Children From A Lesser God
Chapter Eleven: Small Apple, Big Bug
They packed their possessions quickly and fled the accommodation in Dayton, Ohio almost immediately. They had been lazy. They had stopped wearing their disguises and had exposed too much of their true appearance for there not to be a risk. Contact lenses were itchy, hats made her head sweat. Could they even still use their aliases? Were Robert and Laura no longer safe?
If he hadn't taken her to the bar, if she hadn't of insisted, if they hadn't been seen together, perhaps they could have gotten away with it and they could have stayed where they were keeping a strict low profile. Because really, the accommodation they had just left was perfect; quiet, out of the way, with hardly anyone else about and enough room for them to stay hidden in comfort. The cat she had taken a huge liking to, the great hospital so close by ...
But the two of them together. So public? So up close and personal with other people...?
Those men who were after them would find the Lone Gunmen and just like that ass hat in that motel, they would sell out Robert Klein and Laura Petrie.
What if they discovered the licence plate for the car?
What if they got CCTV of them in their new 'disguises'.
Did they need to buy new cell phones again?
Would they track the email account he set up and find them through tracking the laptop?
It was all so ... sickening. And shit and ... Fuckkk!
The danger had been forgotten and they were now potentially even worse off than when the whole cluster fucking shitty fucking a-hole of a thing started. It was like a worm with sharp teeth slowly eating away at Fox's intestines. It made him feel sick. Most of all, it made him feel sick. That was what he felt above all other emotions, and if he thought he had time to be sick, he would have.
And it wasn't just her fault.
It wasn't her fault at all really.
If he hadn't mumbled her name, her real name.
If he hadn't followed that girl to the party.
If he had just stayed inside.
He could picture it now, Old Smokey with his pincers, examining the rooms in the houses they stayed at for hairs. Finding Dana's dyed blond strand with the ginger roots... He had thoughts of paying to have the houses deep cleaned but he didn't have the time for that. He would have to worry about their identities later too and focus on what he did have control on. Which was driving out of Ohio state and putting as much distance from where they had idiotically let their guard down, towards starting again somewhere new where they would be diligent about staying a secret.
He had to focus on how very fortunate he was that the owner of their last accommodation offered to give him the cash back for his unused stay because of their 'family emergency'.
He would have to hope that The Lone Gunmens' professed skepticisms of the government were true.
~xXx~
Sunday 15th December - Anniversary Day
Omaha, Nebraska
33 weeks gestation
six days later ...
Fox had driven them across four state lines in less than twenty four hours. He had also panicked about the wrong thing.
Today was anniversary day but they weren't going anywhere. They were staying in a loft apartment that, despite its name, had a lot of space and a veranda - not that they allowed themselves to use it. It had two bedrooms and they were back to sleeping in separate rooms again. He didn't really know why it had worked out like that. Perhaps because when they had finally arrived at the accommodation, they both just needed space from each other so they could process what was happening, and it had just continued.
As it turned out, they hadn't needed to have left their accommodation Dayton in such a hurry. According to the news, they had no idea of their whereabouts, or who Robert Klein and Laura Petrie were, or their new disguises. The most recent photos they had of them was the same CCTV ones that English guy showed him. And he would know as he and Dana and their 'flight' were currently primetime news, and Fox watched it throughout the day, religiously, with penance. They were not looking for them, they were smoking them out
And it was working. It was definitely working.
He hears her come in and watches her turn off the small television located on the kitchen island. He watches her as she squeezes herself and her bump between him and the kitchen island. He could move to help her but he never does; he likes to see her struggle. She then takes his head in her hand and starts kissing him. He kisses her back immediately, hard. Nipping, biting. Everything he had built up surrounding her had crashed when she first found him like this five days ago. He hated her but craved her. He always felt awful afterwards and berated himself, but in these moments, he wanted to punish her with his kisses. He loved the noises that she made. He loved pulling away from her, before it got too far or too good. It was painful and euphoric in a way it had never been with Sarah, never mind the girl in Dayton. Dana was forbidden fruit. His small apple hanging just out of reach, waiting until she was ready to be picked. All he wanted to do was devour her like he knew she wanted him to as well, but when they were like this, he wouldn't let either of them touch the other below the neck. And Fox could tell it frustrated her to know end. It probably made him a twisted, sadistic, evil person, but it left him with a satisfaction that she was experiencing just a fraction of the pain he was feeling.
She said she understood. She said it was what they did to her father and brothers but Fox was still adamant that the pain she felt was no where near the pain he felt. Besides, she couldn't have not found some sort of pleasure from it herself or else she wouldn't keep coming back for more. Maybe she liked the pain too. Maybe she felt she deserved it.
If not for her, his father wouldn't currently be in a prison in Arizona charged with her rape and waiting to be put on trial for the death penalty.
The press hounded his mother and people who had never met her before would all but crucify her character on national TV. She was under house arrest and had a trial set for aiding and abetting. Fox himself had so far escaped public blame, although a few speculated that he may also be the father and had highlighted that at the time of conception, the age difference would not have been illegal. He had been labeled 'most likely very confused', 'honourable but misguided', and that, 'the best thing for him to do is turn him and the poor young girl in so that she could give birth in a safe environment. They could establish paternity and sort this whole mess out'. It had surprised him that what hurt him the most was when the press went after his sister. The fact that they had actually sent someone to find her at the university she was studying at abroad and tell her those lies and push her for answers... He had to turn if off, it made him feel physically sick and almost had him calling the authorities.
