xp_logs | Honesty as an offensive tactic.

Em means to talk to Scott about Kitty and the conversation goes well astray, but all in a good cause.

Scott rounded the corner of the mansion, walking slowly with the occasional stretch. The morning run had been typical, though Alison was extra bouncy after the weekend's breakthrough. He almost felt bad for Sam...almost.

Em caught sight of Scott and got to her feet, stretching out the muscles that were already chilling after her own run. She wasn't looking forward to talking to him, but if she kept it fast, it wouldn't be bad.

"Got a minute?"

Scott looked at Marie a moment, then nodded. "Sure. What's up?" He stopped where he was, letting her come to him. If she was approaching him, something serious must be up. Getting her away from the front door, where anyone might be passing, was probably a good idea.

"Need to talk to you about Kitty. I'll be fast." She shoved her hands in the front pocket of her hoodie and hunched her shoulders a little in discomfort. "Want to keep walking? My legs are getting stiff."

"Sure thing," he replied and started walking again, moving them away from the mansion, down the edge of the gravel drive. "How many miles are you up to now?" Scott waited until they were a little further away before bringing them back to the issue at hand. /Kitty/, he thought, /I hope Essex hasn't encouraged her to experiment unsupervised./

She shrugged. "I don't know. I just go until my legs feel like they're going to fall off and then I turn around and come back. Go for about an hour or so, usually. Look, first off, it's stupid to try shit without a supervisor. I know this. I know it was an iffy call but I didn't think it was an issue at the time. I wanted to help Kitty out a little because it didn't seem like a big deal and I guess I hate saying no to her because she's a good kid and if it wasn't me, one of the other kids would do it. Worst that was going to happen is I might get a little hurt." She kept her eyes on the ground. "She wanted me to let her phase me out like she'd been working on with Essex. No bad results with anything so far. That wasn't a big deal. With me so far? You want to yell at me or make me write out lines or ground me, that's okay."

Scott blinked behind his visor at the words that poured out of Marie. He was pretty sure he got the gist of it...so far...but wanted to make sure before letting her continue. "Kitty asked you for help with her phasing practice." He nodded, following the thought to its conclusion, but not speaking it out. "I'm not happy about it, of course. I know she's been working with lab animals. A person...well," he grimaced, then nodded again. "But it worked. Got it so far."

"Okay. We're good then. Here's the thing. At first I thought she wanted to phase *through* me. And I said that was crazy. *Big* no. You can see why, right? No idea if my whole deal's tactile or what. Chance is that she could hit me, lose the phase, and we'd be stuck together while I drained the life out of her and not a thing in hell I could do about it. She said that wasn't what she wanted and I trusted her with that." She bit her lip and glanced up at him. "She did it anyway."

He ran his hand through his hair, anger trying to take hold on his face, but he shoved it back away, tried to just have the "Serious Scott" face, so named by Jean. He wasn't quite sure it was successful. "I hope that for both of your sakes it worked?"

"She's still walking around, isn't she? This was last night anyway. But that's not what's getting me, Scott. What's getting me is that she doesn't seem to understand what she did wrong." She stopped walking and put her gloved hand on his arm, looking up at him with dark, serious eyes. "She was so sure she was right, Scott. And all that mattered was that she was right. The look in her eyes... it scared the hell out of me. She didn't care about breaking my trust or risking both of us. I can't trust her anymore about this stuff. Period. And I don't think she needs a lecture on ethics because it'll just push her away. She needs something else and I don't know what to do."

Scott was beginning to feel like one of those bobblehead dolls, with all the nodding he was doing. But he did it again. A small part of him wanted to reach out and touch Marie on the shoulder, offer some manner of comfort, but it wasn't him, and it definitely wasn't her. "She definitely needs something. I'm sorry, Marie." Cold comfort, but there it was. "She shouldn't have done it, and you know it, and I know it. I'll try to make sure that she knows it too. More than that. She needs to take it to heart. I can't force it, but I'll try. Or get someone who can."

He turned them around, heading back toward the school. He didn't want to say it, he didn't want to bring this up with a student, even if that student was a junior member. /Essex./ "Do you know why she asked you, and not someone else?"

