Old Flame
Chapter 9: A Happy Ending?
Lucas stayed by Jade's side, even Adam with his quiet persistence that he leave to eat and get some sleep couldn't make him move. He didn't leave, he had made himself Jade's bodyguard of sorts and the others found this amusing.
Jade stayed unconscious and Adam spent endless hours scanning and working on a treatment to help Jade, to bring her back to them, once and for all. He was well aware of Lucas's presence in the lab, but he knew that the young man would get over his crush on Jade in time.
Emma came into the lab, walked to Lucas's side, and put a hand on his shoulder. "You need something to eat and need some sleep Lucas."
Lucas slowly moved his eyes from Jade to Emma. "I'm okay, I'm really not hungry..."
Emma gently pulled Lucas from Jade's side and out of the lab. "She'll be fine. You need to eat and sleep," she said putting different thoughts into his head to get him to eat and sleep.
Lucas looked back at Jade's lifeless body and nodded slowly. "I suppose..."
Adam moved to Jade's side and looked down at her, he reached out and touched her cheek. "Come on Jade. Your a fighter, come back to me... please come back to me."
Jade heard Adam's voice and struggled to speak, to move, to do something that showed Adam she was still there. Finally, she managed to move her head against his fingers a little.
Adam gasped in surprise and smiled a little. "Good...come on Jade, fight this. We all need you, l need you."
Jade heard his voice and felt such warmth at his words. But she couldn't move, she wanted to, but the virus had paralyzed her body and her mind.
Ekhart listened to Cole as he spoke. The young mutant was quickly becoming annoying and Ekhart had to remind himself that he temporarily needed the young mutant to get information on Mutant X.
"Very interesting. Get her here, the sooner we get miss deLauro here, the sooner we can get Jade back here. How you could possibly let those Mutant X freaks in here and go off with 6 of our mutants, including Jade is beyond me. You are on your last chance, l suggest you do NOT disappoint me this time."
Cole shifted nervously and nodded his head.
Ekhart rubbed his temples and looked at Cole with dying patience. "Well what are you waiting for? Get going!"
He looked at the other man in the room and spoke to him with a bit more patience.
"Bring in Mr. O'Mearain."
The man nodded his head, moved to the door, and slipped out, returning a moment later with Lamont.
"Ahhh, Mr. O'Mearain. Nice to see you again, we need to discuss your latest mutant that you've brought me."
Lamont shifted nervously and licked his lips and looked at Ekhart.
"Is there something wrong with Cole sir?"
Ekhart laughed a bit bitterly. "Something wrong? Why yes, actually there is something wrong with Cole Mr. O'Mearain."
"And what would be the problem sir?"
"He isn't doing his job very well. In fact, he's failed the last two assignments I've given him. He has one last chance Mr. O'Mearain. If he does not deliver, you and he had best get used to the idea of being in status pods for awhile."
Lamont shifted nervously, as he thought of spending time in a status pod.
"I will make sure he gets the deLauro girl sir."
Ekhart smiled and leaned forward.
"Good, now go...l have much to think about."
Lucas moped around the kitchen, he didn't want to eat or sleep. He just wanted to go back to Jade, Adam may be smart, but he could make a mistake... make things worse for Jade.
Jesse looked at Lucas and then at Emma and smiled.
"It seems our friend here as an obvious crush on Jade. He doesn't seem to like Adam much either, but l think that's because he knows how much Jade likes Adam and Adam likes Jade."
Emma smiled and sipped from her mug. She looked at Lucas for a moment, then back to Jesse.
"Well would you like a man who loved the woman that you had a crush on?"
Jesse blinked in surprise and stuttered out his answer. "Well since l don't have a crush on anybody, l really don't know. But l suppose l would be upset and l wouldn't really like the other person."
"Right. So see? You can understand why Lucas doesn't like Adam."
Lucas missed the entire conversation; he was lost in his own thoughts of Jade. He sighed, knowing that she wouldn't ever like him, she had Adam who obviously cared for her a great deal.
But that didn't stop the pain from building in him and also the dislike for Adam. The man Jade did like, the man who she had asked for when she was sick... the man who could help her.
