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marysuevirus2024-05-10 04:14 pm
ladydeathfaerie) wrote in marysuevirus2024-05-10 04:14 pm
Among the Strong
Title: Among the Strong
Chapter Fifteen: Worries
Fandom: the Marvel universe
Rating: 18 and up
Warnings: graphic violence, language, sex, dark themes, anything else i can toss in.
Disclaimer: the recognizable characters and places contained herein are the property of Marvel. i'm merely borrowing for the sake of entertainment. no money is being made from this venture. Haley belongs todazzledfirestar Morgan belongs toginevra Roxxy belongs tonanaeanaven Jehnna belongs to silverfox_chan and Dare belongs to me. the concept and title of The Mary Sue Virus are used with permission from dazzledfirestar .
Author's Notes: this is almost entirely Daz's fault. okay. so it really isn't. its actually almost 100% my fault. Daz just did a whole lot of encouraging. this fic is going to be kind of dark, so please keep that in mind while reading.
Among the Strong - the index
Sam's steps faltered when he was only a foot or less from the spot on the wall where the door appeared. Frowning at the unmarked space, he turned and paced back toward the love seat on the back wall. He had no doubt, if he had the room, and he wasn't somehow cut off from his powers, he'd be moving so much faster and leaving a fire trail in his wake.
It felt like it had been forever since the goblins had come to collect Jehnna. They hadn't said why they were there for her, only their typical line of going with them because their presence was expected. Except, when Sam and moved to join her, a pair of goblins had forced him back while the other pair had more or less pushed Jehnna toward the door. And he'd been left alone with a queasy feeling in the pit of his stomach and the worry that Sinister was doing something, well, sinister.
He tried to calm himself. But nothing seemed to help ease the worry digging in under his breast bone. He wasn't worried so much about the pregnancy, even though he knew there were always risks. His mother had had her own share of babies over the years so Sam had been around pregnancies enough to know that things could run as smooth as a finely tuned engine or go bad faster than road kill. No, most of his worry was designated for Jehnna, and what Sinister might be doing to her.
That thought saw him resuming his pacing game. It felt slow, like he was wading through molasses. He swore it felt as if time was moving slower than usual, maybe even moving backward. Of course, that feeling could probably be blamed on his anxiousness. About Jehnna. About the baby. About the complicated mess that was his feelings. And there was so much of that.
When this had all started, he'd looked at Jehnna and seen a pretty girl who just so happened to be married to a co-worker and friend. The moment he'd opened his eyes and had seen her in the room with him, when he'd realized that his erection hadn't come about by entirely natural means, he'd told himself that she was off limits. He'd told himself that he would do whatever was necessary to resist her charms. And then had come that damned cube and Sinister's insistence that they get naked with one another. Sam hadn't liked it, but he'd been more than capable of reading between the lines and he'd known that not doing as they were told would result in some pretty unpleasant ways of convincing them to behave. And he'd been lost.
Of course he'd taken notice of Jehnna at the school. Even before she and Warren had become a couple. It was hard not to notice her. She'd stood out as special, even among all the special and unique people who inhabited the school. Oh, she'd presented herself as dark and brooding, but he'd seen through it. He'd seen a picture of her, somewhere, before she'd come to the school. She'd been all blonde hair and smiles and golden sunshine. The dark and brooding person she'd shown the school was some kind of show. A shield or defensive measure. He'd never truly believed she was as dark and angsty as she'd wanted everyone to think she was.
He felt that title belonged to someone else entirely.
It was Jehnna's honest smile and her sweet nature that had brought his crush to life. He'd seen her use it with so many people. It was as if she'd been put on the Earth to make everyone happier. Her presence at the school sure had made him happier. And he'd secretly harbored hope. Hope that she might one day turn her attention his way. But it hadn't happened the way he'd hoped. It had been Warren who had earned her bright smile and even brighter gaze. And who could blame her? Warren lived up to his code name in looks. Quite a few members of the student body fell victim to his heavenly face and temperament.
Sam had been hurt, naturally, but he hadn't allowed that to get in the way of anything. Human emotions being what they were, he hadn't been completely surprised. There'd never been anything to indicate that she might turn her attentions his way. Hell, he wasn't even sure she'd known he existed back then.
Even so, the crush had never faded. In fact, over the years, it had grown and matured. He'd never let his feelings get in the way of his working and personal relationship with Warren. And he'd never once let anyone know how he'd felt about Jehnna. He had, in point of fact, kept all of that to himself. Well, he'd mentioned it to his momma. But he'd only told her that there was a girl he fancied. His momma, being a typical mother, had asked so many questions to which he'd had no real answers. He'd told her something between truth and fiction, doing his best to keep it from snowballing into something that would come back and bite him in the ass.
It had. But not in the way he'd expected it to. Frowning at himself, he turned and paced back toward the non-existent door.
This was a conundrum of epic proportions. On the one hand, having been locked in this room with Jehnna had only proved to him that his crush had, at some point, blossomed into full on love. She was perfect in every way that he considered important. Problem was, she had a life and a family with another man. A man who was a friend and a peer. Sam didn't want to do anything to hurt Warren or Jehnna. In fact, what he wanted was what Warren had.
Jehnna as his wife. Children that so obviously loved, and were loved by, their parents. A family that was amazing and beautiful. What Warren had with Jehnna gave the appearance of being perfect. Oh, he knew there was no such thing as perfect. Perfect was an idealized belief that couldn't and never would exist. But, to him, Jehnna and Warren and their kids were perfect. And, if he was being entirely honest with himself, it was a perfect he wanted.
Which made this whole thing all the harder. When they went back, and he had to believe they would, Jehnna would more than likely return to her life with Warren. The way she talked, despite her proclamations of love, made Sam think it was an inevitability. She'd said they'd figure it out when they got back. But he knew, deep in his heart, that she loved Warren enough to want to stay at his side for the rest of her life. That was hard enough to stomach. But throw on top of it the fact that their child, his and Jehnna's, wouldn't be going with them? That was enough to crush his spirit.
Sam knew, based on how they'd ended up in what amounted to a perverse, forced porno movie and insane science experiment, that Sinister would take the child as soon as she left her mother's womb. He didn't know how Jehnna might feel about that. It had only been a few days since Sinister had arrived with a pregnancy test in hand to prove or disprove the theory he'd put forth to Jehnna. It had, of course, confirmed his suspicions. Sam wasn't sure what Jehnna might feel about this baby. But Sam...
This was his first baby. And the knowledge that he'd never see her, unless he was facing her down in a fight, twisted his guts up worse than that one time he'd eaten some bad Tex-Mex. He'd always wanted to have children and be a father. Now his wish was coming true, but in the worst possible way imaginable. He wanted this child. He wanted to rear her with Jehnna. He wanted...
His thoughts were cut off by the sound of the door sliding open. Sam looked up, ready to offer Jehnna his love and support and whatever else she needed after her "appointment" with Sinister, and stopped dead in his tracks. The goblins were wheeling a gurney through the door, upon which Jehnna was laid. Her eyes were closed, her face lax in sleep. Her head rocked just the slightest as the stretched rolled to a stop not far from the bed.
He was at her side even before the goblins had pulled backed away to block the door. "Jehnna? Honey?" he asked, one hand reaching out to rest against her forehead. She didn't respond, prompting him to pull an eyelid up. Her pupils were wide, suggesting she was unconscious by design, and a fury he couldn't ever remember feeling exploded inside of him and mushroomed outward like some kind of nuclear bomb going off. He was halfway toward the nearest goblin before it lifted its tail in silent warning.
