Marie and Garrison, Wednesday Baseball

[x-traction.livejournal.com]

Marie and Garrison go to watch some baseball. On the way, they talk about choices, normality and life at the school.




"Beullah, we are going to be late." Garrison said, as he knocked on her suite door. Logan's ability to score tickets was getting down right unsettling, but Kane wasn't about to question four midlevel seats to watch the Yankees and the Blue Jays slug it out. Logan said he'd met them there, and hadn't said a word about who the fourth ticket was for. Regardless, it was a beautiful day, his Blue Jays cap would draw plenty of irate comments from the fans in the Bronx Zoo, and he actually had a day off.

Assuming Marie emerged in time for them to make the game, that is, he thought.

"Not with the way you drive," Marie said as she opened the suite door, grinning up at the Canadian. Pushing up on tiptoes, she brushed a quick kiss across his cheek before shutting the door behind her. She'd been sticking close to the school since they'd gotten the students back, always worried that there would be something else she'd be needed for, but Kane had finally convinced her that she needed to go out and have a little fun - otherwise what kind of model was she being for the student population?

"You know that asking for criminal traffic violations to justify the time it takes you to get ready isn't a defence." Kane said wryly as they headed down the hallway. He wasn't actually annoyed, but getting under Marie's skin had become second nature by now. Besides, getting out of the mansion was looking more attractive every minute. Everyone was walking around on eggshells, or trying desperately to cope without having to talk about things, and it was not the most comfortable environment to hang out in.

"Is so," she said, poking his side and laughing. "Because it's totally worth it, y' know?" Marie teased, tossing her hair over her shoulder. "And if you disagree, Ah'll start cheering against the Jays."

"Empty threat. I know you especially won't cheer for any team calling themselves 'Yankees', and not cheering for the Jays kills your excuse to ogle Hill's ass." Kane tossed her glove to her as they went out the front door. "I know all you tricks, Marie. There's no secrets left."
Marie caught the glove with a grin. "Oh, Ah've got tricks you haven't even dreamed of sugah," she said with a wink. "But you're right, the Jays are safe. Ah mean, just cuz Ah live up north doesn't mean Ah have to start cheering for the Yanks."

"I should hope not. And if you cheer for the Braves, you're getting tossed out of the car." Garrison climbed in, digging out his keys and starting the engine as Marie slid into the passanger's seat beside him. "You've been quiet since last weekend. How are you doing, babe?" He said, as she closed the door and they were reasonably private.

"Better," she said, the grin dropping off her face, a more somber look taking over. "It's just hard. Ah've always known we can't protect them all the time...heck, Ah think Ah was the first kidnapped while off-grounds student myself and Ah had Logan with me and a full team of X-Men three steps behind me, but everytime we think we get them to start feeling safe, something happens. And then the littles ask me if it's safe now and Ah can't lie to them with just a blanket yes, of course."

"Being here is never going to be safe, Marie. Necessary, yes, but safe? Not a chance." Garrison pulled the car out on to the road. "I don't know if we should even try to lie to them about it. The kids aren't dumb, and they know what Miss D'Ancato gets up to when she breaks out the leather uniform. Maybe focus on telling them we'll get through it, because that you can promise."

"Ah like to think that one day it will be safe," Marie said with a shrug. "But yeah, it'd be stupid to try to pull the wool over the kids eyes." Her eyes flickered to watch the trees flash by for a few minutes before she turned her attention back to Garrison. "So how are you holding up? Ah know you've gotta be getting used to the pace 'round here by now, but that doesn't make it easy."

"Sorry Marie, but as long as the X-Men operate out of the school, it will always be a target for the people we beat up." He flipped on the stereo, keeping the volume lower. "Fortunately, I have a job outside of the mansion, which helps with the perspective. I mean, nothing like reading through reports on organized crime to make you glad that you're not a teacher."

"Ah kinda like the teaching. Well, it's more that Ah like the chance to talk with the kids, y'know? Ah kinda think Ah want Samson's job if he ever retires." Marie cast her eyes down at her gloved hands, clasped tightly in her lap. "'course, that would mean turning into one of the lifers here and Ah'm not sure that's for me either."

