500 Miles – Ruins II

By Princess Alexandria

"Well, I've got the results." Henry spoke while staring at her chart. Christy hadn't been thrilled with the exam and how it took Henry three days to decide to tell her about what he'd found. His befuddled look didn't inspire confidence either.

"And?" Emma prompted him to talk. Emma had been busy lately, but she'd made sure that she'd be here for Christy.

"It looks like your internal organs are starting to… for lack of a better word… disappear." He shifted the file to face her and moved it closer. Christy leaned over to stare at what made little sense to her. "It looks like they've turned to water. I can't explain it."

"I'm turning to water?" For a moment she felt a bit of panic, worried that she'd just fall into a big puddle one day. A memory of the other Christy stopped that. "Like Demise? But she lost her body in an explosion."

"Well, from these results I'd say you both are prone to this particular secondary mutation." He pushed his glasses further up his nose. "An explosion? She didn't mention that to me."

"There's a lot she didn't mention." Christy replied off hand as she considered what this meant. "It's going to continue isn't it?"

"The scans I did yesterday showed that it was still progressing."

"Okay." She stared at the papers without really seeing them. She was mutating again. She took a deep breath.

"Are you alright?" Emma moved to sit in the chair beside her.

"I'm fine."

"I'll just leave you two alone." Henry spoke gently. Christy just nodded, but she didn't look up.

"Christy." Emma's hand rested on Christy's knee.

"Well, she seemed to think it was better without a body." She tried desperately to look on the bright side. "Maybe it won't be so bad."

"Depending on how fast this progresses we might not need to buy you too many clothes." Emma gave her a small smile, encouraging her. "Perhaps we should shop today just to make sure you get the most out of them."

"Yeah." Christy's smile faltered and she took a shuddering breath. She could pretend to be brave. She had to.

"It's going to be okay." Emma gently caressed Christy's knee. Christy stared into Emma's concerned eyes and felt herself leaning closer to the blonde. Emma moved forward in her seat and wrapped arms around Christy. "It will be. It may not feel like it now, but secondary mutations can be a good thing."

"Do you feel up for dinner?" Emma's offer was sweet. Christy just nodded. Getting out of here might be nice.

They were almost to the front doors when Scott's voice interrupted them. Christy's body tensed a little. She'd been able to avoid him until now. "Emma." He completely ignored her, except for barely a nod of recognition. "I was hoping we could talk."

"Well, I have plans now Scott." Emma's voice was slightly chilly. "But you could always check my calendar and make an appointment."

He moved next to Emma and turned his back to Christy while lowering his voice. "I wanted to talk about us. I've thought about what you've said. Maybe we can try this again."

Christy turned away from them and took a few steps away. Emma would probably take him back. She didn't want to hear that. She couldn't hear what was being said, but Emma seemed rigid and Scott's face slowly was getting redder. Okay, so she didn't have the will power to look away too. Scott stormed of and Emma came to her side. "So, do you feel like Chinese or Mexican?"

"Uh. Chinese." Christy worked hard to match Emma's long stride to get out of there.

Dinner started off a little tense, but over dinner Emma's back seemed to lose it rigidness and they were talking normally by the time they were ready to leave. Scott was a subject neither of them brought up though.

They strolled down the street looking in shop windows. "Christy." Emma sounded more serious than their previous conversation, so Christy slowed her steps. "You know how important the school is to me."

"Of course." What was wrong? Christy thought with concern.

"I fully plan to help those students. It's my priority." Emma stepped off the busy sidewalk and Christy moved with her. "Regardless of what the world throws at us, it's the children that are the future." Christy was a little surprised when she felt Emma take her hand. "Are you planning to go back to Washington at the end of the semester, or could I convince you to stay?" Beautiful tapered fingers were playing with Christy's hand. It seemed almost surreal. "I have it on good authority that perhaps we might be good together." Emma took a step closer and Christy could smell Emma's subtle perfume. "I've thought about this often, and I wouldn't mind giving us a try. What do you think?"

"What about Scott?" When he'd asked to talk with Emma Christy was sure Emma would take him back.

"He was what I thought love was, until I saw how someone that really cares about me acts." Emma's fingers caressed Christy's hair and Christy leaned into it a little. "I didn't grow up with a lot of love. I didn't know how to recognize it. I know you love me. I felt it in your mind when we were in Georgia. I have the school and it's my priority. What I need to know is can you make it yours?"

Christy felt a flash of fear and heat. Change, big change. It always did that to her, but she had it on good authority too. They could make this work. "Yes." Yes to both questions, she'd stay and love Emma. Hardly a loud romantic declaration, but she did get the storybook kiss.

Scott was standing there, looking so much like an angry father as they drove up. "So do you have time to talk to me now?" He didn't sound like someone begging for forgiveness. Christy tensed up. If Emma didn't want to talk to him then she shouldn't have to.

