500 Miles
Complications II
By Princess Alexandria
Christy sat in the backseat of the car as Emma drove and Astrid was chatting constantly with the blonde. Christy stared out the window with unblinking eyes. The last two months had been hell, trapped in her own body, unable to talk, to stop Christy from running away, unable to tell her mother what was really happening, unable to stop that other woman's memories from haunting her.
The drive barely registered in her mind as she just stared blankly at the passing streets. Part of her, but this time it really was her, thought something about shock and how it was perfectly natural. It was Emma opening the door and staring at her in concern that finally made her blink. They were there? Christy had gotten so used to zoning out while she had no control. It took a little effort to actually remember to move her body herself. She almost expected it to get up and do it without her.
"This bird's not too talkative." Astrid spoke as Christy walked along side Emma. "And she smells like swamp water."
"She's perfectly able to hear you." Emma's voice was cold. Christy moved closer to her and gripped Emma's arm.
"I would have said it telepathically, but you've burned yourself out doing that trick."
Christy turned her head to look at the blonde. "You're hurt?" Christy remembered the voice that actually talked to her, helped her to pull a shield up between her and her double, sparing her from her double's thoughts, and the power that felt like it would wash what little was left of her away. Emma had sounded strained as she explained what needed to happen, as she saved Christy.
"No, just tired." Emma moved closer and stared into her eyes. "I'll be fine."
"But you couldn't have known that." Astrid continued to talk, her voice higher than normal. "You could have burned out your telepathy helping out the wondertwins." Astrid paused and giggled at her own comment. "Form of a life-size water woman." The dark skinned telepath then looked at Christy, who wasn't really interested in listening to that girl talk. "So does this mean you should pick an animal form?"
"She's not ready for joking Astrid." Emma filled in the long gap as Christy didn't bother to answer that comment. It felt mean spirited to her and she didn't want to waste energy on that.
"I did it. I'm fine." Emma turned to stare at Astrid. The silence after that and the slight wince Emma had on her face made Christy think the blonde had a headache, but she still had her telepathy too.
"I need a shower." She spoke softly after the silence stopped being accompanied by looks and movements that made it look like the two telepaths were still talking. She felt cold, wet, and she did smell. She'd fallen into the pond her double had them standing in.
"I'll take you." Emma gave her a soft smile, before turning to Astrid. "Would you get her a change of clothes from my dorm?"
"I'm on it." Astrid nodded. Emma steered Christy towards the showers while Astrid went a different direction.
Thankfully the dorm showers weren't busy this time of night. Christy was embarrassed by how unsteady she was on her feet, but she did her best to wash the body. The body. Weird how her mind was still having trouble calling it hers. It was her body. Her fist clenched, squeezing the washcloth. Hers. Her damn body and it wasn't fair it could just be taken away like that. Yes it was horrible what the other Christy was going through, but it wasn't like she'd agreed to give over her body.
A soft sob escaped her lips and Christy let herself cry for everything she'd been through and everything she'd seen her other self had been.
Her eyes were red as she left the showers and the clothes Emma gave her only got the blonde a nod in response. Christy dressed for bed. At least they weren't going to toss her out right away.
If she had any energy she might have called home, but she could barely think. Emma helped support her on the walk back to the dorm and Christy rolled into Emma's absent roommate's bed again. This time McDermott was home for Thanksgiving, but Emma and Astrid had no family to go home to. Christy took a deep breath and tried to calm her mind. She had family. She should go home and see if she still had a girlfriend, a wife, and if her mother was as upset as she imagined, but what could she say to explain this?
……………
The voice interrupted her sleep. "So has the wondertwin called for a plane ticket yet?"
"Stop calling her that, and no. She's been sleeping."
Christy wished she was still sleeping. Her head pounded like she thought hangovers would. She opened her eyes and stared at the other two now being quieter as they talked on the other bed. "I should go huh?"
"Not until you're up for it." Emma moved to her bedside and Christy swore the look Astrid gave her was scary, full of jealousy and anger. Emma didn't see that and when Astrid noticed Christy looking at her the cold look disappeared.
"So tell me twinny, did you know you were a mutant before all this fun and excitement?" Astrid's smile seemed just as cold as her glare. It wasn't something Christy could see, she just felt it.
"Um." Christy sat up and leaned against the wall. Emma handed her water, which was actually very good. Christy drank it quickly. She was so thirsty. "No, I didn't know." She hadn't even heard of such a thing before. She could feel it now though. She could feel death in the distance. It was morbid and a little special. The hate though, it was scary. As a lesbian she'd gotten a few cold stares, but it looked like as a mutant she would get worse.
"Let me get you some more water." Emma took the glass back and moved to her fridge. "I think we both lost a little on last night. I feel like I have a hangover. You?"
"Oh yeah"
When Astrid finally left Christy let out a sigh of relief. That girl had far more energy than either Emma or Christy had left. The remaining two just sat in silence for a while.
"I'm sorry we brought this to you." Christy spoke softly, feeling bad about the pain her host was feeling.
"Yeah, well, I can't say it wasn't an adventure." Emma gave her a small smile. "Don't worry about it." Emma's eyes moved to the window. "It was pretty weird though, wasn't it?"
"Yeah."
"Do you remember much?"
