Jean and Adrienne: The Waiting Game

[x-jeangrey.livejournal.com]

Adrienne takes Jean to the cupcake ATM after her fellowship interview.



The Claremont Medical Center was considered one of the foremost centers on mutant-centric care (next to Xaviers and Muir, it seemed, but they didn't advertise). Due to the stance on mutants, however, this was a fact that they kept quiet. Much like abortion clinics, it often made them a target.

Adjusting her purse, Jean walked through the automatic glass doors of the facility onto the street and stopped to scan for her ride, not expecting Adrienne to come pick her up so soon. She'd figured it might have been later in the evening, but was grateful for the chance to be able to de-stress.

Jean had dressed for an interview, wearing a dark grey pencil skirt and a black blouse. She'd bundled up in her green wool coat, choosing it instead of her red one. Too bright colors were considered aggressive for the interview process.

She let out a breath the moment she'd left the building. It was over. Now came the waiting.

Adrienne was waiting on the curb, leaning against her Audi TT. She'd had to fight Driver to let her take it and drive it herself instead of having him drive her in the town car. She loved having Driver back, but... she'd actually gotten to like driving herself around in the fast car. So she'd compromised by developing a system where he drove her to business meetings for Meridian, but she drove herself to social functions- and XFI work, of course. Except he apparently didn't believe that she was actually going to pick up a friend from an interview, maybe because she'd dodged him twice this week already to take the Audi to meetings herself. But this was certainly not a business meeting. This was for fun, and Christ knew she needed some of that right now.

"How'd it go?" she asked Jean, looking the redhead over and giving her an approving look over her choice of outfit.

The voice drew Jean's attention and she closed the distance, stepping over bits of snow with a high heeled shoe that put her at nearly 6 feet tall. She was still a tall woman.

At the look Jean laughed. Glancing down at herself, she turned around and opened her coat a little more to show off other little elements such as the gold 'x' necklace around her neck and the black and gold belt. "Thanks."

She shook her head. "And I'm not sure yet," she admitted in a tumble of words.

"I won't know for a few days. They have other applicants. It's a pretty competitive fellowship. But they did a lot of smiling and nodding. I guess that's a good sign."

"Hey, any time they don't throw you out, that's a good sign, isn't it?" Adrienne shrugged goodnaturedly. "I've definitely thrown people out in interviews before. But maybe doctors don't throw people out. Or do things to get themselves thrown out of interviews," she mused.

Quirking a brow, Jean grinned and laughed again. "No...can't say I've ever gotten thrown out of an interview," she said definitively.

"They usually try to weed out the crazy people in medical school. Especially when if we mess up we could potentially get arrested instead of fired."

She tilted her head curiously. "So what'd they do to get thrown out?"

Adrienne held the car door open for Jean and grinned. "Several have tried to touch me in a suggestive fashion. One once told me they wanted a job where they could only work as much as they felt like working that day. I once had one tell me they hated reading. One of them emptied the entire contents of my candy dish into her purse."

She struggled to think of more. "Oh! One seemed quite promising, so we discussed a potential start date, but then she asked if she could postpone starting until after the holidays so she could get holiday gifts from her current employer. But I think the best was when a guy actually called his wife during the interview to ask what was for dinner."

Standing there for a couple of long moments, Jean blinked at Adrienne, letting out a chuckle in disbelief.

"You're kidding...right? Please tell me you're kidding," she said. She quirked a brow, the uncertain smile blossoming into a grin as she shook her head.

"God, you could write a book."

"I wish I was kidding," Adrienne said with a shake of her head, chuckling at the book-writing comment. "Well, I used to- I mean, I had an interest in human resources when I was in college. Mutant rights in the workplace, specifically. Fair hiring practices, that sort of thing. I'm sure if I ever branched out and wrote a book on mutant hiring policies, I could include a chapter or two on interview dos and don'ts. But since you didn't do any of that, you probably have a good chance of getting the job. So we should celebrate!"

"My sister works in public relations. She could probably help with that," Jean mused. When she originally found out she was a mutant, Sara had been quite leery of the whole thing. It frightened her. But once she realized Jean was still the same person, and she was still human, and just afraid of her powers too, the two were able to figure things out. Now she was a huge supporter of mutant rights.

