Not
Myself
By Princess
Alexandria
Princess_alex24@hotmail.com
Emma barely glanced at Jean as she took her seat in Cerebra. She'd dropped Christy off at her room an hour before and was betting that the woman was asleep. She'd looked tired when she'd left her.
Once Emma's astral body came close to Christy's shield Emma noticed something subtle, a slight color change in the shield. Did it always do that, and she'd been so tired lately she hadn't noticed? She reached out to caress the shield like she normally did and the color change faded. She pulled her hand away and waited for it to come back. For the first time she walked towards the opening without touching Christy's shield.
It wasn't there. Emma was positive she was in the right place as the opening wasn't there. Her eyes traveled over the large dome shaped shield and leaned forward to touch it. Her hand played across the smooth surface gently and she watched the opening appear slowly. This was amazing. It was like Christy was letting her in, but Emma knew the woman didn't know she was doing this. No wonder Jean wasn't able to get in.
Emma didn't go in right away. She continued to caress the shield, feeling the warmth and smoothness of it. Maybe this touch would get her more than a barely useable opening. "Christy, let me in." She spoke from outside Christy's mind, to the woman's subconscious. The opening became just a little larger, smoothing out the edges. "That's it girl, just a little more. It hurts me to be here if you don't let me in." She spoke softly and noticed that as soon as she mentioned being hurt the opening widened even more. Emma kept her hand on the shield wall as she moved to the opening. Maybe she wouldn't have to work so hard for it today. She'd get Christy to help her. The woman obviously didn't want to hurt her in any way.
As she moved into Christy's mind she found it a bit more active than normal. She was awake. Emma looked around for a moment, a bit stunned that the last hurdle had been easier to cross than she thought. It was always easier to slip into an unconscious mind.
********
Christy had been laying in bed trying to sleep for a while, but it wouldn't come to her. She hadn't spent much time thinking about it, but now that the kids were starting school she'd need to. What was she going to do with her life now? She wasn't capable of just being what she'd been before. Once she'd opened the doors she did while she was waiting for death, she couldn't ever close them again. She wasn't the type of woman to be happy with staying home or even running a bed and breakfast for superheroes, like Emma had suggested.
She could go after the F.O.H. Christy rolled onto her back and stared at the ceiling. Doing that alone would be hard. She wasn't used to working alone, but if she asked for help they'd leave her out of it and do it themselves. She could imagine Scott not even letting her be part of planning.
Jessi's dad was the leader. Christy couldn't decide what to do about that. She'd always killed threats to her people, there was no other way. She didn't know how to fight without killing, but killing him would hurt Jessi and letting him live would hurt her too. Could she afford to care? He was murdering mutants, and those were her people now. God, it was so much easier to protect her people when they all fit in an apartment complex. Mutants were everywhere. This is what drove Magneto insane, wasn't it?
Of course putting a bunch of mutants in one place hadn't worked for him either. Christy sighed as she stared up at the textured ceiling. That was a massacre.
She rolled onto her side roughly. She'd never get to sleep if she kept thinking about this. Pleasant thoughts, she needed pleasant thoughts.
Why were the humans of this planet so stupid? It wasn't like mutants came from another planet, they were their children. It was just the next step, still human, only a little different, like the next model of a car. It's still a Mustang even if it doesn't look the same. For crying out loud, if the humans wanted to guarantee that mutants didn't exist the only way to do that would be to kill off all life on earth, because humans can have mutant children. Or maybe tell them that they can't have sex with someone until a detailed analysis of potential combinations of their DNA was completed. See how those that hate mutants like being told who they can love based on DNA. See if they care then so much about mutants when they realize that it leaves them little choice or freedom.
Christy rolled onto her other side, hoping that maybe it would help her get her mind off of this. It's her fault for watching the news before going to bed. She knew better than to do that. It always pissed her off. These monsters were a threat to people she cared about. These were the people that the X-men fought and it could get them killed as well. They weren't immortal, not like they were in the comics. These were real people.
********
Emma felt the flurry of activity as Christy's thoughts raced and decided to see if she could intervene for her. They'd all had moments like this were they questioned it all, but it would be best if Christy didn't have that while Emma was trying to focus on memories.
She put out restful thoughts and resisted the urge to look into Christy's thoughts about her for now. It would be best to finish getting what she needed for the report first. Things finally calmed down and Emma found she was able to put Christy to sleep, since that was exactly what the woman wanted she wasn't fighting it.
