Not Myself
By Princess Alexandria
Princess_alex24@hotmail.com
Emma waited less than patiently for Henry outside in the hall. Her cell phone was being tapped on her thigh distractedly. Christy wasn't answering, and Emma really wanted to talk to her. With a heavy sigh she finally decided to sink down into the chair. Her head throbbed and it had only been getting worse since the fiasco.
Five students injured in that drug related incident. Her lips pinched together in anger. Quentin and his gang turned out to be the ones doing drugs and sneaking out to attack the humans in the nearby town. Charles' pet student, and if Charles hadn't demanded that they not invade the students privacy they would have known that before it came to this.
Five injured students, some seriously so. It held a dark symmetry that one of her and one of Christy's favorite students were the two worst off. Sophie looked like she'd never fully heal. The once pretty girl would have nasty scars and the only person capable of perhaps helping prevent that was in a coma from just keeping Sophie alive. There was no telling how much damage Sophie had been in before Annie got to her, but it must have been truly horrible if this was better.
Emma's fist clenched. With the two girls suffering from burns the doctor decided to limit the number of people allowed inside to help prevent infection. A special room was prepared to put them in for that purpose, and Sophie's sisters were not going to like it when Emma had to tell them they couldn't get any closer to their sister than the clear plastic wall.
The Professor at least had the decency to do his own phone calls, recognizing that Emma was right. If they'd done the scans this would never have happened. The little beasts responsible for this were locked up until they could decide what to do with them.
There was only one phone call that Emma felt she needed to do and Christy wasn't answering. The woman had left her students in Emma's care specifically. Emma had really wanted to be the one to tell Christy about this.
The door swung open, so Emma stood up quickly and watched a somber Henry step outside. "Well, Sophie seems to have stabilized." He continued to outline her condition and Emma listened halfway, picking up the fact that it would take a long time to heal, she'd be in incredible pain, and she'd never be mistaken for her sisters again.
"And Annie?" Emma asked once Henry went quiet.
"Annie's main injuries are burns on her arms from her efforts to move Sophie to the water. She continued to try and save the girl even as her own shirt caught on fire. It isn't as serious as Sophie's burns, but Annie isn't able to heal herself like she heals others. She over extended herself with her powers and doesn't have the control necessary to do such a large healing. Her brainwaves are…" Henry continued to outline the reasons behind the coma. Emma didn't listen for the details, just the big picture.
********
Erik moved further into the woods, trying to escape the memory of the pain. He'd been playing basketball when he felt the irritation and confusion from the other students, since so many of them were projecting it he went to find out why. It wasn't until he was almost there that he'd felt pain and fear. The kind that made him want to run in the other direction, but Annie's emotions screamed louder than the others and he'd started to run towards her.
Erik sat down beside the lake. The lapping waters and distance from the upset students helped some. He tried to calm his mind and rebuild his shields like he'd been taught. Between his efforts he found himself wishing Christy was there. A tear traveled down his cheek. The fear and the pain had been so bad and now they weren't allowed to go see Annie or Sophie.
"If you hadn't acted as quickly as you did…" A feminine voice from behind him startled him. He turned to see his redheaded teacher. "You did good Erik."
He just nodded absently and turned his attention back to the water. He wasn't supposed to be out here. The teachers wanted all the students near the dorms, but he couldn't stay there. Not with all the emotions.
Ms. Summers moved to sit on a boulder next to him and sat quietly staring out at the waters with him. Erik felt the eyes on him and finally glanced over at her. He wasn't at all afraid of getting in trouble for being out here. He didn't care. It wasn't important.
"How are you doing?" Ms. Summers asked softly and the tenderness in the voice reminded Erik of home. More tears started to gather in his eyes and trail down his cheeks. His new teacher wrapped her arms around him and held him. He was embarrassed that all he could do was cry, but it had hurt so much and he'd felt it. To know people, friends, had felt that pain. It was horrible.
********
"We have lost three students so far." The Professor spoke while staring at his own hands on the desk, folded together, with a hint of white knuckles to show how upset that made him, since his voice didn't reflect it. Emma just shook her head a bit and stayed quiet for the damage report. "Their parents packed them up and left. Under the circumstances I agreed to allow them to finish their class work for the semester and turn it in for credit over the Internet. Two of the injured students were among those to leave. I still haven't been able to contact Sophie's parents, and Christy… isn't talking to me."