Emma leaned closer to her and whispered. "I need to go tell him it's over. Did you want to wait for me in my room or…"

"Call me." Christy liked the gentle look in those ice blue eyes as Emma talked to her. She also liked how they hardened when they looked at Scott. It made her feel a little more secure.

Christy did her best to stop pacing in her bedroom as she waited, and waited. She started feeling sick as time passed. The knock on her door was soft, but it thundered in her ears. She'd worried that Emma was staying over with Scott, that he'd managed to pull the blonde back in. Christy opened the door to see Emma standing there. Christy let out a breath she didn't realize she'd been holding. "Hello dear." Emma gave Christy a smile. "I was wondering if I could talk you into a walk in the moonlight?"

……………..

Working around Scott was tense and made her stomach sick. Christy sighed as she noticed him come into the copy room when she was in the middle of a job for Jean-Paul. Three days wasn't a very long time and Emma had already told her she announced that Christy was staying on at the last faculty meeting. Emma also made her a substitute teacher for this year and they'd see what happened for the next school year. Christy might get a class of her own.

Scott wasn't thrilled with it. He didn't have to say anything; the cold stare said it all. The entire time Emma outlined Christy's new place in the school he stared at Christy.

"You could have printed that back to back. You're just wasting paper." He spoke while staring at the copier.

"I know." She forced herself to turn and face the man whose lover she stole. "And I recommended that to Jean-Paul, but he wanted the students to have room to take notes on the back." She held his gaze a little longer, waiting for his next complaint. She knew there would be one. He'd caught her a few times in the past few days and complained about her work performance.

Funny how everyone else seemed to think she was doing a good job.

"You realize how it will look having the Headmistress dating a teacher's assistant." He finally brought it up.

Christy took a deep breath. "Probably no worse than it looked when she dated an adulterer, before his wife's corpse was cold." His fists clenched and Christy took a half step back. She went too far. These were quiet thoughts that shouldn't have been shared. "That was low. I'm sorry." She had no gripe with the dead woman. She shouldn't have brought her into it.

"Hey guys…" Bobby's friendly hello trailed off into something more cautious as Christy stood still, hoping Scott wouldn't try to hit her. "Umm… Scott." Bobby's attempt at sounding normal lacked a certain something. "I hear that Dani was looking for you."

"Okay." He glared at her a little longer before turning to leave. Christy released a breath she'd been holding and sagged against the copier when he was out of the room.

"What was that about?" Bobby whispered.

"He's upset that Emma left him for me." It wasn't public knowledge yet and Bobby's eyes popping helped her feel a little better. She smiled at him.

"Well, that explains his walking around with the stick shoved up higher than normal."

"Yeah." Christy glanced at the door again.

Later that morning she heard that Scott was going to be away on business for the rest of the day and she couldn't have been happier. Maybe when he came back he wouldn't look like he wanted to kill her. Christy had already started self defense classes, just based on his angry stare, but she wasn't nearly ready to have to use it. She'd told Emma she was learning self defense because she should know it, she didn't volunteer how worried she was about living with the jilted boyfriend.

……………..

"Christy, can I see you in my office?" Emma's cool business tone drew a few eyes, but Christy gave another TA the papers to deliver and moved to follow. Once the door closed to the large office Emma pushed Christy up against it. "Ever done it in the headmaster's office? This will be even better."

Christy's body arched as Emma started to kiss her neck. "Emma." Christy was supposed to be working, but god. "Yes." She moaned as a pale hand slid up to cup Christy's sex.

"Yes you've made love in the headmaster's office, which means you were a naughtier girl than I thought you were, or that this will be better, which would also mean you were a naughty girl." Emma chuckled.

"Yes take me." Christy managed to growl out as they moved towards the couch. It was a struggle to not scream as Emma did just that. They had to stay quiet. You weren't supposed to have sex in the Headmistress' office.

………………..

Later that night Christy struggled to sleep in her own bed, but it wasn't working. She felt the need to use her power even though she'd done it earlier. With a heavy sigh she gave up and angrily flipped the sheets off of her.

The air was cool as she made her way out of the building. Christy started down the walkway towards her destination, the lake.

"God damn bitch." A slurred angry male voice interrupted her as she was part way into the woods and Christy turned to the side to see Scott glaring at her. He was unsteady, clearly drunk. Christy took a step back. "acting like she wants all this attention, but I have other things to worry about. Jean always understood. Emma's not better than Jean, she shouldn't act like it."

Christy felt a spark of anger at him, but she just turned and started back to the buildings. She couldn't relax enough to pull power by the water if he was out here. She didn't really trust it was safe.

"I was talking to you bitch!" He yelled after her and Christy heard a strange sound, and a laser beam hit the ground in front of her.

