Summary: Gotta stand still to catch rainbows. Sequel to "Chasing Shadows." Jimmy/Yves. Rated PG-13

Title: Catching Rainbows
Author: Vesper (Regina)
E-Mail: vespertanmer@yahoo.com
Rating: PG-13, brief violence
Disclaimer: "The X-Files" and "The Lone Gunmen" are property of
20th Century Fox.
Category: Story, Romance, Angst
Keywords: Jimmy Bond, Yves Adele Harlow
Spoilers: Jump the Shark, All About Yves
Summary: Gotta stand still to catch rainbows. Sequel to "Chasing
Shadows."
Archive: Sure, just let me know where.
A/N: Started November 23, 2002, finished March 24, 2003. I hope
it was worth the wait :) Although this is mainly a sequel to
"Chasing Shadows" it will help greatly if you've also read
"Johnny Bravo and the Nagel Woman."
Song credit: "Black and White" by Sarah McLachlan
Dedication: To Amy Jonas and Evashin91, because they
faithfully and generously reviewed this at FF.net, even when
they didn't have to.

*

Blue-eyed boy meets a brown-eyed girl,
oh, oh, oh, the sweetest thing,
you can sew it up but you still see the tear.
Oh, oh, oh, the sweetest thing...
--"The Sweetest Thing" by U2

*

Prologue

She heard a voice ask, "Has this woman checked in here?" She felt
her heartbeat start to thud faster and stopped her quick passage
across the stone floor of the small hotel. She knew that voice,
had heard it whisper in her dreams for as long she'd been gone.
She slowly turned toward the front desk and saw the broad back and
dark blond hair of a man she never thought she would see again.

Jimmy.

She didn't wait for the clerk's answer, just turned and walked at
a sedate pace to her room, resisting the impulse to hurry, even
though she only had a few minutes to gather what she needed,
before the knock would come at the door, before he convinced
someone to open it. The last thing she needed was to draw
attention.

Once in her room she tumbled everything into a large bag she threw
onto the bed. She muttered to herself as she stuffed her meager
belongings down in the bag, "God, Jimmy, why you, why now, why
me?"

Yves thought she'd left that life behind, yet here he was,
intruding on the life she couldn't escape, looking for her. Well,
he wouldn't find her. He'd find an empty hotel room and an open
window. That was all she'd leave him.

Yet an impulse drove her back to the front of the hotel. She
couldn't leave just yet, not without at least seeing his face.
She sat in the tiny cafe across the street and waited to see him
leave. She didn't have to wait long.

He came out of the hotel and for twenty seconds she had a clear
view of his face. He hesitated in front, before walking away.

He looked fatigued, worn around the edges. She didn't have the
time she wanted to absorb the possible meaning of that. She heard
a voice, behind her, say, "I should tell your father you're here."

She said, "Go ahead and tattle, Stagle. I'll be gone before you
or he can track me."

The man appeared in front of her line of vision and sat down
opposite her. He was a tall man with dark hair and a thin, facile
mouth that could and was displaying a sardonic twist of a smile.

He said, "I'm just warning you, Lois."

"For what reason? You'd think you would have learned your lesson.
Must not have been pretty, when my father found out you let me
go."

"The mistake was getting caught. I don't intend to, this time."

"You always were his lapdog." The scorn in her voice didn't seem
to affect him.

"And your..." he paused and leaned forward, "what was I to you?"

"A mistake I don't care to repeat, so if you'll excuse me." She
stood to go, but hesitated when he said, "I assume you know
Abner's latest plans."

"And I assume you know I'll do everything I can to stop him."

He stood up, saying, "Good luck." He walked past her, sweeping a
hand along her cheek. "Don't worry, my dear, I won't tell your
father you were here."

She cringed back from his touch and set her jaw tightly. She
refused to look back at him, even though she heard his soft
chuckle as he left.

After that, it was simply a matter of finding information,
tracking, and planning. Yet she never expected her plans to bring
her back into contact with the four men she'd alternately foiled
and helped. When she heard Jimmy shout after her on the campus,
she realized she'd sorely underestimated his tenacity.

She didn't want to look at his face, because she knew what she'd
find there, so she ran. When the Lone Gunmen found her she knew
Jimmy wouldn't be far behind.

He'd changed. The Jimmy she knew before--before--didn't wear this
look of having seen too much. The innocence was stripped from his
eyes.

She'd done that. She'd done it and though she wished it were
possible to take the last year back, to erase the grief in his
eyes, she couldn't. Too much had passed since she kissed him
goodbye.

She had never understood his eternal optimism, his instinctual
trust of people. She didn't understand why he had expended a year
of his life, when he could have just let her go. She didn't want
to face the truth of what she'd always suspected. So she'd
pushed, he'd broken, and she knew she would never be able to mend
the damage.

She had no right to lay claim to what he offered, not with her
mess of a life, not when she knew he was too good for her. He
represented everything her life had never been.

She said all the words that would push him away, deliberate
honesty, cruel in its bluntness. Even after all that, he kissed
her and she remembered a dark night and knew it was, however
unconscious on his part, retribution. The caress of his hand was
a burning reproach.

She'd made her choices long ago, planned her life, but watching
him leave, dejection visible in his shuffling step and his bent
head, her heart still ached for the loss of something she couldn't
have.

By the time she reached the street he was nowhere to be seen.

She'd made her choices. This one was irretrievable.

*

Part One

She is dreaming.

It is raining outside, a thunderous summer storm, drenching the
green countryside. Lois is sitting in a bay window, knees drawn
up to her chest, watching the rain patter the leaves of the large
oak just outside.

