on his back a few more times than Annie, but the green girl held on tightly as he moved as quietly as possible around the men attacking and then climbed down to the ground on the other side to wait for his signal.
********
Annie was almost as startled as the enemy when Jessi stood up with Erik partially behind her to face them. The gun she wanted flew back towards her and she moved out into the path without realizing that the fourth man on the enemy team had been prepared for them to try and box them in. The dart in her shoulder hit her just seconds before the gun landed in her hand, and she could feel a tranquilizer was actually in there. They weren't fake. She fought off the effect of the drug long enough to shot the man that got her while Jon raced up to the group, dodging the second man that turned to try and fight him. Annie sank to the ground, berating herself and hating that she didn't have any real powers.
********
"Shit." Christy muttered as she saw the expression on Annie's face as she went down. That girl didn't need the fact she didn't have a power rubbed in her face like this. Not in front of all her new teachers. Annie wasn't going to take this well when she woke up.
She thought she saw Scott moving to the controls. "Let it run. The others still need to figure out what to do now." She told him.
"I wasn't planning on stopping it."
Christy stared at Annie's face, enlarged on one of the computer monitors under the window and sighed. "Hank, she has some sort of power right?" A note of pleading entered her voice. If after this they had to sit in Hank's office and have him tell them something about the pigment of Annie's skin and how it miraculously helps her hide in bushes Christy wasn't sure Annie could take it.
"I do believe Annie won't be disappointed."
"Good." She let out a breath she'd been holding.
********
"Shit, Annie." Erik moved out from behind Jessi as soon as the men they were fighting went down. He hadn't missed Annie's emotions as she went down and this wasn't just a game anymore. Annie felt like she really let everyone down. Erik could feel Jon's shock when he turned to see one of them was down, he could feel Jessi's anger and fear. Both of them stood still, and Erik moved to Annie's side.
"Get the dart out. It might not have given her all the drug." Jessi finally moved to his side. They had to role Annie over to find it.
"Jessi, get their weapons, we might need them. Any ammo you find too." Erik started giving out orders. "Jon, you'll need to carry her." They could hear shouting in the distance. Round three was on the way. He stood up when Jon reached down to pick Annie up. "Move it people, we need to run."
"Make sure she doesn't stop breathing." Jessi told Jon and Erik felt the wave of fear hit him again. When Jon had been hit someone had to be with him at all times. Christy called it breathing patrol, they had to make sure he never stopped breathing.
Jessi just found one gun and Erik took the one Annie had used. They started out on the path running the opposite direction as the noise of the people chasing them. "Give me the other dart gun." Jessi moved beside him. "I'll cover you guys and you keep running." Erik turned to object. They needed to stay together. They were a team. "Erik… MentalCase." Jessi gave him a thin smile. "teamwork isn't always staying together. You missed that day of class. Gimme the gun, I'm the best shot here."
"Alright Bubbles." Erik handed it over. "You send out a big wave of feeling if you need backup."
"Yeah, you come when you feel terror. That should do." Jessi moved into the brush and Erik moved faster to run along side a worried Jon.
"We need off the path, if they get past her we are sitting ducks." It sounded like a group larger than four was coming up on them.
********
Emma watched the kids run. Their thoughts were suddenly very serious. Jon was checking Annie's breathing with every three of his own breaths. Jon was waiting for Erik to tell him what to do. He was fully in follower mode and wasn't trying to come up with a plan.
Jessi was standing in the bushes ready to shot and the thoughts in her mind said she felt like she was the last stand between her team and danger… it was almost real for her and she kept thinking of that attack where Christy killed men, and that was what teamwork was. Being willing to do whatever it took to protect your people. Jessi had been the one to point out what Christy would and wouldn't do several times during this simulation, and it became apparent that Christy had become a hero to her when she pulled that trigger, even though it terrified her that Christy would do that.
