Beta'd by Ethos. Note: I've basically just beta'd her grammar and sentence structure, so everything else will remain intact for her artistic purposes. Hope you enjoy the chapter Smile.
Last time...
"How did you find me in the first place?" Ramsey demanded.
"I didn't. I came in for a drink. You were here though, so I decided to come and talk." Fenway took a large gulp of his beer. "I've heard from a little bird that you've got a few problems. Wanna talk about them?"
"I don't have any problems. So I don't want to talk about problems." muttered Ramsey.
Fenway rose his eyebrows. "You don't call losing ten grand a problem?"
"That's none of your business. I don't want to talk about it."
Fenway sat quietly for a few minutes, finishing up his beer. He threw a few bucks down and started to get up. "Ramsey, we all have to face our demons sometimes. It's better to face them when you can break them, not when they'll break you."
----
Chapter Five: Head Trip Part One
Molly was curled up on her couch, still staring at the picture. It was hard to believe but the girl shown there was real... A girl that looked almost like Caffrey, but yet she was not...
Molly shook her head and sat up. There were other things to do after all. She still hadn't completely unpacked from moving into another house in D.C. A four hour trip to Richmond, Virginia every night wasn't practical after all. The phone rang suddenly; she rushed over to the phone and answered.
"Hello?"
"The test results are in. You might want to come down here." Fenway's voice echoed in her ear.
"What test results!" she demanded.
"Libby's. What other ones do you think I was talking about? These are the results from the Amniocentesis test are in. Remember, it took two weeks to get the results? Now before I divulge anymore information, come into the office. Please." Fenway promptly hung up the phone leaving Molly alone on the other end.
She hung up the phone and grabbed her keys...
----
She walked into Fenway's lab about twenty minutes later. He was in his office again sipping on coffee. He looked up at her with weary eyes; he handed her a piece of paper.
She unfolded it and read it. Her eyes widened. "It.. It's a human!"
Fenway's eyes suddenly sparkled as he shook his head. "Yes. Its human."
"How is this possible!"
"I have no idea. I was just as surprised when I got the results in."
"What are we going to do with the child though!" she muttered.
Fenway shrugged. "That's not my problem. I'm the one who has to deliver it, WHICH is a problem."
She laughed. "Good luck, Fenway."
"I've already had to deliver a kid before... After that I swore never to deal with the process again; please don't make me." he muttered.
She just smiled at him. "Would I do that?"
----
Molly walked into the command center. This was usually where Whitaker lurked during the day when he wasn't on Capital Hill. There he was sitting at the round table presiding over it like an arrogant god. She rolled her eyes. Whitaker was in one of those moods today. She approached him; he looked up with a glazed over bored look. "What is it Caffrey?"
She allowed a smile to cross her face. "Just good news."
"Well, spit it out then." he muttered.
"Libby's baby isn't infected. Fenway just got the labs back." she said.
He merely nodded, before looking back down at his papers. "Good. Figure out what you are going to do with it."
She nodded before she left the room.
----
She walked back into Fenway's lab; he was there checking on Cavennaugh's wounds. "You are lucky I had supplies to give you a skin graft. Plus you seem to be healing quite nicely. Too nicely in fact Cavennaugh..."
"What do you mean by that!" the agent demanded.
Molly gave Fenway a curious look. "What are you suggesting Fenway?"
Fenway smiled. "Nothing, actually. I already ran a blood test just in case he was becoming an infectee; he's fine for the moment."
Cavennaugh looked up at the older man. "You tried to get me worried on purpose, didn't you?"
Fenway smirked. "Would I do that?"
"YES!" chorused Cavennaugh and Molly at the same time.
Fenway now looked at Molly. "What are you doing back in here anyways?"
"Whitaker said we have to figure out what to do with it. So the baby stays for now; but Fenway, someone is going to have to take care of it!" she glared at the doctor.
"No way in hell. I've already raised one kid. That's more then enough for me." Fenway shook his head at her. "You're going to have to find a way to raise it, not me."
Both of them blinked, then Molly remembered Fenway had a son. "Oh! I forgot about that. How long has it been since you saw him?"