"More than I want to." Christy sighed. "She was so screwed up. I can't even begin to… you have no idea." She thought about the way her double framed Max, but the boy was gone now. It wouldn't do any good to tell Emma about it now, would it? And it was better he wasn't around. God, but what a way to do it. What if he'd had a reaction to the steroids? Her double hadn't even really cared.
……………..
"Hey Christy." A boy called to her as she was eating dinner with Emma. Christy looked up to see Steven.
"Hi Steven." She felt uncomfortable as she realized she had to pretend she was someone who pretended to be her.
"I heard you were leaving. Are you sure you don't want to apply here? This is a great school, other than the Psychology teacher." He gave her a wry grin, acknowledging how she'd done better than that man. "And everyone would love it if you still tutored."
"I can't." She didn't have a degree in Psychology and she wasn't a teacher. "I should go home." Part of her had thought about the life her double built for her here, she liked the popularity, the friendly waves and the way everyone knew she was gay and didn't care. She actually liked some of the people she'd met when she didn't have control of herself.
"Alright. I had to try." He turned around and Christy was pulled closer to Emma as the blonde whispered to her.
"I didn't know they were going to do this, but the people she taught are coming in the door in thirty seconds to throw you a party." The cafeteria doors opened and a stream of people came in, the noise level in the room quadrupled. "You are coming with us." One girl pointed at her and for a moment Christy's heart pounded. It almost looked like a lynch mob, except for the friendly smiles. If Emma hadn't warned her Christy might have actually run, thinking they'd realized she was a mutant.
Emma trailed after her as Christy was ushered back to the class they'd used for review. There was pizza and coke. She managed to visit easily enough, she knew their names.
"One last question." Someone asked and Christy turned to face them. "I know you said you were done, but I don't get the Hierarchy of Needs the teacher was talking about today."
"Maslow?" Christy asked and she was surprised to find herself remembering a class she'd never taught. "It's really pretty simple…" Christy found herself explaining the concepts just as clearly as her double and she caught Emma's curious look as the blonde moved closer to her. After she was done Emma dragged her off to a corner.
"Sorry, guys, I've got to borrow the Professor."
"Um, don't call me the Professor." Christy had a weird disturbed reaction to that. It just sounded very wrong.
"Did you know that Maslow stuff before she took you over?"
Christy paused as she thought about the one Psychology class she'd taken. It might have covered it, but she wouldn't have remembered it on her own. "She planned her class lessons so loudly in her head…" Christy's eyebrows drew together as she thought about this. "No I didn't. Not before."
"Well, maybe you just got a four year degrees worth of information without all that pesky studying." Emma's words had Christy staring into space as she thought about it. Did she? What else had her double left behind? God, please not the cold bloodedness. She paled as she considered that possibility.
The party was tame compared to the Frat party and Christy was thankful for that. She pretended to be happy as she felt sick with her thoughts. She accepted phone numbers and emails graciously, along with a few students that wanted her to continue to answer questions. A few got her email in return. She felt herself disconnecting as her body moved around the room.
"Let's get out of here." Emma moved to take her arm. "You aren't up for this yet are you?"
"What?"
"You've been staring a little too much at the wall and I don't think your eyes have focused on anyone talking to you once in the past five minutes I've been watching you." Emma's voice rose over the chatter. "Christy here needs some sleep. She has an early flight in the morning." As they made their way to the door loud goodbyes filled the air. The party would go on without her.
……..
Christy felt jittery as she packed her last bag. On top of it sat the one mission her double gave her. Try. She didn't know what was in this book; her double hadn't wanted her to. Christy had caught that and focused on other things while her double wrote, but she did catch that Emma needed this.
"Oh no." Emma's voice drew Christy around, with the book in had. "This again?"
"She worked really hard on this." Christy caressed the cover. "It was hard for her, hurt, to write whatever she wrote in here."
"But you don't know what it is?"
"It was private. I didn't read it."
"The book she made you, are you going to read it?"
Christy sat back down on the bed. "Yeah. I'll read it. I don't believe everything, but I'll read it." Her eyes moved to her hands, which were caressing the outline of the twin towers on Emma's book. "She said Michelle was going to cheat on me, but… I think maybe that isn't right for this world. Michelle isn't like that, and she'd never have time to anyhow. She works and takes classes."
"But you doubt her now don't you?" Emma moved to take the book out of Christy's hands to place it on the desk, before kneeling down in front of Christy. "Her world was different. Have you read Oedipus Rex?"
"Self-fulfilling prophecies, it happens because you expect it to happen. I know the idea." Christy reached out for the book again and held it out. "She was really upset when she wrote this for you. Something big is in here, something you need to avoid."
"I can't live my life like that Christy. You shouldn't either." Emma took the book and tossed it into the empty garbage can next to the desk. "Give up on destiny and make your own." Something in Christy ached to see the lovingly made book in the trash. She got up and pulled it out. With a heavy sigh she put it in her bag, while ignoring Emma's disappointed look.
"It's yours. If you change your mind, call me."
"I might call you, but never for that."
…………………….
Christy slowly stepped out of the airport. She felt a little sick and this time it wasn't fear of flying causing it. She'd called her mother instead of Michelle to come pick her up. Her double had never once called Michelle after she'd left Christy's lover alone on their romantic vacation. She'd just checked in with Christy's mother to let the woman know Christy was alive, and she pretended to be Christy when she did it. She didn't answer questions well either. It was nice that her double didn't want to tell people Christy was a mutant, but a more convincing lie would have been nice.