Her mother won't let her go out, she says the lightning makes it
too dangerous. Lois waits, patiently, for the rain to stop,
before darting outside. She stops on the steps of the house,
inhaling the fresh, sweet wetness and looks into the sky. The
clouds have cleared with the incredible swiftness of a summer rain
and there in the sky hangs the most vibrant double rainbow she's
ever seen.

Rainbows are promises, her mother told her the first time Lois
ever saw one.

Lois watches a ten-year-old Yves chase the rainbow. She runs,
trying to catch it, attempting to put her hands in the evanescent
colors, to see if they feel as liquid as they look, but she can't
reach it. No matter how far or fast she runs, she never catches
up to it.

She turns to her companion standing beside her and says, "She'll
never catch it, will she?"

The blond man answers, "Not if she keeps running, Lois."

She asks, "Do you think she ever will, Jimmy?"

He replies, "Gotta stand still to catch rainbows."

Yves opened her eyes. The only light in the room came from the
moonlight shining soft silver against the walls, and a clock
with a faint red glow of numbers.

*

"Got everything, Mom?"

"Of course, Michael," came a voice from behind the open trunk door
of a burgundy Chevy Cavalier. She slammed it down, the escaping
air ruffling her shoulder-length ginger curls. "Thanks for
looking out for me." She chucked the ten year old under his chin.

He said, disgusted, "Aw, mush." He looked up, way up, at the man
standing beside him. Michael said, "Your turn, Uncle Jimmy."

Jimmy folded his sister in a hug that she practically disappeared
in. He released her and said, "Come back soon, Jess."

"I'll only be gone for a few days, Jimmy, you know that." Jessica
smiled, stood on her tiptoes and kissed him on the nose.

He rubbed his nose. "Jess!" he protested, in a tone not too
different from Michael's.

She winked at him and said, "Now, try not to feed him too many
pizzas, okay?"

"Who me?"

Michael shuffled back and forth, kicking up the melting snow. He
complained, "It's cold out here. I'm going back inside."

Jimmy grabbed him, pulling him back as he started past him.
"Hey," he said, "get back here. Give your mom a hug."

"Oh, all right."

He hugged Jessica, who bent to kiss him on the cheek. "Love you,"
she said.

"Love you too, Mom." Embarrassed, he ducked his head and darted
back into the house.

Jessica said, "I'm gonna miss him."

"Hey, he knows you gotta go do this. He'll be all right. You
know, you could have done this without having to go to him."

"Stop worrying, Jimmy. Yes, I could have, but that's not what
Bonds do, do we? We face up to our mistakes, stare them in the
face."

"I wish I could go with you."

"Then who would look after Michael? You have to stay here." She
gave him a swift poke in the chest. "Besides it will give you a
few days to coach with him, without me hovering."

He nodded.

Jessica waved at the house, where Michael had pushed back the
curtains and was watching them. He waved back.

Jimmy picked up the only remaining piece of luggage, a small black
bag and placed it on the backseat of the car. He slammed the door
shut and said, "There you go. All set."

He opened the driver's side door and she slid in, slamming the
door. She rolled down the window and looked up at him.

"See you later, Jimmy."

"Promise you won't let Sean--"

"I won't. Promise. Bye, Jimmy."

She rolled up the window and drove away.

*

"You'd do this to your own father."

Abner Runce turned from gazing out the window of his study to face
his daughter. It was raining outside, cold water on the verge of
sleet. He was a tall man, with hair gone salt and pepper, pale
skin, and a sharp-angled face. His ice-blue eyes only added to
the first impression of hardness.

Yves gritted her teeth. "You ceased to be my father a long time
ago."

He raised his eyebrows. "I tried to be a good father. I wanted
you to be my daughter."

She shook her head. "I didn't want to be yours."

He inclined his head. "I remember. Your mother always said I'd
lose you. But, you've made me proud, in your own way. Strong,
independent, as lovely as your mother."

"You made my mother's life a living hell," she said with quiet
precision, "and I refuse to have you ruin mine."

"That's why they're out there?" He gestured past her to a thick,
carved wooden door. "Couldn't do it alone, could you?"

"Enough. It's time to go."

He nodded and gathered his coat from where it had been hanging on
the back of a heavy wood and leather chair. He swung it around,
threading his arms into the thick woolen folds.

Yves opened the door leading out, revealing a group of armed men
wearing dark jackets, the yellow initials of F.B.I. standing out
in sharp contrast.

She said, "Agent Perkins, he's all yours."

Agent Perkins, a middle-aged man with carrot red hair, moved
forward and behind Runce, binding his hands with handcuffs.

He pushed Runce forward, walking him forcefully through the door.
Yves followed after them, gathering her coat around her in
preparation for the cold.

The freezing wind tore at them all, the thick coats they wore
providing little protection. Yves unfurled her umbrella, using it
as a shield against the rain, which had finally turned to blinding
sleet.

Runce called back to his daughter, "Lois."

She struggled through the rain to walk beside him. His attending
agent walked a few paces ahead, leaving Yves to hold her umbrella
over herself and her father.

"Yes?"

He looked at her, and she puzzled over the sudden softness in his
eyes. He said, "Bury me beside your mother."

She said, "What?" but the word was drowned by the sound of a
single gunshot.

The sounds of the agents' shouts faded, as Yves fell to her knees
beside her father, his blood staining the snow-covered ground,
seeping warmly into her dark clothes.

"Daddy?" she whispered.

All she heard was the ragged in and out of his fading breath.

Her voice was harsh, "Who? Who was it?"

Abner's eyes closed.

*

continued