Second Thoughts: Decision

[x-velocidad.livejournal.com]

Jean convinces Gabriel to stick around. [Not backdated, which is only exceptional because the rest of this plot is.]


Jean's office suggested she was important, which actually made Gabriel a little nervous. Not that he had any reason to be, since she'd been nothing but nice when they first met, and she had managed to convince her team of vigilante crime-fighting mutants to spring free from the clutches of who-the-fuck-ever. But still, the fact that she was a mind-reading ginger version of Wonder Woman with a big office was pretty intimidating.

Still waiting for her to appear, Gabriel walked over to her desk and inspected it, his eyes landing on a photo of her and — go figure. The gorgeous, professional redhead landed a handsome man too. He leaned in to get a closer look.

The door opened and Jean stepped in, still dressed as sharply had she had been at the bar when they'd first met. This time she traded a well tailored dress for a well tailored pair of dark grey slacks and a navy blue dress shirt that she had tucked in at the waist. She wore a silver necklace in the shape of a phoenix with red jeweled eyes that dangled down to where her bustline started, and a silver choker with an 'X' on her neck.

"I hope you weren't waiting long," Jean said, holding two steaming cups of tea. She offered one to him as she took a seat behind her desk.

"No, not at all." Gabriel took the cup. "Thanks." He eyed her curiously for a second before taking a seat. "I was just admiring your arm candy," he nodded in the direction of the photo. "Hubba hubba."

Jean quirked a brow, following his glance toward the picture on her desk, then laughed. "That's my husband, Scott. We'll have been married for 9 years on December 31st. I'm not going to lie; he is pretty hot."

Gabriel made a noise in agreement. He sipped his tea, continuing to look around her office until he spotted another photo of Jean Grey-Summers and her hot husband. "Is he...?" He looked back at her and gestured around them. "You know. Special. Or afflicted or whatever you want to call it."

"We like to call it gifted," Jean said with a nod. Adding a small cube of sugar to her tea. She offered him the sugar dish and a spoon if he needed it. She kept a small set up in her office in case she needed a pick me up, which was often.

"And yes, he does have abilities as well. Concussive force beams," she added, tapping her temple. "They come out of his eyes. He has to wear special glasses to keep the power at bay after an incident as a child affected his control. He had the control back for a time but certain...circumstances, made him have to go back to wearing them."

Her face went slack at the word 'circumstances,' and she took a sip of tea to mask it.

Gabriel nodded. "Circumstances. Got it." He didn't quite get it, but he figured he'd probably tested her patience too much to pry. "Speaking of circumstances, uh..." He scratched his nose. "Thanks for saving my ass."

Jean smiled. "You're welcome," she said, nodding back in return. She didn't rub it in, hoping the experience would be a hard lesson to not steal from mutants, or anyone else, in the future. She understood sometimes one did what they did because they had no other choice and it turned into habit, but the risk for injury was often high because of it.

"Have there been any lingering effects from the attack?"

"I don't think so?" Gabriel shrugged and looked at his feet. "I mean, my head hurts a little, and everything aches. I haven't quite been able to, you know, test my gifts. Been a little too sore from being sort of paralyzed. But I'm sure they work as well as they used to, for whatever that's worth." Which didn't seem like much.

After a quiet few seconds, he looked back up at her. "You didn't have to come get me, but you did. And you brought me here instead of jail or a hospital or whatever. Why?" He realized how horrible that sounded. "I mean, I'm appreciative, really, I just..." He shrugged again.

"Was expecting to be punished?" Jean said, putting down her teacup on to its saucer. "You messed up, and you faced the consequences. Ones which you could've died from. It's a lesson I hoped you hadn't had to learn about the hard way."

She sighed.

"I don't think you're a bad kid, Gabriel. I just think you've probably had a hard life that taught you that running, and hiding, and relying only on yourself was the only way to get by. And I'm hoping that by showing you that it's not always like that, that you can find a better path."

"A better path." Gabriel snorted. "Doc, I don't even know what that would look like." So far, he'd taken the only path that came to him: running from everything he knew and hustling to make things happen. It hadn't been easy, and he'd made way too many questionable choices, but until she'd shown up, he'd kind of gotten into a rhythm.

Jean smiled. "And I'm sure that's the scary part. But if you keep going the way you're going...it'll get worse before it gets better. What I'm offering is a chance at a better life. Worse comes to worse and it doesn't work out...you can leave any time you want to."

"And that's it?" Gabriel raised an eyebrow as he took another sip of tea. That things could get worse was something he sincerely doubted at the moment, but then again, he'd certainly been proven wrong on that score before. "Where are the strings, Jean?" He wondered for a minute if he should be calling her Dr. Grey-Summers, but that hardly seemed his style.

"I told you before," Jean said, slipping off her glasses. "No stealing, or hustling, or there will be consequences. You get a real job, one that doesn't involve a five finger discount. We teach you how to use your abilities. There are also certain rules that you have to follow, which is the same as everyone else."

There was also the tactical training unit in the basement but she left that out for now. Xavier's had started out as a school, first and for most.

"Think you can handle that?"

