Subject: [OTL]: Golden Goose RR: Mother Goose, Father Gander Date: Sun, 21 Oct 2001 01:01:14 +0100 (BST) From: Dyce-Elihara Disclaimer: None of the characters mentioned herein are mine, except Lucy, and she's sort of shared property. No money was made. This story slots into the Golden Goose RR right after Saschaian's 'Wild Goose Chase' and Diana's 'The Huntress', and is more or less concurrent with Mara's 'A Little Bird Told Me'. All the Golden Goose RR can be found here, http://www.greymalkinlane.com/min/goldengooserr.html , on the nice page Min made for it. Mother Goose, Father Gander By Dyce Dinner was tense. Madelyne had done her best. Creed - she liked that name better than Sabretooth - had taught her to make stew, and she'd made it, along with bread that was a little flat but still tasted good. The blonde woman had turned up her nose at Maddie's food, eating only a little. When they'd eaten, Creed pushed his chair back and glared at the blonde woman. "Okay, Leni... or whatever yer name really is," he rumbled. "Spill the beans. You said you knew somethin' I needed to know." His eyes flicked over to Lucy, who was eating her stew with her fingers, chomping ferociously on the slightly chewy meat with her sharp, pointed teeth. "Something about Lucy." Leni chuckled softly, leaning back in her chair and folding her arms. "I'm afraid there's been something of a misunderstanding," she said mildly, her eyes cold as she looked at Creed, Maddie, Lucy, then Creed again. "I don't know anything about... Lucy, is it? What a nice name." She looked again at the sticky toddler. "And such a... darling child." He growled, and Maddie saw the big fists clench. "You said-" "I said I had information regarding your child," Leni said coolly, her hard eyes meeting his. "Your son. Our son, to be precise." There was a long moment of silence, broken only by the little noises of Lucy trying to chew though a particularly difficult hunk of meat. Leni had the slightly nervous smugness of someone who's just delivered a truly shocking piece of news. Maddie knew her face was blank, habit pulling an emotionless mask over the turmoil of her thoughts. And Creed... Creed was staring at the blonde woman with an expression of unconcealed horror and contempt. "Our son," he said flatly. "Did you raise him?" "I did a mother's humble best," she purred silkily. Creed moved so fast that Maddie hardly even saw it, grabbing the woman's arm and dragging her out of her chair, hurling her away from him to sprawl on the floor. Lucy whimpered, and Maddy picked her up, not taking her eyes off the fight. "Don't ever say that again!" he roared. "You don't deserve ta use that word! She," he pointed at Maddie with one clawed finger, "ain't never been allowed to keep her kids more than a couple months, she's never been outside the lab before and she's still more've a mother than you're ever gonna be!!!" For the first time, the blonde woman's cool facade cracked, and she gazed up at the looming Creed with a momentary expression of pure, unadulterated hatred. Then, with an effort, she got her expression under control and rose to her feet. "Evidently our interpretation of the word differs," she said a little stiffly. "Our son, however, is an unfortunate reality. He is... human," she added, with a little moue of distaste. "And resents you and I for having powers he cannot possess." Creed frowned at her. "He knows about me?" he asked suspiciously. "How much?" "Enough," Leni said, smiling an unpleasant smile. Essex had smiled like that. Maddie shrank back a little in spite of herself, holding Lucy tightly. Creed noticed the movement, and looked at her. After a moment, his furious expression softened a little. "You two should probably go to bed," he said almost gently. "I'll be in in a while." He looked back at Leni. "We only got two beds," he said grimly. "Lucy's, and mine an' Maddies. You can sleep on the couch." Maddy let the blank expression slide back into place. It was true that there were only two beds. One was Creed's. One was Maddie's. Lucy usually slept on the couch-cushion, with one of the adults moving it into the bedroom and making up a little bed for her. He'd never given Maddie the slightest hint that he was sexually interested in her, why would he start now? But she knew not to argue, not with this unfamiliar and unnerving woman watching them. She and Lucy were both used to doing what they were told. "Sure," she agreed, hiking Lucy up on her hip. "Say goodnight, Lucy." "Night, Da," Lucy said obediently, giving her father a little wave. His face softened again. "Night, Lucy," he said gravely. Maddie took her into the bathroom, washing her hands and face and brushing her teeth carefully. She liked this part... Lucy was such an active little girl that it wasn't possible to hold her for very long, and she couldn't sleep snuggled up with Maddy in case she accidentally scratched her. Even at two, the claws on Lucy's fingers and toes were long and sharp enough to do real damage if she kicked out in her sleep. But at bedtime she was drowsy enough to snuggle against her mother's shoulder while she was washed and brushed. Maddie decided to forgo the bath tonight, though. Instead, she dressed Lucy in an old t-shirt and tucked her into Maddie's own bed. "You have to sleep here tonight, baby," she whispered, stroking Lucy's soft red curls. "So the other lady can sleep on your couch." "Mean lady," Lucy observed, holding up her arms. "Night, Mama." Maddie hugged and kissed her, and said goodnight. Then, more slowly, she dressed herself in another of the baggy