The war between making an attempt at the ugly thing and seeing to Jehnna was surprisingly stronger than he felt it should have been. His first concern was to her and her alone. He shouldn't have been considering attacking the goblin when she so obviously needed his help. But his emotions were running wild and he'd almost fallen victim to his anger.
Turning from the goblins, Sam scooped Jehnna up and turned toward the bed. One foot might have nudged the stretcher toward the quartet of creatures with enough force to leave bruises. He didn't care if they took offense. All he cared about was seeing Jehnna's eyes staring up at him once again.
After settling her on the bed, he went to the mini-fridge and removed a bottle of cold water from within. It had shown up not long after their arrival, tucked into the bare corner between the table and the dresser. Sam took the water with him back to the bed and laid the cool plastic of it against Jehnna's cheek. It took what seemed like forever before her eyes started fluttering, as if she was fighting against whatever it was Sinister had given her. Finally, after what felt like an age, her eyes opened and focused on his face. "Sam?" The breathiness of her voice was the best thing he'd heard all day.
"Thank God!" he breathed softly before leaning down and pressing a kiss to her forehead. Yes. Thank God she was awake.
~*~
There was no sound in the room save the shushing of feathers moving in agitation against one another. Warren barely made note of it, though. His mind was too occupied by everything that had happened in the past few days. It had come as a kick to the gut to find out that Morgan was pregnant.It shouldn't have, given the amount of time the two of them had spent mussing up the sheets in the cage, then returning to their room to do it time and again. And yet, here he was, completely unprepared for the fact that two lines had shown up on the pregnancy test Sinister had decided to hand deliver to their room.
Having that madman in their personal space had left him edgy and anxious. Even worse had been the look on Morgan's face when he'd held the box out to her. She'd taken it without even a glimmer of surprise. Which told Warren she'd, at the very least, suspected. And she hadn't said a word to him. He had honestly been kind of hurt by that.
Now, he was left in the room on his own. The goblins had arrived some time ago and herded Morgan toward the door, very pointedly making sure Warren had stayed put. He didn't need psychic powers to know that Sinister was up probably up to something unsavory. He just couldn't figure out what that unsavory thing was and it was making him crazy. Well, crazier. Knowing Morgan was pregnant had already put him on that crazy train.
Surprise babies had never been a thing with he and Jehnna. They'd always discussed it when they'd decided it was time to have another one. He'd watched his friends and colleagues seemingly have babies on a whim, without any sort of planning, and he'd wondered why they'd do something like that to themselves. Being ready for any eventuality was, in his mind, a good way to go into a pregnancy. Hell, being ready mentally to have a child was a good thing.
So finding out Morgan was pregnant had knocked him for a loop. It really shouldn't have. He knew that on some level. He'd known since almost the beginning what Sinister's end goal to this whole thing was meant to be. A pregnancy shouldn't have thrown him off his game the way it had.
Of course, knowing what was going to happen to that baby in the end might have something to do with how he was coping. Which was to say, not very well at all. There were so many emotions attached to having a child. The constant worry that something could go wrong. The desire to see a happy, healthy child. The fear that this one would be the one that took his partner away from him. He'd had those worries each and every time Jehnna had been pregnant. And now, he was dealing with them around Morgan's pregnancy.
Morgan, who was supposed to be with one of his team mates. Morgan, who was not supposed to be carrying his child. Morgan, with whom he'd somehow fallen madly in love. And that was another layer of weird to this whole bizarre mess. Those emotions only seemed to be heightened now that they were having a child together.
It wasn't supposed to be like this. He wasn't supposed to be in love with someone else's partner. He was supposed to be in love with his wife. And he was. Jehnna was all light and sunshine, despite her tendency to try and look moody. He'd damn near fallen for her on sight way back when. Something about her naïveté and her sweet nature had ensnared him. He'd welcomed sitting in on her training sessions with Summers. Any excuse to be near her. Almost like a moth to a flame.
The comparison made him chuckle for a moment, and he flexed his wings. The rustle of feathers was louder this time before tapering off into still silence. Yeah, he'd flown as close to her sun as he'd been able, and she'd trapped him as neatly as any bird in a cage. And he hadn't minded. He hadn't minded when he'd seen how innocent she was compared to her friends. He'd liked that about her, liked being the one who had introduced her to pleasure. She was smart in her own way, as most people were. She was beautiful and caring. She was everything he'd ever thought he wanted in wife. Still wanted.
But Morgan had shown him something else. Something different. Morgan had showed him that there was a special kind of pleasure to be had from hedonism. Morgan relished sex in a way Jehnna didn't. Not that Jehnna didn't like it. She just viewed it in ways that Morgan didn't. Morgan was open about her sexuality and her partners. She'd told him about Dare and how the woman was dominating and demanding with her. She'd told him about Logan, and how he was always gentle and sweet when they were together. And she'd told him about Remy, who made every encounter into some kind of sensual game of poker. And how she won those games same as he did.
The more he'd learned about Morgan and her attitudes toward sex, the more he'd realized that he'd been missing that with Jehnna. It was a hard pill to swallow. The love that he'd developed for Morgan had made that pill bitter. How did one love two people at the same time? Morgan made it sound easy. Maybe it was for her. But Warren hadn't been given that choice growing up. His father had expected something else from him. Something more respectable. Even after Warren's mutation had shown up, there had been that expectation.
He sighed and flexed his wings again. His head was a jumble of headache-inducing thoughts. And, somewhere in there, was a memory that would not leave him be. A memory that only added to the worry and fear that already filled him. A memory of Jehnna, pale and exhausted as she lay in bed. It had been with their last child. Elizabeth. There'd been some sort of problem with the pregnancy and Henry had ordered bed rest. It had come as a shock because she'd already delivered three healthy children without complications. Warren had learned then that such a thing could happen to any pregnancy at any time.
That knowledge ramped his worry up more. Because he was caught up in thinking about Jehnna. What if it happened to her again? What if she had problems and he wasn't there to take care of her? He had to hope, no - believe, that whoever was with her would take care of her during her pregnancy. That he'd be there for her the same way Warren had been.
He was also caught up in thinking about Morgan. What is she had problems with this baby? What if her pregnancy was one of the ones that went weird? He remembered the fear of losing Jehnna. It was now interwoven with the fear that he'd lose Morgan. It was bad enough that he knew he'd never see this child, never help her grow into adulthood. If he lost Morgan because of her? If he lost both of them? He didn't know what would become of him if that happened.
His thoughts were running away from him, his worry practically choking the breath from his lungs, when the door swished open. Warren shifted his attention to the door to find the goblins pushing a gurney into the room. Morgan lay on its thin mat, eyes closed. Warren took a moment to ensure her chest rose and fell with her breathing before he could find the strength to stand and move to her side.
It was an easy thing to pick her up and move her to the bed. By the time he had her settled, the gurney and the goblins were gone. The door had just slid shut when Morgan took a deep breath, like she was waking up from a good sleep. Warren frowned. He didn't want to think why she'd left conscious and come back unconscious. Sinister was up to something. Warren was sure of it. Then Morgan was looking at him with confusion in her big green eyes and he pushed it aside. "Hey, beautiful," he said, offering her a soft smile. "Welcome back."
