Shadows of Sin: A Mutant Sue Virus Sequel, Chapter Fourteen

[ginevrasm.livejournal.com]

Chapter Title: Morning sickness.

Fandom: X-Men, Comics Universe, Earth-6916 Rating: 18+ Warnings: Violence, rape, anal, oral, drug use, captivity, abuse, angst, pregnancy. M/F, M/M, M/M/F…Read at your own risk. Disclaimer: The recognizable characters and the setting used here are the property of Marvel Comics. Those characters described as “Mutant Sues” or “Mary Sues” are the property of Ladydeathfaerie, Nanaea, Dazzledfirestar, SilverFoxChan, and Ginevra.

This story is a fic-in-trade for Ladydeathfaerie and is intended as a sequel to The Mutant Sue Virus. The story begins approximately six months after the events of Mutant Sue. This is a dark fic as requested by the Lady. The darkest I’ve written to date in my opinion. Enjoy.

Missed something and need to catch up? Shadows of Sin: The Index

 

Chapter Fourteen: Morning sickness.

The nightmares weren’t getting any better. If anything, they were getting worse. Strange confused images tugged at the corners of her memory, vanishing as soon as she turned her attention to them. She crawled from the tangle of sheets and Remy’s too tight embrace. Her stomach lurched and she stumbled to the bathroom.

She leaned on the sink and stared at the image in the mirror. She looked pale, maybe even sick, and there were deep shadows beneath her eyes. Her hair was damp with sweat and her hands were shaking where they rested on edge of the porcelain basin. She looked down at them.

Beneath her nails was crusted something red and sticky. Blood. It looked like drying blood. Her stomach lurched again. It was the third time in a week this had happened. The first time she had searched her own body, even woke Remy up to check him, thinking she had scratched one of them in her sleep. But neither of them bore any marks. He had seemed so upset by it that she hadn’t told him when it happened again.

She hadn’t told anyone else, either. Not even Dare. She turned on the water and reached for the bar of soap, wanting it gone, whatever it was. It left rusty streaks on the soap and the slippery thing dropped into the sink while she scrubbed at her nails.

Her stomach cramped and she moaned, clutching at the sink. Her fingers, slick with red tinted soap left foamy streaks across the porcelain. Bile rose in her throat and she sank to her knees. Her stomach churning, she crawled to the toilet and retched violently, eyes clenched tight. Again and again her stomach heaved, until there was nothing left. She opened her eyes.

She screamed.

~*~

Screaming. She was screaming.

Remy threw the tangled sheets to the floor in his haste to get to her. Morgan was crouched on the bathroom floor, back pressed hard against the edge of the tub, staring at the open toilet. The smell of bile and something else hung in the air.

“What wrong, cher?” He looked in sleepy confusion between the hysterical girl and the toilet. He knelt beside her. “You sick?”

“Blood…Blood…And…Oh my god!” She pointed at the toilet.

“What is it?” He looked and at first, it made no sense to him. The water was stained red and bits of something floated in it, raw edged and pale pink. They bobbed in the water, one turned over and he could see a bit of hair…hair growing from skin. “Mon Dieu!”

He looked again at the girl. The pure horror on her face, he could feel it too, beating at his shields. Fear shot through him. He gathered the girl up in his arms, lifting her from the cold floor.

“Goin’ take you to de doctor. You don’ worry, none.” He shot one last look at the toilet and its grisly contents before carrying her out the door. As soon as he stepped into the hallway, he began calling for the doctor. Something was terribly wrong.

~*~

Tests. Lots of tests. Morgan sat pale and small looking in the hospital bed while the doctor and her friend Roxxy bustled around. They had even gone back to Remy’s room to take samples of what Morgan had vomited up.

The boy had been so frantic, he hadn’t made much sense. But there’d been a long enough wait that Logan and Dare had been able to piece together the story. Hank had confirmed that she’d vomited up blood and bits of raw meat.

Raw meat with the skin still attached. Human looking skin.

Morgan denied having eaten anything since dinner the night before. Remy insisted that she hadn’t left his bed during the night. The doctor’s first concern was that she was bleeding somewhere in her gut. All them fancy machines of his hadn’t found any bleeding. But they must have found something else, because Hank was trying to get rid of them.

“Spit it out, Hank. What’s wrong with her?”