Emma's head raised from her study of the floor to stare at him. "What did she say?" A sinking feeling started in the pit of her stomach at the thought of how upset Christy must be, and wondering if that was why she wasn't answering her cell phone when Emma called. Did she blame Emma for this?
"It was hard to get a response, since she slammed the phone down so hard." Charles sighed. "I haven't had any luck contacting her since. She may be on her way here."
"Most likely." Emma muttered. It was like Christy to come running if she felt her kids needed her. The main question was how well Christy was going to take such a close call. "We've had them a month and already we've almost managed to get Annie killed." Emma glared at Charles. "After all Christy's lost, I wouldn't plan on this being a happy reunion." Emma was very grateful that Annie was going to live, not only for Annie's sake.
"Well, we will have our work cut out for us as the parents hear about what happened today. I anticipate that our enrollment will continue to fall if we don't do something to stop it. We have to try and talk to the parents, and explain to them how this is still the best place for their students." Emma rolled her eyes subtly and crossed her arms. It would be much simpler to mentally convince the parents that their children were better off here, but once again Charles had his principles; those same principles that lead to this disaster to begin with. Now she'd have to listen to screaming parents and try to calm them while they ranted about how she wasn't protecting their students. What a lovely week this was going to be.
At least they had a little time before it hit. The parents that had come to attend Parent's day were still out there, but the majority of parent's hadn't been able to come. Those calls should start tomorrow.
When the Professor moved to step back out on the balcony this all happened on, Emma fell in step behind him and stood to his left. She barely spared a glance at Jean, who flanked Charles' other side.
********
Jessi moved to stand beside Erik and watched as Jon took his other side. They moved closer to the balcony, but managed to move around the burn marks on the cement where Sophie and Annie had been hurt. The Professor had called them all here and she felt it was creepy to stand here to listen to this. There must have been someplace else they could have done this.
A flash of blonde drew her attention and she turned to see one of Sophie's sisters, Phoebe perhaps, nod at her as all four of them moved to stand beside Jessi.
"Thank you for your help." The sisters spoke quietly to Erik. "Do you need help with your shields? I'm sure this is rather emotional for everyone." Jessi watched Erik's tense back relax a bit and it was only then that she remembered his empathy. Oh god, how much had he been suffering while all Jessi could worry about was Annie?
The Professor was still waiting for the rest of the students, and the parents that were on campus. Jessi glanced around at the parents hovering around their kids. She took in the tense frowns and somber expressions of everyone.
"Our mother is on her way here." Phoebe spoke quietly and Jessi's eyes drew to the girl and away from her study of the parents. "We are worried that she'll want us to leave."
"You still want to stay?" Jessi wasn't sure what she felt she wanted to do about that for herself. Her father's words about how dangerous mutants were had played through her mind a few times since the attack, and even though she was a mutant, she could start to see where he could be right. It wasn't a comfortable feeling. What was worse was knowing it was because of her father that she had to stay here.
What happens the next time some student takes drugs and decides to go crazy? Who would get hurt then?
"I'm sure everyone has at least heard about the unfortunate incident this morning…" The Professor started to talk to the crowd. He had lots of words about not giving up hope, about the fact they all needed to be strong. Lots and lots of words about making the world a better place, but no words were going to bring Sophie and Annie up here anytime soon were they?
"The students responsible for this will be punished…"
"What?" A parent's voice rose above the murmurs. "Will you send them to bed without dinner? Are they banned from the television? This was a crime! Why aren't the police taking these juvenile delinquents into custody?"
Jessi nodded as she agreed with the comment. Quentin and his friends should go to jail. They'd almost killed people, and Jessi doubted they felt at all bad about it.
********
"I propose that we ban parents from the campus forever." Emma sighed out as closed the balcony door behind them. Their belligerent attitudes had the students seeming like angels, and that was saying something. Yes, what happened was horrible, but it was still safer here than out in the rest of the world. She also hadn't cared for some of the accusations that they didn't try to look out for the welfare of the children.
"Write that proposal up and I think if we vote today we might actually get it to pass." Jean's smirking at her was a bit of a surprise, but ever since Christy had visited the redhead had been almost friendly to Emma. Perhaps Jean had started to suspect something.