"I'll have to let the Professor know you're considering a life as a vigilante." Emma sighed. She'd been right, Christy needed a purpose, but she needed more of one than they had offered. Someone with her abilities could be useful, but convincing the others wouldn't be easy.
Now that Christy was resting Emma moved to follow the trail she'd left so that she could continue her tour.
********
Christy was tired when she opened the door to her apartment. After they'd come home with another large take it had been hard to escape the grateful people. It had also been hard to face them, because she'd murdered for them. She hadn't been able to help prepare the boy's body after she'd slit his throat. She tried to be a leader and do what needed to be done, but finally she just told them she was inventorying the raiders' cart instead. They didn't need to see her break down, she had to look like she believed in what they were doing or they'd all doubt it.
The woman laying in her bed was a surprise. Christy stopped moving and just stared into slightly frightened eyes. This was the woman she'd shared her take with last time… Debbie. The woman pulled back some covers and was obviously trying to look seductive, but there was no passion in her eyes. Christy's eyebrows drew together in confusion. "Uh, hi." Her two words held her question. What was she doing there?
"Christy." Debbie swallowed nervously. "I… I'm here for you."
"What?" Christy almost stepped back when the woman got out of bed and moved too close to her. Like most of the tribe, Debbie was dangerously thin and it made her attempt at seduction less than appealing to watch. All Christy could think of was that if she'd been able to find food this woman wouldn't look so weak.
"I'm offering a trade. My body for…" Debbie looked down. "I heard you were gay, and I just thought…"
"You don't have to do this." Christy stared intently at the woman once she realized what was going on. "I won't make you pay for food like that. I'm not like that."
"I didn't mean to imply that." Debbie now sounded like she was scared she'd insulted Christy, and in a way she had, but Christy could forgive her. Debbie was obviously desperate.
"I'll continue to give you a part of my take. You don't have to earn it." Christy glanced at her bed and then at the relieved looking woman in front of her. "Don't make this offer again. I don't ever want to be like that." Christy spoke quietly. It hurt to even be offered something she hadn't had in so very long, and for it to be about food… or what she'd been lying and telling everyone was food. This woman didn't care about her, she was just worried about her kids. What kind of a monster would take advantage of someone like that?
Once Debbie left Christy lit more candles and sat on the bed. She pulled out her cards and gently used them to play a game of solitaire. "There are some lines I just can't cross." She spoke to the cards she played with. "I'm already a monster, but I won't be that kind of monster." Her breathing started to shake and she moved back on the bed, pulling her knees to her chest to cry. She hadn't felt this alone in a while. She didn't have anyone to come home to when she was out on hunts, she didn't have anyone that cared about her specifically. Even her team was distant because they obviously blamed her for what they'd all became. "God, why doesn't that damned asteroid hurry up? I want to die."
Emma moved closer to Christy and almost reached out to pet her hair, but this was just a memory. Her hand fell to her side as she watched the woman cry. Christy had told them once that people chose to commit suicide, so with all this pain Christy was in why didn't she?
Finally Emma left this memory and the painful crying. There wasn't anything concrete to get out of it and she had a limited amount of time to work. She moved on to another emotional moment.
********
Christy came to the distribution point shortly before they started. She didn't need to get in line since she was the lead of the top team. Other people had come out earlier thinking that being last in line was likely to get them less. In truth the night before people divided things up so that everyone got the right amount, but the lead teams were always rewarded with more to try an keep them motivated. Christy wouldn't have needed more for that, just seeing the people suffering motivated her enough.
She glanced around and noticed one of her team was missing. Where was Peter? The feeling she had last night came back to her and her eyes widened. "I'm going to check on Peter." She told Mark and left the crowd to head back to their part of the apartment complex. She started to move faster, hoping she was wrong. She'd felt the tingle while she was crying and hadn't paid attention to it. She should have checked. Dammit, she knew he was having a hard time dealing with killing someone and she had been so self absorbed that she hadn't checked. She ran up the stairs with her heart pounding. He was dead, she knew it… she hated how she always knew it.
Peter hadn't locked his door. What a polite man, making sure the people on death patrol didn't have to ruin a perfectly good door. Christy stood in the doorway and watched her man swinging from the ceiling. He'd really done it. "God damn you Peter." Christy hissed at him. "We are all that protect this place, you had no right." Everyone had thought about it, she'd thought about it… but that was a coward's way out. She had responsibilities, they all did.
