xp_logs | (no subject)

Backdated all the way back to the eleventh, Hank and Maddie talk about new job offers and staying together

It had taken some wrangling, and some not-so-subtle reminding that today was her birthday and as such Hank was obliged to at least make an appearance, but Madelyn had finally managed to drag him away from his work and get him to arrange a sitter for the night from the ranks of the students. Whilst the arrangements had been originally made with only her birthday in mind, the talk with Moira earlier had germinated ideas, plans, and no small enthusiasm for life again. Without even consciously deciding that she was going, she realised that she'd broach the subject with Hank tonight.

If only he'd turn up first - she'd gone for dinner in her suite, since going out was fraught with invoking catastrophe these days - and Hank was running late.

Hank hurried up the stairs, muttering under his breath. There was never enough time, these days... for Billy, for Maddie, for work, for less important things like food and sleep...

He tapped on the door and peeked around it, giving her an apologetic look. "I'm very sorry that I'm late, dearest," he said humbly. "I misplaced ten or fifteen minutes somewhere, and I can't imagine where." He checked his pocket anxiously, while he was still shielded by the door. Oh, thank god, he hadn't dropped the present or forgotten to put it back in his pocket...

"It's fine, hon - I'm not going to beat you with the blunt objects just yeat," she told him, determined mood relenting somewhat at the sight of his anxious expression. Coming over to the door, she pulled him inside, giving him a tight hug. "I missed you. It feels like I haven't seen you for weeks," she told him, voice muffled by the fact she had her face buried in his shoulder.

"I've missed you too, rather desperately," he agreed, holding her tightly. "I'm afraid I've very little experience in trying to juggle a relationship with my work, love, and even less with trying to fit a baby in as well. I'm all at sea, at the moment." He smiled, and kissed the top of her head. "I didn't forget your birthday entirely, you know. I've had your present for weeks."

"Present? Oh, that strange custom that people do on birthdays," Madelyn teased, pulling back from the hug just enough to kiss him properly. "Can we skip the whole polite 'you shouldn't have' and get to the part where I'm tearing paper off?" she asked with almost childish exhuberance.

Hank returned the kiss. "No, I don't think so," he said solemnly. "I require at least one more of those before giving it up." He kissed her again, doing a proper dip and hopeful toecurl before setting her back on her feet. "There. NOW you may have your present." He fished the small package out of his pocket and offered it to her. He'd agonized over this for weeks, first birthday gifts were so important...

Madelyn grinned and gave him another kiss, this one on the nose, to show there was indeed toe-curling. Then she turned her attention to the package. The sight of the jewellery case made her pause and then she cracked it open slowly. "Oh. Oh my." She lifted the pin-on style watch out carefully, smiling at the picture of the two of them and Billy on the inside of the case and the red and blue ying-yang on the outside. "This is just lovely, Hank. Thank you," she said, voice catching just a little.

"Medical professionals are so hard to buy pretty things for - you can't wear many. I thought this might be useful." He smiled, leaning down to kiss her again. "I love you," he said a bit wistfully. "I know I haven't been a particularly good significant other, of late, but I do love you."

It was good to hear the words. "I love you too," she murmured back, laying her cheek against his. "Hank," she said after a moment, steeling herself. "If I was to say that I've had a job offer, away from here, what would you say?"

He blinked, leaning back to look down at her. "That would... necessitate a great many questions, I think," he said slowly. "What sort of job? How far away? Would you be appreciated and compensated as you deserve?" He touched her cheek, giving her a rather rueful smile. "And is this a prelude to the 'I care about you very much but I don't believe in long distance relationships' speech?" Oh, please let it not be, he'd never neglect her again....

"No! Definitely not that speech!" she protested quickly. "I'm sorry, hon. There was supposed to be a lot more of a lead up to that, only it just sort of... burst out, I suppose." Closing the door and drawing him over to the couch, she began again. "I'm... not happy here, Hank. Work-wise, I mean. More and more lately it feels like I'm not really needed, that I'm putting my career on hold to do nothing but patch people up and if I wanted to go back to that sort of medicine I'd take a job back in the ER of a major hospital and watch my health and sanity fall apart." She looked down at her hands, captured within his much larger ones. "Moira suggested I go to Edinburgh, to the Foundation offices there. They need a guiding hand and being one of the founders..." She trailed off, watching him anxiously.

"That definitely qualifies as 'away from here', yes," Hank agreed. "I... that's quite a leap, my love. Although I do think you're right, you'd be happier there than playing MASH 407-X here." He kissed the top of her head, drawing her against him again. "I want you to be happy," he said softly. "Although this will necessesitate some thinking on my part. I've been... a little worried, lately, that perhaps it would be safer for Billy if I were elsewhere. If you're leaving too, then... well, I definitely need to give this some thought myself." He smiled ruefully. "And, just so you know, dearest, my first urge is to throw my things in a case, stuff Billy into his carrier, and make tracks for Edinburgh myself. I'm going to try to be a responsible grownup about this, and think about my commitments and all, but I desperately do NOT wish to be so far from you."

Well, he hadn't refused the idea outright. "I haven't told Moira one way or the other," she confessed, cuddling against him. "And I know it's a huge step with Billy, but..." She looked up at him almost shyly. "I was hoping, perhaps, that you would come with me?" The last words came in a rush.

He looked down at her, and then grinned. "Why, Miss Bartlet!" he exclaimed, pressing his hand to his heart and gazing at her with feigned shock. "Are you asking me to run off with you to *Edinburgh*? I am shocked. SHOCKED. Such shameless behaviour!" He grinned. "And me a family man... technically."

With a giggle she slapped gently at him. "I'm serious! It's a huge thing to ask with Billy and your career here and the team, but the thought of leaving you... I couldn't bear it."