“I think I should discuss Morgan’s test results with her in private. If, that is, you are feeling well enough right now?” The blue furred mutant looked at the girl over the wire rims of his glasses. Morgan had been hysterical when Remy had first brought her in, but now she was quiet. She’d spoken very little since Logan and Dare had arrived. The space around her bed was crowded, forcing the doctor to move carefully around them.

“Whatever it is, you can say it in front of them. I’d rather they stayed.”

“Why don’t we send them out into the hall for a few minutes? In fact, Rosemary, why don’t you go with them and reassure the rest of your team that she is in no immediate danger?” The doctor gave his assistant a pointed look.

“No. I don’t want them to go.” Morgan sat up straighter and reached for Dare’s hand where it rested on the sheet. She reached another hand out to Remy and he moved closer to take it. “You’re scaring me.”

“Very well then. Rosemary would you please go speak to your teammates?”

“Yes, doctor.” Roxxy gave her friends one last look before walking out the door. The doctor sighed.

“There’s no sign of any internal bleeding. Though the blood and…tissue…samples we found are human in origin. Are you certain you have no idea how they came to be in your system?”

“Holy shit.” Dare muttered.

“No. No. I don’t.” Morgan shook her head and there was an edge of fear to her voice.

“Have you been experiencing nausea, fatigue, perhaps other symptoms?”

“I’ve been having nightmares off and on. I thought I was just tired.” She thought a moment. “Maybe a little nausea. What’s wrong with me?” She frowned.

“And do you remember the date of your last menstrual period?”

“My last… It’s been a while… Things have been kind of crazy…” Morgan trailed off. Her eyes widened and she stared at the doctor. He cleared his throat and glanced at the chart he held in his hand.

“While I cannot account for the contents of your stomach this morning, I do have an explanation for the rest of your symptoms. You are pregnant. Approximately ten weeks pregnant according to scans we performed earlier.”

“Ten weeks.” It was the Cajun that spoke first. He pulled his hand away from Morgan’s and straightened. “Ten weeks.”

“Are you sure? I don’t understand. I’ve been taking my pills. I haven’t missed any. Even if I forgot, Faye would remind me…” Morgan’s voice sounded small. She looked up to where her boyfriend towered over her, his fists clenched at his sides. “Oh God. Remy?”

“Who was it? Who were you fuckin’ while Remy thinkin’ he goin’ to die? Who?” His voice ground out between clenched teeth. “He not gone two week and you fuckin’ somebody else!”

“Remy!” Dare stood up, leaning protectively over her friend.

“Damn it.” Logan crossed the short distance reaching to pull the man away from the bed. “Back off kid.” The Cajun jerked away from his touch as if he’d been burned.

“You!” He backed away from Logan, his red eyes shifting between them, from Logan to Morgan and back again. “You de one wit’ her. Dat your bastard in her belly!”

“Remy. Stop it.” Dare looked almost as pale as Morgan. “Please.”

“Gentleman, please. Calm yourselves. The lady needs peace and quiet…”

“Lady?” Remy spat. “She a whore. She a lyin’ whore.” His eyes blazed red as he stared at Morgan.

“Oh God!” Morgan was huddled on the bed, eyes wide. She pressed her fist to her mouth. “This can’t be happening.”

“Morgan…” Dare looked down at her friend, her face a mask of confusion. “What did you do?”

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”

“Sorry! You…” Remy pushed past the doctor. Logan stood between him and the bed and he hesitated, stopping just before he would have touched the shorter man. “You move or Remy make you move.”

“You ain’t layin’ a finger on her, boy.”

“Stop it. Oh God! Just stop!” Morgan’s voice rose to a frantic pitch. “Just stop!” Then she vanished from the bed.

“Morgan?” Dare’s voice sounded panicked. “Where did she go?”

“Shit.” Logan turned to look at the empty bed. “Happy Gumbo? You get off on scaring little girls?”

“Gentleman, please!” The words were polite, but the roar was deafening. “That is enough! I now have a missing patient in a rather fragile state.”

“Fragile…” Dare echoed the word, slumping slowly into her chair.

“Yes. It appears this news has come as a quite a shock after this morning’s strange episode. We need to find her at once.”

“Where’s she gone, darlin’?” Logan turned to Dare. She should be able to reach through that link of theirs and find her faster than anyone else could hope to.