"Warren? He didn't miss the confusion in her voice. "What happened? I remember leaving with the goblins. How did I get back here?"
"They brought you," he told her. He didn't bother telling her she'd been unconscious. He just continued to give her that smile as he reached up to brush her hair away from her face. "Welcome back. Did you have fun?"
The ridiculous question did exactly as he'd hoped it would. It chased away the confusion and small bit of fear crowding her gaze and brought a smile to her face. She laughed before sitting up so she could throw her arms around him. "Silly man," she chuckled before kissing him. The press of her lips against his own saw him forgetting all about his worry.
~*~
The cards were slick and slippery between his fingertips. He turned them over and over, rotating top to bottom and bottom to top. Back to front and front to back. He threw them across the room absently, each one slapping up against the wall before falling harmlessly to the floor. He missed the feel of energy sliding from his fingers to the cards. Missed the current of awareness that followed the card to its target. Missed the ground-shaking explosions and the hail of debris. He missed being able to protect himself and the people he cared about.
His mind turned to Dare, who had been silent and sullen when she'd left with the goblins. Just as she'd been since Sinister's visit to their room. Since she'd used the pregnancy test and had been faced with the results. Results she couldn't hide anymore. Results she couldn't pretend didn't exist.
She was pregnant. With his baby. And she had crawled so far inside of herself that he could barely sense her. It was almost like living with an automaton. Or, worse, a zombie. There was practically nothing of Dare there.
He'd seen it before. Had a front row seat for it the last time. The parallels between Sinister and Creed were astoundingly close. Creed had been more than a decade ago, but he could still see the scars it had left on him. And on Dare. She'd been like this the last time, so caught up in her head that she'd practically stopped existing. He saw it for what it was. A defense mechanism. But it worried him because he had to coax her into eating. Coax her into sleeping. He showered with her, afraid somewhere in his head that she'd find a way to leave him alone here. That she'd go and take their baby with her. The very idea that she'd find a way to end her life scared him to death.
Remy knew it was an irrational thought. He knew Dare was stronger than that. Stronger than she believed she was. She'd survived so much before she'd even come to the school. She'd survived captivity under Creed's not-so-tender hand. She'd survived the stares and whispers of classmates when she'd come back from that captivity pregnant. She'd survived the knowledge that the baby she carried was Creed's and not Remy's. She would survive this.
And that was the problem. She'd spent her entire life just surviving. She'd been thrown from one trauma to another and he was, in some ways, surprised that she hadn't broken under the weight of it all. He knew that there'd been a lot for her to deal with. The Finley boy. The warehouse fire. Then Creed. Facing Creed down a second and a third time. Dying. Coming back. Killing people. There was so much sorrow written into her story and he hated what it did to her. She did her best to keep it private, to lock it away where no one could see.
But that was hard to do when she was in relationships with people who were literally in her head. And he knew just what it all did to her. He'd vowed to himself, all those years ago, when he'd watched her curl in on herself because of Creed's sadistic behavior, that he would find some way to bring light to her life. To bring her the joy and happiness she needed. The joy and happiness she deserved. He'd thought the foursome might be the way to make it happen. But he and Morgan and Logan hadn't considered how she might misconstrue and twist the foursome. He'd never even realized she hadn't understood how it was supposed to work.
She'd spent so much time suffering in silence, punishing herself for things that hadn't been her fault, that he'd started to wonder if her family had brought her up Catholic. The guilt was strong with her.
Dee should have been the start of that joy and happiness. She should have been Remy's child. She should have been their child. Creed, sick bastard that he'd been, had seen to it that even that small joy had been stolen from her. From them both. Remy had seen the way Dare had clung so desperately to the idea that the baby she carried had been his. And he'd seen the way her heart had broken, just the tiniest bit, when it had become clear that Creed had managed one finally parting gift. It had been as difficult for him as it had been for her.
She'd never held Dee's parentage against her child, though. She'd loved the girl with all that she'd had the moment Dee had made her appearance in the world. Remy'd loved her, too, naturally. He'd loved her as much for his own sake as for Dare's. But that love had been tempered with the knowledge that Creed had cheated him of the one thing he'd yearned for most. A family of his own. It had been difficult to come to terms with the knowledge that Dare's baby wasn't his. That Morgan's baby wasn't his. It had been enough to make him wish for the numbness of the drugs once more.
It had been the foursome that had put everything in order for him. That had pushed the thoughts of self-harm aside. Because he'd realized then, when Logan had been trying so hard to explain to Dare what the two of them had decided and Morgan had cast her doubts on the whole thing, that he'd already had the family he'd been searching for most of his life. That family had been spread out around him, trying to find a new type of normal. Logan, who loved Dare so deeply that he'd willingly taken on the role of father for a child he hadn't produced. Morgan, who was torn between three very different lovers for three very different reasons. And Dare, who had never asked anything of him and sacrificed her own happiness for him despite the deep well of her feelings and wants and desires.
And now, after more than a decade of building on that family with his children and friends and their children, Sinister was fucking with the whole thing.
The emotional toll of their captivity had been wearing on them since the start, He was sure everyone was lost and confused. And horrified by the newest turn of events. He couldn't even begin to imagine how everyone else was dealing with the knowledge that their child would be taken away to become one of Apocalypse's horsemen. But he knew how he was dealing with it. And he knew how Dare was dealing with it.
He'd already acknowledged the child as his. As theirs. The child Creed had denied them. And he knew that Dare had shut down in an effort to avoid the pain of the loss to come. He'd seen it in her face when she'd come out of the bathroom with the pregnancy test held in her grasp. Her fingers had been so loose, it had been easy to pull the test from her hold. He'd pulled her into his embrace and she'd gone. But she'd been little more than a doll. He'd waited until Sinister had left to try and talk to her. Not that he didn't think Sinister wouldn't hear and see their conversation. But she deserved that small illusion of privacy. Only she hadn't said anything. She'd allowed him to hold her, but he'd gotten nothing from her.
She was slipping away from him and he didn't know how to bring her back. He didn't know what to do or say that would put a smile on her face. That would see her saying his name. That would bring forth anything. He didn't want to lose her. He couldn't. He needed her. Loved her. More than she knew. He had to make her realize that.
Maybe, when she got back from whatever it was Sinister had needed from her, he could start. Maybe he could do something to erase the image of her following the goblins out the door listlessly. Assuming whatever it was that Sinister needed didn't drive her further into that hole. He could only hope that he hadn't already lost her.
Remy was in the middle of cursing Sinister to eternal damnation when the door slid open. He looked up, a smile on his face in the hopes that it would lift Dare's spirits. The sight that met his eyes saw him coming to his feet so fast that the chair toppled over behind him and he had a trio of cards ready to throw before he remembered that it would be pointless.
He crossed to the stetcher the goblins had wheeled in and snatched Dare off it. She was limp in his arms and what little he could feel of her thoughts were so sluggish that he knew she'd been drugged. Remy tucked Dare into bed, then lifted his eyes to the ceiling. He didn't know if the cameras where there for certain. It was only a hunch. But he didn't care. He knew he'd get his point across either way. "You hurt her and I'm gon' find you. When dis all over, I'm gon' hunt you down and kill you myself." His voice was low, filled with deadly intent. With promise.
"Remy? Who are you talking to?" Dare's voice was soft, filled with lethargy. But it was also filled with her. He was sure it wouldn't last but, for the moment, he'd take it. He settled himself on the bed next to her and pulled her into his arms before planting a kiss on her lips.
