Alone

It was about 11:45 in the morning when I had finally awoken from my slumber, realizing that I had a busy day ahead of me, I didn't dare waste any more time as I quickly dressed and readied myself for the days events. As I walked out of my room and entered the kitchen, I couldn't help but feel a sensation of uneasiness as I walked towards the coffee maker that still had at least a cup of coffee left.

Where's Emma I thought to myself as I take a small sip from my cup of Coffee, after just one sip I decided to poor the rest of the contents down the sink as I frowned at the taste of cold coffee. Well I guess I'm gunna need to make a fresh cup I thought to myself in my usual good humor.

As I finished putting the fresh coffee grinds into the filter that now rested inside the coffee maker, I still could not shake another feeling of uneasiness from a location I was not sure of. After pressing the on button on the coffee maker, I decided that I had enough time to walk around and see what's going on, I decided that I would investigate this odd feeling in the air and hopefully be back just in time for my daily dosage of caffeine. So off I went.

Walking down the beautiful halls of sanctuary usually kept me in peace, but for some reason, it seemed as though this strange uneasiness in the air was following me wherever I went. Sometimes it felt as though it was me that was feeling this uneasiness, when other moments it felt that the answer was just at the tip of my fingertips, waiting for me to touch and comfort the person in distress.

As I journey my way through sanctuary, I eventually make my way upstairs and through the doors that lead outside into our neighboring landscape of hills inhabiting trees, grass, and beautiful gifts from mother nature. When the burst of fresh air hits my face I immediately hear a quiet voice to the far right of me, the voice was quiet and trembling, and as I listened in for a few moments I couldn't help but feel liquid fire in my veins as realization struck home. "Emma" I call out as I wait for a response after the quiet voice grew silent at the sound of my call.

I don't wait for her to respond as I can already guess whom she's talking to, so I quickly move to her direction and smile reassuringly to an obviously upset Emma. I try to ignore the heaviness in my heart when I see the look of distress in Emma's once clear blue eyes, I move to sit beside her as I hold her left tense hand in my warm comforting one. For the next few moments I don't say anything, I just sit beside her while holding her hand as she continues speaking on the cell phone.

"Shalimar's my best friend, and I live with her, so I'm not going to make her leave!" Emma stated as she squeezed my hand supportively while I mouth the words, "you bet your ass I'm not leaving," Emma giggles at my response. "What? No, I'm not laughing at you, I was just-" Emma tries to explain as she stops midway through to apparently let Cole continue his almost vicious spat at her.

"Ok, ok, I'm sorry. I'm really sorry" Emma almost begs through her apology while I can't help but flash her an uncontrolled look of disappointment for caving in. She doesn't seem to notice it, or even if she did notice she showed no signs of it as she continued talking to Cole for a few more minutes before hanging up after saying "I love you".

When she puts the phone away into her jacket pocket we sit together in quiet enjoying the next few minutes of awkward silence.

"Thanks for defending me" I say to her as Emma keeps her focus straight ahead, pretending to be studying the horizon. "You're my best friend Shal, of course I'll always defend you" Emma replies as she turns her beautiful blue eyes in my direction and flashes me a smile that undeniably makes me melt inside. We smile at each other for a few moments before I grab her hand and guide her towards the door leading back into sanctuary as I say, "come on, we shouldn't be out here anyways…we've got a ton of work to do today, and if Adam finds out we've been enjoying the fresh air instead of working…then we are in deep, deep, trouble."

The sound of her laugh moves through me like shockwaves as I guide her around sanctuary, still not letting go of her hand we enter the kitchen before I finally do let go of her to turn off the coffee maker and poor the fresh batch of caffeine into my cup. I feel her eyes on me as I continue to have my back to her, I almost literally feel the disturbing sensations of sadness from her and I know that it's all because of that bastard. I try to control the anger in my voice as I say the things I know that will make her feel better.

"So, my sweet beautiful Emma! What will a hot thing like you be doing later on tonight?" I say to her as I flash her a flirty grin while I make a complete fool out of myself in front of her. She laughs at me for a moment as she returns the flirty grin back to me as she replies, "Well, it seems as though I don't have a date tonight, so…" I move towards her as I start to make faces in her direction, she laughs harder this time at my silliness as I reply, "So you have absolutely nothing to do tonight miss Delauro?" "It appears not" Emma replied as she watches me happily.

