City on the River
Title: City on the River 13/?
Author: Alsike
Fandom: Criminal Minds/X-Men
Pairing: Emily Prentiss... eventually Emma Frost
Rating: PG-15
Summary: When one person travels into an alternate universe a thousand others are created. What if Didi showed up without a time slip on Emily's doorstep, in a world without mutants? What would a twenty-five year old Emily do?
Apologies: Wow, I haven't posted for a week! It feels like forever. I actually didn't even write a word for the whole week either! I was way too stressed out on Monday and Tuesday, and then the thing i was really stressed out about happened (visiting grad schools), and there was a blizzard, and i was bitten by a dog, and drove around New York State for thirteen hours at least. And had wet feet :( . But now I am happily in denial again about making major life choices. Thus: fic.
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
The kitchen was a disaster area, but something smelled good in the oven. “Are you cooking?” Emily mouthed incredulously, phone pressed to her ear, hand cupped over the mouthpiece. Emma gave her a look.
“School project. Didi’s cooking; I am assisting. You get to see if it’s edible.”
Emily laughed.
Emma threw a pile of pink construction paper scraps at her. “And since it’s cooking, I used up all my swearing credits.”
Emily pouted at her. “What am I supposed to do?”
“Who’s that on the phone?”
“My mom,” Emily muttered.
Her mother cut in, sharp and tinny over the long distance lines. “I’m back in the country and I’m coming to see you. You’ve been uncommunicative lately, and I’m worried about your mental health.”
Emily rolled her eyes, turning away from Emma who smirked at her. “Mom, I’m fine. I’ve just been busy. You don’t have to come see me.”
“Too late for that. I’m in Chicago. I’ll arrive at the Minneapolis airport at ten tonight. Make sure your house is clean. I know your proletariat sympathies won’t let you hire maid service, but honestly, Emily, soap will not kill you.”
She hung up. Emily looked at Emma. “Shit.”
Emma offered her the swear jar.
* * *
The Minneapolis airport was old, with ratty carpet, and tiny carriers who advertised with images of smiling woodland creatures. Her mother swept into the baggage claim looking entirely out of place, pearls and all.
“Hi, mom.”
Elizabeth Prentiss gave her daughter a once over as she gathered the bags. She looked mildly healthier than when she had seen her last. This was good, even if there was an unidentifiable substance on the sleeve of her sweater.
“You’ve gained weight.”
Emily gaped at her. “It’s nice to see you too.”
Elizabeth ignored her and led the way out of the baggage claim, picking her way carefully through the lumps of dirty ice and snow. “You’re still driving that thing?”
Emily glanced over at her Volkswagon hatchback. It was about twelve years old and she had bought it used when she moved to Minneapolis, and then it had lived in her garage for the rest of the time because she mostly took public transit. She liked public transit. Her mother hated it.
“Well, I was going to take the bus, but then I considered your frail condition and couldn’t make you pull all your luggage.”
Emily gathered up the three vast bags and two garment bags and loaded them into the car.
“It is nice to see you.”
Emily glanced over her shoulder and smirked. “And getting calls telling me to clean my house by ten is always entertaining.”
“As long as the guest room’s ready. I’m shattered.”
Emily winced. “About that…”
Her mother looked at her sharply.
“Do you mind sleeping in my room? I don’t…. actually have a guest bedroom right now.”
“Have you moved?”
“No. I just… have a roommate. Sort of.”
“A roommate? Are the feds not paying you enough?”
“It’s not… It’s sort of complicated.”
“You know we will be arriving at your house in less that five minutes, and if you do not intend for me to find out before I am dropped in the middle of it, it will be the worse for you.”
Emily cringed. “I guess you could say I have two roommates, and one of them… is four.”
“Four?”
“Four years old.”
“Are you dating a married man, Emily?”
“What? No!”
And then she was pulling into her driveway and she had run out of time. Luckily it was ten, and Didi was in bed, so she could put that one off for a little bit longer, but there was a light on in the kitchen.
She hauled out her mother’s suitcases, and dragged them up the path, through the snow, reaching the bottom step just as Emma opened the door.
“You must be Ambassador Prentiss, I’m Emma Frost. Please come inside.” Emma had taken her coat and was offering tea to her mother in the kitchen before Emily had dragged the first bag up the steps.
“You’re just leaving me out here!”
But her mother was inviting Emma to call her Elizabeth and trying some of the second (more successful) batch of cookies (the ones that did not cause tooth breakage), and Emily had finally managed to deposit the three voluminous and damp suitcases in her bedroom.
