DISCLAIMER: in first part.
A Laying On Of Hands: Part Fifteen
by Cascade
"Designate: Wolverine has multiple puncture wounds over metacarpals," the computer voice told Dana.
Dana adjusted the sound level of the speaker, and made sure it was in the right spot in her ear. She glanced over at Wolverine as he retracted his claws.
"Metacarpals?" she asked Hank as she glanced at the readout the computer on her arm gave her, advising the best way to treat such an injury. "I know what they are, but wouldn't it just be easier to say 'back of his hand'?"
Hank sighed. "I will inquire about making the appropriate adjustments to the program."
"Thank..." she was interrupted as the computer bleeped an announcement. She glanced down at the screen. Designate: Wolverine, no longer needed her attention.
"Is there anyway to turn down it's sensitivity to Logan? I'm going to be alerted every time he extends his claws. He could be opening a beer can with them in Australia and I'd know."
"Only if he was wearing a communicator," Hank said absentmindedly as he came around to look at the computer on Dana's arm and showed her the correct parts of the screen to touch in order to get the desired results.
She nodded at Wolverine and his claws extended and retracted again, leaving six even holes above his knuckles. The computer was silent.
"Give me an injury status on Wolverine," Dana commanded.
"Designate: Wolverine has multiple puncture wounds over metacarpals," the computer voice replied.
She nodded her head to let Hank know that the computer had reported accurately.
"Anything else you need fine tuned?" Hank asked her.
"I don't think so."
Wolverine shrugged and left the room.
"This thing does need a name though. Quick, Hank: personal hero."
"Albert Einstein?" Hank replied quickly with a shrug.
"Works for me." She glanced down at the computer. "I dub thee Al," she said with a laugh.
Sam loved Christmas. He loved giving gifts. He loved receiving gifts. He liked using it as an excuse to see his family. He liked the decorations in the malls. The closer it got the less patient he got. Dana could only stifle a giggle and try to look irritated as he'd attempt to make Christmas cookies, or drag her out to the mall to do more shopping.
Such was the case today.
"Dana, c'mere!" Sam said excitedly as he yanked on her sleeve.
She yelped in surprise, but turned towards the shop window he was indicating with a sigh. Going Christmas shopping with Sam was definitely an experience. He ran from store to store toting long lists collected from his brothers and sisters, oohing and ahing at the new items introduced in time for Christmas, and making not so subtle hints about what HE wanted for Christmas.
"Do ya think Paige'd like that?" he asked, pointing at a sweater on one of the mannequins in the window.
"Sam, I've never met her. I don't know."
He frowned. "Ya've seen pictures of 'er, though, right? Do ya think she'd look good in it?"
"Do you think she'd like it?" Dana asked, trying to be patient. They'd had this conversation in front of almost every shop window they passed. For some reason Sam was under the impression that she knew his relations better than he did.
He nodded. "Yeah. Ah think she'd like it."
"Then get it for her!" She pushed him inside the store, and looked heavenward, pleading for patience.
She watched him approach the shelves of neatly folded sweaters and paused to admire a dress.
"Dana?" She sighed as he called to her from across the store. "What color do ya think she'd like?"
She took a deep, cleansing breath, and cursed the designer of the sweater for giving Sam a choice of colors.
Sam glanced behind him quickly while Dana was explaining for the seventeenth time why she was not suited to pick out gifts for his family. He made sure to remember which rack of dresses she was admiring. He wasn't stupid, he was making a mental list of everything she paused to look at. He needed Christmas ideas for her. Every time he asked her directly, she said 'I don't know,' or something equally unhelpful.
"Okay. Ah'll get her the blue one," he said, searching through the piles for her size. "Ah'll go buy it, ya can go sit down outside if ya want, or go on ta the next store."
She nodded. "I think I'll jog down to the food court and get myself something to drink."
He paid for the sweater and nonchalantly walked by the rack she had inspected earlier. He checked to make sure that she was out of sight, and looked more closely at the dress. It was forest green velvet, and he had no doubt that she'd look dazzling in it. He hesitated, however. He had yet to figure out the secret code of women's sizes.
