Title: Project Jupiter Pt. Nine
By: Amanda
Feedback: greenfreakgirl@tomgreen.com
Rating: R for sexual situations and language.
Summary: Anderea's past fits together with her present and that of the
Gunmen.
Disclaimer: The Lone Gunmen and other X Files characters are the
property of CC, 1013 and FOX. I do not make any money off of these.
It's a labour of LOVE! But Anderea is purely MINE!!mmmhahaha
Note: Part of my "Jupitor Series"
Anderea took over more of the paper's duties during day hours. "Earning
her keep" as she put it.
Neither Yves nor Scully had contacted them. Not that anyone expected
immediate replies, but the waiting was getting to Frohike. He kept busy
by setting up the room for her, mainly with Jimmy's help. Claiming it
was so she had "her space," but it was clear that he just needed
something to keep busy with.
They kept her away from it with Jimmy's goofy grin and "It's a
surprise." Which always made her laugh and undoubtedly more curious.
But what made her most curious was the day Byers and Frohike came home
carrying boxes.
"What's in those?" she asked while holding the door open for the two
men.
"Never you mind," Frohike brushed her off as they took the boxes up
there stairs.
It was a day later while Anderea was updating the subscriber's list
when Jimmy came bounding down the stairs, grinning like a madman.
"What is it Jimmy?" she looked up at him.
"Come see," he was more excited than a kid at Christmas as he took hold
of her arm to pull her up.
She laughed at his excitement, "okay, okay." She took off her reading
glasses and followed the grown child up the stairs.
The gunmen were all standing outside of the room that was to be hers,
smiling.
"Should I be scared?" she joked.
"What, don't think we could do a good job?" Frohike faked 'I'm hurt'
look.
"Hm, I donno," she thought for a moment, "I've seen what you've done
with the rest of this place." She smiled.
"You're lucky you're my niece, or I could pop you for that," he put his
arm around her as Langly pushed the door open.
The lone female needed a reassuring push into the room. She really was
a little nervous about what they had come up with; looking at the
conflicting tastes of the four.
She took a deep breath as she walked to the centre of the room,
glancing around, "It's all my stuff!" she almost shrieked.
There were small shelves lined with nick knacks she saved from her past,
her small CD and book collection covered a utility shelve in the corner
and it was her star covered comforter covering the unfamiliar bed.
"Surprise," Jimmy beamed following her into the room with the others.
"Well, almost all of it," Byers corrected, "We were late on getting
your furniture. The landlord had already sold it."
She nodded, still awe struck that her personal items had appeared here.
"but everything else is here," Langly proudly slid open the closet,
revealing her clothes, shoes and a cardboard box.
"Ohmigod," she was over come with emotion, "This is too much for me, I
don't deserve all this."
"Listen Darlin'," Frohike put his arm around her waist, pulling her
close to him, "you deserve a lot more than this," he stretched upward
to kiss his niece's cheek.
"'Hike," she hugged her uncle as she started to cry.
"Whoa, hey girl," he pulled her shoulders up to look at her face,
"What's wrong?" he wiped her tears off her face.
She straightened herself and worked on calming down, "It's just, so
sweet of you," she turned to everyone, "all of you."
"Aww," Jimmy rushed her, pulling her into a bear hug that almost
squeezed the life out of her.
"ah....Jimmy...."she struggled to speak and breath behind the affection
of the large man.
"Hey, dude," Langly tapped him on the shoulder, "She's my girl, you'd
better not break her."
"Oh jeez, sorry," the loveable lunk realised just how hard he was
hugging, "Sorry."
"It's.....okay," Anderea took several deep breaths after being
released.
He smiled and nodded, relaxed that he hadn't hurt her.
"..and thanks," she gave the large man a gentle hug and a quick kiss on
the cheek. Causing him to blush slightly.
"What about me?" Langly pouted.
"You," she wrapped her arms around his neck, "I can't believe you kept
this from me." She tried to sound stern, but cracked a smirk.
"I didn't know," he defended himself.
"It would have been too easy for you to get it outta him. You turn the
man to putty," Frohike explained, extending his hand to point to them.
Anderea smiled triumphantly, swaying in Langly's arms, "ah, well,
thanks anyway." She kissed him with enough force to leave him wanting
more when she pulled back.
"Be sure to thank Byers too," Frohike turned to his breaded friend, "It
was his plan to get your stuff."
The man in question nodded, but was cut off from saying 'it was
nothing' by the telephone ringing.
Jimmy's eyes lit up and he bolted down the stairs, "I get to answer
it."
Frohike looked scared, "No you don't Jimmy," he chased after him.
"Turn on the recorder," Langly called out after them. He let go of
Anderea, "They never remember to switch it on," he shrugged and
followed the others.
'Poor Jimmy,' she thought, 'he'll never get better at things if they
never let him try.' She shook her head and caught Byers starting to
leave. "You don't think you could get away without me thanking you, do
you?"
Byers stopped and shrugged, "You don't need to thank---" he was cut off
when she hugged him and quickly kissed his cheek.
"It was a really sweet idea."
His ears turned pink and he cleared his throat, "It wasn't anything.."
"Don't be so modest John F. Byers," she smiled, "You got all my
things."
"Oh," he perked up remembering something and ignoring his burning ears,
"I almost forgot." He went into her closet and carried out the
cardboard box. "If it was in any type of order, it's not now. THEY
tossed it around."
