Log [Alison, Haroun - Cameo by Miles]

[x-dazzler.livejournal.com]

In which Miles has an Important Question to ask of Haroun, which then leads to more rather important questions and yet another Talk between he and Alison.



Miles waited patiently on the landing to the third floor, leaning on the banister and waiting for his not-quite-prey. There had been several matters plaguing his mind for a while now, many of them due to the Holidays and things he had seen and experienced. And while he wasn't sure about much of anything right now, asking questions was usually the way to go in such situations. And of course, there was also the fact that someone was going to have to ask this at one point, and it seemed it was up to Miles to do this. So he peered through the railing and waited patiently, not even tapping his foot once the entire time - this was a Very Hard Thing to do for a now eight year old little boy.

Haroun was walking back from his office hours back to his room for a shower and a quick session with some really loud toxic musical sludge. He had to wash the taste of Celine Dion and Sting out of his mouth and all that. He was so wrapped up in his own thoughts that he completely missed Miles waiting for him.

"Haroun?" Miles had learned that explaining the Important Things to Haroun succinctly was a Good Thing, in a keeping his attention sort of way. He didn't mind talking non-stop to him for the small stuff, since it seemed to keep things easy the rest of the time, but this was something that deserved his entire attention.  "Miles has a question he would like to ask, please. It is a Very Important question," he added solemnly, trotting over to stand by him and look up at him with a serious expression.

Haroun blinked and looked down at Miles. "I'm listening." he said gruffly. He was in No Mood to deal with Miles's inanities today. "What's your question?" he asked as he kept walking, forcing the boy to keep pace with him.

Today was Grumpy Haroun day, Miles noted. Hrm. But the question was Important, so Haroun would just have to listen. "Is Haroun going to ask Mama to marry him?" he said, straight out, trotting besides him and looking up to see his expression at the question. Nathan had asked Moira to marry him, and now they were having a baby too. And well - if Haroun was going to ask Mama to marry him, Miles felt he ought to know. Besides, there was something about Mama's honor in there somewhere too, which the little boy knew applied.

Haroun, who happened to be passing the stairwell at the time, stumbled at the question. And since the stairwell was Right There, and gravity hated him, down he went. "OW! FUCKITALL!" he said with a fine disregard for the boy's presence. "Am I WHAT?" he asked Miles from the bottom of the stairwell.

Haroun, stairwells and Important Questions were a bad mix. Miles made a mental note of this and stared down the stairs at the prone man, looking a bit nonplussed. Haroun had been loud Glancing over his shoulder just in case a plague of Mama happened to wander on by to ruin everything and noting that he was still in the clear, Miles leaned forward a bit. "Is Haroun going to ask Mama to marry him?" He paused, then winced a little. "Miles did not mean to surprise Haroun like that. Is Haroun all right?"

"I'll live. And that's none of your business, kid. But to answer your question - I doubt it. It's possible, but I doubt it very much. She's given no indication that that's something she wants in her life." He stood up slowly, testing himself for bumps, bruises, or damaged mechanical bits. Everything seemed to check out OK, so he walked up the stairs to look at Miles. "Why do you ask?"

Another peek over his shoulder, the only sign that Miles knew darn well certain other parties might not be thrilled with him on this really, and then the small boy peered down at Haroun once more, rather intently at that. Technically speaking, he was the man of the house. And that meant he had to take care of Alison too, even if - well, there was no use thinking of that just now. And he was very conflicted about Haroun's response too. "Miles asks because-" another pause and Miles looked over his shoulder slowly, and then up.

"Miles?" Alison knew that look. She knew it well. It was the 'my hand isn't in a cookie jar but it might as well be' look, soon to be followed by the 'Mad Scramble from Tickly Death' run. "Miiiles? What are you up to?" The innocent look complete with small shoulder shrug and 'who me?' expression didn't go over at all.

Haroun looked at Miles quizzically. "And ...?" Then he looked over to see Alison. "Oh. Hey, Alison." he said with a sheepish grin, then a wince as a bruise made itself known on his ribs. "How are you feeling?"

Looking beyond Miles revealed a sprawled Haroun at the bottom of the stairs. With that 'something is going on, look, there's a neat plane over there' grin of his. Hands resting on her hips, she stared from Miles-at-the-top-of-the-stairs to Haroun-at-the-bottom-of-the-stairs and frowned just a bit. Miles sidling to the side in an escape attempt was neatly counteracted by Alison reaching out to snag the back of his collar. "Hello, dear. Why are you at the bottom of the steps like that?" she asked mildly, ignoring the pretend choking to death sounds from Miles.