Jean smiled. "And I don't want to jinx it but...god I hope I got it," she said, clenching her fists and letting out an excited breath. "The things they're doing here with mutant-based care, I so want to be a part of it. They were telling me that they had a guy with a reptilian based mutation come in...his body works like a snake's. He was having trouble regulating his body temperature in the cold. They had to set up heat lamps. Figuring out things like that...it's exciting."

And it allowed her to help people at the mansion.

She glanced away. "Trouble is...being known for that sort of thing can make the place a target. People have to wonder who works there." She let out another breath, this one not as excited. "I guess it's a trade off."

"I get that feeling a lot working with X-Factor," Adrienne sympathized, still holding the car door open for Jean. "Staying over at the mansion some nights with my boyfriend, being there for my ward, and being there for XFI business makes me worry quite a bit about my reputation." She wasn't sure if Jean's telepathy had already exposed Adrienne as a mutant to the other woman, but until Jean came out and called her on it specifically, she was maintaining the 'cover' she had adopted with all people who were strangers to her- that she wasn't actually a mutant herself, that she had moved to the mansion to be with her now-deceased ward and had met Kane there and had continued to date and work with mutants despite not being one herself.

"I worry that my company's offices around the world are going to be targets if people find out I'm sympathizing with mutants. But, all we can do is be careful not to call attention to ourselves, right? I mean, we can't change our jobs or the people we associate with or our own...feelings about doing what's right, just because so many people say it's wrong. Right?" Wait, did that make any sense at all? She frowned at herself.

Climbing into the car, Jean slipped on her seat belt. It was surprising for her to hear that Adrienne was a human. She had just assumed she was a mutant by being at the mansion. But that's what she got for assuming. Moira was, after all, human.

She studied Adrienne a moment, thoughtful. Something told her there was something personal behind her words. "People change their minds like they change their shoes all the time. Sometimes for good, sometimes for bad. But there's always a reason, a trigger behind it. And if we're very lucky, that change, for the good, stays permanent. We just have to be the reason, through our actions. There's little way for us to work toward peace otherwise, unless we show them that humans and mutants can work together. It doesn't magically happen. It's hard work, but nothing else I'd rather work for, die for," Jean said. It might not happen in their lifetime but they could be the pioneers, the steps for future generations to follow. She nodded.

"And you're right. keeping low is important. For now anyway. I hope someday that'll change. but...I'm used to flying under the radar for X-Corps."

Folding her arms, she shook her head with a laugh. "And sorry, I tend to wax philosophical a lot. Charles is a big influence. And my dad. He's a history professor. And Moira MacTaggart at Muir. Between the three of them it was inevitable."

Adrienne had flinched visibly at Jean's comment about dying, putting her own seatbelt on and peeling out onto the street in her usual brazen style. "That's okay. I listen to people 'wax on' quite a lot in my work. My non-X-Factor work," she clarified. "I'm used to it. So how long have you known Charles?"

Noticing the way Adrienne reacted, Jean frowned deeply. "I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking. My foot likes to live in my mouth sometimes." She forgot sometimes that M-Day hit the mansion hard. Sometimes she wanted to forget. Because if she dwelled, if she thought about all the people who died, she'd get stuck in a well and wouldn't know how to find her way out. That was part of being a doctor, trying to learn to distance yourself. Trying being the operative word.

She glanced out the window, realizing just how awkward she'd made things. "I met Charles when I was twelve. My best friend was hit by a car. She died. I felt it like it was me. And I discovered I heard voices. I couldn't turn them off. My parents were going to have me committed. They thought I was schizophrenic. But then my dad ran into Charles at an event where he worked. They were at Oxford together briefly. My dad took a class there for the summer once. The conversation turned to me. Charles knew what was going on and he offered his help. And here I am."

Turning on to Park, Adrienne shrugged off Jean's apology. "I lost my ward during... M-Day," she explained, "and a couple close friends. One of them... reminds me of you. So when you say you'll die..." she trailed off with another shrug. "It's just something I need to get used to."

She'd heard the story about Jean's friend before, but Jean didn't know that, so she made a sympathetic face as she whipped around East Sixty-Second and turned onto Lexington. "I'm sorry to hear about your friend," she told Jean, and vaguely wondered if being a mutant meant you had to have some death in your life. "Did you live at the mansion after you met Charles?"