"Ladies, this is a serious matter." The Professor cut off the banter and Emma turned to glare at him.
"I hate to say it Charles, but some of those parents were right. We should have known those students were on drugs and done something before it came to this." She had to point out that she'd been right, otherwise he might not learn from this. Another mistake like that one and it would take more than speeches to keep parents from taking their children away. "This isn't over Charles. All the parents that couldn't come today will probably be calling us in the next few days."
Emma watched as he rubbed his eyes wearily. "I'm well aware of that Emma. Thank you."
********
Christy stepped out of the plane as soon as it was possible. A few people might have been grumbling about her cutting them off, but she didn't pay any attention to that. Her only luggage was her backpack, so she was able to head for the exit quickly and hunt down a cab. Spending hours trapped on a plane when she desperately wanted to be there already was torture and she hoped the cab moved faster than the plane had.
She marched out of the airport doors and hunted down a cab with fierce determination, and the man that tried to take it from her took a fearful step back when she glared at him. It had been nearly a year since she made a man that nervous, but she barely gave it a moments thought as she gave the cabby the address and sat back to stare coldly out the window.
Finding she'd lost her cell phone in her rush didn't help with her mood, but she was so eager to get there she didn't want to stop and use a pay phone, besides having a conversation like that with witnesses wouldn't be good.
********
It was almost dusk as Emma slowly strolled through the gardens to try and decompress. Today had truly been horrible and she felt frustrated that she had to endure the accusations when they were the same accusations she held in her own mind. They should have done more. Those little monsters that did this deserved to be fully punished. She couldn't argue with a single thing that was said to her by irate parents, and the reassurances she issued felt false to her own ears. If she ran the school she'd implement measures to stop this from ever happening again, but she couldn't honestly say that Charles would do enough.
All of this and Christy wasn't answering her phone. Christy may very well be showing up to add her own anger to the mix and throw her own accusations at them all when all Emma wanted was someone to be able to talk to about this. Someone she trusted.
Emma sighed deeply. Christy left Annie and the others in Emma's care. The woman made it very clear she wasn't trusting the others with her precious children, just Emma and Emma had failed once again to keep her students safe.
The thought that Christy would blame her for this hurt, and Emma wasn't looking forward to this confrontation. Of course one of the injured had to be Annie, and Sophie's mother tomorrow wasn't going to be pleasant either. "I could really use a vacation. Perhaps a flight that leaves tonight." She spoke up as she sensed him coming into the garden after her.
"I can sympathize, but right now we all need to be on the front lines." Scott moved to study her. "You alright Emma?"
********
"Just drop me off here." Christy's voice was flat and she noticed the man was eager to do what she said. After paying him she stepped out and waited for him to drive away before she stepped up to the gate. There had to be a buzzer or something.
She found it and hit it. She then moved to stand where she figured the camera would catch her to wait. She was almost ready to hit it again when the clank of a gate opening caught her attention and she moved through the open gate. It was a bit of a walk to the buildings, but she didn't want the cabby going up there now. She didn't know what she'd find, and having some random human in the middle of it wasn't a good idea.
She readjusted her backpack and started her march up the driveway, moving quickly and quietly. Old habits die hard. Her attention was focused on listening and looking for danger, even though she suspected one wasn't coming. The quiet was disconcerting, since the last time she'd visited students had been playing outside. It looked like they weren't even here anymore.
As she rounded a bend in the driveway she could see the buildings. She also noticed a bit of white in the distance, through the rose bushes. Christy stepped off the road and moved across the grass towards it. Emma liked the roses, she might be there, and Christy needed to talk to her. Emma would tell her what really happened. Christy wasn't so sure the Professor wouldn't sugar coat it and Christy wasn't feeling too generous with him right now.
********
"Sophie was such a beautiful young lady." Emma wrapped her arms around herself more tightly. "And one drug induced paranoid student managed to destroy her life."
Scott moved closer to her. "Hank may be able to help her."
"Great, painful surgeries." Her voice rose. "She didn't deserve that, and neither did Annie. If it wasn't for Annie we would have been calling the girls mother to tell her that Sophie had died. We knew there were drugs on campus, we knew some of our students were violent…" She stopped before her voice became loud enough for others to hear and wiped at her tears. "Today has been truly dreadful, Scott. I don't want to hear about how we couldn't have known this would happen. I could have known, but he didn't want me to check and now I have to tell a beautiful little girl that she's…"
Hands moved to pull her closer and Emma let him lead her into a hug. "I don't know how to tell her that merely seeing her will frighten small children. I don't know…"
"Shh…" He spoke softly. "We'll find a way to help her."
