Julian & Cecilia | A Doctor's Visit

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On Thursday morning, Julian gets a check-up. Because you're supposed to get one every time you jump realities, folks. Doctor's orders.

The metal edging on the exam table was cold against his bare backside- which was already cold from the cycled air of the medlab. Julian was thankful for the small mercy of a exam gown which covered most of his front as he waited for his doctor to return with the results of his test. When the door opened he cracked an uneasy smile, "You know if you wanted to see my butt, all you had to do was ask, Doctor Reyes."

"Cute, Mr. Keller." Cecilia responded in a way that she suggested that it wasn't. She held his chart in her hands but dropped it onto a counter so she could grab some hand sanitizer. "I'll be sure to keep that in mind," she added just as dryly.

As she went to shut the door behind her, a shaggy golden retriever pushed his way into the room. "Oh, PD..." Pizza Dog looked up at Julian and let out a plaintive whimper, prompting Cecilia to sigh. "Do you mind? He's not—I know it's not standard, but he's been craving attention."

"I'm here because of my lack of open wounds, I don't see any reason to stand on best practices unless your tests revealed something." It had been disturbing to find that not only were there no surface scars from the shrapnel that had nearly killed him when they got back from India, but he didn't have the marks from where Nick had scratched him on his ass, or the spider-webbing of sub-surface scar tissue on his legs from where Selene had threaded barbed-wire under his skin. He reached out and scratched PD behind the ears, waiting for what she would say nervously.

"Believe it or not, you're fine." Cecilia sat on a nearby stool and rolled toward him, looking up at his perch on the table. "Physically, anyway. Nothing I could turn up, and I ran a lot of the same tests on you that I had Amelia run on myself." Save one, of course, but she had no reason to believe Julian's nerve clusters had been tortured the way hers had been. "I guess," her eyes instinctively went to the door to confirm it was shut, "reality warping's a better healer than I am."

Julian sighed, a bit dejected, "So I'm a brand new me then... like nothing from the last eight years happened." He scratched PD behind the ears, looking down he made eye contact with the very happy dog. "I don't know why that bothers me so much. I mean, you saw my legs," he looked up at his doctor, "they looked like a mess."

"I know." She did know, actually, because as far as mansion medicine went, Julian's injuries had been pretty remarkable. Although she'd seen worse, especially considering what they'd all been through in the last few days. "I can't explain it either. I didn't – I guess a lot of things that happened didn't happen. "But it's not like – hey." her voice changed on a dime as she snapped at the dog, who was starting to climb up on the exam table. "Come on, Lucky." He barked back at her but obliged and put his legs back down on the ground.

Cecilia looked back up at him, a little embarrassed. "Sorry. You were saying it bothers you?"

"No, it's fine, I guess," he looked up at her and shrugged. "I woke up and found out that, while my dad is still in prison, my mom now runs my family's company- I'm running her operations out here by virtue of my connections and my degree from Columbia; oh, and I own half-of-a-night-club with the Green Goblin." Julian sighed again, "Sorry, I'm sure you had some stuff like that happen too- but...those scars were earned, they set me apart and it would have been nice to have something of my past."

"I didn't, but don't apologize." Cecilia glanced down at the dog, who had moved away from Julian and toward her. "My parents are still dead," she said matter-of-factly as she lifted her head to look at him again, "a few of my friends are out of touch, but everything's pretty much... the same. I suppose that makes me lucky, but," she waved her hand, "not my point." She wanted to reach out and grab his hand, but she didn't think they were that close and anyway, it wasn't appropriate. "Physical things are just physical. You're still you. Those things still happened."

"Except they didn't," Julian sighed, "I never went here. I graduated from my shitty old school out in Los Angeles and then apparently got a business degree from Columbia." Julian shrugged and patted the dog's head before standing up. "Oh well, guess I'll have to go get some new scars," he gave the doctor a wink.

"Well, I wouldn't–" Cecilia just shook her head and chuckled. "Okay. You do you. Point is, try to see the opportunity in this. A lot of it sucks. Most of it sucks, this is the worst. But... aren't there things you'd want to do over?" She knew she had a few, although the big one was that she wished she hadn't slapped Arthur, and that wasn't vanishing any time soon. "Or do differently?"

Julian paused, slipping on his pants under the gown, "I got a phone-call from my mother the other day... concerned because I hadn't called her yet that week. Apparently, she and I were...are...very close, and my parents never disowned me. Dad is still in prison, but that's for being an asshole in general, not specifically toward mutants. I hated my family..." he looked up at the doctor while buckling his belt, before slipping the gown off, "maybe this is an opportunity to start that over."

"In some ways, sure." She agreed, glancing back down at Pizza Dog, who was lying idly on the floor. "I think we have to make the most of what we're given, I guess." She knew it was easier said than done, but she was doing her best to live up to those words. "You're a smart guy. Still as charming as ever," she teased. "You'll figure it out."