Not Myself
By Princess Alexandria
Christy marched into the room towards his desk. He was sitting there looking at her and Christy held her tongue, at least for now.
"Hello Christy." He waved to a seat in front of the desk.
"Is this going to take long?" Her voice was cold, but she wasn't raising it. She stared at him, giving him the same expression that had the man earlier that night moving away from her nervously so she could have the cab here. "I have to check in with my kids and get back to Annie."
"Yes, about that…" He started, his voice low and attempting to be soothing. Christy leaned forward, not waiting for him to criticize her coming here.
"I had every right to come here. I trusted you to take care of them." Her voice took on a hint of a growl. "And if this were an accident, it would be one thing, but it isn't. It was YOUR neglect that hurt my kids." Her eyes narrowed a she glared at him. "You knew you had drugged students on campus, you KNEW it was possible they were killing people… and you did NOTHING." Her voice was rising as her anger finally had a target.
"I assure you that I do everything I can to ensure the safety of these students."
"Bullshit." She whispered more than loud enough for him to hear. "What would have been better?" She held two hands out as if they were a scale, "Invade a little privacy because you suspected you had mutants with deadly powers taking drugs and killing people" One hand lowered a bit as she spoke, her voice become more sarcastic. "OR letting the killers run around attacking your students, and almost killing a few? Hmm… Privacy… Life… Privacy… Life… Hard choice."
"It is not that simple." He sounded a bit insulted.
"Yes it is. You dropped the ball, sat on your hands." Christy glared at him. "Did nothing…" She shook her heads. "So, if you are done, my kids need me."
"It was unfortunate what happened to Annie." He wasn't going to just let her go. "But I hope you realize how sorry we are that…"
"There is no we. YOU did this. Emma wouldn't have ever let this happen if she were in charge. This was all YOU. Take responsibility for your own mistakes. Your ideals are going to get these kids killed." Her voice was low, deceptively calm. "So, since you can't give me a real apology, and you probably won't learn from this, I need to go."
"I am sorry Christy." He spoke softly and she risked a glance at him. "Annie will get the best care available." She closed the door behind her and just stood there for a moment, feeling uneasy as well as wound up. There were so many things she wanted to call him on, but bringing them up now wouldn't help Annie.
At least he didn't have the nerve to try and yell at her for abandoning her mission. She couldn't have let that one go.
Erik sat with the others in front of the T.V., but he didn't think anyone was paying all that much attention to it. A glance around the room showed Sophie's sisters had taken over the couch. Jessi and Jon sat on the chair, her back leaning on his front in an intimate way they didn't often do in front of others. The absence of Annie seemed wrong and he couldn't help glance around as if she'd be there if he looked.
The tension in the room was giving him a headache, but he stayed. Christy was going to come and fill them in. She wouldn't pretend things were better than they were like the teachers around here seemed to. She'd give it to them straight, and he wanted to know. He needed to know if he'd moved fast enough when he moved Sophie into the water. He hadn't even realized he could move a person like that until he had to. He needed to know if Annie was okay.
He felt the shift in the emotions before he noticed her. His eyes moved to the doorway that Jessi was staring at and watched Christy just staring back at them. It started to worry him. "Christy?"
"I was hoping we could get better music for them. Henry is playing Classical, and that just seems like torture to me." She spoke to the room, no one in particular.
"We could get Sophie's favorite CD." The sisters answered.
Erik got up and moved closer to her. "Are they okay?"
Christy sighed and that was how Erik knew she was really going to tell them what was going on. He knew he could count on Christy. "Annie's still out. Her arms are wrapped from her hand to her elbow because of the burns." Her eyes traveled to the sisters. "I didn't get a good look at Sophie, I'm sorry. I'll keep an eye on her now. Henry tells me that she hasn't woken up even once. Her vitals are good, he's sure she'll recover…" Christy's back straightened. "If you want I can try to bring things in for her… for when she wakes up."
"Are the burns really horrible?" Esme asked alone. The others were so upset their concern and pain were leaking past their shields. Erik felt a small wave of guilt that he hadn't moved faster when he heard that one question.
"I never saw them." Christy's shoulders slumped a bit, "But I think so."
Phoebe took a step forward and stopped. Jessi reached out to take the girl's hand. "Well, thank you for telling us." Her voice cracked.
"Everyone keeps telling us not to worry, that she has Dr. McCoy looking after her." The sisters had their group talk going again. "But they don't tell us how bad it is. We can't feel her, it's the first time we've ever lost contact."
"Maybe when Annie wakes up…" Jessi spoke softly. "She'd try…"
"You have a right to know." Christy's voice was a bit stronger and Erik felt a bit of pride in his teacher. "If I hear anything I'll let you know." She never treated them like kids, never. This was also the first person to come to them and tell them it wasn't all going to be okay.
"Can we see them?" Erik asked, his voice held his hope.
"No." Christy nibbled on her lip for a moment. "The girls are in a room set up to keep out germs. They can't have visitors."
"But you saw them?" One of the girls took a step closer to Christy and glared. "What are they so bad off they don't want the kids to see? She's our sister!"