"I almost lost another student today Scott." Her voice shook as she whispered that out. It hurt, it never stopped hurting.
********
Christy slowed her steps to a stand still as she silently stared at the couple in the garden. She watched him lean over and kiss her on the forehead. Watched the tender embrace and the way he caressed the hair out of her eyes. Her eyes didn't blink as Emma's arms wrapped around him so intimately, as if they'd done that a million times before.
Christy remembered parts of a conversation with Mark even though it seemed like a lifetime ago. Tears started to gather in her eyes as she realized her friend had spared her this knowledge in his own considerate way. He did it so she wouldn't feel hurt even though Emma wasn't real. Perhaps the truth would have been better.
Christy turned around and quietly made her way out of the gardens, staying out of sight. Amazing how seeing her in Scott's arms felt like Christy had been shot in the chest.
Annie. Christy took a deep breath and headed for the main building. She couldn't deal with this now; she had to think about Annie. It wasn't like Emma and Christy were a couple. It wasn't… the tears started to fall a bit faster and she slipped behind a bush to try and compose herself. It wouldn't do for her to walk inside crying. God, it hurts was all Christy could think as her chest seemed to compress, squeezing her heart tight. It was just a dream, her own stupid little fantasies. Blind, she'd been fucking blind.
********
Erik leaned against Jessi's dorm wall and stared out towards the woman walking up the path. The way she moved was familiar. "Christy?" He scanned in that direction didn't turn up anything. It was Christy. "JESSI." He called down the hall to where Jessi was heading towards the stairs and her dorm so she could try calling Christy again. "She's here." He smiled when Jessi turned around so quickly the other students in the hall backed to the wall as she ran past them. "Christy, she came."
********
She was almost at the door when she heard her name being yelled. Christy turned to see Jessi and Erik running to her. She retreated down the stairs she'd just climbed and moved to the center of the path to wait.
"Christy." Jessi barely got it out before Christy was surprised to find herself grabbed up into a very firm hug. "Oh God, Christy… You came. I've been trying to call you all day."
"I forgot my phone at home." She wrapped one arm around Jessi and held one out for her boy. He was more hesitant to join the hug, but she grabbed onto him and held him close. "I'm sorry I wasn't here. I came as fast as I could."
"Annie's been hurt." Jessi seemed reluctant to pull away, but once Christy let them both go they stood slightly rigidly. The looks in their eyes was familiar. They'd looked a bit like this after Christy killed those men, hurting, scared, unsure what to do.
"I heard." Christy took a deep breath and glanced around, looking for her other boy. "Jon?"
"He's helping take down the decorations for Parents Day." Jessi's answer made it a little easier to breath. He was okay. For a moment Christy thought that the Professor didn't tell her about him getting hurt too.
"What happened?" Christy turned her eyes to Erik, noticing the fatigue in his eyes. "All I heard was that she and her friend were burned, and neither of them were awake."
Erik looked so old at that moment and Christy didn't like that either. He started to tell her about Quentin. He talked about the girl catching on fire, and Christy's jaw muscles clenched as she heard it all. Emma had talked about drugs on campus. She'd talked about wanting to scan the students to find out who was using, and how the Professor thought it was a violation of the students' privacy.
"I see." Was all she said when he finished talking, her voice cold and controlled. She noticed her kids seemed a bit surprised by her response. "So Annie's in the medlab?"
********
Jessi's eyes widened a little at the expression on Christy's face when she asked about where Annie was. Christy had that same look when she was standing over that man ready to kill him in cold blood. "Yeah, but we aren't allowed to visit yet. They're worried about infection or something." She spoke a bit more softly as she studied the woman she'd been desperate to get here. "We just want to know how she's doing. They say things like she'll be fine, or that she's just exhausted her powers, but we can't see her."
"I'll see what I can do." Was all Christy said, her eyes distant, but then Christy seemed to stare right into Jessi.
"She'll be okay." Christy smiled softly at them, reassuringly. "I better get going. I think this might take a while." The voice softened. "I love you guys."