She shook off her shock and anger and started to look for a note. If he left one she needed to find it. If he decided to confess his crimes she had to stop him. It was in his pants pocket. She quickly put it into her own when she heard footsteps coming towards the room. "He's dead." She spoke with little emotion to whoever had followed her. She glanced over to see it was one of her other men. She glared at him. "This had better be the last one of us to take their own lives." She turned and marched out of there, slamming the door behind her. She couldn't cut him down, someone else was going to have to do that.
Dammit Peter, Christy thought as she walked back to the crowd, trying to look as if nothing were wrong. Her fingers played with the note in her pocket. She'd have to wait to read it. He'd actually addressed it to her.
********
"No, we work well as a team." Christy spoke a bit loudly. "A new person would just mess up everything." They had a vow of silence going on and how could they hunt with someone that hadn't seen what they do? "We're not hunters anymore… we're raiders." She finally resorted to a partial truth. "We have to fight for what we bring in."
"You are two people short now." Richard told her as if she didn't know. She was very aware of that fact.
"And I'm saying we are better off being two short than adding anyone we can't work with. We are a team and that is the only reason we live to come home." Her voice held a note of demand to it, but she had to keep outsiders off the team. She stared him in the eye and didn't flinch.
Richard looked down first. "Very well. You lead a successful team and I won't order you to do something that you think will upset that." Christy was a bit surprised that it worked, but she just nodded graciously. She'd won a point against a leader. It didn't seem like that happened very often.
"We were planning to take off tomorrow morning." Richard knew that, but it was time to change the subject a little. Christy glanced to the side and noticed Zack had come in during that conversation and he didn't look too pleased. He was a power-hungry fool.
"Very well." Christy was easily dismissed. She hadn't made it far from the leaders office when Zack caught up with her.
"You aren't showing the proper respect to your leaders, dyke."
"Leaders are elected, not kings." Christy turned around to face him. "Remember that. You weren't born into the job. I am not a peasant to be ordered around. I'm the lead hunter of this camp Zack, and I'm not taking anymore of your crap. If you don't approve of my lifestyle, you can refuse to eat the food I supply. Do everyone a favor and pick that option."
"You're luck will run out."
"Let's hope not, because right now it's my luck that keeps us all alive." Christy spoke coldly and turned to leave. She barely acknowledge the other two leaders that had followed after Zack when he left before their meeting.
They were preparing to go when Phil found her the next morning. "Christy." He spoke quietly while walking with her around the perimeter of the camp. "You are very popular right now." Christy hadn't realized it was a contest. She was just doing what needed to be done. "And Zack has abused his powers. He's taking extra shares and using them to get women into his bed." Phil looked around quietly. "I could let that information leak while your gone. If you come back with another large take… we could get him out of power."
"What are you talking about?"
"Christy, people would feel better about following you. You actually care about the tribe. I can't say Zack cares about anything but himself."
"You want me to be a leader?" Christy glanced back towards the camp. "I'm not sure I can do that. I have my team to lead and we need to get food."
"You can still be a hunter. We could set up the third spot for you and big decisions wait until you return. In all honesty the three leader system isn't working. They could easily manage with two and a half if it were someone that didn't cower away from fights and act like the spiritual leader of the apocalypse while taking advantage of his people."
Mark waved to her that the cart was ready and they should go. "I need to…"
"Think about it. No one else has the popularity to push for a change, and I know he's been riding you since the beginning."
Christy walked quietly with her team out into the city, while thinking about the fact that the hard work and soul selling she did enabled that bastard to bribe some poor woman into his bed. Regardless of what she decided about leading she couldn't let him get away with this. She wasn't out here hunting for his sake, she was here for the entire tribe.
They walked past grocery stores that they knew wouldn't have anything. They didn't bother lying about what they were doing. They were looking for raiders, hopefully ones that had a take on them. She felt like a predator hoping to find prey and it made her sick.
********
The bandage around her arm was red with her blood but she didn't pay any attention to the throbbing pain. One raider had gotten a little too close before he was killed. They walked into the camp with another large take and no expression on their faces. This was getting to be easy. Not a good sign. They'd been out hunting a few times since Peter died and the team wasn't as cold with her anymore. It was almost like they forgave her, but no one ever talked about what they were doing.
