Wanda and Scott

[x-scarletwitch.livejournal.com]

Scott seeks out Wanda after the incident at the club to check up on her. He also offers her the chance to train with the X-Men. Surprised, she agrees but wants a question answered first.



The water was as hot as Wanda could stand it and she braced herself under the shower head, eyes closed. The water pressure in the mansion was equal to none and she relished it, wanting to rid herself of the stink of the club. Smell of leather, sweat, fear and that _thing_ had clung to her like a second skin until she'd stumbled into the cleansing water. She'd done well, she knew, but she had wished she could have been able to do more.

Nearly forty-five minutes later, she finally emerged and wrapped herself in her bathrobe, pulling it tight. There was the need to meditate, pretty badly, but it would be a while before she was able to find her center.

Scott paused outside her door and raised his hand to knock. "Wanda?" he called quietly.

"It's open," she called, sinking into the chair in front of the vanity mirror.

He came in, closing the door quietly behind him. "How are you doing?" he asked gently, coming over to stand behind her chair. "You look intact," he said, laying a hand on her shoulder. "Insert comment about looks being deceiving, here..."

She smiled wanly at that. "Actually, I am fine in the relative sense of term," she assured him. "Some bruising from the crowd but I was expecting that anyway. No harm, no foul. I think my brain is trying to catch up to the fact that the children were fighting a _demon_ but other than that, I'm fine."

"Demons seem to be a popular thing lately," Scott confessed with a wry smile. "I'd like to blame it on the approach of Halloween, but I gather that's a fairly stereotypical and uneducated sort of thing to say. Not that I ever thought I'd have to get educated in the hows and whys of demon attacks, even here, but life never ceases to surprise you." He turned away, grabbing another chair and pulling it closer to Wanda's before sitting down. "From what I hear you handled yourself really well out there tonight," he said more seriously. "I wanted to thank you for that."

Wanda shook her head. "It was the least I could do. I was there to keep an eye on them." She glanced down at her hands and smiled wryly. "I did the best I could without making too much use of my powers. Too many lines that warned of too much danger if I tampered with them. But I suppose knowing when _not_ to use ones gifts is just as useful as when _to_ use it."

Scott leaned back in the chair, smiling. "You just made my mind up for me about something," he said firmly, approval written all over his face as he studied her. "You know a little more about the X-Men than most of our new arrivals do, I know, because of your background. Do you know enough to decide whether or not you'd like to sign on, or should I pull out one of my prepackaged recruitment spiels?"

She looked up at him, slightly startled by the offer. "You want me...to join the X-Men?" she asked slowly, the idea spinning around in her head. It appealed to her, a great deal actually, but there were a few things she needed clarified first.

Oh, he knew that look. It was the 'Ooh, like that idea, but hmmm...' look. He spread his hands wide. "Fire away," he said wisely. "The questions, I mean. I can pretty much see them in your eyes."

Wanda smiled at that. "Maybe you see the questions but probably not which one I'm about to ask." She took a deep breath and leaned back in her chair. "I know Pietro is with him, our father, Scott. He's been sending me letters for a while now. The last one mentioned to contact the Professor if I found myself in trouble. He also mentioned _you_. My brother cares deeply for me and I for him, so it's understandable that he would wish to see me safe even if it meant defying Magnus. But I feel there's something more." She watched him carefully. "I've worried that he works for him but maybe I am not seeing the whole picture?"

Scott rubbed at his jaw for a moment, then decided it was probably a good time for this. After all, he was asking her if she wanted to join the team... "You're not," he said simply, at last. "Pietro is our informant--mine, really, with the Brotherhood."

She seemed to collapse in on herself slightly at that. "...well, at least I do not have to hurt him as much when I see him next," she joked, rubbing her eyes. "He is headstrong and I was afraid he had bought into that madman's dream. Do the others know?"

"The only other person who knows is the Professor," Scott told her. "You make three. And whether or not you decide to join the team, Wanda," he went on, the Cyclops-persona dropping over his features and his voice like a mask, "you have to join us in keeping this secret. If this got back to your father, it could cost your brother his life."

Wanda's eyes hardened at the thought of that. "I would die for him, Scott," she whispered softly, a seriousness and hardness showing that she rarely allowed to escape in front of others. "Keeping this quiet is not difficult." Another deep breath. "But...I think I like the idea of joining the X-Men. I have been drifting for a while, which is not unusual, but I think this is where I need to be."

"The training will be pretty rigorous," Scott said. Just to let her know, not to try and dissuade her. "But you're in excellent physical shape, you have good control over your powers, and you've already demonstrated that you can keep a level head in crisis situations." He smiled at her again, warmly. "I think you'll do well."

She found herself smiling back, the tension from the night's events starting to ease slightly. "I enjoy challenges," she commented, "and hard work. When do I start?"

"Later in the week. I'm in the middle of revamping the training schedules so I'll work up a rotation for you as well." He tilted his head, regarding her thoughtfully. "You get along with Nathan, I know... Lorna? Ororo? I think I'd prefer to see how you do with one of our other heavy hitters as a training partner, at first."

"I do not think I dislike anyone I have met so far, if that helps any. And it will be interesting to see where my powers fit in with this team. They can be a bit...odd, at times."

"Don't say odd," Scott corrected her with a quick grin. "Say 'widely applicable'." He laughed suddenly, a bit sheepishly. "This is going to sound presumptuous, but I've been theorizing on that very subject since about a week after your arrival. Call it an instinct. I always have liked to think ahead."

Wanda shook her head, amused. "Is this similar to the children putting bets on what I will be teaching next semester?" she asked mock-innocently.

Scott couldn't help it. Despite the utter insanity of the night, the 'bloody irresistible grin' made its appearance yet again. "Maybe just a little. Any thoughts on that?"

"Would you laugh at me much if I said yes?"