North, Adrienne, and Cecelia - Motorcycle Madness

[x-adrienne.livejournal.com]

David and Adrienne start their Sunday with a motorcycle race but the fun and games are cut short when Adrienne wipes out. Cecelia is on the receiving end of the medlab call and her initial meeting of David is made awkward by Adrienne's fix-up attempts.

Adrienne and David were enjoying their Sunday morning together.

They were just two leather-clad, motorcycle-riding figures weaving through highway traffic in the early hours of the day. Of course the speed that they were going at was beyond ridiculous, but what did that matter?

With his body bent forward against his bike, almost parallel to the ground, David leaned dangerously to the left and cut sharply in between a truck and an SUV, not needing his powers to know that the driver of the SUV was hurling some kind of vulgarity at him. Lips curved in a smirk, hidden behind a dark visor, and he chuckled into the comm device attached to his helmet.

“Keep up, Princess.”

It had been far too long since Adrienne had raced on a motorcycle, and she was thoroughly enjoying herself, weaving in and out of traffic with abandon. She flipped David off and cut in the opposite direction, across the shoulder of the highway. "You're saying that like it's a problem, Ninja," she smirked as she wove back into traffic, dangerously close to getting in his path as she whipped across the lane.

“On your left,” he quipped, sweeping in so that they were wheel-to-wheel next to each other. The next mile or so seemed clear, save for a heavy duty truck on the right-most lane. Which was practically an all-clear.

The exhilaration from the adrenaline rush was enough to make anyone giddy, not to mention the world that blurred out around them into nonsensical lines of colour as they sped down the highway. At this speed, he could practically ignore the flipping images in his head. It was a heady feeling, almost as good as a 60 year old malt whiskey, if one had to draw an analogy.

So David gave his bike a bit more gas and charged ahead, Adrienne falling away from his peripheral view before he made a wide bank into her immediate path of travel.

"Comin' through!" Adrienne hollered obnoxiously into the comm as North rode into her path, making honking noises and grinning like an idiot. She swerved to avoid him, then accelerated into his blind spot. "That's dirty pool, old man," she muttered as she wrenched the throttle to hurtle herself ahead of him, swerving into traffic once again. "Catch me if you can!”

If he could? David snorted, slipping speedily between cars. He rode the lane divider for a stretch, executing a swift lane-change when a car filtered out of the overtaking lane, his timing too perfect to be anything but a fore-planned maneuver. “Sometimes it is like you forget whom you are talking to,” he informed her, voice only just audible over the roar of their engines.

"I don't forget," Adrienne shrugged, riding alongside him to grin at him through her helmet, "I know exactly what to say to you to get the reaction I want. Ugh, goddamned minivans!" she yelled, resisting the urge to flip the slow-moving vehicle off after seeing there were kids in it, instead just zooming past it and biting her lip as a painful reminder that she shouldn't cut it off. She swerved around a semi and back onto the lane divider. "Hey Ninja; fifty points if you do an action-movie move and slide under that truck!" she teased.

"What would I be able to do with 50 points?" He asked blandly, glancing at the truck for a whole second -- long enough to watch himself crash and burn in his mind's eye -- before dismissing it with a wave. He had a better counter proposal. "Breakfast on the last person to make it to the end of the bridge."

Because food was always the choice of currency in his books. That or blood.

"Hey; Frost points are redeemable at many fine retailers!" Adrienne teased. "They're even redeemable through me or Emma." It would amuse her greatly if he ever mentioned that to her sister. "But fine, breakfast it is. Don't flip your bike into the water, now, Ninja," she warned jokingly, throttling ahead of him and leaving him to chase.

David did not bother with words, choosing the most direct path to their end point -- down the centre divider. It was like magic, the way that he curved around vehicles changing lanes and smoothly avoided all collisions. To be fair, he had had on the job practice and a power set that gave a distinct advantage, but that hardly meant that Adrienne was a slouch in any way.

