Scott, Alex and Chris, Thursday afternoon

[x-cyclops.livejournal.com]

Chris Summers arrives at the mansion, and is re-introduced to Alex, who is thrilled to see him. Scott is less welcoming.


Scott had told Alex to wait in his suite, figuring that it was probably best to have that particular first meeting in private. Besides, there was a tiny, petty part of him that was very determined that yes, his father was getting run through all the standard security procedures for new visitors in detail. The man was a pirate, after all, and you never knew what an unexpectedly not-dead but long-lost parent might do. History was not on Corsair - Christopher's side.

"This is quite the place," Chris observed quietly as they headed up the stairs to the staff level. Scott just grunted. After another half-dozen stairs, Chris tried again. "Maybe afterwards, you could show me some of the school."

"Uh-huh."

Scott, having his back to his father, didn't spot Chris roll his eyes, or the slight, rueful smile. "I guess we'll see."

"You should meet Charles," Scott said abruptly, pausing at the top of the stairs to let Chris catch up. Then he could double-check and make sure you're not evil. It wasn't that he didn't trust Jean's perceptions, he just wanted to make absolutely sure. "Professor Xavier, I mean."

"I'd like that. I gather he's done a lot to help you and Alex, and I'd like to thank him."

He was bound and determined to be... really infuriatingly sincere about all of this, Scott realized. And tried not to grind his teeth. "This way," he said curtly, and led Chris down the hall to the door of his and Jean's suite. He paused there, hand on the doorknob, and gave his father a warning look. "Alex was over the moon when he heard you were alive," he said. "There's really not much more important to him than family." So try not to screw this up.

If Alex had been excited when Scott had told him a few weeks ago that their father was alive, it was nothing to how he felt right now. He was sure he'd broken more then one speed limit when he'd driven to the mansion from Lorna's and had been aimlessly pacing around the living room of the suite since Scott had sent him up here.

When he heard the door open, he stopped his pacing and stared at it, holding his breath.

Scott opened his mouth to say - something, he wasn't sure what. Introductions were probably redundant. He just stepped inside, letting Chris come all the way into the room. The older man just stared at Alex for a long moment, his expression somehow stunned and haunted at the same time.

"My God." His voice broke a little as he went on. "You look so much like your mother."

Alex suddenly felt like the 8 year old he had been when the plane had gone down. When the man had walked in, he'd desperately searched for any sign of the father he remembered. This man was hard and rough and Alex was disappointed when he couldn't find any...

That was until the man spoke. That voice...Alex couldn't help throwing himself at the man with a hug. "Dad!"

Scott didn't let Alex see him making a face. Not that his little brother would have noticed, anyway; he was otherwise occupied at the moment. Letting the two have their moment, he drifted into the kitchenette, wondering if he ought to be the good host and find everyone something to drink. Make mine a double, hah-bloody-hah...

"You look - well, you look good," Chris said with a hoarse laugh, holding his younger son very tightly for a moment before gently pushing him out to arm's length to get a better look at him.

Ignoring Scott and his bad mood, which Alex would be asking about later, he just beamed at his father. "So do you. Very piratey." He laughed as a thought occured him. "When I lived in Hawaii, my friends and I all joked about pirates, who knew my dad was one?" His hair fell into his face and he moved it behind his ear, still unable to stop grinning. "I couldn't believe it...when Scott told me...I'm so glad you came!"

Some of the tension in Chris's posture was easing, clearly in reaction to Alex's exuberant welcome. "Well," he said, "took me some time to settle things in Madripoor before I could leave, or I would have been here sooner." His gaze went to Scott, puttering around the kitchen. "I suppose after fifteen years, another couple of weeks wasn't too bad..."

"Totally understand, dude. Totally. This just, so sweet!" Alex's excitement caused his speech to regress into his surfer tone, much in the tone of the journal entry he'd put up when Scott had intially told him. If he got any more excited he'd be speaking Hawaiian. Then he followed his father's gaze into the kitchen and his excitement dimmed slightly.

"Phillip and Deborah are getting in tonight," Scott said, almost conversationally. "I'll go in a few hours and pick them up at the airport."

Chris swallowed, looking a little white. He looked around for a moment, then sank into the closest chair. "I'm... still not sure what I'm going to say to them."

"Oh, I understand. You should have heard my rather feeble attempt to explain things on your behalf... Jean finally intervened and took the phone away from me."

Alex's gaze moved back and forth between the two and narrowed at Scott. "If you were acting like this, I'm not surprised. I thought I was was supposed to be the bratty brother." He said off-handedly as he moved over to stand by Chris, putting a hand on his shoulder. "They're going to be so happy to see you, I doubt it will matter what you say." His tone was encouraging as he smiled.

Scott just grimaced and went back to his puttering. Chris sighed, rubbing his hands over his face, then smiling a bit weakly at Alex. "You're taller than your brother," he said with a soft laugh. "Sit down, Alex, I feel like I'm being loomed over."

Rolling his eyes at Scott's behavior, Alex sat down on the nearest chair, though keeping to the edge of his seat so as still to be close to Chris. "Sorry. I forget sometimes. And yeah Scott hates it." He added at the end playfully to lighten the mood a bit.

"I'll start hating it when the extra inch of height means that you can actually kick my ass, as opposed to vice-versa," Scott said. Why did he not have any alcohol in his fridge? Dammit.

Chris's smile grew a little steadier as he listened, although his eyes were suspiciously bright. He shrugged helplessly as Alex looked at him. "I keep expecting someone to slap me and tell me to wake up," he said gruffly. "I spent so long, thinking both of you were gone."

