DISCLAIMER: in first part.
A Laying On Of Hands: Part Five
by Cascade
Sam carried Dana up the stairs to her bedroom. Hank could stick her in the medlab later if he wanted to. Sam wanted her to feel as safe as possible after what had just happened and she wouldn't feel safe in the medlab.
She mumbled something into his chest.
"What was that?" he asked her, concern spreading across his features.
She pulled her head up and looked at him. "This is twice, now, that you've had to carry me to my bedroom, let's not make this a habit." she smiled wearily.
Sam allowed himself a short laugh, before opening the door and carrying her to the bed.
She pushed herself to a sitting position. "I gotta change out of this outfit," she explained.
"I'll help her, Sam." Jean said from the doorway.
*Thanks Jeannie. Ah wasn't quite sure how to handle that.*
#You've done more than enough for Dana. It's about time the rest of us started picking up the slack.#
Sam closed the door behind him as he left the room, and sat down just outside of it, waiting for Jean to finish.
"You can come in now, Sam." Jean said, looking down at him wryly.
*For him to sit down outside the door... His big brother instincts must be really fired up!* Jean thought to herself.
Sam stepped back into Dana's room. Dana was in her bed, her covers tucked up to her chin. *Jean's maternal instincts must have taken over.* Sam mused.
Dana looked drowsily over at him, as she tried to free her arms from the blankets.
Sam pulled her chair away from her desk and sat down in it next to her bed. "Ya gotta go to sleep now, Dana," he said softly. "Ya need to recharge." He leaned over and kissed her on the forehead.
She sighed contentedly, shut her eyes and fell asleep.
Sam leaned back in his chair and watched her sleep. He sighed.
*Prince Charming kisses Snow White or Sleeping Beauty and they wake up from a deep sleep. I kiss Dana and I send her into one.*
He remembered that Hank had asked for reports on Dana's power. He should go while Dana was still asleep. "Ah'll be back before ya wake up." he whispered, easing out of his chair.
"Hank, Ah think your advice worked. She was able to stay awake longer before she fell asleep this time." Sam was down in the medlab discussing Dana's latest expenditure, leaving out everything but the actual use of her mutant powers. What had just happened to her was private. Dana could tell people herself, if she wanted to. He'd left Dana in her room to sleep.
"Good. She's been drinking enough water then, too?" Henry asked. He was hunched over his lab bench analyzing something under a microscope as he talked.
"She's been taking it like medicine." he chuckled, remembering her loud complaints at how much of it she had to drink.
"Well, then, I think we can expect her to wake up faster and feel better when she does wake up."
Sam left the medlab, changed in his room, and then headed down to the kitchen to get something to eat. Hank had said she'd wake up sooner, but he didn't say when, and Sam figured that Dana would want somebody there when she did wake up.
Dana yawned and looked out the window. The sun was just beginning to rise and it cast long rectangles of light along her bed covers. She heard a creak from behind her, and turned to see Sam adjusting his position on the desk chair in his sleep. She shook her head at his devotion to her well being. *I would have been fine without you, Sam.*
She watched his chest rise and fall with each breath he took. His blond hair was a little mussed, and some of it fell forward onto his face.
His strong arms were crossed on his broad chest and his feet (minus shoes) were propped up on the foot of her bed, one leg crossed over the other.
He'd changed out of his suit to a white T-shirt and a pair of comfortable looking blue shorts.
She broke her gaze from his features and got up out of bed and went to the window. She looked out at the world. The trees were just starting to change for Fall, and the surrounding hills were a patchwork of orange, red, gold, and evergreen.
She laid her hands on the windowsill. Her fingers brushed the picture frame she'd put there the night of the party. She picked it up and looked at the picture, passing over the faces of the people who up until yesterday had been her family. Her eyes stopped on her mother.
*You're just like your mother, trying to undermine me and the company. I will not have a mutant for a daughter.* The words came unbidden to her mind. She remembered the fights her parents had had over everything.
It hadn't always been that way, the picture showed her parent smiling at each other. They were obviously happy.
Her father's voice came to her again. She shook her head trying to get the unpleasant memory out of her head. *If the alternative is being like dad, I'll be just like my mother any day.* she countered the voice.
She looked again at the picture. The children all had brown hair just like their father. Her mother's hair was brown too, but it was more.
