Jennie and Wanda - Thursday Evening

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Wanda drops in for a visit after talking to Manuel about her, and finds Jennie in the middle of dealing with something much bigger than she ever imagined.

Warning: This log contains sensitive topics. Viewer discretion is advised.



Transporting articles via motorcycle was sometimes unpleasant but Wanda had been doing it long enough to make sure she packed her bags just right. It did make finding things a bit of a bitch when she had to unpack after the trip but at least it meant that the various gifts she'd brought from her travels were undamaged.

Her first stop was Jennie's suite - she was still concerned based on Manuel's concern and even if she hadn't been, it had been a little while since she'd been by. "Jennie? It's Wanda - I come bearing incredibly tacky gifts from Japan."

"It's open," Jennie's voice sounded from inside the suite. Opening the door revealed the young woman, dressed in yoga pants and an ancient grey t-shirt. Jennie herself looked exhausted. "Hey Wanda," she said tiredly.

Wanda frowned a little as she stepped into the suite, looking Jennie over with a practiced eye. "You look like you've been run through the wringer," she said, dropping her purse on a flat surface. It seemed Manny hadn't been far off the mark. While Jennie was shutting the door, she started to root around in her purse and finally pulled out a number of small, brightly colored tourist gifts.

"You could say that," Jennie's voice sounded distant, even to her own ears. Jennie could go through periods of unkempt, but to someone who knew her well, this being unkempt was part of one of her cycles. Her hair was pulled back after one too many brushings, and her face was scrubbed free of makeup. She kept reaching up to smooth her hair or her bangs. The suite, and by extension her room, were also immaculate, everything placed just so. She eyed the purse as Wanda fiddled through it, hands firmly clasped behind her back.

"I'm not even sure what half of these are but they were amusing, so." Wanda shrugged and her gaze returned to Jennie. She'd known the younger woman for many years now, had been there when she'd woken up after being in Campbell's laboratory and had seen her go through some pretty nasty turns in life. There was a fine line here - push too hard and something could break. Don't push enough and nothing would come of it.

"If you want to talk about it, we can," Wanda finally said. "If not, I can fill our talk with some very bizarre stories of Japan."

Jennie sat on the couch and shifted through the items on her coffee table. Each was adorable and kitsch in it's own way. Under normal circumstances, she would have been thrilled. To see the gifts and to see Wanda. Unfortunately, after what had happened earlier in the week, now was not a normal time.

"Wanda," Jennie said after a minute. "Did you ever think about what it would be like to have kids?"

Wanda quietly sat on the couch next to her and tucked on of her legs under her other one. "A few times," she admitted. "When I was younger and before I came here. Before I realized that my talents would not lend themselves to being a mother." A lover, a mentor to some, but not a mother. "And I was always just a little bit afraid that the type of parent I would be would echo too close to my own."

"What about pregnancy though? Actually carrying the kid?" Jennie rubbed her hands on her pants, not because her palms were sweaty, but because the repetitive motion soothed her. "Being who we are... it doesn't lend itself to being pregnant, does it?"

Something clenched in Wanda's chest. Oh, Jennie... "It could cause complications," she said slowly. "Using it could potentially cause an imbalance." It had really never crossed her mind. She was mostly insulated from her own powers, a potential side effect of trying to keep Chthon's powers and influence as far from her as she could. But Jennie's powers worked differently, for all that they could be similar in execution. "But it's not certain."

"Right," Jennie said quietly. "I thought so."

"But it's not certain," Wanda said gently. "There just aren't enough of us with powers like ours to test it." She took a deep breath. "When did you realize?"

"Realize what? When I was pregnant, or when I wasn't anymore?"

"I'm sorry." And she was. And guilty because she hadn't been there.

Wanda's hand was hovering over the small of Jennie's back - she found herself doing this so often. Jennie, Jake. Offering comfort but only if they were open to accepting it. "It could have been something else entirely than your powers," she said, voice still gentle but crisp. Like she used to be when they were first getting started with working with Jennie's powers.

"Who knows?" Jennie rested her forehead on her clasped fingers. She was slightly sweaty still from the vicodin the doctor had given her for the worst of the cramps. It had been over in a matter of hours. Right when she was getting used to the idea of being pregnant, and had started to make plans. Which were now moot anyway. "Whatever. It's for the best, right?" she said bitterly.

"I sometimes wish I had all the answers and this is one of those cases that I really wish I did." Wanda sighed and gently rubbed Jennie's back, knowing if she moved that it wasn't a snub. Not now and not with everything that had happened. "Is there anything I can do?"

"Undo the last three months of my life?" Jennie said, sitting up straight and wiping her face with the corner of her t-shirt.

Wanda left her arm around Jennie's waist as she smiled ruefully. "If I could, you would be the one I would do it for," she assured her.

A part of Jennie wanted to scream. Demand that Wanda quit touching her, her concern was smothering Jennie. Where had she been, all these months, while Jennie had been suffering? Jennie couldn't tell if Wanda's concern was genuine, or if it masked her guilt. But Jennie couldn't make herself angry enough to care. She felt numb, all the way through. Worse than she felt upon waking up and discovering what Campbell had done to her. At least then, she hadn't been alone. She'd had the boys. But they had all drifted apart, and Jennie knew that was partly her own fault.

And this now? All of this was her fault. The only person she could blame now was herself. She folded in on herself, wishing that she could just fade away.

Wanda did many things to problems and situations. Sometimes, she hit them and they went away. This was not one of those situations. But god, she wish it could be that simple. "I'm sorry," she said again. "For many, many things. For not being here before, for the hell that you had to go through by yourself. It will not change a thing but I am."

I'm done," Jennie said softly. "I'm just... done."

"Considering everything, you have every right to be." Wanda rubbed at the back her neck, suddenly feeling older than her age. "Do you want company for a while?"

"No, if you don't mind. I'd like to be alone for a while," Jennie said, leaning back in the couch and staring off into space.

"I don't mind in the least," Wanda said mildly. And she didn't, really. She hurt for Jennie and though she felt guilty in some aspects, she knew she really wasn't the issue. "I'll stop by later, okay?" She wouldn't step in Jennie's space but she wouldn't drop off the planet.

"Okay," Jennie said. She believed Wanda, for what it was worth. Unfortunately knowing the way the universe worked, later could mean months. But Jennie was okay with that. She didn't foresee being pleasant company for anyone for a long, long time.