xp_logs | Scott and Lorna, Early Sunday

Early morning (very early depending on the timezone) Lorna calls Scott to find out why he didn't call his brother. It doesn't actually go very well.

Lorna had eventually taken Alex's phone from him and hid it in her purse, frustrated with the way he checked it every twenty minutes. They'd been woken up before dawn to Deborah and Phillip singing Happy Birthday in strong if not terribly on-key voices and other calls had been flooding in all day. It made the absence of a particular well-wishing more obvious rather than less. So, though it was well after midnight, enough to be considered morning back in New York and though she was exhausted--unfortunately Mailani hadn't been joking about making her hula--Lorna dragged out her cellphone and dialled with unnecessary force.

Scott, just back from his run, was stepping out of the shower just as the phone rang. He blinked at it and then came over to pick it up; Jean was already down in the infirmary. "Hello?" he said.

"What happened?" Lorna asked without preamble, keeping her voice low. Alex was in the other room but she didn't want to take any chances. "Magneto? Hellfire? Terrorism?"

Scott froze, then sighed. "None of the above," he muttered. "And good morning to you too, Lorna."

"Not yet it isn't, though I am having a fairly good evening." She sat down on the couch in the darkened living room and curled her feet under her. "So what is your excuse for not calling your brother on his birthday?"

"Because I'm a sorry excuse for a brother and decided to be at peace with that for twenty-four hours?" Scott yanked open a dresser drawer with his free hand, sorting through the clean shirts.

"Well, good, I'm glad that you're all zen about it but your brother still waited all day to hear from you. Exactly what would it have cost you to spend 5 minutes on the phone?" she hissed, checking over her shoulder to be sure Alex wasn't coming in. "What is this about, anyway?"

"Oh," Scott asked, a bit of real aggravation slipping into his voice, "did I disappoint him by not congratulating him on the accomplishment of becoming another year older? I ought to be strung up by the toenails."

"You're the only brother he has. It means more than any of the rest of us combined when you call him and you know it." Her voice was more weary than anything. "What's going on, Scott?"

... well, that had been an odd thing to say. Scott frowned and then sighed. "I'm pissed at him," he said forthrightly, "and I didn't feel like calling him and pretending all was sunshine and light just because Alex doesn't like conflict."

She hadn't expected that. "You're...why? We've been here for almost two weeks, how on earth could he have pissed you off?"

Scott snorted. "Because he did it before he left?" he asked.

Lorna rolled her eyes, "Christ, Scott, hold a grudge much? What in the hell could he have done that you haven't gotten over it yet?" She heard the shower go on and relaxed slightly. Less chance of him wandering out here now.

"It's not a grudge, Lorna. It's something I've been ignoring for a while now and I'm getting tired of ignoring it. And maybe the fact that he's just turned twenty is driving home that I shouldn't, because at this point he's not a child anymore and he should know better," Scott said, his voice low but savage all of a sudden.

"And it's more important than the fact that he's your brother?" Lorna snapped back. "Seriously, Scott, tell me what the hell is wrong with you right now."

"Don't lecture me, Lorna," Scott snapped right back. "If he's wondering why I didn't call him, maybe he'll actually give it some thought instead of making like my turtle."

"You can't be upset at him for just being who he is. It's not going to change him at all and it's just going to separate you two again. Wasn't the first time enough?" Lorna stopped and pressed a hand to her head, trying to shake the strange feeling of that lecture. She sighed. "Why are you mad at him?"

"Well, let's see. He made it crystal-clear to me that he doesn't give a shit what the X-Men do, that we could be terrorists for all he cares and all that would matter to him was that his family was putting itself in danger."

Lorna made a strangled noise and had to take several breaths before she could respond. "He's never understood what it meant. He's not calling us...you," she caught the slip too late, "not calling anyone a terrorist."

Scott noticed the slip, but didn't call her on it. It wasn't really the point. "Well, maybe I'm tired of him not understanding," he said restlessly. "I was going to call him today. Jean suggested that was a better thing to do that stew in silence, but that I needed to tell him why I was angry after I wished him a belated happy birthday. I backed down the last time and I never should have."

"I..." Lorna sighed and closed her eyes. "I don't know what to tell you. All I can say is that he waited all day to hear from you. All day. And he'll get over it if you don't call but that doesn't mean you shouldn't."

"This is a remarkable double standard on your part," Scott pointed out. "Then again, you are the one engaged to him."

"What's that supposed to mean?" she asked defensively. "I'm just trying to keep him from getting hurt."

"And it's very loyal and loving of you to want to do that," Scott said a bit harshly, "but we can take protection too far. Sometimes it's not the best thing for the people that we love, to be sheltered from the consequences of their actions. Or their words."

"And sometimes we have to take the ones we love for what they are, not what we want them to be. You don't have a choice here, Scott. He's never going to not be your brother and you can't change him. Suck it up."

"He needs to grow up," Scott growled. "He needs to have heard from his brother on his birthday? Well, I need my brother not to dismiss what I believe in as if it doesn't matter. I guess we're both going to be disappointed."

"It's late and you're not becoming any less of a jerk so I'm hanging up now. You don't want to talk to Alex, fine. But don't punish him for how he feels just because you don't like it." Lorna heard the water shut off. "He just doesn't want you getting hurt."

"I'm the jerk? Well, you're allowed to be biased," Scott said. "As for what he wants or doesn't want... the risks are for a reason, and usually one that's a lot more important than my brother's peace of mind. If he chooses not to see that, it just makes him blind. Not right."

"Thank you so much for the permission." She shifted again, craning her neck to check the bedroom then lowered her voice more, "Look, I don't like his attitude any better than you do. I wish he understood instead of just...didn't argue. But I can't have that. So I deal with it."

"Maybe I'm tired of dealing with it. I'm not asking him to put on leathers and sit beside me on the Blackbird, Lorna. I can't ask him for that. You can't ask him for that. Neither of us should ask him for that, unless we knew it was something he wanted." And pigs would probably fly first. "But we should be able to expect him to understand. I'm not cutting him any more slack on that score. If he's going to hate what I do, he doesn't get to pretend he's supporting me anymore."

"And so you couldn't wish him a happy birthday." Lorna jerked the conversation back to the beginning without preamble, unable to really do anything but agree otherwise. "You can give it all the background you like. The point is you were so self-righteous, you couldn't wish your only brother a happy birthday. Very noble, fearless leader."

Scott opened his mouth, then closed it, his eye narrowing. "Oh, there's nothing noble about it," he said. "My pride's hurt, my feelings are hurt, and I wasn't feeling up to calling him and pretending to be cheerful about him being a year older and no wiser."

"It's better than the alternative." She shivered as Alex called her name. "Just a sec," she called back, pulling the phone from her ear and waving at him. Once he'd walked away from the door, she lifted the phone again, "I have to go. Do whatever the hell you want."

"Thanks for the permission," Scott growled. "And the next time you go to pick up the phone to berate me, Lorna - don't bother." He hit the button to end the call, longing for a old-fashioned phone he could actually slam down.