Queen Maker Ch. 02

Disclaimer: I do not own The Gifted. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

*****

Lorna Dane awoke to the unfortunately frequent sensation of being unfamiliar with her surroundings. Luckily she had learned to prevent her powers from reacting for at least a few minutes as she opened her eyes and she gained her bearings. Then as had been frequently the case over this past year or so she found herself awaking in bed with a lover.

Only now she wasn't in the arms of her baby Daddy. No, instead there was a pretty blonde girl in her arms, and Lorna found herself smiling fondly before she even lifted herself up to look at the face of Esme Frost. God, she was so beautiful, and she looked deceptively innocent while sleeping, despite... well, everything. And...

The smile on Lorna's face fell as she had a rather disturbing thought of... well, extreme fondness for this crazy girl which had her wanting to run screaming. Instead she carefully pulled her arm from underneath Esme and then got out of bed, desperately trying to ignore the feeling of missing the other girl in her arms already as she found her discarded pyjamas and put back them on.

And for good measure she picked out a robe from Esme's closet and silently left the room. She should probably go back to her room and get dressed properly, but Lorna was too hungry for that, so she headed in search of the kitchen. It didn't take her long to find one and start working on some breakfast.

Not long after that a familiar blonde appeared in the doorway and purred, "Hello lover."

Lorna turned and stared at her for a few long seconds, before growling, "You're not Esme."

"Lorna, you wound me. How can you not recognise me after our night of passion?" Sophie briefly tried to keep up the ruse, but her heart expression quickly dissolved into a pout as she whined, "Spoilsport."

Seemingly only a few seconds later an identical blonde appeared, striking and over exaggerated pose and totally giving herself away before she even said, "Hello lover."

"Nope, not buying it." Lorna shrugged her off as she turned her full attention back to the food.

"Well you're no fun." Phoebe pouted, before pointing out, "You do realise that if you have sex with one of us..."

"You have sex with us all." Sophie grinned, "So we all basically had a foursome last night, and you didn't invite us."

"So rude." Phoebe mocked, before all eyes turned to the door she just walked in through to find an embarrassed teenage boy.

"Erm, maybe I'll have breakfast somewhere else." Andy stammered.

"Nonsense, please come in. I'm making enough for everyone." Lorna insisted, glad for the company which wasn't a Frost sister, "And pay no attention to them. They're just trying to freak me out."

"Actually thanks to our powers we can always sense what the others are doing." Phoebe gleefully admitted, before reluctantly amending when the green headed girl gave her a warning look, "But we can totally turn it off if we want too."

"It's kind of like wearing earmuffs, which we definitely needed last night." Sophie chimed in, looking directly at Lorna as she told her with a smirk, "We definitely didn't need to hear you making Esme your bitch last night."

"More like finishing the job she started." Phoebe grumbled, before honing in on something which amused her, "Awww, what's wrong Andy? Is the thought of your friend here fucking Esme turning you on?"

"Seriously you two, cut it out!" Lorna snapped, and then after a few long seconds of silence she smiled and asked, "Andy, would you like some toast?"

"Yes." Andy said awkwardly, grabbing a plate and then bringing it over to his friend while asking hopefully, "Do you have any bacon?"

"I don't do bacon." Lorna said apologetically, and then before she could explain one of the annoying blondes beat her to the punch.

"She's Jewish, like her Daddy." Phoebe explained, and then when Lorna glared at her she glared back, "What, don't get mad at me just because you're stress cooking to try and deal with the fact you're getting cold feet again about sleeping with a crazy bitch."

"We just love it when you think of us that way." Sophie said mockingly, "Especially Esme."

"We've been called worse." Esme said, announcing her presence as she entered the kitchen and then offering a small smile to Lorna, "Hello lover."

"Because you heard all that. Why wouldn't you?" Lorna grumbled.

There was a brief pause, then Esme took a deep breath and stepped forward, "It's okay Lorna, you know? To still have cold feet about everything that happened yesterday. It was... a lot. And I pushed you. Which wasn't fair, I just... I just want you to know it's okay. You can yell at me if you like. Or, I could just give you some space. Whatever you want..."

Lorna hated herself so much in that moment. Last night it really felt like she had a breakthrough. Like she knew what she wanted, and she wasn't afraid anymore. Actually she felt that way twice, once while bringing down that plane and then when she got into bed with Esme. She had been so strong, confident and powerful, doing exactly what she wanted regardless of the consequences. And it felt great.

