From: Erinstone1@aol.com Conhouse II - Chapter 5 ErinStone1@AOL.com Rated: PG-13 Spoilers: none Category: Scully/Slash Archive: Yes-please make me aware of any final posts to a site. Feedback: Any/all is welcome Disclaimer: The only characters belonging to me in this series are the Conhouse's, respectively: Lena, Steve, Judy and Wanda. The rest are not mine and I make $ 0.00 on this story. Summary: Part Two of the original Conhouse series. All parts are archived here: http://www.angelfire.com/sc/scullypage LaVerne smiled at her, a wide smile, with all her own teeth. She was proud of this. 88-year-old women can't normally brag that they still have all their own teeth. LaVerne however did, and they were still white and perfect in her mouth. Lena smiled back at her. In dreams Lena could never hear anyone talk. It seemed that thoughts were the dream method of communication. LaVerne told her that she was glad she was back. Her face and her demeanor changed as she spoke silently of Steve. LaVerne missed him very much, but she understood why he was gone. She told Lena that Steve had been so good to her, spending hours at a time with her just listening to her stories. He'd gone on countless trips to the grocery store. He always brought her flowers. Lena took an inventory of LaVerne's body. It seemed to be smaller than the last time she'd seen her, more frail. She crossed the span of LaVerne's small living room and crouching down she wrapped her arms around her. In Lena's bed Scully was being gathered into Lena's arms. It roused her and she rearranged her body to accommodate Lena's sudden but very gentle embrace. She mumbled to her through a sleepy haze, 'Love you'. Lena said nothing but held her tighter. The dream LaVerne asked for tea. She was having trouble sleeping and thought some chamomile tea would help. Lena went into the kitchen and put the kettle on the stove. She turned from Scully then, unwrapping her arms from the redhead and turning in the bed. Scully let her hands run sleepily down Lena's back as she drifted back to sleep. She got the serving tray off the top of the refrigerator and arranged the teacup and saucer on the center of it. Steam rose from the cup and Lena breathed it in deeply as she picked up the tray. She rounded the corner from the kitchen to the living room and stopped abruptly. LaVerne's throat was slit. It looked like a grotesque smile spanning from one ear to the other. Blood was actively spurting from the wound. The tray hit the floor and Lena could feel the tea burning her shins. She looked around the room slowly. No one else was there. This dream had taken a wicked turn. Lena considered waking herself up; she hadn't had a dream this foul since Scully had been sleeping with her. 'Why now?' She wondered. 'I need to wake up·' Then the urge to make sure LaVerne wasn't alive overwhelmed her and she walked slowly toward her chair. Walking in a dream was like walking in waist deep water; her legs were insanely heavy and slow beneath her. 'LaVerne?' She put her hand on top of the old woman's head, pulling it up slightly. It flipped backward, and having no attached skin to stop it from falling it continued to fall. It fell until the top of her head hit the back of the chair level with her shoulders. Lena screamed out loud. Scully sat up in bed, adrenaline pumping in her ears. Lena struggled with the bed sheets, pushing them away from her frantically with her feet. "What Lena?! What is it?" Scully was being ignored so she grabbed Lena's head and turned her face toward her. "What?!" Lena's face crumpled in Scully's hands and she started to cry. "Honey·" Scully gathered Lena to her wrapping her arms tightly around her, "what happened? What is it?" Mulder stood in the bedroom doorway zipping up his jeans. "Bad Cheese?" he said, crossing the room and sitting down on Lena's side of the bed. Scully shrugged and gave him an 'I don't know' look. "Bad dream." Lena said. Scully loosened her hold and Lena sat up fully. "Really bad dream." Mulder held her hand, "About what?" "LaVerne." Mulder looked to Scully who quickly scanned her memory. "LaVerne is an older woman that Lena and Steve took care of, bought groceries for, that kind of thing." Mulder nodded. "What happened to LaVerne?" "I was at her house and she was fine. Then I went to the kitchen to make her some tea and when I came back into the living room her throat had been slit." Scully grimaced. "Should we call her?" "Not sure it'll help, she could sleep through a tornado." "Maybe we should go over, is she far away?" Mulder asked. "No. Not far. I just don't want to scare her to death. Knocking on her door at·" Lena glanced at the clock, "2:47 a.m. might do her in right there." Mulder squeezed her hand, "You're sure it was just a dream right?" Lena nodded, "Yeah." She lay back on the pillows and Mulder pulled the covers back up over her. "Sorry." "S'okay." He said, kissing her forehead. "Get some rest." Scully smiled at him and he turned to go, shutting off the light and closing their door behind him. Lena was asleep as soon as her head went down. Scully wrapped herself around her and drifted off to sleep as well. Three hours later Lena was awake again. This time it wasn't a bad dream that woke her, it was discomfort. Her legs itched. Her shins to be exact. She turned on the bedside lamp and pulled back the covers. Small blisters made a random pattern of red spots on the front of her shins. "Oh shit." Lena sprung out of bed and into the bathroom. Scully was bounced awake from the sudden movement of the mattress. She saw that Lena's lamp and the bathroom light were both on. Lena appeared from the bathroom in her underwear and started to pull clothes out of her dresser. She was slipping on a pair of jeans when she noticed that Scully was looking at her. "What's wrong?" Scully asked, getting out of bed. "I have small burns on the front of my legs. I dropped the tea at LaVerne's and burned myself." Scully thought that she was possibly walking in her sleep. She walked toward Lena slowly. "Can I see the burns?" Lena lowered the jeans and Scully knelt in front of her. She looked at her legs then up into Lena's eyes. "Oh my god." "How fast can you get dressed?" Lena asked intently. "Go wake Mulder, I'll be out in a minute." Lena pulled on a tee shirt and made her way to Mulder's room. -end-