Christy's mother thought Christy was in New York alone, to get some training. Her double had hinted it was important and that she couldn't get it anywhere else. She'd avoided the topic and talked about what?
If her double hadn't left as soon as she was free Christy would have punched the bitch for this. Christy stood on the airport sidewalk waiting to see her mom, and she prayed the woman came alone. The talk with Michelle was better done in private.
Christy took a breath and moved to the car that just pulled over. Her mother was studying her. "Hi." Christy spoke softly as she opened the back door and put her luggage in. She felt like a dog slinking back home with her tail between her legs.
The ride to her mother's was tense and far too quiet. Christy asked softly if she could stay there a little while, until she could iron things out with Michelle. Somehow just showing up at her apartment like nothing happened didn't seem right, even though it wasn't her fault.
"Two months Christy." Her mother's jaw was clenched as she sat down at the table. "Are you going to tell me know what you've been doing for two months? I was worried sick. You barely explained anything and Michelle has been a wreck. You left her alone in New York! What were you thinking?"
I wish my double was trapped in me right now, Christy thought with some venom as she took a deep breath and tried to deal with this mess. "Something happened." Her double had at times tried to think of what might work to get Christy out of this, and Christy had thought a lot about it on the plane ride here. The truth was just so damned unbelievable. .
"Mom, have you heard of mutants?" She looked up into surprised eyes as her mother paused. Thankfully her brother wasn't home right then, because Christy's heart was racing in just telling one family member. "I found out I'm a mutant." She haltingly explained what that was, she admitted to the possession, to the fact she was hostage in her own body, she cried as she told her mother how hard it was not being able to take control, to tell her mother what was really happening. When she stopped talking she stared with scared eyes at the woman that raised her, worried that she'd be like the people on campus, fearful and hateful, but her mother pulled her into a hug.
"I can't even pretend to understand." Christy took a shaky breath and pulled away from her mother. "I just… I don't even…" The older woman was searching for words. "It must have been hell. I'm so sorry I didn't know, that I couldn't tell when she called. I should have known you would never just leave like that."
"I'm a mutant." Christy spoke softly. She was no where near the level of her double, and she doubted she could be. She'd seen some of the dreams of what it took to make a woman like Demise and she hoped she never was that powerful, because the cost was too high.
"How did you get free?"
"She took us to a telepath." Christy found herself leaving out names. "It took a while, that's why I was gone so long."
"A telepath? Those really exist?" Christy could hear a hint of worry in her mother's voice. It seemed everyone was afraid of mutants.
"Yes." Christy stared at her own clenched fists on the table. "Two months. She stole two months." Christy knew her double apologized, knew she felt bad about it, but how the hell was she going to pick up her life now? "I had to have lost my job, and Michelle…"
"Michelle calls me a few times a week. She's worried about you."
Maybe she'd take her back then. Christy hoped. She hoped this wasn't too much for their relationship.
…………….
NINE MONTHS AFTER NEW YORK
…………….
"Mutants need to be registered. We need to know who they are and more importantly what they can do." Some politician spouted off for the camera, cashing in on the fear. Christy sighed and turned the page of her textbook while Michelle continued to watch. When it got more sensational, more bigoted she finally looked up.
"Can you turn that shit off?"
"Just a minute." Christy finally noticed that Michelle was rivet to the screen.
"It's a bunch of lies to spread fear."
Michelle looked at her. "But you were trapped in your own body by a mutant. You had to let a telepath violate your mind."
"Violate?" Christy set her book down. "What are you talking about? She didn't violate me; she helped me, saved me."
"She changed you." Michelle's eyes were too hard, too hateful. "You aren't the same."
"What?" Christy knew for a fact Emma didn't do anything to her.
"You're so distant. Sometimes I wonder if you even love me anymore. If that telepath or that damned woman…"
"Just because I want to do my homework?" Christy couldn't believe this. "This school is harder and I just don't have time to go to the movies or go out to eat more than once a week."
"You never have time."
"And I need to save my money."
"What for?" And those two words made Christy remember her double's thoughts. Michelle never did plan for the future. But why was she so paranoid that Christy wanted to? Christy bought stock and from the attitude she got you would have thought she'd spent the night with a whore. "You plan to do everything that freak told you to?"
Christy just stared into hateful eyes. Freak. There it was. Michelle didn't even know about how Christy's double felt about Michelle, Christy kept that to herself. She did know that the Freak in question was Christy from another world. She knew that and she still called her a freak.
"I am not having this talk with you." Christy picked up her homework, which she should have done in the office. Michelle had been nagging her about never doing anything with her though, so she sat out here while Michelle watched TV. She wished she hadn't.
"You aren't a freak." Michelle spoke more softly. "I mean all you can do is make your eyes glow. That's nothing." And that was her version of an apology. "When they make you register…"
"You think there are levels of mutation? That just being a little bit mutant is okay?" Christy stopped walking and glared at her lover. "I can't believe you. Do you have any idea what would happen to me if I'm forced to register? Did you even take world history? What happened to the Jews Michelle, What happened? Did they care if you were just a little Jewish in Nazi Germany, or a little black, or a little gay?" It took an effort to keep her voice from getting louder so the neighbors didn't hear. "And she said someday I might have her power. That I'd be powerful like those mutants they show on TV. I could be like that. A freak." She glared at Michelle. "You married a freak." Christy spun around and marched for the hall.
