Sam and Jean-Paul

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Sam and Jean-Paul discuss family over breakfast.



One of the main problems with learning how to cook in a restaurant setting was that preparing reasonable portions when making a dish was something of a foreign concept. This was not a problem most days, particularly at Xavier's -- save for a few odder foodstuffs, anything unattended and unlabeled in the fridge was as good as gone and Jean-Paul was hardly a light eater himself. But it was still irksome when it hadn't been your intention to feed more than yourself in the first place and it was early enough that almost everyone else was likely to still be in bed. Jean-Paul glared at the pot of steel-cut oatmeal as if it were to blame for his loose judgment, gave it another stir, then turned off the flame.

"I didn't know anyone else kept a farm schedule but me." Sam stood in the door frame with a smile, referencing how early they were up. Usually everyone at Xavier's was up late and barely making it to their classes while he was more the type to be early to bed and early to rise. "Do we have some cows to milk that I don't know about?" He laughed softly at his own joke. Someone had to.

"Old habits die hard." Jean-Paul didn't pretend to laugh at the joke, though he did at least offer a slight smile by way of greeting. "There's a part of me that's still convinced that it would matter if I missed my morning run. So much for retirement and learning to relax." There was a faintly teasing tone to the older man's complaining. "But I suppose if it was relaxation I was looking for, this would be the last place to come."

"Even without the missions." Sam agreed. He began to fix himself some breakfast as well, making sure to stay out of JP's way since he was int he kitchen first. "The simplicity was one thing I enjoyed when I was back in Kentucky for that year."

"I don't believe I was here for that. Why the leave?" Jean-Paul gestured at the pot on the stove, even as he dished up a serving for himself. "Feel free to help yourself if you don't mind dried cherries in your oatmeal. I made too much."

"Thank you." He got himself a small bowl to go with the other things he had prepared. "Mama got hurt and I had to go back and do most of the chores and run things since the younger Guthries have school and Paige and Jay were here."

"Ah. Family obligations are a tug of war that you never really win at." Jean-Paul poured a cup of warm milk over his breakfast and moved to the table to eat. "I hope the fact that you're back means that things improved."

It only took a moment for Sam to finish preparing, then he sat across from Jean-Paul. "Mama's better and running the farm again. My relationship with everyone else is still a little strained. I left the farm first so that makes a lot of them feel abandoned and every time I have to go between here or there then it just brings back those feelings for them." Any time someone asked how things were the farm boy tried to remember the stories about Einstein, who would stop in his tracks, think, and respond candidly to anyone who asked him that exact same question in order to avoid the programmed responses people always used for pleasantries.

Jean-Paul nodded. "It is hard, being left behind. Still, you could not live all your life in one place." He always felt slightly awkward, discussing anything like family. His own experiences with such were a convoluted wreck and, for the most part, lonely and unpleasant. "I still have a difficult time wrapping my mind around the idea of having so many siblings. One was sometimes enough to make me wish to run screaming for the hills."

Sam laughed at the idea of not having as many siblings as he did. "Well, I didn't know what being lonely was until I came here. Now I can shut myself off in my room or office if I want to and it was a little creepy at first. Maybe wanting time to myself is what gave me my powers." He thought about that with a smirk. "Now I can be alone any time I want."

"Now that's a frightening idea, that we should have gotten our powers according to need. I think the universe would have to possess a very sick sense of humor if that were the case."

"I don't reckon we'll ever know if that's the case, since we seem to be pretty far removed from what we really need or want." Sam had always found it odd that a person wasn't aware of what they really wanted more often than not.

"I think I am getting there some days." The speedster let his gaze wander around the room. "Though if you had asked me about it not so long ago, this would have been the last place I would have seen myself. Another team, teaching children, and personal responsibility that extends beyond watering houseplants...I would have assumed that I was possessed or had suffered considerable brain damage."

"Once you're in a family it grows on you, doesn't it?" Sam had wanted to get away once or twice in his life. He always found out quickly that he would forever be a big family kind of guy.