"Sudden gust of gravity coupled with a question I really wasn't expecting from Kermit over there." he said, waving a hand at Miles. "Really do need to have the balance module recalibrated." he muttered to himself as he re-ascended the stairs.

The choking sounds increased, along with Miles stretching out both hands in front of him as though scrabbling for freedom. Blinking, Alison stared at Haroun, then back at Miles again - she really had to stop doing that too, she decided. "Gravity does not gust. Question?"

"Miles thought Haroun could fly," the boy muttered aggrievedly, then eeped quietly as he remembered he was supposed to be acting up the being strangled to death bit instead of commenting on anything at all. He resumed the arm waving determinedly, hoping for freedom. The Tickly Death was looming in sight too.

"Says you anyway." said Haroun with a grin. "And you'll love this. Miles wanted to know if I was going to ask you to marry me." he said with a chuckle. "I told him that it's none of his buisness."

Stunned silence greeted that remark and Miles looked over his shoulder to see Alison staring at Haroun with wide eyes. The hold she had on his collar loosened and being a very smart little boy, Miles carefully tugged himself free while doing his best to not draw her attention and then ran for safety for all he was worth.

"He wha..." Alison trailed off, hand falling to her side limply as Haroun made it to the top of the stairs, not really paying attention to the mad scramble heading in the general direction of 'Away from Her' just yet. "Asked you if..." Her lips tried to shape the words and failed rather miserably.

Haroun shrugged helplessly, not willing to speak and further wreck the situation any more than it already was.  "Kids ask the darnest things?" he hazarded.

Nodding vaguely at that and still stuck on the 'He asked you what?!' part, Alison turned to look at the direction Miles had taken - blue eyes in a green face peered at her from the corner, then widened in comical dismay. "Be right back," Alison reached out to pat Haroun's cheek lightly then peeled off without warning, making a beeline for Miles.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAH!' With a shriek of horror (and mingle relief, because being run after meant this wasn't a Stern Talk type offense just yet, maybe, if he was lucky) Miles turned and scrambled off, intent on getting away as quickly as possible.

Haroun leaned up against the wall and waited for Alison to come back from doing whatever it was she was doing to her son. Disciplining him, hopefully. The question of Miles' had his mind wondering, though, with a loud-and-getting-louder argument going on between his Romantic and his Practical sides.

Tickly Death wasn't quite achieved, though after giving Miles a stern look along with a promise to want to talk to him later Alison turned him lose, the little boy wasting no time to decamp - the more time was spent between now and said talking, the calmer Alison would be, he knew from experience.  Thoughts still whirling, Alison took a few moments to try and recover the shock, mind firmly shying away from thinking in general. About anything at all.

Blank was good, she decided, and after taking a deep breath she headed back towards where she'd left Haroun, hopefully not looking too taken off balance by events.

Haroun had his own mask on, the grin, the twinkle in his eye. All designed to throw Alison off the scent that Miles's question had Gotten to him. In a major way. "So is the little green monster all tickled out?" he asked pleasantly.

"Something like that," she answered, not at all breathlessly, taking in the way he was acting as though nothing had been brought up by Miles involving the word 'marriage' at all without comment. She was still tripping over the word in her head, she wasn't about to try and say it out loud. 

Haroun smiled at Alison with as much sincerity as he could possibly put behind it. "Hey, you have plans for this evening? I'm thinking we could spend the night in - you know, dinner, a movie, the usual stuff. Interested?" he asked her. Besides, it would give him the time he needed and the opportunity to talk to her about the topic Miles had raised. He had to be insane, thinking that it could ever possibly happen.

Movie, dinner, the usual stuff - that Alison could focus on without her mind stuttering to a stop on her - and if anything happened security wise, they'd know. Someone else had comm duty for the night, even if they were on call "Mmm, well, I just happen to not have any plans in particular this evening..." She closed the distance between them and smiled at him - besides, training until she keeled over wasn't quite as appealing just now. "Did you have anything in particular in mind?"

"Well, I was thinking of ordering out and curling up with a movie. I'm kind of jonesing for Chinese, is that OK with you?" he asked her. "You can pick the film."

Rediscovering food, good food, was still a lovely hobby really. "Mmm. I could go for that," she nodded at the suggestion. "Chinese and curling up in front of a movie it is. And why not make it a thematic - you up for some Jet Li?" Alison figured that one wouldn't be too hard a sell, backing up in the general direction of her room with a faint grin.

"Sounds like a plan. I'm in a Once Upon A Time In China mood, although I suppose you'll want double your eye-candy and pick The One? Again? For the forty-seventh time?" he teased with a grin. "And since SOMEONE forgot to tell the security system that the delivery boy was coming, I will have to forego the delightful Hot and Sour Soup from the Jade Pearl. Ah well, the Verdant Dragon's got some pretty good stuff. You buying?"

