Title: Unexplained Phenomena 8/8 Author: Maia (squirrel@enteract.com) Category: Gen X (Emma/Sean) Rating: PG-13 for language and mature themes Notes and Disclaimers, see Chapter 1 Chapter 8 "Me and you, every night, every day, We'll be together, always this way" The Pretenders - Message of Love ******************** "How about Brighid? Breathe, two three, four." Sean said in a low, almost intimate tone. For the first time in months, he had to admit he was feeling more relaxed. He didn't really understand why, the rounded bundle of blond-haired woman seated close in front of him notwithstanding. The events of Bobby's disappearance were enough to scare Sean to the very bone. He'd called Westchester and spoken with Charles right after Remy's news of Bobby's flight and found out that "Bobby" hadn't been in touch for months. The story became even more chilling when a call to the Drake house produced several facts, the least of which was Mrs. Drake had had no recent accident, nor had the family heard from Bobby in months either. Initially, Sean's first instinct the situation was to take Emma and run, hide out in a few of the remote safe houses he knew of from his Interpol days. Of course, Emma would hear none of it, saying her first duty was to the safety of the children, and asking in any case, how long could they live on the run? In light of that, Charles offered any security upgrades Sean needed for the school, which they implemented, and then the days passed, and a week, then two and they waited. And waited. And nothing happened, no squad of Sentinels on the front lawn, no unexpected abductions, no sight of Bobby at all. This morning was the first morning in many that Sean was finally relaxing just a little. Enough at least to keep up his Lamaze practice with Emma. "No." Emma answered through her series of long and short breaths. "And your mind is wandering all over the place - you're not counting correctly." "Yes I am. Mair‚ad ?" He tried to reinforce the barriers to his mind. Emma's telepathy had increased in its potency over the last several weeks along the link they weakly shared, and he didn't want her worrying any more than she did about the weirdness with Bobby. Between breaths, she shot him 'Emma patented look # 1' at the name suggestion - a look which had in its time, been known to make men impotent. Having been around her for so long, however, made Sean quite immune. After a few minutes of breathing, he bounced back with yet another baby name suggestion, trying to get his mind off of Bobby. "Well, how about Claire, it was a family name." "That's sweet Sean, but I don't know... Claire... Cassidy Frost" Emma tried out the name out loud. "Frost?" Sean teased mildly. "Yes, Frost. It's the least I expect for doing this for nine months." Emma countered smoothly. "Why do I feel like this is th' beginnin' of a bad business deal?" Sean let out a small moan from his seated place behind her on the floor of her bedroom. "Nonsense. This is a great business deal. 'Frost and Cassidy productions.' Now keep counting. " Emma prompted. After several more breaths and many rounds of counting, they settled into the rhythm that made them the envy of their Lamaze class. Their natural, albeit occasionally hot-tempered teamwork worked well here, much as it did in their duties with the school. Who could have imagined this kind of closeness between them when they'd first worked together during the Phalanx attack years ago? Well, Sean amended his thoughts as he continued to guide Emma through the breathing and relaxation exercise. There had been something there even from the first - a fiery challenging of wills, a flirtatious attraction, an unsteady trust coupled with a common need and burning fascination. That seemed like a million years from the present, Sean considered with a small sigh. Now, in addition to all those facets in their relationship, they had this too - a daughter. A little baby girl. It was almost too much to imagine. But Sean did his best. He tried to underplay his enthusiasm at being a father again, especially given the unplanned and indeed, rather uncertain circumstances of his little girl's conception. But he couldn't help himself. The thought of being a father again, of being able to be there for all aspects of his daughter's life, from dolls to boys and everything in between. It was something he missed with his first daughter Theresa, a fact that gnawed on him every waking day. This was a second chance to do things right - a miracle of sorts. And despite everything, and whatever dangers would come in the future, he was happy, for the most part. Emma stirred slightly in his arms and for a brief moment, he caught a whiff of her usual perfume, a strange blend of vanilla and flowers. He really wished she wouldn't wear it while they practiced, the scent was heady, alluring and quite distracting. Tousled out of his reverie, he looked down over her shoulder at her relaxed form. Despite her increasingly rounded curves, a look that she carried off with a regal air, Emma looked almost petite seated within the curve of his arms. The sudden protective and possessive urge that shot through him took him by surprise, and he wrested his thoughts back to the breathing. *Now is not the time to go there, Sean.* *I don't know about that, Sean* Emma contemplated as she lightly scanned her partner's thoughts. He'd tried valiantly to put up more barriers against her increased abilities, but being a non-telepath, they hadn't been solid enough. No matter. She liked skimming the surface of his contented thoughts, even if more than a few of them were filled with worry, and... something else. Not from Sean, but else where, on the campus perhaps. Something a bit off, not quite right. Before she could place the impression she was receiving telepathically, or increase her awareness of it, it was gone. Leaving Emma to dismiss it after a moment, chalking it up to some passing teenage crisis from one of the kids, unbearable and then forgotten the next minute, as kids were apt to do. As Emma let her thoughts relax further, her mind became aware of the environment and sensations around her, and within her. Her daughter's hazy mental presence was a constant joy and thrill each and every time she reached out to touch it. It was a miracle only a few women, mostly psi-gifted women, could enjoy. She had never been one to curse the gift that made her a mutant, but especially now, her gratitude knew no bounds. From behind her, she acutely felt Sean's chest rising and falling with his own, almost sympathetic deep breaths. He had his chest pressed closely up to her back in the position that would give her added leverage to push when the day arrived. At first, she had balked at the physical closeness the Lamaze required - too much touching and rubbing for a couple who had never even so much as kissed. Not that