Adrienne squinted ahead as she watched David maneuver gracefully past her, admiring the technique. "Nice moves, Ninja," she praised. She was struggling to quell her competitive nature, reminding herself over and over that she needed to be safe rather than win a casual road race, but it was certainly difficult. The brunette decided she wouldn't challenge him recklessly, but she wouldn't let him win by too much, either. "Where'd you learn these fancy moves?" she asked, accelerating so she was the minimum safe distance from his back wheel. "Study ballet or something?"

"Modern dance, actually," he replied, slowing down by a fraction as they exited the bridge and rode down the slope at a more respectable space. "Every ninja needs to learn how."

"Really?" Adrienne made an approving noise as she took in the scenery of the slope. They were in the direction of the mansion again and she watched landmarks sail by that she saw on a regular basis, looking casually for any changes in the way that people did when they were invested in their communities. "Did you learn through the mansion? With Jennie Stavros, I mean?" Remembering the time she'd spent learning dance and self defense took her back a few years.

"No." There was a slight pause and then with laughter bubbling in his undertone: "I was lying."

"You dick!" Adrienne crowed with a laugh. "Just for that I'm giving your name to Stavros and making you take a lesson with her. Of course," she added with a smirk, "she's really hot, so, y'know, I'm sure it would be a real hardship."

“I have no idea what you are talking about, Princess,” David mocked, easing up on his speed a bit more as they entered a smaller road. “Hot women are dangerous. Especially dancing ones who wear heels that can stab a man in his heart. Are you headed back to the mansion?”

"I'm not in a hurry," Adrienne answered lightly. She would have shrugged if she hadn't been otherwise occupied. "And if you're scared of hot women, I believe Kurt Wagner also teaches dance? But I dunno, I think teleporters are much more dangerous than hot women with heels. But maybe that's just because I generally wear heels that can stab a man in his heart, and I'd like to hope they'd work just as well against dangerous women, so I feel adequately prepared. I'm gonna make some steel-reinforced heels for Wade," she added with a smirk; "would you like a pair as well? For protection?"

"No, thank you," he said plainly. "I leave such weapons of mass destruction in your capable hands. Are we heading to the mansion?"

"Why do you keep asking me that?" Adrienne questioned. "Do you have to take a leak or something? Okay, fine," she muttered before he could answer. "We'll head back."

David chuckled. "I have to be in the office in the afternoon. But of course, I obligingly escort the Princess back to the mansion and claim my hard earned breakfast first."

"My hero," the brunette smirked. "So what's up at the office?" she inquired casually as they headed back- at a much more leisurely pace- towards the mansion. "People to blackmail, countries to liberate? Kittens to rescue from trees? Or do Trenchcoats not do that kind of thing?"

"Paperwork," he said, sounding almost grim. "Mountains of it. I risk them taking over my office if I do not get there in time."

Adrienne made a face. "Can't the witches in your office just magick that shit to complete it?" she asked him. "I mean, what good is magic if you can't use it to get out of paperwork, right?"

"There would be paperwork for getting witches to do the paperwork," he said drolly. Their speed had picked up on a straight road as they left the city proper. "Do you really want to do that to me?" North abruptly fell quiet and frowned as his visions did something funny, his 'head' turning from the bend to look behind him.

"I dunno," Adrienne said in a tone that indicated she would be shrugging if she could. "I think there must've been a reason you left what you used to do and became a Trenchcoat. I think you secretly loooooooove paperwork. You just don't want anyone to know." They approached the turn onto the drive of the mansion's long, treed driveway and reduced the speed they'd picked up from the straightaway. Adrienne leaned into the wide right turn, failing to notice a smattering of broken safety glass from a car window near the edge of the asphalt. In the blink of an eye her bike slid out from under her and she found herself sprawling to the road, the bike pinning her right leg. She was too stunned to make any noise as she hit the ground, the wind knocked from her lungs.

