Author: BellaDonna
Story Title: The gift of foresight
Gen or Slash: gen
Rating: G
Complete or WIP: complete
Category: snippet, slightly AU missing scene
series: Second Sight
Disclaimer: The characters don't belong to me, I'm just using them to create a story for fun. No copyright infringement is intended.
Notes: could work as a prequel for my story „Not this time“, missing scene for „The Psychic“, challenge response for me_and_thee_1000 #2 'The Psychic'
Summary: I knew they'd come to me for my gift, they always do... Collandra POV

The gift of foresight
by Belladonna

I'd seen them already through the window before they came in, knowing they'd come to me for my talent. I'd known when I'd met Huggy and realized that he was friends with two policemen, they would come to me sooner or later with a case, probably someone missing.

They always do.

And it always goes the same way. They'd come to me, hopeful and demanding the same time, like I was their last chance. And they'd bring me personal things of the missing person so I could tell them where to look. They'd expect me to find him or her for them, tell them exactly where they were and lead them right to that missing one.

It doesn't work that way, even if it does.

I always can tell them where they should look, but I cannot give them adresses and such. I don't see that and you cannot force a gift like mine in such way.
I only see vague images and they have to interpret my vision themselves. I know they're enthusiastic about it but they'd often get it wrong and are too late to save the victim. Or the victim is already dead.

And who do they put the blame on? Of course the psychic with the gift.

Not anymore. And I told Huggy just that when he found out about my past. I didn't want to be blamed again if they didn't get my visions right and found once more a dead body instead of a living victim.
I knew he'd tell them anways.

So when they came in, I knew beforehand what they wanted from me and how they'd react if it didn't work out as expected.

What I couldn't have foreseen was what would happen next.

~/~

Here they were now, the curly haired one was as predicted very excited about the whole thing, that I could help them find that missing girl. And he'd brought me something personal to find her.

Huggy had introduced them as Starsky and Hutch.

The blond, Hutch, had reacted skeptically towards my ability, like he didn't believe in it as much as his partner was overly enthusiastic to. He clearly thought me a fake, someone who just pretended to see in order to con people into giving over money or whatnot for talking with deceased relatives or somesuch.

It hurt, because I knew it wasn't true and how much those visions were troubling me.

The things I'd seen and couldn't get out of my mind for days afterwards were often too much for me. Another reason why I'd just wanted to live a normal life without those visions, never doing this again for anybody. And here was somebody who had no idea about all the pain it caused me, brushing it aside like it was just a scam I was running on gullible fools.

I was angry about that but when I took a closer look at him I was surprised to find that I was wrong. He seemed just to pretend being a skeptic where psychic abilities were concerned but why I didn't know.

He might not believe me to have that ability but he definitely believed that a gift as mine existed.

~/~

After I'd told them what I'd seen, they were eager to leave, save the girl. When I shook Starsky's hand in parting, I suddenly felt a cold I'd never felt before. It went through me like an electric shock and I couldn't help but shiver slightly. Like someone had been walking over my grave.

Then I saw it. His car, the white-striped flashy thing parked outside that I'd figured to be his, pierced by bullets, a sea of red bleeding out onto the pavement from the holes in his side. And him, standing beside it, a statue made of grey marble, small rocks laying at his feet.

The images shook me to the core, knowing that this was the future I'd seen.

Starsky seemed to have noticed and asked me if I'd had a vision. I just couldn't tell him the truth.
I wasn't even sure what I'd seen so I downplayed it, told him instead that I'd seen how his car might get stolen right now on the parking lot outside. He gave a little cry of surprise and anger, rushing outside while his partner lingered behind.

The blond was watching me closely and curiously. He'd seen my reaction, apparently didn't believe for a second what I'd told Starsky about his car and the juvenile thieves.

Oh, but of course there was an attempt on his car but in this neighbourhood that wasn't so unbelievable that I'd seen this.
I started to ask the blond why he hadn't gone with his partner, wanted to shoo him outside so I could try and figure out what I'd really seen and what it meant, still shaken when I noticed the strange way he was looking at me.

I could read sympathy in his eyes and understanding. Almost like he'd recognized me having had a real vision. But what shocked me more was that he seemed to know exactly that I'd right now had lied to his partner.

I had the strange feeling that he knew exactly what my vision had been about. Like he'd seen it himself. But that was impossible.

His haunted sad eyes gave him away for a moment pleading with me to not tell his partner the truth. Before I even had a chance to figure out what my vision was about, what the images I'd seen meant for his partner, he already knew what they meant.

And he begged me with his eyes to not tell him.

I held his gaze and we came to a silent unterstanding. Knowing myself from experience that it was futile to try and do anything to change the outcome, whatever that might be, we'd keep quiet about what we'd both seen.

We had no other choice as it wouldn't change anything either way.