"Christy." Michelle whined an apology. "I didn't mean you and maybe if you didn't use those powers they wouldn't get worse."
…………….
A YEAR AFTER NEW YORK
……………..
Christy took a deep breath as she pulled into the driveway. She took notice of the white Ford in the front of the apartment that she hadn't seen before. As she shut the car off she took a moment to hope she was wrong. It had taking her a few weeks to patch things up with Michelle when she came back after New York, but they were together. Michelle forgave her for not trusting she'd understand about the mutant thing. Christy told her that she'd needed training and the person who could do it demanded secrecy. It hurt to lie about it, but she was more affected by her double's mistrust then she'd preferred and protecting Emma from anything short of a sure thing just made sense.
Not that she'd talked to the telepath more than twice after she got back.
She left her coat in her back seat as she stepped out of the car and locked it. She should have been in class today, but Michelle had been too interested in when she'd be getting home. The phone call late last night that hung up on her and the new haircut Michelle got, even though Christy had told her so many times how much better her hair looked long, were all things her double said to watch out for. But this wasn't supposed to happen to her for a few more years.
She quietly opened the door and her heart clenched as she heard giggling coming from the bedroom. Her jaw clenched as she softly closed the door and moved across the living room, taking in the piles of clothes, the half eaten meal set for two also sat on the dining table.
"Oh Michelle, I've got you now." Words carried to her ears and Christy just stood still.
"Do your worst." Christy's lover teased back. Bitch. Christy took a deep breath and walked down the hall. She stood in the door to her own bedroom and pushed it opened just a little more so she could see her lover, the woman she'd had a commitment ceremony with, laying on her back with a naked brunette over her. She stared silently as the women kissed and watched as a stranger made her way down Christy's lover's body to suckle on her breast.
She took a deep breath, her voice cold. "You will both get dressed and get out of my apartment now. I don't want to see either of you ever again." They broke apart like the other had turned to fire and Christy saw her lover's panicked eyes. Christy had tried so hard to believe this wouldn't happen, she'd doubted. "GET OUT!" She screamed when neither made a move to even cover themselves. It got the stranger moving. The woman moved quickly around her and into the living room for her clothes.
Michelle should have followed. "Christy."
"There is nothing you can say to make this okay." Her voice cracked. "Nothing. Just leave."
"I live here too."
"Not anymore. You cheated on me. That makes this place mine." She pressed the heal of her hand to her forehead, her face red and she struggled to hold it together. "Get out, I swear to god you don't want to be near me right now."
Michelle took a step closer. "Christy."
Christy's hand came down hard on the wall, her eyes burned with the power she'd let in. "Get Out. Don't come back tonight, you can stay with your whore." Michelle's eyes widened as if she just realize how angry Christy might be. Christy had pulled power into herself because in that moment she'd like nothing more to run further away than any human could.
Some dark part of her enjoyed the fear in Michelle's eyes as Michelle rushed after the bitch she'd brought into their home, and how Michelle didn't risk getting too close to Christy to do it.
Christy crossed her arms and stared at that bed. She wasn't sleeping in that tonight. When she heard the front door open she called out one last thing. "Get boxes, you're moving out."
The door slammed hard and she felt her body shake with the finality of it. She'd wanted to be so wrong. She never thought she'd be so right. Tears streamed down her cheeks and she turned away from the crumpled bed.
Two days later Michelle came back for her things and Christy had her brother there to help her deal with it. She let her ex-lover take her personal belongings, but when she started talking about furniture she only let her have that disgusting bed. Christy hadn't been able to sleep on it since anyhow.
………………….
The room was quiet. Christy sat with her tv dinner and stared at the television, but she didn't care what was on. She felt lost. The journal she'd found while cleaning out her things and getting rid of some stuff Michelle left behind sat on the table. Christy moved to stare at it. She'd almost tossed it out, angry, hurt… and embarrassed that she'd held onto her beliefs that here it would be different. Yeah, here it was worse.
She wanted to blame her double, but she remembered the concern and that woman's anger felt so much like what Christy felt now. Finally she turned the TV off and turned on the stereo as she pulled the journal into her lap. Her hand caressed the familiar cover before she opened it. She needed to figure out what to do with her life now, and maybe her double left her some clue.
A piece of paper fell out and drifted to the ground. She picked it up and noticed Emma's scrawl. So that's where she'd left the blonde's phone number.
After an hour of reading about the future, Christy picked up the phone number again. If she didn't feel so alone… it couldn't hurt to call. Just to have someone to talk to. She dialed the number, but an unfamiliar voice answered. Emma wasn't there anymore. They didn't even know who she was.
She tried another number she found and Steven answered. She chatted for a while before asking.
"No, I haven't seen Emma around lately." He told her gently. "Seems you always come to me when you're looking for her."
"I know who can get the job done in finding co-eds." She joked weakly. If Steven didn't know where Emma was Christy wasn't going to find the girl. It was a shame, because this affair of Michelle's proved that her double's journals had some truth to them and Christy wanted to give Emma one more chance to take hers.
"Well how are you doing?" He asked her. "Haven't heard from you in almost a year. You still in college or did you become a teacher yet?"
