Time Passages (Queen or Freddie Mercury Fanfic)

9. Look What the Cat Dragged In

I woke slowly to see K's face hovering over mine, his beady blue eyes widening when he saw mine open. 

"There we go," K sighed.  "You all right?"

Somehow I managed to mumble facetiously, "You're the doctor here, you tell me."

"Touche," he chuckled.  "They say everything is right as rain.  You couldn't have come through better."

"Good.  And the offspring?"

"Flying colors as well."

Forcing a weary smile, I shielded my eyes from the bright lights all around. "Where is Danny, anyway?"

"Right next to you, asleep," K pointed over my head.  I rolled over just a little to see my boy lying in his own hospital bed with his glasses off, his face turned my way.  I could see an IV trailing from his arm.  It was a good thing Danny wasn't awake, or else he would have been freaking at the sight of a needle sticking out of his vein. 

No longer was I clad in my Catwoman garb; they had stripped me of my costume and dressed me in loose-fitting scrubs.  In spite of myself, I smiled a little.  Thankfully, it had been a long time since I'd been in the hospital.  The last time I'd worn such things, I held my newborn son in my arms with half the Deacon clan oohing and ahhing at my bedside.

I looked down at my left hand.  Whatever had been gripping my wrist was gone now.  I almost thought I was having a heart attack; that wouldn't have been a surprise if it happened.  I was terrified.  After all these years, having to so much as make eye contact with that man, I came so close to dropping dead with fright toward the end. 

Then why did I have to kiss him like that? I asked myself.  What was I thinking?

I tried not to dwell on the question, to push it aside, but it wouldn't leave my head, no matter how many times I insisted I was merely attempting to distract him.  Nor would, unfortunately, the image of those raging black eyes, that insane look I saw the moment Freddie recognized me.  That one expression spoke volumes. 

Thank God, we had gotten away when we did.  One second's further delay, and he might have murdered me with his bare hands.

How changed Freddie had become in eight years. True, I'd only been near him for a couple of minutes, all I had was a brief snapshot of his 1985 character. But even in that short amount of time, I could sense the change. The vulnerability, the tenderness, the magic that had so charmed me when I was younger, seemed to have evaporated. He had grown colder, more remote. The man almost gave off his own protective force field, drawing in a select few and repelling all else, including me.

My brows knit together as I stared off into space. God.  He seemed so empty.

"What's wrong?" K asked.

I shook my head, sighing heavily.  "Nothing, I'm just thinking."  I slowly lowered my hand from my throat, where I had been winding my finger around the long gold chain I always wore. 

I need to stop thinking about it.  It's over again, time to move on to the next thing; if I think on him too long, the darkness will return. 

"Is Stuart around?" I asked K.

"He'll be right back, he's checking a few things in the lab.  The machine had a hard time getting you guys out-"

"You and Danny, that is," C cut in all of a sudden, walking into the room.  "That's what he meant by 'you guys.'"

K's eyes narrowed.  "Well, that wasn't the problem, what happened was-"