"No one, petit," he told her. He settled her head on his shoulder and let his hands trail up and down her arm and her back until she was damn near boneless against him. Then he stroked her arm and back some more. "No one important."
~*~
His gaze flicked around the room for what had to be the millionth time in the past... however many minutes. Same empty, plain, lifeless walls. Same boring table and its two chairs. Same serviceable dresser. Same rumpled sheets on the same double bed. The room was the same as it always had been. But it was far more intolerable since the goblins had come to take Haley away. They hadn't said why and they'd blocked any attempt he might have made to go with her. Not that he'd tried. He knew better. He had no doubt that Sinister had plans that he wanted to remain secret. That didn't mean Scott liked the idea of Haley being along with the asshole, though.
He had no doubts that whatever it was Sinister needed privacy for, it was nothing good. The problem was, he couldn't imagine what it might be. Sinister was capable of so many dark deeds that it was virtually impossible for Scott to pin down any one thing. Whatever it was that Sinister was doing, it meant only the worst for Haley. Of that, he was sure.
It was that kind of knowledge that had his head all messed up. Because Haley was suffering through whatever Sinister was doing. And not just Haley. She and their baby both. They were suffering and he couldn't do anything to stop it. Or help.
It felt so weird to say that. Haley and their baby. Her confession the other day had thrown him for a loop. He'd been expecting it, of course, but to hear her say that she was pregnant was still a shock to the system. Hell, he was still in shock over that news. Especially when Sinister's hand-delivered pregnancy test had confirmed it. He still wasn't sure how he was supposed to feel about all of it.
If he was being honest, the idea of a child scared the living shit out of him. It was something he and Jean had talked about. But, for some reason or another, it had never happened. Maybe the stars or Fate had been against them. Maybe it was something else. Whatever the reason, some part of him had stopped hoping for a child. Had stopped making himself go through that particular disappointment. And then this whole thing had happened.
Sinister had obviously been busy to have concocted such a plan. Scott wasn't sure if the man had been watching the news or if he'd spoken with people or if it had come to him in a dream. All he knew was Sinister had obviously seen something in Haley and himself to have set this up. He had to have seen something in all of his captives to have set this whole thing up. Maybe his only goal had been a baby of strong mutant blood from each of his female captives. Maybe one of the more twisted parts of his brain had hoped for what he'd gotten.
He had to have known, when he'd started pairing them off, that the likelihood of his captives starting to develop feelings for one another was high. Maybe he'd counted on it happening, with the hopes that it would create more chaos when he sent them back to their world. Scott was convinced that they weren't anywhere on Earth. The professor would have found them by now and someone would have attempted a rescue or six. He only wish such a thing had come to pass so that he, they all, could have been spared what had been forced upon them.
Sinister was probably enjoying the show they were giving him. The way he and Haley fawned over one another was worthy of a tub of popcorn and some cheesy Eighties pop song. The kind of love ballads that had been written for or been in the blockbusters of the day. This had to be entertaining shit for him. Because not for a minute did Scott think that Sinister didn't see and hear everything.
Whatever happened at the end of all this, lives had changed permanently. His life. Haley's life. The lives of everyone here and the lives of those they'd left behind. He couldn't help but wonder what would happen when he got home and Jean saw what was in his head. When she learned about his relationship with Haley. About the baby Haley carried. His first child. A child he should have, by rights, been having with Jean. How did he explain to the woman he'd left behind that he'd fallen in love with the woman he'd gotten paired off with here?
That wasn't going to go well. Going home was going to cause so many problems. The last thing he'd ever wanted to do was hurt Jean. But he'd never intended to be trapped in a room with Haley. And he'd never intended to fall in love with her. Would Jean believe him? Or would she accuse him of infidelity without even considering what things were like here in this place? He'd tried to keep his emotions from running away with him. But he was only human. And Haley was amazing. Beautiful. Intelligent. Caring. Warm. All that and so many other things.
And, truth be told, he wanted the baby she carried in her belly. He'd seen his daughter and he knew she'd be capable and formidable as an adult. The past few nights, after Haley had gone to sleep, he'd sat up and simply watched. Even though there was nothing to see. Nothing to prove there was a child beyond that test Haley had taken. But he knew. He was certain. So he'd remained awake late into the night, one hand spread over her flat belly as he'd whispered words of love and encouragement to a child he'd never get to see grow up. He wanted her to know that she was loved. That she was wanted. That no matter the circumstances around her creation, she was made with love.
He was sure Haley would think he was a sap for doing something like that. Which was why he did it when she was asleep. He didn't want to see the teasing glint in her eyes. Or, worse, the sorrow and hopelessness. There had to be some way to come out of this with their sanity, and their child, in tact. There just had to. Maybe, if he had access to his powers...
He cursed Sinister for the sadistic son-of-a-bitch he was. He had to have planned this down the tiniest detail. Who to pair. How to grab them. When to grab them. He'd done his homework, not that Scott expected anything less from the madman. He just didn't know what had caught his attention this time. Or who. Whatever the reasons, they were all suffering for the man's delusions of grandeur. He knew that some of the captives were going to have a harder time with this whole thing than others. And he knew that, no matter what anyone tried to tell him, that was going to be on his head.
He should have seen something like this coming. He was the leader of the X-Men. All of them. He should have known that they'd have to face Sinister sooner or later. He should have been prepared. His failure to keep his people safe was going to eat at him until the day he died. And if any harm came to Haley and his baby... There was no place Sinister could hide from him. Scott would find the psycho. And he'd end him. Once and for all.
The sound of the door opening pushed away the image of a single optic blast leaving nothing but fine particles of Sinister. He looked up from his spot on the love seat to find that the goblins were rolling a stretcher into the room. He was on his feet the moment he recognized the form laid out on it. And anger flooded him as he realized there was something wrong with Haley.
His hand moved without thought, lifting toward a visor that wasn't there. And he'd taken a handful of steps forward before he even realized what he was doing. One of the goblins scuttled forward and waved a clawed hand at him in warning. Scott took a breath and lifted both hands in a gesture meant to indicate he was harmless.
The goblins rolled the stretcher close to the bed, then moved as one back to the doorway. Scott took that to mean they were done and he could move. He stepped forward carefully, his attention divided between the goblins and Haley. She hadn't stirred yet, letting him know she had been rendered unconscious at some point. His temper came to a boil again and it took every last bit of willpower he possessed to cross to her slowly, to appear calm as he picked her up and moved her to the bed.
The stretcher went out the door with the goblins, leaving him alone with Haley. A quick check assured him that she was unharmed. He saw no bruises or wounds to suggest she'd had a fight with Sinister. Which left him to believe she'd been given something to put her to sleep. All he could do was sit and wait for her to wake up. So he took hold of her hand with his own and settled his free hand on her belly. Silently, he asked whoever was listening to let her be okay. To let their baby be okay.
"Mmm. Scott? Something wrong?"
The question was made in a soft, sleep-filled voice. Haley was staring up at him with a dreamy smile. He returned it with one of his own, then leaned down and kissed her hard. To convince himself she was okay. "Not a thing."
"Mmkay," she replied. The hand he held tugged and pulled him toward her. "Come to bed, lover. I want you."
Her husky words hit him like a sledge hammer and need rushed into him. He was hard in an instant. Throwing everything aside, all his worries and his fears and the reasons not to do this, Scott let her pull him down on top of her. And he spent the rest of the night proving to himself that she was there and she was okay.
