Ororo and Chris | Friday afternoon

[x-storm.livejournal.com]

Chris Summers meets Ororo in the greenhouse, and she tries to help him understand why Scott may be reluctant to welcome him back into his life.

Ororo took a deep breath, a smile washing over her face as she delved her hands into the bag of potting soil and lifted a handful into the waiting pot next to her - a small violet stood at the ready nearby, awaiting its transplant into more spacious accommodations. The windows of the greenhouse had been thrown open to let in the early afternoon air, and the sun was casting large panes of light over the planked wooden floor and Ororo's toes. They were bare, of course, and she vaguely wondered if she should have moved her pumps out of the path from the doorway lest anyone trip on them. It didn't seem likely she would be interrupted, though, and she didn't relish the idea of speckling dirt over the taut new leather. They would have to wait.

Surprisingly, the door did open. The newcomer noticed the pumps and skirted them, looking around curiously at the greenhouse. "Hello?" Chris called.

Looking up with some degree of surprise, the silver-haired woman turned to look over her shoulder. She recognized the man that had entered and her smile grew. "Mr. Summers. It is quite a surprise to see you here; are you lost, perhaps?"

"No, just exploring the house a little more." Chris smiled at her. "You must be Ororo."

"That would be correct. You must have been studying your roster." Patting down the handful of soil, Ororo scooped out another, sprinkling it in the flowerpot before gently removing the violet and placing it on top of the pile of soil. "I am impressed."

"Xavier described you. I figured there can't be many women fitting your description around here." Chris looked around, then sat on one of the nearby benches, watching her with interest.

"No, although unusual hair colors are rather common," she answered with a smile. "I am sorry," she continued, turning back to Chris, "I would offer a hand but I do not think that would be the polite course of action under the circumstances." She wiggled her dirt-covered fingers at him. "Please excuse me."

"It's all right. These are... lovely," Chris said, looking around at the flowers. "I don't think I've seen anything like this for... well, longer than I can remember."

"The gardens outside will be blooming soon enough as well - that is truly a beautiful sight. This is just a bit of cheating until that happens."

Chris nodded to himself, still smiling. "It's quiet up here," he said after a moment. "Very different from downstairs. The action seems to never stop around this place."

Ororo nodded her agreement, arranging the plant and then placing several more handfuls of dirt carefully around its roots. "How have you found it?" she asked curiously, casting a glance at the man. "Besides busy."

"I've met some very interesting people. And Alex is..." Chris smiled again. "Well, Alex is a joy."

"He is a wonderful young man." The weatherworker pursed her lips, pausing before she went on. "Both he and Scott are. They are so much a part of this place that I do not know what it would be like without them here."

"Xavier mentioned that you and Scott were close." Chris's smile was a little faint, now. "I've had less luck getting to know him this week. In fact, he's been more or less avoiding me completely."

"I am very sorry to hear that. This opportunity..." She shook her head. "He will come around. The Summers are a rather hard-headed pair sometimes, but they are not stupid." Realizing who she was talking to, Ororo gave a wry smile. "As you would well know."

Chris was gazing at her very thoughtfully. "Is this home, for you?" he asked after another long moment. It was a surprisingly delicate question in its phrasing, encompassing a number of questions too personal to be asked on first meeting.

"Yes," Ororo answered, with far more assurance than she would've felt a year before. "Yes, this is home. And some of the people here, they are as close as family to me... Scott, for example. He is like the older brother I never wanted." Her smile was pensive, but genuine. "But I do not know what I would do without him now. He is a wonderful friend, and a good man."

"I suppose that makes us related in some metaphorical sort of way," Chris offered. It sounded like a joke, mostly.

The brief flash of longing that passed through Ororo's eyes was almost too quick to be remarked upon, and she quickly turned back to the plant in front of her. "How long are you planning to stay?" she inquired idly, patting at the soil in the pot.

"A few more days, most likely. I still have some hopes of getting Scott to sit down and talk to me, before I head back to Madripoor... foolish of me, maybe." Chris's smile turned self-deprecating.

"I think your patience will pay off. He must want to talk to you... if you can only wait him out, then eventually he will have no option but to admit it to himself."

"You're a member of this team as well, aren't you?" Chris said, and although it was very obviously an attempt to change the subject, he did seem sincerely interested in the answer.

Ororo raised her eyebrows slightly, but nodded. "Yes, I am."

"You lead it, don't you? With Scott."

"I've heard a variety of things about what you all do, this week. I suppose I'm actively soliciting opinions - not just because I saw your team at work. I want to understand." Because it's not something I can talk to my son about yet, was the unspoken corollary.

Ororo stood, picking up the now-potted violet and carrying it over to a windowsill, where she situated it thoughtfully before turning back to Chris. "From what I've read of the report, we do much of what you saw - that is, respond to threats and try to set things right as best we're able." She brushed her hands off perfunctorily. "What those threats are can vary... from mutant rights violations to an angry child lashing out because of misunderstanding and pain."

Chris took a moment to absorb that. "It's an unusual set-up," he said. "For an unusual world, I suppose. Are you happy, doing what you're doing?" The question was sharper, more intent.

"I do not know if happy is the right word for it... it is difficult to be happy when faced with things like that regularly. But...satisfied, maybe, could describe it. It is good to know you are helping people. It makes facing all the other things... tolerable."

"It helps to hear these things, you know," Chris said, stroking his mustache absently, his eyes fixed on something over in the vicinity of the rosebushes. "I won't lie to you, it would have made me very happy to find out that my sons were living perfectly standard, everyday lives... so long as they were living them. But the more I hear about the X-Men, the more I think I can be very proud of Scott. Whether or not he thinks I have the right to be," he said with a wry smile.

"That is the nice thing about pride - you do not need permission to feel it," Ororo remarked, leaning back against the windowpane. "And you should be proud of Scott. What we do is not easy. And maybe if you remember what he faces on a weekly basis then you can understand how this twist - however fortuitous - might give him pause."

"It's strange, but I feel like I should be reassuring you that I'm going to do my best," Chris said with a chuckle. "Since you've been his little sister more recently than I've been his father."

At this Ororo headed across the room, coming to a stop next to Chris and rubbing her palms together to rid them of the excess dirt still clinging there. "You have always been his father," she said solemnly. "Whether or not he knew it, whether or not he is willing to admit it just now. I know you will do your best - because both Scott and Alex deserve nothing less. And because this is a chance that should never be passed up, no matter how belatedly it comes."

Chris's eyes were narrowed slightly, although he was smiling again. "I think I see why you and my son get along. He was always older than his years, too."

"Perhaps because we had to be." She hadn't meant it to be a rebuke, but however much she liked the congenial man before her, Ororo felt more loyalty to her best friend. She tempered her words with a smile, reaching out to place a hand on the man's shoulder. "But that does not mean we do not long to be a son or a daughter, too. It just may take us longer to admit it."