"I'm taking a double major." Impersonal she could do, but she didn't want to tell him how she broke up with her lover a week ago. "Psychology and Computer Science." It was one suggestion she'd taken really seriously from her double right from the beginning. Computer skills would be good for any career. She found her Psychology classes incredibly easy, like she was relearning something rather than learning it for the first time. She knew why that was.
"Computer Science." He seemed to perk up. "I'm starting a business. Maybe you'd be interested. I want to create websites for businesses and stores." She opened her mouth to wish him luck when her eyes fell on the journal.
"Sounds good." She reached out to grab it. Maybe it could sound really good.
"Yeah, but I don't have the money to get it moving yet."
"Investors." Christy started flipping through the stocks her double told her would most likely do well for the next ten years and a lot of them were computer related, or internet related. "How much do we really need to start it up?"
"We?"
"You want a partner?" She'd need more education, but she could drop her Psychology major and focus on computers. "Too bad Emma isn't around. She was majoring in business."
"You really want to do this?" He asked again.
"Yes, I really want to do this." She felt a little lighter. Her part time job on campus as the computer department grader wasn't really serious. This was a gamble, but really, she had nothing to lose. They talked for two hours about plans and what it might take to get this up and running.
When she was done talking with Steven she made another phone call. "Mom. Can I move home?" The loneliness of the empty apartment was too much and she needed to free up money.
…………………
She stared at her old bedroom. The computer was set up in the corner and she had her first assignment. Steven landed a few contracts with friends, and it was enough to get them out there. Once they had enough to show off to other businesses they would be on their way.
"Christy?" Her mother rested a hand on her shoulder. "It'll be okay honey. If she couldn't see what she had in you she wasn't worth it."
"Thanks Mom." She gave the shorter woman a weak smile.
……………..
TWO YEARS AFTER NEW YORK
……………..
"Altered Realities. Create a good first impression on the Internet, where the customers of tomorrow are searching for you… Christy speaking." She answered the phone on her desk as she clicked on the latest project Steven sent her. Some part of her felt that the name paid some respect to the woman that made this possible, but she was just humoring Phil with that long spiel when answering the phone.
"Hey Chris." Phil started to talk. "I just landed that account. I was magnificent and your background research and demo weren't too bad either."
"Which account, you were trying to get a few." She knew she should remember but she was still concentrating on finding the bug in this website.
"The one that would start us down the path of wealth and power." His words stopped her distraction and she focused on him.
"You got it?"
"Yes I did."
"Oh My God." She laughed and spun in her chair. This was it. The big time. "Oh my god, Phil… you are amazing."
"I keep telling you that." He chuckled. "So I guess you can hire that assistant you've been wanting, we're expanding. Check out that school you graduated from."
"I will." This made the West Coast division of Altered Realities the big money maker now. Steven would be jealous, but he'd love it.
"And maybe you can get me a sexy secretary." He joked.
"I can see the sexual harassment charges now." She teased him. "But seriously, we need to hire office help. Getting distracted by answering phones slows me way down."
"You got it."
……………..
SIX YEARS AFTER NEW YORK
………………
"Joyce, where is the Peterson file?" Christy asked while studying the report one of her techs had handed her as she got to work.
"Right here Ms. Taylor." Whenever the new receptionist called her that Christy sighed.
"Joyce, I've told you before, we aren't that formal here, that's just Steven's hangup. East coasters are always more uptight." The woman had moved with her husband to the area and instead of losing the valuable employee they'd given her a transfer.
"Okay, sorry Christy. I'll work on that." The woman smiled at her and Christy nodded.
"See that you do." Her tone was teasing as she took the offered file. "Oh, and would you call payroll and tell them that I haven't received the Christmas bonus paperwork, I want to get that approved early so our people actually have it in time to shop."
"Of course Ms… Christy." Joyce grimaced at her almost slip and Christy just chuckled. She understood why Steven was such a stickler to formality in the main office, he had clients drop by more often and the clients wanted that formality. It would take Joyce a while to get used to the less business oriented side of Altered Realities. The West Coast was where most of the techies worked.
She worked behind closed doors on paperwork until lunch. "Ready to go?" Phil poked her head into his office.
"And why is it the head techie has to go to meet and greets?" She sighed. She hated these things. She did less and less coding during the years are more meetings with potential clients.
"Because I just look pretty, I don't know how to answer the tough questions." Phil teased her.
"Okay beauty queen." She stood up and grabbed her jacket. "Let's go."
The meeting was going okay. Christy outlined how they could help the company, how reliable they were, and she smiled played the charming one while Phil outlined costs and contracts. It looked like they'd sign and the money brought in would be good.
Then it all went bad. "We do have one concern." The man to the right of the owner of the company spoke. "It's that you don't screen your company for mutants. We don't want mutants to have access to our files."
Christy took a steadying breath and glanced at Phil, unable to believe she was hearing this. He recovered more quickly and turned back to listen to the rest of this. Christy clenched her fist under the table, trying to hide how nervous and angry she was.
"We are a family oriented, human friendly organization and we support a few like minded causes. A mutant working for your company could cause us a lot of problems."
"You want me to force my staff, to undergo dna testing?" Christy's voice rose a little and she noticed a few people nervously shift in their chairs.
"I'm sorry." Phil interrupted smoothly. "But we have no plans to alter our hiring processes for a contract. It's too much to ask our employees to do that." He stood up and picked up his jacket.