She followed the red highlights with her eyes.
Not thinking, she pulled her own hair past her shoulder. She looked at it in the sunlight, carefully spreading the strands apart. With her increased time in the sun, her hair had lightened naturally. There were some strands that were nearly blond, but there wasn't a red strand among them.
She sighed and put the picture back on the windowsill.
"Ya should be in bed." Sam's voice came from behind her.
"And you should have slept in your own room." she responded.
He came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. She leaned against him, relaxing, and rested her own arms on his. He picked up the picture and glanced at it before setting it back down in its place.
"Ya look like your mama." he said softly. Ordinarily that would have been a complete faux pas, but with Dana it was different.
"Thanks," she whispered, looking at his reflection in the window in front of her.
"Tell me about her." He requested softly.
She nodded and allowed him to lead her back over to the bed.
"Her name was Monica Byers, before she married. She was beautiful." She started as Sam motioned for her to sit on the bed. He took a place across from her on the desk chair. "She came from a middle class family in New York, I don't know how they ever met. I assume they married for love, because she was far too smart to be a trophy wife and her family wasn't well to do enough to give my father much extra money or power by marrying her. I don't know what happened. Marc would know. He was older, he was her confidant..."
Sam smiled and handed her the phone. "He's in Europe somewhere. Give him a call."
Talking to Marc had helped, but he seemed uncomfortable with the subject. He said the next time he was in town, he'd talk more. He just wasn't comfortable on the phone. Plus he'd had a meeting to go to. She sighed and began to get dressed. She changed out of the oversized T-shirt she'd worn to bed and pulled a pair a jeans from her dresser. She found a comfortable looking sweatshirt in one of the lower drawers and pulled that out as well.
She finished dressing and headed downstairs for breakfast. Sam was sitting on the couch watching the morning news. She tousled his hair as she walked by. He reached up and gave her hand a brief squeeze.
"O.K. now?" he asked softly.
"Little better, yeah," she mumbled while watching the weather man put on a pair of Bermuda shorts to illustrate his belief that it was going to be hot in Florida. She shook her head and walked on to the kitchen.
"...and in local news, philanthropist Edwin Hawkes, president of Hawkes Incorporated, has donated over one million dollars in money and equipment to selected pro-human organizations. His wish is that the money be used for research on ways to cure mutant behavior...."
Dana stiffened. She felt like she was going to be sick. Jean rose from her spot near the TV, and lead Dana out of the room. Sam looked on, worried, from the couch. He was tempted to follow, but Jean told him that she would handle it.
"What is he trying to do?" Dana shook her head as Jean lead her to the kitchen. Something nagged at her unconscious. Something she should remember.
"What's going on?" Jean asked. "What happened to make him do something like that?"
"He disowned me for one..." Dana's eyes narrowed at the thought.
"I heard you'd healed him, but I didn't know..."
"This is to rub it in a little I'm sure... but there's something more..."
"Well, he said the money was to be used for research to cure mutants. Maybe that's his way of saying he still loves you, and he wants to help." Jean said hopefully.
Dana snorted."I doubt that scenario would even occur to him." Dana leaned onto her hand thoughtfully. "There's something I'm forgetting. Something I saw at the house maybe."
Jean poured two cups of coffee and brought them over for herself and Dana. She sat down across from her. "Let's see if we can't get you to remember."
"Mornin', Red." Logan yawned as he strolled into the kitchen with Remy.
*Red...* the word sparked a memory.
Jean raised an eyebrow. "Out late?"
Logan nodded groggily as he made his way to the coffee pot. Remy nodded greetings to the two women sitting at the table and then resumed his conversation with Logan.
"So, what d' y' t'ink? Can Gambit add y' name to the pool?"
"I dunno, Gumbo. I mean, football's a decent sport and all, but I like hockey better. Fewer substitutions, more fights. You never saw that game between the Flyers and the Wings last year, did you? Blood on the ice! It was great."
*Red...crimson... wings... no, feathers! I remember! Crimson Feather!!* "Jean," Dana spoke up from the table. "I think I might have an idea of what it was I was trying to remember."
"Look up Crimson Feather in conjunction with Hawkes Incorporated." Dana sat in a chair behind Jean who was typing things on Cerebro's keyboard.
