Subject: [ultimatexfic] Fic: Golden Geese: A Bird in the Hand, PG Date: Wed, 03 Oct 2001 13:46:06 -0000 From: "Mara Greengrass" TITLE: A Bird in the Hand AUTHOR: Mara Greengrass AUTHOR'S E-MAIL: fishfolk@ix.netcom.com. Feedback is better than chocolate. PERMISSION TO ARCHIVE: Yes, just let me know. CATEGORY: Gen RATINGS/WARNINGS: PG for mentions of sex and some cursing. SUMMARY: What happens when Scott and Madelyne meet? DISCLAIMER: The X-Men belong to Marvel and other entities with expensive lawyers. I am making no profit from this story. NOTES/DEDICATION: This is a sequel to Minisinoo's "The Goose Who Laid the Golden Egg" and Paxnirvana's "The Gander's Dilemma." It happens before Dyce's "What's Good for the Goose is Good for the Gander." I hope you enjoy this, because I missed my stop on the train while writing it. This was written somewhat hastily, so let me know if there are any inconsistencies with the other stories. **Telepathy** **************************** My mind was still reeling from my encounter with Essex as the guards dragged me down the sterile hallway. It looked just like every other damn hallway in this place and for once I was too dazed to map my path. He wanted me to have *sex* with some woman he'd chosen? Get her pregnant? What the hell was going on here? Why me? Anyway, I was expecting some mad scientist's laboratory, maybe some torture instruments. I was *not* expecting to see Jean. Goon number one slammed me up against the blue-tiled wall as number two opened the door and then tossed me in. "Hello, Scott," she said as I stood up. I leaned up against the other side of the door and stared at her. "Jean, what the hell is going on?" Jesus, was she here to *watch*? "I'm not Jean." I'd thought I was prepared, but this crap was just too much. "What the hell? Either you're a shapeshifter or that's the fastest brainwashing I've ever seen, of course you're Jean. Now snap out of it and tell me what the hell we're doing in..." Okay, I'll admit it. I hadn't looked around the room yet. Obviously a few weeks with these bozos and a knock on the head had caused all my training to seep out my ears. But even the horrible things we'd done and seen in those weeks were *no* excuse for my not noticing I was in a bedroom. With a bed. With fucking flowered sheets. Great, now I was sounding like Logan. She looked amused in a sad and strained sort of way. "What we're doing in my bedroom? I'm really not Jean, Scott. The faster you understand this, the easier things will be." I slid down slowly to the floor, keeping my eyes carefully on Jean, who'd obviously gone insane in the minutes since she'd been dragged out of the cell. She sat down in an armchair and ran her fingers through her short red hair. A few pieces drifted down, as if it had been recently cut. "You know, maybe he was right. Maybe I could have fooled you into thinking I was Jean long enough. Maybe not. I am *not* Jean. My name is Madelyne Pryor. I think I'm her clone. Don't ask me how that happened since Dr. Essex hasn't told me." Her tone sharpened on the last few words, and she winced. That told me the bastard was likely to be listening in. Or watching. Hell. It also told me she really wasn't Jean. I'd never seen Jean look like that, so resigned, even in the worst circumstances. And we'd *been* in the worst circumstances, and this wasn't it. Yet. Then the content of what she'd said sank in. "Her clone? Why the hell am I supposed to get Jean's clone pregnant?" She looked relieved that I finally seemed to believe her. "Dr Essex...well, let's just say our baby will be an extraordinarily talented mutant. Maybe more so than my others. I don't really know." The blows just kept coming. "Others?" I asked, trying to not imagine what the Weapon X bastards might be doing with *multiple* mutant babies. "Yes." She looked like she wanted to say more, but was afraid to. Hmm, if she was really Jean's clone... I reached out with my mind, the way the Professor taught me. **Tell me.** "No!" She yelled, jumping out of the chair and throwing up her hands as if to ward off my thoughts. I stayed very still, trying not to alarm her further. "No," she said again, quieter this time, "I'm not allowed. I get in trouble if I do that. Please." "I'm sorry," I said. She was shaking, just a little. I tried to look as non-threatening as I could. She wrapped her arms around her stomach and slowly moved back to the chair. "Can we just get on with this?" she asked, as if requesting a routine physical exam. "Just like that?" I hadn't even had time to process everything. The new threats to my friends. Essex knowing about Alex. Jesus H. Christ, I'd certainly lusted after Jean's body, I just thought it would come attached to her brain. "If we don't, Dr. Essex will do it for us," she said, looking even more unhappy at that prospect. "That's uncomfortable. I am most fertile today and tomorrow." Damn, it was all so tempting. To have a Jean of my own. Ready and willing to sleep with me instead of the Wolverine. I wondered if this Essex knew that too or if he'd just gotten lucky. "Look, Madelyne, it's not that I don't find you attractive, because I do, but I don't quite know what to do here." Shit, now I was babbling. I'd been *almost* prepared to fuck some stranger and then leave. But this woman, Jean's clone? My God, it would be like abandoning Jean. But how could I choose between her and Alex? Her look was pitying. "Haven't you learned? You don't have much of a choice. Either we have sex or the samples are taken from us the hard way. That's it." Damn it, there's always a choice, even if she'd been stuck in this lab so long she didn't see it. Oh my god, was she *born* here? Stop thinking about that and find a way out. Why couldn't I think of anything? All the plans I'd been confidently planning and not *one* dealt with the possibility of Jean's clone telling me to have sex with her. I hadn't planned for Armageddon or Ragnarok either. Madelyne moved over to the bed. She looked so much like Jean, I couldn't stand it. Slowly, I stood up and walked towards her. I wanted to cry at the hint of fear in her eyes. I wanted to shout. I wanted to destroy things. I wanted to wring Dr. Essex's neck. I vowed that when we left this place, if we couldn't take her with us, we would come back for her as well as her baby. My baby. Hell, all the babies. I sat carefully on the bed next to her. Her face was blank now. I felt like I was about to rape her, but what else could I do? If we had to do this, at least I could try and make it pleasant. She's not Jean. I wish like hell I knew who she really was. I wish I had time to find out.