The Ties That Bind

The Ties That Bind
6/9

*Why don’t you use your powers to check me?* Paige had asked.

Scully sat on the powder blue bedspread, arms wrapped around her knees, staring out the open window. Strange how the hour or so before the sun actually started to come up was the clearest and brightest time of the day.

*Why do you still go by Dana Scully?*

The air was clean and refreshing, full of the smell of dew. The sound of birds chirping merrily drifted to her ears. She could hear the slight brush of horse’s tails as they began to wake.

*I didn’t realize that you were a mutant.*

*This is not me. I am not this weak.*

Despite her words to Sam, she hadn’t been able to sleep. Her past echoed. Evan and Doggett, with their faces always turned, couldn’t see her. They moved as if she wasn’t there, though she reached for them. Mulder stood apart.

Could he see her?

She reached for him, needing his solidity as an anchor, but she couldn’t touch him. Mulder turned to Doggett, who held Evan lightly. “You’re in a different place now, you know. The X-Files aren’t completely rational.”

“And I really need you to tell me this?”

“Well, you sure aren’t acting like you’ve figured it on your own. It’s a different set of rules. You have to be able to look at things from a few different perspectives. You have to let go of where you were before. This is almost like a whole new world. You aren’t going to survive for long if you keep on trying to deal with things like you used to.”

And she watched as her past moved on, while Doggett told Mulder that he didn’t need to make it in the X-Files for much longer, because he had a job lined up that meant he could stay closer to home more often.

Funny how the hour or so before dawn was often the clearest.

*

Magneto sat atop of the highest building in the desert compound. A group of his new recruits had just lost a fight with Xavier’s little lap dogs in Snow Valley.

He’d lost some very promising students. The group had just been pulling off a jewel heist to appropriate new funds. Erik had specifically ordered no casualties, to work on their finesse. They would have made a clean get away, but Frost’s brats had decided to stick their noses where they didn’t belong. Xavier had taught them well. The fight had escalated, and now Magneto was out some of his best new students.

He’d even ordered no casualties.

Xavier had interfered, and people, both Erik’s students and civilians, were dead.

He’d ordered no casualties.

“Raven, do yourself a favour and put that knife down,” Erik said without turning around. He could hear her hesitation, torn between her loyalties and her desire for revenge. She’d found the bug. She knew that he knew of her plans.

She also knew that he’d try and stop her, and she needed to bring her plan to fruition. Needed revenge for her daughter.

The silence stretched out.

Xavier had interfered, and people were dead.

“Raven, the knife may be made of stone, but there is enough iron in your blood for me to stop you. Besides, if you kill me, who is going to pay for the rest of those mercenaries?” He turned to face her then, watching as the stone knife tumbled from her fingers, landing with a clink on the red ceramic roof.

He watched as those churning eyes of hers lit up, and her face was split with a maniac grin. He stiffened uncomfortably as she embraced him. “They’ll pay, Erik. We’ll make them pay.”

Mystique had always been a bit off. Maybe it came from never knowing who you were, being expected to keep up with a personality, an entire being, for each face. Maybe it was loosing a girl she had raised as a daughter, and maybe Raven had always just been toeing that line. Since Rogue’s death though, Mystique’s condition had rapidly deteriorated, never mind the fact that up until they found out about it, Raven had never given any indication of missing her foster daughter.

Magneto sent his second in command off, watching the little hop in her step.

The woman honestly had no idea that she was insane.

Funny how those who were mad never knew it.

*

Dana sat on top of the highest log of the corral, watching the sun come up. The brightness intensified, tearing at her eyes until tears rolled down her cheeks. She forced herself to watch it, until what hid behind was burned out.

When she looked away, blinking, sunspots covered her entire vision. She rubbed her hands against her eyes, wiping the wetness away, her sight already starting to clear.

“You all right, Miss Scully?” Sam’s voice came from below her and to the right.