Erik was frustrated, confused, and trying desperately to come up with a plan. He was cursing that his Empathy didn't work on these men and he was trying to use the Empathy to wake Annie up because he didn't want to be in charge. He pushed his frustration at Annie in waves, but you couldn't combat that sedative with mental powers.
Emma glanced over to see how Christy was handling the break down of her group and the woman was stone still, staring with unblinking eyes at what was going on. Emma wasn't even sure she could see her moving enough to breath. She tore her eyes away to watch Erik pointing to the trees and Annie was slung over Jon's shoulder and he climbed. Erik stood his ground and turned to face the way they'd come. He was going to make a stand there if the enemy got past Jessi.
********
Jessi saw the mob coming and her heart sank. Still she took aim, trying to take out the more dangerous looking men, since she wouldn't be able to take them all out. She pulled her forcefields tightly to her in case they shot back and just started firing. Men dropped and the crowd quickly figured out where she was. Return fire bounced off her forcefields without hurting her, but her eyes widened when she saw someone was carrying more than a dart gun and had to move quickly to avoid getting hit with the laser. She started to run the way her team had gone while trying to dodge the shots being taken at her. Her forcefields weren't strong enough to withstand that, she was pretty sure about that. The balls would part letting the shot through.
She was almost to Erik when it got her in the back. She fell forward and blackness claimed her.
********
"I thought this was just a game!" Erik yelled out to whoever was watching when Jessi stopped moving. Her fear had called to him and he'd moved to try and meet up with her, but… he hadn't expected to find this. He ran forward and used his telekinetic power to enable him to carry Jessi, since he wouldn't have been strong enough on his own. He didn't make it far when the blast hit him, but he had managed to send out a wave of urgency and the feeling that one should run towards Jon before he did get hit.
********
Christy's voice was cold when she spoke. "What level is this?" Scott glanced down at the setting he'd done.
"I skipped a few to see how they handled panic." He answered, not bothering to tell her that no new teams ever made through this level. Her team had actually been doing better than he thought they would, but then they rarely tested first timers as a team. Most new students came alone. They had a time limit for the room, so he pushed ahead to see how the kids handled pressure. Their wait and ambush method of attack took longer and they were behind schedule. The glare Christy gave him was pure murder and Scott tensed up thinking the woman might actually attack, but she turned away from him. He watched Christy's lips thin and her eyes narrow at the scene below them, but she didn't argue with what he'd done.
********
Jon felt the emotions, and it was so sudden and unexpected that he knew it wasn't his. Something was wrong. He checked and Annie was still breathing. Damn, he couldn't run and hold on to her at the same time. He climbed down and started to hunt for a safe place to put her. He'd draw the enemy away and then try to circle back. He found an old downed tree and pushed Annie into the hidden side of it before leaping up to the treetops and heading towards where he'd left Erik.
Erik and Jessi were in a pile on the ground and Jon took a deep breath. The people that had done this stood around them. He leaped down when one of them looked like he was going to reach out and touch them. He wasn't letting any bastard touch Jessi. He tossed that man hard into a tree, knocking him out and turned to fight. Three men tried to grab him, but he was able to throw them off just in time to get shot by the only woman in that group.
********
"Damn." Christy muttered and Logan glanced at her. Christy's jaw was clenched and her arms crossed in front of her.
"Not bad for beginners." He had seen potential in each one of those kids. Christy glanced at him and nodded her thank you, but she was still staring at the bodies of her students laid out on the path. Her scent was completely gone.
Scott shut down the simulation and the trees faded back to the gray walls.
"You said you have readings on them?" Christy spoke suddenly while staring at the kids still on the ground. "They breathing?"
Logan just stared at her tense stance. She actually worried that they'd kill her kids in a simulation? "Darlin', they'll be sore, but fine."
"It's just…" She went quiet as she continued to watch them. Logan noticed a few more eyes were watching Christy now.
"Just what?"
"They look dead all crumpled up like that."
"Yeah, yeah they're breathing." Scott said quietly in response.
