Cain and Terry, Tuesday evening

[x-juggernaut.livejournal.com]

After learning of Terry's hangover, Cain decides it's time to make a little intervention of his own. He calls Terry down to the boathouse, and they have a little discussion - shape up, or ship out.




Pacing on his front porch, Cain Marko slowly sipped at his coffee. The sun was going down over the lake, and the February chill was enough to even give him cause to wear long sleeves. Checking his watch, he cursed under his breath. Terry was usually one of the polite and responsible ones, she'd keep her word. The last thing Cain wanted to do was let her father handle a situation like this. The Cassidys' last screaming match had left furrows in the lawn, literally.

Terry literally ran from her last class though she felt like her head was going to break open. She wasn't really sure that the after class lecture she'd just lived through was really about her essay and not the fact that she'd spent most of class with her head on her desk but it had made her late either way. She skidded to a halt just off Cain's porch, breathing hard and holding her head. "I'm sorry I'm late, Mr. Marko."

Cain just looked once more at his watch and nodded as he opened the door to the boathouse. "Come on in," he said, walking through without another word. The girl was obviously suffering a pretty bad headache, which only seemed to confirm the rumors he'd heard.

Taking a seat at his kitchen table, Cain reached down and produced a brown paper sack. Reaching in, he put two small glasses on the table, then set a fifth of whiskey between them. Looking up at Terry standing in his doorway, he pointed at the other chair. "Sit."

Terry eyed the whiskey as she slid into the seat, leaning on her elbows on the table, biting her lower lip. She didn't really know what to expect from the groundskeeper. "I know I broke curfew, I lost track of time after work…" she began haltingly.

"For almost five hours? On a Monday?" Cain's tone of voice indicated he wasn't up to hearing excuses. "That explains people saying stuff about the bloodshot eyes, the hangover. Yeah, that's 'losing track of time'." He motioned to the alcohol on the table. "You want a drink? Go ahead. If you're going to be a damn idiot, at least do it where people have a damn clue where you are."

She clenched her hands to fists and shook her head, going silent rather than trying to explain. She bit down harder on her lip, trying not to think about the flavour of the whiskey or the burn. "It won't happen again," she said softly, eyes still on the bottle.

Silently, Cain reached out and put the bottle of whiskey to the side of the table, just in Terry's reach. Placing his other hand flat on the table, he lifted it to reveal the two black-and-gold X insignia he'd been given the day he joined the X-Men.

"You gotta pick which you want," he said firmly. "Either you want to do something with your life and these gifts you got, or you piss it away. I ain't gonna tell you which one you have to choose. I been down both roads, I sure as hell ain't no role model. But I can tell you this," Cain leaned forward, elbows on the table. "You want to wear those one day, then you're going to work your ass off like you never have before. And that means you stay straight and fly right. Ain't a lot of room for screwing up."

With a sigh, he looked out the window to where the sun was just descending behind the treeline. "I know where you are, 'cause I was there when I was your age. Ain't trying to be condescending, just sayin' that I know. My old man never noticed when I'd sneak off with half his fifth of bourbon right out of the liquor cabinet. Yours, on the other hand, how he ain't figured you out by now is beyond me. If it was him here right now instead of me, how d'you think this'd be going?"

"Sean doesn't spend much time with me." She frowned. "This doesn't usually happen. I was having a really awful day yesterday." Her shoulders tightened. That wasn't anything like a smart thing to say. Terry tried to focus past the pounding in her head, wondering why he was talking about the team instead of punishing her for everything else. "I'm willing to do whatever it takes for the team. I've told Sean that and Mr. Summers too."

Cain nodded, sliding the bottle of whiskey back towards him and tapping the insignia. "Then you earn it. I ain't gonna give you a ration of shit, you look like you been paying the price ever since you got out of bed this morning. But I will tell you this," he grumbled slowly, "you keep yourself out of trouble from now until you put on that trainee monkey suit, and I got your back if you want to see this through. You got fire, girl, and I respect that. Saw how you stood up to your old man. You got a spark to you, but it's too damn wild right now. You keep that under control, and I'll do what I can to see to it you get put in a place you can do some good."

Leaning back and folding his arms across his chest, Cain smiled in a distinctly non-friendly manner. "Of course, you screw up, and not only will I personally see you never get within sight of anything team-related, just think of what that'll prove to ol' Sean."

Terry looked from the whiskey to the gold Xs and back then raised her gaze to meet Cain's. "I don't do things to prove anything to Sean. Makes no difference to me what he thinks. But I'll take your deal because this is important to me and I don't want to mess it up." She extended her hand and carefully ignored the way her fingers trembled.

Cain's smile grew from ear to ear. "Right answer," he said, taking her small hand in his. "Word to the wise. I ain't the only person who's figured out some stuff's going on under the staff's noses. So if you know of anyone who might happen to have a fifth stashed under a laundry basket somewhere, roach in the back of the sock drawer, you know - I'd say there's about a day they've got to get rid of them. Spread it around."

Terry didn't bat an eyelash. "Yes, sir." She extracted her hand from his and stood slowly, her headache rallying with a vengeance and kicking her in the stomach while it was at it. "Um, can I go now? I think I'm going to be sick."

"Go on, get," Cain said with a chuckle. "Lots of water and some aspirin. And don't even think about the ol' hair of the dog. I'll know."

Terry gave him a quick nod and hurried away with the feeling that she'd escaped far more lightly than she deserved. Of course, she'd yet to face Bobby.