Dana pulls away. Her lips puffy and bruised from their kissing.
His groin twitches. He would find her, no matter where he was, no matter where she was, as soon as the age gap had lessened by that one year, he would have her, and it would be the most euphoric moment in his life.
He starts crying.
She let's him bury his head in her neck and her hand strokes the small hairs on the back of his neck soothingly.
"I'll never let them hurt you, you know that right?" He always has to assure her. He's ashamed of his weak mind and the dark thoughts and places it allows him to go to when he feels most under stressed. It's not him, it's a very sick and twisted one percent of him that lingers in the uppermost right corner of his brain and spreads in times like these. He gets frightened that it might lead him to actually hurt her but he also knows he would never do that, she was still his little bird. His little bird who he knew was suffering, had been suffering alone this whole time, not just because what it was doing to his family, but her own.
"I know that, Fox", she soothes.
Dana's own father and two brothers had been arrested when it first became local news back in September, and although Fox does recall her making some small reference to it sometime before, the degree of seriousness was not articulated in words that could have prepared himself for this, which he tries not to get angry or resent her for because she had been understandably very upset and he was the one that hadn't thought to push the subject. That being said, if she had told him in the many times she has had to tell him, or as a reply to the many times he has asked her what is so special about her and her baby, he could have handled this better. He would have atleast been prepared for the possibility of seeing his father shamed on national television as a child rapist.
His friends.
His father's friends.
His wider family.
Not that it was what really mattered, but his father was an upstanding member of his community and his country. He prided himself on that, and to have his name dragged through the dirt like that. Even the gratifying moment when he gets pardoned and receives a public apology, Fox will never shake the feeling of sickness, he will never forgive the people and what they have said about his parents.
Conniving inexistent links between his and Dana's families.
Deceitfully claiming that they sent her into hiding to have the baby secret.
Speculating that they also did this to Dana's sister and Fox's own sister.
It was all so wrong and sinister.
It was sick and disgusting.
And all to attract viewers. They didn't care about facts. They cared about their story and made up facts as they went along. And to align his father and his family with the dregs of society, with people like that. I mean, anyone with half a brain could see that they were a good family. They lived in a very nice and wealthy neighbourhood, his dad worked for the FBI, they had houses in New York and Martha's Vineyard! How stupid were people?! He couldn't wait for all of them to eat their shit when the truth came out, get fired, and his father sue them all.
All in all, despite the quick stabs of animosity he felt not towards her per se, but their situation, he felt that he understood more about what she had been carrying, and he didn't mean literally the baby. And he admires her much more for keeping it together all this time. He also understands resoundingly now, why she wants to give the baby away. All these problems will go away once they give him to them.
~xXx~
Wednesday 18th December
Omaha, Nebraska
10:27
34 weeks gestation
three days later...
The fanatical Christians were having air time on the news again. Dana would always shudder and leave the room whenever she heard them. Fox didn't blame her, some of them looked like they were possessed. They thought Dana was the second Virgin Mary and that her baby was actually Jesus Christ returning to Earth again. People were freaking out - and that was the only way to describe it - as to why he was returning. Fox found it a welcomed and entertaining respite to hear the different ways people were 'preparing' for his return. Most were doing random acts of kindness, which was nice to see. Some were just plain weird and he would chuckle at. However, some were quite sinister and Fox had to turn it off himself and wonder what was wrong with some so called 'Christian' people.
There was an increasingly growing group of them that referred to themselves as, the Nuevo Kings, that were searching for them. Fox was ofcourse Joseph. He wasn't too worried about them though, they were popping up all over but the large groups that they televised were mostly in the Bible Belt. Dana said that Dr Caulderon said her baby was special, but he didn't think he met in the new Messiah way. Dr Caulderon sounded like he was a scientist, the kind who made Dolly the Sheep, that quested to create life outside of God.
The fanatical Christians suddenly get taken off air and it goes back to the news station because there is, 'Breaking News'.
'This has just come in. It is a statement from William Mulder, the most recent person arrested over the kidnap and rape of fourteen year old high school student, Dana Katherine Scully, who has been missing from her home for over three months now. Like I said, this is a statement, it just has been sent into the news station by someone claiming to be William Mulder's lawyer. We understand that it is a statement addressed for his son, Fox William Mulder, the eighteen year old high school student who is thought to be currently on the run with Dana Scully, although for all of you who have been following this story, they will know it is not clear what the son's relationship is with Dana Scully and what his intentions are to her. This is breaking news, to our knowledge, no other news station has this information'.
The news reader pauses for what might possibly the longest moment in Fox's life, and he gets up to stand in front of the small television.
'The alleged lawyer's statement from his client is this: 'Keep her safe. Keep a low profile. You make him proud'. That is it. That is the statement. Fox Mulder, if you are listening to this, we would strongly advise you not listen to that statement. We here at the news station strongly suggest you stop the game you are playing and bring this poor girl to the authorities. Her health and her baby's health is the primary concern. Anyone-'
Fox rushes out the room to find her.
