Lil and Cammie

[x-diamondlil.livejournal.com]

Lil and Cammie go to a diner and share more than just lunch.


Cammie had met Lil at her room like the older woman had asked. And the little diner they had found themselves in for lunch was homey. Almost too homey. One of the three restaurants at home had been like this place, but right now she made the conscious decision to let it slide off her like water off of a duck’s back.

It didn’t mean she was her usual ray of sunshine self. Her expression was still crestfallen as she spiked another cup of coffee with powder from a bag that was Comet cleaner. It looked enough like sugar that most people wouldn’t even have done a double take.

“So, yeah. I said I’d spill once we got here, but I’ll repeat this week has been total and complete hell. Before I get started, what’s up with you, Giganta?”

"Nothing beyond trying to decide if I need to start hooking to pay for my cigs or if I should just quit." Lil took a sip of her fountain soda and waved a hand in Cammie's direction. "Yours sounds more interesting. Fire away, sweetie. An asshole husband get to you too?"

“Heh, no,” Cammie said taking a sip of the coffee. Warm drinks were a good thing. She had liked coffee even back when she could taste it. Of course, she no longer had to add cream, sugar and milk to make it palatable. Just something toxic. It had a little bit of taste on its own from the caffeine. “I’m not the marrying type,” she said and then sat back.

She was really the type to rip off the bandaid, “I almost killed JP the other night,” she said simply.

Lil nearly choked on her own drink when Cammie made her confession and had to slap a napkin over her mouth to keep from spraying the green-haired girl. Almost killed Jean-Paul? "W-What? How? Why? I mean... what??"

“I hit him,” Cammie said. “He came to my room and started asking about something that happened the night I left home and he wouldn’t back off and kept getting in closer,” Cammie said, still distressed by that. She shook her head to try to clear it, “I… he wouldn’t back off, so I hit him. I didn’t mean to hit him that hard and I got him to the medlab in time, but I hurt him pretty bad, Lil. He could’ve died. I was on my way out the door when Kurt stopped me.”

Frowning, the blonde woman felt for the girl. She'd never been in her position but there was certainly a sympathy for her. "Could've but he didn't. It wasn't like you tried to kill him on purpose, Cam." And that was an important distinction. "Look, I get the same way when people won't step off; gotta swing to make them stop. And I've hurt a coupla people, some I care about a lot, but you gotta remember that making them shut up only makes it go away for a little while. Running, too. Not that I'm one to be lecturing about that; I've still got my issues with both but the important part is that he's okay and you're gonna be too."

“Yeah, I know. I’m not running off or anything. I talked to Kurt and stuff so I’m just going to… stay with him for a bit while this all blows over. Being alone right now isn’t good,” she said simply. “And Jean-Paul will be okay, so Dr. Grey says, but yeah. After getting some sleep for the first time in about a week I can see where I fucked up pretty well.”

One hand reached out and wrapped around Cammie's green fingers, making a silent point that she wasn't as alone or untouchable as she felt. "Next time, try a kick to the shins. Or tossing a lap," Lil suggested with a dry chuckle. "Did you apologize yet to him?"

The contact felt odd, but not as odd as knowing that she didn’t have to snatch her hand back when she was with Lil. That if for some reason her arm decided to let it all out at once, Lil would be Just Fine. “Didn’t even occur to me at the time – to kick him. I said I was sorry for hitting him so hard,” she said, her eyes on where their hands were meeting.

“The whole thing is a big mess, you know?”

The blonde nodded. "Yeah, I know. But I think that's kinda the norm at the mansion. We all got our own messes and we're trying sort them out. Might take awhile and it sucks that it took you putting Jean-Paul in the medlab to start yours rolling but now you know. And you got people who wanna help you sort it out."

“None of this would’ve happened if Callie hadn’t brought back that flier,” she said. She wasn’t comforted by the fact her parents were still looking for her. Or that everyone seemed willing to brush off murder as an accident. It didn’t mesh with the teenaged mob. She wasn’t sure she liked the idea that she could go home and it would be All Okay. She didn’t believe that. “But can’t change that. My mess.. my mess is a big one.”

"And you got one fucking big house fulla people who'll help you if you want," Lil reminded her. "They're helping me, they can help you - big mess or not. You know the real reason I'm here? Wanna make Alpha but they ain't gonna take me until I straighten out. No good with authority or my own anger issues. Xavier's is my last shot and it's been Hell keeping my temper in check so I don't get shipped back. Not such a big problem but big enough that I know I need help to get it worked out for me. We'll help you with yours, too. Whatever it is."

“What the hell is Alpha?” Cammie asked and then shook her head, “A temper is great, but have you ever killed someone?”

"Alpha Flight. Program up in Canada kinda like the X-men. S'where Garrison, Logan, Jean-Paul, Marie and I all know each other from. Well, from Beta Flight which is a step below. Training, handling natural disasters, search and rescue kinda stuff is as far as I got. Stuff happened and when I got married, I quit Beta 'cause I thought it would help the problems Maddy and I were having - which doesn't really matter right now but I want to make the Alpha Flight team which is relaunching this year."

The question of whether or not she'd killed anyone made her shake her head. "No. Thought I killed my mom when I was younger 'cause I manifested a month before she passed away from breast cancer and my eight year old head got it stuck in there that I stole her what was left of her strength and health. I've put a coupla people in the hospital on various occasions and oh, I took out a kid in my class' pet rabbit once before I knew the extent of my powers and that I needed to be extra gentle with small animals. But no. I've never killed anyone."

She listened, the Alpha flight thing didn’t mean all that much to her. But if that’s what Lil wanted to do it was what she wanted to do. “I have,” she said simply, looking down at her coffee. “I’ve killed someone. I get I’m not the only one at this place with that distinction, but yeah.”

Lil squeezed Cammie's fingers sympathetically. "Still hard. Accident, yeah?" Girl was tough but she didn't figure her for a cold blooded murderer.

“Does it matter? Dead is dead,” Cammie said. “Whether or not I did it on purpose doesn’t mean jack shit.”

"Does matter. And on a coupla levels, sweetie. And you're fulla shit you think I'm gonna believe you don't care about it," she told her with a frown. "Otherwise you wouldn't have brought it up. Way I figure it, the one you got dead was either a major fuck and deserved it or it was a powers thing and you're still not over it."

Cammie looked down at the coffee cup, small flakes of bleach floating to the top and sighed. She couldn’t imagine Greg in anyway deserving what happened to him. “Want to hear the most fucked up story you’ll ever hear?” she asked. She had already told Kurt everything, Lil was almost a friend. “You can’t tell anyone else though.”


"Cross my heart," Lil swore, making a little X with her finger over her chest as the waitress dropped their food onto the table then scurried away leaving the two women in peace. "Nothing you tell me will be repeated to anyone."

"It was the worst homecoming ever..."