“Is she really carrying your baby, Logan?” Dare’s eyes were those of a lost child, her voice strangely flat.

“We need ta find her. We can talk this out later.” He circled around the bed. The boy just stared at them, his hands clenching and unclenching as he fought some internal battle. “Where is she?”

“Gone. She’s gone.” Dare’s voice sounded as if it came from far away.

“Whaddaya mean she’s gone?”

“I can’t feel her at all. Even when we were…were with Victor…I could still feel her.”

“She shut us out.” Remy’s voice shook. “Dere nothin’ dere but a hole. She gone.” The eyes he turned to Logan then were wide and haunted.

“She can’t have gone far. I will inform the Professor at once.” The doctor hustled through an open door. “He should be able to locate her quickly.”

“Can ya blame her, the way ya turned on her?” What did it mean that neither one of them could sense her? Fear for her crept through him, making the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end.

“I didn’t know she could do that.” Dare’s voice was little more than a whisper. A glance at her showed her face had gone as pale as the sheets on the empty bed. “She shouldn’t be able to do that…”

“It not enough you take Dare from me? You gone and take her, too?” There was no heat in the words, just pain. “What Remy done to you?”

“I ain’t trying to take her. She needed me, that’s all.” He was looking at the Cajun, but his words were for the girl who seemed to have collapsed in on herself. “We needed each other. Was afraid if the two of ya didn’t make it, she might not either. Not without somethin’ to live for.”

He gave them each a long look. If losing them could have killed Morgan, what would losing the link do to them? Especially to Dare?

“Gonna go find her. Take care of my girl, Gumbo.”

“Oui.” The Cajun slumped down to sit on the edge of the bed, reaching across for Dare’s hand. “You go.” Logan didn’t wait to see if she’d take it. He had a feeling he didn’t have time to wait around.

~*~

“You can’t do this.”

“Watch me.”

Morgan stood in the shadowed cupola atop the mansion. Cold autumn wind swept through the openings and tugged at the thin hospital gown. Faye stood half a dozen feet away, arms outstretched, wearing a copy of Morgan’s favorite jeans and red sweater.

“I’m part of you, you can’t shut me out.”

“The hell I can’t. I want you out. Out of my head. Out of my life. Out! Out!” Tears streaked hot against her cold cheeks.

“You’re hurting them, Morgan.”

“You’re hurting them. You can’t tell me you didn’t have something to do with this!” Morgan hugged herself tightly, rubbing her arms and pinning the flapping gown closer to her body. “I’m fucking pregnant! I know I took my pills!”

“I thought a baby… A baby would be something to live for if they didn’t make it.” Faye stepped closer. “Please Morgan, the cold isn’t good for you.”

“Not good for me? You are crazy. You are completely fucking insane!”

“Morgan, Dare needs me. Needs us. Please. Let’s go back inside.”

“Where did it come from, Faye? The blood and…and…the bits. Bloody bits.” Morgan swallowed hard. “What did you do?”

“He had to be punished.”

“Is he dead? Did you kill him and eat him? Oh God!” Morgan pressed a hand against her mouth.

“I didn’t kill him. I’m not going to kill him. I want him to suffer.”

“Get away from me!”

“Please, Morgan. Let them back in. Go back inside. Think of the baby…” Faye walked closer, reaching out, her fingers nearly touching the other girl’s shoulder. Morgan flinched away.

“The baby? You’re worried about the baby?” Morgan clenched her fists at her sides. “Look at me Faye. Look at me. Do I look healthy to you?”

“No. I… You look pale.”

“I look sick. You’ve been sucking the life out of me with whatever you’ve been doing, Faye. Me and the baby. Look at me!” Morgan held her ground as her twin moved closer, green eyes intent on her face. Faye reached out a finger to touch a tear stained cheek.

“Morgan!” Logan’s voice cut through the air and she turned at the sound of her name. “It’s freezing out here.” When she turned back, Faye was gone. She let him wrap her in his jacket and guide her down the stairs. Back to face the music.

~*~

Morgan looked so pale and frightened, wrapped in Logan’s jacket. Remy felt sick at the sight. The first rush of anger had fled when he’d realized her touch had left him. He’d clung to Dare’s hand and the connection that still lingered between them, as much for his own sake as the girl’s.

