The Lone Gunmen: Quiet Places

In the space between heaven and hell, there are quiet places

Awakenings

"Little friend…tell me, do you love all the cold dark out here? Are you enjoying your grand tour of the nothingness that lies outside? Wait until you break through, Little Friend! Wait until you break through to where I am! Wait for that! Wait for the deadlights! You'll look and you'll go mad…but you'll live…and live…and live…inside them…inside Me…"

-Pennywise

Stephen King's It

Note: Melvin Frohike, Richard "Ringo" Langly and Johnathan Fitzgerald Byers belong to Glen Morgan and James Wong. The quote comes from a random place in It, that belongs with Stephen King. Doctor Dulciana Bowen belongs to me.

Timeline: After Jump the Shark

Rating: PG13 to R (Mild Language and Violence)

Frohike's POV

Out of all the ways to die, I never figured I'd die this way. So much pain and suffering that only grew worse as I see Langly and Byers pass before me, then the cries of my friends growing louder. I wanted to go like most, quietly and in my sleep, but alas instead I was in agony of hours. As I close my eyes and embrace the white light, sometime later I did something I never though I'd do again. I woke up; I blinked hard and heard a heart monitor's shrill beep echo all around me. What in the hell is going on? I died, or so I thought but no, I'm alive, I'll be damned.

Looking around I'm in a sterile, white hospital room, Byers was leaning on a wall nearby. He was pale, but up never the less. With a groan I sat up and he crossed over to me, he handed me my glasses then started to cry. He pulled me to him and we embraced. Fuck the manly thing, we sobbed and hugged each other like we hadn't seen each other in 20 years. Actually, later I found out it had only been three days and I'd been unconscious for most of it. When we parted I saw a younger blonde woman leaning over Langly.

After watching Langly for a few moments she then turned to us. Her long blonde hair was pulled into a ponytail, her brown eyes studied us intently. She smiled at us, she seemed friendly but the badge instantly made me rethink that. She was a Government Official, a doctor. I immediately didn't want to hate her but I have a feeling she has all the answers to where we are, what happened and where we went from here. She gently sat me back on my bed and began to examine me. I wanted to fight against her but I was too weak to and after all she was a beautiful girl, hitting her was against my morals.

She was a little taller than me, probably 5'3", her skin was flawless and white as milk. Her lips were soft pink and heart shaped; she is wearing no makeup, which is rare for any woman. She must be in her late 20s, early 30s; she seemed too young and innocent to be mixed up with all of this.

"Who in the hell are you and where are we?" I asked, she smiles and turns her head, I catch the scent of her perfume. It's feminine, musky scent, which I recognize as CKone.

"I am Doctor Dulciana Bowen and we are in government housing. This bunker is your home until my superiors decide what to do with you. When you are well enough you may go into the living areas," She said, she had a slight southern drawl as she spoke.

"How's Langly?" Byers asked, I look over to punk ass, who's still out. Dulciana looks over to him and sighs, sympathy in her eyes.

"He's not out of the woods yet. He wasn't in the greatest health when he "died" so the virus is having a field day with his immune system," she explained. I had no idea that he was sick before, though its not like we had money or visited doctors anyways.

"What now?" Byers asked, I sigh, and so does Dulciana.

"We wait, get some rest you two," she says softly and begins to leave.

"Where are you going?" I demand, she flashes a brilliant smile in my direction.

"I'm going to make lunch, are you guys up for it?" she asked, I didn't know how long it'd been since my "death", but I was starving.

"Yeah," never in my life had I turned down a meal and I wasn't starting now. She grins again and goes. I look to Byers who climbs in the empty bed next to me.

"What do you think of her?" he asks once he's under the covers. I pause to collect.

"She seems nice, too young to be involved in all of this. I don't think she's someone to be suspicious of. She's been pretty up front about everything so far," Byers nodded and began his view.

"For now she is our only contact with anyone. She doesn't seem to have a hidden agenda either."

"On top of that she's cute," I add, Byers smiles and nods in agreement, I couldn't help but state the obvious. She's young but cute; it's always a deadly combination.

Byers and I lapse into a comfortable silence, which was natural for us. Dulciana returns sometime later carrying trays of food. The food however is covered, so I have no idea what she's prepared for us. She places a tray in front of Byers and pulls off the silver cover.

"Voici le dine," she said, French effortlessly rolling off her tongue. Byers smiled at her.