Her eyes were just a little too wide. A little too nervous. "Well, good then." She spoke quickly and moved away from the window. She missed the kids all started to stir. They'd be standing pretty soon.
********
Christy noticed her hand shook a little as she poured her glass of water, but it didn't take long for Ororo to take the pitcher from her to do it for her. "I know the danger room can look real and very dangerous, but we would never do anything to purposely hurt the children."
"I know." Christy didn't try to pick up the glass yet. She didn't want Ororo to see her hands still shaking. Sometimes when she stood there watching all that it wasn't her students she was watching. She was seeing things that had happened in the past. Seen friends falling to raiders. Guess veterans aren't the only ones to get flashbacks.
"We ran over with their time slot, so you can try your turn after lunch." Ororo had a nice soft voice. Hard to believe she was a warrior.
"Did my kids do okay?" She asked. She knew that eventually they would lose in it. They were testing their limits after all.
"They did very well for a new group. I can see they did learn from you, and it helped them."
Emma's voice entered the conversation. "Most children stay on the paths. It's the first mistake and most of them make that one." Christy glanced up into Emma's ice blue eyes and smiled. A nice word from Emma went a long way, because Christy knew she didn't say what she didn't mean. "And I've trained teams that took a long time to learn to work together like that. We will keep them as a team. They definitely work well together."
"Thank you." Christy felt a little better now.
********
Annie had at first worried that she'd screwed up so badly Christy would be forever embarrassed of her, but the first thing Christy had done after Mr. Summers explained all the mistakes they made was tell them she was impressed and proud of them. She talked about what a great team they were and how that simulation would have gone on until they lost, so they shouldn't let that bother them too much. Just learn from what they did wrong. It was a safe way to learn from their mistakes.
They were almost done eating when Annie decided to ask. "Can we watch your turn?" Christy's reaction to that was a surprise.
"No!" Christy's head snapped up and her voice rose. Erik hadn't been paying that much attention to them but even he looked up when Christy said that.
"Why didn't they let you go with us?" Annie continued. "You're part of our team."
"Not anymore." Christy looked at her with sad eyes. "I'm not staying. They needed to see how you do without me."
"Annie?" Hank's voice interrupted the conversation and Annie glanced over to see the large doctor standing in the doorway to the cafeteria. "We could discuss your results before Christy takes her turn being battered in the Danger room." Annie didn't care how it looked, she reached out to take Christy's hand. She felt so nervous.
"He said you do have a power." Christy leaned close to her ear to tell her. "Let's go see what your packing. I mean… you still want me to go right?"
"Yes!" Annie's head turned towards Christy quickly. "I need you." The light blush on Christy's cheeks made Annie rethink her comment and blush as well.
"Well then, lets go." Was all Christy said.
********
Christy sat in a chair next to Annie but a bit off to the side. This was Annie's meeting and the girl needed to realize that. Christy's choice of sitting space registered and Annie glanced at her once before turning to face Hank. "What did you find?"
"Well, I found two distinct powers." Christy felt herself smile a little when Annie sat up straighter with eyes seeming to beg for more information. Hank gave Annie a smile. "The first power I was able to identify rather easily. There was a mutant with a very similar power in the database. For lack of a better word, it's a luck factor. It isn't a power that you can train, it's like extra security in an problematic situations." Christy could see Hank struggling to explain that one.
"Do you mean that in a situation she may get more breaks than someone without that power, but she can't rely on it to give her breaks?" An image of a woman with white skin and a black circle over her eye came to Christy's mind. That woman had something like that… didn't she? Christy had stopped reading that comic shortly after starting so she didn't remember much.
"That's a good way to put it Christy." Hank smiled at her. Christy nodded to him, but made sure to keep her eye on Annie. The girl was a bit confused looking. Well that was a confusing power.
"So I don't have to do anything to make that one work?" Annie finally asked.
"No, it's just always there, giving you helpful coincidences once in a while."
