Galena

Chapter 9.

Adam looked up from his work when he heard the lab door open. The brightness in Galena's eyes told him all that he needed to know; but he wanted to let the girl have the pleasure of telling him. "I would have to assume that you and Jesse had a good time last night since you two are just now getting back."

"We had a very good time." Galena blushed slightly, her gaze dropping down to the floor for a second. "Actually, I have something to tell you." she looked up again and allowed her eyes to meet with Adam's. "Jesse proposed to me last night, and I've accepted his proposal."

"I had hopes that he would take advantage of last night and propose." he finished setting up a test that he needed to run and then looked seriously at Galena. "I have some news of my own, and I think that it will make you and Jesse both feel a little more relaxed. I finally heard from Dr. Rickers, and she has some promising news for us."

"That's great!" Galena could hardly control her breathing. "I didn't think that she would actually be able to help us."

"She's very modern and cutting edge. There is one catch however. In order for her to be able to help us, she has to come here, and her superiors need something in return for the loan of their best scientist."

"What do they want us to do?"

"A group of their scientists has been working on a solution that, when in contact with air, will dissolve anything metallic. The problem is that the solution has not been stabilized properly. It dissolves right through the metal like it is supposed to, but the trigger for "turning it off" isn't working properly. They have been planning on passing the assignment to Dr. Rickers once she gets back from the conference she is preparing for."

"So if we want their scientist we have to figure out the problem to the solution."

"You are exactly right. I'm going to need the whole team to help if we are going to get it done on time. The conference is in two weeks, and if we can get this done Dr. Rickers will be coming back with Emma and I afterwards."

"Which means that we all have to wait until afterwards to celebrate my engagement to Jesse." some of the sparkling dropped out of Galena's eyes as she spoke. "I guess that we'll do whatever we have to for now."

"I promise that we'll make it up to you later."

"I know. I guess that I had better go get ready for lab work then." she turned and slowly slipped out of the lab. Her bright eyes had become slightly dulled, and she felt a tremendous amount of weight falling on her shoulders.

Late that night

Galena collapsed into bed the second that she got out of the shower, the soft sheets felt cool and refreshing on her bare skin. A couple of minutes later Jesse climbed into bed next to her and lightly pulled the girl into his arms.

"You even going to take off your clothes?" she whispered as she closed her eyes and snuggled closer to him.

"To tired for it, Gal." he gently kissed her forehead. "I'm saying that today went the way it did. I would have hoped that you could spend the first day of your engagement planning a wedding, not working on a bad science project."

"It's ok. At least we should be able to do something about my health soon now." she gently reached up and ran her fingers through his hair. "You know, this is the first time that I've been completely naked and you haven't tried anything. Am I loosing my touch on you?"

"Not in the least. Adam just has me so worn out that it's not even funny. Who knew that sitting behind a computer all day could be so exhausting."

"My poor baby." she softly kissed his shoulder and then wrapped her arms tightly around him as she began to drift off to sleep. "I hope that you don't get too worn down every night this week. I want to try to have a little quality time with you while we can. Once Dr. Rickers gets here there will be far too much science going on to allow for anything else."

"I'm sure that there will be time for us later, Baby." he whispered back to her just before they fell asleep.

Three days later.

Galena swung her legs back and forth as she sat in her lab chair waiting on the results for yet another series of tests. "Adam, is there any chance of me getting a break today?"

Adam looked up from his own computer screen and smiled slightly as he watched the girl blow a large pink bubble that nearly covered her face. "Finish those tests and then you can break for lunch. If Jess gets back before you finish eating I'll let you two take a couple of hours off."

"Thanks, Adam." she popped the bubble and chewed on hr gum again. "I swear, I can't begin to understand how you and Jess manage to spend so much time in this lab."

"Your fiancée has a fair bit of patience when it comes to lab work, that is unless he is the one that the work is being done on."

"How much time has he spent in the lab over the years?" Galena pushed her hair back from her face and re-gathered it into a pony tail.

"He's been here for a decade, Galena. There have been some times when he was sick or hurt, but unlike Brennan and Shalimar he has not been on death's door every other mission."

"Has Bren really been hurt that often?"