"Merci beacoup mademoiselle," Show off, I know little French, some Japanese and Spanish as a second language where Byers is almost fluent in French, which apparently the good doctor was too. She serves me next, its chicken soup and a grilled cheese sandwich. Never in all my life has a simple meal seemed so good.

"I know its not much for now but I'll pull out the fancy stuff when you're feeling better," Dulciana said, I smile.

"Honey, this is fine, I haven't had anything in days."

"Three days."

"Ok then, three days, I don't like going three hours without a snack. What does that tell you?" She laughs and gets a sandwich for herself and begins to eat. I studied her for a vain attempt at profiling; she's not hiding anything, though we haven't asked her anything yet. Let the interrogation begin.

"Tell us about yourself," I say, she responds while chewing, apparently she doesn't mind talking with her mouth full.

"What do you want to know?"

"Who are you? Why are you here? What's your missing with and for us?" she sighs, still eating.

"I'm Dulciana Bowen, I'm 30 years old and I've been a number of things through my life. A dancer in my youth, an assassin since I was 18 and a doctor for 10 years. My mission is to watch over you three. Anything else?" she asks as she finishes her sandwich.

"Why are you here? What happened to us? What's going to happen to us?" Byers asks, from his bed.

"You are here because you are believed to be dead. We are in Nevada in a government house/bunker. I don't know what's going to happen, my superior hasn't made any decisions yet but he is a cruel man. He has no respect for human life; I've seen him murder children. You're lucky that his boss assigned me to you guys," she states softly, her gaze drops to the floor.

"How did you get mixed up in this mess?" I ask, she sighs heavily and begins to clear away our empty dishes.

"I ask myself that regularly. All I wanted to do was be a doctor so I could help people. Now, all these years after being recruited by the government and having to do so much against my will, I just hope I can pull off one thing right," she says beginning to leave the room.

"What do you mean by that?" Byers asks after we exchange quick glances. She paused, a small smile on her lips, some happiness returns to her eyes.

"You'll soon find out," she says and leaves with the dirty dishes.

Off in the distance I hear dishes clatter in the sink as they begin to get washed. There was a groan from beside me and Langly moves slightly in his bed.

"Langly!" I sprang out of bed and both Byers and I rush to his side. His eyelids twitch then open then flutters close then open again. This happens a few more times then his eyes finally stay open.

"I'll get Dulciana, keep Langly awake," I instructed Byers, and I stumbled out of the medical room to find Dulciana.

I head down the hall where I'd seen Dulciana go. The hallway was small and the only light was coming from a room three doors down on the right. Heading into it, it was the kitchen and it was huge. Dulciana was drying the dishes and putting them away, I sway, not yet stable.

"Dulciana, Langly just woke up," I said, she quickly finishes and we go back to the medical room, her arm steadies me as the hallway spins before my eyes. Langly was still awake to my relief, his glasses are on and he studies Dulciana with harsh eyes. He's trying to piece together what had happened, its still not clear to me either, just realizing Dulciana hadn't really told us.

"Why aren't we dead?" he asks, glaring at Dulciana like it was her fault.

"Because, cutie, the virus did kill you but it was only momentarily. It was designed for pain, then to shut down your organs one by one then to restart them after a day," she explained as she pressed the stethoscope to his back. She closed her eyes, listening to his heart and lungs.

"Inhale…exhale. Good, again," she instructed which was clearly annoying Langly.

"What about Jimmy, Yves and everyone else?" he demands, his voice was harsh, I know he doesn't trust her and is angered by her presence even though all she wants to do is help. Stupid, cranky, punk ass hippie.

"They…They are under surveillance still, but they are in mourning. Your "remains" are buried in Arlington cemetery curtsey of A.D. Walter Skinner," she explains.

"Skinner did that for us?" Byers asked, I laughed.

"I knew he cared!" I declared laughing.

"Yeah, soon I'll be bring you guys a present that you'll love," she says very cheerfully, God she's weird.

"What are you on?" Langly bluntly demands.

"Speed," she said sarcastically, rolling her eyes, good girl. "Hello, I'm a doctor dumb ass, can't and won't do drugs. Just give 'em, I like it that way," she smiles gently at him, trying to melt him. Its worked on me, I can't help it, I like the girl. She winks at me. "Get some rest guys, if you need me, call me, I'll be here."

She leaves us alone and once again, it's just the three of us. For us, this was the closest thing to family we'd ever come to. The defenders of justice live on, unknown to everyone, captured by the government. Oh joy, this is going to be fun.