Scott and Cecilia

[x-reyes.livejournal.com]

Sunday afternoon, after meeting Jamie's mother, Cecilia goes to talk to Scott about Haroun's slip of the tongue. The words 'government-sanctioned' do a lot to quell one's ire, and it ends up going remarkably well.



It was reassuring, Cecilia reflected, how to-the-point this Summers guy's response to her e-mail had been - maybe, just maybe, he'd be just as to-the-point in person. A girl could dream. Stepping up to Scott's office door, she eyed it a moment before lifting a hand to knock.

Scott swallowed his latest dose of aspirin - the headache was simply not going away - and chased it with a sip of water before he responded to the knock. "Come in," he called back, and managed a faint smile as the door opened to admit Cecilia. "Hello, Cecilia," he said, rising and offering a hand - and trying very hard to ignore the way his head spun at the sudden change in position. "Good to meet you finally."

"Likewise," she grinned, closing the door behind herself before she crossed over to shake the offered hand. "Sorry it's taken so long. Settling in has been taking some doing."

"I'd try to be comforting and tell you that you're having a very unusual first couple of weeks," Scott said with a sigh, settling back down in his chair and gesturing for Cecilia to sit down as well. "But I'd be lying through my teeth, and from what I've heard about you so far I gather you appreciate directness."

"Very much so," Cecilia nodded, settling into the indicated chair with a small, sympathetic smile. "I'm getting the impression that insanity seems to be the norm around here, yes.. but I haven't run screaming yet."

"You should never say things like that too loudly," Scott said with a strained smile. "But I'm getting distracted with the small talk, here. Given that I had a near-simultaneous email from Haroun at the same time I got yours, I think I can probably guess what you want to talk about."

"I took terrible advantage of his fatigue with my stunning good looks, so don't be too hard on him," Cecilia replied lightly, leaning back comfortably in her chair. "But, yes, if he e-mailed you, you likely can. That aspect of the visit, anyway."

"Then let's cut to the chase," Scott said, being too tired and entirely too hungover to beat around the bush. "Xavier's is not just a school, Cecilia. It's also the base for a mutant paramilitary unit known as the X-Men." He didn't give her more than a moment to absorb the information before he went on. "We're government-sanctioned at this point, if quietly. Most of the teachers you've met are team members."

If she had begun to tense, the words 'government-sanctioned' help satiate the agitation enough that it didn't wind up being very noticable in her posture. Besides, the frankness was a welcome change, and Cecilia couldn't help a small, grateful smile. "That would explain the GI Joe speak," she mused, but then, she grew sober again in fairly short order. "Can I ask what it is you do, by any chance?"

Well, that had gone over suprisingly well. Scott let the air in his lungs out on what was almost a relieved sigh, and then told himself to attend to Cecilia's question. "Crisis intervention, basically," he said. "It can take a number of different forms. Helping emergent mutants, confronting mutants who've decided to use their abilities in an aggressive fashion..."

"So you step in when riot gear won't cut it, basically?" Cecilia ventured, tilting her head in thought. After a moment spent mulling it over, she nodded to herself, with a small, tired smile. "It's.. not what I was expecting to find here, but I think I can deal with it alright. And I'll keep mum on it." She lifted a hand, and mimed zipping her lips.

"In a nutshell, yes," Scott said, and managed a slightly more convincing smile this time. "And I appreciate your discretion, Cecilia. You would have been told fairly soon in any case, given that you're going to be working in the medlab." His smile faded, turning grim. "There are often injuries."

She nodded, with a small, concerned frown. "I can imagine. It can't be the safest gig on the planet, by any stretch of the imagination."

"It's not," Scott said, shifting slightly in his chair at the flash of pain the thought provoked. "We do our best to minimize the possibility through proper training--" He would have to have Haroun give Cecilia the proper tour of the basement facilities, Scott thought almost wryly; that would be fair. "--but given that we're rarely certain what kind of situation we're heading into, training only goes so far."