Finding her in her ensuite bathroom doing something near the sink. He makes a bee line for her. He kisses her, lifting her up on the sink so her bump is less of a barrier to her. Something clatters greatly around him but he doesn't care. His kisses are urgent but he makes sure he is soft, he licks and sucks, instead of biting and nipping.
"My father", he says breathlessly eventually. He steals another peck and again when she sees the fear in her eyes. "No, no, he's OK", he grins and he can feel the tears of joy fall out his eyes, which she diligently and lovingly wipes away. "He says he's proud of me. Says, to keep you safe and keep a low profile. So that's what I am going to do", he kisses her again, and then just holds her. Relieved. A huge weight off his heart and body. He had wondered. Ever since he had seen his family being slated on the news. Should he just give it all up? But a little voice, his father's voice, faint but persistent, told him to keep going, keep going until he contacted him. And he did, just like he said he would. And Fox had made the right decision, and it was such a ... relief. It was ... euphoric.
"I'm going to have a shower", he announces. He was in a bathroom anyway and didn't know the last time he had one. Sniffing under his collar, he didn't smell that bad. He'll have one in the main bathroom to leave her to whatever she was do-
"Fuck!"
Her exclamation makes him stop because he doesn't think he has ever heard her swear. He didn't think that such crude a word could come out of her angelic mouth.
He turns back around to see what's wrong, to see her hand scrambling frantically in the sink.
"What's happened?" He asks. Maybe she had lost a contact lens. They were a bit expensive but replaceable. Besides, it wasn't actually like she actually went out anywhere. Not even for walks, if they needed groceries, it was Fox who bought them. Unless she went into labour, there was no need for her to actually go outside.
When she doesn't reply, he walks over to her and places a gentle hand on her back.
She turns round to look at him and she is full on crying.
He's about to ask her again what is the matter, when he sees for himself.
They'd knocked over her pill box and now her pregnancy pills were all mixed up in the sink. Some of them were easily distinguishable, but some of them looked identical. The other thing was, the pill box they had found in some pharmacy shop back in Buffalo was a month one not a weekly one. They were more than half way through the month, but still, with at least three weeks, maximum six weeks left of her pregnancy, potentially loosing as many pills as they had could be worrying.
He sees now that they are over the counter and some are on the floor too.
He bends, to start picking them up.
If he hadn't had gotten so excited and picked her up. If he had just checked to see what she was doing first.
'So the host may survive the pregnancy'.
Fox's cheek tinge red. Just when things always start to look up.
She's still crying and picking out pills from the sink when he deposits what he's found on the floor onto the pile she's made on the counter. It doesn't escape his attention that many have most likely gone down the plug hole.
"It's OK", he rubs her arm comfortingly, because her getting upset and in a panic is only going to make the situation worse. "You still have some in the bottles", he indicates to the pill bottles standing firm in the corner.
"But what am I going to do when they run out?" Indicating to one of the now empty bottles. "I was transferring this into there and they're super small and I can't see them, and ...", the rest he can't understand through her tears so he holds her in a hug to comfort her.
"It's OK", he says, "Everything is going to be fine. Don't worry. You're going to be fine. The baby is going to be fine. We're all going to be fine".
But when he searched on one of the public computers later at the library, he couldn't find that prescription anywhere for anything. It was like it didn't exist or that it was prescribed especially for her, and then he started to panic that he had given them a means to locate them.
'So the host may survive the pregnancy'.
~xXx~
Sunday 22nd December
Omaha, Nebraska
22:18
34 weeks gestation
four days later...
Anniversary Day. Fox closed the laptop screen because he wasn't taking anything in anyway. He was supposed to be looking for somewhere new for them to move into next week, but he didn't know if weekly rentals drew more or less attention to them? The website showed that their current accommodation was still available to rent for the rest of the month. When they had fled Dayton, his mind had been very firm on weekly rentals, but on reflection, it was a hassle and a lot of work; it risked Dana's exposure and it took a lot of her energy which he wanted to conserve as much as possible.
He rubs his eyes not feeling a trace of sleepiness.
The same dream of some monster baby ripping Dana apart had woken him up earlier. Her dying whilst she cried out his name, begging him to make it stop.
He'd had the dream before but it was fourth night in the row. He had already gotten up to check that she was still in fact soundly sleeping in her bed, her bump still attached to her and the bed sheets still dry.
The last few days, in a complete u-turn, all she did was sleep soundlessly. In the short time that she was awake, she would just consume food, use the bathroom and then go back to sleep. It was true, that she had been sleeping more soundly since her bump dropped two weeks ago, but that was really more resting than the continuous sleeping she was doing now. Then, she still woke up early and did her yoga, went on walks, helped him cook, organised their studying, played games, watched movies. Now... she sometimes tried to stay awake, mostly for him, he was sure, whilst apologising again that he again had to make food by himself or that she again left him alone the entire day, but she always ended up having to lie down.
He wasn't complaining about doing everything by himself, before the last few days, the first week and a bit, with the news of his family and then earlier last week when he was sick, she had done a lot of the carrying whilst he had mostly been bedridden or an empty shell... ...They rotated, he realised. It seemed like they could never both be well at the same time, one of them was always having to carry the other in one form or another. But this of course now, was much worse. Much, much, much worse. They didn't say it out aloud but they knew it was because she wasn't taking all of her pills. She'd had eight different pills to take every morning and now she only took three. The three that they could definitely tell apart from the others, because the last thing he wanted was for her to take too many of the same pill and cause an overdose. But now he wasn't so sure? Was it better for her to take too many than not enough...? What was the greater risk? He or his covert endless scouring on the internet at the public library had not provided an answer satisfactory for him.