old t-shirts... too small for Creed, they must have belonged to someone else... and slid into the big bed. She'd never slept there. She wasn't sure she could sleep now. She did, though, not waking up until a heavy weight pulled the other side of the bed down. Even then, she didn't move, hoping he'd think she was still asleep. Whether he did or not, she didn't know...the room was dark, and he didn't say anything, just flopped down on his side and seemed to go right to sleep. Eventually, Maddie slept too. For the first time in a long time, she dreamed about the lab. She was back in her old room, waiting for Essex to come and tell her it was time to conceive her next child. Then suddenly he was there, and beside him was a red-haired woman who looked like Madelyne's twin, and Essex was saying that the new woman was an improved model, who always bore twins. He pointed at Maddie, and called for two of the guards to take her away for disposal, and they were some of the worst guards, and she knew what was going to happen to her before she died and she tried to scream and run but she couldn't move couldn't make a sound... "Grwakeup..." a deep rumble muttered, but it was a familiar rumble. Maddie jerked awake. She was alive, she was free, she was never going back to the lab, never, she'd rather die, and she started to shake at just the thought and... A massive arm draped itself over her, with another grumble. "Grrsleep," Creed muttered. His breathing told her that he probably hadn't even woken up. At first she tensed, but then she relaxed slowly. It wasn't as if he had any sexual interest, he'd made that clear enough. The facts that he was buck-naked - he always slept that way - and at the moment pressed up against her back made it clear that he was definitely having no sexual interest in her now. She'd know. So he wasn't, and she was probably fairly safe, and the warm weight of his arm felt kind of nice settled over her waist. Cosy. Sighing a little, she snuggled down and let herself drift back into sleep. * * * Sabretooth woke up slowly. There was something warm and soft snuggled against his chest, and that was unusual enough to puzzle him. Even when he did share his bed, he didn't usually let whoever it was stay all night. That was why there was another bed on the other side of the room - he liked having space to sleep in. He opened his eyes and saw a mess of red hair. Oh, yeah. Madelyne. Now he remembered. Having her sleep in his bed had seemed like a good idea last night. He didn't put it past Mystique to try something, and he'd wanted Maddie and Lucy both as close to him as possible. Besides, Mystique... he had to stop thinking of her as Leni... would assume that he was keeping Maddie around for one purpose only. And he was. It just wasn't sex. But Mystique would think it was, and would dismiss Maddie as unimportant, because Creed's interest in his sexual partners never lasted long. He wasn't interested in Maddie that way, though. She was only five. Kids didn't do it for him, and Maddie might be physically an adult but in her head she was still a kid in a lot of ways. But she was shaping up to be a real good mother, and he wanted her for Lucy. Lucy deserved to have a mama who loved her and played with her and took care of her when he, her dad, had to be elsewhere. He slid out of the bed, careful not to wake Maddie. She'd slept so soundly once he'd put his arm around her, and he'd been obscurely touched that she trusted him like that. It made him feel unfamiliar feelings that before he'd associated only with Lucy. He looked down at Lucy on his way to the bathroom, and smiled a little. They'd let him spend time with her in the program, so that he could teach her what only he knew... how to use his powers. He'd made sure they hadn't known how attached he'd gotten, how the little squalling cub had made something feel so right inside him, triggered instincts that he hadn't known about until now. For months, he'd been planning to escape with her whenever a chance appeared. And when it had, Maddie had been there, and he'd saved her too. He'd had to. He'd taken care of her when she was new-born, feeling sorry for her because she was as trapped as he'd been when he was a cub, telling her about the outside world that he himself had been deprived of. And she did love the kids. He approved of that. He wasn't usually a charitable man. But Maddie and Lucy had affected him. He hadn't laid hands on Jean Grey - which he would have if he'd wanted to, orders or no orders - and although he HAD had Storm a few times, he hadn't done her any real harm. She didn't know how lucky she was, escaping him without having the mark of his claws put on her. He'd always done it before. He washed up quickly, pulled on a worn pair of jeans, and then he went to wake Maddie. "Get up," he murmured as quietly as he could make his rumbling voice get. "Stay quiet, grab whatever you and Lucy need, and go out the window. You can go in the bathroom, but not the main room." She made a tiny sound of protest, and he snorted, giving her a lopsided little smile. "I'll get the books," he promised, knowing that was what she wanted. She nodded compliantly then, and got out of bed, tiptoeing over to wake Lucy quietly. Creed nodded, knowing she'd do exactly what she was told as quickly and quietly as she could. She understood that when he told her to do something, he had a reason, and she could stand around asking questions later. Shrugging on a t-shirt, he slipped out into the main room. He'd think about the revelations Mystique had made later. He'd brought