And she was his.
Chapter Fifteen: Worries
Fandom: the Marvel universe
Rating: 18 and up
Warnings: graphic violence, language, sex, dark themes, anything else i can toss in.
Disclaimer: the recognizable characters and places contained herein are the property of Marvel. i'm merely borrowing for the sake of entertainment. no money is being made from this venture. Haley belongs to
dazzledfirestar Morgan belongs toginevra Roxxy belongs tonanaeanaven Jehnna belongs to silverfox_chan and Dare belongs to me. the concept and title of The Mary Sue Virus are used with permission from dazzledfirestar . Author's Notes: this is almost entirely Daz's fault. okay. so it really isn't. its actually almost 100% my fault. Daz just did a whole lot of encouraging. this fic is going to be kind of dark, so please keep that in mind while reading.
Among the Strong - the index
Sam's steps faltered when he was only a foot or less from the spot on the wall where the door appeared. Frowning at the unmarked space, he turned and paced back toward the love seat on the back wall. He had no doubt, if he had the room, and he wasn't somehow cut off from his powers, he'd be moving so much faster and leaving a fire trail in his wake.
It felt like it had been forever since the goblins had come to collect Jehnna. They hadn't said why they were there for her, only their typical line of going with them because their presence was expected. Except, when Sam and moved to join her, a pair of goblins had forced him back while the other pair had more or less pushed Jehnna toward the door. And he'd been left alone with a queasy feeling in the pit of his stomach and the worry that Sinister was doing something, well, sinister.
He tried to calm himself. But nothing seemed to help ease the worry digging in under his breast bone. He wasn't worried so much about the pregnancy, even though he knew there were always risks. His mother had had her own share of babies over the years so Sam had been around pregnancies enough to know that things could run as smooth as a finely tuned engine or go bad faster than road kill. No, most of his worry was designated for Jehnna, and what Sinister might be doing to her.
That thought saw him resuming his pacing game. It felt slow, like he was wading through molasses. He swore it felt as if time was moving slower than usual, maybe even moving backward. Of course, that feeling could probably be blamed on his anxiousness. About Jehnna. About the baby. About the complicated mess that was his feelings. And there was so much of that.
When this had all started, he'd looked at Jehnna and seen a pretty girl who just so happened to be married to a co-worker and friend. The moment he'd opened his eyes and had seen her in the room with him, when he'd realized that his erection hadn't come about by entirely natural means, he'd told himself that she was off limits. He'd told himself that he would do whatever was necessary to resist her charms. And then had come that damned cube and Sinister's insistence that they get naked with one another. Sam hadn't liked it, but he'd been more than capable of reading between the lines and he'd known that not doing as they were told would result in some pretty unpleasant ways of convincing them to behave. And he'd been lost.
Of course he'd taken notice of Jehnna at the school. Even before she and Warren had become a couple. It was hard not to notice her. She'd stood out as special, even among all the special and unique people who inhabited the school. Oh, she'd presented herself as dark and brooding, but he'd seen through it. He'd seen a picture of her, somewhere, before she'd come to the school. She'd been all blonde hair and smiles and golden sunshine. The dark and brooding person she'd shown the school was some kind of show. A shield or defensive measure. He'd never truly believed she was as dark and angsty as she'd wanted everyone to think she was.
He felt that title belonged to someone else entirely.
It was Jehnna's honest smile and her sweet nature that had brought his crush to life. He'd seen her use it with so many people. It was as if she'd been put on the Earth to make everyone happier. Her presence at the school sure had made him happier. And he'd secretly harbored hope. Hope that she might one day turn her attention his way. But it hadn't happened the way he'd hoped. It had been Warren who had earned her bright smile and even brighter gaze. And who could blame her? Warren lived up to his code name in looks. Quite a few members of the student body fell victim to his heavenly face and temperament.
Sam had been hurt, naturally, but he hadn't allowed that to get in the way of anything. Human emotions being what they were, he hadn't been completely surprised. There'd never been anything to indicate that she might turn her attentions his way. Hell, he wasn't even sure she'd known he existed back then.
Even so, the crush had never faded. In fact, over the years, it had grown and matured. He'd never let his feelings get in the way of his working and personal relationship with Warren. And he'd never once let anyone know how he'd felt about Jehnna. He had, in point of fact, kept all of that to himself. Well, he'd mentioned it to his momma. But he'd only told her that there was a girl he fancied. His momma, being a typical mother, had asked so many questions to which he'd had no real answers. He'd told her something between truth and fiction, doing his best to keep it from snowballing into something that would come back and bite him in the ass.
It had. But not in the way he'd expected it to. Frowning at himself, he turned and paced back toward the non-existent door.
This was a conundrum of epic proportions. On the one hand, having been locked in this room with Jehnna had only proved to him that his crush had, at some point, blossomed into full on love. She was perfect in every way that he considered important. Problem was, she had a life and a family with another man. A man who was a friend and a peer. Sam didn't want to do anything to hurt Warren or Jehnna. In fact, what he wanted was what Warren had.
Jehnna as his wife. Children that so obviously loved, and were loved by, their parents. A family that was amazing and beautiful. What Warren had with Jehnna gave the appearance of being perfect. Oh, he knew there was no such thing as perfect. Perfect was an idealized belief that couldn't and never would exist. But, to him, Jehnna and Warren and their kids were perfect. And, if he was being entirely honest with himself, it was a perfect he wanted.
Which made this whole thing all the harder. When they went back, and he had to believe they would, Jehnna would more than likely return to her life with Warren. The way she talked, despite her proclamations of love, made Sam think it was an inevitability. She'd said they'd figure it out when they got back. But he knew, deep in his heart, that she loved Warren enough to want to stay at his side for the rest of her life. That was hard enough to stomach. But throw on top of it the fact that their child, his and Jehnna's, wouldn't be going with them? That was enough to crush his spirit.
Sam knew, based on how they'd ended up in what amounted to a perverse, forced porno movie and insane science experiment, that Sinister would take the child as soon as she left her mother's womb. He didn't know how Jehnna might feel about that. It had only been a few days since Sinister had arrived with a pregnancy test in hand to prove or disprove the theory he'd put forth to Jehnna. It had, of course, confirmed his suspicions. Sam wasn't sure what Jehnna might feel about this baby. But Sam...
This was his first baby. And the knowledge that he'd never see her, unless he was facing her down in a fight, twisted his guts up worse than that one time he'd eaten some bad Tex-Mex. He'd always wanted to have children and be a father. Now his wish was coming true, but in the worst possible way imaginable. He wanted this child. He wanted to rear her with Jehnna. He wanted...
His thoughts were cut off by the sound of the door sliding open. Sam looked up, ready to offer Jehnna his love and support and whatever else she needed after her "appointment" with Sinister, and stopped dead in his tracks. The goblins were wheeling a gurney through the door, upon which Jehnna was laid. Her eyes were closed, her face lax in sleep. Her head rocked just the slightest as the stretched rolled to a stop not far from the bed.
He was at her side even before the goblins had pulled backed away to block the door. "Jehnna? Honey?" he asked, one hand reaching out to rest against her forehead. She didn't respond, prompting him to pull an eyelid up. Her pupils were wide, suggesting she was unconscious by design, and a fury he couldn't ever remember feeling exploded inside of him and mushroomed outward like some kind of nuclear bomb going off. He was halfway toward the nearest goblin before it lifted its tail in silent warning.