Also, in the last few days, Dana was getting smaller, and not just her bump, which he read was normal, but her face had gotten alarmingly thinner, as had her arms, her breasts, her whole body. Granted, except from her bump, she had always been kind of thin, but she was becoming boney, and it seemed to have happened almost over night. He had been studying her hand just this morning while she was eating her breakfast and it was all nobly at the knuckles, and all he could do was internally freak out so as not to freak her out anymore than she probably was.
Fox had never felt so out of his depth. He did not know what to do. He read that some weight loss was expected before birth, but this seemed a bit extreme? Or was it not even?
'So the host may survive the pregnancy'.
When he wasn't freaking out over her, he scoured the news channels religiously to look for more information on his father or any information on his father and his family. But that had also gotten strangely quiet since Wednesday and Fox didn't know if that was because they were on to them and just waiting for her to go into labour.
Which Fox, more than ever hoped was very, very soon, so he could be rid of this responsibility.
He had no love for it anymore.
All it was doing was eating him apart and making him constantly doubt himself. Really, in hind sight, it is all that it had ever made him do. At every turn.
~xXx~
22:32
Fox decided he would venture outside for a small walk, although as soon as he had he wished he had stayed inside he was so jittery. He was always so jittery when he went out, always looking over his shoulder, he was certain he drew more attention to himself.
For what must be the hundredth time since leaving the house, he puts his hand on his mouth to flatten his fake moustache and beard. He saw it in a barber shop window he passed the other day on the way to the library; it caught his eye and it actually looked very authentic. He would never be able to grow facial hair like that. Or if he did, it would take him at least half a year. It made him look different and much older - which was good.
It was Anniversary Day, he remembers, for about the billionth time today and they had done nothing really to celebrate it. They couldn't risk her going out or them being seen together but also, Dana did not look like she had the energy for it either. If they were back in Dayton, he maybe would have curbed his boredom by going to see if The Lone Gunmen were around. But then again, probably not with them being household names.
School was out. He thought not for the first time that weekend. You could tell by all the younger people that were out this evenings as opposed to other evening he had wandered the streets. But also, he always kept a subconscious check on what he would be doing if he was back home and the last month and a half hadn't happened; if Dana had never arrived at his house ...
School was out and it was Christmas in three days. He remember thinking once that maybe he would be home for Christmas but that didn't seem likely at all. What kind of Christmas would it be anyway with his sister in Africa, his father in prison and his mother under house arrest? Although, now he thinks about it, his sister was supposed to be coming home for Christmas...? Will she still do that...?
He had gotten a present for Dana. He'd been lugging it around since Buffalo and it was ridiculous that he hadn't given it to her yet because Christmas wasn't going to be Christmas anyway. It was just going to be another day, so what did it matter? He should have just given it to her when he first saw it, she would have been able to use it a lot more than she would now. Especially now she slept most of the time.
Fox stops his walk and internal thoughts suddenly. He walks backwards back to the bar he just passed and double takes.
He blinks and leans in close against the glass.
But he's not mistaken.
It's them.
It's The Lone Gunmen.
In this bar.
Here!
In Omaha, Nebraska.
It looks like they have just finished a small gig and are putting away their equipment.
Fox looks around the street to find Melmo's ancient VW van that they usually keep the equipment in, but he can't see it.
He frowns at them through the window.
It is definitely them.
Melmo, Johnny and Ringo.
And it is either a blessing or a trap.
~xXx~
"It's like Gibson Praise all over again", Ringo says in awe. All four of them are crowded in the small seating space in the middle of Melmo's van. "No wonder they want to keep quiet about it".
In the end it was worry that took Fox into the bar. Worry over Dana. She kept insisting that she was OK, that she just needed to rest a bit. But she was resting a whole lot more than a bit, and she was becoming so small, and he just didn't know what to do! He needed someone to help share the burden with, to help him make the decisions. He hadn't heard anything from his father since Wednesday - if that message was even from father!? It very well could have just been some sick dude in his mother's basement just trying to stir shit up. News on them had also gone very silent since Wednesday, perhaps just two minuted air time a day. A colossally stark contrast. Fox didn't know what the meant. What to make of it. And this type of stuff, conspiracy theories and stuff, this was their thing. This is what they prattled on about all the time into the late hours of the night and early hours of the morning. And as soon as he had included The Lone Gunmen on what he knew, he realised how much he had been carrying, by how much weight he felt had been physically lifted off of him. And if they turned him in, well, ... that would be on their head. Not on Fox's
They had figured it out, of course. They were fad news for over two weeks and it hadn't been difficult at all for them to put two and two together. They fit the right age group and descriptions, and of course, he had whispered her name.
"Who is Gibson Praise?" Fox asks.
"You don't know who Gibson Praise is?" Ringo asks, looking at him as if Fox asked what one plus one was.