Adam typed in the last command to being his next series of tests and then walked over to sit down next to the girl. "There are times that your questions make me worry about how prepared you are to stay in this life. Your cousin and fiancée both seem to need to protect you from what has happened in their pasts. Brennan is often reckless, probably because of his past life, and he has been hurt a number of times during our missions. Sometimes he's only had a mild concussion, other times I have thought he was about to leave the team permanently; but so far he has managed to pull through it all. Jesse is less likely to be hurt. As you know he tends to stay here and monitor the computers or fly the Helix and monitor the mission from there. Much like Shalimar, he's been with me for the majority of his adult life, and I've had both of them in the lab for various illnesses over the last several years. There have been a couple of times hewn I thought that we might lose him, but so far he has been able to bounce back. You yourself have scared us a couple of times."

"I'm sorry." she whispered as she let her gaze drop back down to the computer screen she was working at. "I wish that I hadn't scared you all so much."

"You have done many good things to help this team, and there have been a couple of times that we would have lost someone with out you here to save them. Your powers are my fault, and I will accept any negative things as my own fault."

"The tests are done." Galena answered softly, not sure of what to say. She clicked the 'print' to print out the results. "I'm going to take my lunch now. I'll be back with in a couple of hours." She wiped at the tears that threatened to spill from her eyes as she left the lab and headed to the kitchen. As she stepped into the kitchen she found Jesse making them both sandwiches. She quickly crossed the room and fell into his arms.

"What's wrong, Baby?" he asked as he gently stroked her back and held her tightly in his arms.

"Nothing is wrong." she managed to whisper as she cried. "I just realized how much I love you."

"What has Adam been doing to you in that lab while I was gone?"

"Nothing, Jess. We were talking about something and I really found out what all has happened to you over the years."

"Galena." he sighed and then pulled her over to a chair and onto his lap. "You know that I have been in danger since I first started to go out on missions. You've even healed me a couple of times."

"It just hasn't seemed real until now." she leaned her head against his shoulder and closed her eyes. "I've always been so nervous about you going out there on missions, and now, I'm even more nervous."

"Yes, it is a dangerous job. I know that some of the things that I have to do are going to make you nervous." his fingers played gently in her hair and he softly kissed her forehead. "You are going to have to understand that this is my life, what I was meant to do."

"What about me? I thought that you said there wasn't anything that you would not do for me."

"If it really bothers you that much I'll quit, but then you are just going to be left worrying about the others. There are a lot of new mutants out there who need us to help them; and I'm hoping that you are understandign about that and will let me do what I can to help them. You are a sweet, loving woman, Gal. I don't think that you could let anyone get hurt because of you."

"It is not very nice to play that card." she snuggled closer into his arms. "If you promise that you will be completely careful, I wont ask you to quit."

"I promise I'll be careful, how could I not with such a pretty fiancée to come home to?"

"Good." she closed her eyes and relaxed slightly. "Adam said that we could take a break if you got back home before I finished lunch."

"Then why don't we eat now and then go to our room for a little down time? I've already got our lunch ready to eat."

"Sounds good." she finally managed to pull away from him and gently wiped at her eyes. "Sorry that I welcomed you home with tears instead of a kiss."

"I was only gone over night." he gently pulled the band out of her hair and let her long brown curls spill down her shoulders. "Now things are prefect."

"Adam has me pull my hair up for safety and you know it." she tucked her hair behind her ears and walked over to the fridge. "You going to be doing anything else today?"

"Only spending time with you and catching up on the sleep that I missed last night."

"My poor baby." Galena laughed as she pulled a bottle of beer for Jesse and a diet soda for herself out of the refrigerator. "You just get yourself worked to death."

"I'm just happy that I'm not the one locked away in the lab." he took the bottle from her and opened it. "I really don't know how you are managing to deal with it."

"And here I thought that you liked working in the lab."

"Sometimes, but right now I really would prefer to spend my time with you."

"We'll have our time together later." she sat down next to him, ready to eat lunch.

Three days later.

Adam watched as Galena paced the lab. The young woman seemed to have found the time in the lab the most disagreeable, even though she had been giving the least amount of time working.

A computer signaled that the end of a test had been reached and Adam focused his attention on the solution in the testing area. For a second he could not believe what he was seeing, but it was not long before he smiled slightly. "Galena, call the others from their work and tell them to come here. It looks as if Emma and I will be able to bring Dr. Rickers back with us after we go to that conference."

"You mean that we've finally managed to figure out the formula?" Galena looked up in surprise.

"Yes, we have, and that also means that you and Jesse will be going out to celebrate tonight. At least if you want to that is."

"I'd love it!"

Later that night.

