Scott comes to visit Paige

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Scott is an awesome Captain and comes to check on his little protege, who is pretending she's not in her room by not opening the door. Sneaky girl... too bad they have the world's most powerful telepath in the house. Consider that plot foiled. He frets, but Paige was luckily just brain whammied (no offense intended, I just really like saying it) by Manuel so manages to stay somewhat calm, if not irrational with a side of scattered.


Scott paused in front of Paige's door. He had asked the Professor to check, and according to Charles, Paige was definitely in her room. She was not, however, answering the door. Scott knocked again, determinedly. "Paige," he said again, "I do actually know that you are in there. Open the door, please."

There was a long, reluctant pause before the door slowly opened just a crack, Paige's dark blue eyes, stained red, peeking out. "Hi." Her voice was quiet, if not a little sheepish, but it didn't quiver like it had been doing only moments before. She'd be getting Manuel very fancy whatever he wanted as thanks for his perfect timing.

"Can I come in?" Scott asked patiently, not missing the visual evidence. "I don't really think we should be having conversations standing in the doorway."

Nodding, Paige opened the door and walked over to her bed, letting him close the door behind him and follow. She sat down, pulling her legs up, and tucked the blanket that was around her shoulders over her feet, as if trying to keep warm. "I'm in trouble, aren't I?"

"You're not in trouble. I'm worried about you." He came over and sat down on the end of the bed, watching her. "I didn't come to check on you after what happened to Jay."

"I'm sorry," she said quietly, not able to meet his eyes. "I should have gone to someone, I know I should have, but I didn't. I'm his sister and he won't even tell me." Paige's voice showed how much hurt there was in that fact, even without it's quivering; it was the kind of listless that only came from exhaustion. While Jay and his injury might not be entirely the reason for her behaviour, it was just too easy to blame on.

"There were things that Alex didn't tell me, about what happened to him while Selene had him, for months." Vague enough not to betray a confidence, Scott told himself, but specific enough, too. "I wasn't angry at him for that. I was angry at myself, for not seeing... for not being able to fix the world for him."

Picking at the stitching on her duvet, Paige nodded slowly. "Life just keeps... screwing him over. And I'm never there for him when it does. I don't want to be one of those people who end up only talking to their siblings on holidays, and that's only through a Hallmark card, sent back a couple days later because they moved months ago. I'm not a good sister, but I want to make it better, make everything better, with us and for him, and I can't."

"There's only so much we can do," Scott said. This hit a little close to home. "I know that's a platitude, but sadly, it's a true one. I drove myself insane last fall blaming myself for not being able to do everything I should... I'm not going to say I've mastered the problem, but I like to think I'm learning to forgive myself for not being superhuman." He smiled a little, sadly. "There wasn't anything I could do to change what Alex went through, but I was able to be there for him after the fact." When he let me.

"But we are superhuman! And, excusing the use but, super heroes. So one day I save an orphanage, the next I catch some bank robber, maybe stop a city from being destroyed, right? That makes the world my family lives in a better place. But if he hates me, maybe it doesn't matter." Paige looked up at Scott, not entirely rational, but unable to get quite to the point of breaking. "It's a scary thought. I don't like thinking it."

"We are not," Scott said, very quietly but very firmly, "superhuman. If you really believe that being able to change your form or punch a hole through a mountain somehow makes us that, it's no wonder you're headed right down the same road I was." He stopped, sighed. "And what makes you think he hates you?" he asked softly. "I was reading that exchange on the journals." Along with the rest of the mansion, no doubt. "There are a lot of ways to interpret it, but him hating you was not one that occurred to me."

"It's a gift," Paige argued. "I'm not going to say it's not. I'm not the one to say that's it's better than, say, the ability to paint, or dance or solve complex equations, but it's a gift. Just like any other." But she'd bring back that topic later if this one got too out of control. "He said it himself. He said himself that he hated me. Perhaps you ought to read more carefully. But even all that isn't what I'm talking about. Even if he doesn't hate me, even if I do save the rainforest, or whatever I end up doing, life isn't going to treat him any easier. And I hate it."