"Evidently not, or I wouldn't have asked", he snaps back. It reminded him all too much of a look Doggett and Sarah would throw him sometimes, and it always enraged him to no end. He wasn't dumb. So what if he didn't know there was more than one Napoleon Bonaparte? Or that he didn't know lux meant light in latin. Or couldn't recite all the capitols in Europe or some crap like that. He was American and he was living in the 21st Century!
... And maybe, he was feeling a bit fragile over the fact that they seemed to know a lot more about what was going on with Dana than he did. When he had been living it for the last six weeks. When he was the one who was responsible for her and supposed to make good decisions.
"Gibson Praise", Johnny clears his throat. He is the most understanding and normal out of the three of them. "Was a massive cluster fuck for the American government".
"Oh yeah, definitely in the top ten", Ringo. "They'll still be paying countries off for damages in ... fifty years time".
"I would argue top five", Melmo.
" - What was so special about Gibson Praise?" Fox interjects, not ready to listen to another one of their lengthy spiels. "How does this relate to Dana? How does this relate to her baby?"
"First of all, he's not a baby, he's a hybrid", Ringo. "Lab created. This...", and the overexcitement on his face is as if someone has given him a million dollars for free. "I ... I guarantee at least ten percent of his DNA, will not even be human", he manages to get out.
"I think that's too high", Johnny.
"I think that's too low", Melmo. "Leaked documents show that in Europe, they were making hybrids with at least five non-human DNA percent back in the 80s. It's juvenile to think that they wouldn't have been able to increase the percentage, especially considering the retail value".
"Statistically, anything above even five percent would warrant them brain dead", Johnny argues.
"I vehemently disagree", Melmo. "There have been countless reports -"
"- Guys! Please! Can we please focus". Trying to keep calm, and his voice even but definitely being triggered by the words 'brain dead' and what did they mean, not even human?! His nightmares about Dana giving birth to a monster baby ... Was that some kind of premonition...? If he hadn't had read that report in her bag, if she hadn't had been prescribed medicines that no search had pulled any information on, he would have thought they were all just pulling his leg
"Gibson Praise was a ten year old kid who was American 'made' but brought up in the Philippines to try and keep his identity 'hush hush'. Anyway, long story short, his true identity and capabilities were exposed to the public and with that the hypotheses that the American government, and by extension other world governments were creating for a better term, 'super soldiers'".
Ringo's continuous air quotes did not aid Fox's understanding. "Super soldiers?"
Ringo leans in closer to him. "Beings from a lesser God that can do what we call 'extraordinary things'", he leans back slightly. "Hold their breath for inhumanly possible length time, swim across oceans, run across desserts, run down from a the top floor of a burning sky scraper and be able to walk out without a scratch on them. You name it. What 'we' regular humans would perhaps call 'miracles', are instead abilities engineered through for a better term, 'alien DNA'", leaning back completely.
The overuse of air quotes was actually giving Fox a headache. He rubs his forehead and remains silent, honestly still stuck thinking about 'super soldiers' on a loop. It brought up images of video games where if your player died, you would just get a new life.
"So they have regenerative powers?" Because he thinks maybe he would understand what they are saying more if he could relate it to a video game.
Ringo makes a face that clearly means no. "The aim is to create a more advanced human being. Regenerative powers would inarguably be an added bonus although that technology is most likely improbable".
"Why not?" Melmo interrupts. "Maybe Fox is on to something?"
And Fox feels a swell of tenderness that Melmo, someone, is defending his intelligence, defending and believing in him. Because he is smart. He is. No matter what others sometimes thought. No matter if people, including himself, doubted it.
It made him think of his parents again and his eyes begin to prick.
"Did you hear something that would suggest they had?" Johnny asks, and all three of them are now leaning into Fox's personal space.
Clearing his throat, he shrugs and shakes his head, no.
They lean back disappointed.
"So what is so special about Gibson Praise? What is his ... super soldier ability?"
"He could read minds", Ringo.
"We shit you not", Johnny adds, before Fox even reacts, smiling like a kid at Christmas. "I can show you the video right now. I can show it you right now", he says getting up and then looking down at Melmo expectantly.
Melmo leaves the circle and Johnny sits back down.
"The government has of course tried to take down any trace but there are people out there, people like me, that of course still have a hard copy", Melmo talks while he moves around, returning with his laptop which has an external hard drive attached to it. He wedges himself next to Fox, so close he can smell the sweat on him.
"What am I supposed to be watching?" Fox asks suddenly, worried about what they might show him.
"Just a ten year old genius foiling an assassination attempt", Ringo grins.
The video is old and grainy and all Fox can see is a kid with glasses constantly turning over his shoulder and then the person got shot anyway...?
"Well?" Melmo expectantly.
"The guy got shot anyway".
"No, no, no. You got it all wrong Fox", Johnny, leaning in. "Watch it again. It wasn't that guy that was supposed to get shot. It was Gibson Praise! Because his powers were becoming too exposed. Gibson Praise was not only raised in the Philippines, he was born to Filipino parents who apparently had no idea about his alien DNA. They had put him in a chess competition and he had become like world champion because he could read people's minds, he-"
"-he always knew peoples' next move", Fox finished, understanding but at the same time not.
"Exactly, he was becoming world famous", Ringo. "Apparently his parents owned a small restaurant and Gibson used to recite to people the order before they ordered it".
"Right, whoever was supposed to be 'incharge' of him, majorly F'd up", Melmo.
