Scott and Betsy; Tuesday Morning

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Backdated to April 19th. After this log with Nathan here. Betsy takes a trip into town and stops by the local bookstore to replenish her current obsession reading list and bumps into Scott within the stacks.



Sitting in one of the comfortable armchairs that the bookstore so kindly provided, Scott flipped idly through the Michael Chabon novel he'd pulled off the shelves. A retired Sherlock Holmes... this is interesting. He was tempted. Shan's concerted effort to get him to read for leisure had been successful, and one of the saving graces of the last few months. The only problem was that he went through books too quickly.

It was too soon, too fast. After her visit with Nate, Betsy took a walk outside for some air, but that walk took her all the way down to Salem Center. Wrapped up in her own thoughts, Betsy window-shopped for a few hours before heading into the local bookstore,looking for some diversion. With a few books in her hand already, Betsy continued combing the fiction stacks, searching just the right.... Not paying attention to where she was going, Betsy bumped into something. "Excuse me," she said in a low voice.

Scott looked up at the person who'd just bumped into his chair, and his eyes widened behind his glasses. "Hi," he managed, his voice a little strained.

You have got to be joking. Betsy closed her eyes, thankful for the dark shades covering her eyes, and looked down at the man sitting next to her. "Hi," she said a bit too eager.

"I've heard of coincidence but this is kind of ridiculous." Scott gazed up at her, assessingly. "When did you get in?"

Oh, Elisabeth knew that face. She surpressed that need to smirk at him, but instead kept her face open and friendly. Quirking her head down at him, allowing herself to enjoy the view. "Actually, this morning. A bit jet-lagged, but still too wired to get some sleep."

"I headed out pretty early. Guess I missed you coming in." He'd gone for a drive, wanting to see the sunrise, and then headed into town to do a little shopping. He'd felt the need for a few hours off for some reason.

"Don't worry," Betsy said quickly. She turned around and found another chair nearby and brought it back to where Scott sat. "I didn't go out of my way to publicize my return." Snuck in like a bandit in the night. You would think she was planning a raid of some sort on the amount of care she put into avoiding contact with the early-morning risers. "You seem....rested." Almost.

"It was a little hard to avoid getting rested," Scott said wryly, "hopping around on those damned crutches for all that time."

"Reduced to little bits of tinder, I'm sure." Scott relying on something other than himself wouldn't last long if he could help it and there should have been much destruction of those defenseless crutches. "But, you still look better." From the last time I saw you. Her wide smirk was more of an 'I-told-you-so,' than 'I'm happy for you' and they both knew it."

Scott merely raised an eyebrow at her smirk. "You too," he said, without rising to the bait.

"It doesn't take much," Betsy replied smugly, finally taking a seat next to him. Placing her books in her lap, lowering her shades down just a tad, dark eyes peeking at him. Betsy let out a laugh, replacing the glasses on her face and shook her head at the image of them. "I thought this would've been harder, somehow."

"Why?" Scott closed the book carefully, letting it rest on his lap as well. ~Unless you were afraid of what you would find when you got back?~ he sent silently.

Her lips upturned. If she kept this up that smirk was going to be permanently pasted on. She turned her head toward him, studying his face, it was exactly the same. ~More of what I wouldn't find.~

~Well, that's nicely cryptic.~ He ran a hand over the book, contemplating. What the hell - he was badly in need of something new to read.

~I can't help it, only because I know it bothers you so.~ Betsy said, her smile glowing brighter. She jokingly nudged Scott with her leg. ~I'd be a fool to say it didn't matter. If you'd rekindled your love for Jean and went off to start your brood. The idea of being so easily replaced....~ Betsy hadn't meant to divulge that much information, but the sensations and thoughts moved between them without effort. She looked off in the distance, pretending something had caught her eye.

~It was never a question of replacement. Either way. ~ He was being overly serious, maybe, but this was him, and he really doubted that Betsy expected otherwise. ~I did however tell her.~

Her eyebrows appeared from up under her shades. Really? Now that was....unexpected, but appreciated. After a few minutes of silence, the shock slowly subsideing, Betsy turned toward Scott again. ~You know, I consider it more an an ego thing than actual heartbreak. Our parting ways, that is.~ She looked over the shoppers, passing them, curiosity lingering for moments before finding enjoyment, elsewhere. ~Though, I'm truly mourning. There's
been much in the arena of comfort shopping while I was home, to help me along.~

"I suppose that's only fair," Scott said cryptically, getting up. And if that was how she wanted to regard it, who was he to try and tell her otherwise? He wasn't about to try and take what pride she had away from her.

"Middlesex," Betsy said with ease. "It may be a bit different than what you're use to, but I think you'll take to it. Author won the Pulizter for it." If not, you could always chuck it at me.

Scott took the book. "Always looking for new reading material," he murmured, turning away and letting her follow if she wanted. Or not. He wasn't going to push her for anything, one way or the other.

Taking her cue from him, Betsy stood up and followed. "Well, you'll have to tell me what you think about it when once you've finished."

I'll probably tear through it faster than I should. I've got so much time on my hands, since I can't really train just yet." He joined the line in front of the cash registers, then looked back at her thoughtfully. "Do I need to be rushing through it? Or are you back to stay?"

"Don't get smarmy, Summers" she said, leaning lightly into him and giving a jovial shove with her shoulder. "I'm here to stay, unless there are devious plans otherwise."

"Devious plans? None than I'm aware of." The line was moving at a crawl, it really was. "But that's good to know." Of course, now he was wondering what her intentions in terms of teaching, and/or the team...