He hadn’t realized how deeply he’d become connected to Morgan until the connection had been severed. Amputated. It left an open wound that felt soul deep. And when he touched Dare, he found her barely there, her wound so wide and deep it threatened to swallow her.

When she saw them, Morgan hid her face against Logan’s chest. That hurt, too. Remy opened his mouth to say something, but the doctor was already speaking to her. The doctor ignored Remy and Dare as he questioned Morgan and gave her a brief examination. He wanted her to return to her bed, but she was refusing.

“Please, doctor. I’ll rest. I promise. But not here.” Morgan pleaded with him. “I’ll take care of myself.”

“I’ll keep an eye on her, Hank.” Logan hovered close, shooting glances at where Remy sat close to Dare, her hand held tight in his. “I’m thinking we all need ta talk about this in private.”

“I suspect that you have a great deal to discuss.” The doctor swept a look around the room that took in all four of them. “I expect to see you back here at the first sign of trouble, young lady.”

“Yes doctor.”

“Then I will leave you to get dressed.” The doctor pressed a handful of pamphlets into her hands. “And I will leave you with some reading material.” Then he left the four of them alone.

As soon as he was gone, Morgan slipped the jacket from her shoulders and pulled her clothes from the cubby near the bed. She ducked into the bathroom to change. Silence hung over the room, broken only by hushed sound of the ventilation system.

Logan moved to lean against the empty bed, studying Remy where he sat next to Dare. Remy shifted uneasily under his gaze. Dare was still sniffling, her hand cold in his.

“Ya think you can talk without callin’ names, boy?”

“Oui. Remy done wit’ dat.”

“Good. We’re all going back to my room and hash this out, before it gets any worse.”

“How could it get any worse?” Dare’s voice cracked. “She hates me.”

“Now that ain’t true.” Logan shook his head. “And you know it.”

“Where you find her?” Remy asked, hoping it was a safe question. He could feel Logan’s anger seething just beneath the surface.

“Up on the roof. In the cold.” Logan’s voice made it clear he blamed the Cajun for that. “She still ain’t let you two back in, has she?”

“Non.”

Dare just shook her head silently.

“Shit.” Logan shifted his feet and looked at the bathroom door just before it opened. Morgan was dressed in the outfit Dare had brought for her, looking slightly more like herself. “You ready ta go there, lil’ bit?”

“Yeah. Let’s get the fuck out of here. It gives me the creeps.” Morgan rubbed her arms as if she were cold. Logan moved to drape the discarded jacket around her shoulders.

“Let’s go.”

~*~

Ten minutes later found them behind Logan’s locked door. Morgan was curled up in the center of his bed. Dare perched nervously at its foot. Logan leaned against the wall as they all watched the Cajun pace restlessly back and forth. No one had spoken for the last five minutes.

Logan shifted restlessly, scowling at the other man. Dare pulled a corner of the comforter into her lap and began twisting it in her fingers. Morgan hugged a pillow to her chest.

“I’m sorry.” Everyone’s eyes turned to Dare. “I’m sorry.”

“What are you sorry for? I’m the one that…that fooled around with your guy and got pregnant.” Morgan looked at her, puzzled.

“That ain’t your fault, darlin’. If it’s anybody’s it’s mine.” Logan pushed off from the wall and crossed the room to sit next to Dare. When she didn’t pull away, he wrapped an arm around her. “The two of ya didn’t see how it was. I thought we was gonna be bringing home corpses.”

The Cajun was still silent, but his pacing had stopped, leaving him standing at the far side of the room. Morgan’s eyes flicked to him, then back to Dare and Logan.

“It’s no excuse. I’m sorry.” Morgan pulled the pillow tighter. Her face was flushed and her eyes glittered with unshed tears. “I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have done it. No matter what the reason.”

“Non.” Remy finally spoke, releasing a long breath with that single syllable. “Non. Don’ say you sorry.”

“I am, Rem. I never meant to hurt you, I swear.” Morgan protested. “Or Dare either. I was going to tell you when things were better. But you seemed so…I didn’t think you could handle it.”

“Morgan.” Dare reached across the bed to wrap one hand around the other girl’s ankle.

“Non. Don’ apologize. Don’ nobody apologize.” The Cajun walked slowly toward the bed until he towered over them. “Remy gone and acted de fool. He got no right to be angry wit’ anyone after what he done.”

