They're really nice people...really

[x-polarisstar.livejournal.com]

Saturday early afternoon, Lorna's parents try to get answers from Alison and get absolutely nowhere though Mr. Dane does managed to scare Miles.



It has been said that you are never more Catholic than at birth and death and that certainly seemed to be the case for the Danes. Janice Dane had taken one look at her daughter lying in the hospital bed while various machines beeped along quietly, monitoring Lorna’s status via wires and tubes and other strange means that Janice didn’t quite understand, and had fallen into an endless litany of prayer and pleas for God to make this all not be true. Beside her, her husband sat in stony silence, his eyes and grief fixed on his little girl, too stunned even to weep. They were still in the clothes they had been wearing when Professor Xavier had called them the night before. Neither had slept and from the looks of them, neither would until Lorna woke up.

The door inched open, a small green head peeking in a bit higher than knee level, soon followed by another at normal adult height. Two sets of blue eyes stared in concern, one about as normal as one could see in the mansion, the other wide and pupiless.

"Lorna has visit already," a small voice whispered, staring at the stricken parents with far too much knowing.

Janice turned immediately, reacting more to the sound of a child’s voice than anything else. To her credit or possibly just numbed by the situation, the only sign of shock she betrayed was a slight gasp and a widening of her eyes. Tightening her fingers on the purse in her lap, she swallowed hard and addressed the two who had just entered. “Hello,” she did not smile, “did you come to see Lorna?”

Alison nodded, still waiting for permission before walking inside, as Miles was doing. "Yes," she nodded quietly, one hand reaching down to rest on Miles shoulder. "I'm her roommate, perhaps she's mentioned me before..." she trailed off, unsure what to do.

“Several times. She spoke quite highly of you.” She continued to scan Alison’s face, a nagging recognition in the back of her mind trying to shake loose. “I’m Janice. This is my husband, Paul.” Janice reached out and touched Paul’s shoulder gently to draw his attention to the blonde and her little green companion.

Paul turned and glanced over the two quickly. He didn’t seem to register Miles existence but he did look quite shocked when he focused on Alison, “You’re Alison Blaire!” From the confused look his wife gave him, it was clear she knew the name but not the significance.

Alison smiled briefly at that, and nodded in confirmation. "Yes," she opened the door further, the continued conversation a bit silly if she kept hiding behind it, and Miles trotted in matter of factly as well, pausing a bit more than five feet away from Lorna's parents and pausing to give Alison an interrogative look. A short shake of her head confirmed for Miles that they weren't mutants as well, and so safe for him to go near without warning, and he sidled a bit closer to the bed, peering at Lorna gravely.

"I wish we could have met under better circumstances," Alison said soberly, reaching out to shake Paul's hand, and then Janice if the gesture seemed accepted.

Paul took Alison’s hand, shaking it in a distracted kind of way. “She was a pop star, hon,” he explained for his wife’s benefit.

Janice didn’t much care. She took Alison’s offered hand with half her attention focused on Miles in the hyper-sensitive way of mothers regarding children. She didn’t actually fear that he would harm Lorna but she knew better than to assume. “As Lorna’s roommate, you must know what happened. We’ve been told so little.” Her eyes pleaded with Alison to help them.

Alison sighed, but nodded, finding a chair to pull over and settling it near the side of the bed next to Miles, who didn't move as he watched Lorna attentively, as though hoping the intensity of his stare might wake her up.

"I was on my way back to the mansion myself when it happened, and only got here a few hours afterwards," she explained, resisting the urge to curl up on the chair and instead sitting down in a composed manner. "Why don't you ask your questions, and I'll try and answer as best as I can. I might refer the more medical explanations to Hank, however."

“But what happened?” Janice pressed, “All we’ve been told is that a student blew up with no how or why. Please, Alison, I need to understand exactly what went wrong. How could this happen?”

Alison sighed, knowing there was really no way to avoid this explanation. "Lorna got caught in the path of one of the students' powers going out of control," she stated, as plainly as possible. "The student in question is with us, as many of the other children here, to learn to control his power - but hasn't achieved that yet." She stopped, shoulders slumping slightly as she looked at the unconscious girl on the bed.

“If he can’t be controlled then why was she with him?” Paul broke in. “Why wasn’t he kept where he couldn’t hurt anyone?”

Alison kept a neutral expression at those words, merely lifting one eyebrow slowly at the word 'kept'. Don't snap at the worried parents. Not a Good Idea. Not. Miles broke in before she could work out an answer however.

"No one kept here," he said, peeking over his shoulder at the man. "Miles thinks this is much better place to stay and live than the freak show." Looking down he turned and leaned into Alison, hiding his face against her arm. "No cages."

