Scott and Alison, Thursday morning

[x-cyclops.livejournal.com]

Alison stops in to see a still-groggy Scott, whose amnesia-day seems to have worked a subtle but interesting change in the way he's looking at the world. Funny how that works.



It had taken a lot of pleading to convince Betsy to leave Scott's side for even a moment, but if nothing else pointing out that taking a shower might not be a bad idea and that Scott's virtue was perfectly safe with Alison seemed to do it. Peeking inside the room for a moment, Alison hesitated before stepping inside, closing the door behind her before ghosting her way to the side of the bed.

Scott was drifting rather pleasantly. The bed was soft, warm, and he was awash in a general feeling of safety that he suspected he could probably ascribe to a 'suggestion' from Charles, but he was enjoying it too much to quibble. Even drifting, he was aware of someone gliding up to the side of the bed, and he opened his eyes, smiling sleepily at Alison.

Oh my. That was a 'little boy happy to see you hug me now' smile and Alison had to firmly kick down the Miles induced reflex to plop down on the bed and cuddle Scott silly. Betsy might take that as not doing the keeping virtue safe thing, for one. "Hey," she murmured instead, sitting down slowly on the side of the bed.

"Hey," Scott echoed, then smiled again at how inane he sounded. "I remember you..." he teased lightly.

"Well, I hope you do," she grinned, and probably looked ridiculously pleased at that. He was smling - genuinely smiling. "I'm memorable that way." Alison looked him over carefully, but he seemed just fine other than the odd bruise or scrape, just as Betsy had said. "How you feeling?"

"Tired," Scott said, pushing himself up a little, but only so that he could rest more comfortably against the pillows. "Head's still kind of foggy, but Charles says that some more sleep will take care of that." He took a deep breath, then let it back out, almost on a sigh. "I'm just so glad to be back," he said softly.

Maybe she was going to hug him after all, she thought. Of course, the realization followed the fact and she grinned a bit even as she hugged him as carefully as she could while feeling rather fierce about it. "M'glad you're back too."

He clung to her for a moment, and wasn't really all that ashamed of doing it, either. "Wouldn't want to do that again," he murmured. "Wandering around like a lost puppy... you know, the only thing I could remember was my first name?"

Holding on was good. "Hmm." She smiled a bit, too relieved for words for a moment. He was back and safe and he seemed to actually be doing better than before of all things. "I hear you had someone help out, though?"

Scott laughed a bit breathlessly, telling himself to let go now. Clinging was not dignified. However good it felt. "Nice old guy in a park," he said, relaxing back against the pillows again. "Sat me down for a game of chess and a hot dog. I guess he had a thing for strays."

"Well, sounds like that wasn't all so bad," she smiled at him. "Who won the game?" She was genuinely curious, if only for the fact that matching up Scott against one of the chess playing guys had to have been something to watch, amnesia or no amnesia.

"He did. But I gave him a run for his money." Scott was silent for a moment, remembering. "That's when things started to come back," he murmured. "I was... almost remembering playing with Charles. It was like the memory was there but I couldn't quite reach it." He smiled a bit sheepishly. "Been a while since I played with Charles," he said regretfully. "We used to, all the time..."

"Well, I think you know what I'm going to answer to that," Alison pointed out with a touch of amusement, although she didn't clarify - she doubted Charles would object much to them starting that up again, after all.

"We should," Scott murmured, his eyes drifting slowly around the room. "I have... no head for interior decoration, you know," he said after a moment. "Look at this place. Could be a hotel room..."

"So go shopping when you're done sleeping." She shrugged the solution to that one being dead obvious, really. "Take Betsy along if you want something fancy, do it yourself if you don't care how it looks so long as you like it, s'all."

"I just... it's no wonder I didn't like spending much time in here. There's not me in here." He stopped, blinking, and gave her another one of those slightly dazed, helpless smile. "Not like my office is much better."

No cuddling the grown man, Alison. Besides, you have someone in particular to do that with now. The thought brought a faint smile to her lips. "Well, you can fix your office too if you like. Nothing's stopping you."

Scott gazed up at her for a long moment, contemplatively. "I've been just awful to you," he said after a moment, thoughtfully.

She blinked at that, a touch nonplussed. "Huh?" Okay, hardly the most intelligent or eloquent of replies, but the change of subject kinda deserved it, she thought.

"You especially, but I don't know how all of you have managed to put up with me lately..." Scott trailed off, staring up at the ceiling thoughtfully. "I don't know what I've been thinking. It doesn't seem to make much sense in hindsight."

"Well," she waved her hand a bit, not sure what to say. "Maybe sometimes things pile up so badly you just lose sight of things?"

"Don't think it was that. I think I was just so scared..." He paused, remembering Manuel's words at the coffee bar. "Wanted too much and tried too hard."

She smiled a bit, reaching out to tap his nose ever so slightly - which was much safer than cuddling if Betsy happened to walk through the door. "Well. Looks like you've got an idea of what was going on now, no?"

She had just tapped him on the nose. Scott almost laughed. "I don't know," he murmured wryly. "Maybe it's the brainwashing hangover. But part of me just wants to sleep and find out how much of it will sort itself out when I wake up."

"So sleep." That one was an easy and simple answer "First of all, you need and second of all, you want to. No promises on the sorting out, though." She paused. Well - she and Moira could always take care of the office, at that. They had the plans to do so already...

"Let it go for now, huh?" His eyes were drifting closed despite his attempt to keep them open and keep talking to Alison. It felt like it had been so long since he'd just talked to anyone. "Sounds good..."

"Go on and sleep," she murmured, patting his hand gently. "I'm thinking waffles and chocolate syrup and bananas when you wake up." She wasn't even sure he'd heard the last, but Miles had already made Plans and she wasn't about to spoil them.