Miles and Lorna--little rituals

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Miles does his usual check on Lorna during sunstorms, only to find she's handling those on her own now. But his help is still needed to bake cookies (and horrible spicy chili, boo!) and during the preparations for cooking, Miles lets slip a tiny bit of info which turns out to be of much interest to Lorna. (Ok. It's Lorna. He merrily blabs all, yo.) Backdated.



There was a vicious storm raging, though the weather outside was as beautiful and serene as anyone could wish for in the late fall in New England. Alone of the mansion residents, Lorna noticed it, felt it press against the shields she'd thrown up. The months with Magneto had taught her many things, made her more sensitive in many ways. This was probably one of the few good things that had come out of it--no more migraines that flattened her for days on end while the geomagnetic storms raged.

Still, magnetic storms had certain traditions and the gentle rapping on her door meant that they would continue to be observed. Lorna smiled. "Come in, Miles, it's not locked."

A cheerful mutter answered the invitation and both door and handle were sorted in record time in order to allow the little green skinned boy entry as quickly as possible. He moved slowly though once he was inside, contrary to his initial rush to get in, and looked Lorna over intently as he drew near.

Lorna smiled and walked over to meet him. She dropped to one knee, noting that doing so brought her head below his, unlike the days when she'd been able to meet his eyes directly doing so. "Do I pass inspection? Can I get a hug?"

A slow, brilliant smile answered the question, not unlike one of Alison's own smiles in the way it was born, and still slowly and carefully Miles reached out to hug Lorna. "Miles is very happy to see Lorna," he said softly, as though speaking loudly was something Not To Be Done, even as he unconsciously projected every move he was making ahead of time, so as to not startle Lorna.

Lorna's eyes stung as she hugged Miles, realizing that he was treating her the way he'd needed to be treated after his rescue. "I'm very happy to see you too, Miles. I've missed you a lot." She hugged him hard to let him know that it would be okay to do the same to her. "Are you going to help me make cookies?"

His hug tightened before he let go, sneaking in another quick one before he actually skipped back a few steps. "Yes! Miles will help with the cookies!" He paused though, looking at Lorna quizzically for a moment. "But... Lorna does not have a headache?" It was pure curiosity that drove the question along, Miles having noticed the absence of the usual signs which meant his dampening power was needed to stave off the effects of the magnetic storms...

"Not this time, sweetie. I learned a new trick to do it myself. Means that I don't have to make you fly all the way out to Hawaii every time the sun gets a little rowdy. Also means that you can help me cook without having to stick so close we trip on each other." Lorna smiled and stood back up. "Which is good, right?"

It was. And though Miles felt something of a sting at not being able to help as he used to, at those times, it was still good and she'd hugged him back and everything was fine. And Lorna would not longer have headaches of Doomy Doom - which really was good, and Miles smiled, genuinely happy despite everything else. "Yes! It is very good! Miles thinks so very much!" He grinned, and bounced a little on his toes, something he did far less often now than before. "Does this mean today Miles and Lorna are doing a new recipe?"

She grinned back. "We are indeed. Marius brought me lots and lots of very nice meat and I'm getting rid of it, so I'm making chili today and stew tomorrow and anything else I can thing of. We're also making bread and sugar cookies since I know you're very good at those." He looked so grown-up. How on earth could he look so much older in just three months?

The thought of chili (spicy, ugh!) nearly made Miles pull a face, but the promise of bread and cookies (sugar cookies, which meant making silly faces on them!) on the other hand was enough to bring a smile forth instead and Miles nodded cheerfully. "Miles will help!" And besides. Stew was good.

And the both of them knew Miles would still try the dreaded spicy chili if Lorna asked him.

"Excellent," Lorna declared and held her hand out to him, both to shake on it and so they could walk hand in hand into the kitchen. Once there she nodded at the sink, "Wash up, I'll get the stuff out for the cookies." As usual, Lorna's kitchen was a study in efficient industry. There was already chili bubbling away gently on the stove and dough rising on top of the refrigerator.

Miles did exactly as he was told (because, cookies!) and set about washing up and then setting up the counter, all the while sneaking looks at Lorna now and then just to make extra sure a nasty headache wasn't trying to creep up on her while she wasn't paying attention. "Miles would like to know if making more cookies than usual is okay?" He grinned hopefully. "Mama will be going to the studio soon for the Christmas album thing and Guido will be there and Miles is sure Guido will love the sugar cookies!" And would share with Miles, to boot.

Oh ho, what was this news? Lorna raised an eyebrow at Miles, "Christmas album? Sure thing, sweetie. We'll make lots of extra cookies. I've seen Guido eat and just a few won't be nearly enough." She brought everything back and set it down, "So when will Mama be going to the studio? Is she going to be recording something?"

"Mama isn't recording! Or at least, Miles doesn't think so." Beaming at the thought of cookies (sugar cookies! with faces on 'em!) Miles kept chattering on cheerfully, spilling the beans and then some to Lorna. As he always did.

"Mama wanted to do something special to celebrate the studios and Miles birthday, because the label is named after Miles," and yes, there was a hint of pride there, "and there are enough artists this year so Mama decided to organize a Christmas album for charity things!"

Lorna grinned, "Your mama always has the best ideas. Doing a charity record is a really nice thing to do." And she should absolutely record a song for it. Lorna would make her, even if it involved enlisting reinforcements.

"Miles is glad because Miles get to go to the studio with Mama for the recordings!" And considering how much her attention had been shared lately, having Alison to himself was all the better, really. Clapping his hands, he then spread them out over the counter, all the needed items in their place, neatly so. "Miles think we are ready to start now!"

"I think you're right. You remember what's first?" When Miles just gave her a flat look, like she was clearly losing her mind if she thought he didn't, she laughed, "Okay, let's get started then. We have lots to do!"