He laughed, catching the slapping hand and kissing the fingertips gently. "I know you're serious, my dear. And I would like very much to go with you. It may take some time to organize everything, but... I love you, Maddie. I want to be with you. And if you're not happy here, then we should go somewhere where you will be happy." He smiled, and kissed her gently. "On one condition, though."

For a moment Madelyn was too focussed on the whole 'going with you' part to realise what he'd said. But then her brain cut out of the happy burbling and she blinked up at him. "What condition, hon?"

"A practical one." He smiled down at her. "Although we do both need our own space, I'd very much like for us to live together... after all, separate apartments after I've rushed across half the world to be by your side would be dreadfully impractical, and rather lacking in passion."

Madelyn's reply was to reach up and wind her arms around his neck, kissing him soundly. "I think we can manage that," she told him, releasing him with a grin. "And I'm sure Moira has any number of colleagues she can throw you at to stop you getting bored."

He grinned, and tickled her side. "Oh, I'm sure I'll be able to keep myself amused. What with the lovely girlfriend, adorable son, potential for new avenues of research, new colleagues to meet, a whole city full of all-you-can-eat places that haven't banned me yet..."

Wrinkling her nose and batting at the tickling hand, Madelyn deadpanned: "All you can eat haggis. Yum." By now she was practically in his lap, so she shifted and made 'practically' 'actually'. "I love you," she said, looking into his face. "And not just because you're uprooting yourself from your friends and family for me."

"I wouldn't be doing it if I didn't love you too," he said affectionately. "And it's not as if we can't get back in a hurry if we need to." He cuddled her against him, resting his chin on her hair. "You're definitely decided, then? You want to go? I'd just as happily follow you to the moon or to the untracked wilds of Berlin, you know... or even something more local."

"Well, I'll need to talk to my family, but... I think I want to do this, Hank. The Foundation is important, and I don't have any illusions about chaging the world or anything but... I can't stay here, Hank. And the Bureau... well, I've realised, living here, that justice isn't what I thought it was. I need a change, somewhere I can make a new start, find what I'm good at, you know?"

"I'll need to talk to my family, too... and Dani. She's probably not going to be happy about this." Hank sighed, and kissed the top of Maddie's head. "But he *will* be safer in Edinburgh, I think, and I will arrange for her to visit as often as she wishes. Besides, we won't be staying in Edinburgh forever." He smiled, kissing the tip of her nose.
"We'll come back for family visits, naturally. And once you have the Foundation offices over there thoroughly organized, we can always look around for a new challenge for that adorably incisive mind of yours."

"Definitely safer. And with several teleporters in the house, it's not like we're inaccessible." Madelyn didn't take up the subject of Dani - she knew the girl didn't like her, resented her in some way. Possibly for taking up Hank's time, for being with him. She got the feeling Dani wasn't the only one who had issues with her for that. And this decision wouldn't increase her popularity any. "There's a lot of people we ought to talk to about this, but I really think it's the best thing." She paused, biting her lip a little. "If it's too hard, hon, if you need to change your mind for whatever reason or you're not happy over there, you'll tell me, won't you? I don't want you to give up your life over here just for me."

"I will. But I don't anticipate that I will." He rested his forehead against hers. "Maddie, I had... before I met you, I had all but resigned myself to being alone for the rest of my life. I never thought I would find anyone I love as I love you... nor have the astonishing good fortune to have you love me in return. I would never forgive myself if I let you slip away now."

She closed her eyes, feeling soft fur against her face. "I just wish I could stay, Hank, but... it's not working for me. When I'm not stressed out of my mind, I'm bored silly, feeling useless. And one day you'll go back on duty with the team and a mission will go wrong or there will be another invasion or another student decides to use their powers against one of us... I don't think I can handle the idea of you being the one on the table in front of me. After Haroun... I had nightmares that it had been you infected, only we couldn't cure you." The last was said softly, a shamefaced confession. She didn't want to make Hank feel bad about wanting to be an X-Man, but there it was. Haroun, Scott... even seeing Remy in that warehouse, looking like a broken child's toy, they'd all made her deeply afraid, highlighted the risks the job entailed, moreso than any Bureau arrest.

He sighed, holding her close. "Maddie... there will always be a certain amount of risk, for me. It's the way I am. My propensity for rushing into burning buildings when they present themselves will remain the same, even while I'm not with the X-Men." He stroked her hair gently. "But I am willing to... not seek out danger, at least. Certainly not while Billy is so young, and my beloved fears for me." He smiled. "I quite like that, you know. That you love me sufficiently to worry so over my safety. I worry about yours, too."

"I wouldn't have you any other way than the hero you are, Hank. It's just this place, the horrible luck we've been having, the number of people we've had seriously hurt... There's a part of me that doesn't want to push our luck any more than we have. And I certainly learned my limits on Youra." Brushing her hair back from her face, she sat back a little, arms still entwined around his neck. "So, practicalities. You talk to your family, I talk to mine, and then we let Moira know? I'll need to talk over the job with her some more any way, and no doubt she'll have something for you. Sound like a plan?"

"I know what you mean. Now that I finally have some luck, I don't want to push it either." He smiled at her. "However, I have some improvements to suggest to your plan. We have dinner, I spend a few hours doing my best to render you insensible with sheer bliss in celebration of your birthday, then *tomorrow* we talk to our families and to Moira. Who will, I hope, be pleased to get two brilliant experts for the price of one."

"I wasn't meaning go straight now," she teased, leaning in to kiss him again. "But I like that plan. Especially the bliss part."

"I'm a big fan of bliss myself," he agreed, returning the kiss with enthusiasm. "Especially yours." He smiled, resting his forehead against hers. "I like this staying together thing. I think we should make a habit of it."