But then the cold hard reality of having murdered people in cold blood had crippled her so bad she'd needed to be rescued from her own self-pity by the Frost sisters, and then she woke up feeling so much overwhelming fondness for someone who wasn't Marcos, who she was sure she was still in love with, that it had scared her, and now she was making it so much worse.

Sophie and Phoebe were staring at her expectantly with mistrust and annoyance in their eyes, no doubt upset with her for messing around with Esme's feelings when Esme had been so upfront with her. Unless it was all a game to them, Lorna fearing that Esme would laugh and reveal that she had been lying about any feelings for her the whole time and it was just a big joke, or a way to literally seduce her into the Hellfire Club.

Then there was Andy, who was caught in the middle of this thanks to Lorna. But most of all there was Esme, who, if her feelings were real, Lorna was raking over the coals because she couldn't make up her damn mind. For God sakes, why couldn't Lorna just make up her mind and stick to it?

"I... I..." Lorna began, only for a gust of wind to suddenly appear out of nowhere, and in a flash the green haired girl was gone.

"What the hell was that?" Andy blinked in confusion.

Ignoring him the Frost sisters turned to the door, glared and in unison grumbled as their eyes glowed blue, "Stupid Speedster!"

*

"Hello?" Lorna called out at the top of her lungs, beginning to get really annoyed as that was the third time she called that word out with no reply.

As she did that she slowly began to get her bearings, looking around the seemingly abandoned building for any signs of life. All she could see was a table with two chairs in the centre of the room which she cautiously walked up to and suspiciously eyed what was on top of it, namely a phone and a piece of paper.

On closer inspection the piece of paper was a DNA test, testing her DNA against a familiar name which at least somewhat caused her to relax. It was proof that she probably wasn't about to be killed, and the fact it was positive more or less satisfied her curiosity about something, and most importantly revealed who was behind this. It also annoyed her, a lot. And then suddenly her food appeared before her, which annoyed her even more.

Then a middle-aged man with silver hair appeared seemingly from nowhere and began rambling really fast, "Okay, so that's one black coffee, one egg, and two pieces of toast. That's what you like, right? It should be, you made it. Oh God, you should'da the look on their faces when I came back for it. Yeah, I was seeing their reaction to taking you in the first place, but it was totally worth it. Oh, manners! Right, I was always bad at that part. I'm-"

"Quicksilver." Lorna finished for him, "Yeah, I know who you are."

"Then you know why I'm here, sister." He grinned, "And it's just Peter now. No ones called me Quicksilver in a very long time, and it certainly shouldn't be you. After all, we, are, family! I've got all my brothers and sisters with me."

"Hey." Lorna said, clicking to get his attention away from his bad singing, "We're not family."

"Yeah, but... DNA doesn't lie, so..." Peter argued, grabbing the DNA test with his superspeed and then instantly bringing it up to Lorna's face.

Pushing it away Lorna spat, "Oh yeah? Then where were you when I was locked up in mental institutions and prisons being experimented on like a fucking lab rat?"

"Trust me, compared to where you are now, those places are nothing." Peter argued softly, "Trust me sister, the Hellfire Club is more dangerous than you can possibly imagine. They don't attack you like everyone else, they seduce you, make you think they're right, then they use you before stabbing you in the back. It happened to me, it happened to Dad, and it will happen to you."

There was a brief pause, then Lorna sarcastically said, "Wow, nice mansplaining, ass hole. But if you're done, I'd like you to take me back now."

"Lorna, I'm trying to help you here." Peter sighed.

"Well I didn't ask you too." Lorna pointed out.

There was another brief pause, then Peter tried again, "I was young too once, you know? And I remember vividly what it was like. Living in his shadow. Constantly feeling like you have something to prove, both because of him, and because we had the incredible powers which made us the best of the best. And it sounds very appealing, doesn't it? We're going to change the world for the better? Well guess what? I couldn't do it, Magneto couldn't do it, and not even the X-Men could do it. You'll fail just like everyone else. Why try?"

Yet another pause, then Lorna said firmly, "I'm not you. And I'm not... Magneto. I'm me, and I won't fail."

"Oh God, you really are my sister." Peter quipped, before sighing and handing her the phone, "Fine, you gotta be young and make your own mistakes, I get it. But when you realise it's a mistake, send me a text on this and I'll run you out there in a flash. Take you somewhere not even the Hellfire Club will find you."

"I'm pretty sure Esme would find me no matter what." Lorna said smirked.