Well, shit. North screeched to a halt, quickly abandoning his bike by the side of the road as he ran back to where Adrienne lay on the ground. "Talk to me, Princess."

Carefully lifting her bike upright, he flicked open the stand and switched on the blinkers, hitting the speed dial on his phone for Xavier's infirmary and clamping it between his ear and shoulder. His actions were quick but calm, no signs of agitation on him as he carefully checked her over, not quite moving her from position just yet. "Princess."

Fighting nausea and the fact that she momentarily forgot how to breathe, Adrienne blinked rapidly several times as her brain struggled to catch up to what had just happened. When it did, she flipped the visor of her helmet up and made a face at North. "That was graceful, at least, right?" She asked, raising an eyebrow at him. "Tell me I could be an Olympic diver."

She lay back on the road, taking stock of herself, setting a mental reminder to thank Vanessa for instilling upon her the importance of the best safety gear she could afford. She flexed her fingers and her wrists, then rotated her arms at the elbows and shoulders, deciding that her kevlar-enforced leather jacket and gloves were her favourite purchases ever. Well, maybe after her helmet. And the reinforced leather pants that had kept her from leaving a layer of her ass on the road. Her head was swimming a little with the nausea, but when she put her gloved hands on the helmet she couldn't feel any cracks or other compromises.

The only other part of her that didn't feel right was her right leg. It looked fine, no skid marks or torn fabric or skin, but she realized it was the cause of her nausea and the stars that were circling her vision. "Are you on the phone with Jean? Tell her at least it was my own bike and not Scott's," Adrienne instructed, running a little high on adrenaline. "Also, I think my leg might be broken."

"The other doctor," David informed her, deeming it safe enough to remove her helmet so she could breathe properly. Someone on the other line said something and he amended: "Dr Reyes." Pause. "She fell from her bike turning into the school compound. Head, upper limbs and torso are fine. Right leg was crushed under her bike and may be fractured or broken. Please come and collect her."

It was highly unlikely that he waited for a response as the man hung up immediately after relaying the information.

"Only you," he said. "Would race through New York City and decide to crash only at the gates of your home."

Adrienne contemplated that comment for a second, and decided that bursting out laughing was the most appropriate response she had right now. "Is my bike okay?" she asked when she stopped laughing. "And can you see what the fuck I slipped on?"

Rather than stand and leave her side, he looked to the side and concentrated for a moment, posture poised to stand and walk away. "Glass. Safety glass from a car window. Your bike is fine. Paint job is a little bit scratched, but nothing too bad." He looked down at her consideringly for a moment then crouched lower into a full squat. She did not look like she was going to go into shock. "I am going to pick you up, all right?"

After all, if it was not Jean on medical bay duty, the doctor may not have the necessary manpower or mutant ability to lift Adrienne. May as well meet her half way even if she did. "I will come back for the bikes later."

"Traditionally I think a drink is supplied before picking up, but, y'know, I might make an exception this time," Adrienne quipped with a shrug, holding her arms out to North while biting her lip against the pain in her leg.

"I will buy you one the moment you are off your pain medications," he promised, carefully picking her up. David tried his best not to jostle her foot, but some pain was inadvertent. He would also have to clear up the glass in the drive way and shift their bikes and arrange for a repair job on hers. His work would have to wait. Or be pawned off to Black. "As long as I have your reassurance that there will be no apportionment of blame to me for this."

It was a pretty self-serving statement, probably. But he really would not care much for such confrontations.

Adrienne made a face at him. "It's sweet that you think anyone who knows me would harbour even the slightest thought that anyone other than myself would be the cause of an accident I got into." It was her roundabout way of saying that everyone knew she was the kind of person who needed absolutely no help to get into some scrape or another. "So yeah," she added with a smirk, "unless you did the paperwork to magically engineer it so that I couldn't see the glass on the road, you have my reassurance that no one's going to think anything besides the fact that you're my knight in shining armour."