"Well then it's settled…you, me, a couch, popcorn, and one hell of a sappy romance movie" I reply as Emma smiles fondly at me, "but Shalimar, you hate romance movies" I nod my head in agreement as I respond with a smile on my feral like features, "yeah, but I like it when you're happy. So if that means that I have to watch a sappy romance movie to see you happy, then so be it! Let the torture begin!" my hands now raised high into the sky as I make a fool out of myself again.

Emma laughs uncontrollably now as she marches over to me to grab my now flailing arms as I continue to make faces and laugh along with Emma as we continue our friendly time together. "Now what are you two ladies up to?" came the voice of Jesse who wore his usual comforting smile, "nothing that would be considered illegal" I stated as Emma continues to hold onto my arms while giving my a comical look.

Jesse smirks at Emma and I as he says, "well, if I were you I would hurry up and get those ID cards done as well as check out that safe house before Adam flips" "yes daddy" I remark as Emma slaps my arm playfully. Jesse rolls his eyes at my comment before turning his gaze to Emma to say, "so how are you and Cole doing? Everything ok?" Emma calmly looks to Jesse and responds with a smile on her face, "we're fine actually, just fine" I try not to let my disappointment in Emma's lie get to me as I break away from her to make my way up to the second floor to get some work done as I say, "well then, I guess I should get my lazy ass to work".

Moments pass, which quickly turns into hours as I quickly finish my load of ID cards to create for the new mutants while Emma continues on doing her share of the work. Not a moment later, I couldn't help but jump at the sudden feel of a hand on my shoulder as I turn my attentions to peer up into the emotionless face of Emma. "What's wrong?" I ask as I feel the sudden flow of worry wash over me as Emma's expression changes from emotionless to depressed, "Cole just called, we had another fight" Emma replied as she moved to sit in her seat in front of the computer.

I watch her intently for a moment as thoughts of Cole and Emma fighting again stirs a known feeling of resentment towards the bastard who can't seem to realize how good he has it with Emma. "What was it about?" I ask plainly as I brace myself for another round of Emma's ranting about her good for nothing boyfriend, well at least I think he's good for nothing, Emma just sees the boy she loves.

"Oh it was something stupid..." she trails off for a moment to shake her head in anger before continuing again, "he wanted me to come over to his place to watch a movie and stuff, but I told him that I was going to watch a movie with you and…" Emma trails off once again to pick up a fallen disk from the floor as I watch her, "…he freaked! He just freaked out cause he wanted to spend time with me but now he can't because I'm with you-" "if you want to cancel I can understand" I reply as I suddenly feel the little voice in the back of my mind yell at me for offering the choice to Emma.

"Really? I mean, you won't mind?" Emma questions as she stares at me in disbelief, "Emma, I don't want to come between you and Cole. You're his girlfriend and he's your boyfriend." I explain as the voice in the back of mind screams louder and louder into my mind Shalimar what are you doing? You hardly get to see Emma because of that bastard. Enjoy the time you have with her "That's really sweet of you Shalimar, I'll go call Cole" Emma replies as she flashes me an appreciative smile.

Way to go Shalimar, that was the moral thing to do…but who the hell gives a shit, damn it Shalimar you blew your chance to spend time with your best friend…well, here comes another night to feel sick to your stomach with the thought of his hands all over her "damn it!" I say out loud as I quickly regret the outburst and attempt to get back to my piles of work. Why does the thought of his hands on her make me physically ill, his hands don't belong on her I think to myself as I begin the long process of updating older ID's from underground mutants.

"Hey Shal, I gotta go now…Cole's going to meet me at the movies" Emma stated as I watch her as plainly as I can, "and then?" I ask as Emma walks closer to me before replying, "then…I'll go over to his house and…have some fun, I guess you can say" Emma finishes as my mouth almost drops to the floor in shock of the realization. I turn my head away and try to control my emotions so Emma won't sense them. "When are you leaving?" I ask as I try to keep the conversation going in the hopes to avoid the awkward silence.