Jesse walked over to Lucas and put his hand on the mutants shoulder, seeing him jump a foot in the air.
"Hey it's okay. I wanted to tell you, that your food is ready..."
Lucas looked back at Jesse, smiled apologetically, and moved to the table to sit down. Looking at the food on the plate in interest, but he was too hungry to care much about what he was eating.
Emma smiled and spoke again, glancing at Lucas. "How long had you been at Genomex Lucas?"
Lucas looked at Emma with a distracted look. "Oh...l was there a couple weeks...kinda got hard to remember. But I'm glad to be out of there, no more pain for using your powers without permission."
Jesse smiled to and looked at Emma and then to Lucas.
"Do you know what they did to Jade?"
Lucas turned his eyes to Jesse and shook his head slowly.
"I don't know. They came in to the room to get her; l was going to help her. To stop them from taking her, but she shook her head at me and so l just sat there and watched her take her away. Then awhile later they opened the door and just tossed her inside, she was barely conscious then..."
He sighed and his discomfort at remembering what had happened to Jade was obvious. But he continued anyways, his voice was quiet.
"She wasn't able to tell me what they had done to her. All she said was Adam's name, she had a bad fever and there wasn't anything we could do to help her. We were trying to determine what to do to help her, when Jesse and Shalimar came and got us all out."
Emma sighed softly and looked at Lucas "were all glad that Jesse and Shalimar found you and Jade when they did. Who knows what Ekhart would of done to Jade if they had taken any longer to find her and the others."
Jesse patted Emma's arm. "Well they found them and all the new mutants are safe. Now we just have to figure out how to help Jade get rid of these people and let her have a happy life again."
Lucas sighed and nodded. He looked at Jesse "Adam is a good man right? He won't hurt Jade?"
Jesse looked at Lucas in surprise. "Adam would never hurt Jade. He loves her more then anything... l've never seen him act this way towards anyone before."
Emma smiled reassuringly "she won't be hurt Lucas. We promise you, we won't let her get hurt again."
Lucas smiled back at Emma "l know you won't. I don't want to leave without knowing she's alright...but l don't want to cause any trouble for her with Adam."
Jesse chuckled as he stood pulling Lucas up with him. "You don't need to worry about that, Adam is the most easy going guy around. Besides, Jade likes your company. If you left before she could say good-bye she would be quite upset."
Lucas blushed a little and looked down at his hands. "Then l'll stay till she wakes up" he said quietly, though his mind churned with thoughts.
Emma glanced at Jesse and Lucas as Adam's voice came through their rings. He asked Emma to come to the lab to start treating Jade, Emma looked at Jesse and Lucas and smiled "well l have to go. We'll let you guys know how things go with Jade."
Finally Adam leaned back in chair a smile comming over his face. "Finally..." he murmered to the empty room. He stood from the chair, studing yet again what he had come up with. It had taken him hours to figure out how to adjust the vaccine to make it stronger to get rid of the virus that had again taken over Jade's body. He smiled hearing Emma's voice saying she was on the way.
He moved to the chair and picked up Jade's hand in his and studied her face. He wished he knew what she was thinking or dreaming about, but by the frown that came over her lips her dreams were less then perfect.
"Jade? Jade can you hear me?" he whispered squeezing her hand gently. A soft moan came from her lips and her eyelids fluttered, though they stayed closed.
"I found a new vaccine to make you better again. Now it's up to you to come back us... to me" he finished quietly. He squeezed her hand once more, then he turned and walked back to the computer and checked on the vaccine and how it was comming.
Jade struggled to respond to Adam, but her lips wouldn't move. Darkness swept over her and she sighed as the most peaceful feeling she'd ever felt came over her.
In her mind
She clawed at the darkness around her, but it only pressed in closer to her, suffocating her. She tried to scream but again she couldn't say anything, she turned in the darkness sensing someone near her but she could see nothing.
A flicker of pain managed to pierce the darkness and Jade saw a small pinpoint of light. She tried to go towards it, but felt like she was trying to move through water or something and she was moving so slowly.
Back in the lab
Adam's voice came to her again and she desperately reached out her hand to his. Adam smiled as he saw her hand move and he looked to the door as Emma walked quickly in.