“You’re giving you mother your room, Emily?”
“I… yeah. I was just going to crash on the couch.”
Emma pushed a mug of tea towards her. “Don’t be stupid. You can bunk with me, if you promise to not molest me in my sleep this time.”
Emily inhaled tea and sputtered. Emma whacked her shoulders until she stopped coughing.
“Well, if you’re that excited about it…”
Emily knew she had turned purple. Her mother turned politely away.
“I am a bit tired,” said Elizabeth and put her arm out for Emily to take. Emma grinned playfully at her and started putting the dishes in the dishwasher.
“You could have told me you were living with your girlfriend and her daughter.”
“But… but I’m not.”
“I wasn’t sure about taking up with a woman with a child, but she seems very well bred. I knew a family named Frost once. I wonder if they’re related.”
Emily closed her eyes and tried to pretend the world didn’t exist.
“Emily… Emily.”
She peeked.
“If you’re planning on having sex tonight, please try to keep it down. I’ve been traveling for three days straight and I need to sleep.”
Emily decided it was time to hide in the bathroom and cry.
* * *
“My mom thinks you’re my girlfriend.”
Emma arched her eyebrows and slipped into bed next to her. “Are you actually angry with me for making you look like a stud?”
“I never told her I was gay.”
Emma smirked at the sudden lack of furious denial. “It’s all right, darling. She knows. In fact, I think she’s known for a long time. Probably longer than you.”
Emily put her head under the pillow and attempted self-asphyxiation.
* * *
“I thought I told you not to molest me in my sleep.”
So that was what the squishy things under her hands were. Emily quickly pulled her hands away. “Sorry.”
Emma didn’t seem to mind. She sat up, and then bent over and kissed Emily’s temple. “Better get up. Your mom gets to meet her granddaughter today.”
“Can’t I just stay here and slit my wrists?”
“No.”
“She thinks she’s yours.”
“Well, that would be the logical conclusion. So you get to explain that I did not have a baby when I was nineteen.”
“Why not? Lying sounds really really excellent right now.”
Emma gave her a look. “Because it is so fucking obvious that she’s yours. And explaining why I had your baby when I was nineteen would probably involve a tale of exploiting poor college students for your mad science experiments. Is that actually better than alternate universes?”
* * *
“Mommy! It’s Saturday. I want pancakes!”
Elizabeth Prentiss stared from the landing on the staircase. Her daughter had caught up the little girl (with hair just as dark and lush), more easily than she ever had, and she smiled. It had been too long since she had seen her daughter smile.
“Only if you help.”
“Can I put the batter on the pan?”
“You can’t even reach the stove!”
They moved off into the kitchen and Elizabeth noticed that she wasn’t alone on the landing. Emma gave her a long impenetrable look. The Ambassador blinked, and Emma smiled tightly.
“Just listen to her,” she said. “I wanted it to be a lie. I still want it, so badly, to be a lie. But it isn’t, and we all just have to accept that.”
Then she nodded, as if she hadn’t said anything, and continued down the stairs.
* * *
Elizabeth was quiet throughout most of breakfast, just watching. The child was introduced as Deirdre, and she looked at the Ambassador with wide suspicious eyes. Elizabeth looked back in much the same manner.
After the pancakes were finished, Elizabeth sat back, cupping her tea in her hands, and looked over to her daughter, who wore an expression of guilt. She hadn’t seen her so shamefaced since she had broken a gift from the Chinese Ambassador.
But she deserved to feel that way. Elizabeth couldn’t quite understand how she had missed this, and what had happened to make her daughter keep her out of her life. Her own guilt didn’t help, but it wasn’t as if she didn’t try. It was Emily who had continually refused assistance, who had seemed poised on the very edge of a breakdown, and still would not listen to her or allow her to become involved. And she had thought about it, too often, about what it would be like to lose her, as well. And that was what made her angry, that now, when she was better, she hadn’t even seen the need to let her know.
“She looks like yours,” Elizabeth said flatly.
“Yeah,” Emily smiled involuntarily at the sight of Emma trying to fend off Didi’s syrupy fingers from getting in her hair as she carried her over to the sink.
“Don’t you dare!”
“I’z getting you sticky!”
“If you get me sticky, I will hang you up by your toes!”
“I hang you by toes!”
Emma dangled her from her feet. “You aren’t tall enough.”
“Not fair! Not fair, M’ma!”
Elizabeth frowned. “Does she call her mama, or Emma?”