Janice jumped and turned to face Miles, “Freak show? Cages?” She cast a worried glance at her daughter then back at Miles, “What are you talking about, sweetheart?”

Paul continued to glower at Alison, “How did my daughter get hurt? I want real answers, not this vague story.”

Miles cringed against Alison at the look on Paul's face, though he snuck Janice a look.

"We found Miles not long ago," she answered Janice quickly, "in Mexico. He'd been... held in a travelling freak show, before, for as long as he remembers. Some of the local kids decided to free him from the show - they," she paused, one arm wrapping around Miles reassuringly, "weren't kind to him." An understatement, if anything, and her eyes spoke volumes where her words did not.

"The reason the student came to us was because of the fact that he has no conscious control over his power," she informed Paul, voice still low and laced with iron calm, causing Miles to lean against her a bit more solidly, the boy knowing that voice wasn't normal, with her. Not something with that much iron control in the undertones. "We're working on understanding how his power works, so that we can then devise ways for him to gain control over it. This is the first time something of the sort happened, since he's come to stay with us."

“This student, the student.” Paul snapped viciously, “I want this boy’s name.” Janice put a hand on his arm, trying to quiet him but he shook her off. “We deserve answers. This is our daughter’s life that’s been put in danger.”

“Paul, please. That won’t help.” Janice glanced at Lorna again, checking up on her. She hoped that they would be able to take Lorna home soon. It wasn’t safe here.

“What am I supposed to do, Janice? Let them kill my daughter in the name of some brat who can be contained?” Paul choked on his words and turned away, fighting back tears of grief and rage. Janice looked helplessly at Alison, unsure what to say or how to smooth this over.

The flare of anger coming from the man caused Miles to literally shrink into Alison's embrace with a small whimper, blue eyes wide and staring up fearfully, torn between the desire to just run away as far as possible - and the stronger one to not leave Alison alone with the angry man. People who spoke like that generally hit you, in his experience, and although he had complete faith in Alison's ability to stop anyone from hurting him, he couldn't keep from wrapping an arm around his head in reflex.

Alison paled, shifting in the chair as soon as she noticed Miles' reaction, rising to her feet and kneeling next to him draw him close. "It's ok, baby, he's not angry at you." The reassuring words drew an uncertain nod from the boy, who then flung his arms around her neck, hiding his face in her shoulder with a tiny sob that he quickly contained - again, habit telling him crying would only get him hit as well.

Janice paled and grabbed Paul’s arm again. She addressed her comments directly to Miles, “He doesn’t mean it. It’s just that...Lorna is all we have. And...he’s just scared.” She glanced up at Alison “Please, can’t you tell us anything about this boy. His name, why Lorna was alone with him when this happened? Anything?”

Slowly turning his head to peek at Janice, not relinquishing his hold on Alison in the least, Miles nodded once before hiding his face once more with a small sigh. "Miles understands being scared," he whispered, causing an expression of pure pain to cross Alison's features for a heartbeat.

Rising to her feet, this time cradling Miles to herself, Alison sat down once more, waiting until Miles had settled on her lap before addressing Lorna's parents. "He and Lorna know each other well and were just having a friendly chat. Nothing any of us haven't done before with him." She shook her head, taking a deep breath. "Mrs Dane - I've been there myself. The lack of control, the possibility of hurting a friend not even being considered until too late." Hurting a loved one...

"There is nothing I can say that will make any of this right for you," she finally said, "or Lorna, or myself, or the one who hurt her, without ever meaning to." She paused, and Miles tightened his arms around her neck for a moment.

Janice closed her eyes for a moment, “This boy...he...is he... He’s okay, isn’t he? He’s not like…” she gestured to Lorna, unable to voice the possibility. She had slid her hand down Paul's arm and though he had not turned around he had taken her hand and was holding it with infinite care.

"Shock. Exhaustion from over-exerting his abilities." Alison swallowed, and looked at Lorna, concern for her friend gleaming in her eyes. "He won't forgive himself for what happened," she murmured, more to herself than anything else. "Even if it wasn't something he meant for to happen."

Janice ducked her head in a gesture remarkably like her daughter’s, “I know how he feels.” She sighed, “Thank you for your time, Alison. We appreciate you coming by.” There is little room to argue with her tone; Alison has very clearly been dismissed.

Rising to her feet, Miles carefully balanced in her arms, Alison nodded once with a tired sigh. "If there's anything I can do while you're here, please let me know," she murmured, before heading towards the door without a word of protest at her dismissal. She could visit Lorna later.

Janice didn’t watch her leave, just turned back and resumed her silent prayers over her daughter. Make her well. Let us take her home. Please God, let her be well.