As far as he was concerned, his sister just gave him a seemingly arbitrary number and that was the size he bought. Dana was being much more difficult, though. He might just have to sneak into her room and take a look in her closet.
He sighed and left the store, making note of yet another store and item for his mental list.
Sam opened his window and breathed in the fresh, clean air. The first snow of the holiday season had fallen during the night, and he was anxious to get out in it. He zipped up his jacket, took another deep breath of the cold air, and blasted out of his upper-story window.
At times like this he wished he had Warren's wings. He would have liked to take his time over the whitened landscapes.
He scolded himself. Just being able to fly was incredible enough.
If he started whining about his method of flying, God would probably make him regret it.
He blasted low over the frozen landscape at a breakneck speed, twisting and turning, and performing all sorts of aerial acrobatics, working the last of the morning's drowsiness from him.
Cutting over towards the forest he caught two sets of footprints.
He flew over to investigate and was rewarded with a snowball that splattered against his blast shield. He landed, his blast shield still up to protect him, and narrowed his eyes as he squinted into the darkened forest, from where the last snowball had come.
He heard a familiar squeal, and Dana popped from behind a tree. "Bobby, I thought we were on the same team!"
Sam started to laugh. Dana was hopping around trying to untuck the back of her shirt from her pants. She finally managed it and a large chunk of ice fell out.
"I'm sorry... really!" Bobby gasped between bouts of laughter. "It was just too easy!" Bobby emerged from behind the same large tree, not looking at all apologetic. "Besides, Sam's stupid blast shield doesn't make him much of a target."
Dana glared at Bobby and kicked some snow in his direction.
Sam bent down and packed a snowball in his gloved hands. He tossed it between his hands for a while as he decided who to throw it at.
Dana glanced away from her glaring contest with Bobby long enough to see that he was looking for a target. She turned to face him and warned him with her eyes. He read the intent clear enough: If he wanted to enjoy any of the benefits of having a girlfriend at the holiday season, he would throw the snowball at Bobby.
He did. He caught Bobby completely by surprise and hit him in the side of the face.
Dana looked so positively smug that he decided he had to get her too, and lobbed a hastily constructed ball at the back of her neck while she was still laughing at Bobby.
She hopped around and squealed again as she tried to get the snow that had fallen down the back of her shirt.
The noise they had made attracted some of the other occupants of the house. Rogue was strolling by to investigate, and got hit by a poorly aimed snowball from Bobby. She immediately retaliated, but misfired a bit and smacked Sam in the back of the head.
Gambit was the next to join, and before too long everyone had come out to see what all the commotion was about and had become embroiled in the no-holds-barred fight.
The telekenetics proved to be incredible marksmen. Sam, Dana, and Bobby had scrambled for cover behind a large overturned tree when the X-Men with much better aim had shown up. Unfortunately, Jean and Cable could make snowballs twist and turn around obstacles and there was nowhere to take shelter.
Finally at around noon, everyone had exhausted themselves to the point where they were no longer in the mood to continue the war. Most of them went inside to go dry off and eat.
Dana was spread-eagled in a snow bank, as a result of Cable's experimentation with snowball size. She'd been hit with a telekinetically controlled snowball the size of a basketball, that had been going much faster than a snowball should, and it had sent her sprawling. She was a little too tired to get up, and found herself to be a much less noticeable target if she just laid still.
She heard a sound coming towards her, but didn't feel like expending enough energy to lift her head, so she just waited until it came into view.
"Well, that was fun," Sam panted, sprawling next to her in the snow. He stared up at the sky for moment, before rolling onto his side to look at her. "Looks like it's gonna keep snowin' for a while longer. Maybe we can do this tomorrow, too."
"Let's not. Let's find something a little less strenuous, like making snow angels or something." She blinked up at the snow that was still falling from the sky and opened her mouth to catch a few flakes.
"You're my snow angel." Sam looked over at her, a sappy smile plastered on his face. He was suppressing a chuckle.
She rolled her eyes at him just as Bobby strolled over, pretending to gag. "My snow angel? Geez! Get a room!"
She lobbed a handful of snow at his leg. It only covered about half the distance necessary.
He snorted at her pathetic attempt and walked off, bored.
