New York Minute: Take Care of Your Own

[x-kaminari.livejournal.com]

You better take a fool's advice
And take care of your own
One day they're here;
Next day they're gone

9:24

He had really not wanted to get out of bed this morning - he was still battered to hell from the fight with Saidullayev, and really, lying around had seemed like the best imaginable idea. Having finally gotten some solid sleep last night, his body had really been craving more. But one of his independent study students had included some questionable content in her oral history project, which necessitated checking up on her sources via phone, which made it a better idea to call from the main school line. Given that there was no one in the office at eight in the morning, at least it was quiet. And for the first time, the time zone differences work in my favor...

He had no sooner hung up from one conversation when the phone rang again. He blinked at it, then shrugged mentally and picked it up to answer. "Xavier Institute," he said, not quite cautiously.

"Hello," the voice on the other end of the line sounded official, and also a little stressed. "This is Officer Mather of the New York Police Department. I believe we have one of your students."

Oh, dear Lord- "I see," Nathan said, not quite neutrally. 'We have' didn't mean 'we have her in a hospital'; it was probably a good sign. Or at least, not as bad as it could be. He hoped. "We had a student who went missing last night - Noriko Kikuchi. Japanese, seventeen, doesn't have a good grasp of English?"

"That sounds familiar, yep. Cranky little thing, swears like a sailor? She finally woke up sober enough to tell us how to contact you all, if someone wants to come get her..."

Woke up sober? Oh, lord, she got picked up for drunk and disorderly... Nathan suppressed the wince by sheer force of will. One of our international students gets in trouble with the police -if Charles had any hair left, this would turn it a little more gray... He could feel more of his whitening at the thought of the potential questions. "We can have someone down there fairly promptly," he said, before the officer could wonder about the silence. "Is she all right? It was a family dispute - she ran off, fairly distraught. We've had people out looking for her..."

"Oh, yes, she's ok - seems to have slept it off, for the most part. Can't rightly tell if her mood's because of a hangover or if she's always like this, thought..." On the far end of the line, Officer Mather shrugged, casting an eye down the hall to the precinct lock-up. "Picked her up on a vagrancy charge; sleeping in a subway. Didn't want the poor kid to freeze. Course, attempting to wake her up, it became clear she wasn't just asleep."

"Well, we're very thankful you found her, then." Nathan checked the time, frowned. "I may hit traffic on my way in, but I should be able to get there fairly promptly." Although possibly, given that he did in fact look like he'd gotten smacked around by an angry telekinetic Chechen three days ago, he might not be the most reputable-looking representative of Xavier's... oh, hell, never mind, that's what telepathic suggestions are for. He'd have to go break the news to Charles before he went, however. And call off the search.

"That's fine. She's not going anywhere till you get here."

---

10:47 am

"Noriko - you had us awfully worried," Nathan said with a sigh, standing in the open doorway of the cell. He'd been irritated on the way in, but she looked so... lost and tiny in the jail cell that pity had replaced it almost immediately. Plus, he wasn't about to underestimate the effect of family stress on someone's behavior.

She'd been angry when the cops woke her in the morning, saying they needed to call someone, but after they'd told her Nathan was coming to pick her up and the time had just started to crawl, all that anger had gone out of her. She sat on the cell bench, knees drawn up to her chin and arms wrapped tightly around herself. "Is not want Nathan-san worry."

"There were people out looking for you all night." Nathan hesitated, then sat down beside her on the bench. "They found some signs that you'd gotten into some trouble," he said more softly, then clarified. "That you were in a fight. Are you all right? Not hurt?"

The attack was both foggy in her memory and much too clear; she couldn't really say how it had happened, but she remembered it in flashes. "Nori not hurt," she said after a moment, not really looking at him.

"Well, that's a good start," Nathan said gently, and made the decision that he wasn't going to yell at her. Plenty of other people would do that, he suspected. "You're not really in trouble with the police, although we may have some explaining to do, given your student visa. That's not something you need to worry about right now, though. Ready to go back?" He almost said 'home', but given the circumstances, she might take that the wrong way. Better to be clear.

Nori started to nod, then hesitated. "People was look...?"

"Of course they were. You're one of our students, and we were worried about you." Nathan managed a slight smile. "They're going to be really glad to know you're okay." And possibly wanting to throttle you themselves, but I doubt they'll be overt about it...

Suddenly their were tears in her eyes, and Noriko couldn't do anything to stop them as they spilled over, trailing down her cheeks. She managed not to sob, burying her face in her arms to hide it.

Nathan let her cry for a few moments, and then laid a hand very gently on her arm, about as unthreatening a physical gesture of comfort as he could manage. With another kid, it would have been a hug.

She stilled at that, but didn't shrug him off. Instead, she rubbed her face against her sleeve, smearing the tears off before looking up. "Nori is very fuck up," she said, voice small.

"You've got more than your fair share of challenges, yeah. Just so long as you're not blaming yourself for all of it." There were other parties to share in that. Her parents, genetics... "The thing is," Nathan went on, just as gently, "you can get less fucked up, Nori. Things won't ever be normal, but there are ways to make them better."

"How?" if her voice had been small, it now bordered on the pathetic. Asking for help was clearly a foreign concept for Noriko.

"One step at a time. One day at a time. Right now, the problems are so big that you can't see a way through them. But if you talk to us, and we can find a way to break them down into small pieces - little problems, that you can tackle one at a time, then you'll start seeing some progress." Nathan gazed down at her, the compassion in his voice somehow managing to completely avoid condescension as he went on. "I know what it's like to think there's no way forward, Nori - that things are bad, and they're never going to get better. Learning that's not true is what you have to do first, before any of the rest of it."

Trust was really not something Nori was good at - she hadn't been good at trust even before her life had fallen apart, and things hadn't gotten much better over the last year and a half. Except that things had become infinitely better and she'd just failed to see it. And Nathan was offering a chance, telling her she still had one. "Is... is want," Nori stuttered. "Is want learn."

"Then let's get out of here," Nathan said, rising and offering her a hand. "We can keep talking in the car. Or not talk. Either way, homeward is a better direction to be going."

Noriko nodded and, after a moment's hesitation, took Nathan's hand. "Thank you," she said, getting up to follow him out.