xp_logs | Kurt and Tim Black, Sunday morning (Reply)

Tim gets to know his daughter's teacher a little better.

Rounding the corner into the kitchen, Tim Black was still walking on air practically to have his daughter back in his home. But still, being not only the father-type but the doctor-type as well, he felt like he needed to make sure that everything about his daughter's life had been going well. Especially after the horrible things he had found out about her birth mother. The mere mention still sent shivers down his spine. As he walked into the kitchen, he found the person he was looking for, quickly extending his hand in front of him. "Mr. Sefton, is it?"
Kurt looked round quickly and smiled, turning to shake Tim's hand. "Sefton, yes, though you can call me Kurt if you wish. You have a very nice home, Mr. Black."

"Thank you very much." But quickly Tim was back into father mode as he pulled up a chair next to the professor. Trying to catch him in the eyes, he leaned forward. "Now, I don't mean to be accusatory towards you but, what were you doing letting a girl without a driver's license behind the wheel of a car?"

Kurt blinked, then cast his eyes towards the ceiling. "She told me she had a license, and nothing on the journey led me to believe otherwise. Trust me, she will not be driving us back if I have to teleport all the way."

Tim quickly leaned back, clutching his chest. "Good, because I had no idea how I could be intimidating around you." Pushing back from the table, he turned back towards his guest. "Is there anything I could get you? Maybe some tea?" After the awkward moment, Tim hoped that he could lighten the mood for a bit.

"I will always accept tea." He smiled, trying to get across the lack of hard feelings. He understood family protectiveness, after all.

Already transferring the pot onto the top of the stove, Tim began speaking over his shoulder to Kurt. "So, if you don't mind me asking, how has my daughter been getting along? I'm afraid she may not tell me everything because she's afraid it may worry me or her mother."

"I know that must concern you - it is a common fear among the parents at the school. But I can honestly say Cammie is doing well. She had a time of... adjustment, but now she is holding down jobs and I think going for her GED."

Tim couldn't conceal his smile as he turned on the burner and sat back down. "I always knew she could, but after the accident here, I wasn't sure that she would ever live down the guilt. I owe you, and the others at the school a great deal of gratitude."

"I cannot promise that has completely left her", Kurt said more guardedly. "But she is making progress, at least. And that is what the school is for, to take in those who need it."

"Well regardless, the fact that it has been there has been a Godsend for us." Leaning forward, he rested his chin on his hands. "But I'll never be able to say that her mother and I don't miss her around the house when she's gone."

"I am glad you do", Kurt returned instantly. "It is good for her to know that you do, too. To know that she can always return to a welcome here."

"She always is, but I don't know how she deals with it. Especially after everything she's been through, I don't know how she gets up enough confidence to leave the school." He paused for a second as his mind drifted off to a far away place for a second. "To this day it sickens me. What they put her through. Experimenting on mutant kind. It's... it's just unthinkable."

"Worse has been done, believe me", was the quiet response. "Not that I condone what her mother did, or her choice to leave Cammie unaware of what could happen until the accident, but... in terms of experimentation, worse has been done."

"That will always get to me. The fact that people are so intolerant of others that may make them just a little bit different. It's, it's just..." But Tim was cut off by the whistling of the kettle on the stove. "If you'll excuse me for a bit." Pushing up from his position, he quickly made his way over to the stove, but continued to think over Kurt's words.

"You are good people, you and your wife." Kurt pitched his voice above the sound of the kettle, intent on being heard. "For those views, and for not turning Cammie away as some would have. I hope you know that."

Pouring his guests tea into a mug, Tim quickly turned and sat back down at the table, pushing the mug forward. "Would you mind if I asked you a personal question Mr. Sefton?"

"Feel free." He cupped his hands around the mug, looking up at Tim. "I will answer it as best I can."

Tim squinted his eyes and he leaned forward. "How do you do it? I mean every day you wake up to a world that hates your kind, and it'd be hard to hide the fact that your different? How do you deal with them, let alone protect people like them?"

He gave that due thought, as the question merited. "I have looked like this all my life, Mr. Black, so I think perhaps that helps. I have never had to get used to suddenly being different, because I have never known anything else. And I, like Cammie, was adopted by baseline humans as an infant, parents who loved me as you love her. I deal with things because I must, and I protect them because I must." He paused for a moment. "And I have been given hope that sometimes, protecting them and theirs may make a difference in their opinions. There was a woman and child, the family of a Friend of Humanity, I was given the chance to rescue from great danger some months ago. Her mind, I know, was set on changing his."

"I am always amazed by mutants Mr. Sefton." A smirk appeared on his lips. "No matter how much you think you know, even when raising one from birth, there's always something there that's new and amazes you."

"I think that would be the case with any child." It was only very slightly a rebuke, because Tim had certainly meant well. "I know my little sisters still have it in them to surprise me."

Tim chuckled. "I'll bet. Have you ever considered having children of your own?"

"I would love to adopt", Kurt said frankly. "But children biologically... no, I think not. It was not easy for me growing up, even in the heart of my clan. I would not put anyone through that knowing the genes are dominant. Also", he added with a wry quirk, "I would not want to risk their grandmother getting hold of them."

"Well I wouldn't rule out adoption. I think you'd make a great father."