Emma and Adrienne - Phone call

[x-adrienne.livejournal.com]

Adrienne calls big sis to nip any rumors Emma might hear about her and Manuel in the bud, and propositions Emma for a spot in the White Court. Emma is amused.

Drumming her fingers on the desktop, Adrienne listened to the sound of the phone trying to connect in her ear and mentally composed what she wanted say to Emma when her sister picked up. Hey, Emma. How was Paris? So I'm sure you probably know by now, but your employees have been spreading gossip and sticking their noses into things that don't concern them and generally complicating peoples' lives. Their overprotectiveness is appreciated but also a tad stifling. Anyways, I'm not sure how much you know, but I just thought I should take responsibility for my part in all of this and tell you personally that no, I did not have sex with your White Bishop and that Manuel de la Rocha is not a monster like many people think. He was actually quite the gentleman and oh hey so about this court thing?... Would all of that fit into a voice mail if Emma didn't actually pick up?

Emma didn't quite sigh as caller ID told her who was calling, but it was a close run thing. It wasn't Adrienne herself that brought out the sigh, but a weariness that went right down to her bones. Dealing with Haroun and his grief over Alison's kidnapping and torture had burned out all her empathy, even though she had been successful in alleviating the worst of his guilt and focusing him on his role in Alison's rehabilitation. Emma knew, from the journals and Jubilee's astonishingly indiscreet posting to Snow Valley, that something had happened between Adrienne and Manny. Whatever it was, it was undoubtedly what Adrienne was ringing about. Emma marshalled her mental resources tightly before she picked up the phone.

"Hello Adrienne," she said, her tone even.

"Hello, Emma," the psychometrist replied, matching the tone. "I hope your travels and your business endeavours are going well. Do you have a minute or two to talk?" She didn't actually wait for an answer before adding "I'm sure you'd heard something or other about myself and Manuel de la Rocha by now through your involvement with Snow Valley, since they were the ones stirring up my private business, so I just thought I should call and offer to explain personally. I feel as if I owe that to you." She wasn't entirely sure why she felt she owed it to Emma to explain, but she did. Probably Morgan's influence.

Emma felt a flash of surprise at Adrienne's last statement, but it didn't come out in her voice. "You are both adults, Adrienne, who make your own choices." Her voice sharpened suddenly. "I trust Manuel, far more perhaps than anyone else does. If your time with him, however, makes you feel that trust is misplaced, I would appreciate your honest opinion." The smallest portion of the weariness she was feeling seeped into her voice. "I owe Manuel more than you can imagine, Adrienne. But if he has hurt you . . ." Her voice trailed off. For one of only a few times in her life, Emma was genuinely unsure of what she would do if her trust had proven misplaced.

"That's why I wanted to call," Adrienne said seriously, "because he didn't hurt me. Everything's fine. I-I just wanted you to hear that from me, because I know some people at the mansion, and maybe at your think tank, don't have the highest opinion of Manuel and I didn't want any rumor that was untrue to reach you because I know that you trust him. I didn't want to cause you any reason to doubt that trust." She played with her St. Barbara medallion as she gathered up courage to satisfy her curiosity. "So... how is it you came to owe Manuel anything, Emma?"

"Amanda hasn't told you?" said Emma, genuinely surprised. It wasn't as if she considered that particular incident a secret. She continued without waiting for an answer, because Adrienne's answer was obvious. "Sebastian introduced us. It wasn't enough for Shaw that one of his employees killed all of my students in front of me; he decided to try and dig out my business secrets as well. The method he chose was kidnapping me, consigning me to an asylum, drugging me into hallucinatory oblivion and trying to get an empath to crack open my mind like an egg. Fortunately I was able to overcome the nostalgia that being in a drug-induced near-coma in an asylum induced and negotiate a deal with the empath. Manuel got me out of there. I gave him somewhere to go and someone to trust. We owe each other - a great deal."


Surprised that her sister had actually answered the question, Adrienne sat stunned after Emma had stopped talking. "While some of your employees are hopeless gossips, Amanda is not one of them," she assured her sister firstly, when she could think again. Kidnapped, drugged... and what she'd said about the nostalgia of the asylum? It made Adrienne shiver, and took several moments before she could think past pity for what had happened to Emma-both during their childhood and again at a time she guessed had to have been fairly recently given Manuel's age- and compose herself again. "I... yes. Yes, of course you owe him for..." Okay, not so composed. "Listen, about the asylum, the first time, I..." You what? You're sorry? You were ten. How was it your fault? I could have gone to visit her. But I didn't want to, because I would have gotten in trouble with Father. Because I didn't want anything to do with her. I never wanted to visit... "I wish things had been different," she mumbled lamely, and then chose to change topics before she made a fool of herself further. "Sebastian Shaw? The Black King of the Hellfire Club? Shaw did that to you? He... killed students? Manuel mentioned the name at our meeting." Somewhere around the third bottle of wine, if she remembered correctly, which she probably didn't.

