Jennie & Dr. Samson, et al, Saturday evening

[x-leosamson.livejournal.com]

Jennie runs into Dr. Samson after her dance show. With her dance professor.



Last bow taken, Jennie blew a kiss to the crowd and turned to walk offstage as the curtain came down. The other dancers hugged or hi-fived, and there was already talk about the cast party for later. But first, Jennie had to change and scrub off all of her makeup.

She jumped over some of the rigging and made her way up the stairs to the dressing rooms, but stopped when she heard a familiar voice.

"No way," she muttered to herself, going closer.

Leo shook his head at his sister, who was leaning against the backstage wall waiting for her partner Nina to join them. "The performance was remarkable, Sam, it's just--"

Sam interrupted him, laughter still filling her voice, "It's just that you were shocked and appalled by their attire. Leo, come on, this is NYU in 2008, not Paris in 1808--the girls were dressed perfectly appropriately."

"I was not shocked," Leo protested, "I--"

"Was expecting tutus and leotards and didn't get them," Sam cut him off, grinning.

Jennie approached them cautiously. Why was her professor talking with her therapist?

"Hi," she said when they noticed them. "Sam, Dr. Samson..."

Sam looked up with a grin and waved, "Jennie! You looked great out there, kiddo! You absolutely *nailed* the third movement." She glanced over at Leo who had winced upon seeing her student walk up to them. Sam shook her head. "Leo, don't start--you know her, I'm not going to pretend I don't know you know her, and--"

"Sam," Leo warned, cutting her off, but Sam jumped in again.

"--And it's silly to act otherwise." Sam grinned at Jennie. "All those confidentiality requirements--he gets more inflexible with each degree he gets."

"Samantha." Leo glared at his sister, then sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger. He turned to face Jennie, and smiled ruefully. "Hi, Jennie. I quite enjoyed your performance."

Jennie looked from her professor to her therapist, and then back again. They knew each other, and were overly familiar. Jennie was having a strange feeling, the kind where you discover your teacher does not live in the classroom.

"Wow, you two totally know each other," she said. "Sound the gong of awkwardness.” She flushed slightly at their compliments, but with the heavy china doll makeup on it was hard to tell.

Sam opened her mouth, but Leo cut her off. "Err. Yes. Jennie, Dr. Gregory is my sister--"

"As if anyone here calls me Dr. Gregory, " Sam snorted, jumping in again. "Jennie, I knew you attended Xavier's because it's on your transcript, and I know Leo works there--"

"However, anything on your transcript is the limit of my sisters knowledge, Jennie," Leo spoke over her, giving Jennie a slightly significant look. He cleared his throat. "And, yes, this is slightly awkward, but, well. It is a small world, sometimes."

"Oh," Jennie said, blinking. "Of course."

Oh, God there is totally no family resemblance whatsoever, and no, I don't need to know anymore...

"Um, what did you think, Dr. Samson?" Jennie said, keeping the conversation nice and safe.

Sam snickered. "Yes, Leo, what did you think?"

Leo turned slowly away from Jennie and gazed at his sister evenly. She grinned back mischievously. He turned back to face Jennie and smiled slightly. "It was--well, very moving. I'm not very familiar with Bjork's music, but the pieces that were chosen were remarkable, and very well suited to the movements. I confess, the style was more...modern, than the ballet I customarily attend, but--the emotion and energy conveyed was exceptional. You and your classmates truly did a fantastic job, Jennie."

The girl bit her lips and looked down at the floor, embarrassed. "Thank you, we worked enough at it," she said, sounding almost uncharacteristically shy. Compliments from people she respected and trusted had a tendency to make her do that.

"Of course, it was the slave driver here who had the brilliant idea to choreograph something to a piece of music to eight different meters," she said, her personality slipping back into place.

"The hard work was evident," Leo replied.

Sam nodded with a proud smile, and then grinned at the 'slave driver' comment. "Hey, it was your class who said you wanted a challenge!" She laughed with a decidedly wicked edge. "Actually, tonight's show gave me some very interesting ideas. Summer program this year should be...lots of fun."

"I take it 'fun' doesn't include something more traditional such as, say, a performance of Romeo & Juliet? Or Sleeping Beauty?" Leo remarked dryly.

"Bah, traditional is boring," Jennie said, getting over the last of the 'One of these things is not like the over' feelings, and loosening up. "This is Dance in New York, I think we're allowed to be avant garde. At least we didn't use any fruit."

"Oy vey, not the fruit," Sam murmured under her breath, as Leo blinked once, then twice in confusion.

Still slightly confused, Leo looked back and forth at his sister and his patient and shrugged. "Well, I do keep trying expand my musical knowledge, I suppose I should learn to appreciate more diverse forms of dance as well."

Jennie giggled, and swiped at her forehead, white paint smearing along her wrist. "God, I need to get out of this before it permanently clogs my pores," she said, "plus I have the wedgie from hell."

Sam laughed, and Leo shook his head, grinning slightly. And then Sam looked past Jennie to wave at a small, dark-haired woman walking toward them. "You do that, kiddo. I think you also have a cast party to get to, and we're going to get some coffee and tea and try to educate my brother on avant garde in the city." She leaned over to Jennie and whispered conspiratorially, "Also, I have it on good authority that there are cupcakes from Magnolia Bakery waiting, as a congratulations from the staff."

"It was good to see you, Jennie, and I really did enjoy the show," Leo said, nodding a hello to the woman walking up behind Jennie.

"Sweet," Jennie did a fist-pump of victory. There was going to be drinking and cupcakes. Life was good. She smiled as the dark-haired woman approached. "Hey Nina," she said, grinning. "I'm going to go get actual clothing on, so you guys have fun," she winked and then padded up the rest of the stairs to the dressing rooms. One could almost feel the despair radiating from Whitney's corner. Apparently, Kyle did not return her ardor.

Oh yes, life was definitely good.

Nina waved a hello and goodbye as Jennie walked off, and walked over to kiss Sam. "Mostra excelente, querido." She looked over at Leo, a slight grin on her face. "Sam's girls really outdid themselves didn't they, Leo? I thought the costumes were particularly bonito."

Leo sighed and began walking to the exit, his sister and her girlfriend following. "If the two of you are going to mock me, can we at least do it over coffee?"

The two women laughed and the three headed for the exit.