xp_logs | Marie and Doug, Tuesday morning

x-traction.livejournal.com posting in

And the hits keep coming...but at least not literally. Doug and Marie talk some more...in the end, nothing is really resolved.

He'd gone by Rogue's room, but she hadn't been there. Which probably meant she'd left the grounds to go somewhere. So Doug had headed out to the front steps to wait for her to come back. As he sat on the steps, he sighed. He'd screwed things up, that was for sure. He'd almost managed to forget how much in the time since the blood drive. But Marie coming back and slapping him brought it all crashing back.

Per her request, Angelo had dropped her off at the gates to the mansion. She had wanted some time before alone before getting back and slowly headed towards the front of the house. He had helped her feel better, but her mind was still unfocused, jumping from item to item. Even after two years gone, she could walk the grounds of the mansion with her eyes closed, and as lost in thought as she was, they may as well have been. She was almost on top of Doug before she noticed him sitting on the steps.

Now didn't this feel familiar. Doug was suddenly reminded of waiting on the steps after he'd made a fool of himself over Paige. It was like no time at all had passed, and he was still apologizing for being an idiot. "Hey," he said quietly, smiling sadly.

"Hey," she replied softly, pained by the miserable look on Doug's face. "Ah'm sorry," she said even softer, tears again welling in her eyes. She fought them back, refusing to allow one drop to fall down her cheek.

Doug looked as if he'd been sucker punched. "You're sorry?" he replied incredulously. "For what? I was the one who sent those damn emails out..."

That was just like Doug...to blame himself. He had probably decided he deserved to be slapped and would defend her if others got mad that she had hit him. "Yeah, but Ah shouldn't have slapped you. Ah could have really hurt you, even being careful." At the thought of what could have happened if she hadn't successfully controlled her powers, one tear escaped, trailing down her check.

"But you didn't," Doug said firmly. "And it wasn't like I didn't deserve it," he went on in a tone full of self-mocking. "...I missed you," he said quietly, in an apparent non sequitur. It had been a shock to see her, and he wasn't entirely sure how to react, but he was definitely happier to see her return than Logan.

"Ah missed you too. Seems like that’s my regular catchphrase these days." She put a gloved hand under his chin, forcing him to look her in the eye. "And Ah mean that, Ah really do. Ah should have done a better job keeping in touch...shoulda just sent you an angry email instead of letting those feelings stay bottled up for so long."

Doug chuckled. "You should've seen the way Domino cussed me out over IM. Not to mention getting read the riot act by every single person in the mansion. And getting put on Mr. Summers' early morning run roster." He looked up at her from where he'd been staring at the pavement. "How've you been?" he asked. "Logan said you were still in Canada getting things sorted out." His lip curled involuntarily at the mention of the older man.

Marie noted Doug's physical reaction to Logan's name, but decided not to comment on it. This was not the time nor place to open that can of worms. "Ah was…but Ah think Ah'm about as sorted out as Ah can get now." Gently rapping on her own skull, she added, "Not quite the mess it was." Taking a step back, she smiled at Doug. "An' what about yourself?"

A dry snort, full of humor, was her answer. "Where to start?" he asked rhetorically. "There was the trip to Asgard..."

Marie looked confused. "Asgard? But that’s not a real place..." She racked her brain, trying to see if anything other than Norse mythology was induced by the name.

Doug laughed, and it almost felt natural. "That's what I thought, until I got dumped in a mead hall for a couple months." He grinned. "Welcome to Xavier's, leave your logic at the door."

Taking a closer look at Doug, Marie realized he looked older, more mature than the Doug of two years ago. Everyone had changed and been through so much since she had left; she wondered if she looked as different to them as they looked to her. Pushing a strand of hair behind her ear, she quipped back, "Logic just makes things complicated. Plus, Ah don't think the school would survive if there wasn't something crazy goin' all the time - what would people do with their spare time?"

"Go insane," Doug said lightly. "Oh wait..." He sobered. "A lot's happened since you've been gone," he said more seriously. "But it's good to have you back."

Marie's eyes narrowed as Doug's tone became more serious. She wasn't sure how, or even what, to ask him to learn what had evoked the change in his mood. "It's good to be back, but Ah have to admit Ah kinda feel like Ah fish out of water. This place is the same, but everyone seems so different now."

"You'll find your place again," Doug said reassuringly. He was doing his best to cover how much Marie's return had left him totally confused. He stood up and shrugged as he put his hand out. "So, um, am I forgiven?"

She took his hand and squeezed it gently. "Always. That’s what friends do...they may get mad and do things they regret, but forgiveness is always there, just waiting to be asked for." She looked at him, hoping he understood what she was trying to say.

Doug cocked his head. "You haven't done anything that needs forgiving, Em." He put his hands in his pockets. "It's good to have you back," he repeated, not sure what else to say.

She sighed. "If only that were true." Hesitating for a moment, she asked "Up for a walk around the grounds?" She was unsure if he would accept the invitation, but she didn't want to remain standing on the front doorsteps. The last thing she wanted was to bump into someone else at this point.

Doug fidgeted. He didn't know why he was so jumbled up inside by Marie's return. Probably because they hadn't exactly resolved things very well before she'd left for Canada with Logan. And that had hurt. But they had both changed a lot in the time between then and now. But mostly, he had no idea what to think, or say, or how to react at all to her anymore. "I...I should go," he said quietly. "Sorry."