"How is she doing? Is the vaccine working?" Emma asked her eyes hopeful.
Adam smiled "her hand just moved. But the vaccine isn't working as well l thought it would. So l think that our original plan of you trying to reach her in her mind and bring her back would be a good idea now."
Emma smiled and nodded, she was exteremly happy to be able to do something to help Adam bring Jade back to them. She gently picked up Jade's hand and closed her eyes, concentrating images flashing through her head as she sensed Jade's confusion and desperation.
"She is trying to respond to you. But there's something holding her back, like someone is physically holding her back from responding."
Adam watched Emma for a minute, before turning his eyes to Jade. He was very concerned for her and he hoped that somehow Emma could reach Jade and bring her back to them.
"Can you reach her?"
Jade sensed Emma, seeing her disapear in the darkness. 'Emma! Please...come back...help me!' some how her voice in her head screamed out, though no audible noise came from Jade's body.
Emma saw the image of Jade and heard her cry out to her. Emma looked around her and frowned as she felt the darkness start pulling her from Jade, though she pushed her way through and reached out for Jade's body.
"Fight the darkness Jade, you can do it. Come back to us...please" Emma begged in her head.
Jade nodded and reached slowly out for Emma's hand. As her fingers closed around Emma's a bright blinding light shot through Emma's body and Jade was forced to close her eyes. When she opened them again and blinked a few times, Emma stood infront of her and Adam stood at her side.
"Adam...Emma..." she managed to say with a tired smile. She looked at Adam for a minute her eyes staring into his, "thank you, what would l do without you?"
Adam smiled down at her "l don't know. The question should be, what would l do without you?"
Emma was about to leave the room when Adam looked at her. Letting go of Jade's hand and moved to Emma's side "stay and talk with her for a few minutes. I want to go tell Lucas myself" he said as he walked out of the lab and towards the kitchen.
Days later...
Lucas was in his room packing, Brennan and Jesse would be taking him to the underground in 2 hours. He felt great pain and sadness at leaving, especially knowing that he would have to leave Jade...but then again she wouldn't miss him. She had Adam, who was being protective of her.
He sighed and paused in his packing, hearing a knock on the door. "Come in" he called, but didn't turn his head.
Jesse walked in and closed the door and studied the younger mutant for a moment, before speaking. "This is for the best Lucas. You know that in your heart, Jade loves Adam. She always has" he said quietly, moving to sit in the chair by the bed.
"I know" he said softly, fingering the suitcase he was packing. He looked over at Jesse pain flickering in his eyes, "are you sure this is for the best? I mean...maybe one day...she'll feel the same..." he whispered.
Jesse reached out and put his hand on Lucas's shoulder. "No Lucas, you know the answer to that to. You will find someone special in the underground, someone who feels the same way. I know you will, just give yourself a chance to."
Lucas nodded slowly and turned to continue packing. Though he was sure of one thing, Adam didn't deserve Jade...and somehow, someday, Jade would be his...
Jade sat in the kitchen eating; Adam sat beside her with a smile on his face. He didn't take his eyes off of her, afraid that the virus would return and again take her from him.
"I'm fine Adam, you don't need to stay by my side night and day you know," she said with an amused smile.
Adam looked at her "l know l don't, but l can't help it. I just want to be sure you are alright."
Jade left her meal and turned to Adam, taking his hands in hers. "I'm fine Adam. I've never felt better... because of you."
Adam smiled lovingly at her, the two were unaware of the others that entered the room silently and grinned at each other.
"Jade..." he began, he had never felt so nervous, but he forced himself to continue. He had done this once and she had said no, but maybe this time it would be the right answer. "Jade, will you marry me?" he asked as he pulled a small box from his pocket and opened it holding it out to her.
Jade's eyes widened, her heart pounded and tears filled her eyes. She had been stupid the last time... leaving without a goodbye, or a reason. She wouldn't leave this time, she couldn't.
"Yes, of course l will Adam..." she said as he took the ring and put it on her finger. She leaned forward and kissed him gently, feeling such happiness for the first time in a very, very long time.