Title: Diablita II Author: Mariann Author Email: musingscsm@aol.com Rating: PG-13 Archive at Gossamer: Category: X-File, Keywords/Pairings: Crossover Info: Spoilers: "Closure", general mythology Summary: The summer of 1979 marks the destruction of the Spender family. Diablita II by Mariann musingscsm@aol.com Part 1 Please see part 0 (template) for warnings and summary. Title: Diablita II Author: Mariann Rating: PG-13 Classification: X Spoilers: "Closure", general mytharc Disclaimer: I do not own "The X-Files" and I will not be making money off the use of them here. However, I do own the character of Katherine Spender and use of her without my permission is strictly prohibited. Archive: Any/All, but please let me know where it is going. Feedback: Answer and appreciated. musingscsm@aol.com Summary: The summer of 1979 marks the destruction of the Spender family. ----------------------------------------------------- "We were sure we'd never see an end to it all...." - Smashing Pumpkins, "1979" ----------------------------------------------------- Diablita II by Mariann "Hey, look at this!" Jeffery Spender motioned to his sisters, Samantha and Katherine, to come over and see what he had found. A fresh slab of cement had been laid near the outer fence on April Air Force Base, where they lived with their parents. To the eleven year old boy, it held endless possibilities. He wanted to leave his mark on the base, now he just had to decide which mark. "It better not be another snake." Fourteen year old Samantha came over to join her brother, carrying their three year old sister, Katherine. "If it is, I'm telling Dad you put that dent in the car with your bike." "He did!" Little Katherine chirped with the honesty of a small child. "Yeah, but Dad doesn't know that." Samantha smirked at her little brother. "Yet." Jeffery ignored his sister, turning back to the slab of cement. He knelt down before it and pressed his hands in the wet cement. It was cold and felt gritty against his palms, but there was a certain niceness to it. A rush from the thrill of doing something that might get you in big trouble. Pulling his hands out and sitting back on his heels he admired his handiwork. Samantha set Katherine down next to him and looked over his shoulder. "You should write your name under it, doof." Samantha kneeled down next to her brother. "How's anyone supposed to know it's yours?" "Know it all." Jeffery mumbled, but started to draw his name in the wet cement under the handprints anyway. Samantha had heard the comment, but she just smirked. She laid her hands down in the wet cement next to Jeffery's prints. Katherine watched over her shoulder, admiring her sister's prints after Samantha lifted her hands up. Jeff watched her, almost surprised she had done it. She was usually the type to try to stay out of trouble, especially the kind little brothers get into. "What are you guys looking at?" Samantha looked up and addressed her siblings when she finished etching her name underneath the impressions. "Can I?" Katherine looked at her hopefully. To her, the sun rose and set on Samantha. She was her hero, and it was not uncommon for her to mimic her older sister if given the chance. "Sure, Kit." Samantha helped her little sister press her small hands into the cement. Then she lifted Katherine's hands back up to reveal a third set of perfectly formed handprints. The impressions left were much smaller then her and Jeffery's and she couldn't help but smile a little to herself as she traced Katherine's name into the cement. There was a definite bond between the two sisters, though eleven years separated them in age. "Ooooh, pretty!" Kit beamed as she looked down at the finished product. The Spender children stood up and looked around, making sure no one had been watching. Relieved to find no one in view, one by one their attention turned to their dirty hands. The cement was thick and stained the skin gray where it wasn't clumped in oozy globs of grit. They had nothing to wipe their hands off with except their clothes. No matter where the cement was, if their parents saw it on them they would be in a load of trouble. It was an interesting problem that really didn't have any solution. Finally, Samantha voiced what they were all thinking. "How are we going to get this stuff off our hands?" The Spenders were far from the average American family. Cassandra Spender knew this and it made her try even harder to be a good mother, but she was reaching her limit. The aliens had been taking her and her adopted daughter Samantha for six years now. Oddly enough, the abductions weren't the worst part. The consortium which her husband, Charles, belonged to made things much worse. The work they did with the aliens may have been noble, but their treatment of the families of the men who