"The question, then, Princess," he said gravely, long strides eating up the distance from the gates to the main doors as he tried not to let the discomfort of someone clinging to him distract him. "Is why you did not see the glass, even under the sun. They were not a small pieces, by any shot."

"Wasn't paying attention. I was looking at the flowers instead of the road," Adrienne mumbled, even though that was a lie. She was looking at the road- she just hadn't seen the glass. But she wasn't about to admit that to anyone."It wasn't Amelia on the phone when you called the medlab, was it?" she asked to change the subject, a look of horror crossing her face.

"No, the new one. Dr Reyes," he informed her, accepting her excuse without comment. To be fair, most of his concentration was focused on opening the doors with his elbow. Also, he generally did not like doctors. "I have not met her before."

Adrienne's eyes went wide as she realized that trying to match Cecelia up with North was going to be her new life's mission, but the look of dawning revelation was quickly replaced with a grimace as her leg was jarred. The adrenaline rush was beginning to wear off and the pain was encroaching on the space it had occupied. "You'll like her, she's sassy," she told North with a weak smile.

The door swung open, and right on cue, there stood Cecilia, a mix of concern and disapproval on her face. "Madre de— are you all right?" She tried to take the whole scene in - Adrienne, clearly in pain despite the thin smile on her face, and a tall, older man carrying her who she had never before seen. "What exactly..." She shook her head. "Does it never occur to you people to call ambulances once in a while?" She blinked and looked up at the man. "And who the hell are you?"

"I'm okay. I wiped out turning up the damned drive," Adrienne explained with a shrug in reply to Cecelia's comment about the ambulance. "Besides, I hate all doctors except you and Jean. And George Clooney. No way I'm going to a hospital unless you two and George Clooney are there. Oh! He's North. He's your new boyfriend," she added with a grin. "I've decided. He's a also a knight in shining armour. And a ninja. Isn't he hot?"

“Perhaps I was wrong and you hit your head after all,” North said, voice dry as he nodded at the unfamiliar doctor in greeting, arms tightening around Adrienne in subtle warning. “This was the fastest way to get her to you, Ma’am. I checked for neck and other limb injuries. She had all the necessary gear on, but her bike landed on her leg.” And there was no real protection against that most times. “The inanity was a pre-existing condition.”

Cecilia snorted. "No need to tell me that. Suppose you can carry her a little further, North?" She turned, not waiting for an answer. "Come on. Medlab. X-rays. Crutches. Lectures on the dangers of motorcycles."

"Motorcycles aren't dangerous," Adrienne grumbled, screwing up her face in frustration. "Glass on the damned road is dangerous, but that wasn't my fault, so no lectures are necessary!" She sounded like she'd just solved a complex math equation. "And I'm pretty sure I definitely hit my head," she added thoughtfully, "since I was sprawled out and all. But the helmet did what I paid it for. Paid for it for? Paid for it to do? Whatever. Can I have a wheelchair instead of crutches, so I can go around pretending to be the Professor?" she asked Cecelia, before her eyes went wide and she turned to North. "Shit! I owe you breakfast! Don't think I did this just to get out of paying the bet, okay?"

David muttered something in German under his breath and carried Adrienne a little closer to himself as they made their way down to the medlab. True to his nature, he said nothing, although with the brunette peering up at him as she was, she would have seen the quick roll of his eyes.

As Adrienne was set carefully down on the table, North stepped back and stretched his shoulders, hearing the crack in his joints as he did so. "You owe me more than breakfast now, Princess."

Cecilia grabbed a fingertip pulse monitor before approaching the table. "Any nausea? Headaches, dizziness, anything like that? Wait. Hold on." She stuck the monitor on Adrienne's fingertip. "And where exactly does it hurt?"

"I'll try my best to get Cecelia's phone number for you," Adrienne told North in a reassuring voice as a response to his mention of her owing him more than breakfast. She switched her attention over to Cecelia with a sweet smile and tried to stay focused, but her attention skipped back to North. "You don't have to stick around for this, you know. I know you wanted to get back."