"Why not? You've been here, what, almost seven years off and on? I know you like the atmosphere of the school, working with the kids. And don't think I don't notice the rush you get out of being an X-Man. So what's the problem?"

Marie's head tilted to the right as she thought, her hair spilling over her shoulder. "Ah guess it has been that long now. But it's the on and off thing...Ah don't know that Ah can just stay put. Ah had to leave for a while before coming back and sometimes I feel that urge to leave again." One hand darted up to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear and a smile tugged at the edges of her lips. "And Ah'd never deny the rush Ah get from the X-Men. Don't know any place else to get that. Alpha Flight wasn't the same."

"That's because we never got to blow shit up. The Canadian government was very against the idea of things blowing up, especially with us involved in any way. Seems logical to me." Kane settled back into his seat as they merged on to the highway traffic. He never liked driving slow; it seemed wrong to waste the big engine in his car. "For an adrenalin junkie, you're likely doing the only career path that will keep you from basejumping Everest because you're bored or something."

"Yeah. Ah'd love to see Mac's face if Ah asked him to shoot me with a rocket launcher." She laughed, picturing the look of that would cross his face. "And you know, basejumping Everest sounds kinda like fun. We should try that sometime."

"I really don't think so. The only way I'm jumping off the side of a mountain involves a dozen people behind me with guns." Kane shook his head. Invulnerables. All of them crazy.
Marie looked as though she was seriously considering Garrison's joke as a suggestion. "Ok, ok, we could start smaller?" she asked hopefully until she saw the look on Garrison's face. "Fine, fine, no base jumping for you. Party pooper." The words were said affectionately as she reached out to pat his shoulder. After all, she could always try that out by herself. Or maybe ask Cain to join her.

"Not all of us are invulnerable, babe. Which means we have to take a little closer care with our fragile bodies than you do." Kane signalled, pulling past a particularly slow van. "Besides, unlike you, I like my life sedate and calm. The sound of the surf. Macarame and pot plants. Healing crystals. Yanni CDs."

"You think Ah'd let you get broken?" she teased. "Then who would take care of me after the next time Ah go drinking with Logan?" Twisting a lock of white hair around her finger, Marie relaxed against the back of her seat. "Yeah, you're totally the white picket kinda guy. Gonna have 2.5 kids in the middle of suburbia at some point, spend Saturday afternoons cutting the lawn and Sundays at the park with the family."

"Why not? Worry about the kids growing up in a safe neighbourhood, as opposed to wondering if Magneto is going to drop a building on the mansion? Have a Dad and a Mom that come home at night, instead of jetting off to Iraq or Outer Mongolia." Garrison's fingers tightened slightly on the wheel. "I don't know, but I don't think the normal life sounds all that bad."

"It doesn't," Marie said softly. "It just sounds foreign." She fell silent, not wanting to voice her other thoughts - they'd both been in such a good mood, there was no point in throwing melancholy into the mix of things.

"Maybe that's part of the trouble with the school. We're supposed to be helping mutants control their powers, so if they want, they can live a normal life. Problem is that no one here knows what a normal life really is, do we?"

"Only to a certain point," Marie said. "Ah mean, my life was pretty normal until Ah manifested, if you ignore the whole a crazy precog dropped me off at my parents bit - but Ah never knew about that. And that's how most people are - normal, or as normal as anyone's life is, up until adolescence...and then after that...well, Ah guess the Amaquelins probably had the most normal life after, strange as that seems. Their lives didn't really change much after they got their powers, unlike just about everyone else."

"Can you go back to that, Marie? I mean, seriously, I've been involved in the Flight program since I was fifteen and I'm one of the closest things this school has to a regular guy." Garrison pulled off to the left, avoiding another slow driver. "The kids at our school live with their teachers. They watch them go out in leather outfits in a jet hidden under the basketball court and see them fight supervillains on television. They live in a million dollar mansion, with every aminity they could possibly want. None of them worry about food, or bills. They don't have parttime jobs. They don't belong to intermural sports, or local clubs. They worry more about who's going to get kidnapped than how they're going to pay for college. And we say we're giving them the option of living normal lives, when by the time they leave the school, they'll be like you, where normal feels completely foriegn."