belonged to the group wasn't. They were merely pawns in a bigger plan, useable and disposable. The children had shown no signs of noticing the conspiracy in which their lives were entangled. Every night Cassandra prayed they wouldn't find out. It was hard to know what Samantha went through, whether she realized it herself or not, but to think of her own two children treated like human guinea pigs made her sick to her stomach. She had to do something before it happened, especially since it seemed Charles would let his other two children be experimented on as easily as he had given up his wife and oldest daughter. The marriage was under a lot of strain, and Cassandra often wondered what happened to the man she married twelve years ago. The consortium had changed him so much she barely recognized her husband anymore. Her last hope to save her marriage and her children was to try to distance the family from the group. Cassandra finally decided to bring it up on a warm day in June, just a week after Samantha and Jeffery had gotten out of school for the summer. The children were out playing, and Charles had gotten home from work early. They sat in the kitchen together, he reading the paper and she washing the dishes. "You know Charles," Cassandra looked out the tiny kitchen window and tried to sound as casual as she could. "The children really enjoy going to my sister's place on the coastline. And I hear the school system in her town is very good..." "That's nice." Charles replied, not really paying attention. "The houses in that area aren't overly expensive either. In fact, Maria told me the other day they're putting in a new neighborhood only a couple streets over from her place." "Cassandra.." Charles folded the newspaper and dropped it on the table. "Are you trying to tell me something?" "Don't you ever think about buying a bigger house, moving to a different city?" "No. There's no reason for us to move." "We can't stay here forever, Charles." Cassandra was beginning to get a little frustrated. "There just isn't enough room!" "We'll make it work." He exhaled a grayish blue cloud of smoke and stubbed out his cigarette. "It's more beneficial if we stay where we are." "Beneficial to who? The higher up in your little group? Oh, well that's a good excuse. Heaven forbid we inconvenience them after all they've done to our lives!" Cassandra's voice raised to a shout. She was beyond frustrated with her lifestyle. In the last three years the Consortium had taken much more of an interest in their lives. They were under surveillance, studied from a far, and the experiments became much more frequent. She had her doubts whether it had anything to do with their compilation with the aliens or not, something in her gut told her it didn't. "Be reasonable, Cassandra." "Reasonable? I'm not the one who's being unreasonable! Why are we here anyways? I mean...do you even work here?" "You know better then to question about my work." Charles warned his wife with an icy glare. Cassandra returned the glare threefold and fell silent. Charles regretted ever telling her about the project on the night she was first abducted with the wives and daughters of the consortium members, she knew that. She also knew that she had been a different person then, trying hard to be the perfect wife and mother. Now she had just about given up on being even just a good wife. Her marriage was falling apart and her last idea to save it had just been flushed down the toilet. She turned back to the dishes, becoming so caught up in scrubbing out her anger that she didn't think anything of the children running into the house and directly into the bathroom. Two nights later the sound of a loud argument downstairs woke the children. Jeffery was the first to come out of his room and sit at the top of the stairs, listening to his parents yell at each other. He couldn't make out the words, but he could hear the anger in their voices. Whatever they were fighting about had to be important. Lately they fought almost every night, but tonight they really sounded like they hated each other. "They're fighting again." Samantha came up behind Jeffery. "Yeah." He replied. Samantha sat down on the step beside her brother and listened it silence. Something was very wrong in the house, they both knew that. Sure, their parents could try not to argue in front of them and pretend things were just fine, but they knew they weren't. A lot of things didn't seem right lately, though Jeffery didn't know what was wrong. "They're fighting about the doctors." Samantha finally broke the silence. "Doctors?" Jeffery craned his neck around to look at his sister, wondering how she knew. "Who's sick?" "Not those kind of doctors." "What kind?" "You haven't seen them, have you?" An almost disappointed look came into Samantha's