“Glad to hear somebody making some sense.” Logan grunted. “We start making apologies, we’ll be at it all day.”

“Yeah. OK.” Dare sniffed back tears of her own. “Yeah. No more apologies.”

“So what do we do now?” Morgan pushed the pillow aside. “Kiss and make up? Act like nothing happened?”

“Humph. Acting like nothin’s happened ain’t gonna work. Not with the both of ya pregnant.” Logan scowled at the taller man, still standing uncertainly beside the bed. “Siddown. Maybe kissin’ and making up ain’t such a bad place ta start.”

Morgan held out a hand to Remy and he took it, letting her pull him down onto the bed to sit next to her. Logan gave Dare a little nudge in their direction and she scooted back on the bed until she sat on Morgan’s other side. After a moment’s hesitation, Remy pulled Morgan into his lap, wrapping his arms around her and reaching one hand out to Dare.

Dare took the offered hand and let herself be pulled near enough that she could rest her head on Remy’s shoulder. Logan watched them relax bit by bit into each other and knew that Morgan had let them back in. He moved nearer to the trio, but paused when the Cajun’s eyes flicked to him, a little too wide and nervous.

Logan inched a little closer, but not too close.

“We’re gonna have to find some way to get along. Gonna have to get over this jealousy shit.”

“Oui. I don’ keep you from Morgan and de baby.” Remy rubbed his cheek against Morgan’s hair. One hand stroked slowly up and down Dare’s arm.

“You and Dare been keepin’ your distance. That ain’t because of me, is it?” Logan inched a little further until he could touch Dare’s leg. “Cause I ain’t meaning to come between you.”

“I was afraid you’d be jealous.” It was Dare that answered him.

“If I am, that’s my problem. And I’ll do my best to keep it to myself.” Logan rubbed her leg reassuringly.

“This is all messed up.” Morgan whispered. “I shouldn’t be pregnant. Faye did something to my pills.”

“What?” Dare turned to look at her.

“She did it on purpose.” Morgan began to talk, repeating what her double had said to her on the roof. Then she told them about the nightmares and the blood…

Logan sidled closer while she talked, watching the way the trio looked and touched one another. Morgan and Dare had been lovers for years. He reached out and touched Morgan’s knee and she paused to give him a nervous smile. A suspicion had begun to form in the back of his mind as the Cajun continued to watch him with wary glances.

“What am I supposed to do about Faye?”

“You try talkin’ to her, cher?” Remy spoke softly. “She got a mind of her own.”

“Ya got that right, Gumbo.” Logan reached out to lay a friendly hand on the man’s leg. He felt the Cajun tense under his touch. He could hear the way his breath sped and could feel the man’s pulse quicken. “Best bet’s to talk her outta whatever she’s been doing.”

“I don’t want to talk to her.”

“You have to, Morgan.” Dare hugged her tighter. “I’ll talk to her with you if you want.”

“Now?” Morgan looked pale and worn. Frightened. Logan gave himself a mental kick for not having checked up on her. And for not warning the Cajun about her fits. He’d thought they would have stopped when they got home.

“Better talk to her before she does something else. But it ain’t gotta be right this minute.” Logan patted her on the knee and then rose from the bed. “Going outside fer a smoke.” He’d leave them to talk it out for a while. Maybe do some thinking. He let himself out on the balcony and pulled out a cigar and lit it. He pulled in a deep lungful of pungent smoke and stared out over the grounds.

A few moments later, the door slid open behind him. He knew without looking it was the Cajun. The boy took up a position at the far end of the balcony and tapped a cigarette out of a pack. Logan watched him from the corner of his eye. Were his hands shaking?

“Thought ya gave that up.”

“Helps wit’ de craving. Keep telling myself I don’ need de drugs. Body don’ always agree.” He sucked long and hard on the cigarette before blowing out a cloud of smoke.

“We was worried about you for a while there.” Logan offered. “Thought maybe Creed had killed you after all.” The younger man flinched at the name.

“Don’ know why he don’ kill me.” The Cajun’s voice was flat and distant.

“I know why.” Logan tapped an ash into the empty planter near his feet. “We both know that kid ain’t yours.”

“Oui. Neither of dem mine.” His voice was even emptier. “It all a game for de monster.”