Fenway glared. "That's none of your business!" he said as he went out the room...
Cavennaugh looked at Molly. "I wonder what's up with the doc?"
She shrugged. "Has he released you yet?"
He nodded. "Just now." He sat up and grabbed his shirt and threw over his nicely toned chest. "Now help me to my car, please?"
She laughed as she helped him down off the table; he groaned. "Is my back always going to hurt like this?"
She shrugged as she helped him out the door...
----
Lucas put his head down and groaned out loud. "We're already married Rachel! Do we seriously have to go through all of this trouble to have a big not-secret wedding!"
She glared at him, her eyes narrowing dangerously. "I've always wanted a big wedding! And I'm going to get one, so play along. Okay?"
"But do I have to sit through it?"
"Yes! I need you to choose colors! Its not that hard!" she demanded, her narrow dark eyes flashing.
"Yes it is! I could care less about colors. And if its not that hard, why don't you choose them?" he asked, running a nervous hand through his kinky curls.
"Because I want you to participate in the planning! Plus you have a couple of days off, now please help!"
"Alright, alright..." He looked back down at the samples. He could care less about these damn wedding colors; who planned out a wedding in such extent that you had to keep it to a color scheme? So far they had chosen a creamy ivory, and a nice deep azure which also matched the flowers in the bouquets, and everywhere. He really didn't have anytime for this...
"Are you sure your father can't walk you down the aisle?"
She laughed at that, and got serious rather quickly. "You know my father hates you. He always has, and always will. So don't bring it up, okay?"
"I still don't understand why your father hates me..." he muttered.
"Its not only you. He hates my sister's husband as well, remember?" she said glaring at her new husband.
"Yeah, but does it have to be Fenway that walks you down the aisle?"
She laughed. "Who else? J.T. is the only other old dude that we know! And he refuses to do it..."
"That's true, but Fenway's an arrogant jackass!" he murmured.
Rachel laughed and tackled her husband. "So? My father is too!"
----
Cavennaugh settled into his bed. Cynthia looked down at him and laughed. "Sean, you shouldn't have pushed yourself this hard!"
"I didn't push myself! I almost got blown up!"
She laughed. "Whatever Sean. You pushed yourself, AGAIN!"
He looked up and glared at her; he tried to roll over on his stomach. She giggled as he failed. "So how long do you have off Sean?"
He groaned. "I hate med-leave... Fenway forced me into it; he said I couldn't do anything with burns on my back."
"Well, how long do I have to play nurse?"
He glared at her again, his eyes narrowing. "Is it that bad playing nurse?"
She nodded. "Let's see, the last time you got hurt on the job I had to end up playing nurse for two months. During that time you whined like a little baby, bitched half the time... I had to help you around the house, and not to mention that infamous hole in the wall from where you hit it in frustration. Now how long do you have off?"
He sighed; of course Cynthia was right. Sean knew he was a bit too much to handle sometimes... "Two more weeks. Then I can possibly come back to work."
She moaned. "You mean I have to deal with you for two weeks!"
"Its not that bad, is it?" he growled.
Cynthia reached up and brushed the dark hair that was hanging in her face, grinned and suddenly rolled him on his stomach. "Well if I have to play the nurse ever again, you'll regret it."
Sean sighed; two weeks of pure hell were coming up...
----
Fenway was laying on his bed restless as usual. He strained to roll over and grab the phone. The room service always placed the damn thing too far out of reach... He wondered what time it was in Florida as he dialed the number. "Hi Janice. Where's Darwin?"
"Do you know what time it is!"
Fenway turned his head and looked at the clock; the digital numbers were just a mere wash of red. So he reached for his glasses; he plopped them on his face and took note of the time. "A little past midnight, why?"
"Darwin has been asleep for three hours that's why!" Janice's voice sounded cranky.
"You still send him to bed at nine? Janice he's fourteen, believe me. He isn't asleep, just give him the damn phone." he said wearily. Sometimes, no he always hated dealing with his ex-wives...
"Why should I?" she demanded. Her voice becoming haughty.