The screen flashed for a moment and then showed it's results.
"Crimson Feather Technologies, a division of Hawkes Incorporated. Main projects seem to be robotics." Jean read aloud.
"That can't be right..." Dana furrowed her brow. "I remember one memo I saw about Crimson Feather. It was talking about ammunition..."
"O.K. I think I've got I've got it. During the cold war everybody and their dog had a Military Research Division. Hawkes Inc. kept theirs secret, just in case there was a backlash against the military someday. They didn't want to be boycotted or anything. Hawkes' is called Crimson Feather Technologies, and if anyone asks they're working on robotics. Well, now with less military funding, many of the divisions are gone. It wasn't profitable anymore, but if Crimson Feather gives away a free sample of their product, and it turns out that it's helpful to these groups, they'll buy more, and, like magic, there's a new market and Crimson Feather's making money again
"He maintains his philanthropist image by telling the press the money is for research. Research for a cure is a nice friendly sound bite, but there's another way of looking at the word 'cure.' He could have told the groups receiving the money to 'cure' mutant behavior by buying some new high-powered weapons, provided by Crimson Feather."
"I don't know, it's a little far fetched. You're basing this on memos that you saw a while ago and you can barely even remember." Scott had come in to listen to her and now stood in front of her with his arms crossed.
"Look, my dad would not just give away a million bucks, unless he could turn a profit from it somehow. This is perfect. He makes money, gets his revenge on me. It's something that would have occurred to him," she paused looking up at him anxiously. "So are we going to be the team to take him out, or are we going to give this to somebody else?"
"I don't think anyone is going to 'take him out.' We'll probably just have to contend with the groups he's aided if what you've said is true. There MIGHT be a plan to 'take out' Crimson Feather Technologies if I or the Professor decide it's necessary." Scott glanced at Dana who appeared a little crestfallen at the news. "Why? Are you feeling vindictive? That's not a good attitude for an X-Man to have."
"No. I just figured it would be..." she paused, glancing at Jean, a smile touching the corners of her lips. "therapeutic."
As unbelievable as it seemed, Scott wanted to trust Dana. Besides, it wouldn't be too much extra work to keep an eye on Crimson Feather and Hawkes. But with the possibility of high powered weapons to fight, there was a greater likelihood of injury to the X-Men. Scott figured this was as good as an excuse as any to start Dana in the Danger Room. He might need her out in the field soon. He also thought it would be prudent to have Hank teach Dana some first aid so that she could conserve her power as much as possible if a battle situation ever arose.
"Dana, this is the Danger Room. With it we can simulate situations that may occur to the team. We usually use it for combat situations. Up there is the control room," Scott pointed to a line of windows near the ceiling of the cavernous room. Dana could just make out Jean's form as she waved. Dana lifted her hand to return the greeting. "From there we can see and hear what is going on down here, and make sure everything is safe." He motioned to Jean, and out of thin air a man appeared in the room. He was tall and burly looking, and he was frozen in a particularly menacing position.
"Let's see what you can do." Scott moved back against the wall out of the way.
Dana quickly adopted a ready position. She took a wide stance and moved to the balls of her feet. The man circled slowly, sizing her up.
Then, without warning he threw a punch. Dana blocked it easily, and returned at him with a kick to his midsection. He moved out of the way quickly and grabbed her foot by the ankle. He swept her other foot out from under her and she was pinned in a matter of seconds. The program froze.
"I'm just not used to the Danger Room." Dana told Scott who was standing over her, arms crossed on his chest, with a disapproving look on his face. She squirmed out from the frozen man's grip. "I'll do better next time. Lemme try it again."
Scott raised his eyebrow, a look of humor spread over his face. "Do you honestly think I'd let you leave after that?! How quickly you've forgotten how all this works... You're not going to be able to even think about leaving here until you pin him as quickly as he just pinned you."
He backed up to the wall again. Dana spun to find the man already in motion and coming at her. She defended herself as best she could, and the fight did last longer this time, but she ended up on the floor again.
She picked herself up off the floor and caught Scott's eye.
"You're in luck," he smiled evilly at her. "I don't have anything better to do. We can be here all day!"
"You're a sadist, Summers," she mumbled. It was going to be a long afternoon.