“I known Creed a long time. Got some idea of the kind of games he likes to play.”

“Don’ much care for dem, myself.” Remy stepped close enough to the planter to flick his ash away. His eyes met Logan’s briefly, then slid away to look back over the grounds. But he didn’t move away.

“No. I reckon not.” Logan chewed on his cigar absently, weighing his thoughts. “You an’ Morgan...you been able to touch her since you came back?”

“I touch her a few times.” The Cajun shrugged, not meeting his eyes.

“You ain’t lettin’ her touch you.” It wasn’t a question. “That’s how you were so sure that kid ain’t yours. Nothin’ since you an’ Dare was taken.”

“Remy was gon’ say it none of your business, but maybe it is.” The taller man tossed his spent cigarette casually into the planter. He rested his hands on the railing, fingers curling around it tightly enough to whiten his fingertips.

“Dare and I ain’t even got that far.” Logan offered, hoping the admission would encourage the boy to talk more. “Was watchin’ her with you and Morgan. She don’t touch me like that, not anymore.”

“What you want, homme? You want Remy don’ touch her?”

“No.” Logan sighed, shaking his head. “Ain’t that at all. Damn.”

“What it is, den?” The taller man looked at him, brows drawn in a puzzled frown over his strange red on black eyes.

“Maybe I’m seeing something that ain’t there.” Logan eased his way around the planter to lean against the railing a few feet away from the Cajun. He watched the young man tense a little, watched the way his eyes followed him. “Seems to me like yer awful nervous ‘round me.”

“Remy thinkin’ he got good reason to be.”

“More’n nervous. Scared. Like Dare was scared of me when she first got back.”

“Non. You imagine tings.” The boy leaned up against the railing, mirroring Logan’s casual pose. The pose might be relaxed, but Logan could smell his anxiety, hear it in the way his pulse and breathing raced.

“No, I ain’t. Can smell it on ya.” Logan waited a moment for a response, but got nothing. “Ya ain’t scared around nobody else that I seen. Just me. Must be something about me that’s setting you off.”

“Jus’ got a hard time believing you don’ hold a grudge over all dis.” Remy shrugged. “And the way you talk. Sometime you sound like him.”

“Mebbe I do.” Logan took a drag on his half chewed cigar then stubbed it out on the stone railing. “We need ta get whatever this is straight between you and me, kid.”

“Dere nothin’ to get straight, mon ami.”

“All right. I ain’t too good at this talkin’ around shit.” Logan tossed his abused stogie into the planter then turned back to the Cajun. He advanced on the younger man slowly, watching his reactions closely. Just before they would have touched, the Cajun stepped back.

“What you doin’, homme?”

“Nothin’.” Logan stopped his advance. “Least not yet. Want a straight answer from you, boy. Is the reason I scare you ‘cause you swing both ways?”

“Don’ think that matter. If Remy can’t touch Morgan, don’ think he gon’ be touchin’ a man again.” The boy had raised his hand as if to ward off Logan’s reaction. The tense set of his shoulders, the widening of his eyes, and the way his eyes flicked to the door and back told Logan he’d hit home.

“You thought I’d clean yer clock if you made a pass at me.”

“Was thinkin’ it would make all dis much more simple. But dat was before…” The Cajun was backed against the railing, watching Logan warily.

“Before that sadistic son of a bitch got a hold of ya.”

“Oui.”

“Been around a long time, Remy. Done a lot of things.”

“You don’ do men.” The Cajun shook his head.

“I prefer women. Ain’t no doubt about that. Doesn’t mean I ain’t tried the other side a time or two.” Logan backed away a step and leaned his elbow on the railing. He took a long look at the boy, thinking, considering. “I might have turned ya down, but I wouldn’t have fought ya over that.”

“Remy don’ ask.”

“No. But maybe I am.”

“Now Remy scared.”

“That’s what I thought.” Logan stepped forward and clamped a hand around the Cajun’s wrist, pulling the man into a rough embrace. A hug, nothing more. The Cajun was too startled to resist him. “We’re gonna sort all this out. You, me, Dare, Morgan.” Then he let the boy go before he began to fight the hold.

“What you mean?”

“Got a place we can go where there won’t be nobody but us. Get away from all this. Where we can get some privacy. Come on, let’s go on in and tell the girls to pack.”