"Because it's in the custody agreement. I can talk to him when I want to... Unless you want to go back to court of course, Janice." Both had won in some parts of the cases, but of course both had lost in other areas. This was one of his few major victories; she couldn't stop him from talking to his son.
He heard her go marching up the stairs of their former dream home, and open their boy's door. "Darwin?" he heard her say.
"Yeah mom?" he heard his son's voice, already starting to deepen. He smiled at this; his little boy was starting to become a man.
"Why aren't you asleep!" he heard Janice yell.
"Uh-mom. I never go to sleep before one. Hey is that dad on the phone." Fenway heard his son jump out of bed and snatch the phone from his mother. "You can go now mom." He then heard Darwin manage to get Janice out the room.
"Hi dad!" He sounded excited.
"Why is your mother making you go to bed at nine?" he inquired.
"We have church in the morning." He sounded sour.
"Your mother is still making you go to church? STILL?" Fenway said sitting up. He cringed as his back popped.
"Yeah. I told her I didn't want to go. But she still makes me. Dad, why can't I live with you?"
"I'm sorry. If I was still working at the university, I would happily let you live with me. But I'm not Dar, and I've already explained why."
"But dad! I'm fourteen, aren't I old enough to decide which one of you I get to live with!"
"Under normal circumstances yes; hell, I'd take you in in a heartbeat. But I'm sorry. This really wasn't my choice. NASA had to send me up here."
"Come on! I haven't even seen you since September! And you promised you'd take me to that launch!"
Fenway winced. "Its not like I wanted to miss it either... Listen, Christmas is just around the corner. I might be able to talk my boss into letting me off a couple of days. How would you like that?"
His kid sounded ecstatic, "That would be cool."
"Anyways, what were you doing in there for three hours?"
"Uh... I was reading that true crimes book you sent me."
Fenway rolled his eyes; why were teenage boys so disturbing? Then he remembered how he was at that age, and shook his head. Teenagers.
----
Caffrey laid down. It was finally time to get some rest... She closed her emerald eyes and just waited for sleep to overtake her; as of late sleep had came easy. Of course it was probably something to do with increased theta waves...
Suddenly she was standing in a field of stars. It was not the typical dream she had been having; she turned quickly and looked around her. Her white nightgown spun with the force. She didn't topple as she should have if she was really standing in space. Gravity still seemed to exist here. All there was were stars; they blazed, unaffected by atmospheric distortions. Molly looked underneath her feet; she was standing on nothing. She was just floating there, there in the midst of the void.
She stared at these fiery orbs of light, they were everywhere! The stars were so much more brilliant in space, then they were on Earth. Suddenly she was compelled to turn around, she couldn't explain it... Two stars not far in the distance were orbiting one another. They speed up as the orbit started to bring in the two stars, the massive gravity was making them... Her eyes widened as the orbits went faster and faster, and finally they touched. A flare of light so intense that it blinded her resulted, and wave after wave hit her...
Then suddenly she was standing in the forest. This seemed to be a different sort of forest, lush by even Earth's standards. The plants were not the linear crystals, but were like ferns and the such. Big leafy plants, and tall willowy trees were prominent. She turned once more. looking around her; she felt if her heart was going to explode in her chest. Molly looked up into the sky; there were the two stars colliding. Then the waves hit here too. It felt like she was being ripped apart. Everything went blank... When she woke up she was now in the glass forest again... What had just happened?
----
Lucas woke up after seeing the stars collide in the sky. He hauled himself off the dusty ground. This was unusual; he'd never had a dream this vivid. He shuddered, remembering the waves that had passed through him, because he recognized what it was; cosmic radiation.
He looked around, hoping to see someone, hell, anyone would do by now. He started to walk around the forest... With the hopes of stumbling across someone, or something.
----
Cavennaugh hauled himself off the ground. What the hell had just happened! He groaned, his back hurt like a bitch. Why did he have to be blasted around by alien dreams when his back hadn't got better yet?
He had thought that sleep was critical to getting better. If it came down to it he might actually agree to stay in the med-lab. He was seriously tired of these dreams, and he knew that Fenway had a new rule of attaching his three partially infected patients to one of his weird machines. That machine recorded theta waves. He had noticed Fenway waking Lucas up when those things went off occasionally...