She took the box from him, setting it on her bed to open it. "Ohmigod,"
she flipped though the contents, "It's all here. Thank you John."
"Sometimes you need to hold on to the past," he smiled like his point
was made.
Anderea reached for his left hand and held it up, tracing the wedding
band with her finger, "And sometimes you NEED to let it go."
He withdrew his hand sharply, wondering if she knew about Suzanne and
how. But remembered the eloquent way Langly had put it: 'We do more
than fuck John. We talk, a lot. The first two weeks she was here all we
did was talk. We know almost everything about each other.' He was very
defensive about that.
"Do you still wanna read something?" her voice broke into his thoughts.
"Um, ah, yeah," he woke up.
She dug through the box, pulling out a hardbound notebook, "Let me know
what you think of it," she handed him the book.
"I will."
* * * * * * * * *
Jimmy sat sulking next to the phone. Frohike had wrestled the receiver
from the younger man. Something that proved to be easier than it
sounded.
"Hello, Lone Gunmen, Melvin Frohike," he spoke into the receiver just
as Langly came down the stairs pleading for the recorder to be switched
on.
Frohike waved him off, mouthing 'there's no need', "To what do I owe
this pleasure Scully?" he tried to cover his nervousness.
Langly shut up and waited for any news from their fibbie friend.
"....everything appears normal," Frohike repeated the agent's words
with a sigh of relief and the others relaxed. "Concerned about what?"
they all tensed again.
"About her emotional state," Scully repeated.
"What about it?" he struggled to keep the others from snatching the
phone from him; dodging their grabs for it.
Scully explained while expressing her concern, "She needs to talk about
it. It's eating at her. I think she's in a dark place."
"Alright."
"Say you'll get her to talk," she almost pleaded.
"I will. Thank you," Frohike's mind seemed clouded over, he hadn't
noticed Byers until after he hung up.
"What's the news?" Byers tucked the notebook into his desk drawer.
"Everything's normal," Frohike repeated again.
"But there's concern," Langly added, pressing for the rest of the
story.
"It was nothing."
Anderea came down the stairs, catching only the end of the
conversation. She noted to herself on how often she did that, "What's
nothing?"
"Nothing is nothing," Frohike sounded tease. He hated repeating
himself, especially when he was lying.
She glanced from face to face, waiting for one of them to tell her.
"Scully called," Jimmy broke he moment she looked at him.
The colour drained from her face, causing both Langly and Frohike to
jump in, "She said everything's fine."
The healthy pink glow slowly reappeared in her cheeks, "Than what's
wrong?" she turned to her uncle. She'd learned how to read him.
"She was just worried if you felt sick after the blood tests," he lied,
but it seemed to stick. He didn't want Scully to be right on this. How
could she be? She doesn't even live here. How could she pick up on
Anderea being emotionally shaken, when the four men who live here
haven't? He thought for a moment, 'because we don't want to see it.'
* * * * * * *
It was another sleepless night for Anderea. She could never fall asleep
until the wee hours of the morning. Taking advantage of her time awake
she popped the White Album into her diskmanŠ and reorganised some of
the ways the guys had put her possessions.
She was working on her book collection when a knock invaded the music.
She pulled off her earphones to listen, to make sure she wasn't hearing
things. And sure enough there was another.
"Hello?" she slowly opened the door, "John?" she was more than a little
surprised to find him there.
"Here," as he handed her the notebook back, his voice was shaky and he
had his head down.
"I know I'm not Emily Dickinson, but was it really that bad?" she took
the notebook from him.
He shook his head, "No. It was....ah... there is a lot of emotion." He
looked up at her, his eyes red and starting to water again.
"I guess I should have warned you that it's not all soft and fluffy
huh?" she tried to joke, but Byers' face kept it's sad over tones.
"What?" she couldn't take the silent stare.
He took the notebook back, opened it and read:
I cry
For the pain to stop
It hurts so much
To live
The pain of living
Day to day
Has become too much
For me
I wish I was
The kind
Who lived a happy life
But dark
Is where I live
And pain
Is all I feel
There is no way
For me to go on
I cry again
Her eyes started to follow the lead Byers' had made, "Everyone's felt
like that John," she turned away.
He grabbed her arm, turning her back to him, "But the real question is,
do you still?"
"Where is all this from?" she fought back her emotions and tried to
read his eyes.
He took a deep breath, "Scully said she sensed something."
"Oh," her voice rose, she was losing to her emotions, "So I'm a
conversation piece now?"
"No, we're just concerned about you. We care and she said you remember
the project and...."
"You wanna know what I remember? Huh?" her voice was now into a yell,
"I remember my father taking me to where I wasn't allowed to look at
anyone and where some man dressed as a doctor injected some needle into
my vein. I remember it hurting like hell and no one helping me. I
remember my mother looking at me like I was tainted..." tears now
streamed down her face. The three other men had been awaken and now
stood in her doorway.
She hiccupped, "And.... I remember the day mom and Frank died. My father
said he had to take me somewhere again and my mother had that same
disgusted look when she looked at me. Than she was dead, and Frank and
my father...." her sobs took over for a moment, "I was sixteen and
everyone I ever loved was dead. And I remember wanting to be dead too."
Her sobbing wracked her body.
Langly rushed to hold her and whispered calming words in her ear. He
slowly moved her to sit on the bed as she continued to sob on his
shoulder.