(no subject)

[x-cannonball.livejournal.com]

Sam comes down to Cain's room for a beer and a talk, after remembering that Nate lives in the boathouse now. Cain and Sam talk about Scott.



Sam was chuckling wryly and shaking his head at himself as he came down the hallway to the suite Cain had moved to. He'd actually completely forgotten that the large man had moved back into the mansion to make room for Nate, Moira, Rachel, and the offices of Elpis. He raised his hand and knocked at the door.

Cain opened the door, shaking his head at Sam. "Shit, boy," he drawled, motioning Sam through and handing him a bottle of beer in the same motion, "Looks like you took a few too many knocks on the noggin this weekend. Funny as it would've been to watch you walk on down to the boathouse to have a beer with Nate and his little devil-spawn."

Sam continued shaking his head and grinned sheepishly as he took the proferred bottle. He wasn't sure why Cain didn't seem comfortable with baby Rachel. Maybe he just wasn't comfortable with babies. "Ain't got nothin' 'gainst giggling babies as therapeutic tools, but Ah doubt Nate'd want me drinkin' a beer 'round Ray," he drawled in return, clinking the neck of his beer against Cain's and taking a long pull. This had definitely been a good idea. He could feel himself settling down already.

Cain pulled up a chair and sat down, kicking his feet up against the sill of the open window as he took a long drink. "So," he finally said, "to listen to Fearless Leader tell the story, we all narrowly escaped certain doom this weekend. You're his executive officer, tell me what you think."

And there it was. Sam took a long minute to stare out the window and marshal his thoughts. Once he'd settled down from his initial reaction to Scott's post on the team journal, he'd pretty much been thinking and analyzing.

"Ah'm his XO," Sam said, choosing his words carefully. "An' Ah ain't lookin' ta undermine his authority" he disclaimed. "But it seems ta me he's bein' real hard on everyone, an' that's includin' himself."

"Lemme tell you something about command, Sam," Cain said after a long pause. "Used to be that the point of an XO was someone to do the paperwork and all the thankless admin crap that comes with command. He's there to back up the commander, share the weight, and help with the responsibility. Here? Ain't quite the same."

Cain drained the last of his bottle and set it on the windowsill. "I seen guys like Summers run themselves into the ground because they tried to carry the whole load themselves. Yeah, he's good. Probably the damn finest soldier I've ever seen, and if you tell him I said that, I'll throw you into the quarry. How many times has he given that whole 'power brings responsibility' speech?"

"Quite a few," Sam replied. Blowing out a breath, he scrubbed a hand through his hair in frustration. "An' that's the thing!" he exclaimed. "Ah'd do the paperwork an' the admin crap -if he'd let me!"

Pausing to collect himself, Sam shook his head. "It's like a Catch-22. If ya don't keep an' eye out, he tries ta take everythin' on his shoulders an' works himself into the ground, like ya said." Taking another swig from his beer, he continued. "But try an' take some of that paperwork off his hands ta help out, an' he just winds up sittin' down in his office worryin' himself into an ulcer because he feels like he ain't doin' enough!"

He set his beer down and looked over at Cain. "Ah don't know what ta do, Cain," he said, actually using the larger man's given name for the first time.

"It ain't that he don't have faith in you," Cain mused, "He's addicted to responsibility. I don't know if he's coverin' up for something, or using it as a crutch - frankly, I don't rightly care. Guy can work himself into the grave, ain't no skin off my nose. But not while he's a teammate, you know?"

Tapping his fingers together, Cain nodded slowly to himself. "Hell, maybe the summer without having to worry about all the damn kids and the school will mellow him a bit. Much as I hate to give the skinny bastard credit, he's been through a hell of a lot. Seattle, his wife coming back from the dead, going crazy, screwing around on him, then coming back again? Plus throw the team stuff, the school stuff, and it's no wonder he ain't got time to rest."

"Ah think half the reason - maybe more than half - that he ain't got time ta rest is that he don't -let- himself rest," Sam offered. "But Ah don't know how ta help him fix that. Ah've tried jokin' a bit, tryin' not ta be quite so serious, an' well, ya saw where that got me."

"Then let him crash," Cain said with finality. "Look, you got tapped to be his second for a reason. One day, maybe they think you got what it takes to lead this team. He trusts you to back him up, Ororo trusts you, Chuck trusts you. Hell, I trust you. Now you gotta show it. He'll either push through this, or he'll crack and you've got to be ready to take the reins. Think you could handle it?"

Sam blinked in shock. Lead a team of X-Men into the field? Him? He'd never really thought in that direction, assuming Scott would always be field leader, with Sam in the XO slot.

"Ah'm not rightly sure," he admitted. "Ah hadn't really thought about it like that." He looked at Cain. "Ya trust me?"

Cain shrugged. "Why not? Y'ain't cracked on us yet, you know your shit, and you give a damn about the people you work with. S'what it takes to be a leader if you ask me."

Sam took another pull of his beer to buy time to collect himself. To know that the blunt, outspoken former Marine trusted him to lead... "That means a lot to me, Cain. Thank you," he said simply.

"Don't get me wrong," Cain said, "Summers there is a pro. When he's got his head on straight. I ain't taking that away from him. But right now, it seems he's got a few screws loose or one tightened way too tight. Either he'll get through it," Cain looked intently at the bottle on the windowsill, "or he won't."

"Well, Ah rather hope he pulls through. He's a good man." Taking a last pull from his beer, Sam set the empty beside Cain's as he stood and stretched. "Thank ya for the beer, and the talkin'. It helped a lot."