********
Christy walked past Xavier's closed office door, and had to rip her eyes away from it as she imagined slamming it open to demand an explanation. That could wait until after she saw Annie and talked to Henry. Her stride was long as she marched down the large hall towards the elevator.
It wouldn't open for her. Christy pressed the button again and watched as nothing happened, of course it would be secured. Now that she thought about it whenever she went down there, it was someone else that pushed the buttons. "God Dammit." She growled out as she glanced around the empty hall. She hadn't seen a single teacher, other than Emma and Scott, and she had no idea where they were now.
"Did you need help? Are you lost?" Christy turned to see a man in an iron mask. She had no idea if it was iron, but is sure looked odd. Her eyes blinked for a moment.
"I need to get to the medlab." Christy still couldn't place this man.
His voice was overly polite. "You are Ms. Taylor, aren't you? I only saw you from a distance during your last visit. I am Xorn, the Math instructor for your students." He moved to push the button on the elevator, and Christy just nodded. At least she found a way down. "I heard you come from a distant reality. It was fascinating."
"Not if you lived there." Christy sighed. Every adult mutant in this mansion probably heard about that by now. What else had they heard? After she left Emma was the only one that called her, so it was hard to know how the others took her past or how many got to hear about it.
The elevator door opened and he held out his arm gallantly to indicate she should enter first. "I'm sure young Annie will recover quite nicely after her rest." He spoke as he got in and hit the button for the medlab floor. Christy didn't bother commenting on that. Part of her wanted to threaten that if it weren't true she'd make the Professor regret it, but threats weren't going to be useful today.
"I've heard stories that you could tear down the walls between two worlds and cross at will. That is truly an amazing gift." His efforts at small talk were entirely too personal. Christy felt a bit of unease standing in the elevator with him.
"I'm not really up for chatting." She gave him an apologetic look, but she just wanted him to shut up.
"Oh, yes. You must be concerned about young Annie. I am so sorry to intrude on your pain." His voice held regret. "Have Annie's parents been informed yet?"
"I'm her family." Christy's voice held a hard edge as she thought about the man that tossed the poor girl out like garbage. No, he didn't deserve to know what happened.
The elevator doors opened and Christy started a fast march towards the medlab, unfortunately the man that enabled her to get here followed her. "I believe Doctor McCoy has issued a no visiting policy to the room that houses the young girls." He warned as Christy ignored him and pushed open the main medlab doors.
"Hank." Her voice was a bit loud for the large room. She saw him reading at a desk, but her glance around the room didn't show her Annie anywhere. "Where's Annie?"
The large blue furred man turned to look at her, and pulled his glasses down his nose to see her better over the rims. "Christy? How did you…" His eyes trailed to Christy's side, "Oh, Xorn. Thank you for bringing Ms. Taylor down here."
"My pleasure Doctor." Xorn turned to Christy and bowed, actually bowed. It had been a while since people felt the need to do that. Christy was reminded of new recruits to her tribe, who in their confusion treated her like a queen by bowing and groveling. Xorn made it look natural and merely polite, not desperate. "Good evening Ms. Taylor."
"Thanks Xorn." She gave the strange man a slight nod of gratefulness and then returned her eyes to Hank.
"Hank?" Her voice grew more impatient.
"Christy." His voice was more serious, tired, as he slumped down a bit. "Annie's exhausted and taking a much needed rest. Her arms aren't too badly burned, it might have a bit of scarring, but we'll have to wait and see. I'm doing what I can to minimize it."
"I want to see her." She commanded.
"I have her and Sophie in a special room to help prevent infection." He was getting ready to deny her, Christy took a deep breath as she realized that.
"I need to see her." Christy glared at him while hating the helpless feelings she had churning inside of her. She wasn't used to this. In her world there was dead, alive, and dying. That Annie could recover from a dying category was hard to accept. Christy needed to see it.
Hank just studied her quietly, for far too long. Christy felt exposed until he finally stood up. "You probably don't carry germs that would cause them infections. Let me just check that out and if that's the case I'll let you in."
Christy felt a bit of hope as she heard that and nodded. She'd agree to just about anything to be able to be there for Annie. So Annie wouldn't wake up alone.