eyes. "They come at night...and do horrible experiments on people. They're small and gray...with these huge black eyes, almost like a bug. And sometimes there's human doctors with them too." Jeffery looked at his sister, almost expecting her to start laughing. But something in her expression told him that she wasn't going to. She was completely serious, and waiting for his reaction. He didn't know what to say... it sounded very crazy to him and yet it also sounded oddly familiar. "Have you seen 'em?" He managed to reply. "They take me, Jeff. Mom too. And soon they'll take Kit." Samantha's eyes welled with tears. "I'm scared one day they won't bring us back." He didn't know what to say. All he could do was stare at his sister as he tried to understand what he had just been told. How could something like that be happening to his mother and sisters without anyone knowing it was going on? "You don't believe me." Samantha sniffled. "I wouldn't believe me either..." "No...Sam...." Jeffery put an arm around his older sister. "I believe you." And he did. So did Katherine, who had been listened to the whole conversation from the doorway of the girl's room. ******** July 14, 1979 Dear Diary, This is the last entry I'm going to make in this diary for a long time. I have to go away. The doctors keep coming for me, and I think I'm going to go crazy if they take me again. I can't let them take me again. And I can't let them take Kit either. They will soon, if they haven't already. Sometimes I think my memories were taken by the doctors but not all of them. I remember faces. I think I had a brother...with brown hair, who used to tease me. I hope someday he reads this and knows I wish I could see his face for real. No more. No more tests. No more questions. I'm getting out of here and not turning back. Tonight. Tonight I'm going to run far, far away. I can't let them catch me. They'll kill me if they do. Running for my life, for the rest of my life. I'm leaving tonight. If I can find my brother, he'll protect us. And then I'll come back for Kit. Maybe Jeff too. We'll all be safe again and together again. The four of us. But until that happens, I have to keep running. Samantha ********** Samantha was almost finished packing her knapsack, pausing to look over her shoulder to make sure Katherine was still asleep. It was quarter past nine, and their parents would be home soon. She made one last check on the items she had packed...a flashlight, several changes of clothes, a little bit of food, and fifty dollars she had pilfered from her father's wallet earlier that day. Earlier that evening, her parents had left Samantha in charge of watching Katherine while they went to a dinner party held by one of her father's colleagues. Jeffery had gone over to a friend's house for the night and there wasn't anyone left to interfere with her plans. At eight she put her little sister to bed, hoping she would not wake up again until their parents were home. It was time to go. Samantha zipped up her backpack and crept out of the bedroom. Her heart thudded in her chest as she snuck downstairs. She hadn't been planning this for more then a day, and it had finally sunk in just what exactly she was about to do. It was the first time she felt fear, and for a spilt second when she opened the front door she hesitated. "Whatcha doing, Sam?" She jumped, startled at the sudden voice behind her. Whirling around, she saw Katherine standing there in her pajamas, holding her beloved stuffed dog and blinking up at her sister sleepily. "Aren't you supposed to be asleep, Kit?" "Where are you going?" Katherine cocked her head a little sideways. "I'm..." Samantha couldn't bring herself to lie, for a reason she couldn't explain. "I'm going away, I have to do something important." "Can I come?" "No." "Why?" A little pout came over Katherine's face. "I don't know how long I'm going to be gone. It may be a long time." "How long?" "I don't know..." Samantha shifted her weight nervously, worrying about the time. "Don't go...." Katherine hugged her big sister around the knees, sniffling back tears. The little girl had sensed there was something not right going on. She was advanced for her age and seemed to pick up on things a lot quicker. "Hey.." Samantha pried her sister off her legs and knelt so they were eye to eye. "I'm gonna come back." "Promise?" The unshed tears in Kit's blue eyes glimmered in the moonlight streaming in from the window. "Promise." Samantha hugged her sister tight, feeling the warm wetness of tears falling on her cheeks. She had not wanted to say any goodbyes, they were just too hard. It was so hard trying to explain to Katherine why she had to leave. Finally she pulled back, looking at her sister's face and wondering if it was the last time she was going to see little