"You'd be surprised." Peter said, "But speaking of that bitch, let me give you one last piece of advice, out of everyone in the Hellfire Club she and her sisters are the last people you should trust. They were literally born to lie, cheat and seduce their way to victory. Hell, I wouldn't put it past one of them to make a move on you."

Lorna smirked at him, "Yeah, about that."

"Oh God, really? Already?" He groaned, before checking, "Wait, which one? It wasn't Esme, was it? Oh what am I saying, of course it was Esme. She's got a thing for our family. Did she tell you that? That we dated for a while, and it only ended when I found out she screwed our father."

"Wait, what?" Lorna frowned.

Peter quickly confirmed, "Yeah, she's a total power whore, sis, and now-"

"Don't call her that!" Lorna snapped.

"She is though." Peter insisted, "If you don't believe me, ask her. Or better yet ask anyone who knows her. If you can find any of them alive, because she is a user, and now she's had her fun with you you're just another used toy to her."

"Shut up, shut up, shut up!" Lorna screeched, her eyes and hands glowing green as the building suddenly began to shake.

Clearly her brother had tried not to leave any metal in the room in case their meeting went poorly, but he had underestimated her, and she was able to pull metal from other rooms, the houses and even the street. Some which didn't do her much good, but the rest she held above his head threateningly.

He could probably kill her before she made a move, but he clearly didn't want her dead, and as angry as she was in that moment the truth was she didn't want to kill him, which meant they were in a standstill for a few long seconds. Which unfortunately allowed self-doubt to slowly crept back into her head, making her wonder how she had gone from sneaking out of Esme's bed because she was afraid of her feelings for her, to defending her honour, especially as the things Peter were saying were most likely true.

"Oh God, you actually have feelings for her, don't you?" Peter murmured sadly, "You poor girl."

"Take me back please." Lorna growled, "I won't ask again."

There was a brief pause, then Peter grumbled, "If I take you back, you're as good as dead."

Another brief pause, then Lorna said, "She won't hurt me."

"You don't know that." Peter argued.

"I do." Lorna said.

Yet another pause, and then Peter grumbled, "And what about her sisters?"

Lorna shrugged, "I can take care of myself."

Peter sighed, "Please, don't make me do this."

Which made Lorna sigh, "Peter-"

"I know I haven't been a good brother to you." He blurted out, speaking really fast again, "In my defence I was off the grid, like way off the grid, and I only really found out about you when you were starting the Mutant Underground, and I figured you were young and would want to stand on your own two feet, and-"

"Peter-" Lorna repeated.

"I just figured we'd have more time, you know?" Peter continued, "And it's not too late, we could grab a beer and talk, and... oh, right, no beer for you because, pregnant, but-"

"PETER! Now!" Lorna insisted, before sighing, "But I'll call you if I need too. I promise."

There was a brief pause and then he smiled softly, and finally did what his sister wanted him to do. Time then seemed to slow down and Lorna became a lot more aware of flashing images around her now she knew what they were, until she found herself back in the kitchen. Back where she belonged, both with the Hellfire Club, and with Esme.

Only now not only was she terrified by her feelings, but she had this new information echoing in her head, meaning no matter how confident she might have seen talking to her brother the truth was she felt anything but that. Especially when she found herself face to face with a worried looking Esme Frost.

"See, nothing to worry about." Phoebe said nonchalantly.

"Quicksilver is so predictable." Sophie shook her head sadly.

"Oh please, like you two weren't just as twitchy as me." Esme grumbled, failing to hide her nervousness as she and Lorna just stared each other for a few long seconds.

Ironically it was Andy who broke that silence, "They barely said a word while you were gone. Just did that, tilt head, glowing eyes thing they do when they're arguing. Or, you know..."

"We weren't arguing." Esme said softly, "We were just seeing where Peter took Lorna, and-"

"And listening in to our conversation?" Lorna grumbled.

"We didn't get that far." Phoebe grumbled.

"Esme wouldn't let us." Sophie glared at her sister.

"Hey, it was taking all three of us combined just to find her, and you know what that means. So excuse me if I wanted to save us all from that headache." Esme glared back at her sisters, before quickly adding, "Besides, it clearly wasn't going well, and like I told you, we can trust Lorna."

"We'll see." Sophie glared at Lorna this time.

"Isn't anyone going to tell me what's going on?" Andy asked loudly, partly out of genuine frustration, but mostly because he wanted to try and diffuse the tension before it got any worse.