"I have a legitimate job," Gabriel said defensively, although it's not like he would have been able to afford some of the more fun aspects of his life had he lived on his legitimate income alone. In any event, he understood the message: If you want to live here, shape up or shape out. That didn't sound so appealing, but the abilities thing... well, that was intriguing. It wasn't like Gabriel had complete control over his speed - sometimes it seemed to show up without him willing it, and other times he had trouble turning it off.

"Yet you still get by by taking things that aren't yours," Jean said, picking up her tea again. "And it nearly cost you your life."

She took a long sip. "I'm offering you a chance to start over and to learn more about yourself in the process. I know it can sound too good to be true, but I'm hoping you'll take the time to reconsider."

"Now see, that kind of judgment is just unwarranted." Gabriel smiled and rolled his eyes as a way to show he wasn't actually offended, and that he was maybe taking her a little seriously, even if he knew they weren't entirely on the same page when it came to morality.

Jean smirked, a sparkle flickering across her green eyes. "I'm a teacher. Being judgmental is part of the job description."

"Okay." He straightened in his chair a little. "No more stealing. Message received." He wondered if she knew just how unsavory some of his other income-earning activities had been, and that made him wonder if she was reading his mind, which just started to give him a headache. Probably better not to think about that. "I do like a lot of things about my life, you know?" He bet that sounded as unconvincing to her as it did to him.

She finished off her tea. "I'm sure you do," she said, unmoved. "But it also landed you in our medlab. And next time...who knows?" She let him finish that thought on his own.

"Join or die?" Gabriel gave her a skeptical look. That sounded a little too absolute. "Some pitch." He glanced down at his half-full tea cup, knowing she was a little right. That night did not have to end the way it did, and he was lucky to have her care enough to come rescue him. Lord only knows what his two unhinged pursuers might have done.

"That's not what I meant," Jean said. She saw him going down a path that would only lead to trouble so she was trying to help.

"Here's the thing," he finally said, looking up from his hands. "I don't—I'm not a house cat anymore." His gaze landed on a photo of a younger Jean and an older man Gabriel assumed to be her grandfather. It was surrounded by more photos of people he could only assume were family. "I haven't lived by someone else's rules for a while. I can't imagine it being easy to adjust to that, although that might be easier out here where there's no distraction. But my... what, gift? Powers? Abilities? Mystery magic?" He looked back at her. "I could use some help with that."

Jean nodded. "We could do that," she said, steepling her hands and leaning her chin on them. She smiled.

"You're not a house cat anymore, though?"

"No, you know." Gabriel shifted, a little uncomfortable. "I mean, I haven't lived under someone else's roof since — well, for a while. I don't know if I know how to be domesticated or whatever. Not that I'm super wild or anything, just, like... I like my freedom."

Jean caught the trepidation in the man's voice. His fear of being 'trapped' seemed to almost border on phobia. There was an underlying cause there, something she left alone for now. She wanted him to feel like he could speak to her and that took time.

"Consider it a trial period. You're welcome to leave any time you like."

Gabriel was quiet, looking intently at his tea instead of her. Things like school and church had done him wrong in the past, and staying here felt a little like going back to that world of structure and order, something he'd been keen on avoiding. Plus, while he'd been lucky not to get asked much about who he was or where he came from (or, for that matter, his real age), he knew eventually he'd have to lay everything bare for Jean. Which meant talking about things he hadn't thought about in months and was desperately trying to push out of his mind.

He looked up to tell her that, but seeing how kindly the woman was looking at him, and thinking about his talk with Purple Clarice earlier made him pause. Jean had come to rescue him, and she'd brought him here to recover and recuperate. There was a warmth to this place that he hadn't felt since leaving home, and that was attractive.

"Okay," Gabriel finally said quietly. He hadn't slowed down since coming to New York. Maybe this would do him some good.

The decision made a warm smile blossom across Jean's face. "Great," she said, rising from her chair. She was glad to hear it.

"Would you like a tour? There's quite a bit to see."

"Uh." Gabriel placed his cup on a nearby table and stood. "Sure." Her genuine excitement surprised him, but he smiled to match her expression. It was nice to feel wanted. "I'll probably need to go back into the city at some point, though." It wasn't like Gabriel had much stuff, but there were things he'd want to liberate out of his apartment if he was going to spend some time here.

"Of course," Jean said. "I expected you would. I can take you back when we're done with the tour if you'd like."

"Oh, um." Gabriel scratched the back of his neck, unsure if he wanted Jean to see the cramped closet he called home. "Yeah, sure," he finally said. "That sounds great." Actually, at this point he'd gotten off scot-free. He hadn't mentioned his age, his powers problems, how he'd even ended up in New York (and what he'd had to do to get there) or anything. It wasn't like his shitty apartment was all that atypical.

Jean knew there was more to Gabriel than he let on. There was always more to a person than they seemed. She just preferred to let him get comfortable first. He had built up a thick armor that kept him from letting anyone in while allowing him to run away from his problems. The hope was that he'd find some trust at the school and be able to let down that armor a little.

"Good," she said, nodding as the door opened on it's own and Jean motioned toward it. "Shall we?"

"Oh God, is that how people talk out in the country?" Gabriel made a face. Their conversation had been the longest he'd gone without a wisecrack in a while, and he needed some levity after the way the last 24 hours had been. "Lead on, doc."

"Better get used to it," Jean said with smirk as she headed out of her office. "It only gets worse from here. Wait until you see the motor pool."