She swung carefully around, turning so she was facing him. “I’m going to be fine,” she said, smiling weakly.

She heard him scuff the toe of his shoe in the dirt. “Look, Miss Scully, Doctor Scully, we can’t pay you much for looking after mah sister, but that motorbike you’re fixing up, it came with the farm. Ah ran this past my mother, and if you get it running, it’s yours. We don’t have much in the way of tools and parts lying around, but anything that looks like it’d help, you’re welcome to....”

“Sam.”

“Yes, Doctor Scully?”

“Don’t be so grateful. I haven’t really done anything yet. All I’ve accomplished is to draw things out.”

“Every moment counts,” he said with a smile as he reached up for her hand, ever the gentleman. She found it through the remaining sunspots, and hopped down from the top of the fence. They walked back towards the house, the beginnings of an idea bubbling in Dana’s head.

“I just received a message from the Academy. Banshee and Frost are letting Jon and one of the other students come out. I’m picking them up from the airport this afternoon, but I thought that it would be a nice surprise for Paige.”

“You want me to keep her occupied?”

“If you don’t mind.”

“I wouldn’t have offered if I minded.”

“You’re a peach, Toni,” he said, grinning, as he turned to go back out to the field.

“Wait a second. What did you call me?” She asked, confused. He stopped and turned back towards her, his face a bit red.

“That slipped out?” She nodded. “Well, Letonia. Toni. Ah’ve been calling you Miss Scully for three weeks, and you barely look any older than me. People call me by my code name sometimes, too. Cannonball.”

Dana had wondered where that name had come from.

When she thought about it, she wasn’t even sure what Sam’s powers were, other than the fact that he was supposedly immortal.

“I’ve missed a lot Sam. There’s a lot that I should know, but I’ve been too self involved to either notice or find out.” Sam looked at her, confusion evident on his face. He really didn’t have any idea what she was talking about.

He had to be the only one. “For one thing, I missed when my code name became Letonia.”

“Sometime a bit after you came back for good. People just gradually started ta call you that.”

She really must have had her head buried in the sand for that particular fact to slip past her.

“You really didn’t know?”

“I guess that it’s just not the sort of thing that you bother to tell people. You just assume that they know.” She replied. “It’s okay though. It’s a nice name.”

“Especially when you considered that they could call you an obsolete piece of ammunition?” Sam asked with a grin. “Or, hey, you could be Skin. Or Toad. One of the original X-Men was called Marvel Girl.”

“Seriously?” Dana asked, fighting back the giggles that threatened to overwhelm her. “Who comes up with these? I’m sure that they strike fear into the hearts of your enemies.”

“Hey, we live in ah culture where Batman’s sidekick’s name was Robin. I’m sure he heard lots about it.”

Scully, for some strange reason, found it hilarious. Once the laughs started, she couldn’t get them under control. She collapsed on the deck swing, holding her side. Sam watched in some concern as she began to shake silently, tears streaming down her face for the second time that morning. He stood there, unsure of what to do, until Dana was once again calm. She wiped her face with the bottoms of her sleeves and looked up at him. She started to go off on another giggling fit, but got it under control.

“I’m sorry,” she gasped. “It’s just that it’s been so long since I...”

“It’s okay, Miss Scully. Ah understand.” He paused. “Remember. Mum’s the word.”

He stood there for a bit, then smiled and bid her goodbye. He’d only taken a few steps when she said, “You don’t really need to call me Doctor Scully, or Miss Scully, you know. Someone told me that we are almost the same age, after all.”

He smiled at her again, his blonde hair shining in the morning light. “See ya this afternoon.”

She watched him walk away, her idea still bubbling inside her head. If it worked, then Paige would be healed.

She padded back into the house, her mind flying through the possibilites. If something went wrong...

But Paige was dying anyway.

She’d have to think about this carefully, from every possible angle, before she mentioned it to anyone.

They’d all had enough dashed hopes.

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