"So you have mutants working at your company?" Mr. Peterson spoke and Christy moved to stand up as well, not liking the tension in the air at all.
"We don't know, and we prefer to keep it that way." Phil answered curtly. "Good luck with your search for a service, but obviously we aren't the right choice for you."
Christy's jaw was clenched as she walked with him out of the building. She could see Phil was walking stiffly and he slammed his car door when he got in.
"I am so sorry Christy. I didn't do my homework, and I didn't know what kind of bastards they were. I have no excuse for pulling you into that." He pulled out of the parking lot and was moving a little faster than normal. Christy couldn't argue, she felt dirty just having been in that building with them.
"You didn't even consider taking their offer." Christy spoke quietly. She knew it was a big client and they'd argued over accepting other contracts before. They could have faked results.
"No, I won't work for people that would lynch my friend if they got a chance." Phil spoke firmly and Christy had to look out the window to regain her composure. "I normally screen the companies much better than this. Steven and I both do that. Altered Realities isn't going to be associated with these hate groups. Steve and I agreed on this, changed our way of getting clients ever since you told us Christy, I know that wasn't easy… I'd never make you work for a client like that. Not again. I wish I'd known before the first one."
Christy remembered the day she came into Phil's office and told him she couldn't do a job he'd sent to her. She'd taken one look at the anti-mutant propaganda that peppered their company newsletter and she decided that she had more integrity than that. That money, her career which had just start, wasn't worth that. Finally she had to tell Phil why she was breaking such a well paying contract and he'd stared at her. For a moment Christy worried that he knew and agreed with the companies beliefs, but he just took the newsletter from her hand and read it.
"Okay. This will cost us, but I'll get rid of them." He broke the contract for her, back when every dollar they made counted. She should have known he wouldn't take another one even if it paid well.
"I didn't know you guys were doing that."
"Hey, we built this company together. We stick together." He smiled at her. "How about we go drinking? We cleared the day for those bastards, so I have nothing else going on."
"A beer sounds good." She smiled.
…………………….
Phil dropped her off at the office around seven. They'd talked for hours and it was nice to reconnect with him. They'd been so busy that they'd drifted apart a little. She dropped her briefcase off and locked up again. She wasn't going to take work home tonight.
Traffic was better at night. It only took her forty minutes to get to her driveway. Christy stepped into her house and called out. "Honey, I'm home."
The frantic scramble of feet on hard wood floors and the yaps of excitement made her smile. "Hey baby." She leaned down and petted her roommate. "How's my little boy? Were you bored?" She glanced out the window and saw the light on at her mother's house. Christy had bought both of them two years ago, when the houses were being built. Living in a room at her mother's house didn't work anymore with her strange hours and her need to be able to work from home occasionally, but she needed someone else to help take care of Link when she was away on business.
When it came time for bed she laid on the soft sheets and stared at the ceiling making a list in her mind of the things she'd need to do the next day. She wondered sometimes what her double would think of the woman Christy became. She was so different from the one that took her over now. Her life didn't look at all similar. Christy sighed. And she was still alone. She used her work as an excuse to not date, or the idea that a woman might be after her money now. She wasn't filthy rich by any means, but if she wanted a new car or a new house she could pay cash. She'd taken that book and used it to help her make investments as well as business decisions and she was successful, well off, respected, and alone.
……………..
"There you are dear." The cultured voice drew Christy's eyes around. The dream didn't supply much background tonight. Emma sat in a chair by a fireplace. "I was wondering if you'd visit. It seems like it's been months."
Christy smiled at the strange re-occurring dream of Emma. Her double must have left a little more than her Psychology degree behind. This Emma had been invading Christy's dreams for the past month. She found herself looking forward to this dream. "Not months." She moved to sit on the chair beside Emma and the fire.
"You practically glow in my dream realm." Emma was studying her. That was another odd thing. Emma insisted it was her dream. Christy just sighed at that comment and let it go. "Have you been feeding again?"
"I don't call it that." Christy grimaced at the mental image that gave her. "I've been absorbing today. I had a crappy day and it helps me relax."
"At least you had a day. I've been sitting in here with nothing but myself to keep me company for so long time means nothing anymore." Emma waved a pale hand as if ordering a drink and a wine glass appeared on the new table on Emma's other side. "My students haunt me."
"Students?"
"Oh, I became a teacher dear, didn't you know?" Emma's jaw tensed for just a moment. "Lovely students, such potential. Gone."
"I'm sorry." Christy spoke softly and reached out to rest her hand on Emma's.
"If I didn't have you here to talk to once in a while I think I might actually go mad. How did you ever survive those months trapped in your own mind? You aren't even a telepath."
"Sometimes I'd act like it was just a big movie I was watching as I saw through her eyes."
"At least you didn't conjure imaginary friends to keep you company." Emma sighed and Christy wondered at her own sanity, since even her dreams called her unreal. It was something she'd struggled with after New York, but she thought she got better. "Enough of my problems. So you had a bad day? Want to talk about it? There is nothing else going on here, we might as well discuss the minutia of your day."
"Oh thanks, make me feel special." Christy sighed. Sometimes her mental Emma was downright insulting, lashing out at her.
"Sorry, comas take it out of me." Emma smiled at her. "So do you want to talk? I do get bored in here and maybe I can help."