Christy felt the girl trying to brush past her shield, and the slight headache it caused added to the one already there. "No, my mutation means I can't bring germs in, otherwise I couldn't see them either." And she didn't know how upset she'd be if that were the case. If she just had to listen to cleaned up reports about Annie's condition, she wouldn't trust anyone but Emma to tell her the truth. "No one else but the doctor is allowed in the room. They really are worried about infection."
"Your mutation?" Jessi asked quietly. Christy wasn't sure she wanted to get into this now. A look at the tension in the girls she didn't know that well, especially in the one that was still glaring at her made up her mind.
"My healing factor like power keeps germs away." She said just enough to try and calm them. "Henry tested me before he let me in." She'd tell her kids about some of her other powers, but it was a longer discussion than she wanted now. "I came to tell you guys what I know and to get some better music. I can't see wanting to wake up to what Henry's piping into the room." Her eyes traveled over the room and all the kids in there looked so tired, moved so slowly. "Maybe you should get some rest."
"Like I could sleep now." Erik muttered.
"Sleep when you can. We have no idea how bad tomorrows gonna be." Christy told him gently.
"Mother should be here in the morning." The girls spoke with a sigh. It was strange having four girls talking at once like that. "Tomorrow should be bad."
Christy watched Jessi move to comfort the nearest blonde with a squeeze of her hand, and it suddenly dawned on her that these girls were part of her tribe now. Her kids had adopted them.
Christy had been back in the room an hour before he heard her voice again. "Xena watched the Raiders come into her town countless times as a child. Heard the fear in her mother's voice as she hid Xena and her brothers and tried to serve the monsters that sometimes stole women and killed men in their village." Henry listened to Christy's voice from the monitor he had on the room. His research slowly stopped as he realized it wasn't Xena's story she was telling her unconscious friend. "Finally tired of hiding and hoping that her people would live past the attacks that got worse with each raider that came into town she decided to learn how to fight."
"Hank?" The voice in the room with him startled him a little. He'd been too preoccupied with watching the way Christy talked with Annie.
"What, oh Scott." He watched Scott as he came over to him, his steps quick. "Is there a problem?"
"I need the medical files you have on Quentin and his friends." Scott glanced at the monitor Henry had been watching while Henry moved to his file cabinet.
"When her brother died Xena carried his body home and the coldness in her mother's eyes told her everything she needed to know. She might as well have stabbed him herself as far as her family was concerned." Christy's voice filled the quiet room as Henry found the files Scott wanted and pulled them out before relocking that cabinet. "She had no family, no friends, nothing but the sword in her hand as she walked away from them, but she was still determined to keep them safe. If she couldn't do it from inside the village, she'd make the surrounding area safe. It was this desperation to make sure that her family, her village lived that gave her the strength to walk the long miles to a nearby village and begin her plans."
"Xena? Isn't that a t.v. show?" Scott asked while holding his hand out for the files. Henry could hear the confusion in his voice.
"Yes, I believe it is." Henry didn't bother to enlighten their fearless leader to what was really going on. He wasn't even sure if he was right yet. He'd know once more of the story was told. Scott's eyebrows drew together for a moment, but then he was turning and heading out the door with the files he needed.
Once he was alone again he continued his research while listening to a new telling of the early years of Xena the Destroyer. It made him think about the show in a whole new way, and it made him feel like he was observing something painfully private. He just couldn't turn the monitor off though; he needed to watch the girls.
Christy slowly grew tired of talking and her words faded away. Just sitting and waiting for the enemy to come was one thing, and in that she was legendarily patient. She wasn't as patient in waiting for Annie to wake up. As Sophie's CD started to play for the second time Christy got up and stretched. They had Annie's favorite and Sophie's playing alternately.
A few steps to move around almost became pacing, but Christy stopped herself and turned her attention to the other girl in the other bed. Annie was willing to let her arms burn to save this one. "Your sisters are really worried about you." Her voice was soft and she moved to the end of that bed. "They say they can't feel you." Christy looked at the bandages and thought maybe that was for the best. If Sophie were awake she'd probably be in a lot of pain. The others didn't need to feel that as well. "Emma wishes she could be here for you." Her voice grew softer as she told Sophie that. "I guess I'll have to do." Christy moved to sit in the chair near Sophie's bed and just stared at the wall across from her, feeling awkward. What should she say? She didn't even know this girl, but the people Christy cared about cared about Sophie.
It was an awkward painful silence only noticed by one before Christy finally started to talk. She only hoped that talking to the girls would help them regain consciousness. She'd heard it could help before. "Did Annie ever tell you how we met? The deli owner was such a bastard I had to help her out." She fell into more silence. "When Annie made friends I took them in too. It's just…" Christy sighed. "I'm keeping your sisters up to date and if you need anything you ask."
"I like this CD." She sat back and let the music play. It was doubtful that Sophie even realized she had company, but Christy sat with her for the entire CD, before moving back to Annie's side.
"Henry?" The voice was louder than normal and pulled Henry back out of his unplanned nap on his desk. "Henry, She's waking up!" He turned to see Christy standing near the camera, calling for him, before turning back to the slightly moving girl in the bed. Annie did indeed look like she was coming around. He grabbed his lab coat, which he'd taken off earlier, and moved for the doorway.