"And that will be sooner then you think if you keep this up. And admit, you hate the fact your little brother is taller then you. Maybe that's why you can't surf!" Alex shot back at his grumpy brother, for the millionth time wondering what the hell his problem was, before ending in teasing. He grinned back at his dad. "Careful, I think Scott might take you up on that." He was still teasing since he was unaware of the blows already exchanged between the two other Summers men. Then, the blonde sobered slightly. "Yeah, me too. They told me Scott had died when they adopted me out. It was a total shock to see him walking towards me on the beach." He couldn't help keeping his grin thought. It was one of his favorite moments of his life, including this one.

"I hate thinking about the two of you separated, or with foster families," Chris said heavily. The guilt was plainly audible in his voice as he went on. "When I think of how close you two were when you were younger..." He smiled a bit, weakly. "You were never jealous," he said to Scott. "I'm not sure you knew what to do with a new little brother at first, but you never seemed bothered."

Oh, you are not scoring any points with that, Dad. Try again. "I'm still not sure what to do with him sometimes. He's very high-maintenance."

Alex couldn't help the slightly offended giggle that came out of his mouth. "Hey! Just because everyone I date goes evil or tries to use me for my powers does not mean I'm high maintenance!" He looked at his dad and rolled his eyes with a guilty smile. "Long story...er stories."

Chris's smile was definitely feeble. "Doesn't sound like a good story. Or stories."

"No, in fact they're not." The words were out of his mouth before Scott really knew what he was saying. Oh, to hell with it..

Well...Alex didn't really know what to say. He didn't really want to tell their dad about it but he had brought it up in his own defense against Scott's bad mood. He bit his lip, uncertain now. "Uhh..."

"It's all right, Alex." Chris's voice was very subdued, but he reached out and laid a hand on Alex's shoulder, the gesture somewhat awkward. "I'm not here to grill you. Either of you. If you want to tell me about it at some point, I'll listen. But I don't want to make this any more awkward than it needs to be."

Scott slammed a glass down with rather more force than necessary. "Isn't that positively paternal of you," he growled, and emerged from the kitchenette. "I should give the two of you some time alone."

"Alright, that's enough." Alex stood up and glared at Scott. "What the hell is your problem?!" He honestly didn't understand. Yes he knew about the evil parent jokes and such, and others had come back from the dead in Scott's life, himself and Jean included. But when it was Scott's father, he couldn't handle it? "What twisted the stick up your ass? Our father's alive! I don't remember you hating me or Jean this much when you found out we weren't dead!"

"Wait," Chris said, rising, something close to understanding taking shape in his expression. "Alex and your wife?"

"They," Scott said almost savagely, "had their reasons. What did you have? Nine years worth of cowardice?"

A number of emotions crossed Chris's face: chagrin, anger, bleak amusement. "You don't pull your punches much, do you?"

"Hang on dad." Alex step towards Scott, almost getting his brother's face. "I want to know why my reasons are any different then yours." Then his attention turned directly to Scott." Dad thought we were dead. I thought you were dead. You never blamed me for not trying to find you. Or trying to find our grandparents. And I think if I can manage to live on my own in Hawaii for years, I could do that. So what makes Dad so different huh?"

"Because he had a responsibility, to us. And instead of making sure, once he was able, he took the word of people who sold him into slavery, and gave up on us."

"You're right," Chris said immediately, and despite the hurt in his eyes, his voice was steady. "You're absolutely right, Scott. I'm not denying that."

Alex wasn't having any of it. "So that gives you the right to give up on him?" He turned to look back at Chris, his face softening. "I don't care what he did...he's still my dad. "

"I'm not telling you what you should or shouldn't feel, Alex." It was a real effort to keep his voice level, but Scott managed it. "You do... feel whatever you want in this situation. Hell, I'm happy for you if you can forget the rest of it and just be glad." He was, too, bizarre as that sounded.

That just led to a sigh on Alex's part as he fell down into a nearby chair. "And Jared always had happy family reunions and they have four times as many people. We can't even manage five."

Chris had been silent while Alex and Scott talked, waiting until they'd stopped before he spoke up again. "We don't need to rush this," he said softly. "Any of this. I didn't expect to be greeted with open arms, you know."

Alex turned his head, hair flopping in his face as he gave his dad a small smile. "Well, I'm glad you were proven wrong at least once...and I know you will be again."

Don't hold your breath, Alex. "Seriously," Scott said, in almost a normal voice, "I should let you two have some time alone. I had a chance for this whole... initial conversation thing already. No reason I need to hone in on your time." It sounded almost logical.

It was the almost normal tone that made Alex look up at his brother with a questionable look on his face, before shrugging it off. Let Scott be weird somewhere else. "If you insist." He said in agreement yet not wanting to kick him out the door.

"I'd like to talk to you some more later, Scott," Chris said hesitantly. It was almost a question.

Scott shrugged. "I'm around," he said, heading for the door. "Unless you see a very large black plane appearing out of the basketball court."

Chris waited until Scott had made his escape before sighing, sinking back into his chair as he rubbed at his eyes. "Well. You know, your brother always was kind of appallingly stubborn, even as a child... I see he didn't grow out of that."

Alex just laughed. "I think he got worse. I often have to come yell at him about it. Me and Jean are the only ones allowed." Now the Scott was out of the room, along with his whole negative cloud, Alex was almost bouncing again, though he made a point of not falling back into the mix of surfer and Hawaiian he'd been bursting out in often in the past few weeks. "So Scott told me some of what happened but I so want to know more, if you don't mind..."

"One condition," Chris said, managing a more natural smile. "Quid pro quo. I tell you something about me, you tell me something about you. I think that's fair, don't you? And I really do want to know, Alex." He swallowed visibly, but the smile stayed on. "I missed too much."

"I think that is shibby...er excellent!" Alex reached out and touched his father's knee, a grin bright on his face. "There's so much I want to tell you...And think of it more you have a lot of time to make up, so we better get started."