Sean shook his head and started walking through the glass forest of endless crystals.
----
The phone rang once more. Fenway opened one startling red eye. Who could possibly be calling him at 2 o'clock in the morning? Not even telemarketer's dared calling at this hour...
He rolled over and grabbed the ringing phone, "Hello?"
"Dr. Fenway? Is that you?" Fenway heard a feminine voice over the line. He rose an eyebrow, what was a young woman calling him at this hour for? A couple of thoughts appeared in his head, but he quickly brushed those away... Mainly because the woman called him Dr. Fenway... Made him sound old.
"Yes? Who exactly is this?" Now he got weary. Who knew if this chick was an alien or not? It's not like he would mind a woman's company, but he didn't want to get infected in the process...
"This is Rachel! Lucas isn't waking up!"
The thoughts of a woman's company went out of head immediately as he sat up. "He's what!"
The young woman told him everything as he got dressed. "Your house is in Maryland, right?"
She confirmed this. "Alright. I'll be there in a bit..."
Fenway burst out of his door after hanging up his phone; it startled his guards. They came out of their rooms looking curious. He pointed at one of them. "You are coming with me!" Then he pointed at the other two. "I want you to go to Caffrey's house and check on her, and I want you to go to Cavennaugh's house to check up on him. If they don't wake up, call me!"
----
About an hour later Fenway was examining Lucas; he opened up the young man's eye. There was no response other then a urge to close it. Damn, it was like he was in a coma...
"I want to take him back to my lab." he said to Rachel who was looking worried. The poor girl hadn't even had a chance to change out of her pajamas, so he'd had one of the guards find her robe for her. After all it wasn't like he didn't have some morals... He couldn't look at another man's wife. It was rude, plus it wasn't like Rachel would appreciate it or anything.
"What's wrong with him?" she whispered.
Fenway shrugged. "You two!" he said, calling for the grunts that continuously followed him. "I want him in my lab by the time I get there."
The two lifted the young man out of his bed and carried him downstairs. Fenway's phone on his belt started to ring. He answered, "Yeah?"
"Dr. Caffrey is unresponsive as well. Do you wish for me to bring her to the med-lab?"
"Yes, I want her there immediately!" What the hell was happening?
Fenway hung up the phone, and turned to the whimpering Rachel. "Its okay. I'm sure of it, so don't worry. Alright?" He was never good at comforting women... He always messed up somehow or another...
The Asian woman was actually crying. He scratched his head and wondered what he should do. "Really. It won't be that hard to wake him up, it'll be okay." He made his exit then; why did women always make him awkward?
As he left the Pegg household his phone rang once more. "Yeah?"
"Dr. Fenway, Cavennaugh is also unresponsive."
Fenway groaned, "Bring him down to the lab."
"Its more complicated then that sir. Someone who's saying she's his girlfriend is objecting."
Fenway really groaned this time; why did life always do this to him?
----
Fenway was now looking down at his new patients. Each were now hooked up to a machine that recorded theta waves. And boy were the dreams happening tonight! The theta waves were off the chart for all three dreamers; it seemed like an important event was happening...
The woman who had insisted on coming with Cavennaugh tapped his shoulder. He turned around and looked at the obnoxious woman. "Well? What's wrong with him! Wake him up!"
He glared at the tall brunette. "I'm sorry but I can't stir any of them from their dream states. Now please leave my lab."
"No, I will not! Tell me what's wrong with Sean!"
He shook his head, "I'm not authorized to tell you that, now please leave my lab!" He was losing patience with her quickly. Why did people always argue with their doctors now a days? Back when he started out in this profession doctors were esteemed members of the community; not now...
He steered her out the door and shut it firmly. He'd let Baylock and Whitaker deal with her. Ramsey looked up from his calculations. "Fenway their theta waves have increased from their normal alien dreams by a least fifty percent..."
Fenway nodded before sitting down. "We're just going to have to wait for them to wake up. I have no idea how to stir them out of this one."