One of the new girls smiled at her when she went past. Christy gave her a weak smile back. Shelley was under the impression Christy was a superhero or something. Maybe a movie star. "You've been hurt." Shelley moved closer and took a peek at the make shift bandage. "I'll get Debbie." Christy just nodded as she moved to make sure her team was unloading things.
People assumed that Debbie was her lover now, and to keep people from bothering the young mother Christy didn't dispute the rumors. Debbie wasn't interested in taking a male lover either. She'd been raped by raiders before she came to their tribe. Debbie didn't want anyone touching her, which made the offer she'd made before even more horrifying when Christy found out. If she'd accepted it would have devastated the woman. As it was now, Christy had a friend to talk to once in a while. She still didn't feel like talking to her teammates after a take. She needed away from the killing and they only reminded her of what she'd done.
Debbie quietly cleaned the wound and stitched it up carefully. She used to be a nurse. "Word got out that Zack is abusing his power." Debbie started to talk while she worked. "We may be impeaching him." The woman stopped sewing and looked into Christy's eyes. "Phil says you'd be a shoe in if you mentioned an interest in leading. I know I'd feel safer with you in charge."
"So Phil is trying to get you to talk me into it now?" Christy was a bit irritated at the pressure that man put on her. She just wanted to come back from a horrifying hunt to hide in her room. She didn't want to talk with people and make decisions. She just wanted… dammit, she gave so much already.
"Christy, he's a sick man." Debbie finished the stitches. "He's been eyeing Shelley. The girl asked me if he could really banish someone for not obeying. When I asked what the order was… he wanted her to give him oral sex. That bastard figures since the girl has no living family she's easy pickings and the fact that she obviously likes you doesn't sit well with him. I'm always avoiding him when you are out. He's…"
"Zack bothers you?" Christy's eyes burned into the woman. Debbie may not be her lover, but she was a friend. "You never told me."
"I didn't know there was something you could do about it." Debbie's voice dropped and she leaned closer. "Many men demand favors for protection. You don't want that, I wasn't sure… if you were protecting me, or just feeding my kids."
"I'm doing both." Christy stood up quickly and leaned down to push some hair out of Debbie's eyes gently. "Don't keep things from me." Christy whispered and then turned towards the leaders office. She didn't have to spend much time at camp, she had no idea that it had gotten that bad with Zack. Shelley and Debbie weren't going to be that bastards targets.
Phil had told her that she had power now, that providing the only meat this camp had gave that to her. She was about to test that theory. "I want Zack impeached." Christy said as soon as she noticed Richard and David in the room. "I work hard for the food I bring in. I almost get killed sometimes, and he's using it to get laid?"
"Yes, well…" Richard started to stammer. Christy wasn't going for being nice. "He's constantly putting me down and now he's picking on Debbie. Why should I work for a man like that? Maybe I should start my own tribe."
The panic in both leaders eyes told Christy everything she needed to know. Phil was right, she had power. These men were terrified that their prized hunter would pick up and leave. God she didn't want this job. "I could be a leader and I wouldn't put up with men like Zack."
"You could be a leader here." David spoke quickly to stop the disaster Christy was pretending they had. "Zack has abused his power and the people like you." Christy sighed quietly. It wasn't her the people liked, they just liked what she could provide.
Richard glanced at David quickly and then turned to her. "David's right. With both of us in agreement, we can oust him and a brief vote in the tribe would see you in his place."
"I want him on death detail." Christy thought about the young girl he'd tried to trick and wondered how many other teens around here had fallen for it. "Punishment, a new job… whatever. He has to contribute or be banished." Death detail was the least pleasant job there was. They took the clothes off the dead and buried them. They also took care of trash to prevent rats coming near the camp.
The men looked reluctant to do that so Christy turned around to go. "I found an abandoned apartment complex on the last hunt…" The threat less than veiled.
"We can do that. We'll tell him tonight."
She left and once she was out of sight she leaned against a wall. Phil was by her side rather quickly. "I did it." She growled at him.
"I knew you would." He sounded so sure of himself, and so sure of her. "You are a good person." Christy glanced at him and then up at the sky. It was dark now. She could see the extra star in the sky. Death was on its way.
"I'll do what I can." She spoke quietly. It was just for a little while. All they had was a little while. "Up the security on the take tonight, Zack's about to be fired and I don't want any sabotage."