Did that mean that Dana's baby will be able to read minds? Fox wonders, because that could definitely come in handy.
"It depends what his intended vocation is", Ringo answers. "Cannon fodder or genius".
Fox didn't realise he had asked it out loud.
"And there is always a defect".
"Yes, always".
"Defect?"
"Missing limbs, oversized pre frontal lobe, webbed toes and hands, a tail, highly porous skin, high infant and child mortality rate".
"No cognitive thought, blindness, no mouth, inability to make sounds or converse", Ringo continues.
"Hey, there is a lot of trial and error is trying to engineer the perfect human", Melmo chuckles.
He swallowed hard. To think that Dana's baby ... "Gibson Praise had all of those?"
"No, he was pretty much perfect", Ringo.
"He had a spinal growth disability", Melmo.
Fox nods. "Where is he now?" Maybe he could help?
But all three of them shake their heads, no. "Nobody knows", they state over each other.
"What do you mean, nobody knows?" They had a 20 year old video on this kid but they didn't know where he was right now?
"Nobody knows", Ringo insists.
"Vanished", Johnny.
"Apparently he is a ward of the state but who knows? They probably did a load of tests on him and got rid of him. Your girl's baby might even be carrying part of his DNA. I can imagine they would recycle like that", he lets out a breathy chuckle. "...Sorry".
Fox didn't realise there were tears in his eyes.
"It is strange that they would use someone like Dana?" Johnny, curious. "She hardly... blends in".
"It's because she was sick", Fox, who gives in and wipes his eyes. "The baby is what made her better".
"Still", Melmo, sounding even more curious. "It is strange that they would risk the exposure. Fourteen year old Irish American Catholic girl from a well to do family living in California. The government were supposed to put a stop to this testing. It is deemed illegal, but what Dana's pregnancy shows, is that they've started again, maybe, never stopped".
~xXx~
Christmas Eve
Omaha, Nebraska
Ringo's House
35 weeks gestation
2 days later...
At first it was fine with their new set up with the Lone Gunmen. Fox felt like he no longer had the burden of the responsibility and the the guys seemed to know exactly what they were doing when it came to being incognito. Dana would have been much better off being left with them from the start than him. They had multiple new identities, both visually and in writing, they all looked so legit it was unreal; Fox even had a credit card on its way.
So yeah, it was fine at first, in the beginning. It was fine on the surface, but when all his worry of keeping them a secret started to dissolve away and relief just began to settle in, Dana got worse. And not even the Lone Gunmen could find a copy of the medicine Dana had been prescribed, which Fox was ashamed made him feel a little better.
"I think you need to take her to the hospital", Ringo says to him."She looks real bad". They were staying at his house - well, his mom's anyway. Johnny was at his own house - again, his parents, just ten minutes down the road, and Melmo was back in Dayton, Ohio with his brother and his niece. It was Christmas after all.
"What, now?" Fox asks, alarmed, scrambling off the sofa and heading to the bedroom Dana has been using. He had been watching a Christmas movie he didn't really know the name of. Not really following the story but enjoying the temporary state of relaxation whilst scoffing the sugary holiday cookies Ringo's mother had made. Apparently, Johnny's house would have been better because it was bigger but Ringo's mother wouldn't notice the two stow aways like Johnny's parents would. Not that their current accommodation was bad at all, Ringo had an annex at the back of the house. His mother was some kind of lawyer or something, who was always working on a big case. Johnny's parents were almost always working too. That was how the two of them had bonded in middle school.
He found Dana curled in a fetal position on the bed.
"Hopefully they will induce her labour" Ringo says sympathetically.
Her forehead was sweating but she was shivering, and there were silent tears rolling down her face. As painful as it was to see, it wasn't exactly new.
"OK, if you think so", he says, petting her hair.
"At the very least, we can register her".
Fox nods. "I'll get the car".
~xXx~
Christmas Day
Methodist Women's Hospital
00:08
They drove a way and then took a taxi. They also picked Johnny up on the way; both on Ringo's instructions. A taxi is harder to track and Johnny looked the most responsible. That, and both his parents were doctors and he had worked a couple of summer holidays as a hospital receptionist, so he knew the procedure and what had to be done. They obviously didn't go to the hospital that he or his parents worked at. They chose one that looked liked it specialised in women giving birth. The website made the hospital look nice and respectable, Dana and her baby would be in good hands.
It hadn't taken Johnny long to get Dana - or 'Samantha Criscollo' registered. Eighteen year old from New Mexico who was spending the Christmas break with her boyfriend and his family. Fox thought that they might be in trouble when they asked Johnny, who was playing her boyfriend, for his I.D. Because, did he have fake I.D. for the fake name he gave? The receptionist however, seemed to be fine with his excuse that he left it at home in the rush. Fox and Ringo, where playing his cousins. It was a large family gathering, he explained, and his parents were on their way.
The receptionist only nodded and before long they were all four in a private room and Dana was now being examined by one of the nurses.
Fox was happy to see that the hospital proceeded it's website. It looked clean and professional and he knew that this was the best place she could be to have her baby. Even better than the hospital in Dayton looked. This one was smaller and more specialised. He wouldn't be looking for a doctor like they always seemed to in the movies. They had maybe only been here half an hour and already three different medical professionals had been in their room. One of them a doctor! Any complications Dana might face with her birth, Fox was certain, here, they would be able to handle.