"Some of them do have jobs," Marie corrected. "They just happen to be on-campus. As for sports, mutants aren't allowed, or Ah'd be all for it. And how else would you have it be? What would be the better option to give them?"

"The Professor's idea is supposed to be about integration. Humans and mutants working and living together. The plaque says 'Gifted Youngsters' doesn't it? Let's get some with gifts other than mutation. Or send some of the kids who have control into the school in town."
"That'd only work if we could find parents who'd be willing to send their so called normal kids here. And sending them to the school...well, actually, that is something Ah'll look into. Ah don't know about for classes and such, but they should start getting more involved in extracurriculars in town. Let them see that the mansion isn't the be all end all of things," Marie said, though she wondered if the kids would find acceptance in Westchester.

"Good. Because that's the only big worry I have about the school, and you've been the one to voice it only a few minutes ago. We're teaching them this, the X-Men, the mansion; that it's what a normal life is, and it's not." Kane shook his head. "I know Charles would rather roll himself off the quarry ledge than ever try to force anyone to be an X-Man, but everything in the school unintentionally reinforces the idea of that becoming one is a natural next step."
"Can't really disagree with that," Marie said, shrugging her shoulders. "But being an X-Man isn't so bad, y'know? Ah get a lot out of it."

"Nothing wrong with being a cop or a soldier or any of those things. But the school isn't supposed to be a recruitment pool for them. That's why I've always disagreed with things like military schools. Oddly enough, the people who graduate from them tend to end up in the military. Feels like it's taking away a real choice. And that's so important." Kane said, his voice oddly passionate. Marie knew how seriously beneath his joking facade that he took his commitment to the RCMP and the law. "People should become something because they believe in it that strongly, and not because they feel they ought to. That's what I want the school to avoid; making X-Men out of immersion, as opposed to conviction."

Marie turned her head slightly, watching the trees flash by the car on the highway. "Or is it just that those people get a front row seat to something that most people never even see and so make that choice? Ah mean, there are plenty of people who moved away from the mansion at some point too. Or people who stayed and didn't join the team."

"I just worry whether or not they're getting a chance to see much else. I mean, the people who left the school, most are still connected one way or another. The West Coast Annex, Muir Island, Snow Valley; the apple does not fall far at Xavier's." Kane replied. "It's just something I've seen too often. People becoming cops because they're a fourth generation police family. It's not so much they're chosing, but never have been able to see life with any other options. I worry about that happening here by accident."

"And what about you? Did you have a choice?"

"I am a product of my upbringing. If you ever met my old man, you'd know that being a cop is my way of getting as far away from who he turned out to be as possible." Garrison said, a nasty twist to his voice that was unlike him, but sadly almost always present on the rare occassions he mentioned his father. "Seriously, I made my choice. I decided what was important to me, and gave up the normal life I had."

After a moment's hesitation, Marie reached out to lace her fingers with Garrison's. One day she hoped he would be more open to talking with her about his dad, but from the snippets she'd caught, there was a lot of anger...and also a lot of pain. "And sometimes giving up normality is worth it, isn't it? For what you get in return?" she asked softly.

"Never regretted it for an instant. Which is why I worry about the others." He said. Garrison believed wholly in what he did, and that made him want to be sure the people with him felt the same. He squeezed Marie's hand and placed a kiss on the back of the glove. "So, planning to go to Vegas with the rest of them this weekend?"

Feeling the mood in the car shift, Marie's voice took on a playful tone. "Hell no. Ah'm not dumb enough to go on a trip with a bunch of school folks. Last time Ah did that, Ah ended up as a guy for a week."

"I'd rather you didn't do that again. I've grown rather attached to your breasts over the last several weeks, and can't take the potential seperation anxiaty."

Despite the fact that no one else was in the car, Marie turned a brilliant shade of crimson. However, it said something that she didn't pull away as she once would have, leaving her hand clasped with Kane's. "Yes, well, Ah'm rather attached to them myself."

"The way you keep showing them off? Doesn't surprise me in the least." Kane teased, freeing his hand long enough to pull off on to the ramp and into the city itself. "Alright, let's go get overcharged to park this beast and watch the Bronx Bombers learn that they just aren't northern enough to win, eh?"