Christy woke up to the alarm, feeling tired. She just laid there with her eyes staring at the clock. "Only I would have a dream woman that can be bitchy sometimes." She muttered and tossed her sheets off her body. "God, not another day… Link can I call in sick today?" She muttered towards the dog sleeping on the floor. She had to step over him to get to the bathroom. "You're no fun, you never say yes."
…………………….
"I fired someone today." Christy sighed as she thought about the scene it had been. Once Zack realized what she'd said his face had turned an ugly red. "He was sexually harassing another employee."
"Well then it was the right thing to do." Emma told her and waved a hand at the fire to make it burn brighter.
"Oh I know. I've fired people before, but no one ever glared at me like that for it. I swear he would have killed me if he had a gun."
"Get his picture to security so that if he tries to come into the building or the parking lot they can apprehend him." Emma didn't pretend she wasn't real anymore and Christy gave her dream the same courtesy. Sometimes Christy's subconscious came up with good ideas. This wasn't one of them.
"We aren't that big. I don't have a security person, let alone a few." She sighed. "The West Coast division has just under a hundred employees now. It doesn't make sense to hire security for that. Our building is shared with a book distribution center."
Emma looked thoughtful. "Well, I'd like to say don't worry he'll walk away with his tail between his legs and you'll never hear from him again, but it could just as easily go the other way. Are you a good judge of character?"
"Well, aside from Michelle." She sighed, "I've done pretty well. Zack wasn't my hire. I wouldn't have hired him, there was something off about him."
"Do you think you need to worry?" Emma watched her as Christy thought about it. "If you do, hire security to at least drive by your parking lots regularly. You don't have to put them on payroll, there are companies that do this." Christy nodded. She was concerned, for herself and for the women that reported him.
"So," Emma took a sip of her ever present wine. "Michelle?"
"Cheated." Christy felt her shoulders sag. "In my bed. I found them."
"Oh dear."
"My double was right, but she got the timing wrong. It happened a year after I came back."
"That's been a while hasn't it?"
"Five years." Christy stood up and moved to stare at the mantle of this fireplace. From her seat she couldn't see details, and she had never gotten closer. The mantle had a picture of a group of students, smiling and laughing for the camera. It had a whip laying on its side, white. It also had a picture of Emma and her, the only one taken. Astrid had caught them hugging goodbye. Christy didn't even have a copy of that one. She barely remembered it being done.
"And since then?"
"Would it be horrible of me to say I heard she was living in a bad neighborhood, driving a clunker car, and had a girlfriend that slept around, and it made me happy to hear it?"
Emma laughed. "No, that would make you human." Her tone became more serious. "But what have you been doing?"
Christy didn't answer. She'd built a business and made money. Somehow it didn't quite sound like enough even though it had taken so much of her time and effort.
"I really am getting tired of this room. It doesn't even have four walls." Emma glanced around at the two walled room and the blackness of everything else.
"I tried to call you the other day." Christy turned to move back to her chair. She had to agree the room was ugly, but she would rather be here than in her more normal dreams.
"Why?"
"I miss you and I wanted to see how you were really doing." Christy sighed. "Maybe I keep seeing you because I'm supposed to find you. I've tried a few times over the years, but I just never seem to make contact. These dreams are new and I sometimes think they might be more than dreams."
"I don't have the power to contact anyone. This is just a dream, because I can't reach out and touch anyone from in here." Emma just dismissed it.
…………………….
Christy shut her computer down with a sigh of relief. She'd found the problem in the budget and could finally send it to Steven. It was a data entry error. What should have been a hundred was written as ten thousand. Her department wasn't really going poor. The office was darkened and quiet as she made her way out to the car. Even though it was Spring the cold air and rain had her pulling her coat more tightly around her as she walked.
"So, you thought you could fire me you god damn dyke?" The menacing voice caused her heart to pound as she started to turn towards it. She saw Zack barely before the pain hit her. She cried out and fell to the cold concrete as pain radiated from her side, where he'd hit her with a bat. "Teach you a lesson bitch." She screamed as he hit her again and then she moved to try and crawl away.
"Oh no." Zack's voice was more of a growl. He wasn't sane. Christy could hear another blow coming and she rolled over, away from it. Her foot lashed out at him, knocking him off his feet. She slammed her foot into his face before she moved to get up, tears of pain in her eyes as she tried to run for the car.
"No, you're not getting away!" She heard him and tried to fumble for her keys. The bright light and siren startled her.
"Freeze!" A deep voice called out and Christy turned toward him and the car. Police… no, the security she'd hired. Zack turned and tried to run, but one large man tackled him to the ground and
Christy sagged against her car in relief. "Are you okay ma'am?" The man who'd driven the security car came up to her as Zack was tossed into the back seat of their car.
"No." She just shook her head. "No." Her body started to shake.
"Should I call an ambulance?" He asked and she wanted to tell him she was fine, but her ribs ached, throbbed and her head… she blinked a few times to try to fight off the blurriness.
"No, call the cops." She couldn't drive like this, but she could give a statement. After that she could get a ride to the hospital. And if she had to be hospitalized Zack might get a harsher sentence. She was putting that bastard in jail.
She watched as a police car came and took custody of Zack. Her ex-employee had blood dripping down his face from what might have been a broken nose. She did that and felt no remorse for the violence. She grimaced as she tried to stand up straighter; the ache in her ribs worried her. The officers took statements from her and the two men that save her.