I glance at her for a moment as she replies cautiously, "can I ask a favor of you?" "Oh?" I ask, still not ready to keep my full attention on her, "yeah, I was wondering if you would take over for me…you know, just cover for me until I come back, just so Adam won't go ballistic on me." Emma explains as she moves way from me to lean against the banister, "and when will you be back?" I ask as I try to rid the feeling of jealousy, "tomorrow morning, 6:00 AM I think" Emma responds while I keep my eyes away from her completely.

The room goes silent as Emma just sits there watching me, she's about to say something to me but before she could I interject, "go…have a great time, and most importantly…be safe" Emma smiles and releases a deep sigh as she replies, "thank god, for a second there I didn't think you would cover for me" I jerk my head to follow her lean form as she comes towards me, I know what she's expecting of me so I get up from my chair and welcome her body against mine in a friendly hug.

"Now why would you ever think such a thing?" I reply in a joking manner as the uncontrollable images of my imagination cross through my mind.

His hands roam her body, she smiles in pleasure as she bits her lower lip while his eager hands roam lower down her body. She gasps at the sudden boldness of his touch as his hands move to unbutton her jeans as he moves to place a harsh kiss on her lips.

"I'm sorry Shalimar, I should never have doubted you in the first place. Of course I knew you would say yes, your always there when I need you" Emma replies as she continues to hold onto me as we swing our hugging bodies from side to side as Emma laughs for know reason.

She's just finished removing his pants as her hands move to help him remove his shirt as lips return to hasten lips. His movements are rough and sloppy; she tries to keep up with him but is know match for his predatory hunger. Before she knows it, her shirt is gone, laying uselessly on the floor as his lips move to guide his rough tobacco flavored tongue across her chest.

"Ok, Shalimar…I should go now," Emma says to me as I realize that I've drifted off into my own nightmarish fantasy for over a minute now, I let her body go as I walk back to my seat. "Have fun" I call out to an already retreating Emma as she calls back to me from her position on the first floor, "I'll be sure to give you the full details" I cringe at the idea as my imagination comes back with an unpleasant imaginings.

His body is now on top of hers, a rough gasp of pain escapes her lips when his body puts its full wait onto hers. But the pain drifts away as the pleasure rolls in; the low moans of pleasure are slow and sensual as her eyes roll back in ecstasy.

I'm left alone with these horrible imaginings as my stomach begins to turn at the very idea, I try to keep my mind off of it so I go back to work and work as hard and as long as I can. I keep working, and I don't stop not even for dinner when the boys ask me to come down, not even when it's late at night and I'm finished my work as well as Emma's.

When there's nothing else to do I walk back to the lab and drop off the disk that had the surveillance tapes of the safe house that Emma and I were supposed to investigate together. I leave a handwritten note for Adam to read, explaining the situation as being a false alarm and a prank pulled off by the youngest member of the safe house family.

When that was done, I went back to my room and closed the door behind me before locking it securely. I didn't dare waste anytime as I rummaged through my private stash of alcohol when the voice of Adam entered my com-link, "hey Shalimar" "hey Adam" I replied as Adam continued on with his message, "sorry to rush through this but I'm kinda in a hurry. I just wanted to call and let you know that the boys and I will be out for a while so don't expect us home until tomorrow morning, around 9:00…take care of the place…I don't think I have to remind you not to play with matches-" "nope! No worries in that department Adam…I won't burn the ol'gal down, she'll still be here when you get back tomorrow morning" I replied as I jump back to land on my bouncy bed.

"Well then I guess I should trust you" "was there ever a reason not to?" I reply in my good humor as I smile at Adam's chuckle, "I've got to go Shalimar, take care, say goodnight to Emma for me" "oh don't worry, she's already taken care of" I reply sarcastically as Adam's voice from the com-link goes silent.

I smirk at my own jealousy as I grab the bottle of Crown Royal from my secret stash before placing the DVD of the romantic movie that Emma was supposed to watch with me in my computer. My computers DVD player immediately starts the movie as I sit back on my bed and begin watching the modern day version of "Romeo & Juliet".

With my Crown Royal in one hand with the cap off and my breath already smelling of the drink, I enjoy my half a bottle of Crown Royal while I spend the rest of the 1 hour and 20 minutes watching the movie. Alone.