Emma! She called out mentally, hoping Emma would hear her, as she spun around to face Scott's angry and reddened face.

"Yeah, I'm talking to you. You aren't going anywhere."

"Scott…"

"Shut UP!" He screamed and Christy flinched at the violence in his voice. "You're just using her. You're weak and pathetic and you need someone to protect you. Well, find someone else. I broke Jean's heart for that bitch."

Christy's eyes grew cold. She'd often thought of herself as weak and pathetic, but no more. No more. She marched toward him. "You are a pathetic excuse for a man. You broke Jean's heart… sentence ends there. You didn't do it FOR anyone. You did it because you are an asshole and didn't give a damn about the woman you claimed to love. Then you treated Emma like shit, and obviously blamed her for it. YOU were the married man. You shouldn't have strayed. Asshole."

"You don't know anything…"

"No clearly you don't know anything. Get away from me. I love her and unlike you, I know how to treat a woman." She shook her head and moved to turn and leave. His arm shot out and painfully clasped her arm. His other hit her in the face.

"Loving looks and trips to Georgia only go so far. Emma's a passionate woman and she'll want something you can't give her."

"Oh, but I can…" Her voice held a silky edge of danger as she turned to stare him in his red glasses. "And I do. She is a passionate woman, but she's more than that. You forgot that, I won't." She tugged on her arm when he squeezed harder, hurting her. "Let me go."

"I don't think so. You know? Did you fuck her in Georgia?" He shook her hard and Christy felt her forgotten fear blossom again.

"Scott." A cold commanding voice from behind Christy drew his eyes and Christy tugged on her arm again, finally he let go. "Go sleep it off, and then pack up your bags and leave."

"What?"

"She's not a fighter Scott. You are attacking a teacher. Not a trained fighter." Emma's nightgown fluttered in the wind, but it didn't make her look any less dangerous. Christy took a few more steps in Emma's direction, while listening for Scott to try and laser her in the back. "My god Scott." Emma reached out and gently moved some hair out of Christy's eyes. She caressed the sore spot on her face. "You hit her." Cold, vicious eyes turned to Scott and Christy watched him collapse suddenly.

"Are you okay dear?" Emma spoke softly, but Christy's eyes were on the crumpled form of Scott on the lawn. "Oh, I knocked him out. I'd leave him here, but the children really shouldn't have to step over him as they play Frisbee. I'll get one of the men to pick him up."

Christy took a shaky breath and tried to relax. "I'm fine."

"Come back to my room." Emma put an arm around Christy's shoulder. "I am so sorry he did that to you dear. He won't do that again."

With the fear fading she felt the familiar need. "I still need…" She turned towards the path she took to the lake.

"It's too cold out. Why don't you use my bathtub, it is large enough to be a lake of its own and it's cleaner." Emma continued to gently encourage her towards the buildings. "You must need the water, since you seem so drawn to it, but I think we'll have more fun taking a bath together don't you?"

"Bath?" Christy was still a little out of it.

"Well, yes." Emma's voice was soft and seductive. "You didn't plan to use your power all by yourself when you could share, did you?"

"No, I guess not." Christy leaned into Emma's body as they walked and enjoyed the warmth of her body and the mental caress that came with it.

……………….

In the morning she checked her face and the black eye she'd had the night before was gone. Christy studied the mirror carefully, looking for any hint of bruising, but there wasn't any.

For a moment it was back and she flinched away from the mirror, but then it was gone again. Christy's leaned closer to the mirror with her eyes widening in shock. Her hand moved up to touch her reflection and it reminded her of her double's hand.

Christy focused on the memory of what her double tried to do when she was attacked and watched in amazement as her hand shifted to long sharp looking fingers. She'd finished mutating.

"Christy, dear." Emma's voice called into the bathroom. "Are you ready for breakfast? I'd like to eat with you before we have to deal with today's unpleasantness."

"I'll be right out." Christy felt herself smile just a little and she shifted her fingers back to normal. If she'd had a weapon like that last night Scott wouldn't have been able to hit her.

………………

When Christy met Emma for lunch she'd already heard the news. Scott had left, he'd packed his bags and left. Some students had seen him and as they always did they'd been gossiping.

"Scott and I decided it would be best if he took a break from the team and the school." Emma said before taking a sip of her tea. "But from your happy expression I gather you heard already."

"Yes." Christy sat down across from Emma. "I did."

"I shuffled the teachers around, but I need someone to teach a few more classes. Are you interested in a raise?"

"I think so." Christy glanced around the cafeteria, before moving her hand to touch Emma's. It was a subtle move, but she just needed to feel Emma's warmth.

"And you'll be getting a very good benefits package." Emma's grin was wicked. "Come to my office to discuss it after lunch?"