“… Yes,” he agreed after a beat, brows arching briefly as he rooted around in a pocket for his phone. If only because she already sounded like she had been medicated up to her eyeballs and his instincts (or paranoia) were telling him that something was amiss. David did not want to be around while anything else went down. “I will leave you in Dr Reye’s capable hands then. Have a good day, ladies.”

Then, being the pleasant and amiable gentleman that he was, he turned sharply on his booted heel and left, already becoming quickly absorbed in the fascinating contents of his Blackberry.

Cecilia watched him depart, eyebrows raised, before turning her attention back to Adrienne. "So? Concussion?"

"Wow, he took off fast," Adrienne murmured, looking appreciatively after North as he made his departure. "Not sure if he's more scared of me or you. Oh." She frowned as she focused on Cecelia's question. "Not too sure? Last time I was concussed I threw up. I feel like I'm gonna throw up this time, but I think that's more because my leg hurts so damn much and less because of my head? Not too sure," she repeated. "Do I suck if I say I kinda don't wanna get familiar enough with concussions to know right away what one feels like?"

"Living here as long as you have," Cecilia said dryly, "I'm surprised you're not already aware." She stood, removing the fingertip monitor and blood pressure cuff she'd applied. "Your vitals look okay, lady danger. Unless you've got pain anywhere but your leg, we've got to get you X-rays."

"Touche," Adrienne mumbled when she heard the comment about living at the mansion. "Ooo! Lady Danger! I love that! And no, no pain anywhere else. But the leg pain is quite enough for me," she smirked through gritted teeth. "But... no painkillers any stronger than Aspirin, yeah? Former addict and all. I had tylenol with codeine a few years ago when I broke my collarbone-" since she wasn't sure if that would be on her medical records "-but I had better control, because my life was less complicated then or whatever. Less messy. And yet I was being investigated for murder. What the fuck does that say about my life here?"

"Not much, sadly. Sounds pretty average." Cecilia shrugged and smirked. "No narcotics. We can do that." Although chances were that Adrienne would be in a little more pain than Cecilia personally would have found acceptable. But that probably just depended on how badly broken her leg was, and it seemed like Adrienne could be fairly tolerant of discomfort.

Cecilia walked away to take some notes for Adrienne's records. "Give me a second, and we'll get a closer look. You want to tell me about being accused of murder?"

"There's not that much to tell, sadly," Adrienne murmured, shrugging. "He was an abusive prick. With my powers I saw there was a good chance I wouldn't make it out of the marriage alive. I hired someone to kill him, and the guy did the job. Too much paperwork to get a divorce," she joked wryly. "But don't ask me for the name of the guy I hired in case you're getting any ideas," she added with mock self-righteousness. "Dating a Mountie has made me incredibly lame and mostly-law-abiding. Although you don't seem like the type to hire someone to take someone out- and I mean that as the highest compliment," she smirked.

"Don't think I haven't thought about it." Cecilia raised an eyebrow at how casually Adrienne revealed all this. She shouldn't have been shocked at the casual way people here referred to murder - even including Wade, who had proven to be one of her closest friends these days. Still, with Adrienne lying on the table, she found it easier to swallow. "But I took an oath, and so they tend to frown on hit men, so here we are."

"Damn 'they'," Adrienne cursed melodramatically. "But, y'know what? It's okay. Because in my head you and North are totally going to become a Thing, and he would totally kill people for you. Probably for free. And he wouldn't leave a trail that traces back to you, I bet."

"I don't—Adrienne." Cecilia shook her head. "There are so many things that are wrong with everything you just said that I'm just going to have to ignore it all and chalk the crazy up to residual trauma from your fall." She finished her notes, silently cursing herself for ever giving Adrienne the idea to set her up in the first place.

"Okay, sister." She returned to the exam table, a warm smile on her face. "Let's get you checked out so we can make sure we don't need to amputate."