"In theory, it was because I've helped her out before when she was having trouble with her control. Nothing big, just scaring her to see if she could hang onto it." She scowled darkly and kicked at the ground. "I'm the first to admit when I've been had, though. I can't be certain, but I wouldn't be surprised if it were more because she wanted to see if she was immune to me when she was phased out. She's got this thing in her head about being able to protect people, but the ends don't justify the means. She thinks it's no harm, no foul, and she couldn't be further from the truth there."

"No, she couldn't." He stared intently at the sky, thinking of all the ways Kitty's powers could go crazy, and fortunately hadn't. Being stuck in a wall. Losing an arm, a leg. Worse. "Because it hasn't happened to her yet, she doesn't think it can happen," he muttered, unaware of speaking aloud.

"She's not in control, Scott. She went right through the floor after I got mad at her, ended up in the labs downstairs. Didn't hurt herself this time. And, you know, I'm not the only one willing to waive the 'supervision' thing. I may be the only one who thinks it through first, though. I do think it through, believe it or not." She crossed her arms, looking uncomfortable. "I know me talking about people being messed up is a little bit of pot-kettle, but at least I'm aware of myself. I've felt that vibe in people I *really* don't like, Scott, that ends-justifies-the-means drive. You don't forget something like that."

"It's not good. She wasn't always this callous of others' feelings, never mind the dangers." /She's spending too much time with Essex. I thought Jamie would help that... Jamie...maybe./ "And hey," he stopped, moving in front of Marie, "we're all messed up, Marie. To one extent or another. Pots and kettles abound here. But we're /trying/. Right?" He looked into her eyes, hoping, wondering, what he might see, if she let him.

Em tilted her head back and met his eyes, chin set a little stubbornly, not attempting to hide the tiredness and the hurt in her. "Yes, we are. Even if we don't know what we're doing half the time. I'm sorry if I've been a fuckup lately. All un-team-ly and that stuff. I'm just trying to get by, y'know? Do my work and not hurt anyone, including me."

"You've not been a fuckup. We've all been a bit at loose ends. Doing what we can to get by. To make it through another day. And then the next. But we can't do that forever, Marie." He turned then, and began walking back again. /Fuck...you're just making it worse, Scott. Stop talking, Summers./ "For now, though. We do what we can."

Em's eyes narrowed, a flicker of something lit her them before she quickly stepped forward to wrap her arms around him.

Scott jumped, totally unprepared for Marie's assault on him. He didn't try to extricate himself, once he realized what was going on. He did blush, his neck and face suffusing with red before he could stop himself. And finally, he had enough presence of mind to return the gesture, arms going around her, hugging her back.

She hugged him fiercely for a minute and then stepped back, putting her hands on his shoulders. "Someone taking care of you, Scott? Or are you doing the whole I-can-do-it-alone thing?"

"And if I answered 'yes' to both questions?" The blush had mostly subsided, now he just looked flushed, as if he'd been out running. Which he had been, but earlier. He grinned at Em, a lop-sided one that was half-serious, half-joking.

She scowled at him, not angry, just frustrated. "I'd say you needed to do better. You sounded worse than me there for a minute, Scott. I may be young but I have a lot of years in my head and I trust my early warning signals. You're looking after us, someone's got to look after you, other than just you. I rely on you, we all do and maybe that's not fair to you, and I happen to like you too and it'd be stupid of me not to worry about you when I hear that thing in your voice that says you're just getting by -- like me."

"Serious Scott" was back, and he shrugged. "Keepers or caretakers are in short supply around here, Marie. But you can always rely on me. You can trust me. That's why I'm here. Though it's always good to have someone worry about you." Scott paused, taking a breath and releasing it. "You all are why I'm here. You're what's keeping me going. Fucked up or not, you are family." He shook his head. "Of course, I /do/ have family here now, too."

"I think I might try to enlist Betsy in helping with Kitty. And maybe, if I can make it work, Jamie. That okay with you?"

"Nice save." She gave him a sharp look and a wicked grin. "Almost had you there, Scott. Don't try bullshitting me. It's none of my business and I know it. Had to give it a try anyway. And you're the boss, though I'd say that some bonding and kid time is exactly what Kitty needs." She put her hands on her hips. "You don't need a keeper or a caretaker, Scott. You need a friend. I know you think I'm just a kid, so that means I'm not qualified for the position. I was just making an observation. I'll tell you one thing, though. In the right time and the right place, I don't have any problem being real about what's going on with me. I hope you can say the same. It's a life saver. Literally."