“I think it’s somewhere halfway between.”
“But she calls you ‘Mommy’.”
Emily flushed.
Elizabeth considered her for a long moment. There were various possibilities, but the girl looked too much like her, like she had at that age. “I know I haven’t always been there for you, but I think I would have…”
“She’s… I…” Emily bit her lip. “Can you pretend for a second that I had a twin sister and Emma had a twin brother?”
“You didn’t have a twin, Emily. I know. I was there,” replied her mother, dryly.
Emily gestured with her head, and they moved out into the living room. It was clear this was going to be a fight now, but sometimes yelling was the only way the Ambassador and her daughter could communicate. It was better than continually not saying anything at all.
“But… if I had, and she and Emma’s twin brother had a baby together…”
“Emily. Telling me impossible things isn’t making this any easier to understand.”
“I never had my baby.” Emily froze. “A baby. I never had a baby.”
Elizabeth gave her a sharp look.
“Emma didn’t either. But Deirdre is genetically ours.”
“That doesn’t make sense, Emily!” Elizabeth snapped. “Don’t lie to me!”
“Look at her!” Emily yelled back. “You don’t know how many times I’ve had people stop and have their jaws move up and down as they try to guess whose biological child she is! People who are good at math think that we had a baby together before we could legally drink! All the nosy-ass parents of kids in her class think that her dead brother is the father. Do you know how many times I’ve had to use the word sperm in the last few months?”
“Tell me who she is! Emily!”
“She’s ours! She’s ours but not ours. She’s ours from an alternate universe,” Emily scrunched up her face. “From a world where I married Emma and took her name and had her baby.”
“Emily…”
“There’s no other answer for it. There’s no other way this can make sense. I have the paperwork if you want.” Emily smiled weakly. “Biologically, she’s your granddaughter.”
Elizabeth sat down hard. “It’s insane.”
“I know.”
“Why aren’t you lying to me?”
Emily sighed, sitting beside her. “Because I can’t, because I’ve been lying to everyone to try and make this seem normal, but it’s never going to work with you. You know me, you know what I’m like, and this doesn’t make sense for me. This isn’t something I’d ever choose.”
Elizabeth gave her a long slow glance. “Perhaps that’s true. But it doesn’t mean I didn’t wish you would.”
* * *
Chapter 13
Author: Alsike
Fandom: Criminal Minds/X-Men
Pairing: Emily Prentiss... eventually Emma Frost
Rating: PG-15
Summary: When one person travels into an alternate universe a thousand others are created. What if Didi showed up without a time slip on Emily's doorstep, in a world without mutants? What would a twenty-five year old Emily do?
Apologies: Wow, I haven't posted for a week! It feels like forever. I actually didn't even write a word for the whole week either! I was way too stressed out on Monday and Tuesday, and then the thing i was really stressed out about happened (visiting grad schools), and there was a blizzard, and i was bitten by a dog, and drove around New York State for thirteen hours at least. And had wet feet :( . But now I am happily in denial again about making major life choices. Thus: fic.
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
The kitchen was a disaster area, but something smelled good in the oven. “Are you cooking?” Emily mouthed incredulously, phone pressed to her ear, hand cupped over the mouthpiece. Emma gave her a look.
“School project. Didi’s cooking; I am assisting. You get to see if it’s edible.”
Emily laughed.
Emma threw a pile of pink construction paper scraps at her. “And since it’s cooking, I used up all my swearing credits.”
Emily pouted at her. “What am I supposed to do?”
“Who’s that on the phone?”
“My mom,” Emily muttered.
Her mother cut in, sharp and tinny over the long distance lines. “I’m back in the country and I’m coming to see you. You’ve been uncommunicative lately, and I’m worried about your mental health.”
Emily rolled her eyes, turning away from Emma who smirked at her. “Mom, I’m fine. I’ve just been busy. You don’t have to come see me.”
“Too late for that. I’m in Chicago. I’ll arrive at the Minneapolis airport at ten tonight. Make sure your house is clean. I know your proletariat sympathies won’t let you hire maid service, but honestly, Emily, soap will not kill you.”
She hung up. Emily looked at Emma. “Shit.”
Emma offered her the swear jar.
* * *
The Minneapolis airport was old, with ratty carpet, and tiny carriers who advertised with images of smiling woodland creatures. Her mother swept into the baggage claim looking entirely out of place, pearls and all.
“Hi, mom.”
Elizabeth Prentiss gave her daughter a once over as she gathered the bags. She looked mildly healthier than when she had seen her last. This was good, even if there was an unidentifiable substance on the sleeve of her sweater.
