Standard disclaimers apply.
Law school sucks.
Feedback adored.
Just Lucky, I Guess 33/?
After double-checking the lock on the door, Cable
looked across the room at his long time partner. The cold
silence between them made him wish, not for the first
time, that he possessed just a little bit of his sister's
least used mutant gift so he could turn back the last few
minutes of time and start this 'conversation' over. He
glanced at Domino imploringly, desperately wishing she'd
make some smart-ass standard-issue Domino wisecrack and
move past this little squabble. She didn't even look at him.
While Cable was stalling at the door, Domino had
managed to situate herself more comfortably on the couch,
kicking off her hated conservative pumps and curling her
legs under her. Slipping out of the constricting linen
blazer, she casually tossed it to the side, not even
noticing when it draped itself perfectly across the arm of
a nearby chair. Breathing a little easier, she leaned back
into the warm cushions of the sofa, debating with herself
whether or not to blurt out the news to Nathan or use a
little more tact. 'Not that he deserves it, the bastard,'
she fumed.
When he finally turned to face her, she just stared
at him, eyes narrowed and cold. It took great effort to
refrain from verbalizing her thoughts. 'You sonuvabitch,
you want to know what happened? I'll tell you what the
hell happened. Your perverted son and his quack doctors
are trying to give Sinsiter a run for his money, and
they're using part of me to do it...' She rubbed her upper
arms, trying to warm herself against the chilling thought.
From where he still lingered by the door, Cable could
feel their psilink actually tingling with her suppressed
fury and fear. He briefly considered opening his mind to
her, confronting her in the most intimate way he knew how,
but the memories of last week's blistering headaches were
still too strong for him to risk exposing his mind to her
anger.
Eyes closed, he leaned against the cool door and took
a moment to collect himself. He hadn't meant to
interrogate her like that in front of everyone, but
dammit, the few hints he'd gotten from Wisdom were so damn
ominous, and he was so worried.... And then, when she
walked in, looking so damn breezy, not saying a word about
what they'd come here for, he hadn't been able to help
himself. Fists still clenched in impotent anger, he very
nearly snarled the still-unanswered question again and
only the knowledge that too much was at stake for him to
allow his emotions to overcome him again stopped him.
With an effort, he separated himself from the
situation as the Askani philosophies of his youth taught,
expanding his perceptions to achieve an objective center
of calm. Analyzing the situation logically, he was shocked
to realize that what he'd interpreted at indifference had
actually been herculean efforts at self-control. Now,
without his own emotions blinding him, even the slightest
exercise of his telepathy detected the thick tendrils of
anxious dread emanating from her. Embarrassed at his
earlier outburst (and how close he'd been to repeating it)
he offered a more apologetic smile in her direction. She
ignored that one, too. He really didn't blame her.
At her stony silence, he sighed deeply and made his
way slowly across the room, taking his time, choosing his
words carefully. He'd already let his own frustration and
worry get the better of him once, and given the volatile
nature of both of their moods right now he knew he'd
better take it slowly or risk even more pain for both of
them.
Stepping closer to the plush couch where she sat, he
crouched down, squatting in front of her. Domino, arms
still wrapped tightly around her chest, met his gaze but
didn't speak. Later on, when he thought about it, he would
be forced to admit that it was her uncharacteristic
silence that had frightened him most of all, but at the
moment all he cared about was calming the both of them
down and finding out *just what the hell happened*.
Shifting closer to her, Cable reached out a hand, a man
looking for reassurance, all traces of the arrogant
general gone. "Dom...please talk to me." His deep baritone
voice was strangely soft.
She exhaled sharply, part of her still wanting to
lash out, to blame him for everything that had happened to
her. Looking into his eyes, though, she knew that the
actuality of their situation was far too horrible to play
any more games. This little dance of emotions had gone on
long enough.
"Sit down, Nathan," she said quietly, and though she
didn't take his outstretched hand she didn't brush it
away, either. Breathing a soft sigh of relief, he joined
her on the couch, careful to leave enough room so she
wouldn't feel crowded. He knew she had always needed
privacy, space to work through things, and he cursed
himself that he hadn't remembered that sooner.
They sat like that for a minute and, when she
finally spoke, her voice was low and distracted, and
sounded far older her years. "Are you sure you want to
know what happened, Nathan? Everything?"
He nodded sharply, only his eyes betraying his fear.
"Alright, then, Nate." Domino took a deep breath
before she continued, a bit shakily. "I don't really know
how to tell you this, so I'll just tell you. Tol...Tyler,"
she corrected herself, "Tyler is alive."
Cable blanched and, leaning forward, he gripped her
arm tightly. "What?" he whispered, words so light they
barely had substance. "Tyler's *dead*, Dom. Logan killed
him..."
Domino, eyes closed against the memories, answered
him tightly. "Yeah, well, that's not such a permanent
thing in your family..." Swallowing hard, she wrenched her
arm free. "Nathan- he left orders to have himself cloned
if he died before he...hell, I'm sorry, Nate...before he
killed you. I know you thought things had gotten better
between the two of you, and maybe they had, and he just
didn't have a chance to change his orders before the
insanity struck." The explanation sounded weak even to her.