The war between making an attempt at the ugly thing and seeing to Jehnna was surprisingly stronger than he felt it should have been. His first concern was to her and her alone. He shouldn't have been considering attacking the goblin when she so obviously needed his help. But his emotions were running wild and he'd almost fallen victim to his anger.
Turning from the goblins, Sam scooped Jehnna up and turned toward the bed. One foot might have nudged the stretcher toward the quartet of creatures with enough force to leave bruises. He didn't care if they took offense. All he cared about was seeing Jehnna's eyes staring up at him once again.
After settling her on the bed, he went to the mini-fridge and removed a bottle of cold water from within. It had shown up not long after their arrival, tucked into the bare corner between the table and the dresser. Sam took the water with him back to the bed and laid the cool plastic of it against Jehnna's cheek. It took what seemed like forever before her eyes started fluttering, as if she was fighting against whatever it was Sinister had given her. Finally, after what felt like an age, her eyes opened and focused on his face. "Sam?" The breathiness of her voice was the best thing he'd heard all day.
"Thank God!" he breathed softly before leaning down and pressing a kiss to her forehead. Yes. Thank God she was awake.
~*~
There was no sound in the room save the shushing of feathers moving in agitation against one another. Warren barely made note of it, though. His mind was too occupied by everything that had happened in the past few days. It had come as a kick to the gut to find out that Morgan was pregnant.It shouldn't have, given the amount of time the two of them had spent mussing up the sheets in the cage, then returning to their room to do it time and again. And yet, here he was, completely unprepared for the fact that two lines had shown up on the pregnancy test Sinister had decided to hand deliver to their room.
Having that madman in their personal space had left him edgy and anxious. Even worse had been the look on Morgan's face when he'd held the box out to her. She'd taken it without even a glimmer of surprise. Which told Warren she'd, at the very least, suspected. And she hadn't said a word to him. He had honestly been kind of hurt by that.
Now, he was left in the room on his own. The goblins had arrived some time ago and herded Morgan toward the door, very pointedly making sure Warren had stayed put. He didn't need psychic powers to know that Sinister was up probably up to something unsavory. He just couldn't figure out what that unsavory thing was and it was making him crazy. Well, crazier. Knowing Morgan was pregnant had already put him on that crazy train.
Surprise babies had never been a thing with he and Jehnna. They'd always discussed it when they'd decided it was time to have another one. He'd watched his friends and colleagues seemingly have babies on a whim, without any sort of planning, and he'd wondered why they'd do something like that to themselves. Being ready for any eventuality was, in his mind, a good way to go into a pregnancy. Hell, being ready mentally to have a child was a good thing.
So finding out Morgan was pregnant had knocked him for a loop. It really shouldn't have. He knew that on some level. He'd known since almost the beginning what Sinister's end goal to this whole thing was meant to be. A pregnancy shouldn't have thrown him off his game the way it had.
Of course, knowing what was going to happen to that baby in the end might have something to do with how he was coping. Which was to say, not very well at all. There were so many emotions attached to having a child. The constant worry that something could go wrong. The desire to see a happy, healthy child. The fear that this one would be the one that took his partner away from him. He'd had those worries each and every time Jehnna had been pregnant. And now, he was dealing with them around Morgan's pregnancy.
Morgan, who was supposed to be with one of his team mates. Morgan, who was not supposed to be carrying his child. Morgan, with whom he'd somehow fallen madly in love. And that was another layer of weird to this whole bizarre mess. Those emotions only seemed to be heightened now that they were having a child together.
It wasn't supposed to be like this. He wasn't supposed to be in love with someone else's partner. He was supposed to be in love with his wife. And he was. Jehnna was all light and sunshine, despite her tendency to try and look moody. He'd damn near fallen for her on sight way back when. Something about her naïveté and her sweet nature had ensnared him. He'd welcomed sitting in on her training sessions with Summers. Any excuse to be near her. Almost like a moth to a flame.
The comparison made him chuckle for a moment, and he flexed his wings. The rustle of feathers was louder this time before tapering off into still silence. Yeah, he'd flown as close to her sun as he'd been able, and she'd trapped him as neatly as any bird in a cage. And he hadn't minded. He hadn't minded when he'd seen how innocent she was compared to her friends. He'd liked that about her, liked being the one who had introduced her to pleasure. She was smart in her own way, as most people were. She was beautiful and caring. She was everything he'd ever thought he wanted in wife. Still wanted.
But Morgan had shown him something else. Something different. Morgan had showed him that there was a special kind of pleasure to be had from hedonism. Morgan relished sex in a way Jehnna didn't. Not that Jehnna didn't like it. She just viewed it in ways that Morgan didn't. Morgan was open about her sexuality and her partners. She'd told him about Dare and how the woman was dominating and demanding with her. She'd told him about Logan, and how he was always gentle and sweet when they were together. And she'd told him about Remy, who made every encounter into some kind of sensual game of poker. And how she won those games same as he did.
The more he'd learned about Morgan and her attitudes toward sex, the more he'd realized that he'd been missing that with Jehnna. It was a hard pill to swallow. The love that he'd developed for Morgan had made that pill bitter. How did one love two people at the same time? Morgan made it sound easy. Maybe it was for her. But Warren hadn't been given that choice growing up. His father had expected something else from him. Something more respectable. Even after Warren's mutation had shown up, there had been that expectation.
He sighed and flexed his wings again. His head was a jumble of headache-inducing thoughts. And, somewhere in there, was a memory that would not leave him be. A memory that only added to the worry and fear that already filled him. A memory of Jehnna, pale and exhausted as she lay in bed. It had been with their last child. Elizabeth. There'd been some sort of problem with the pregnancy and Henry had ordered bed rest. It had come as a shock because she'd already delivered three healthy children without complications. Warren had learned then that such a thing could happen to any pregnancy at any time.
That knowledge ramped his worry up more. Because he was caught up in thinking about Jehnna. What if it happened to her again? What if she had problems and he wasn't there to take care of her? He had to hope, no - believe, that whoever was with her would take care of her during her pregnancy. That he'd be there for her the same way Warren had been.
He was also caught up in thinking about Morgan. What is she had problems with this baby? What if her pregnancy was one of the ones that went weird? He remembered the fear of losing Jehnna. It was now interwoven with the fear that he'd lose Morgan. It was bad enough that he knew he'd never see this child, never help her grow into adulthood. If he lost Morgan because of her? If he lost both of them? He didn't know what would become of him if that happened.
His thoughts were running away from him, his worry practically choking the breath from his lungs, when the door swished open. Warren shifted his attention to the door to find the goblins pushing a gurney into the room. Morgan lay on its thin mat, eyes closed. Warren took a moment to ensure her chest rose and fell with her breathing before he could find the strength to stand and move to her side.
It was an easy thing to pick her up and move her to the bed. By the time he had her settled, the gurney and the goblins were gone. The door had just slid shut when Morgan took a deep breath, like she was waking up from a good sleep. Warren frowned. He didn't want to think why she'd left conscious and come back unconscious. Sinister was up to something. Warren was sure of it. Then Morgan was looking at him with confusion in her big green eyes and he pushed it aside. "Hey, beautiful," he said, offering her a soft smile. "Welcome back."
"Warren? He didn't miss the confusion in her voice. "What happened? I remember leaving with the goblins. How did I get back here?"