“You’ve gained weight.”
Emily gaped at her. “It’s nice to see you too.”
Elizabeth ignored her and led the way out of the baggage claim, picking her way carefully through the lumps of dirty ice and snow. “You’re still driving that thing?”
Emily glanced over at her Volkswagon hatchback. It was about twelve years old and she had bought it used when she moved to Minneapolis, and then it had lived in her garage for the rest of the time because she mostly took public transit. She liked public transit. Her mother hated it.
“Well, I was going to take the bus, but then I considered your frail condition and couldn’t make you pull all your luggage.”
Emily gathered up the three vast bags and two garment bags and loaded them into the car.
“It is nice to see you.”
Emily glanced over her shoulder and smirked. “And getting calls telling me to clean my house by ten is always entertaining.”
“As long as the guest room’s ready. I’m shattered.”
Emily winced. “About that…”
Her mother looked at her sharply.
“Do you mind sleeping in my room? I don’t…. actually have a guest bedroom right now.”
“Have you moved?”
“No. I just… have a roommate. Sort of.”
“A roommate? Are the feds not paying you enough?”
“It’s not… It’s sort of complicated.”
“You know we will be arriving at your house in less that five minutes, and if you do not intend for me to find out before I am dropped in the middle of it, it will be the worse for you.”
Emily cringed. “I guess you could say I have two roommates, and one of them… is four.”
“Four?”
“Four years old.”
“Are you dating a married man, Emily?”
“What? No!”
And then she was pulling into her driveway and she had run out of time. Luckily it was ten, and Didi was in bed, so she could put that one off for a little bit longer, but there was a light on in the kitchen.
She hauled out her mother’s suitcases, and dragged them up the path, through the snow, reaching the bottom step just as Emma opened the door.
“You must be Ambassador Prentiss, I’m Emma Frost. Please come inside.” Emma had taken her coat and was offering tea to her mother in the kitchen before Emily had dragged the first bag up the steps.
“You’re just leaving me out here!”
But her mother was inviting Emma to call her Elizabeth and trying some of the second (more successful) batch of cookies (the ones that did not cause tooth breakage), and Emily had finally managed to deposit the three voluminous and damp suitcases in her bedroom.
“You’re giving you mother your room, Emily?”
“I… yeah. I was just going to crash on the couch.”
Emma pushed a mug of tea towards her. “Don’t be stupid. You can bunk with me, if you promise to not molest me in my sleep this time.”
Emily inhaled tea and sputtered. Emma whacked her shoulders until she stopped coughing.
“Well, if you’re that excited about it…”
Emily knew she had turned purple. Her mother turned politely away.
“I am a bit tired,” said Elizabeth and put her arm out for Emily to take. Emma grinned playfully at her and started putting the dishes in the dishwasher.
“You could have told me you were living with your girlfriend and her daughter.”
“But… but I’m not.”
“I wasn’t sure about taking up with a woman with a child, but she seems very well bred. I knew a family named Frost once. I wonder if they’re related.”
Emily closed her eyes and tried to pretend the world didn’t exist.
“Emily… Emily.”
She peeked.
“If you’re planning on having sex tonight, please try to keep it down. I’ve been traveling for three days straight and I need to sleep.”
Emily decided it was time to hide in the bathroom and cry.
* * *
“My mom thinks you’re my girlfriend.”
Emma arched her eyebrows and slipped into bed next to her. “Are you actually angry with me for making you look like a stud?”
“I never told her I was gay.”
Emma smirked at the sudden lack of furious denial. “It’s all right, darling. She knows. In fact, I think she’s known for a long time. Probably longer than you.”
Emily put her head under the pillow and attempted self-asphyxiation.
* * *
“I thought I told you not to molest me in my sleep.”
So that was what the squishy things under her hands were. Emily quickly pulled her hands away. “Sorry.”
Emma didn’t seem to mind. She sat up, and then bent over and kissed Emily’s temple. “Better get up. Your mom gets to meet her granddaughter today.”
“Can’t I just stay here and slit my wrists?”
“No.”
“She thinks she’s yours.”
“Well, that would be the logical conclusion. So you get to explain that I did not have a baby when I was nineteen.”
“Why not? Lying sounds really really excellent right now.”
Emma gave her a look. “Because it is so fucking obvious that she’s yours. And explaining why I had your baby when I was nineteen would probably involve a tale of exploiting poor college students for your mad science experiments. Is that actually better than alternate universes?”