Emma's voice was crisp, emotionless. Her feelings about the end of the Massachusetts Academy and her time in the asylum were not ones she shared with anyone who had not been there. "Sebastian, to his limited credit, was not responsible for the death of my students. That was - someone else. The details are in Xavier's files, if you care to enlighten yourself." She stopped for a moment, weighing up Adrienne's need to understand certain things. "The Inner Courts are not hedonistic social clubs, Adrienne, or business rivals playing pretend dangerous games. White Court and Black Court are mortal enemies. Things have been less - fraught, since Peter and I consigned Selene to the bottom of the ocean. Sebastian is not half the man the Black Queen was; without her, he has drifted somewhat. But he appears to be regrouping. I do not believe you are in danger; Sebastian is unlikely to act so directly as to attack my sister. And I am taking steps to rebuild the White Court. It should provide an appropriate counterbalance."

Taking a moment to regroup herself again, Adrienne toyed with her lighter. "I haven't really been into hedonism much lately, Emma, despite what my public image would lead one to believe," she murmured. This was definitely a new development, one she was still having trouble grasping, but Emma's assurance of her safety gave her some comfort. The biggest issue Adrienne was facing now was did this new information about the violent nature of the Hellfire Courts change her desire to be a part of them? The easy answer, the self-perservationist one, was, of course, yes. But backing out when she learned something she wanted wasn't going to be as easy as she thought it would be wasn't a habit of Adrienne's. And Morgan's stupid speech was poking at the edges of her mind. You didn't walk away from the people you cared about. Did she care about Emma? Emma was family. That had never meant anything to Adrienne before, but things had changed. She had changed. And it wasn't just Emma. It was Manuel, too. "About that counterbalancing of the White Court?" She said finally, flicking her lighter over her fingers. "I believe I can help you, Emma. I know we had a fucked-up childhood," she said by way of explanation, "we were never close, and that was my fault. I always pushed you away, thought of you as competition. But it's been a long time since then. So many things have happened, especially in the past year. I'm not against you anymore, Emma. Not when it matters, anyway. I'd like to help you. I believe my powers can be an asset to the White Court."

Emma actually couldn't help herself; she threw back her head and laughed in something that was a cross between delight and shock. "Oh Adrienne," she said and her voice was filled with sudden warmth. "You are such a Frost."


Raising an eyebrow at her sister's response, Adrienne inspected her manicure. "I'm going to take that as an 'I'll think about it'." If it had been an outright 'no', she felt sure that Emma would have told her so and changed the subject without drawing things out. She hadn't been expecting an outright 'yes,' either, so Emma's answer, while odd in itself, was more or less what she'd been anticipating. "I should probably let you go," she added with a hint of regret in her voice, "but I am going to make you think about it, Emma. I could bring a lot to the table, now that I'm ready to play nice."


"If you want me to think that you're in any way suitable for a position in the White Court, Adrienne," replied Emma, her tone reverting to her usual cool detachment, "the one thing you don't want to do is persuade me that you play nice. The Inner Courts are not your world. If you play and you lose, what Steven did to you is child's play. The price of failure is absolute."

"I meant play nice with you, Emma," Adrienne corrected, rolling her eyes. "And Manuel, and Doug." She would definitely be giving serious thought to Emma's point about failure, and quite possibly give up the whole idea, but for now she was stubborn enough to want to prove Emma wrong about the implication that she was unsuitable. "I'm different than I was with Steven," she pointed out, emphatic on that point. "I'm fighting my own battles now; physical training, shooting, shielding. I defused a bomb, in case you've forgotten. And I like to think the only time I've ever failed in life has been in losing Frost Enterprises to you. On the same side as you, I see no possibility of my ever losing to anyone." Bitchy bravado at its best. Or worst.


"There is a reason I didn't say no immediately," replied Emma. "You have persuaded me that you are - not what you used to be. Capable of surviving the White Court - is another matter." She exchanged final pleasantries with Adrienne, empty words of farewell and hung up the phone. For a few moments Emma thought of the prospect of Adrienne joining the White Court. Two Frosts. White Queen. White - Rook? White Pawn? The images revolved in her mind for a few moments.

What would Sebastian think? What would Wisdom think?

Carefully Emma made sure the door to her office was locked, that all calls would be held. Then she laid her head on her desk and laughed until the tears bled down her face.