Scott and Marie, backdated to Friday morning

[x-cyclops.livejournal.com]

Backdated to Friday morning. Scott and Marie talk after a Danger Room session, and after coming to a satisfactory conclusion as to her fitness for active duty, he asks her to do something. The request is not all that surprising in some respects. In others, just a little.


"Well, I'll say this for you," Scott said as they exited the Danger Room, "you didn't get too badly out of shape while you were away." He offered her a small smile, to make it clear that he was mostly just giving her a hard time. "Which is kind of a downer for me, because now I don't get to whip you back into it."

Marie pulled the elastic out of her hair, running her hands through it quickly before tying it back up in a ponytail. "Are you kidding? With the gang up there, Ah'd say Ah got into better shape on my little vacation. Especially now that Logan's back there." She shot a smile at Scott, a twinkle in her eye. "Maybe you could use a little vacation yourself."

"To Canada to see Logan?" Scott asked, very, very dryly. "I think I'll pass. I don't think I foresee that being restful for anyone. Including the scenery." He tugged his jacket open, repressing a sigh. "Anyway," he said as they continued down the hall, "you seem perfectly ready to be right back on the active duty list to me. I may even get you to do some work with the trainees, if you don't mind. I-" Am not feeling into it? part of his mind mocked. "-am a little busy these days. And they like you."

Marie cocked her head sideways at Scott, slowing her pace. "Well," she said slowly, "Ah do enjoy working with the newbies...and Ah'm more than happy to help with their training. Ah'm just surprised. Guess Ah always thought that was one of your favorite things - whipping us all into shape, as you say."

Deflect, Summers. And deflection was easy when it was the truth, too. "It's as much for your benefit as theirs," he said, with perfect honesty. "How you work with those who haven't had as much training and experience as you adds some... additional depth to how you approach giving orders in general."

"Sure," Marie said with a nod. "Ah can see how that'd work. Just like Ah could've spotted your avoidance from about a mile away." She smiled wryly at him. "Ah may be taking the semester off, but that doesn't mean Ah've forgotten everything Ah was learning about psyc. Not to mention it's one of my favorite defense mechanisms as well."

"Here I was going to say something about them obviously implanting telepathy while you were up north," Scott said dryly, but didn't smile back. He stopped instead, slipping out of his jacket and leaning against the wall behind him, watching her for a moment. "The kid that died," he said finally. "During that fight in Central Park. I killed him. I mean, I didn't intend to - I got hit from behind and lost control of an optic blast, but, well, intent doesn't really matter. So I'm having some... difficulty working with the trainees right now. At least the younger ones."

"Doesn't help, knowing you did it by accident," she said, making sure to keep her personal pain out of her voice. This was about Scott, not her. "And Ah already know you know you did the best you could. Ah read the mission report and know that there was nothing you would've done different without a precog warning you...and Ah think that's generally more trouble than it's worth. But it doesn't make it any easier to deal with, huh?"

Scott smiled a little, but it was a stiff-looking expression. "Actually, by all rights I ought to be beating myself up more about it, I think. My problem is that I've always doubted whether or not we should be training kids. I know there are worlds of differences between our methods and theirs, but still."

"We do the best we can Scott. It doesn't mean we don't make mistakes. We just learn from them and do things differently the next time," the Southern girl replied.

"Yes. That. Although I feel the need to point out that when I decide to do things differently... things get done differently," Scott said. "And I'm not sure I'm ready to go down that road just yet, or whether this is just... reaction." The corner of his mouth tugged upwards briefly. "You sure you want to go down your current road?" he asked, somewhat obliquely. "The gray hairs and sleepless nights can get a little excessive."

Marie briefly considered pushing Scott a little further, then decided against it. "Ah'm already going white," she teased. "May as well go for the full headed look."

"I think you'd look ravishing with white hair. You'd have to beat the guys off with a stick. Or, you know, your own two dainty hands, since you don't generally need a stick," Scott said over his shoulder as he turned towards the locker room - and moved a little quicker, just in case.

He needn't have worried. Marie just smiled and shook her head as she entered the women's locker room.