"You must know that the most of nefarious plots aren't so ingenius, if someone knows about it," Betsy murmured, her eyes transfixed on the unmoving heads in front of her. ~This was going to be a while.~

~I won't rush into things, if that's what concerns you~

~Oh, I know you won't be rushing into things,~Scott sent back wryly. ~If you're wanting to come back to the team... it's been too long since you've been in training, let alone on active duty. You'll have lots of assessments and retraining to do.~ Since he intended never to see her in the medlab again. Ever.

Betsy turned her head sharply toward him. Opening her mouth and then closing it again, never quite losing that look of shock on her face as she tried to think of an adequate reply. "I...." Betsy started, forgetting where she was for the moment. ~Actually, I didn't think I'd rejoin the team for quite some time. But don't worry about me, I'll be good and trained before I dare try and fend for myself in the real world. Besides, you have enough on your plate, as it were.~

Betsy turned her head sharply toward him. Opening her mouth and then closing it again, never quite losing that look of shock on her face as she tried to think of an adequate reply. "I...." Betsy started, forgetting where she was for the moment. ~I'm not completely out of shape.~ Betsy shot back. ~I've certainly gotten enough sparring time in while I was gone.~

"Don't worry about me, Scott. You still have enough on your plate as it is."

"Telling me not to worry about you is like telling the wind not to blow," Scott said with a faint smile. ~And sparring isn't training. You know that. Although I won't deny that it would be good to have you back, Betsy...~

"And trying to change your mind is like asking a leopard to change its spots." Betsy said, petulantly. "Neither of which will happen within the next millenia." Her voice belied only her frustrated at the situation and not at Scott.

~"If I can prove to you that I can handle whatever you throw my way will that change your mind about waiting. Like you said, it'd be nice to have an active 'path' on missions.~

~If you prove to me that you can handle whatever I throw your way, there won't be much point in waiting, will there?~ Scott sent back. ~I'm not trying to be arbitrary here, Betsy. Everyone has to meet the same basic standards. But I'm certainly not going to throw unnecessary obstacles in your way out of some misplaced sense of chivalry or anything, so you don't need to worry about that. I promise.~

They reached the front of the line and Betsy handed over her books and her black American Express card over to the cashier. As the total came up and before the cashier could swipe the card, Betsy added Scott's stack on top of hers. "These books too, please."

"Alright," she said, as she faced Scott. She leaned up against the counter, smiling lovingly at him. ~Only if you won't impede my access to the Danger Room at hours of the night when it is obviously not in use. To train up, of course.~

"That's very kind of you, Betsy, thanks," Scott said aloud, then arched an eyebrow at her. ~Once you're cleared for access to the Danger Room, you can run solo programs when it's not in use, yes. Although if you're doing it for training purposes, make sure you've got the tapes running. We've been trying to encourage cross-evaluation as much as possible these days.~

"Think nothing of it," Betsy replied.

~It's not like I'm not use to being watched by you, Scott. So, tapings will be fine. But seriously, when do you think I'll be graced with my clearance.~

~Once you've seen Charles and had a physical, I'd say,~ Scott said. ~So long as you're medically fit and he okays you, I don't see any reason to delay getting you back in training if you're wanting to do it.~

"And why wouldn't I want to," Betsy said out loud, as they exited the bookstore with bags in tow. "I want this and I'll jump through the hoops to get it."

"Hoops implies there's no point other than the sadistic gratification of the person holding the hoops," Scott pointed out. "Which isn't the case here." He was glad to hear that she wanted this. Very glad, on a lot of levels, and he smiled at her as they headed out into the sunlight. "Okay, so a little part of me might enjoy watching the hoop-jumping just a little from time to time..."

The streets of Salem Center were quite deserted this early in the morning, despite the heavy traffic within the bookstore and she was going to take full advantage of it.

Quirking her eyebrows at him, Betsy brought herself directly in front of Scott's path, placing her hand on his chest and staring deliciously at him, getting uncomfortably close for 'just friends'. "Don't tease me, Scott," Betsy warned "You might end up starting something you can't possibly finish."

His smile was a bit sad. "Didn't I already do that?" he asked.

"Yes, you did." Betsy admitted, her hand remaining firmly on his muscular chest. "And now two years later, here we are. Would you rather we wipe the slate clean? That it never existed? Would that be better for you, Scott?"

"Would that be better for you, Betsy?" he asked, not breaking eye contact. "Don't put it all on me. We've had this talk before."

"Things have changed." Betsy let her hand drop, defeatedly. Her eyes never leaving his face. "And maybe then, sounds more like never.... now." She gave him a bitter smile. "But I still wouldn't want to give any of that up."

Scott took a deep breath, then let it out. "We couldn't, even if we wanted to," he said very directly. "We can play at word games all we want, but nothing changes what happened. It's there, and all we can do is decide what to do now." A shadow crossed his expression. "I don't want to be at loggerheads with you, Betsy. I want to see you..." He trailed off with a helpless, unhappy laugh. "Happy might be asking too much, I don't know. At peace with yourself and your life, at the very least..."

"Things have changed for me since I've been gone and I am at peace." Betsy admitted, calmly. "But, that doesn't mean I don't have regrets about the past. " She inhaled deeply, placing her hand on his face, and smiling sadly at him. "I feel so much different from the woman that you knew, but I am still her. I still feel everything that she felt and loved."

"We all change," Scott said quietly. "I don't think I've been the same man you loved for quite some time." He took her hand, squeezed it, and then lowered his hand back to his side. "Don't think for a moment that I don't still care about you, though."

"We all change," Scott said quietly. "I don't think I've been the same man you loved for quite some time." He took her hand, squeezed it, and then lowered his hand back to his side. "Don't think for a moment that I don't still care about you, though."



...ends with a sigh.