"They brought you," he told her. He didn't bother telling her she'd been unconscious. He just continued to give her that smile as he reached up to brush her hair away from her face. "Welcome back. Did you have fun?"
The ridiculous question did exactly as he'd hoped it would. It chased away the confusion and small bit of fear crowding her gaze and brought a smile to her face. She laughed before sitting up so she could throw her arms around him. "Silly man," she chuckled before kissing him. The press of her lips against his own saw him forgetting all about his worry.
~*~
The cards were slick and slippery between his fingertips. He turned them over and over, rotating top to bottom and bottom to top. Back to front and front to back. He threw them across the room absently, each one slapping up against the wall before falling harmlessly to the floor. He missed the feel of energy sliding from his fingers to the cards. Missed the current of awareness that followed the card to its target. Missed the ground-shaking explosions and the hail of debris. He missed being able to protect himself and the people he cared about.
His mind turned to Dare, who had been silent and sullen when she'd left with the goblins. Just as she'd been since Sinister's visit to their room. Since she'd used the pregnancy test and had been faced with the results. Results she couldn't hide anymore. Results she couldn't pretend didn't exist.
She was pregnant. With his baby. And she had crawled so far inside of herself that he could barely sense her. It was almost like living with an automaton. Or, worse, a zombie. There was practically nothing of Dare there.
He'd seen it before. Had a front row seat for it the last time. The parallels between Sinister and Creed were astoundingly close. Creed had been more than a decade ago, but he could still see the scars it had left on him. And on Dare. She'd been like this the last time, so caught up in her head that she'd practically stopped existing. He saw it for what it was. A defense mechanism. But it worried him because he had to coax her into eating. Coax her into sleeping. He showered with her, afraid somewhere in his head that she'd find a way to leave him alone here. That she'd go and take their baby with her. The very idea that she'd find a way to end her life scared him to death.
Remy knew it was an irrational thought. He knew Dare was stronger than that. Stronger than she believed she was. She'd survived so much before she'd even come to the school. She'd survived captivity under Creed's not-so-tender hand. She'd survived the stares and whispers of classmates when she'd come back from that captivity pregnant. She'd survived the knowledge that the baby she carried was Creed's and not Remy's. She would survive this.
And that was the problem. She'd spent her entire life just surviving. She'd been thrown from one trauma to another and he was, in some ways, surprised that she hadn't broken under the weight of it all. He knew that there'd been a lot for her to deal with. The Finley boy. The warehouse fire. Then Creed. Facing Creed down a second and a third time. Dying. Coming back. Killing people. There was so much sorrow written into her story and he hated what it did to her. She did her best to keep it private, to lock it away where no one could see.
But that was hard to do when she was in relationships with people who were literally in her head. And he knew just what it all did to her. He'd vowed to himself, all those years ago, when he'd watched her curl in on herself because of Creed's sadistic behavior, that he would find some way to bring light to her life. To bring her the joy and happiness she needed. The joy and happiness she deserved. He'd thought the foursome might be the way to make it happen. But he and Morgan and Logan hadn't considered how she might misconstrue and twist the foursome. He'd never even realized she hadn't understood how it was supposed to work.
She'd spent so much time suffering in silence, punishing herself for things that hadn't been her fault, that he'd started to wonder if her family had brought her up Catholic. The guilt was strong with her.
Dee should have been the start of that joy and happiness. She should have been Remy's child. She should have been their child. Creed, sick bastard that he'd been, had seen to it that even that small joy had been stolen from her. From them both. Remy had seen the way Dare had clung so desperately to the idea that the baby she carried had been his. And he'd seen the way her heart had broken, just the tiniest bit, when it had become clear that Creed had managed one finally parting gift. It had been as difficult for him as it had been for her.
She'd never held Dee's parentage against her child, though. She'd loved the girl with all that she'd had the moment Dee had made her appearance in the world. Remy'd loved her, too, naturally. He'd loved her as much for his own sake as for Dare's. But that love had been tempered with the knowledge that Creed had cheated him of the one thing he'd yearned for most. A family of his own. It had been difficult to come to terms with the knowledge that Dare's baby wasn't his. That Morgan's baby wasn't his. It had been enough to make him wish for the numbness of the drugs once more.
It had been the foursome that had put everything in order for him. That had pushed the thoughts of self-harm aside. Because he'd realized then, when Logan had been trying so hard to explain to Dare what the two of them had decided and Morgan had cast her doubts on the whole thing, that he'd already had the family he'd been searching for most of his life. That family had been spread out around him, trying to find a new type of normal. Logan, who loved Dare so deeply that he'd willingly taken on the role of father for a child he hadn't produced. Morgan, who was torn between three very different lovers for three very different reasons. And Dare, who had never asked anything of him and sacrificed her own happiness for him despite the deep well of her feelings and wants and desires.
And now, after more than a decade of building on that family with his children and friends and their children, Sinister was fucking with the whole thing.
The emotional toll of their captivity had been wearing on them since the start, He was sure everyone was lost and confused. And horrified by the newest turn of events. He couldn't even begin to imagine how everyone else was dealing with the knowledge that their child would be taken away to become one of Apocalypse's horsemen. But he knew how he was dealing with it. And he knew how Dare was dealing with it.
He'd already acknowledged the child as his. As theirs. The child Creed had denied them. And he knew that Dare had shut down in an effort to avoid the pain of the loss to come. He'd seen it in her face when she'd come out of the bathroom with the pregnancy test held in her grasp. Her fingers had been so loose, it had been easy to pull the test from her hold. He'd pulled her into his embrace and she'd gone. But she'd been little more than a doll. He'd waited until Sinister had left to try and talk to her. Not that he didn't think Sinister wouldn't hear and see their conversation. But she deserved that small illusion of privacy. Only she hadn't said anything. She'd allowed him to hold her, but he'd gotten nothing from her.
She was slipping away from him and he didn't know how to bring her back. He didn't know what to do or say that would put a smile on her face. That would see her saying his name. That would bring forth anything. He didn't want to lose her. He couldn't. He needed her. Loved her. More than she knew. He had to make her realize that.
Maybe, when she got back from whatever it was Sinister had needed from her, he could start. Maybe he could do something to erase the image of her following the goblins out the door listlessly. Assuming whatever it was that Sinister needed didn't drive her further into that hole. He could only hope that he hadn't already lost her.
Remy was in the middle of cursing Sinister to eternal damnation when the door slid open. He looked up, a smile on his face in the hopes that it would lift Dare's spirits. The sight that met his eyes saw him coming to his feet so fast that the chair toppled over behind him and he had a trio of cards ready to throw before he remembered that it would be pointless.
He crossed to the stetcher the goblins had wheeled in and snatched Dare off it. She was limp in his arms and what little he could feel of her thoughts were so sluggish that he knew she'd been drugged. Remy tucked Dare into bed, then lifted his eyes to the ceiling. He didn't know if the cameras where there for certain. It was only a hunch. But he didn't care. He knew he'd get his point across either way. "You hurt her and I'm gon' find you. When dis all over, I'm gon' hunt you down and kill you myself." His voice was low, filled with deadly intent. With promise.
"Remy? Who are you talking to?" Dare's voice was soft, filled with lethargy. But it was also filled with her. He was sure it wouldn't last but, for the moment, he'd take it. He settled himself on the bed next to her and pulled her into his arms before planting a kiss on her lips.