Galena leaned in close to Jesse as a slow song played in the club. She caught Deana's eyes and smiled at the woman, knowing that she and Jesse were the whole reason the song was playing.

"You happy to finally have a night out of that lab?" Jesse asked her in a whisper.

"It's nice." her eyes drifted closed. "I just wish that we could have gotten out of there sooner. I felt like I was about to go crazy."

"Be glad that you didn't get sent all over the country talking to different scientists. I've never seen that many different labs in the whole time I've spent with Adam."

"Traveling with you would have been nice. At least we would have had a better chance to talk." she twisted his hair around her fingers as they danced. "I feel like I've hardly seen you since we got engaged."

"You worry far too much about things, almost as much as you exaggerate." he laughed slightly. "I've only spent one night away from you, and we worked together in the lab most all of the time that I was home. We've probably gotten to spend more time together over the last few days than we have in weeks."

"Time in the lab doesn't count because we could hardly talk with Adam standing right there with us. There was no way in hell that I was going to say anything too risqué while he was there." she cuddled closer to him. "And there is no chance of me ever letting adam know how badly I vent to you abter a hard day in the lab."

"You are allowed to vent; it might even be good for adam to know how you feel about things. If something bothers you he'll want to know so he doesn't have you involved in it."

"He's been too good to me for me to just go off and let him hear all of the bad things that I've thought about him. The man gave me a home when I thought that I would never hae a safe place to go to. He's provided for everything that I've ever needed and given me even more than that."

"He knows that you are human, and he wants to see you act like what you are. He never wants you to try to please everyone."

"Maybe she should at least try to please the GSA." a male voice said beside the couple. "We never thought that we would be capturing two members of Mutant X."

"Stay close to me." Jesse whispered to Galena as he moved her behind him, putting his body between her and the GSA agent. "I hope that you aren't actually expecting to take us in tonight." he shook off his jacket and let it drop to the floor. "You really don't want to cause trouble today."

"We are well aware of the fact that this club is frequented by new mutants. That in fact is the reason that we came here. Not one of us would have thought that we would have the chance to bring in the great Jesse Kilmartin much less Mr. Mulwray's precious baby cousin." the agent smiled wickedly. "Of course you are probably already thinking about how you are going to get yourself and the young woman out of here safely; let me assure you that there is no way you two are going to slip away from me."

"You guys just don't learn do you? Mutant X has beaten you a million times and you still seem to think that you have a chance of beating us."

"Maybe with your teammates you might have a chance, but Miss Varren is not a trailed fighter." he pulled a small device out of his pocket and pressed a button. "Did I forget to mention that I have a prototype for a new device that jams the powers of moleculars? There is very little that you'll be able to do to protect this pretty girl of yours."

Jesse drew in a breath, trying to mass out, but found that he could not.

"Bren, we need your help now." Galena whispered into her comring. "The GSA showed up."

"Calling your cousin, Miss Varren?" the agent asked and blocked a punch that Jesse threw him. "We've already taken in most of the new mutants here. Your teammates will only be a slight bit more entertaining."

"Leave her out of this." Jesse hissed as he threw another punch to the agent, this one actually connecting with the man's cheek.

Galena felt a hand on her shoulder, pulling her away from Jesse. She quickly twisted to first punch and then kick the agent. When he let go of her she kicked him again, first in the gut and then in the groin, and then she quickly ran over to the bar where she knew Deana was hiding.

"I contacted Adam." Deana whispered as she pulled the girl close against her. "Stay here until they get here."

"What about Jesse?" Galena asked as she pulled away from the woman. "There are too many agents for him to handle on his own."

"He'll do better if you are here with me. If you go out thee to try to help him he's just going to be even more worried. The last thing that you want is him to get sloppy."

"How long do you think it will take for the others to get here?" she reached down to her ankles and took off her shoes.

"They'll be here soon." the older woman reached over and took Galena's hands. "You need to stay here and stay still. When the others gt here I'll let you go crazy; but for now you had better stay put on your own or I'll knock you out myself."

"Fine." Galena twisted slightly so she could look through a large crack between the planks of the bar.It took her a few seconds but she finally managed to locate Jesse in the fray.

One of the new mutants that the GSA has been trying to capture suddenly let lose a jet of sparks that hit the rafters, bringing down part of the ceiling.

