Possession Night - The Morning After: Jean and Marie

[x-traction.livejournal.com]

If you thought Possession Night was over, you were only half right. Hello hangover.




Marie groaned as she floated down the hallway. She'd stopped walking when she'd realized that each footfall sounded like a marching band. Despite Garrison's insistence that she down some water the night before, she still wasn’t feeling so hot. She was praying that the kitchen was empty, at least long enough for her to steal some of the good coffee. Somehow she hadn't gotten around to replacing her stash since her return from San Francisco, so she'd snuck out of her suite quietly in the morning to grab some.

Jean did not want to be up. She really did not want to have to be going down to the medlab to get things going for the day, but mostly, she just didn't want to be awake. There had, at least, already been coffee brewing when she finally hauled herself out of bed, and the shower had helped, too. Scott was a saint. He'd only teased her a little bit, thus insuring his sainthood in her eyes.

"Hello, fellow possessee," Marie said as she saw the redheaded doctorin the hallway. "Why are you up early? And not just up, but like, dressed and ready for work?" she continued.

"Because Scott has finally developed a sense of self preservation and won't throw himself in front of the speeding bullet which is Amelia and beg her to take my morning shift as well as the evening one I got out of her to go last night." Jean wasn't a hundred percent sure that that really long sentence was grammatically or even topically correct, but the painkillers had only taken off the sharper edge of her headache, so it would have to do.

Marie smiled at that, picturing Scott actually throwing himself at Amelia's feet to beg for time off for his wife. "Hopefully none of the kids need your services. Or mine. Ah hereby ban all accidents, kidnappings, fires and other emergencies for the day."

"Oh, yes, that's a good idea. Maybe we should lock them in their rooms to insure nothing happens. And to keep them quiet."

"Ah would support that. Garrison once suggested using duct tape and Charles's brain to keep the kids in line. Ah think that would be an acceptable action maybe once a year to give us all a vacation. Especially on days like today." Marie ran a hand through her hair, winking at Jean.

Jean grinned back. "You know they are going to be asking why half of their teachers have bloodshot eyes and cranky moods. Thank God I don't actually have class until after lunch today."

"Jean," Marie said reaching out to pat the older woman on the shoulder. "It's Spring Break. You don't have class period. You have crawling into a dark spot to rest."

Jean stopped dead in her tracks, staring at Marie. A slow look of beatific joy bloomed across her face. "You're right. You're absolutely right. Marie, my dear, I could kiss you."

"Yes, but that would have unpleasant results, despite fulfilling the fantasy of most of the adolescents here." Marie paused and cocked her head slightly to the right. "And probably some of the older guys as well."

"Oh, just a few," Jean agreed, grinning. Glancing at her watch, she sighed. "I'm supposed to be already downstairs. There is no coffee downstairs, yet. It's a sad, sad thing."

"Go ahead and go down and Ah'll join you in a few with two steaming cups?" Marie offered. "We haven't had a chance to talk much since you helped me with the telepathy. Ah still owe you for that."

Jean smiled. "I say you don't owe me anything, but you're offering coffee, so I'm not going to say 'no'. Get some food in you, too."

"No sane X-Woman ever turned down a good cup of coffee," Marie said over her shoulder as she continued to the kitchen. By the time the coffee had brewed, her head was feeling much better. By the time she reached the medlab with two steaming cups balanced on the tray in front of her, along with toast and fruit, she was feeling worlds better.

Jean had gotten the up and going for the day and was flipping through Amelia's report from last night when Marie made it downstairs. "The problem with your theory," she said without looking up, waving Marie to a chair. "is that it requires us to be sane. Last night pretty much proved we weren't."

"That's true. No wonder you're the science teacher," Marie said with a grin, handing Jean a cup of coffee on her way to sit down. Picking up a slice of toast, she spread butter on it. "Ah think we all gave up our sanity the instant we moved here, if not before."

"That was quite a while ago for some of us," Jean said, looking up and smiling. "By that theory I've been without sanity for decades."

"Tell me something Ah don't know," Marie said with a grin before crunching off a bite of her toast.

"Humph. Cheeky girl."

"It's why you keep me around," Marie said after another bite of toast. "So just what do you do down here when there's no patients?"

"Depends," Jean said, smiling as she picked up her coffee. "If there's paperwork, that comes first." She gestured to the report in front of her. "Otherwise, it can be anything. Research, emails, reading, correcting homework."

"Sounds like a fantastic way to spend a hungover morning," Marie said. "Well, the anything part. Which for me would include a nap." She looked at the clock on the medlab wall and smiled apologetically at Jean. "Speaking of which, Ah should probably get back to my room." Before Garrison notices Ah'm gone.

Jean arched an eyebrow at Marie. "See, I know we taught you to shield better than that, so that was on purpose." She laid a theatrical hand against her forehead. "You taunt me with your ability to laze about with fine company."

"Hey, you getta laze about with um, Scott. Who you consider fine company in that way that Ah cannot imagine him in," Marie said as she gathered up the tray.

"Not right now, I don't. Not till Amelia comes in later. It's a sad life."

"A little delayed gratification does the body good," Marie said as she headed towards the door.

"Uh-huh." Jean waved at Marie's retreating back. "Out of here, cheeky one. Out with you. Say hello to your mountie for me."