Cable stared blankly at the wall, feeling his world
shatter around him. "No," he whispered. "No. He's not back
here. He's finally at peace, in a better place, with
Aliya." Domino's expression softened in sympathy at the
mention of Cable's beloved dead wife. She more than anyone
knew of the pain that loss had caused him, and she closed
her eyes against the inevitable barrage of memories shared
through their psilink. 'Damn Tolliver,' she thought
bitterly, careful to keep her expression calm.
He reached out blindly, grabbing her hands again.
Oblivious to her grimace of pain, he squeezed them
tightly, clinging to the reality of her actual, physical
presence beside him as his mind instinctively tried to
open up their psilink. "That can't be right, Dom, dammit,
I *saw* them, when I almost died after Onslaught. I
*talked* to them!" Voice twisting to a sob, he choked
"Domino... He *forgave* me! Finally...after all these
years, after everything that happened between us, he
*forgave* me for leaving him to Stryfe so long ago..." She
knew the pain that decision had caused him through the
years. It had been such a vivid repetition of what he
considered his own abandonment by *his* father, and only
in recent years had he learned the truth about *that*.
'Just another way he thinks he's failed the world,' Domino
sighed, and opened her mind to him.
Allowing the link, Domino carefully hid her own
feelings behind the strongest mental shields she had. If
he'd been more coherent, more in control, she knew she
wouldn't have had a chance at hiding such intense
emotions, but as it was he was barely able to speak, much
less pry into her thoughts, which were gleefully rejoicing
at the image of the real Tolliver dead.
Holding her own very different emotions at bay,
Domino comforted him as gently as she could, squeezing his
hands reassuringly. "I know, Nathan. I'm sorry..." 'I'm
sorry I wasn't the one to kill him the first time,' she
thought viciously, but left those thoughts unvoiced,
careful to keep her voice soft and reassuring. 'This is
what we do,' she thought somewhat sourly, as Nathan held
onto her, much as she had to him earlier 'We hold each
other together when we fall apart and push each other away
when we feel strong enough...'
"I'm sorry, babe, but he's back," She used the rare
endearment, hoping it would calm him, beginning to get
worried at the depth of Cable's pain. In truth, she had
anticipated anger from Nathan, or at the very least guilt,
but she'd not expected this vast sorrow that poured into
her through their psilink. Marshalling her strength, she
gently ended their link, unwilling for his pain to soften
her own rage. He barely noticed.
Cable looked up at her hopefully, eyes gleaming with
unshed tears. "Maybe...maybe we can get to him now, stop
the cloning process before it starts..."
She took a deep breath. "I *am* truly sorry, Nate,"
she answered, this time really meaning it. "But it's
already been done- and the clone's been given a full
memory implant, too, so he knows everything the old Tyler
did." His hands still clasped over hers, she ran her thumb
reassuringly over his, trying desperately to soothe him,
to get him to pull himself together. 'I don't have the
energy for this,' she thought wildly, close to tears of
rage and sympathy herself. Not for Tyler, no, never for
him, but for the pain he'd inflicted from beyond the grave
on this man who'd borne far more than his share already.
Her next words, hateful to her own ears but
necessary for him to hear, came from some hidden reservoir
of strength she hadn't known she possessed. "Nate...
listen to me!" She ordered sharply, and some part of her
registered approval when he dully looked up at her. "This
is *not* the Tyler you raised. This is a *clone*- just
like Stryfe wasn't you, nor you him, this isn't Tyler. If
you made peace with him, then you did. This doesn't change
any of that..." Not wanting to push Cable past his limit,
Domino held off telling Cable the other parts of Pete's
news. When he heard what she had to tell him, his feelings
would almost certainly change, and she wanted to give him
a chance to work through whatever residual feelings of
pain he still had about leaving his adopted son behind and
the warped man that act had created.
As she spoke soothingly to him, not meaning a damn
word she said, something clicked inside her. Calming
Nathan had somehow freed her from her own paralyzing fear.
Thinking about the pain Tolliver had caused them both,
considering the evil the man had brought into their
already chaotic lives, the anger condensed into a familiar
cold, calm fury that she welcomed, embraced. This, she
could understand and deal with, and the black melancholy
that had enveloped her since the meeting with Pete lifted
slightly. Tolliver may have trapped her once, but damn if
he'd do it again. She was ready for him this time, and
when Nathan heard Pete's news, he would be, too.
Releasing her hand, he muttered "I *know* that,
Dom...it's just...." Shuddering, he turned away from her
for a moment, closing his eyes tightly. When he opened
them again, she was still sitting beside him, almost
preternaturally calm. He took her hand again, infinitely
more gently than before, running his fingers lightly over
the bright red marks his thick fingers had left on her
pale skin. "Sorry," he whispered lightly, his voice
surprisingly light and clear. "'Preciate it, Dom."
"No problemo," she smiled warmly at him, remembering
for the first time in a while just why it was she'd stayed
with this man all these years. "Now...are we gonna sit
here holding hands all afternoon or am I gonna tell you
the rest of the story?"
At his amused reply, she steeled herself again and
described to him in crisp clinical tones just exactly what
Pete had told her. Then, when he asked in a strangled
whisper, she proceeded to tell him the things she'd hidden
from him for so long. She told him just exactly what all
had happened to her during her year as Tolliver's toy, and
nodded in grim satisfaction as the sorrow in his
expression turned slowly to rage.
To be cont'd
===
-DuAnn
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give unto you. Not as
the world gives, give I unto you. Do not let your hearts
be troubled and do not be afraid.
-John 14:27
I
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