"I don't read any other way but carefully, Paige." Scott shook his head. "Would you see Leonard tomorrow, please? Or as soon as he has some free time... I know, before you say it, that it was Jay who was attacked, not you. But family members are affected as badly by these things as the victims themselves. And you and I both know that you were having stress-management issues even before this."

She might be calm, but she was confused; what was she even arguing any more? That she was fine, right? It was always that, but now they were talking about Jay... God, her head hurt. "Sure," she said finally, looking pained as she rubbed at the bridge of her nose. "I can do that." Honestly, it wouldn't be that difficult to have conflicting schedules for a little while. Buy her some time until she could figure this all out, get some steady food into her, maybe clean her room. Then maybe seeing Samson wouldn't be so bad. What was this about Jay, again? Was he not eatin- no. No, the attack, she was forgetting to eat, not him. Did Manuel's mind whammies have expiry dates? "I'll email him. Ask for an appointment."

"Actually, don't worry about it," Scott said, smiling a little at her. The smile took something of an effort. "I'll do it for you. One less thing you need to worry about... I know you've got a lot that you're juggling right now."

"Sure you're not just making sure I do it?" she asked, giving him a smile of her own. She tried to keep it playful, if not a little bit wry, but there was a part of her that wanted oh-so-much to inform him that they weren't friends anymore; she didn't need to be coddled. "You must be very worried if you don't think I can even handle a quick email," Paige added, drawing focus away from her own thoughts with something akin to gratitude.

"I just think it's important that you do it relatively soon," Scott said, "and I know your priorities tend to be on your studies and your training, rather than yourself." And was that ever putting it mildly.

Nodding, Paige looked away, almost as if chastised. "Yeah, they sort of do, don't they?"

"I'm a hypocrite for pointing it out," Scott said lightly, "but yeah." He rose, his eyes not leaving Paige's face. "It's important," he said quietly. "Please go as soon as he lets you know he has time to see you. And Paige..." He hesitated, but then decided he might as well. "You look absolutely exhausted. When was the last time you had a medical evaluation? I'm worried about how this is liable to affect your training."

"Today was just a mess," Paige explained cautiously, working hard not to put a drop of whine or excuse making into her voice; pure fact. "I just want to take a really long nap, wake up long enough to drink something with enough calories in it to tide me over, and go to sleep again. I'll be fine in the morning and Samson and I can finalize the time for my appointment."

"I'd like you to stop in at the medlab, too," Scott said. "Just to cover all the bases." He smiled a bit wryly. "I'd tell anyone else who looked as tired as you do to do the same - in fact, I have. I'll check with the doctors to find out when they have time for you, too."

"I have an appointment soon," Paige finally remembered, nodding. "Don't worry, though, I'll stop by at some point just to check out the basics before then, if you'd like. It'd give me a chance to get to know Doctor Grey a little better as well, I've been slack on my welcoming skills."

He'd probably done as much pushing as he dared, if he didn't want to bring her whole 'I'm coping' act down around her ears. Besides, he could justifiably check with the medical staff to make sure she did make whatever her scheduled appointment was, even if they couldn't share details with him. That much the job let him do. "Fair enough," he said with another brief smile. He was going to email Leonard, however.

That earned him a smile, if not a tired one. "Thank you," Paige answered, keeping her eyes on his, without the glance to the floor she would normally allow herself, especially in a lie like this. She meant the thanks, but the thought of her actually going to the labs was a doubtful one. Her tongue tied, as she fought differing ways to go on before finally settling on the coward's way out. "I... should probably sleep."

"That sounds like a really good idea," Scott agreed, turning back towards the door. "Things tend to make even less sense when you don't get enough sleep." He paused, reaching the door, his hand on the knob, but then went out quietly.