"Well", the woman snaps off her rubber gloves. Fox who had been frowning at her frowning at Dana's ... examining her, looks up at the midwife hopefully. He noticed that Ringo and Johnny were looking anywhere but. She was down there for so long and whatever she was doing must have been painful for Dana because she kept wincing. Fox had to resist the urge of jumping to her side at one point she looked like she was in so much pain. But he was only supposed to be her boyfriend's cousin. "I'm afraid, you're not dilated or showing any signs of early stages of labour. This baby is not ready to come out yet".
"We were hoping you could induce labour?" Johnny. "Please, my girlfriends been really tired these past couple of weeks".
"Well, pregnancy isn't a walk in the park. Wait until she gives birth", the doctor in the corner, the one who did the sonogram, smiles. "But we'll keep her in overnight just to make sure".
"You will?" Fox blurts out. Surprised.
"Her vitals are very low. But she'll be fine. The most important thing is that the baby looks and sounds very healthy", she grins. "Now, there is no need for you boys to stay. We will take excellent care of her".
"Oh no", because that was not happening. That was one thing he was sure of, he wasn't going to leave her. "We can stay", Fox says.
"I'm afraid it's hospital policy. No overnight visitors".
"But I am the father of her child", Johnny says authoritatively.
"Only spouses are able to stay overnight, and you're not married", she smiles in a way that Fox is sure is supposed to look sympathetic but it instead looks conniving. "Come on", she moves towards them as if to usher them out of the room. "You can see her in the morning".
"Please, can they stay?" Dana asks. Her eyes pleading at Fox.
He wasn't going to leave her.
"There's nothing to worry about. We just want to get your vitals up. You're very weak. And for that, you need rest and quiet, and not to be disturbed. You'll be back with your boyfriend and his family in time for Christmas breakfast".
"We promised her parents we would stay with her, and not leave her", Fox tries again.
"My parents are on their way too", Johnny.
"You can wait for them in the visitors lounge", the doctor smiles widely, but there is something dangerous in her glint.
"That's no problem. We'll do just that, Mam", Ringo.
~xXx~
"What did you do that for?" Fox snaps at him as soon as they are out of the private room. He hated the look in Dana's eyes as they left the room. As if he had betrayed her. He wouldn't leave this hospital. There was no way he would leave this building without her.
"I'll explain to you soon", Ringo whispers back.
"OK, then. Explain yourself", Johnny asks, when they're all sat in the small, quiet visitors lounge. Fox is glad that Johnny sounds just as pissed off at him as he feels.
"Well, while you both were having your tete a tete with the 'doctor'", and he uses air quotes, which spikes Fox's nerves right up.
"-Wait. What do you mean, 'doctor'?"
"I don't think she's a real doctor. While you two were arguing with her, I had a look around the place and that machine she used for the ultrasound, it linked to a dvd player and I found a dvd in it. I think what she showed us might have been a recording".
"Why would she do that?" Fox asks.
Ringo shrugs.
Fox feels sick.
Suddenly, everything feels off.
How the original midwife was replaced by that doctor, and then that new midwife. Dana had looked very uncomfortable while she was examining her, and the midwife looked as though she was concentrating very hard. What did she do to her? And why a fake ultrasound...?
"I need to get her out of there".
"I concur", Johnny. "She has her phone with her, right?"
Fox nods.
"Send her a message to go meet you in the girls bathroom in ten minutes".
Fox nods, quickly getting out his cellphone.
"In the mean time, we change into our spare clothes, then we split up. Fox and I will get Dana. Ringo, you have a taxi waiting outside for us".
Fox's cellphone pings. "She say's, there is a guard outside her room?" He looks up at Johnny, his stomach making loud growling noises. This was supposed to be a good move. Why would there be a guard outside her room?
Johnny looks concerned. "Tell her to still try and meet you there in ten minutes".
Fox quickly types this out.
"OK, change of plans", Johnny. "We all change quickly. Fox, you still go wait for Dana. Ringo, sets off a fire alarm to create a diversion. I'll grab two taxis and then we'll both go help Fox get, Dana".
"What if someone tries to stop us?" Fox. "Stop me and Dana", he clarifies.
"Just say that her parents have said they went her to come home? Or that your Aunt and Uncle are doctors and want her to go to the hospital they work at?" He shrugs. "Lie. Say whatever you have to".
~xXx~
'Lie. Say whatever you have to'.
That is easier said than done, Fox thinks, as he waits on the corner of the corridor near Dana's room, while he thinks what lie he can up with next. But he thinks he's kind of blown it anyway. His best bet is to wait for Johnny and Ringo.
When she hadn't arrived at the bathroom, he had messaged her again and she had said that she had tried to leave but they had moved her room and there is a private bathroom attached to it. She had no reason to leave her room.
Fox had found her new room easily because of the guard outside and when he had explained that he was here to take her home as per her parents instructions because his Aunt and Uncle were doctors and wanted to take her to their own hospital. The guard had simply said that he had instructions not to let anyone in without Doctor Krable's approval. Which brought Fox to his current predicament of hiding in the adjacent hallway, waiting for backup. It was probably half an hour now since they had left her.
~xXx~
The fire alarm rung out and it was like music to Fox's ears.