"Lorna just met her big brother." Esme said bitterly, quickly pointing out, "You know, the one that couldn't be bothered to help her until now, so maybe she should take his words with a pinch of salt."

"Oh..." Andy murmured, briefly considering congratulating Lorna, before deciding against it given the mood.

Then after a few long seconds of silence Lorna took a deep breath and told Esme, "We need to talk. Just you and me, alone."

*

"Did you date my brother?" Lorna asked the second Esme closed her bedroom door behind them.

"Is that what he told you?" Esme laughed, "Wow, that's so sad."

"So, it's not true?" Lorna pushed with a frown.

"If you call having sex a few times dating." Esme scoffed, before rolling her eyes, "Which Peter totally would, I guess. Which even for him, that's sad."

"And you slept with my father?" Lorna said knowingly, and then when there was a telling silence she murmured, "Oh God."

"Please don't..." Esme pleaded, briefly hesitating before following through, "Don't let him get in your head."

"Oh that's hilarious coming from you." Lorna half snapped, half laughed.

"Quicksilver!" Esme snapped angrily, quickly softening her tone, "Peter is a good man. He's an underachieving whiner with a massive inferiority complex who can barely concentrate on anything for more than a minute, but deep, deep down past all his flaws, he is a good man. Or at least, he wants to be, and he loves his family. That's why, whatever he said, I have no doubt he believed he was trying to help you. But whether he is aware of it or not he's terrified by the thought that you might succeed where he and so many others, including his Daddy, failed. But you can't do that alone, and if you push the people away that are trying to help you'll never succeed."

Lorna laughed bitterly, "That's all you care about here... the mission?"

"No." Esme said softly, "But it comes first. Always, no matter what. It.. it has too."

There was a long pause and then Lorna asked, "How am I supposed to get over this?"

"Get over what?" Esme questioned bitterly, quickly pointing out, "I slept with a man you've just met, and one you've never met. They're strangers to you."

"They're my family." Lorna said bitterly.

"And where were they when you needed them?" Esme pointed out.

"Apparently fucking you." Lorna snapped, heading to the door, "And now you've got the whole fucking set."

"Not quite." Esme actually laughed, causing Lorna to turn back, "There's still Wanda, but she hates me even more than you do right now."

"I find that hard to believe." Lorna said bitterly, opening the door.

"They never meant anything to me." Esme quickly called out, causing the other girl to stop in her tracks as she pleaded for her to understand, "Magneto was like a God to me. He was a lot older than that one picture I used to keep of him, but it was still literally living out a childhood fantasy. And Peter? Well, maybe that could have been the start of something, but then I told him the truth about the first night I met his Daddy, and he freaked out, even though it was over a year before we met. And like with him, I can't take it back. But I would if I could. And everyone has a past Lorna, but you're the one who still in love with her ex, not me. I've never... I've never felt this way about anyone until I met you."

There was another long pause and then Lorna slowly turned around and asked with tears in her eyes, "How am I supposed to believe that?"

"I don't know..." Esme said truthfully, lowering her head, "I was actually made to infiltrate, seduce, kill. And I'm good at it. Too good, apparently. Because the one time I actually fall for somebody, no one can tell the difference. But my pretty little tricks won't work on you, because you've seen who I really am, so all I can do is tell you the truth, and hope you believe me."

Yet another pause, this one brief and then Lorna softly asked, "Would you have told me about this?"

"I don't know." Esme admitted, "Honesty didn't exactly work out with Peter. Which wasn't why he left us, BTW, it's just why he hates me."

"Well, now we have that in common." Lorna grumbled, moving back and grabbing the door to slam it.

"Lorna, wait! I, I... I love you!" Esme insisted, making one last attempt to get through to the other girl, "I, I had made peace with the fact I simply wasn't capable of love. That I wasn't capable of loving someone who didn't look like me. But then I saw you... and before that sensed you, and wow! And... you didn't give me a second look. But that's okay, because you only saw what I wanted you to see. I wasn't the real me then, I didn't want you to see me back then. Not yet. But while you thought you were safe behind all those walls you put up I could see right through you, and everything I saw was beautiful. Someone who has been hunted, caged and beaten, but is not only still fighting, but can still tell the difference between the guilty and the innocent. Someone who knows she is strong, confident, and bad ass, but yet has no idea of her true potential. Of what she could be. And I just... I loved you. I did in that first moment, and I have loved you more with every second, because for me, each one of them has told me more about who you truly are then you'd ever be comfortable admitting."