"Christy?" Phil ran up to her. The security company probably called him. "Oh god, you look like you lost a fight." He gently reached for her forehead before stopping himself. The pain in his eyes, the sympathy, was almost more than she could take right now.
Her voice was controlled. "I need a ride to the hospital."
"Of course, Of course I'll take you."
"Zack is going to do some serious time. Get a lawyer. I want to ruin him." Her eyes were cold. She almost felt like looking around for Demise, her voice held that woman's ruthlessness, but it was her. She didn't feel any remorse for her dark thoughts and just let herself hold onto her anger. It was justified and it kept her from crying.
She had to stay overnight for observation, because she had a concussion. Christy hated the hospital, the smell, the way she had to stay alert so that no one drew blood or anything that could be dna tested. But finally she was able to go home with a handy bottle of pain pills and a few bruised ribs. Her left eye was black and swollen and her jaw ached when she chewed.
Still, as she stood in the doorway of her home she shook her head. The security saved her, the security that Emma told her to get. She would have dismissed her worries and it could have cost her big time.
…………..
"You're fuzzy, out of focus." Emma sounded concerned. Christy felt out of focus.
"I'm taking pain pills." Christy carefully sat down. "I was attacked. Zack attacked me."
"Oh…" Emma looked angry, willing to protect her. It was a nice feeling to see how much her dream Emma cared, and Christy ignored the strangeness of it.
"The security you told me to hire came in handy."
"That's good, but I'm sorry you needed it at all."
"Me too." Christy took a breath to try and calm down. "God I was scared. I'm not like her, I don't know to fight. He was going to beat me to death with a baseball bat." For the first time ever since these dreams began almost a year ago it was Emma reaching out to her. Emma pulled Christy into her arms and held her as Christy finally let herself cry.
"I know. I felt like that after Max attacked me. If that other Christy hadn't been there, I wondered what would have happened. She stopped him from hurting me, but his eyes… they haunted me for a while." Emma spoke softly. "I made it a point to learn how to protect myself after that. I was tired of having no idea what to do if I couldn't make my powers protect me." Emma wiped Christy's tears away. "I'd never tell anyone that in real life, but there's no harm here. Take self defense classes. It will make you feel safer; it will even make you safer."
Christy enjoyed the feeling of arms around her and didn't say anything or do anything that would change this dream. She felt safer in these arms. She could feel the press of Emma's body, could smell her shampoo and Christy marveled at the details her normal dreams lacked.
"Sometimes…" Christy spoke softly as she enjoyed being held. "I really envy my double."
"Why?" Emma's hand was gently caressing Christy's hair. It felt like a lover's caress and Christy wondered if her dream would actually give that to her. If she concentrated hard enough could she make it happen?
"Her Emma wasn't straight." Christy leaned in harder and rested her forehead on Emma's shoulder. "It just doesn't seem fair does it? I've been good, I've given to charity. I've done my best to do the right thing even if it costs me, because I don't want to be like her, and I don't have love, while she did horrible things and she does. I feel like Santa didn't double check his list hard enough because the wrong Christy is lonely."
"Everyone is lonely dear, in their own way." Emma sighed. "But perhaps your double, if she ever did get home, is less lonely than the rest of us. God knows she was dripping with loneliness when she was here."
"She felt a lot less lonely when you were with her." Christy moved to pull away and sat in the new addition to the room, a couch. Emma had room to sit with her. "I do too now." And who developed an imaginary friend in their twenties? Lonely children could get away with it, but Christy wasn't one of those. Well, she could worry about that during the day like she normally did. She didn't want to waste this time.
"You are a rather sweet illusion dear. Much kinder than the other ones I have."
Christy just sighed as she wondered if maybe the real Emma had screwed her up after all. Christy never felt all there since the possession and she'd blamed her double, but her double's images wasn't the one in front of her telling her she wasn't real.
Time had passed, but it was always hard to figure out if there was more night left. Emma got up and moved to the fireplace mantel. Christy watched her pick up a picture and stare at it. "Christy, I want to thank you for being here. If all I had to listen to were the ghosts of my students blaming me for their deaths…" Emma sighed and put the picture back down. "You have no idea how much I look forward to seeing you."
Christy didn't know what to say. She watched Emma and noticed the same fuzzy quality on Emma she'd said Christy had. "I've been feeling different lately." Emma continued. "I think I'm waking up. It's doubtful I'll remember any of this. It's a shame, I would have liked to remember enough to hunt you down and see if you really are as delightful in real life as you are in my dreams."
"What?" Christy asked, trying to make sense of that, but the alarm woke her ending her dream. She slammed her hand down on the damn thing and shut it off. "Waking up?" Did that mean her dream was going to leave her now?
Christy's alarm shouldn't have even been set. She wasn't supposed to work today. She cursed herself for waking up as she lay back down and tried to fall asleep again. Maybe if she thought about nothing but Emma when she finally did she'd get the dream back. She'd done that before when she was little with other dreams she liked.
She stared up at the ceiling, too tense to sleep and cursed the tears in her eyes over such a stupid thing. She'd fall asleep again that night and Emma would be there. A dream didn't just announce they wouldn't be back. It didn't work that way.
It felt like she'd lost a real friend.
………………