Saying Goodbye, Part IV

Posted on Mon Jan 9th, 2023 @ 5:55am by First Lieutenant Bethany Harrison

Mission: The Mutant Underground
Location: Underground Base
Timeline: Present Day

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Content Warning! Some Adult Themes.

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When you cried I’d wipe away all of your tears
When you’d scream, I’d fight away all of your fears
And I held your hand for all of these years,
You still have, all of me.

~Evanescence, My Immortal

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Bethany had taken Jon to a part of the ranch that was secluded and separate from the rest of the facility, to a cabin on a small lake that was normally used for spirit journeys that Dyami led. She had been staying there, since her powers were still a bit out of control, and the distance kept everyone safe during her training. It had also given her the privacy for the detox that Jon needed.

Jon was also in recovery after surgery, trying to learn how to use his new leg. The loss of his leg had hit him really hard, and Bethany leaving had driven him over the edge and back into the bottle that he had abandoned so many years before. She patiently took care of him as he healed and trained. He had tried to burn the leg when he accidentally kicked her during a sparring match, breaking her arm and kicking her in the head hard enough to crack her skull. She wouldn’t let him give up though, and she never gave up on him.

Eventually she began leading him on adventures into the surrounding woods, taking him to all of the beautiful sites that she had found in her wandering, making wonderful memories, as well as making love, in their natural surroundings. He was a city boy that was more than a bit out of place in nature, but Beth knew how to take care of things, and him, so he humored her. Besides, what better way to test his training than to step out of his comfort zone?

After a couple of sober months, Bethany’s birthday came up. She didn’t normally think about it much, but it had been a year since she had had to run from the commune to keep the men from killing her when her eyes changed. Her mama had been the only person that ever cared about her birthday, always managing to keep enough ingredients to make her a small cake, and materials to make something special for her.

The last thing that she had made for her was supposed to be Bethany’s wedding dress. Not that she had wanted to marry the creep that the Preacher had chosen for her, but the dress had been very pretty.

When Jon felt the sadness from Bethany, he looked up from his book. “Are you alright, luv?”

“I’m fine. Everything is fine,” Bethany responded, almost a bit too robotically as she worked on a baby blanket for one of the girls that was expecting.

“You can’t lie to me about that anymore,” Jon said, chuckling a bit.

“I was just thinking about my mama. It’s my birthday, and, well, it was last year that I had to run away,” she admitted.

“Wait, it’s your birthday? Why didn’t you say anything?” Jon asked, setting his book to the side.

Bethany shrugged and set her work down, looking over at Jon. “I just don’t really think about it much. It’s not that important, or anything.”

“It’s your eighteenth birthday. That is kind of important,” Jon said, arching an eyebrow.

“Oh. Yeah. I guess that means I’m legal now, right?” Bethany said, sticking her tongue out at him playfully, knowing that their age difference bothered him a bit. Not that it had really mattered. Mutants were barely considered human at the time. He could have turned her into a slave and no one would have really cared.

Jon stood and stretched, then reached for his new cane. “Clean yourself up and get ready to go out. We need to celebrate your birthday.”

“Umm, alright,” Bethany said, giving him a confused and concerned look. Every time they went out to do anything, trouble always seemed to tag along with them.

And her birthday trip had not been the exception. When he had returned to pick her up, he was in a brand new suit and he had brought her gifts. A red dress that fit her like a glove, heels, a beautiful set of earrings and a matching necklace. She almost felt silly, but when Jon’s breath caught in his throat when he saw her, it made it worth it.

Between overly flirtatious casino staff, a gift from Lorde showing up very unexpectedly, and the Ice Queen making an appearance, it had been a stressful weekend, even if they did have some fun along the way. Neither of them had really wanted to kill each other, but they had both put a good effort into it because of that witch. They had managed to break the hold that Eva had gotten on their minds because of their bond, but it had been a close call.

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Their team was one of the absolute best that the Underground had to offer. Dyami had put Jon in command, and filled it with men, just so Bethany would have to get used to working with other men besides Jon. It had taken time and effort, but they were a proud team and had every right to be. For the last couple of years, she had managed to learn some form of trust with them all, and that level of teamwork had led to having the highest success rate among the teams. Some were good runs, some weren’t fun at all, but they were normally successful.

Their last run had not only been successful, but they had ferreted out a traitor as well. That’s when they found out that Fractal had a price on her head. So did Beth, which was a bit strange. She didn’t exactly know a lot of people that she figured would pay money to get their hands on Bethany, since she was pretty much a ghost that never existed. Fractal was more understandable, as people definitely knew her, much to her chagrin.

Bethany’s forgetfulness about her own birthday never changed. Once a year, Jon had surprised her with something interesting for them to do, which normally wound up involving some kind of fight as well as varying levels of property damage. Finding trouble to sort out just seemed to be their thing. This last birthday had been her twenty-first, and he had gone all out for it, unbeknownst to her.

All that she knew was that directly after getting pummeled by the traitor, the team was suddenly turned around and sent out on another mission. Something had seemed off. Jon was acting weird, dressed in a bright Hawaiian shirt and khaki shorts, sporting sunglasses. “Just trying to get into character for the undercover part of things,” he had said.