"Yes ma'am." Phil stood straight and smirked at her.
********
Emma pulled out of that memory and noticed the connection was a bit hard again. She moved to a less stressful looking memory to test another theory. Maybe if all she focused on was the horror, Christy could only take so much before she was fighting her. That would explain the tension she felt. Even if Christy wasn't seeing the memories as Emma glanced at them, it didn't mean that a part of her didn't realize those were being accessed. The subconscious was a very complex thing.
********
Ian and Sarah were looking so proud to be sitting on Christy's couch. Debbie's kids were still rather young, but Christy imagined that the oldest would have been in school by now if there was school. "So…" Christy didn't really know what to talk about with them. Debbie was taking a quick shower in Christy's new apartment. The leaders had a generator hooked up to their hot water tank and no one had realized it. Everyone else had to take cold showers. It was one luxury that Christy wanted to keep, but the larger shares of the take weren't. Debbie and the kids would be getting more and Christy decided to adopt Shelley as well.
After another awkward moment Christy pulled out her cards and the way she carefully pulled them out she could see she had the kids attention. "Have I told you the story of Cyclops?" She said as she noticed the top card was of him. She held out the picture for them to see. They'd already heard the story of Beast and the story of Rogue, all toned down for a small child. Whatever Christy didn't remember she just made up. The kids only remembered parts of the stories anyhow and since they had no T.V. to put them in front of she had to do something.
"Are you telling my kids about mutants again?" Debbie sounded amused and Christy looked up to see the woman drying her hair with a towel.
"Well I was going to until you came to save them." The kids started to draw on the old magazines with crayons Christy had found on the last hunt.
"Well, then I've done my job." Debbie smiled and turned toward the mirror in the now opened bathroom. Christy got up and was glad the kids kept drawing.
"Debbie?" She spoke quietly and immediately had the woman's attention. "I'm gone most of the time. If you and the kids want to stay here when I'm out… or when I'm here…" Christy glanced around the three bedroom apartment. It was really more than she needed. "I like having someone to come home to… I'm not talking about sex…"
"I know." Debbie spoke quietly so that kids wouldn't hear them. "We could do that." Christy started to smile. She'd thought she wanted to be alone when she was at camp, but this last time with Debbie around had been better. She didn't feel as haunted when she had someone else to think about.
********
"And we're sending you back to an empty house." Emma said flatly as she pulled out of that memory. It looked like Christy lost even more people she truly cared about to the asteroid now. It wasn't a passionate love, but Christy cared about Debbie like a sister perhaps. She also seemed uncomfortable around young children. The story of Cyclops? Emma would have liked to hear what Christy would have said if she weren't interrupted.
She checked her connection and it wasn't as tight. That was good. If she found it giving her a headache she could just head for a fond memory to ease it.
Well, she wasn't here for just the rare happy moments. Christy didn't have many of those in this part of her memory anyhow. Emma moved to the next moment and actually paused. She wasn't sure if she had time to tackle it.
"Jean" She spoke using her body and waited. She didn't want to move from this connection and lose time if she still had some.
"Yes."
"How much time do I have?"
"You've only been in an hour and a half." Emma felt a smirk on her lips. She'd improved the connection.
"Good."
"What's going on?" Jean's curiousity was very clear.
"I found a way to get Christy to help me maintain the connection at a faster rate. She isn't fighting me anymore. I thought I must have been in here all night, since it is normally so slow. I'm going to get back to work."
"Are you sure you don't want me to piggy back in with you?"
"She's only letting me in because it's me Jean." Emma felt a little smug about that. "Her mind chose to keep you out. I have a good connection and I don't want to risk being expelled from it." She then pulled her concentration back into Christy's mind and took a step into the next memory.
********
"Someone out there is hunting People for food." The leader of a small tribe they were absorbing was reporting to Christy and the other two leaders. "We found the bodies… stripped of flesh." He sounded rather horrified. "We couldn't continue to be a small tribe with monsters like that out there. Once they decided to try and pick off tribes we would have been defenseless."
Christy felt her face paling as he talked about what he'd found. It was her kill. Richard and David looked ill as they listened to him. "We need to increase security."
"How many bodies did you find?" Christy tried to stay calm.
"There were eight."
"So perhaps these people can't attack a larger group." She didn't want hunters diverted to protect the tribe against something they didn't need to be protected from.
