Saturday afternoon: Marie and Terry

[x-siryn.livejournal.com]

Terry tracks down Marie to ask her about the long over relationship between Marie and Bobby. Guess how well that goes.



Terry didn't like to think of it as stalking. It wasn't stalking at all. It was just...being observant. Stalking would have been far more menacing. This was just a simple matter of memorizing the other girl's (very boring) pattern and happening to be in the right place at the right time to catch her as she went from the basement to her room. "Ah...Marie. Do you have a minute?"

Marie raised an eyebrow at the redhead. "Sure, what's up?" She had noticed that Terry had been watching her for a few days and had wondered how long it would take her to approach. Pushing a loose lock of hair behind her hair, she waited for Terry to say whatever was on her mind.

"I just wanted to talk to you..." Terry's cheeks flushed red and she mentally cursed her fair skin. "About Bobby. You two...I just thought I should find out what's between you these days." She didn't say, she didn't even hint, that she was nervous that Bobby's ex-girlfriend was back in the mansion.

Well, she had to give the girl some credit for being direct. Marie almost felt bad Terry, as she watched her face change shades. Almost. "Have you asked Bobby?" she asked. No need to make this particularly easy on her. After all, Terry had been the one to ambush Marie in the hallway of all places to discuss her ex-boyfriend.

Terry sighed explosively, "Can we find some place not here to talk first? I'm not the only one in school with stupendously good hearing."

"You're the one who picked the spot," Marie responded, but there was very little bite in her tone. She gestured down the hall and then headed towards her room, remaining silent for the brief walk. Entering her suite, she closed the door behind Terry and settled into an armchair.

"I just picked a place that you went by a lot." Terry leaned against the door and tucked her hands behind her back. "Here's the thing. You two didn't part on the best terms but he never even mentions your name. And...I have cause to be nervous, all right? So...I'm asking you...because I love him. How do you feel about Bobby?"

What a loaded question. "Well, Ah don't love him." Marie sighed, a touch of sorrow entering her eyes. "We went through a lot…but it was an awful long time ago." She understood now why Terry had sought her out, but she wondered how the girl could view Rogue, the untouchable, as competition.

Terry wouldn't tell her that it had less to do with her specifically and more with...other events. "Would you ever want him back? If you had the chance?" She looked as young as she was, seventeen and afraid to lose her love, too insecure to think that she had any hold.

Marie laughed, but there was no humor in it. She saw the fragility in Terry's face, but couldn't stop herself from saying the first things that came to mind as her own vulnerability impacted her interpretation of Terry's words. "Ah can't say things about how life would be if Ah had 'the chance.' The truth of the matter is Ah am who Ah am. My gift, my curse, whatever you want to call it, it shapes all of who Ah am." She held her hands out in front of her. "If Ah asked you what your life would be like if you weren't a mutant, would you be able to answer that? Honestly?"

The younger girl looked down and shook her head, "I...I know that your mutation is...what it is. But that's not my question. He was with you before, you dated him before. You had your mutation then too. So...would you? Would you ever want him back?"

"And it wasn't fair to him and it wasn't fair to me. Don't you get that? Ah can never be with Bobby. Ah can never be with anyone." She stood up and paced to the window. "You don't need to worry."

Terry stepped away from the door. She believed Marie. Not because Terry agreed but because she knew that Marie believed it. "I'm sorry. I wasn't trying to hurt you. I'm just...things are complicated and I don't think I could stand to lose him again. So...I needed to know."

Ah am not going to cry in front of her. Clenching her fists, Marie could feel her fingernails cut into her palms through the gloves. Only then did the girl's words dawn on her. "…again?"

She swallowed hard but didn't look away. "Again," Terry said very softly, "I can't tell you anything about it. Just...suffice it to say that Bobby and I are still working on mending all the damage from the last...problem...s. Problems. That we had." The baby that never was. Jea--Jane. Ireland. And everything else that came with it all. Sometimes it made her afraid to breathe.

Terry looked like she needed a hug, but Marie didn't feel as though one from her would be warmly accepted. And she wasn't exactly sure she wanted to offer one to her ex-boyfriend's new girlfriend. "Ah'm sorry. Ah sometimes forget that normal relationships are hard too." Because Ah don't understand why people don't value what they have as much as they should. How they screw things up when they should be thankful for what they have. "Ah…Ah do want Bobby to be happy."

"I'm sorry for ambushing you. I've been thinking about this for...well, a while." Terry twisted her hands, the light catching the green stones on her finger. "It's not personal and I'm not trying to warn you away from him. I just needed to know, well, if I should be worried. Sure and you'll understand that?"

Marie twisted a strand of hair around her finger. "Ah…well, Ah can't say Ah understand, because Ah don't. But Ah can say that Ah've no plans that would make you worried, if that's of any comfort." She felt unsettled and her eyes held a tinge of sorrow. Maybe Ah need to have a talk with Bobby. It's not healthy for things to be this way, not with us living under the same roof.

Terry sighed, "I know it sounds stupid and childish but I really mean it when I say I don't know what I'd do if I lost him." At seventeen, you always mean it when you say things like that. Terry was aware of that but she couldn't imagine feeling any other way. "He, uh, doesn't know I'm talking to you, by the way. So..."

Marie remembered feeling the same way about the same person in the past. Perhaps that was what kept her from telling Terry that she wouldn't always feel that way. She knew that she wouldn't have listened if anyone had told her. "Ah won't tell him. But…" she paused, "You might consider talkin' about this with him if it's bugging you as much as it seems t' be."

Terry caught a lock of her hair in her fingertips, chewing on the ends in absent worry. "I don't want to upset things right now. If I tell him, then he'll just get upset and we'll be back at square one."

"If not now, when?" Marie shook her head. "Ah'm sorry, Ah know its none of my business. Ah just don't get when people don't talk about things with people they profess loving."

The redhead frowned, "I talk to him all the time. And you don't know anything about us and what's going on with us. It's not that simple. Talking about it won't do anything but bring the problems back up again and again and that won't fix anything!" She stopped talking, visibly upset. "I asked what I came to ask. I don't need your lectures."

Marie was startled by the severity of Terry's reaction. "Easy now, Ah didn't mean any harm." That is not a healthy reaction. "You're right, Ah don't know anything about you and Bobby. But you don't just get to ask the questions you want and not get any asked back."

"I already said I can't tell you why I'm asking." Terry struggled to pull her flashfire temper under control. She usually was better at it but her emotions were always on edge when it came to Bobby these days. "I'll talk to him about stuff when it's time to. Not before."

"Ah didn't ask you why you're asking. Ah asked why you can't talk to him. An' as Ah said, Ah know it's not my business." With an exasperated sigh, Marie threw up her hands. "Never mind. It's not like Ah have a beacon of healthy relationship to advise you from."

"If I answered that, I'd have to answer the other. And I can't tell you." Terry crossed her arms, "I think we're done. I'm sorry for bothering you."

"Ah suppose we are. Y' know the way out." Marie did not move from her spot by the window as she watched the younger girl. This was turning out to be a very bad day indeed.

"Good-bye, Marie." Terry pulled the door fumbled the door open, upset. This whole thing had done more harm than good. Why didn't she talk to Bobby? Because if she did, she'd have to admit how little she'd forgiven. And how much this all still hurt.