“We haven’t even been briefed yet. How do you know that we’re going undercover?”

He had just smiled.

They got their brief briefing only minutes before being dropped from the belly of their team’s plane. It all still just seemed weird, and she found out why when she hit the beach on the small island just south of Florida.

“Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do!” and a round of laughter was what she heard from above as their bags were dropped, and the rope was pulled up.

She just gave Jon a confused look, which only got more confused by the grin on his face and laughter in his beautiful blue eyes. “Surprise! Happy Birthday! Is this a good enough beach to spend a couple of weeks on?”

He had been promising her for three years that he would take her to the beach as soon as he could. They had been to lakes before, and had done missions that required water landings, but she had always just dreamed of being able to enjoy being on the beach, in the ocean. She smiled up at him, then leaned up to kiss him gently. It was perfect.

Except for the fact that she had packed for combat, not a vacation.

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The day of her birthday was spent on a yacht that Dyami had let them use. Jon had gifted her a beautiful, shimmering green silk dress with a sheer, golden wrap. She always chuckled when he bought her high heels, remembering how long it had taken her to get used to walking on the cursed things. He had admitted once that he liked the way that her legs looked when she wore them, so it had motivated her a bit to learn to at least walk in them without breaking a leg.

While Jon was a stoic, quiet man, he was rather possessive over Bethany, even if no one ever saw it. It always brought a bit of a smile to her lips when other men ogled her and she felt that tinge of jealousy rise up in him. She almost laughed when the poor valet at the restaurant looked right past him and just kept staring at her.

“Over here,” Jon said, waving money in front of the guy’s face. “Take good care of the car and there’s more where that came from,” he said, finally drawing the young man’s attention. Then he simply offered his arm to Bethany and led her inside.

“You’re the one that dresses me like this,” she teased him as they walked in.

“I know. I kind of like that they know that you’re mine,” he said, chuckling a bit.

Jon walked her through the unfamiliar courses of the Cuban menu, and they both enjoyed the food and the atmosphere. Of course, she always enjoyed spending time with him during their personal little adventures, but this was one of those things that he’d been planning for her birthday, so it was all just a bit more special.

Right after the dessert was finished, Jon started getting fidgety, which was odd for him. “Are you alright? You’re acting kind of weird,” she asked, giving him a concerned look.

After another long moment of pause, and fidgeting with the inner pocket of his immaculate suit jacket, he pulled a small box from it and slid it across the table to her.

“You’ve already given me so many gifts,” she said, blushing slightly as she reached for the little black box. She gasped a bit when she flipped the lid open, showing a brilliantly glittering marquis cut diamond ring. “It’s absolutely beautiful,” she said, smiling at him, then tilted her head curiously to the side. “Why are you so nervous?”

He didn’t really answer her in a way that she was expecting. He slid out of his chair and onto one knee in front of her, taking the box, and removing the ring. “Bethany Davies, will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”

The green-eyed young woman froze, time seemed to slow to a crawl, and she could not seem to make her mouth form words all of a sudden. Bethany gasped softly, looking between his beautiful, azure-streaked eyes, and the glittering diamond he was offering to her. She hadn’t expected this at all, as they had only discussed the idea once, and very briefly. “I...yes! Of course!”

John smiled a huge, happy smile and exhaled the breath he hadn’t realized he was holding as he slid the ring onto her finger. Then he stood and pulled her up with him, kissing her deeply as people in the restaurant cheered.

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As they walked down the street to the theater where they were going to see a live performance of Le Misérables, Bethany admired the way that the light refracted off of her new ring. “I really wasn’t expecting this,” she admitted, her face still flush with excitement, and at the idea of finally becoming Jon’s wife.

“I wasn’t either, really,” Jon said, laughing softly. “I mean, I was, but I didn’t expect you to say yes.”

“Why in the world would you think I’d say no?” Bethany asked, giving him a curious look. She reached over and took his hand, interlacing her smaller fingers with his.

“Well, the way you were raised, marriage didn’t exactly sound like a good thing,” Jon said, squeezing her hand gently, smiling at the small, loving gesture. “And I kind of killed my first wife.”

“That wasn’t you, and you know it,” Bethany said, shaking her head. “That’s all on Eva’s head.”

“She keeps coming after us, though,” Jon pointed out. “What if she gets to me again?”

“She keeps failing,” Bethany said, smiling up at him happily. “Let’s not talk about her tonight, alright? I just want to enjoy being with you.”

The events of that night were perfect up until they were drugged at the first jazz club that she had ever been to legally. She had done missions with false IDs, but she was now legal to be there. Not that she drank, but it was a new experience. Dancing with Jon always brought up memories of their first dance, at Morty’s big party. The way his cologne always struck her, his arms around her, making her feel safe, the way he looked at her. It was all enough to take her breath away.

And that was where that memory abruptly ended for her. As though two whole days had simply never happened. She knew from Jon’s memory that they had made it back to the car but had been attacked.

When she awoke, it was in the hands of human traffickers. The next few days had been a haze, both drug induced, as well as from a severely cracked skull, and she simply remembered hurting people, then Jon being there, catching her as she fell. He was always there to rescue her when she hit her limits. He always came for her.

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TBC
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