DISCLAIMER: Women's Murder Club and its characters are the property of James Patterson, 20th Century Fox Television and ABC. Dollhouse belongs to Joss Whedon and Fox. No infringement intended.
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Deep Water
By Demeter

 

Cindy carelessly lets her clothes fall to the floor, about to step into the shower stall when she turns to look at her mirror image. The body in the mirror is familiar, hers, but in her mind there are voices that don't belong there. She touches her face, her arms, shoulders, breasts, reclaiming what has always been hers but the voices get louder, reminding her of a time when she wasn't in control.

Of anything.

Chloe, what the hell did you do?

What a beautiful dress you are wearing, Jenny. Where did you two meet again?

There are only fragments, never complete images; it's maddening. There's the one that's the most frightening, a dark cellar and a man holding a bloody knife to her face. She can't see him but she can hear the smile in his voice, and she's paralyzed with fear...

Cindy grips the edges of the sink, trying to hold on to the present. She's been fooling hersef; it's impossible to separate the two, body and soul, when the former keeps clenching with a pain she's never experienced – or has she? How would she know? There is a way to get that information; it's stored somewhere in the Dollhouse, and Lindsay can help her obtain it. What she will find there... It's unclear, but it scares her, badly.

Cindy glances at her mirror image again and all of a sudden she can feel the touch of hands, warm, urging, unwanted. She shakes her head vehemently as if to shake the sensation as well.

Her heart still pounding, she finally retreats into the shower, cowering against the wall in the corner, crying as the water pours down on her.


Outside the door, Lindsay leans her forehead against the smooth cool surface of the wooden door, fighting hard to make herself give Cindy that privacy when all she really wants is to barge into the room. It's not the time, not the place.

Silently sharing the pain, Lindsay wishes she could do anything to stop it.

The End

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