Rogue and Julian -- Meet the parents

[x-traction.livejournal.com]

In which Julian and Rogue go and see her family. It ends exactly as expected.



She didn't want to let go of the steering wheel. In fact, she didn't want to go into the house at all.

This must've been why Julian insisted on coming along.

They had been sitting there in silence for five minutes‎ before she spoke. "This isn't going to go well. Why am I doing this? They made it clear a few years ago that nothing was going to change, so why am I here?"

The last person to give a pep-talk on how people can change, especially parents, Julian gave a shrug, "Closure? Just to see if they really are the colossal ass-hats you've made them out to be?"

She smirked. "Sometimes, I wonder how much of my teenager perspective has bled over into my adult." She went to undo her seatbelt and stopped. "By the way, last time I saw them, Logan was with me. I'm sure some comment about me having a new guy will come up. My mother, while perfectly Southern, has no tact."

She took a deep breath‎, finished unbuckling herself and opened the door. Smoothing out her tunic, she readjusted her gloves and gave a little nod. Once she was sure Julian was ready, she crossed the road, and walked up to the small townhouse. Before she could knock, she heard voices laughing and froze. "Oh dear god," she whispered loudly to her friend. "Am I hearing that right? Who has Thanksgiving lunch? Oh my gawd, we should leave...."
It was too late. The door swung open, and there was Uncle Jerome, clearly shocked to see her there. "Marie? What y'all doin' heah! An' with some fancy man! Sharon! Come see who be showin' up for Thanksgiving! ‎ Come on in chile, we been wonderin' 'bout you for some time now. Sharon!! Did you heah me?!"

Julian tensed as he was ushered in by the large, at-least-half-creole, man who was apparently related to Rogue some how, he glanced over at his fellow captive who looked petrified. Raising an eyebrow, he mouthed the word, 'Marie' to her.

"What on God's green Earth are ya'll yellin about out heah, Jerome? Ah swear you'll wake the dead..." Sharon D'Ancato trailed off as she stepped out of her home. Her eyes immediately locked onto the two people in her relative's arms. The first was a young man who she knew wasn't from around here just by the state of his dress. Her eyes slowly trailed over to the second person in Jerome's arms and her heart just about stopped. She put her palm over her chest and held back tears. "Marie? Is that you? And a new man this time too, Ah see." She replied, her voice dropping a bit near the end of her statement. She twitched, undecided between moving and staying put, before she rushed forward to stand in front of her daughter. "Where have you been!? You look half-starved. Ah told you those Yanks don't know how ta feed a Southern lady. No offense." She added with a brief look a Julian, her gaze darkening as she turned ‎back to her daughter and crossed her arms.

Her mother must be drunk. That's all Rogue thought as she rambled on.‎ "Mama, I told ya where I've been. You knew it,and Daddy too. If you wanted me heah so bad, ya could've called or something."

The minute she said it, she knew it wasn't a good thing to say. She needed to let her anger go. "Is everyone heah? I thought you'd be doing dinner... oh! and this is Julian, one of my best friends. He kindly drove down with me to keep me company."

Freeing himself from Uncle Jerome's grip, "I'm terribly sorry to intrude on your hospitality ma'am," he put on his best manners as he extended his hand with a put-on smile. "If it's any trouble, we could come back later. But, Ro...er...Marie, was really looking forward to seeing you."

"Ah'm sure ya'll had no idea that you'd be intrudin on our family lunch, bein as we haven't gotten so much as a letter from Marie in an age." Sharon answered, taking Julian's hand in a light handshake. "Ah mean, would you abandon your mother to go gallivanting off with god knows who, Mr. Julian? Ah guess mah feelings don't matter. Marie, you'd best go inside ta see ya daddy. Lord knows you got more to make up to him than ta me." She added.


The anger was already building ‎up in Rogue. How was she supposed to speak to them when they'd MOVED and provided no forwarding address. And her dad?

