Laurie, Yvette - Sunday afternoon

[x-penance.livejournal.com]

Following this scene Yvette finds her roommate in a bad way and proceeds to deal with it.



Laurie lay curled on her bed, pillow firmly hugged against her chest as she finally let go and let the tears come. What Dr Grey-Summers had said, she couldn't accept that, she wouldn't accept it. It just wasn't true. She could effect people physically, yes. She could make them sleepy, or horny or a dozen other things that had everything to do with the body's endocrin system but effect their mind? She didn't care what Dr Grey-Summers said about the interaction between them, or that she was a doctor and knew better then her.

She clutched the pillow tighter, trying to keep her tears noiseless - right now she didn't want any of her suitemates hearing her and coming to see what was up, she'd had more then enough of all of them for the time being.

The problem was, she had a suitemate, one who needed her math book so she could finish her homework. In her typical quiet manner, Yvette let herself into the room, closing the door behind her and blinking as she saw Laurie curled up on the bed. This... wasn't normal. Then again, nothing had been the past few days, except for the name-calling. "Laurie?" she asked quietly, moving to her roommate's bedside. "Are you okay? Are you not well?"

Laurie didn't answer but instead curled into her pillow tighter, completely burying her face behind a curtain of hair. She didn't want to talk to her roommate about this, she just wanted everyone to go away.

As she got closer, Yvette could feel her skin hardening, her body reacting to Laurie's powers - obviously her roommate wasn't in a condition to filter. She fought the urge to just leave, to go up into the treehouse and hide from everyone - that wasn't her, it was her body's reaction to the pheromones, and Laurie needed help. The older girl might not think so, but she did. So instead of fleeing, Yvette went into the bathroom the girls shared, soaking a facecloth in cold water and bringing it back. Sitting on the bed, she ever-so-carefully smoothed strands of hair away from Laurie's face with long gloved fingers, before dabbing at the older girl's hot, tear-stained face with the cloth.

Laurie didn't react at first beyond flinching slightly at the touch, but after a moment, an almost imperceptible shudder moved through her body and she relaxed slightly, letting out a small sob as she continued to lay curled on the bed.

Yvette continued to wipe Laurie's face, waiting for Laurie to calm down enough to talk. It was how it went - she would find her mother distraught and take care of her, listening when she needed to talk. "Here, to hold this on your face," she said quietly, placing the cloth over Laurie's forehead. "I will get the glass of water for you."

Laurie held the cloth, but didn't say anything else till Yvette had come back and placed the glass of water on the side table near her bed.

"I..." she started, only to stop when a series of hiccuped breaths made her sound like she was stuttering.

She waited for a long moment, simply holding the cloth to her neck before trying to speak again.

"I don't want to be a mutant anymore, Yvette." she said, tears starting to slide slowly down her cheeks again.

Yvette didn't point out she didn't have much of a choice. Instead, she reached forward and used the cloth of her glove to wipe Laurie's tears. The fact she was willing to make such a gesture despite her powers reacting to Laurie was telling. "Why?" she asked quietly.

She didn't want to say, to speak of it seemed to be to make it true, even though in her head she knew it was true. "D-D...I d-don't want to c-control people. I j-just want to be n-normal a-again."

"To not have the powers does not mean you cannot be hurting people," Yvette pointed out. None of the people who had taken her had been mutants. "It is the person who makes to decide to be doing that. Do you use your powers to control people, Laurie? I have not seen such a thing."

Laurie was silent for a moment, thinking of the time with Haller just recently. Would she have forced him, could she have? It was the question that most readily came to mind and she couldn't say that, for a good enough reason, that she wouldn't control someone. But who decided the reason? It gave her no comfort to think that she wasn't a bad person, because the temptation to just make everything easier was so hard. And she could make it easier, Dr Summers-Grey had been right. She could control people, and she hated it so much.

"No." she finally answered, "But I would have. Sorry. I'm sorry."

There was a brief blue flare of light, and then Yvette moved to take the cloth off Laurie's forehead, wiping her face again. "Why?" she asked again. "Why would you think to do that, Laurie?" There wasn't any condemnation in the younger girl's voice, just a quiet patience. Laurie was a good person - Yvette believed that with no shred of doubt. Even with their problems. But there was obviously something wrong here, for her to be following such a path.

"He wouldn't eat." she responded, fingers clutching at the pillow tightly as she released the knowledge that had had her feeling guilty and horrible for days. "I brought him all these things that I thought he would eat, but he wouldn't. He looked so tired, and I just wanted to take it away and make it okay again. I just want to make it all okay, that's all."

"Laurie." Yvette's voice was compassionate, but held a certain determination. "It is not for you to be making things okay for us. You cannot be making this so. Not if you do not want to make control for everyone." Her face was too stiff for expression, but her eyes glowed brightly. "It is not the powers that make this dangerous. It is what you are thinking, about the people around you." She paused, and tried another tack. "Do you trust your friends, Laurie?"

"I...I want to. I think I do." Laurie said, hesitating for a moment and then answering honestly. "But it's hard. People would be so afraid of me. They said I was, the police, they said I was a thing. A thing that should be put down, maybe they were right. Yvette, what if they were right?"

Yvette made an impatient noise. "Am I the thing also? I do not look like the person, Laurie, does this mean I am not one? Your family, your friends, your teachers, they do not think you are the thing. Are we to be wrong?" She took a breath and calmed herself as much as she could with Laurie's powers jangling her nerves. "People are afraid of me. At the mall, when I cut the decorations on accident, those boys were so very frightened. But I do not let this be the reason to not try to be the good person, even if it is to be easier to be what they want me to be. The monster."

Laurie lay for a moment, still facing away from Yvette but her grip on her pillow had lessoned, and there were no more tears now. "No, no, never. You're not a monster, Yvette. You're my friend, but even you've been getting upset with me lately. Because...Because I try so hard, and it makes me hold on so tight to normal. I've been bossy, I know. I haven't let you be anything more in my eyes then you were when you first got here. Jennie said I wasn't mature enough to be an X-man, and she wasn't wrong. I'm sorry."

"To be wrong, to not be mature, it does not make you the bad person, Laurie. Your friends will not stop being your friends if you make the mistake. But, you are needing to trust us too. We are not here for you to look after, for you to be making yourself feel like you are not the monster by doing the good things. We are here to be your friends, to be helping you as much as you are to be helping us. For you to trust us, as we are to be trusting you. If you cannot be trusting us..." Yvette let the thought trail off. "I think you are needing to talk to Dr. Samson, Laurie. About what the police did, about why you are needing to much to look after people. Because you are making you not well, not happy."

Laurie nodded, not sure of what else to say. What Yvette was saying was right, but she just didn't have anything else to add, and the panic and crying had exhausted her. Giving in to it, she closed her eyes, trusting her friend wouldn't be unhappy with her for doing so.

Yvette gave a small, rueful nod as she watched Laurie drift off. Hopefully something had sunk in. She slid off the bed, holding the face cloth, and tugged the blanket over Laurie. Tomorrow would be another day.