"Can we afford to risk that?" David snapped at her.
Christy turned to the new man. "Is there anything else you wish to add? Any other information?" He shook his head no. "Then you are dismissed."
"But there is a…"
"You are part of our tribe now. We will decide what to do." She just wanted him out of there. He was just making it worse. She didn't care that she sounded a little rude. "Thank you for warning us, but we are a large tribe, not so easily attacked."
"They are after raiders. He only found raiders." Christy spoke forcefully to the others. "Those monsters made a lot of enemies. There is no guarantee that we are in any danger."
"You see raiders pretty often." David was watching her a little too carefully. "You kill any?"
"I usually kill them all." Christy didn't blink or back down. "It only takes one to raise the alarm and then the whole force would come down on us."
"Where are they getting the meat? Where are they going with it?"
Christy sighed. Too many answers would look suspicious. "I don't know. I don't usually interrogate them. Did you want me to next time?"
"We need to know more about them. Yes… interrogate them." David sounded a bit more brave when he didn't have to do that dirty work. "Find out about the meat, the raids, everything you can."
Christy swallowed hard. She usually granted them fast merciful deaths. It was the least she could do for robbing them of life. She'd have to torture them to get them to talk. She didn't want to do this. "What if they are eating People?" She had to verify what she thought. "What if what I took from them is…"
"Oh God." Richard looked really ill. "We can't eat that until we know."
"Isn't it better to not know and have food?" Christy felt like the floor was spinning. She hadn't wanted this issue to come up ever.
"Not if we go to hell for it."
"We are in hell." Christy got up. "So I'll go out there and torture some young men so that you don't have to. I'll cut them, torment them, beat them… all so you don't have to." She growled out and left before she could say something that would really get her into trouble. They would rather starve than take the food she was bringing them, and they'd make everyone starve. Christy needed to come up with a story to feed them instead, one that makes the meat she'd been bringing home seem more innocent. Her team was leaving tomorrow. This couldn't wait. They'd already decided to let the meat they had rot rather than risk it being human. It wasn't like they had a huge surplus of food. Starvation wouldn't take long to take over again if she didn't fix this.
She hated that they probably suspected her now, and that was not what she needed. Her hunts were so much better than the others. She did kill Raiders. The leaders knew that, and they had to suspect her now. She would have.
The next day Richard came to them when they were getting ready. He had Phil and another man with him. "We thought about what you said. You need more backup if you are going to capture some alive to question, so…" Christy's heart dropped and she noticed a few of her team seem to stare in shock. It was official. She was a suspect. "Phil and Greg have military training. Try not to be gone too long, because we could really use them here."
"No problem." She lied. This was a big problem.
********
"Shit." Emma hissed as she saw Christy forced into taking those men with her. Unfortunately it was out loud and Jean was by her side quickly.
"Is everything okay?"
"Yes, I'm fine." Emma spoke coldly. "I just forgot myself for a moment." It wasn't something a telepath should do, because it made it clear they were scanning someone, but she had. That was Christy's thought that came out her mouth.
"Well, perhaps now is a good time to take a break."
"I assure you I can determine my own break times."
"Which is why you looked like you were ready to collapse all day today." Jean's sarcastic reply irritated her and Emma had to be careful not to leak that to Christy. "You need some rest Emma, your heart beat and blood pressure are a bit high, and you never noticed me checking them." Emma didn't like Jean. That woman was a sufferable brat. She took a moment to calm down and started her retreat out of Christy's mind. Jean wasn't going to back down on this, but she could help make sure Jean wasn't doing this so that she could have a chance at Christy's mind.
Once she got to the shield she stepped out. "Christy… you need to close this up. Nice and tight to be safe." She caressed around the breach as she spoke. "Remember what you told Erik. Build a wall. Build one right here." It started to shrink and Emma smirked. Christy listened to her. Jean wouldn't find this now. It was too small and even if Jean was patient it would take days. "Sleep well." Emma caressed the closed opening. "I wish I could take your nightmares away… but I've tried that for people before and it never works out well."
She pulled the helmet off and set it aside. The clock read three am. She could still get a few hours sleep and pick up where she left off tomorrow. She didn't say anything when Jean didn't make any motion to leave with her. Jean would find out the hard way when she tried to get into Christy's mind that Christy really was Emma's and Emma didn't have to share.