But she was a good girl. Sighing, she went into the house, leaving Julian in the hands of her mother. May as well get this over w‎ith.

All eyes seemed to remain on the Yankee as Rogue left to see her father in the next room, "It is a lovely home you've made for yourself, Miss..." unsure of her last name he plunged forward, "I particularly like the trim- did you do that yourself?" He was acutely aware of his mellow California accent and how it clashed with the twangy southern drawl everyone else seemed to have.
"Thank you. Nice to see that some of you Yanks have been raised right. And no, Ah didn't do the trim. Ah have my husband to thank for that. Now, Mr. Julian, Ah have ta ask. What are ya'll doin with my girl up there? Ah'm afraid Ah don't read up much on...mutant affairs." Rogue's mother asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

Julian cocked his head to the side slightly and raised an eyebrow, "You don't have mutants around here?" He inwardly winced, not meaning to poke the bear in this delicate situation- it had just come out.

"Well Ah imagine that we do. From what I heah in the papers, you mutants are everywhere. Still, this is a Southern community and such thing aren't talked about 'round here." She answered.

A beat of silence filled the room- someone coughed off to the side. "Well then," Julian's grinned widened as he floated a glass of what he hoped was some sort of moon-shine off a side-board and into his hand. Tipping the glass slightly he took a sip, surprised to find it was a sweet (if not cheap) white wine. "Wal-mart brand, I take it?"


~*~*

Not even five minutes in the house, and she was obeying her mother blindly. Sending up a silent prayer for Julian's safety, she headed inside to the back. She heard her father's laugh and followed it to a small patio where he stood with a few cousins.

The shock on everyone's face but her father's was hard to ignore. "Hiya Daddy," she said, hugging herself tightly. The man ‎took a sip of his drink, and put it down, looking at her for a few minutes in complete silence.

One by one, the cousins filtered out of the room, not even bothering to make excuses. When they were alone, he finally spoke. "So. You're heah. Why?"

Hardly the welcome she was expecting, she merely shrugged. "Thought it'd be nice. Haven't seen y'all in a long time.‎ It's Thanksgiving." There was still no emotion on his face, and she couldn't help herself. "Do I really need an excuse to see mah family?"

"Told you last time -- we ain't yo family. We raised ya best we could, and then y'all went and turned mutant on us. Don't think there's much else ta say bout that.". His cool deamanour didn't change.‎ "Now Ah think ya best be goin' 'afore ya upset yo mother."

Rogue saw stars. The anger she'd been bottling up exploded at his ‎lack of caring. "That's it?," she screamed out. "That's all you have to say? You raised me for 17 years, and all you can say is ya raised me right? What kind of father are you?"

He finished his drink and repeated himself slowly.‎ "We did right by you. You never wanted for nothin'. Now you're an adult. Y'all don't need us. Go get yo fancy man, and leave."

She could feel tears welling up in her eyes but she refused to give in to it. She wouldn't give him that satisfaction. With a firm nod, she turned to leave the patio before stopping. Without turning around, ‎she asked a question she'd wanted the answer to for a long time.

"If I wasn't a mutant, would you still love me?"

There was no hesitation to his answer. "Yes."

Moving as quickly as she could, she bypassed Julian and her mother, offering only a feeble wave and nod goodbye before she ran out of the house and into the car.

It wasn't too much longer when the tears started flowing freely down her face.

Julian didn't even get a chance to say something to her as she passed- the room falling into silence. Turning back to her mother who looked not-the-least-bit-concerned, Julian sighed, finishing the glass of wine. "It looks like we're leaving," he said dryly, setting the glass on the table. "I suppose you will all remember this holiday as the one where mutants came to dinner." He turned to leave, waving the few shocked gasps off, then stopped in the doorway, turning to scan the room. "That woman that just left," he pointed his thumb behind himself, "is a better person than any of you...you should all be lucky to have her in your life." Pointing at her foster-mother, "Your loss." With that, he turned and headed down the steps after Rogue.