Jean shook her head. "I'm sorry. Like I said. I wasn't thinking. I'm so sorry about your ward, and your friends. I...it's been a long time since I've lost someone like that. Since Annie. It happens in the ER. Sometimes a person's too far gone to save. And it tears your up. So you try to build walls up to keep it from getting to you. Because if you let yourself dwell, then it can consume you. I used to be that way, when I first started. I'd think it was my fault. If I'd just done one thing or another. And sometimes I still do. But they're not my friends. They're not people I live with. They're not people I love. And that's infinitely harder. So if there's anything I can do, like...just sit here and listen, with wine or beer, I'd be glad to do that."

She brushed her hair behind her ears. "I never lived at the school. my dad didn't think it was safe. Charles worked with me at home. Then my dad got a job at Oxford and moved us to England when I was 16. I didn't take it well, and my telekinesis manifested. Charles convinced my parents to let me go to Muir, which was closer to them. He worked with me via Cerebro. I wanted to come here, though. But it just never happened."

"I appreciate the offer, but for now, with the reminders... it's just too hard. But maybe some day," Adrienne shrugged. "Thanks." She pulled into the ATM and ordered two of everything from the cupcake dispenser, hoping she could change the subject once and for all. "How could you not take moving to England well?" she scoffed. "England's amazing. I was all over the world when I was sixteen. London, Milan, Madrid, Hong Kong, Sydney, Paris. London was one of the best. How could you not take it well? You sound like you were a brat," she teased Jean, passing cupcakes from the open window to Jean as they began coming through the dispenser. "And it takes one to know one, believe me."

Jean took the cue to not talk about what they were talking about anymore. She smiled. "I had never been outside the United States before and suddenly I was moving there, leaving everything I knew and all my friends behind. Couple that with rampant teenage hormones and about a month into the move I had destroyed my entire room during a nightmare. I nearly got outed a few times."

"Ahh, see. Clearly where you went wrong was having friends and caring about things that you knew," Adrienne responded in her best 'sage advice' voice. "So what's Muir like? I've heard about it, but I've... never been there."

Smirking, Jean shook her head. "Never pegged myself as the cold hearted bitch type," she mused.

"Muir is...Well, Muir. It's pretty much like it advertises in the name....a research facility. They tried to keep up to date with things but it took retrofitting the old stuff. There weren't a lot of children when I went there for the last two years of high school, though. Not a lot of other mutants either. It was...mostly me, Moira, and the other doctors. And the occasional mutant passing through that needed help. The majority went to Xavier's." She stared out the window again thoughtfully.

"I learned a lot about my powers during that time. Spent a lot of time with Moira, and Charles on the Astral Plane. Oh and I read. Not much else to do." She shrugged, then smiled.

"The grounds are pretty, though."

"A teenage girl with a bunch of doctors, the Astral Plane and books. That sounds like a bundle of laughs," Adrienne retorted goodnaturedly, wrinkling her nose. She pulled the last of the ordered cupcakes from the ATM and turned back to Jean. "Did you want to head back to the mansion, or go somewhere closer to stuff ourselves first? My office isn't too far from here."

Jean laughed. "I found ways to keep myself occupied. Much to Moira's chagrin," she said with a sneaky glance, then shook her head.

"I don't mind either way. I have no plans for the rest of the day other than melt into a puddle of nervousness waiting for a phone call, or rejection letter."

"Okay," Adrienne nodded. "You sound like you need further distraction. I should introduce you to The Closet." She pulled onto 60th and swung down Park towards the Garment District.

Grabbing onto the top of the car with her hand as they rounded the corner, Jean quirked a brow. "The Closet...sounds...fashionable," she said. Falling silent for a few moments, she eventually glanced over.

"So...in another life were you Evel Kineval?"

"Isn't he still alive?" Adrienne asked with a quirked eyebrow. She really had no idea. "I dunno. If he's dead, maybe. Maybe his spirit's possessing me. I'm sure it would be par for the course for someone who lives at the mansion."

Jean shook her head. "No, he passed away in 2007," she said, then smiled. "Yeah, I'm hearing a lot of interesting stories. I've decided to just go with the flow. Seems to be the best way to go."