"Like finding Christy at that Deli when I know she doesn't eat at deli's very often." Annie asked him, but her eyes were on Christy. The look in Annie's eyes said that Christy was a miracle, and it wasn't comfortable to sit there and not look away.
"Yes well there is no way to determine what was naturally occurring good luck and what was influenced by this power." Hank cleared his throat and said. "So the second power was a bit harder to determine. In fact we aren't completely done figuring it out yet. We see similarities to a Healer we have in the database, but there are some differences. We will have to work on that one some more."
"Healer?" Annie asked and Christy smiled at her while Hank had Annie's full attention. If Annie was a healer that would be so perfect. Those had to be rare and popular. And Annie already had an interest in first aid and taking care of her teammates.
"Someone with the ability to heal others. The one you had a similarity to did so by touch, but there are some differences so we will have to experiment to find out how your power works."
"Christy I'm a healer." Annie turned to her and the light in her eyes almost made Christy want to cry. Annie was proud, and dammit the girl deserved it.
"That's a great power Annie." Christy smiled at her and watched the girl she'd seen pull into herself whenever people talked about powers seem to finally grow. "I don't think there are a lot of healers out there."
"No actually it is a rather sought after mutation and also rather rare." Hank added.
"Thank you so much Hank." Annie sounded so excited. "Thank you."
********
Christy had time to walk her to her dorm and they did so slowly. Annie was still dealing with the idea that she had two powers. One she needed to control and one that was just there. They stepped out of the main building and walked the long way towards her dorm room. "I don't have a fighting power." She finally spoke again when she realized that even if she knew how to use her power she wouldn't have been any better in the Danger room.
"Not everyone needs one." Christy stopped walking when they were on the side of the girl's dorms and grabbed Annie's hand to stop her as well. Christy spoke so gently. "There is so much in life besides being a warrior, but if you want to fight… just learn how to fight. Anyone on your team will be lucky. They would be even without any powers, but a healer on the team… any team would want a healer."
Annie's heart was pounding as Christy stood so close to her. "You are amazing. I was very proud of the plans you came up with in the Danger room, and I'm very impressed with the power you ended up with."
"Christy… I…" Annie stared into Christy's eyes and moved forward. She could see Christy's surprised eyes, but she just had to… Christy's lips were so soft. Annie leaned into the kiss and barely recognized the soft whimper that came from her own throat.
********
Christy froze. Her entire body tensed as she realized what Annie was about to do just a second before she did it. What was she supposed to do? Her mind ran through options, freezing before coming to anything solid and Annie kissed her. Part of her took the time to notice that Annie was just as inexperienced as Shelley had been before she pulled back. "Annie, I…" Christy's eyes were wide, but Annie's were wider. The green girl was paling and obviously stunned that she'd actually done that.
The clearing of a throat jolted both of them and Christy turned to see Warren standing there. "I was told to find you and get you to your Danger room session."
"Ah, just a minute." Christy mumbled out and turned back to Annie. The girl looked ready to cry. Dammit. "don't be embarrassed." I feel embarrassed enough for both of us, Christy thought. "I have to go, but we need to talk about this." Christy stared at the girl that was unable to look at her now. Christy could see Warren walked around the edge of the building to give them privacy and was grateful. She reached out to touch Annie's cheek and encourage Annie to look at her. "Annie, it's okay. You don't need to be so upset, but you know I can't…" Christy looked at Annie helplessly. "I care about you so much… but…"
"It's okay. I understand." Annie's voice was rough with tears. "I mean…" Christy's heart almost stopped when Annie finally stared at her. The hurt in those eyes was something Christy never wanted to have any part of putting there. Annie turned and ran away. Christy just stood there, stunned.
Finally she shook her head and turned back towards the main building. Warren never said a word to her and she didn't bother trying to talk herself. She was still having trouble dealing with the fact that she was going to have to do something now and she didn't know what to do.