She yawned and pushed herself into a sitting position. Sam did the same, and she smiled at him drowsily, as she wrapped her arms around his waist and snuggled closer to him.
"Aha. Ah get it now," he announced quietly as he settled her head on his shoulder. "Ah'm only good for my body heat."
"And your cute accent," Dana added as she kissed him briefly on the lips.
Dana sat cross-legged in her room. Her eyes were shut and her brow furrowed slightly as she concentrated.
She was practicing some of Cable's Askani techniques. In her minds eye she watched as her shields flowed from one color to the next. They moved liquidly changing in thickness and height at her command.
She practiced making holes, and closing them again. One of the holes she made didn't want to close, however. It was all startlingly familiar. Then she recognized what appeared to be a faint mist leaking towards her through the hole. Her breath caught in her throat, and she barely suppressed her panic enough to have the presence of mind to call for Cable.
#What's wrong?# He asked her brusquely.
*The mist is back. I...* She was cut off as he linked with her immediately. His presence calmed her panic. She didn't even mind the discomfort of their link.
The two of them stood inside her shields, and watched as the mist rolled through the hole and began to gather on the 'floor'.
*What is it?* Dana asked him.
He knelt and waved a hand through the mist, then rose again and shook his head. #I don't know. It's your mind and the mist is your symbolic representation of whatever it is. You'll have to identify it yourself.#
Dana swallowed and reached out a tentative hand to the mist. She closed her eyes and tried to get an emotional reading off of it. It felt so familiar...
*Oh my God! It's Sam! His emotions anyway... How can this be happening? I don't see any other emotions this way!*
#Sam?# Cable got a far away look on his face and then cursed in Askani.
*What is it? Do you know why this is happening?*
#Maybe... Our first priority is to get your shield closed first.#
He created a shield of his own outside her shield. Apparently the mist couldn't get through his shields. With the mist gone she repaired her own shields easily.
#Stay alert and keep all your shields up. I need to check something out. Call me if you see the mist again.#
#Sam?# Cable reached out to his former student.
*Sir? Is that you?*
#Yes. I need you to test a hypothesis of mine. Will you let me link with you?#
*Uh... No, sir. It's all right with me.*
In reality, Cable and Sam were on opposite sides of the mansion, but mentally they were standing side-by-side outside Dana's shields. Cable reached out a hand and pushed against them to test their resistance. They didn't budge and he nodded his head in approval. The next bit was the real test, however.
#Sam, go and push against those shields just like I did.#
*Sure, but who's shield is it?* The expression on his face showed that he probably hadn't needed to ask.
Sam reached his hand out, but it never made actual contact with the shield. It parted before him fluidly and soon a portal had opened up, allowing him entrance. *Like Moses and the Red Sea...*
Dana's panic-filled mind voice interrupted anything he might have said.
*Cable... The mist is back!*
Cable cursed potently and creatively in Askani.
#Sam, these are Dana's shields, and now she has a large problem on her hands,# he explained, forcing calm through him.
"The problem is," Cable explained to his audience of Sam, Dana, Jean, and the Professor. "that Dana was using Sam's emotions as her own for a while." He glanced over at Dana, who grimaced and looked a little ashamed. "I should have thought of this earlier." He shook his head. "It completely escaped my mind that something like this could have happened," he said to more to himself than the other occupants of the room. Sam's hand covered Dana's reassuringly, and she leaned back and pillowed her head on his shoulder, trying to force herself to relax. "This has, unfortunately, desensitized her shields to his presence. They can't tell his emotions from hers, and don't keep them out."
"You said that his emotions manifested themselves like a mist in your mind. Won't you be able to tell them apart from that and adapt your shield eventually?" Jean asked.
Dana answered her herself before Cable could. "That's only when my shields are at full. I keep them much lower than that when I can. Looking back, probably much lower than I should have. I can't detect him at all if they're at any less than that. It's going to take a while to get myself used to keeping my shields up all the time, and in the meantime, I won't know if what I'm feeling is mine or Sam's." She ran a hand through her hair nervously and Sam tightened his grip on her other hand.
"As I see it, we've got a few options. The quickest and easiest would be to send Dana away to study with another, more experienced empath." He frowned as Dana and Sam reacted. Sam stiffened and tightened his arms around her possessively.