********
Henry escorted Christy into the adjacent room that he had equipped for the young ladies stay here. His eyes took in the two beds then turned to watch Christy. If anyone doubted that their latest local dimension hopper had a heart they should have seen the look in those eyes when Christy saw Annie laying so still in that bed.
It took but a moment for pain, fear, and many other nameless emotions to move across her expression, before the calm of a woman in charge took over. He watched her from his place by the door as she walked up to the bed and stared down at wrapped arms and pale green skin. "Hey Annie." Her voice was soft, quiet. "I told you I'd always come if you needed me. I'm gonna catch hell for this, but I'm here. I'm here."
Christy didn't even spare him a glance so he moved to check on Sophie's health, partly as an excuse to watch more of this reunion. "I heard what you did. That was pretty brave." Christy sat down by the bed and rested hand on Annie's shoulder, far away from the bandaged arms. Henry glanced down at his other patient, with a bit of regret. It was only Christy's unique physiology that made him agree to let her visit, but Sophie wouldn't be getting any visitors of her own.
He'd set the room up to be as comfortable as he could. Soft classical music masked some of the sounds of monitors he had on both girls. The lighting was dimmed to be more comfortable when they finally opened their eyes.
Christy spoke in a conversational tone about her work and how not having Annie as her employee was inconvenient. Clearly the woman believed that Annie could hear her and carried on a one way conversation. Once it because clear to Henry that he was done with checking on Sophie and if Christy actually glanced his way would realize he was only in there to see how she was dealing with this, he turned to leave. He had monitors in the room but then maybe Christy would feel like she had privacy. He'd give it to her if he didn't need to keep an eye on his patients.
Once the door closed behind him he concentrated on the Professor, hoping to interrupt the staff meeting upstairs. ~Professor, I have a new guest in my domain.~ He sent.
~Really? Who might that be?~ The answer held a note of concern.
~Christy has come to sit by Annie's bed. After some testing I decided it wouldn't cause any harm. Her lack of a typical biology has unforeseen advantages.~
~Thank you Henry. I hadn't considered that.~ The connection left and Henry sat down on his stool again to finish his paperwork. He glanced at the monitor and Christy sitting beside Annie's bed, talking while she rested a comforting hand on Annie's shoulder. If only the other students had someone that dedicated to them. Young Annie and the others were very lucky indeed.
********
Christy's nonstop nervous talking went quiet as she ran out of her everyday stories about work. About that life she pretended to lead. She stared into Annie's face, which looked to be slightly pained even in sleep. She refused to think of it as anything other than very powerful sleep. "You saved me and I can't save you. Only you can do it."
"My men used to tease me all the time that I was both Xena and Gabrielle." Her memories of laughing teasing faces across a campfire made her smile just a little. "They'd ask about the subtext and if I really… well, nevermind." A slight blush came to her cheeks when she realized telling Annie about their bawdy jokes wasn't how she should spend this time. This short freedom she had with Annie to be herself. "I was the storyteller, but I didn't have the innocence, the goodness. It died a horrible lingering death. I had to kill that part of myself if I wanted to keep them alive" Christy felt awkward talking about these things in the quiet room. "I'm an old warlord… and you are my Gabrielle." She leaned down to kiss Annie's forehead. "If I'm at all sane, it's because of you."
Christy slowly lowered her head to the bed beside Annie's body. "Why can't I ever love the people that love me?" Annie's kiss replayed in her mind, along with the embrace Emma had with Scott. "You would have been good for me, but I can't…" She sighed heavily. Mark had loved her too, and he never got that back, not the way he wanted it. And neither did Annie.
********
"Emma" Charles spoke when Emma was getting ready to leave the meeting. Today had been full of meetings. She glanced at Scott as he closed the door behind him to leave her alone with the Professor. "It appears that Christy managed to find her way to New York. She's in the medlab with Annie."
Emma's expression didn't reveal her surprise that Christy didn't come and tell her she'd arrived. Whether or not Christy was blaming Emma for this incident, Emma had been sure Christy would have come to her for the details. She waited for the rest of his comment, since he was clearly considering something. "Did you want to go greet her or shall I?"
He deserved to have to face Christy and apologize for not taking action. Emma considered not taking the responsibility he was offering her, but Emma nodded that she'd go find her. Charles didn't seem to fully understand the bond Christy felt with her children and might not be delicate enough. Also Christy was already leery of him because of the Mystique situation.