Hopefully that meant that they would be here soon to help him.
He sent Dana a message telling her to get ready because they were coming for her. She had messaged earlier and said that there was no one else in her room, just the guard outside. Hopefully that was still true. He didn't want to encounter that doctor again.
He readjusted his rucksack on his shoulders which had their most valuable possessions in them and started to list them off while he waited.
Dana's files. They were important. That was their proof. That was what would exonerate his father. And hers. As soon as she'd had the baby and they'd got it somewhere safe.
Money. They needed that.
Melmo's spare video camera. That was how they would film their proof.
Fake I.D.
Real I.D.. When this was all over
Car keys
...
~xXx~
It couldn't have been a minute later after the alarm went off that Johnny met up with Fox.
"Was that you?" Fox asks.
Johnny shakes his head, no. "Ringo".
Fox nods, taking a second to again appreciate how funny Johnny looked in his curly wig.
"We should hurry. Where is she?"
"Round the corner, but I can't get past the guard".
"Well, maybe with the fire alarm going off, he might be more lenient", he says, walking up to the guard before Fox could blink.
"We are here for, Samantha Criscollo", Johnny said clearly and Fox admires his balls as he shuffles quickly behind him. Figural not literal.
"Are you family?"
"Does it matter?"
"No one is allowed in without the doc's approval", the guard drones, recognising Fox hiding behind his friend.
Fox deflates again.
"Oh, that's OK", and Fox frowns. "We don't want to go in. We just want to take her out".
"Can't let you do that".
"Legally, you have to. Samantha Criscollo is an adult and so is able to discharge herself whenever she wants", and Johnny knocks loudly on the door. "You can't keep her here against her will. And in case you haven't heard, there is a possible fire in the building. We should all be making our way to the nearest fire point".
The guard looks like he wants to punch, Johnny, but the door opens and Dana stands in a hospital gown?
He told her to get ready?!
"Do you want to stay here or go home?" Johnny asks.
"Go home", Dana says, timidly and Fox realises that she is most likely just very scared and pushes past the guard and Johnny to help her get ready.
"Where are your clothes?" He asks.
"I don't know?" She says looking around the room as if she has just realised they're not there. "I guess they're still in the other room", scared.
"Where's your bag?" Because really that's what is important. It has Samantha Criscollo's fake I.D.., but more important, her remaining medication. Fox had thrown it in, in the possibility they could find more.
"Over there", she says, going towards it and Fox was surprised at how quickly she moved.
She started to get dressed into the spare clothes he had put in there for her.
Luckily, it was cold outside so they came with lots of bulky layers, he took off his rucksack so he could giver her his jumper. "Just put trousers on and this". That doctor could be back any second. He heard the guard alert on his walkie talkie that he had a patient leaving without the doctors consent. "Where are your shoes?"
She looks around, confused.
"Nevermind", he says, quickly toeing off his own shoes and giving her his socks, before quickly putting them back on. By the time he had his rucksack on, she was ready.
He grabbed her hand and walked her out the room, glaring at the guard as he passed him.
When they reached the lower floor, although it wasn't exactly a crowd, it was easy to join everyone else moving outside.
Fox kept his head down, waiting for a hand to grab him or Dana and pull them back in.
When all of them reached outside, he realised that Ringo was still missing. He craned his neck to look for him. He assumed he would meet them outside... But wasn't the plan to meet outside Dana's room?
"You two better go".
Fox nods. Johnny can wait for Ringo. He just wanted to get Dana away from this place.
"Shall we meet back at Ringo's?"
Johnny made a face. "It's probably safer to just leave town. I don't know what happened in there, but it doesn't seem kosher".
Fox nods again. Not really wanting to leave them. Not wanting to have to be the responsible one again. "OK", he nods, clearing his throat. He takes out his hand, "thanks for your help".
~xXx~
Driving
"Where are we going?" She asks. She is still wearing his jumper and he is still in just his t-shirt, although the car is probably now warm enough.
He turns off the heating.
She probably still just has his oversized socks on her feet.
"To your parents house?"
She bites her lip, but nods.
"Do you have a better plan?"
Her eyes widen and she shakes her head, no.
Fox breathes out a loud aggravated sigh, but it doesn't make him feel better.
"You can sleep you know".
She had been wide awake now for over an hour. It must be a new record.
"I'm not tired".
Fox throws her look. For the last week, she's had him scared out of his mind, sleeping for nearly twenty hours a day. Her pushing herself to exhaustion is not going to help anyone. "Just sleep", trying to keep animosity out of his voice. "You don't have to pretend your not tired for me. I'm fine".
"But I'm really not tired, Fox", she insists.
And he rolls his eyes.
"That doctor. After you left, she gave me some kind of injection. She said it would make me feel better, and I do".
Fox frowns at her, taking time to look over her.
She did look better.
She actually had colour in her cheeks.
She looked ... alive.
Better than she had in weeks.
"What did she give you?"
"I don't know", she shrugs. "She said it would make me feel better, and it has".
Fox taps the steering wheel. Had they made a mistake leaving so soon? Was that place in fact the best place for her...?
AN:/ I cant believe it took me so long to get this chapter out. It is a long one, and ground was covered, so hopefully that kind of makes up. Do you think they left too soon? I think next chapter, Dana, will finally give birth! Until next update!