"Sounds familiar." Cecilia smiled a touch, with a faint inclination of her head. "Improvisation is important in pretty much every job you could hope to get stuck with." She paused for a moment, eyeing the man across the desk, before her smile turned wry. "Since you look like you could use a chance to go get some sleep.. how about I ask one question, then get out of your hair for the day so you can go hibernate for a while?"

"Shoot," Scott said, then chuckled wearily. "Figuratively, I mean."

"I wouldn't have anything to shoot you with, anyway," Cecilia observed reassuringly, with a wry smile. "Ah.. a few of the students were making noises about a betting pool on what classes I would eventually be teaching, since it seems to be an inevitability, from what I understand. So I thought I'd speed up the process, and ask who I'm supposed to talk to about signing myself up for it."

Scott blinked at her for a moment. "Oh." Not what he'd expected. "That would be Charles... the Professor. The academic side of things is his sphere." He tried to think; it was more difficult than it should have been, with the headache. "You don't need to consider it an inevitability, Cecilia. Your own studies and your work in the medlab are liable to take up a great deal of your time, I'd think..."

"You underestimate the overachiever," Cecilia chuckled, one hand lifting to rub at her forehead. "My studies will definitely occupy me a good bit, but.. eh. It sounds like it could be fun. At least worth looking into, if not for this year, then next year."

"I suppose it is true that most of the adults who show up here wind up teaching something or other," Scott said after a moment. "Sometimes very enthusiastically. But seriously, the Professor's the person to talk to." He shrugged. "I teach myself, but nothing too complex. My other responsibilities take precedence."

"I'll be sure to look into talking with him about it.. it can definitely keep until more important things are dealt with."

Scott started to yawn and then stopped, wincing as his jaw protested. Still sore, even five days later. "Yeah, I think the question of fall courses is on hold until we recover the majority of the student body," he said bleakly. "Whenever that will be."

"As soon as humanly possible," Cecilia replied simply, eyeing Scott for a moment. She'd noticed the wince. "Are you alright?" she asked, motioning towards his face with a faintly concerned frown.

"Took a fall a few days ago," Scott said with a sigh. "Most of the bruises are fading, but my jaw still aches." He blinked, wondering why he'd just responded to the question honestly instead of telling her he was fine. Had to be the hangover.

"That's its way of telling you that falling down is a bad thing," Cecilia nodded, offering him a sympathetic grin. "You had Madelyn or one of the others take a look, I trust?" She liked Scott - he seemed like an honest to God, responsible adult, thank goodness - but she had to ask. It was written, somewhere.

"Wasn't given much choice in the matter," Scott said wryly, remembering how definitive Paige had been on the subject. "Not that I protested too hard; I've had enough head injuries for a couple of lifetimes, so I don't mess around in situations like that." Cecilia looked curious, so he explained. "Back on Wednesday, before... the softball game. My horse tried to wrap me around a tree."

"How nice of it," Cecilia mused, rolling her eyes. "Good that you got it checked out, though. No lecture for you." She grinned approvingly. "Maybe one for the horse, though I'll leave that to someone with an inkling of talent with animals. I should probably scoot, let you take care of your jaw and get a bit of rest."

"Hey, I'm quite sensible about getting injuries seen to," Scott said with a flicker of a smile. "We do have our share of people with raging medlab-phobias, just to warn you." He leaned back in his chair with a sigh, rescuing his glass of water. "Thanks for stopping by, Cecilia," he said. "Good to get these things resolved when they come up, I've always figured."

"Fear of hospitals isn't too rare. I'd have been shocked if it was completely smooth sailing." With a grin, Cecilia rose to her feet. "Thanks for seeing me. It's reassuring to know there are some other reasonably nice, normal adults around here - I was beginning to worry a little."

"Most of us have our moments," Scott said. "Feel free to stop by, or flag me down in the halls, if you have any other questions." He rose, grimacing a little as stiff muscles protested. "And don't be surprised if you see Haroun again fairly soon. Once he's slept, I think I'll have him show you around the facilities in the basement as punishment for being overly chatty." He smiled, to show that it was a joke.

"He'll probably like that," Cecilia chuckled, an amused grin coming to her face. "Well.. it'll certainly be an entertaining tour."