"Very good." He nodded, thereby dismissing her.
********
"You have a visitor." The voice startled Christy out of her silent vigil by Annie's side. She'd taken to just sitting there quietly and thinking about all the people she'd already lost. She wasn't in the best of spirits. Henry's voice continued as Christy stood up and stretched.
It was Emma. Emma was standing in the middle of the medlab waiting for her. "Christy, it's good to see you." Emma moved closer and Christy sighed. Regardless of Emma's personal life, and the extreme lack of judgment being with Scott was, the woman was nothing but good to Christy. It was hardly her fault that Christy had imagined more than friendship. "I'm sorry it has to be because of this mess." Emma's eyes conveyed the truth of her words. Knowing Emma, she may even blame herself.
"It's hardly your fault." Christy gave Emma a weak and brief smile. "Idealistic fools. They get me every time." The slight fidgeting sound from the corner Henry sat in reminded Christy they had an audience. Henry probably didn't care for the criticism. Too bad, Christy really believed this one was Charles' fault.
"I tried to call you."
"I lost my phone." This felt so strained, awkward, uncomfortable.
Emma's eyes traveled to the doorway to the other room. "When you visit, could you look after Sophie for me? I'd go in myself, but Henry's instituted a germ free zone." Sophie, the girl Annie saved. Christy felt a bit bad now that she hadn't really checked on that girl. It seemed Emma cared about her.
"No problem. Maybe we could get better music pumped in there. Something they might want to wake up to." She glanced at Henry. "Teenagers aren't big into that old classical stuff. I could get Jessi to grab some of Annie's CD's."
********
Emma concealed her disappointment as she lead Christy back to the elevator. Christy said she didn't blame her, but everything felt tense and the connection they shared was closed. Christy used to not even be aware of how her mind seemed to invite Emma in, and now the door was locked. It made Christy's words just words. Obviously Christy was upset with her.
While she made excuses for the parents she'd had to talk to today, Emma made no effort to reassure Christy. The woman wasn't stupid or easily fooled. She already knew how this happened.
Emma noticed the clenching and unclenching of Christy's fists as the elevator rose closer to the main floor and her meeting with Charles. The tension in Christy's body and the shift in her stance all spoke of someone preparing for a battle.
"How are things going with your mission?" She asked to get rid of the silence and try to calm things down a bit.
"We started our undercover work, and" Christy turned to give Emma a look that seemed troubled and honest. The first honest expression she'd gotten from the woman so far. "it isn't going to be fun."
"What is it?" She could tell Christy wasn't telling her everything.
"I hate running into doubles of people I knew. The differences are hard to deal with." Christy sighed heavily. "Jake's double, Jacob, is the connection she found for us." Jake. Emma felt a bit of understanding hit her as she remembered the version of the man from Christy's memories. Meeting these other versions of familiar people must be so hard. Its like the dead didn't really die, they just became unrecognizable to her. A humorless chuckle came from Christy's lips. "Hey, I've always done what had to be done. If I can kill my friends, locking up this imposter shouldn't be too hard."
Emma reached out to touch Christy's arm gently. Christy's hand turned and welcomed Emma's into her grasp. Emma squeezed it softly in reassurance and privately felt a weight lift as she noticed Christy's slowness in letting go.
Once the elevator door opened the emotions in Christy's expression seemed to drop away. "He told me to stay and work." The growl in Christy's voice held definite anger as she admitted to Emma what Charles latest crime had been against Christy. It helped to explain some of the tension. He would never dare tell any other parent to not come to their child when they were hurt, but he blindly ignored that the bond Christy had with the children was similar. Emma just shook her head to indicate her disapproval with that thoughtless comment on his part.
Emma lead her to the Professor's study, but Christy's determined stride made it clear she could have found it on her own. ~Thank you Emma.~ Charles' mental voice dismissed her at the door before they opened it.
"Christy." Emma wondered how this confrontation would go, since Christy seemed more than ready to talk to him. The woman's eyes seemed to flash with irritation and barely concealed anger. "If you want you can visit me later. Wake me up if you need to."
"Probably gonna spend time with my kids, but maybe." That made sense. The kids would need her, but still… Emma felt disappointed.
She left as Christy opened the door to his office. The slam was louder than necessary to close it as Christy marched in there to lay out her grievances.