"Well, lucky for us both I left my motorcycle in the garage," Adrienne muttered. "But if I pick a white sequined jumpsuit out of the Closet, you should probably call Amanda and the rest of the magic brigade, because I'm going to need an exorcism."

"Amanda?" Jean asked curiously.

"Is that something this person does or runs into often?"

"Uhh, yeah. She's the mansion's resident witch. Well, one of them," Adrienne responded with a furrow of her brow, forgetting momentarily who she was speaking to. "And it happens often enough. More often than you'd ever want. The mansion's certainly not a safe place," she pointed out. "The sad part is just that it still seems safer these days for mutants to be there than to not be there."

"Yeah," Jean echoed thoughtfully. "I suppose with that many people living under one roof, all with different backgrounds, there's bound to be some chaos....enemies, powers mishaps..."

"You have no idea, Gumdrop," Adrienne answered with a laugh. "Though there don't seem to be as many enemies as you'd expect, so I guess that's a good thing. Except wait." She screeched the car to a stop as they drove alongside the park. "Go touch a tree." She pointed. "Touch wood. Don't want to jinx anything. Go!" she instructed Jean as traffic piled up behind them.

Jean blinked at her like she had gone crazy, then laughed, having grabbed the handle just above the passenger door as they came to an abrupt halt. "Uh...." she said, then held up the stack of papers she had brought with her from the interview. "How about this? Paper's made from wood."

Adrienne eyed the paper skeptically, a severe frown on her face as she contemplated the question. She ignored the vehicles blaring their horns in direct violation to the noise pollution laws. Then she slammed the car into gear once again and they were off.

"Yeah, okay! That'll work. Bad luck averted. Beauty. Now let's go find you a bunch of clothes from magazine photoshoots you can take home with you," she grinned.

Deciding to just keep her fingers firmly around the passenger door handle after using her free one to knock on the paper like Adrienne asked, Jean quirked a brow. "Seriously?"

"Absolutely seriously," Adrienne nodded. "That's what The Closet is. A magnificent wonderland of all the clothes that my models have worn in shoots. Models are always given the clothes they wear," she explained. "Most times, though, they don't want to keep them. So they go into a room at the office. Well, it's more like a floor now," she shrugged. "We had to knock some walls out a few years ago to expand it." How glad was she that she had her particular power set, which allowed her to learn these little tidbits of information about a world she had no knowledge of. "You can take home anything you want."

Jean sat back in her chair like she'd just had the wind knocked out of her. She blinked a few times, then glanced over at her, trying to make sure she really heard what she heard.

"Seriously. Well. Holy crap." Her mouth opened and closed between a broad, incredulous grin.

"I...don't know what to say."

Adrienne laughed, never tired of the reaction most women had to the idea of the Closet. "Just wait until you see the shoes," she teased.

Jean shook her head. "Always been more of a clothes girl, myself. Pretty shoes are nice to look at but they're murder when you're on your feet for 12 hours a day. I tend to lean toward comfortable boots or flats. I think I found a few words, though. Thank you," she said with a smile.

"You don't have to."

"Don't have to what?" Adrienne asked, confused. She looked around the car as if she expected Jean to have said that line to another person.

"You know, give me clothes. I mean, we just met. I guess I'm just...humbled," Jean said, the soft smile remaining.

"Oh, that." Adrienne careened the Audi down into the Meridian garage and parked it next to Driver's town car. "Would it make you feel better if I told you I did this for everyone?" she asked helpfully, climbing out of the car and sauntering over to Jean's side of the vehicle so she could take some of the cupcakes.

Falling silent a moment, Jean paused. "No?" she said, with a fake pout. "I wanted to be the special snowflake."

"Well," Adrienne chuckled, "it's completely your choice. Either think you're a snowflake and feel humbled, or think I do this for everyone and don't feel humbled. Whatever works for you."

Jean laughed. "I'll go with special humbled snowflake. That is still very generous of you, though," she said, offering to take back the cupcakes once she got out of the car

Adrienne waved her off again. "When you get that job and start making even more money than me, you can pay back my generosity. I'll ask you for free plastic surgery or something," she teased.

"I...don't really do that," Jean said. "But if you ever need your appendix taken out, I'm your girl. It's totally on me."