Galena gasped as one of the heavy beans fell and hit Jesse on the head. He fell to the ground, completely unconscious, as a heavy rain of debris hailed down on top of him. The door to the club opened as Brennan, Shalimar, Emma, and Adam all came running in. Deana let go of Galena and the girl quickly ran over to where Jesse was down.

"Worried about him, Miss Varren?" the agent who had been fighting with Jesse approached. "I hate to tell you this, but I would lay my bets on Mr. Kilmartin being dead. Funny how you could help us do it when Miss Juliet Fox could not, and he loved her."

"Funny how you are so sure that he's dead." she delivered a spinning kick to his face. "That is for trying to Kill Jesse, and this is for messing up my night." she quickly stepped behind him and kicked in the back of his knees, bringing him to the floor. Her eyes landed on a sharp piece of metal that had come down with the ceiling and she started to reach over for it.

"Don't do it, Gal." Brennan said as he stepped up behind the girl. "If you kill him you will regret it for the rest of your life."

"Right." Galena sighed and then grabbed the device that the agent had used against Jesse. "He used this to somehow turn off Jesse's powers."

"We'll take it back so Adam can look at it." he pocketed the device and then went to work at moving the heavy pieces of fallen ceiling. "Go put on your shoes so you don't cut up your feet."

Galena nodded but made no move to leave her cousin's side. After a few minutes she felt a gentle hand on her shoulder and turned to find Adam standing behind her. "Do you think that he's going to be alright?" she asked in a broken whisper.

"He's going to fight it, Galena, but with out his powers he's vulnerable right now." he gently pulled the girl into his arms and held her close. "We'll do all that we can to save him."

Emma and Shalimar finished off the last couple of agents and made their way over to where the group was. Shalimar immediately began to help Brennan while Emma took Galena from Adam so he could help.

"I signaled the other clubs in the area in case the GSA has heard about any of them." Deana said as she walked over. "Oh my god, is he under there?"

"They're going to have him out in a few minutes." Emma answered softly. "Could you open the backroom so Galena can go somewhere quiet?"

"I'm not leaving him." Galena said as she pulled away from the red head and knelt down as she started to slowly move aside all of the small pieces that she could handle. "I'm going to be here when they find him."

Emma reached to pull the girl away but Deana stopped her. "She's been trying to get to him since the fighting started. I called her over to safety but didn't have the power to keep here there. There's not much that she can do to hurt herself right now."

"We've got him!" Shalimar called out as she moved a large piece of debris.

Adam ran over and knelt down to check Jesse for any signs of life. "He's got a pulse, fairly strong too. I'm not sure how much damage has been done, but I think that he should be alright."

Galena got up to run over to Jesse but was held back by Emma and Deana.

"You'll cut your feet to shreds." Deana whispered as she pulled the girl back to the bar. "Put on your shoes and then you can go to him."

Galena quickly pulled on her shoes and then made her way over to where the others had finally managed to completely dig Jesse out of the rubble. "Jesse! Wake up!" her voice broke as she gently shook him.

"We've got to get him to the lab before we'll know anything." Adam looked up to her. "I'm pretty sure that he is going to be alright though."

Late that night in the lab.

Galena sat quietly beside Jesse's bed, gently holding his hand in hers. For the last several hours she had not left the lab, even after Adam had insisted that the others go on to bed. Her eyes had begun to slip closer and closer to being closed, but she had tried to keep Adam from noticing how close to sleep she was.

"Galena, would you please go to bed?" Adam asked as he tried to gently move the girl away from Jesse's bedside. "I will wake you up if there is any change in his condition."

"I can't leave him." she whispered softly with out looking away from Jesse. "I'll stay right here all night if I have to. I'm going to be at his side when he wakes up."

"You won't do him any good by depriving yourself of sleep." Adam sighed as he crossed the lab and pulled a cot out of the closet. "I'll allow you to stay but you are going to have to get some sleep."

"Alright." she got out of the chair and moved it over she the cot could be set up by Jesse's bedside. "How long do you think he's going to be out?"

"I'm not sure." he opened up the cot and went over to a cabinet to get out the things that Galena would need to make up her bed. "I'm worried that there was some serious damage done when that rafter hit his head. If it was only going to be a mild concussion he would have already woke up. What we are looking at seems to be a more serious concussion or possibly a coma."

"He will wake up, won't he?" she took Jesse's hand in hers and gently brushed a lock of hair away from his face.

"Galena, this is a very serious situation. If Jesse has gone into a come there is a chance that he may never wake up, and at that point you will have a decision to make, and it is not going to be very easy on you."