----
Lucas stumbled across Caffrey. She was sitting there in the locus position, her eyes closed to the dream world around her. "Ah- Dr. Caffrey?"
She started and looked up at him. "Lucas! You're here to? Did you see-"
"Yeah, two neuron stars colliding! Did you feel that cosmic radiation! It was awesome!" He grinned. Lucas had recovered from his previous shock from what he'd seen.
Molly got the same confused look on her face that she typically had when Fenway and Cavennaugh were talking about sucking on batteries. "Lucas? Are YOU CRAZY!"
He looked at Molly for a second. She seemed to have the same look Rachel got sometimes. He could never understand women...
"You don't think it was cool? You know how rare it actually is to see that happening? No one's ever seen anything like that happen in real time!" He sounded excited.
Caffrey rolled her eyes and went back to her yoga. "Know yoga, Lucas?"
He nodded and sat down beside her. "Rachel taught me!"
----
Sean was stumbling across the linear landscape; his back was hurting so bad! He stopped for a moment and just sat down, using one of the crystal trees as a prop. Why was he here again? He didn't want to sit around or anything today. All he wanted to do was for once get some decent sleep!
After a few minutes he pulled himself from the ground and walked for quite awhile. Occasionally he would stumble, but he'd grab one of the crystals and catch himself. This went on for what seemed hours until he stumbled upon Lucas and Molly doing yoga in the middle of the forest. He tilted his head and looked at the two; how did people contort their bodies like that!
"Caffrey! Pegg!" he grunted their names.
They both looked up, confusion on their faces. "So why are all three of us here?" she muttered.
Sean shrugged. "I'm guessing you guys saw those two stars hit head on."
They both nodded. "Yeah. I'm thinking they're telling us something!" said Lucas who sounded really excited.
"You think!" Cavennaugh said bitterly. Molly got up and helped him sit down. She then lifted up his shirt. He started, and turned around and looked up at her. "What exactly are you doing!"
"I'm inspecting your burns, now stay still!" she demanded.
She looked down at them; they looked bad. Some were even bleeding slightly. "Cavennaugh you need to lie down and be still; these look worse."
"We're in a dream, surely it won't matter when we wake up." he said even while he heeded her advice.
----
Meanwhile Fenway was looking at his patients. He had no idea what was happening to them. What the hell could he do to wake them up! He had already tried drenching them with buckets of cold water, and smelling salts. He now turned to his lab to find another way of stirring them from their sleep. Surely he could find something... He gave up looking for something safe to wake them up. After all if he pulled the old hand in glass of warm water trick he may never see the light of day again...
Nigel, instead of trying to wake them, now started to examine them once more. He paused beside Cavennaugh. Was that a hint of blood? He strained to roll the large man over onto his stomach, finally after several minutes Sean laid on his stomach. Fenway lifted the man's shirt and his eyes widened; the burns were bleeding? "What the hell?" he muttered to himself.
----
Ramsey and Fenway were now reporting to Baylock and Whitaker. "I'm sorry, but I can't seem to wake them up. Its almost as if they were in a coma, but they are responsive."
"What do you mean responsive?" demanded Whitaker.
"Well, if you poke them hard in the side they'll roll over and stuff like that." Ramsey said.
Fenway glared at the dwarf. "I told you not to bother them!"
"Well, you were the one who dumped cold water on them!"
"I was trying to wake them up!"
"So was I!"
"By poking them as hard as you could!"
"FENWAY! RAMSEY! SHUT UP!" roared J.T.
Both men fell quiet. "Sorry." muttered Ramsey.
Fenway nodded in agreement. "The facts are that we can't wake any of them. I've tried everything I could think of to wake them up, as I said before it's like a coma."
"What do you mean like a coma?" Baylock asked.
"Well, it's only like a coma in the fact that I can't wake them up. No matter what I do, they won't stir. Its like they're trapped in that world." Fenway muttered.
"So what does that mean for Threshold?" Ramsey said.
"I'm taking over the project until Caffrey wakes up." Whitaker said, glaring at them all. "So get back to work."
----
to be continued...