her here for a reason, and if he'd timed things right... * * * "You're sure?" Domino asked, squinting through her field glasses at the tiny cabin in the valley below them. "Sure. There were four life signs last night, but only one this morning." Granger sounded a little nervous. They hadn't made the attempt when they arrived late last night, because the info-package on Sabretooth had been laden with twenty kinds of red-light warnings never to go up against him at night, or tired. He was too fast, and saw in the dark too well. So they'd rested for a few hours and now it looked like they'd lost them again. "Damnit," Domino growled. "Shit. Look, let's go down there and see who it is. Maybe they can tell us something." They were careful, inching down the slope so quietly that even Sabretooth might not have heard them. Even Domino, she'd been warned, might not be able to take Sabretooth down. He was much older and more experienced even than she was, and a lot bigger. The cabin was silent when they reached it. No smoke coming from the chimney, no sounds of television or radio or human life of any kind. Domino frowned, chewing on her lip. The whole thing just felt WRONG. Day took the risk and peeked in a window. Then he just stood there, staring. "Look!" he exclaimed, at a normal volume. Domino growled, hushing him with a hand gesture. Figuring their cover was blown anyway, she held her gun ready and kicked the door open... nearly falling over, because it hadn't been locked and swung open easily. Inside, a red-haired woman was lying unconscious on the floor. Domino hastily fumbled the picture out of her belt, to double-check what she already knew. It was Pryor, curled on her side a little, red hair fanning out around her. There was a note pinned to her shirt. Domino snatched the note, unfolding it and staring in utter bemusement at the rather clumsy, lopsided letters. 'Take her' the note said. 'Leave me'n Lucy alone.' Sabretooth. It had to have been Sabretooth. He'd known somehow that they were on his trail, and rather than confronting them, he'd decided to just hand the woman over. Domino chewed on her lip some more. This was too easy. Way, way too easy. Why would someone as tough as Sabretooth just give up like that? He'd taken the woman, he must have wanted her for something... "I don't like it. Granger? Check her out." Granger knelt beside the unconscious woman, running the scanner over her with one hand, and feeling over her head with the other. "Knocked out," he reported. "There's a lump on the side of her head." He frowned and shook the scanner. "I can't tell anything else," he complained. "The readings I'm getting are too far outside the human norm for me to make sense of it. I can't even tell if she's pregnant or not." He pulled up the woman's shirt, kneading her slightly swollen stomach experimentally. "I think so, though. The readings are crazy, but she looks about two and a half months along. That fits." Domino nodded, watching Day through the window as he poked around outside. "Either we got really, really lucky, or we're being scammed." "You're luck's favourite girl," Granger shrugged. "Maybe he panicked. Maybe the little girl was the one he wanted all along, and he was keeping the woman as a bargaining chip." That kinda made sense, and Domino nodded slowly. "Maybe. We'll take her in, anyway. How many women can there be who look just like her, two and a half months pregnant, with such a complex mutation that it screws up the scanner?" Granger nodded, looking relieved. "Yeah. Mission accomplished, I guess." Domino scowled. It still felt wrong, somehow, like she was missing something... * * * Miles away and accelerating, Maddie absently stroked the soft leather seat of Mystique's convertible. "Why did we take her car?" she asked curiously. "In case they can track mine," Creed said, eyes on the road, blonde hair whipping around his face in the strong wind. Maddie had tied hers back with a bit of string to keep it out of her eyes. "She'll be fine. Always is. But she'll keep 'em off our backs for a while." His lips quirked humourlessly. "I'm bettin' that even if she shifts when she wakes up, they'll think yer just usin' telepathy on them to make 'em see something different." "Can I do that?" Maddie blinked thoughtfully. That was a use for her power she'd never thought of, and it was a *useful* one. "Dunno why not," Creed shrugged. He glanced into the backseat. "You good back there?" Lucy nodded, firmly strapped into the small backseat with her teddy clutched in her small arms. "Good, Da," she chirped. The wind played with her red curls, and Maddie saw Creed smile, his hard eyes softening. "We should stop and get something to eat soon," she said, peeking at him out of the corner of her eye to see how he'd take it. "She needs breakfast." He nodded, not seeming to mind that she'd tried to assert her own will in even so small a matter. "Yer right. Kid needs to eat regular, or it'll mess with her healing factor." He reached over to pat Maddie's knee absently. "Yer doin' good, Maddie. Makin' a good mom." Maddie smiled shyly, basking in the totally unfamiliar feeling of being approved of. "I'm trying." He nodded. "That's good," he said in the same approving voice. Then he looked back at Lucy again. "You hungry, cub?" "Yeah!" Lucy agreed loudly. "Meets!" He laughed. "Meat, yeah," he said almost fondly. "'s good for growin' cubs." Maddie smiled. This was nice. It was like the videos he'd showed her of families out driving together. She closed her eyes, and pretended that that was what they were. (end)