[Ami] Half-Light

[island-muses.livejournal.com]

Five, maybe six days into her captivity, she'd lost count at the beginning and couldn't be certain, Ami's life fell into a routine: breakfast, shower, "interview" with Ethan, lunch and then an indeterminate stretch where she might be left to her devices, subjected to more blood tests and injections, or drilled and questioned by a clinically cold Asian woman. While Ethan psychoanalyzed her, always under the pretense of making her life "here more comfortable" – and Ami never for one moment doubted that it was pretense – the woman bombarded her with questions regarding her abilities and how far she could stretch them. Unlike Ethan, Dr. Sakai – Ami tricked the dinner nurse, Steph, into revealing the name of the woman on the fourth evening – did not hold the captivity of Ami's friends over her head as a threat, though she did reveal and hint at far deeper and greater knowledge than she should have had regarding Ami and Megabyte, the Tomorrow People in general, Scott, Walt, River and Mara than the woman should have been privy to.

Sakai's questions were concise and direct without subterfuge. When they were not, they were simply confusing and frustrating and often embarrassing.

"Did either of your parents have paranormal abilities?"

"No," Ami repeated the same answer that she'd given the day before and the day before that. "I've told you this before. No, my parents were both perfectly normal."

"Grandparents? Aunts? Uncles? Cousins?"

"No already! Am I even speaking English?"

"No brothers or sisters?"

Ami folded her arms beneath her breasts and glared at the woman from the pseudo-safety of her bed. She'd long grown tired of answering the same questions over and over again.

Dr. Sakai returned her stare for a long moment. Finally, heaving a sigh, she flipped to another page in her clipboard. "Are you fertile? Have you ever monitored or measured your fertility?"

*That* was new. Ami actually felt herself frown before she could stop it. "I don't know. No. Why would I?"

"Is your partner fertile?"

"What's that got to do with anything? You're holding me here to find out what Scott's sperm count is? Rather have that arse over tit, don't you, then?" Ami learned early on that trying not to name names or identify her fellow survivors and castaways served no practical purpose. Sakai knew the people, and pretending only made the questioning sessions drag onward.

"How often would you say that you and Mr. Hayden engaged in sexual intercourse on a daily basis?"

The question angered her, mortified her and saddened her all at once. It was none of this woman's business, this woman – this pseudo-doctor who held her captive against her will and was keeping her *away* from Scott, didn't have the right to ask such things or to expect an answer. The asking itself reminded her of the ache and emptiness she felt, of the hollow just beyond her senses where Scott should have been, but couldn't be felt.

"None of your bloody business."

"Did you have intercourse the morning before you were brought here?"

"I'm not going to answer that!"

She didn't answer, and those questions were never asked again.

Comments

[Ami] We Band of Buggered (tag Daisy)

[fikgirl.livejournal.com]

Ami didn't know if it was whatever drug Sakai gave to her or Daisy's emotional state, but Daisy's panic and fear cut across the room and into Ami like a knife. It punched into her stomach and radiated through her entire body. Ami shook involuntarily under the unexpected onslaught and her knees buckled. Only the vice grip on her arm prevented her from falling; the firm, ironclad grip jerked her back roughly as she unconsciously attempted to rush towards Daisy.

"Daisy!" Ami twisted against the guard's hold, only earning another painful jerk for her effort. She cried in pain, physical pain, the manhandling harsh enough to nearly dislocate her shoulder. "Let go of me! What have you animals done to her?!"

To her surprise, with another tug, she stumbled forward. Her momentum was so sudden that she fell to the floor, landing hard on her knees and hands. Pain shot through her arms and legs, the room spun and it was only by sheer effort of will that she neither passed out nor vomited. Taking a few deep breaths, Ami forced the room to cease doing a carousel imitation; coupled with Daisy's overwhelming fear and upset – which made the smugness, curiosity and insatiable hunger of Sakai and the other man, as well as the morbid fascination of the guards and nurse, fade into the background – the nausea did not go away. It was manageable, but barely.

Ignoring her own deep muscular and joint aches, and the falling temperature of the room, Ami scurried over to Daisy on her hands and knees. She was surprised that Sakai even allowed her to have contact with the woman, but she pushed speculation aside. Ami would deal with whatever punishment they meted out later. Right now, she needed to get to Daisy.

Predictably, Daisy flinched at Ami's first touch on her shoulder and attempted to sandwich herself further into the corner. The whimpering sound was horribly heart-wrenching and Ami pushed back the surge of anger that she felt. Though Ami never considered it before, for the first time she truly and completely considered doing those things that Sakai suggested . . . on Sakai and Wilson.

Tempting as it was, Ami knew there was no way she could pull off such a stunt, not before someone realized what she was doing, and then what would happen to her? To Daisy? To Rose? To Claire?

"Shh, Daisy it's me. It's Ami," Ami tentatively touched Daisy's shoulder again, pushing ever ounce of sympathy, empathy and comfort she could into those words. The effort tired her, and gave her the faint pin prick of needles at the back of her head. She wrapped an arm around Daisy's shoulders, pulling the other woman into a hug, bracing herself against Daisy's emotional storm. The contact had a dual purpose – she could feel for herself Daisy's psychic aura and awareness . . . and she realized that other than emotions, she felt it just barely. Thoughts were like fleeting smoke, chaotic and panicked; it had nothing to do with the drugs and everything to do with Daisy. Ami knew that if it hadn't been for Sakai's drugs, she probably wouldn't have sensed Daisy's churning thoughts at all.

[OOC: This got a bit long. To be continued in the next post . . .]