Strange Nightmares

Strange Nightmares 5

A/N - There is some gross body horror in this chapter. Also, this is the last week I will be posting this story to the r/Fanfiction Weekly Fic Showcase, so if you're coming from there, please bookmark this story for future reference. Thanks

Stephen pulled up a chair for her next to the fireplace in the Sanctum's foyer, then gave her a warm towel and lit the fireplace with a snap of his finger.

"Hungry?" he asked wryly. "I know you're tired. You have to be, after annoying me literally all day."

Christine pulled the towel around herself, drying out the soaking ends of her strawberry-blonde hair. "I took a couple of power naps and ate a few granola bars in between. My seething indignance kept me going."

He couldn't help but laugh. He sat down at another chair opposite her, watching the flames flickering and cracking in the fireplace.

"You know there's no way in hell I can let you go there alone."

"I know," she replied so nonchalantly it surprised him.

"Oh," he said, leaning back in his chair as the realization dawned on him. "Oh, you are clever, Christine. You knew I couldn't let you go alone. You knew I'd have to go with you. You were gonna make sure I helped him, right?"

She stopped drying her hair and gave him a look that made him regret opening his mouth. "It's always about what you can do, isn't it? I did figure you would come with me, but I also figured I'd be the one doing the work, since you said you wouldn't."

"Jeez, Christine," he said, "I didn't mean--"

"I can hold the knife sometimes, if you'd let me."

He paused for several seconds, not sure what to say, then shrugged. "Okay. Fine. Take the knife."

"You don't think I can do it, do you?"

"Can we not do this, please? I'll hand you the knife, if you want it. You have nothing to prove to me. You're a great doctor, but you're just not the one he was looking for."

They sat together for a bit longer, stewing in resentful silence as the fire crackled.

"Are you going to get America?" she asked finally.

He sucked in a breath through his teeth. "I don't know if that's the best idea anymore."

"The best idea? Stephen, it's the only idea. It's the only way to get there, now that Mobius isn't here, right? Why can't we use America's powers?"

Stephen rubbed the back of his neck. "Her powers are ... kind of like a homing pigeon, at this stage."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"She can get to random universes really well, and no matter where she is, she can always find her way back to this one, any maybe one or two others, but it's getting to a specific universe that's the problem with her. If we bopped through the multiverse for a while, we might be able to find Mobius's universe, but then when she came to get us, she might not be able to find it again."

"That's a simple problem to fix, then. Just bring her with us."

"Can't do that either. She's got a truancy problem, too."

"Lord," muttered Christine, putting her head in her hands.

"She loves skipping lessons and portaling wherever she wants, whenever she wants," he said. "We don't know how long we're going to be gone. It could be days, could be weeks, months, who knows. She's on very thin ice with Wong, despite what I try to tell him. There are no make up classes on Kamar-Taj."