* * *
“Mommy! It’s Saturday. I want pancakes!”
Elizabeth Prentiss stared from the landing on the staircase. Her daughter had caught up the little girl (with hair just as dark and lush), more easily than she ever had, and she smiled. It had been too long since she had seen her daughter smile.
“Only if you help.”
“Can I put the batter on the pan?”
“You can’t even reach the stove!”
They moved off into the kitchen and Elizabeth noticed that she wasn’t alone on the landing. Emma gave her a long impenetrable look. The Ambassador blinked, and Emma smiled tightly.
“Just listen to her,” she said. “I wanted it to be a lie. I still want it, so badly, to be a lie. But it isn’t, and we all just have to accept that.”
Then she nodded, as if she hadn’t said anything, and continued down the stairs.
* * *
Elizabeth was quiet throughout most of breakfast, just watching. The child was introduced as Deirdre, and she looked at the Ambassador with wide suspicious eyes. Elizabeth looked back in much the same manner.
After the pancakes were finished, Elizabeth sat back, cupping her tea in her hands, and looked over to her daughter, who wore an expression of guilt. She hadn’t seen her so shamefaced since she had broken a gift from the Chinese Ambassador.
But she deserved to feel that way. Elizabeth couldn’t quite understand how she had missed this, and what had happened to make her daughter keep her out of her life. Her own guilt didn’t help, but it wasn’t as if she didn’t try. It was Emily who had continually refused assistance, who had seemed poised on the very edge of a breakdown, and still would not listen to her or allow her to become involved. And she had thought about it, too often, about what it would be like to lose her, as well. And that was what made her angry, that now, when she was better, she hadn’t even seen the need to let her know.
“She looks like yours,” Elizabeth said flatly.
“Yeah,” Emily smiled involuntarily at the sight of Emma trying to fend off Didi’s syrupy fingers from getting in her hair as she carried her over to the sink.
“Don’t you dare!”
“I’z getting you sticky!”
“If you get me sticky, I will hang you up by your toes!”
“I hang you by toes!”
Emma dangled her from her feet. “You aren’t tall enough.”
“Not fair! Not fair, M’ma!”
Elizabeth frowned. “Does she call her mama, or Emma?”
“I think it’s somewhere halfway between.”
“But she calls you ‘Mommy’.”
Emily flushed.
Elizabeth considered her for a long moment. There were various possibilities, but the girl looked too much like her, like she had at that age. “I know I haven’t always been there for you, but I think I would have…”
“She’s… I…” Emily bit her lip. “Can you pretend for a second that I had a twin sister and Emma had a twin brother?”
“You didn’t have a twin, Emily. I know. I was there,” replied her mother, dryly.
Emily gestured with her head, and they moved out into the living room. It was clear this was going to be a fight now, but sometimes yelling was the only way the Ambassador and her daughter could communicate. It was better than continually not saying anything at all.
“But… if I had, and she and Emma’s twin brother had a baby together…”
“Emily. Telling me impossible things isn’t making this any easier to understand.”
“I never had my baby.” Emily froze. “A baby. I never had a baby.”
Elizabeth gave her a sharp look.
“Emma didn’t either. But Deirdre is genetically ours.”
“That doesn’t make sense, Emily!” Elizabeth snapped. “Don’t lie to me!”
“Look at her!” Emily yelled back. “You don’t know how many times I’ve had people stop and have their jaws move up and down as they try to guess whose biological child she is! People who are good at math think that we had a baby together before we could legally drink! All the nosy-ass parents of kids in her class think that her dead brother is the father. Do you know how many times I’ve had to use the word sperm in the last few months?”
“Tell me who she is! Emily!”
“She’s ours! She’s ours but not ours. She’s ours from an alternate universe,” Emily scrunched up her face. “From a world where I married Emma and took her name and had her baby.”
“Emily…”
“There’s no other answer for it. There’s no other way this can make sense. I have the paperwork if you want.” Emily smiled weakly. “Biologically, she’s your granddaughter.”
Elizabeth sat down hard. “It’s insane.”
“I know.”
“Why aren’t you lying to me?”
Emily sighed, sitting beside her. “Because I can’t, because I’ve been lying to everyone to try and make this seem normal, but it’s never going to work with you. You know me, you know what I’m like, and this doesn’t make sense for me. This isn’t something I’d ever choose.”
Elizabeth gave her a long slow glance. “Perhaps that’s true. But it doesn’t mean I didn’t wish you would.”
* * *
Chapter 13