He shrugged. "It's tough to have friends when you might send them out to be killed. Which one do you choose? Or do they choose for you?" A frown appeared. He hadn't meant to say that. "I just want to keep you all alive for as long as I can, Marie. I won't refuse friendship if offered, but no, I don't go out of my way to seek it out."

"I just... okay. Me, into the breach here. Imagine my heart on my sleeve because my gut says this matters... I don't want to be friends with anyone right now because I hurt and I'm utterly humiliated because of things I can't even talk about and I still can't get over what I am and I don't want to hurt anyone with it and if I even think about any of it I want to peel my own skin off. This is me."

She took a deep breath and plunged on. "I know what this job is about. I've seen it and felt it. And I know that it's your say-so that sends people out there and I'm one of those people. I trust your judgement or I wouldn't be here. And if you want to be friends with me, I'd like that and I trust you not to let it get in the way in the crunch. I never thought you'd want to be friends with a messed up kid like me so I never tried and I'm sorry."

"Hey," Scott reached out and touched her on the shoulder, "nothing to be sorry for. I'm the dick, remember?" He paused, "...well, maybe you don't. Look, I also know I'm not the friendliest sort. Friends have never been a high priority for me, for a very long time." He took a breath, and gently squeezed her shoulder. "But if that's an offer of friendship, as I said, I won't refuse." He smiled then, an expression that softened his whole face. "In fact, I guess I /do/ need it. Need one."

Em exhaled slowly. "Yes, yes it is. That went better than expected. But it's blind leading the blind here, y'know. Just warning you." She looked thoughtful, but a smile lurked around the corners of her mouth. "You want to go see a movie or something this week? Could say we're having an extended defensive driving lesson... I could use to get out for a while and you could probably use some not-boss-of-everyone time."

His smile expanded then, lighting up his whole face. "Good idea. Why not Saturday? Matinee or night show? I hear that Tomb Raider movie is coming out this week. Or is that not your thing?"

"Saturday, your pick. And good looking women kicking ass is so my thing. I need my role models." Her grin was impish. "And I'm sure you won't be suffering at all, so it's good."

Scott laughed at her words, and her impish grin. "No, not at all. Though she's hanging up her guns after this one, leaving me with only the video games to console me." He held his hand to his breast, looking bereft. "And a matinee always works best for me." Scott flicked the visor. "Less staring, unless you're a big fan of Corey Hart. And I can't believe I just dated myself that way."

"Well, it's better than just dating yourself, isn't it?" She made a face at him. "Matinee is good. And you are so full of the pun fodder right now it's not funny. Video games... console... sheesh. I'm going to have mercy on you and just tell you that you need coffee."

"Shower first, then probably some tea. I do coffee when needed, but I think something a bit more mellow this morning. Thanks, Marie."

"Yeah, well, don't go telling people I'm not all broody and unapproachable. And don't use all the hot water." She put her hands back into her pocket. "I'm going to get myself some coffee. I need it. Saturday it is, though. I'll talk to you later, Scott."

"Scout's honor," Scott held up his fingers in the Boy Scout pledge way, and dropped the smile from his face. "And don't tell anyone that I smiled. Wouldn't want to spoil the Fearless Leader impression." He paused, then nodded and turned. "Talk to you later, Em."

Em bravely stifled a giggle at the boy scout gesture and shook her head. "My lips are sealed. See ya." She jogged off toward the kitchen to find her coffee.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

x-psylocke.livejournal.com

You two....

*shakes head*

Just Too Much.

Alright, am now shipper of Em/Scott because that was so sweet, I don't know what to do with myself. And well, I guess Betsy will have to be responsible and have a chat with Ms. Pryde.

Ah, the burdens of being dubbed "The Nice One."

From:

x-essex.livejournal.com

Leave my ambitious young charge alone. She's coming along nicely, and there are some lovely applications to her new experiments.

Did I mention that I like experiements? Especially ones involving young people... hmm, off to see Ms Colbert.

See, you people can get all huggy. It's fun down here in the dark. *grin*

--Dex