anyone in the class would have understood the baby came about from a rather "unnatural" conception. Now, however, she found she rather liked the closeness the practice required of them. *Ah, I'm getting soft again,* she mused. For the hundredth time during the pregnancy, she marveled at how quickly her emotions could shift and turn sentimental. But at least, she considered, it was better than hemorrhoids. From behind her, she felt Sean's warm breath begin to tickle her ear as he shifted his head to one side of her shoulder, and she felt herself melt even further. She lightly made a mental connection to him again, light enough for him not to notice, and hazily sensed his thoughts mirroring her own - warm and soft, drowsy, and tinged with the electricity that was always between them these days. She focused in on that for a moment, the electricity thing. It sparkled with something...an unspoken desire mixed with sexual attraction and a deeper feeling of connecting as a family. It was heady, intoxicating...and almost as if her body had a mind of its own, she found herself twisting her head, and then leaning in toward his lips. The kiss began as a soft, unspoken invitation - hesitant and seeking, and then matured into something solid and full, mouth parted. A kiss between a man and a woman, timeless but more than overdue. As if sensing the sudden distraction of her parents in their Lamaze practice, Claire let out a swift kick to Emma's belly, making her jump with a start, breaking the tender moment. Beside her, Sean let out a startled laugh himself. "I felt that! Saints, our girl has th' makin' of a fine soccer pro." But Emma's attention was focused suddenly elsewhere - eyes glued to the door of the bedroom, but unfocused in the way that betrayed her telepathic sense. He watched her eyes go wide as saucers, felt the wash of fear come over her from the weak telepathic link they shared, and found his own question of 'Emma, what?' lost in his throat as the door suddenly burst open with tremendous, deadly force... ********** With an abrupt start that made her heart pound quickly and her adrenaline rush, Emma awoke from the dream to find herself sleeping in her own bed in her cottage on the school campus. Even as the shock of the dream faded, Sean's words still echoing in her mind, she quickly reached for the soft, white duvet that covered her and pulled back the bedding. There in the moonlight was her creamy skin, bare to the world in the way she preferred to sleep at night, her figure slim and very much unpregnant. With a sigh somewhere between relief and regret, she recovered herself and laid back down on her pillows. It had seemed so very real, more real than she could ever remember a dream being, she considered as she laid there in the quiet of the room. Even given her own limited experience with the Astral Plane, she couldn't recall ever having an experience like the one she'd just had. And the topic! Having a baby... Was it so very unimaginable? The small voice in the back of her mind asked, and then answered - no, it wasn't all that bizarre. The regretful, ghostly memory of happiness and contentment from the dream returned as a slow ache, and she silently admitted that she did want to have a child someday, even if she'd never admit it in the light of day. She could still feel how good it felt, and she found herself trying to hold on the fleeting feeling even as it slipped farther away. A child with Sean, she thought as she tried to remember all she could of the dream, and then, caught herself slyly smiling. What kind of hell would that stir up? And what kind of hell was in the dream - ideas of something sinister about Bobby coming back to her, slowly and hazily. Bobby, and abductions, and implanted children. What in the world had produced a dream like that?! Her mind incredulously considered. Turning over miserably on her pillow at her lack of a definitive answer, Emma found herself faced with the prospect of a now restless mind and a sleepless night. It was all very odd indeed. Across the campus at that same moment, from outside the headmaster's cottage, a single light suddenly went on in one of the master bedroom windows, followed by the opening of a window. From inside, Sean sent up a silent prayer of thanks for the cool of the evening breeze that brushed lightly over his still damp skin and nightclothes as he made his way back into his bed. Even now, after more than a few minutes of being awake, he still couldn't quite pull himself out of the very odd dream he had just had. He and Emma, and a baby? The idea was completely insane, and yet, he couldn't quite shake the small pang of regret he felt at the idea that the scenario was only a dream. God, what would Emma ever think if she found out? Letting up another silent prayer that his maddeningly beautiful but frustrating counterpart at the school would never know about the dream, Sean turned over to one side of the bed and turned off the bedside light once again. "Heh," he said softly in the dark as the drowsy lure of sleep caught him, "Havin' a baby with Emma Frost. Saints preserve us." ************ The image of Sean's dark bedroom blinked off of the large video monitor at the far end of the room. Silence hung in the air for several minutes and then, from the dark shadows of the room's far corner, a slow male voice announced. "Well, there it is, gentlemen. Our first successful test of the Project." An over head dim light nearby revealed the hazy puff of smoke the man exhaled as he paused in his announcement. "This is great improvement over the earlier attempts at control we've used in the past on test 'subjects.'" Another man in the room quietly said. "Still," Cigarette Smoking Man considered after another draw on his Morley, "We still have a long way to go if we're going to use this technology to aid in the final colonization process." "Is there any indication that this technique of blurring the line between dreams and reality is really useable to eliminate the mutant problem for colonization? Or that it will help us get the upper hand?" The second man asked. "No, to both" the smoking older man admitted, "But we are stepping up our efforts on that front as well. With any luck, the 'x factor' in that small portion of the population who are mutant telepaths may prove to be the key to success on that front as well." The other older men in the darkened room nodded silently in agreement and filed one by one out of the room. ************************ THE END? No way! Chris Carter and Co. have given me enough toys (and a man's man new Agent) from Season 8 of the X-Files to play with and carry on the story. Just what did happen to Emma and Sean? And how will it all connect with Doggett's and a pregnant Scully's investigation of the Syndicate's colonization work? Stay tuned to the next piece, an Gen. X/X-Files crossover . .