"No one, petit," he told her. He settled her head on his shoulder and let his hands trail up and down her arm and her back until she was damn near boneless against him. Then he stroked her arm and back some more. "No one important."
~*~
His gaze flicked around the room for what had to be the millionth time in the past... however many minutes. Same empty, plain, lifeless walls. Same boring table and its two chairs. Same serviceable dresser. Same rumpled sheets on the same double bed. The room was the same as it always had been. But it was far more intolerable since the goblins had come to take Haley away. They hadn't said why and they'd blocked any attempt he might have made to go with her. Not that he'd tried. He knew better. He had no doubt that Sinister had plans that he wanted to remain secret. That didn't mean Scott liked the idea of Haley being along with the asshole, though.
He had no doubts that whatever it was Sinister needed privacy for, it was nothing good. The problem was, he couldn't imagine what it might be. Sinister was capable of so many dark deeds that it was virtually impossible for Scott to pin down any one thing. Whatever it was that Sinister was doing, it meant only the worst for Haley. Of that, he was sure.
It was that kind of knowledge that had his head all messed up. Because Haley was suffering through whatever Sinister was doing. And not just Haley. She and their baby both. They were suffering and he couldn't do anything to stop it. Or help.
It felt so weird to say that. Haley and their baby. Her confession the other day had thrown him for a loop. He'd been expecting it, of course, but to hear her say that she was pregnant was still a shock to the system. Hell, he was still in shock over that news. Especially when Sinister's hand-delivered pregnancy test had confirmed it. He still wasn't sure how he was supposed to feel about all of it.
If he was being honest, the idea of a child scared the living shit out of him. It was something he and Jean had talked about. But, for some reason or another, it had never happened. Maybe the stars or Fate had been against them. Maybe it was something else. Whatever the reason, some part of him had stopped hoping for a child. Had stopped making himself go through that particular disappointment. And then this whole thing had happened.
Sinister had obviously been busy to have concocted such a plan. Scott wasn't sure if the man had been watching the news or if he'd spoken with people or if it had come to him in a dream. All he knew was Sinister had obviously seen something in Haley and himself to have set this up. He had to have seen something in all of his captives to have set this whole thing up. Maybe his only goal had been a baby of strong mutant blood from each of his female captives. Maybe one of the more twisted parts of his brain had hoped for what he'd gotten.
He had to have known, when he'd started pairing them off, that the likelihood of his captives starting to develop feelings for one another was high. Maybe he'd counted on it happening, with the hopes that it would create more chaos when he sent them back to their world. Scott was convinced that they weren't anywhere on Earth. The professor would have found them by now and someone would have attempted a rescue or six. He only wish such a thing had come to pass so that he, they all, could have been spared what had been forced upon them.
Sinister was probably enjoying the show they were giving him. The way he and Haley fawned over one another was worthy of a tub of popcorn and some cheesy Eighties pop song. The kind of love ballads that had been written for or been in the blockbusters of the day. This had to be entertaining shit for him. Because not for a minute did Scott think that Sinister didn't see and hear everything.
Whatever happened at the end of all this, lives had changed permanently. His life. Haley's life. The lives of everyone here and the lives of those they'd left behind. He couldn't help but wonder what would happen when he got home and Jean saw what was in his head. When she learned about his relationship with Haley. About the baby Haley carried. His first child. A child he should have, by rights, been having with Jean. How did he explain to the woman he'd left behind that he'd fallen in love with the woman he'd gotten paired off with here?
That wasn't going to go well. Going home was going to cause so many problems. The last thing he'd ever wanted to do was hurt Jean. But he'd never intended to be trapped in a room with Haley. And he'd never intended to fall in love with her. Would Jean believe him? Or would she accuse him of infidelity without even considering what things were like here in this place? He'd tried to keep his emotions from running away with him. But he was only human. And Haley was amazing. Beautiful. Intelligent. Caring. Warm. All that and so many other things.
And, truth be told, he wanted the baby she carried in her belly. He'd seen his daughter and he knew she'd be capable and formidable as an adult. The past few nights, after Haley had gone to sleep, he'd sat up and simply watched. Even though there was nothing to see. Nothing to prove there was a child beyond that test Haley had taken. But he knew. He was certain. So he'd remained awake late into the night, one hand spread over her flat belly as he'd whispered words of love and encouragement to a child he'd never get to see grow up. He wanted her to know that she was loved. That she was wanted. That no matter the circumstances around her creation, she was made with love.
He was sure Haley would think he was a sap for doing something like that. Which was why he did it when she was asleep. He didn't want to see the teasing glint in her eyes. Or, worse, the sorrow and hopelessness. There had to be some way to come out of this with their sanity, and their child, in tact. There just had to. Maybe, if he had access to his powers...
He cursed Sinister for the sadistic son-of-a-bitch he was. He had to have planned this down the tiniest detail. Who to pair. How to grab them. When to grab them. He'd done his homework, not that Scott expected anything less from the madman. He just didn't know what had caught his attention this time. Or who. Whatever the reasons, they were all suffering for the man's delusions of grandeur. He knew that some of the captives were going to have a harder time with this whole thing than others. And he knew that, no matter what anyone tried to tell him, that was going to be on his head.
He should have seen something like this coming. He was the leader of the X-Men. All of them. He should have known that they'd have to face Sinister sooner or later. He should have been prepared. His failure to keep his people safe was going to eat at him until the day he died. And if any harm came to Haley and his baby... There was no place Sinister could hide from him. Scott would find the psycho. And he'd end him. Once and for all.
The sound of the door opening pushed away the image of a single optic blast leaving nothing but fine particles of Sinister. He looked up from his spot on the love seat to find that the goblins were rolling a stretcher into the room. He was on his feet the moment he recognized the form laid out on it. And anger flooded him as he realized there was something wrong with Haley.
His hand moved without thought, lifting toward a visor that wasn't there. And he'd taken a handful of steps forward before he even realized what he was doing. One of the goblins scuttled forward and waved a clawed hand at him in warning. Scott took a breath and lifted both hands in a gesture meant to indicate he was harmless.
The goblins rolled the stretcher close to the bed, then moved as one back to the doorway. Scott took that to mean they were done and he could move. He stepped forward carefully, his attention divided between the goblins and Haley. She hadn't stirred yet, letting him know she had been rendered unconscious at some point. His temper came to a boil again and it took every last bit of willpower he possessed to cross to her slowly, to appear calm as he picked her up and moved her to the bed.
The stretcher went out the door with the goblins, leaving him alone with Haley. A quick check assured him that she was unharmed. He saw no bruises or wounds to suggest she'd had a fight with Sinister. Which left him to believe she'd been given something to put her to sleep. All he could do was sit and wait for her to wake up. So he took hold of her hand with his own and settled his free hand on her belly. Silently, he asked whoever was listening to let her be okay. To let their baby be okay.
"Mmm. Scott? Something wrong?"
The question was made in a soft, sleep-filled voice. Haley was staring up at him with a dreamy smile. He returned it with one of his own, then leaned down and kissed her hard. To convince himself she was okay. "Not a thing."
"Mmkay," she replied. The hand he held tugged and pulled him toward her. "Come to bed, lover. I want you."
Her husky words hit him like a sledge hammer and need rushed into him. He was hard in an instant. Throwing everything aside, all his worries and his fears and the reasons not to do this, Scott let her pull him down on top of her. And he spent the rest of the night proving to himself that she was there and she was okay.
And she was his.