Marie, Paige and a phone call

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Marie gives Paige a call during a break in her lovely vacation only to find that our favourite Paige-ling is not as happy as her really ugly sunglasses suggest. I think it's safe to say that Paige will not be going to the party tonight, folks.


Marie flipped open her cellphone and stared at it. Logan was inside, on the phone with Someone Important, even though they were supposed to be on vacation right now. Vacation was a very relative term, she knew now. It was a euphemism for "the time in which one can let one's phone ring more than once before answering it". Still, it was good and so was her mood. Knowing she had a while to herself, she dialed Paige's number, hoping to surprise her former roomie with a call.

There was squeak and a loud bang as Paige toppled off her chair. Her phone was ringing. Somewhere in this very messy room, her phone was ringing. Throwing papers, clothes and books in all directions, Paige finally came across her phone, picking it up. “Bonjourno,” she said, slightly out of breath from her frantic search. “Paige speaking.”

"Hey stranger," Marie said, amused at Paige's breathlessness. "I'm not interupting anything good, am I?"

"Em!" Paige shrieked happily, tossing herself onto the bed to get comfortable. "No, no. Nothing like that. Would I answer the phone if you were?"

"Maybe, if you were expecting a call from the other one," Marie teased.

Laughing, Paige tried to sound insulted. “Marie! You heathen. I do a much better balancing job than that, thank you very much.”

Marie giggled happily and stretched out on the porch swing, taking up all the room for herself. "Of course. I /do/ apologize. How are you?"

“And so you should,” Paige replied in a haughty tone, breaking it with a giggle. “Much better now that you’ve called. How are you?”

"Mmm. Much better than when I wrote you. I've actually gotten to see Logan for more than two days in a row lately. Life is peachy again," Marie said, sounding extremely content. "Vacation time is a blessing." She sighed happily. "How's Skin doing? You keeping him from wild acts of folly?"

Paige smiled at her tone of voice, going all warm. “That’s fantastic, chickpea. You deserve it.” There was a flurry of activity going on around the room and the ones joined to it, as people got ready for the party downstairs, but Paige managed to ignore it, rolling over. “Angelo is just fine. They took his medlab card back from him and cut it with a pair of scissors. Can’t say I’m too upset about it.”

Marie smiled and shook her head. "I can't say I am either. That's good news, honey." She pushed with one foot, starting the swing rocking a little. "How's Jono doing? Surviving living up in the sunlight?"

“Ah, not so much. He’s off with Emma somewhere at some hospital doohickie. Rocking up the place and calling everyone names, I’m sure,” Paige replied, tried to sound casual and only managing to rush through everything past ‘hospital’.

"Hospital?" Marie sat up, not willing to let that one go. And with Emma? That meant private; something Moira and Maddie and Hank couldn't handle. That meant serious. "Paige. What's wrong?"

Paige tried to clear her throat of whatever had wedged itself in there to no avail. “Yeah. Or some big crazy building of mutation rehabilitation fun,” she replied, coughing again. “His powers have gone all wonky. He’s... he’s breaking up from the inside out.”

"Oh, god, Paige. Honey..." Marie's throat tightened sympathetically. "I'm so sorry. Did they say anything... give you any idea if they can fix this?"

“No. No... he sent me an e-mail today and so far nothing is working,” Paige answered. Why did her chest suddenly hurt so much? Was the room getting smaller? “But these are smart people. Specialists even. They’ll figure out something, right?”

Marie sat in silence for a moment, reaching for words, feeling her eyes fill with tears. "Paige. Honey. I'm so sorry. I hope they do." But she'd been too long reading about mutant children like the ones at Muir, and the ones who didn't even make it that far, to lie to herself or Paige with platitudes.

Marie’s tone of voice said it all and it suddenly became very difficult for her to hold the phone with her hands shaking so badly. “Oh God, Em,” Paige finally choked out, “I don’t know what I’ll do, if... If he...”

"You'll keep going, Paige," Marie said sadly, wiping at her eyes with the cuff of her sweater. "I wish I could say something fluffy and fix-y and I can't. Where there's life there's hope, but I know it's probably thin."

“That’s the thing. There’d not be much of me to keep going,” Paige said, fingernails making halfmoons in her palms to keep away her tears. It was then that she realized that the bustle outside her door and in her room was becoming more and more focused on her, the little Paige-lump in the bed, and she took a breath. “I’m sorry, Em, to leave you hanging like this, but there’s a party tonight that I have to go avoid. I’ll try to let you know what happens, either way, okay?”

"Mail me or call me when you hear something," Marie said, leaning forward as though she could reach out and keep Paige a little longer. "And Paige, talk to someone," she said firmly, knowing Paige wouldn't.

“Right. I- sure. Okay,” Paige stammered, not even sure what she was answering to anymore, just knowing she needed out of here this instant. “Love you, Em. Thanks for calling.”

"Love you too, Paige. Be well." Marie could hear the tension in Paige's voice and let her go, closing the phone and staring at it in her palm.