"I can't lose him. I love him too much to lose him now."

"He's breathing on his own and all of his vitals are good. There is a very high chance that he will wake up over the next couple of days."

"As long as he doesn't need it I don't want him to be plugged into any machines. He would hate that."

"I won't intubate unless I have to, and I'll try to keep him off the IV as much as possible." he gently led the girl over to the cot and had her sit down. "Get some rest. If he need you, you'll be right here."

"Right." Galena whispered as she laid down on the cot. "I'll be by his side."

Adam smiled slightly as he tucked the blankets around the girl and watched her drift off to sleep.

Early the next morning.

"The smiles that win, the tints that glow,
But tell of days in goodness spent,
A mind at peace with all below,
A heart whose love is innocent!" Galena closed the book as Adam walked back into the lab. "Has anyone had any suggestions on what we should do?"

"Most say that only time will tell, and a couple who know about you say that I should let you take a run at helping him." he sat down next to the girl. "For now we are just going to have to wait and see what happens. If he hasn't recovered before Dr. Rickers gets here I'll allow you to give it a try after she is finished with you. Whatever happens though, I do not want you to even think about trying to heal him. If you try to heal him we may lose you."

"I won't do anything unless I absolutely have to." she put the book to the side and stood up. "I know that you don't want me to hurt myself, but something will have to be done if he gets too close to death. There is no way that I'm letting go of the best thing in my life."

"Promise that you won't do anything stupid."

"Alright, I promise not to do anything that could be considered stupid."

"I'm going to run a couple more scans on him. Why don't you go get something to eat?"

"I don't want anything." she sat back down on her cot and picked up the book. "I'll stay here and read for a while."

"You need to try to keep up your strength." Adam sighed as he typed a series of commands into the computer. "It won't help Jesse at all if you suffer from malnutrition."

"I'm really not hungry, Adam. Just let me stay here with him for now. I'll eat with you at supper." she opened the book and began to read aloud.

"I watched thee when the foe was at our side
Ready to strike at him, or thee and me
Were safety hopeless rather than divide
Aught with one loved, save love and liberty.

I watched thee in the breakers when the rock
Received our prow and all was storm and fear
And bade thee cling to me through every shock
This arm would be thy bark or breast thy bier.

I watched thee when the fever glazed thine eyes
Yielding my couch, and stretched me on the ground
When overworn with watching, ne'er to rise
From thence, if thou an early grave hadst found.

The Earthquake came and rocked the quivering wall
And men and Nature reeled as if with wine
Whom did I seek around the tottering Hall
For thee, whose safety first provide for thine.

And when convulsive throes denied my breath
The faintest utterance to my fading thought
To thee, to thee, even in the grasp of death
My spirit turned. Ah! oftener than it ought.

Thus much and more, and yet thou lov'st me not,
And never wilt, Love dwells not in our will
Nor can I blame thee, though it be my lot
To strongly, wrongly, vainly, love thee still."

Adam smiled slightly as he listed to the girl's smooth, even voice; his eyes stayed on the computer monitor, carefully reading all of the information. "Have you been reading to him all day?"

"Only for a few minutes before you came in." she looked up from the book. "He always loves when I read Byron to him. Why?"

"There actually seems to be some changes in his scans, and I believe that they are related to you reading that poetry aloud to him."

"You think that I should keep on reading to him?"

"I'm not sure that it will be enough to bring him out, but it might help him begin to find his way."

Five days later.

Galena sat across from Emma in a lotus position as she tried to calm herself well enough to meditate, but her eyes kept drifting over to the pond.

"You need to concentrate." Emma whispered as she uncrossed her legs. "You are far too worried about him."

"I can't help it." Galena sighed as she stretched out her legs and then leaned forward to touch her toes. "He's been out for a week, Emma. If nothing was wrong he would have already woke up. I don't know what to do with him lying in the lab like that."

"If things were too bad Adam wouldn't still be going to the conference. You have to believe that Jesse is going to be alright."

"It is hard though." she came out of her stretch and pulled her knees into her chest. "I've never seen him that weak. The whole time that I've known him he's been strong, able to take on the whole world. It scares me to look at him lying on that lab bed, so close to the borderline."

"It's not easy to see someone weak when they are normally strong. You have to understand that he is doing all that he can to find his way back to you, and you are helping him with the fight. Just be patient and he'll find his way back soon."

(To be continued in Lost Memories)