Dreamscape

Chapter 21

"Trust me Dani. If I let you down, I won't forgive myself either. I'll be there for you. If your dreams were right, whatever happened to Callie and Tammy had something to do with this place. We need to get to the bottom of it."

"My dreams aren't always accurate you know."

"Aren't they?"

"No, they're not. I mean just because someone has a nightmare about something doesn't mean whatever I'm seeing is a hundred percent true."

"The person who took Tammy said the slogan for this place almost word for word. That's pretty accurate to me Dani."

"Can I ask you something?" Dani was picking at the bottom of the sweatshirt she was wearing.

"If I say no will that stop you?" Jax grinned.

"Do you think someone's heart can belong to two people?"

"What do you mean? Like physically? Did you have a dream about this?"

"No. Yes. I mean no...not physically. I mean someone's love. I always thought if you loved someone. I mean really loved someone, you could never love another person," Dani lifted her eyes to see Jax rubbing his chin.

"Well I think the heart can love a lot of people at once. If I were to share my heart with family, friends, or a lover that doesn't mean I love any one of them less than the others."

"That's not what I meant," Dani started twisting her sweatshirt in her hands. "I mean a romantic love. Do you think it's possible to love two women at once?"

Jax was quiet for a moment, "Why are you asking me this?"

Dani flopped down on the sofa, "I'm just trying to sort out some thoughts in my head."

"Do you think it's possible to love two women at once?" Jax asked after a few moments had passed.

"No," Dani shook her head. "You can be attracted to lots of people at once...but loving someone. That should be special. That should just be between two people."

"Says who?"

A corner of Dani's moth slowly tugged upward, "Says my selfish and antisocial heart."

Jax chuckled, "Your heart is selfish and antisocial? Are you sure you should be letting people know that?"

"Why not? Those are its two best qualities. It's selfish because it expects to receive as much love as it gives. It doesn't like to share. Always more. Never less. It's antisocial because once it meets that special someone to love...it won't want to meet anyone else."

"Only you can make being selfish and antisocial sound romantic," Jax sat next to Dani. "Why do I feel like you have some pretty high standards when it comes to who you get involved with?"

"I see people's fears every night. It's not easy. I want...no...I need someone that I can trust to be by my side."

"Do you trust me?" Jax asked softly grabbing her hand.

She felt his thumb rubbing circles against her palm, "Sometimes."

Before Jax could speak, Dani stood up, "It's time for me to meet Meredith at the lake. Will you be watching?"

"Of course. Do you have a bikini under that sweatsuit?"

"Pervert," Dani mumbled before leaving Jax to ponder what she had meant by not wanting to share her heart.

After she arrived at the lake, Meredith Silverman spoke some words that Dani didn't understand but could've sworn were just made-up words by Meredith. She was told to walk into the water until her stomach was covered. Her sweatsuit fell silently onto the ground and Dani felt a shiver as the night air whipped across her body which was only clad in a blue swimsuit. She gasped as she stepped into the cold water. Her toes dug into the soft dirt beneath her feet as she moved her body forward, going deeper into the lake's water. It was dark out and she didn't like being in the lake with only pregnant Meredith close by. 

She took another step forward when her bare foot felt something strange underneath its sole. She pushed her foot around and felt something smooth and round. It wasn't hard like a rock but she could press her weight onto it. She moved her foot over the round surface and felt a large rock on top of it. She pushed at it with her foot and the round object floated to the top of the lake. Dani held back a yelp as her hands reached for the object she recognized as a baby bump. She thought of Genevive and wondered if it had been hers. 

"What is that?" Meredith shouted to her.

"I'm...I'm not quite sure," Dani lied, coming out of the lake with the dripping object in her hands. 

"That's a baby-bump," Meredith came forward to take the object out of Dani's hands. "What's that doing in there?"

Dani remembered Shelly's message about Genevive leaving with just a note to say goodbye. She hadn't been pregnant so her going to see her unborn child's father was a fabrication. She had been so distracted by the stage two business that she forgot to ask Jax about it.

"Why would someone have this here?" Dani asked.

"We actually use them in the stage three classes. We want our expecting mothers to prepare for the changes in their bodies so we have them wear these. I'm not sure why one is in the lake but it's good that we removed it," Meredith smiled.

We? Dani frowned. Meredith was lying about the lake having special powers. Was she lying about this baby bump too?

"Don't worry. This being in the lake will not dilute the power of its waters," Meredith said, referring to the baby bump.

"I hope this was from your class, Dr. Silverman." 

"What do you mean?" Meredith asked.

"If this belonged to someone that was just pretending to be pregnant, that would be too sad. Don't you think so?" Dani glanced at Meredith's belly before looking the female doctor in the eye.

"Uh...yes. Of course," Meredith mumbled. "Follow me Ms. Deleon."

"Yes, of course," Dani said before looking around to see if she could spot Jax.

---

Meanwhile, outside of Majestic Waters, Tammy was pounding against the walls of her cell. Her hair was greasy and itchy, her throat hurt from yelling, her stomach had been cramping up, and the pungent smell of her own urine was suffocating her. She kicked at the wall, before sliding down to the cold floor. She just wanted to close her eyes for a moment but something wet was seeping through her underwear. She cursed when she realized her water had broke.