Katherine. The tears were coming down her cheeks freely now, and she had to look away for a moment to keep from sobbing out loud. She wiped the tears from her eyes, the silver ID bracelet she wore catching the moonlight. Her sister's attention became focused on her left wrist. Kit always had a fascination with the bracelet bearing her older sister's name. But Samantha was protective of the piece of jewelry, which held a sliver of a memory from her old life. "How'd you like to keep my bracelet safe for me while I'm gone?" Samantha unclasped the bracelet. The little girl's eyes widened with surprise. "Really?" "Really." A small smile came on her face. "Hold out your wrist." Katherine obediently held out her wrist, seeming to understand just how important the gift was. Samantha tried to put it around the girl's tiny wrist, but found it to be two times too big. For a moment she wasn't sure how to remedy the situation. Then she realized it was just the right size to become a collar for Mr. Perkins, the stuffed dog Kit always slept with. "It's a little too big. Why don't we put it on Mr. Perkins instead?" Samantha fastened the bracelet around the stuffed dog's neck. "Thank you." Katherine wrapped her arms around her sister's neck. "You're welcome, Kit-Kat." Using the special nickname she had given Katherine brought fresh tears to her eyes. She pulled back again, kissed her sister on the forehead and stood. "I promise I'll come back." "I love you, Sammy." Kit said softly, tears now streaming down her little cheeks. "I love you too." She sniffled and picked up her backpack. "Now...go back upstairs and stay on the bed until Mom and Dad get home, okay?" Katherine gave tiny nod, then trotted out of the room and up the stairs. Samantha could hear the door to their room close, and it was her signal that it was time to leave. She walked out the front door, like she had so many times in the past six years. Only this time she stopped long enough to lock it behind her. Then she was walking out to the road, starting her journey. But she couldn't help but stop at the end of the driveway for one last look at her home before disappearing into the night. Cassandra and Charles got back from the party just before ten. She was very glad to finally be home. These little social get togethers had never held much interest for her. In fact, she thought the wives of her husband's colleagues were stuck up snobs and quickly grew bored when she made attempts to talk with them. Not too mention she despised the members of the group. They interrupted their lives enough, why did they have to hold social functions as well? Her thoughts were quickly turned from the party to the present when she stepped inside the house. All the lights were off and the house was silent. Cassandra had expected to find Samantha in front of the television or at least the light downstairs still on. A sense of uneasiness filled her and a cornucopia of horrid images filled her mind...robbers, kidnappers, the aliens, and medical emergencies to name a few. She hurried up the stairs to the girls room. Practically flinging the bedroom door open, Cassandra let out a small sigh of relief to see Katherine sitting on her bed. Then the relief turned again to worry as she noticed the little girl was crying and Samantha was no where to be found. She sat on the bed next to her daughter, who quickly crawled up into her mother's arms. "Katherine, what's wrong?" Her voice was filled with concern. "Where's your sister?" "She said she had to go." "Did she say where?" "Nuh-uh." Katherine sniffled and shook her head. Cassandra picked her daughter up and headed back down the stairs to find her husband. Her mind was racing with questions, the loudest one being why a basically well behaved child like Samantha would run away. Something was very wrong with the whole situation. And now she looked for the way to tell Charles, who she found in the living room having a cigarette. "Charles..." She strained to keep her voice calm. "Samantha's run away..." *** The first light of dawn spilled over a small hospital not far from Fresno, the same hospital little Katherine had been born at three years earlier. Charles stood outside the front entrance and lit a cigarette. It had been a long night, starting with the call he made to the local police. They had indeed picked up a girl matching Samantha's description earlier that night, and had taken her to the local hospital to treat her for exhaustion. It seemed like the problem was going to be solved easy enough, but he had to call up two of his colleagues to let them know what had happened, just in case there was more wrong with Samantha then lack of sleep. They had insisted on coming along, and it was only a short time before the trio made their way to the local hospital. (Continued in part 2)