TITLE: Announcement of a Heart Breaking, 1/?
AUTHOR: Meghan O'Connor
EMAIL: gyrfalcon@yahoo.com
FEEDBACK: Please! The more I get, the more you get!
RATING: PG-13
DISCLAIMER: The LGM, Krycek, and anyone else you recognize are
1013's. However, Rachel Ann MacGregor is all mine.
SPOILERS: The X-Files, all up to the last season finale, and the LGM
series.
CATEGORY: Post-Colonization, LGM/other, Krycek/Other
SYNOPSIS: Langly announces something, and someone makes a decision.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Society is rebuilding after Colonization. All our
favorites and a bunch of NPC's have ended up at an abandoned resort
by a lake. It makes for a good place to rebuild a pocket of
society. If I don't write Mary Sues, then I can at least have a
promised land. Ok, maybe not that great. Argh, just read! This is
Rachel's other alternate timeline, the Dancer series.
She sat on the bed, staring at the half-empty closet. Mostly black
jeans and t-shirts, a couple sweaters, a jacket, a black outfit for
security detail, and a couple pairs of boots. She was tempted to
think it was her lack of a wardrobe that made Langly ignore her
appearance, but almost everybody here dressed like that. And the one
time from before when he'd seen her in a suit, he hadn't said
anything then, either. For a brief irrational moment, she wished
she'd bought the green dress that she'd seen so long ago in a store
window. She hadn't had the courage then, claiming that she had
nowhere to wear it. Well, she certainly didn't now. Not like there
was much to choose from anyway. In the end, her usual black pants
and top won out. She scrubbed her face and headed for the hall.
Rachel regretted her severe clothing choice as she saw most people
headed towards the hall were wearing bright colors. A teenaged girl
passing her sneered at her choice of clothing and sniped. "You'd
think somebody died instead of getting engaged. Nice lack of color."
Rachel frowned at the stuck-up brat in front of her. "Who's getting
married?"
The girl laughed derisively. "Well, you must not be such good
friends anymore if you don't know that. Beth's making the
announcement in a few minutes."
Her heart stuttered. "Beth? And Langly?"
"Yeah, Beth and the blonde dork, for some reason. Duh." She sneered
again and ran off towards the main hall. Rachel was still frozen to
the spot. Langly was getting married. Her vision began to narrow
and it was hard to take a breath. She felt as if ice were creeping
up her legs and encasing her in a cold, crackling block. At the same
time, her heart seemed to have a searing hot blade being driven
through it. Somehow, her feet began to move. They didn't stop until
she realized she was standing on her own porch. For lack of anything
else to do, she sat heavily on the bench. She sat there, hands in
her lap, staring sightlessly out at the inky night. Several hours
later, she rose and slipped noiselessly inside. She lay on her bed,
still dressed, and stared at the ceiling. It was another hour before
her eyes closed in fitful sleep.
The sunlight that poured in her bedroom window kept her from sleeping
the day away. She dreaded the thought that today was Friday, the one
night of the week when they played music. Krycek would ask her to
dance, she would decline, she'd sit near Langly for a while, then go
back to her cabin alone. How pathetic, she thought. I'll simply
stop going. That'll take care of all of it. Krycek, the music,
Langly… The realization that Langly would be with someone else from
now on made her breath hitch. Suddenly, she was wracked with choking
sobs. She had lost forever, lost due to her own cowardice, lost
everything that could have been… Rachel only stopped crying when her
throat was too dry to make another sound. Quickly, she rose and
washed up, then headed out. Maybe the building team would have some
simple, mind-numbing physical work she could forget herself in.
Everyone was talking about the engagement. They had decided tonight
would be a celebration as well as music night. Apparently, several
women had some simple dresses they were wearing. A small part of her
was glad that she wasn't the only one with non-essential clothing.
Fine then, she thought, let it not be said that she wasn't happy for
her best friend. She could dress up too and smile and laugh and…
pretend. She drove the nails into the boards with deadly force as
she made a decision.
She took a deep breath and ran the brush through her hair one last
time. Byers and Frohike would be by any minute to pick her up.
Thank god for that pair of sandals I snagged, she thought. This
dress would have looked really stupid with boots. She glanced in the
mirror, still surprised by the person reflected there. Normally,
Rachel wore dark clothes, jeans and a t-shirt, boots, and had her
hair up in a French braid. She realized the guys had never seen her
like this. From the day she came to fix their fridge until tonight,
they had only seen her in casual stuff. But tonight…
The dress fell over her shoulders lightly on the thin straps. The
neckline draped softly across her cleavage, and the bodice hugged her
curves with princess seams. The material suddenly flared out at the
waist, and draped around her just above the knee. A half-twist
swirled the material and left a flash of pale skin. The silky rayon
fabric was an emerald green, which only made her eyes look even
greener. Her hair fell below her shoulders in a thick mass of rusty
colored ringlets. Since it had always been braided, she knew that no
one had any idea how long and curly it really was. Properly washed
and brushed out, it shone like antique copper with a burnished
sheen. The sandals were strappy, low-heeled, and black, making her
legs look even longer. She gasped when the pounding came on the door.
"Come on, Rae! Let's go, we don't wanna miss a minute of Langly's
fun!" She smiled sardonically as she heard Byers' voice take an
admonishing tone to Frohike's shouting. All chatter died away when
she opened the door to her friends. Byers' eyes were wide and
Frohike gave a long wolf whistle. "Holy crap." Byers was still
stunned.
"My sentiments exactly." He seemed to shake his head to wake up,
then extended his arm. "You look magnificent, Rachel." She shrugged
on a jacket against the cooling air and took his arm, linking her
other with Frohike's.
"Why, thank you, kind sir."
She'd kept her jacket on through dinner, blaming it on a slight
chill. Byers was quite concerned, but kept quiet. He knew that
Rachel was trying to have a good time for Langly's sake. He'd have
to kick him later for the comment that she looked "really nice". She
looked far better than that, she was stunning. Why hadn't they ever
noticed that their best friend was also a beautiful woman? Beth had
also dressed up, but her dress was cotton and not as elegant. He
knew that Rachel was keeping her coat on so as not to show up the
hostess, as it were. She didn't participate too much in the
conversation and joking.
To be continued….