Dana merely paled a bit and nodded her acknowledgment. "I figured it might come to that," she sighed.
Sam started to say something, but Dana hushed him gently.
Cable took it as an opportunity to explain his point more fully.
"Separating Dana from Sam would make it much easier for her to rebuild her shields from the ground up without distraction, and she's going to have to start back from scratch if she wants to prevent this from continuing."
"How long would she be away?" Sam asked quietly.
"This is a serious problem. She's going to have to completely relearn how to shield. Dana, if you work your hardest, you can maybe come back here in two months," Cable said. Sam closed his eyes briefly in resignation.
#The best choice for her ability, obviously, but is it the best choice for her?# Jean echoed his thoughts in a message sent only to him and the professor. #She may not learn as quickly in a strange situation and without Sam to be there for her.#
Cable sighed and rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "The other option," he said out loud, "is to keep her here, but have one of us constantly shield her from Sam's emotions. The only way to do that easily would be to shield her from everyone." He turned to Dana. "That would leave you 'deaf' for a long time, and would probably be very uncomfortable for you.
Dana was silent for a long time, and all of the eyes in the room focused on her. She broke from her silence with a sigh and looked up at the three telepaths sitting across from her. "If it wouldn't be too much trouble, do you think you could shield me? I'd like to stay here if it's at all possible."
Dana closed her eyes and watched as Cable's gold shield went up around her own. The claustrophobic feeling that raced through her frightened her, and she shivered as his shields finally closed around her with an air of finality.
She was nearly overcome with an irrational feeling of loneliness.
She hadn't realized how accustomed she had become to the quiet buzz of the emotions that constantly surrounded her. She fought the urge to reach out for Sam, just to make sure that he was still there.
She blinked her eyes open and swallowed. She forced herself to calm down and take even breaths. Cable had made a minor understatement when he'd said it would be 'very uncomfortable.'
"Ya okay?" Sam asked, obviously concerned. She felt a twinge of regret that she could no longer feel that concern.
"Yeah... I'm fine." She waved him off. She turned to Cable. "Cable, thank you for the shielding." She stood slowly and put a hand to her temple. She was disoriented and felt irritable. "If you'll excuse me, I'm a little tired and I have a bit of a headache. I think I'm going to go lay down for awhile."
Sam rose, as if he were going to go after her but Cable grabbed his arm. "I don't think she'll feel like talking, Sam."
"Sir, is she gonna be all right? She doesn't look well."
"She'll be better if you stay here and let her sleep."
Sam nodded and sat down on the couch next to Cable's armchair.
"That stuff Dana was sayin'... about her not bein' able to tell the difference between her emotions and mine... If she'd kept doin' that, what would have happened?"
Cable turned to look at Sam, and seemed to scrutinize his face before replying. "She would have lost her self. She would have forgotten how to feel things for herself and just mirrored you."
Sam absorbed these facts with a nod. "And she was already startin' to mirror me? Or did ya catch it before that started happenin'?"
"I don't know, Sam. I really didn't notice her ever losing herself. Why? Did you notice her feeling the same as you did, ever?"
"That's the problem, sir... she almost always did. If Ah wanted to do something, she usually wanted to do the same. Part of why Ah fell for her, Ah expect: even though we'd been raised in completely different backgrounds, we seemed to be so much alike."
Cable raised an eyebrow. "It sounds suspicious, Sam."
"She won't be like that anymore, will she?" He frowned.
"No she won't, but don't you think a relationship like that would get a little boring after a while?"
Sam nodded, but still the frown remained.
"Sam, what is it? Do you think you can't love her now that she's got a mind of her own?"
Sam shook his head quickly. "Sir, that would be shallow, and not very gentlemanly of me. Actually, I'm worried that she might not love me. What if she were only reflecting my love for her?"
"I doubt that. I don't think it could have gotten this bad this quickly if she didn't love you a little."
That night Sam dreamt. He was back in Kentucky, just a boy. He was sitting on little Paige's bed and in his hands he held a large picture book. He was reading the fairy tales in the book to Paige, but they were all backwards. In all of the stories, the beautiful princess and handsome prince started out in true love and ended apart and alone.