"There are very pretty Tai Chi scenes in The One, thank you very much," was the dignified reply, Alison leading the way to her room. "We could always compromise." The pause was really just for the sake of pretending to think it over. "Tai Chi Master?" They could always listen to his movie after, at that, after she tucked Miles in for the night. "I didn't mean to forget," she added, feeling a touch guilty still over what had happened to the poor delivery boy. And it was indeed her turn to buy. "You calling?"

"Forty. Seven. Times." he mock-groused. "And yeah, I'll call. You have a menu handy?" he asked. "I seem to have lost mine the last time I cleaned up. And what do you want? Should I just order for you, or do you have something specific in mind?"

"Order for me, I'm good with anything. And there should be one in my room." Which was where she was headed anyway of course, because why not wait there until the delivery arrived? "You always exaggerate. It wasn't forty-seven times. But if you want I can make sure you have a good reason to complain about it," she offered with a grin.

"Forty. Seven. Times." he said, sticking to his guns. "And I'll go make the call. Probably be about thirty, maybe forty-five minutes before the food gets here. If you've got nothing on your plate, and seeing as how I know how much you hate being interrupted during a movie, I can think of a few ways to keep your amused until the food arrives..."

"Just a few ways?" She grinned wickedly at him over her shoulder, opening the door to her room and leaving it that way for him to follow her inside. "You know, if we forget about the delivery boy, that'll be one more place we can't order from anymore." Erk. That wasn't quite what she'd meant to remind him of, since he'd actually left off grumping about the Jade Pearl incident.

"Won't happen." Haroun said confidently. "I love being with you, teasing you, hearing that little gasping noise you make. But I love my Hot and Sour Soup too, and good Chinese food is just not to be passed up.' He walked into her room, picked up her phone, and made the order. "Forty-five minutes. They're busy tonight." he told her.

It was a good thing she wasn't a diva, despite what the tabloids had liked to say when she still touring, years ago. As it was she merely pouted at him for being compared to the Chinese food, sticking her tongue out at him as he made the call. "Busy, or they've heard about the address and are trying to shuffle the order off to another restaurant." Alison grinned a touch at that, amused. At least the pizza place adored them, as did the delivery staff - including the tiny girl who came most often and who had a habit of gliding on air while doing the deliveries. Literally.

Haroun closed the door to her room, to give them both some privacy. "So." he said with a curving leer on his face. "We have forty-five minutes until the food arrives. I think I have an idea on how to spend the time productively. After all, has anyone told you today?" he asked her with a grin.

She still loved it when he asked that question, and it showed in the gleam of her eyes and the smile lingering on her lips, even as she arched an eyebrow at him slowly. "Mmm. You'd have to be a bit more specific. Told me what?"

"Has anyone told you today that you're beautiful? That you have a grace, a power that has everything to do with who you are and nothing to do with genetics? Has anyone told you how stupidly in love I am? And has anyone told you that you need to be made love to?" he said with a hopeful smile and an outstretched hand.

Oooh. He was going for one of those mad blitzes of compliments which tended to do bad things to her neurons at that and he'd started saying 'love' an awful lot lately in one way or another, be it subtle or not and - yep, brain melting. Puddle type brain. "Mrf." Alison reached for his hand with a small, silly sort of smile and let him draw her near. "Mmmm. Nooo, don't think anyone's told me that today. Up 'till now."

Haroun folded her into a hug, kissing her with a ferocious intensity. He then escorted her over to her own bed, where he lay himself down upon it so that he could just watch her. "You are, you know. Stunning." he babbled. "I can't believe what a lucky man I really am. Allah has blessed me."

She was blushing faintly damn it, something he still managed to do to her although the how defied explanation as far as she was concerned. Taking her time, Alison followed him on the bed, straddling him while bracing herself on both hands to smile down at him, lifting on hand to press a fingertip to his lips gently. "How you still make me blush, I wonder..." Quite content with the view she stayed there for a moment longer, gazing down at him lazily.

Haroun could see the blush, and it never failed to amuse him mightily. "I thought that you were a depraved Rock Goddess. Goddesses don't blush, I thought. Or so you've told me." he added with a smirk. "And if the Goddess wants anything she sees, all she has to do is ask."

She shifted slowly, the contact between them light and teasing as she resettled on her elbows, finally resting her weight down against him with deliberate care. "The Goddess wants everything she sees," Alison purred out, determined to do something about that smirk, "for she is a greedy, greedy thing."

"Well then. Can't disappoint the Rock Goddess." he said with a grin, and slowly unbuttoned the button-down he was wearing. He knew he was making a production out of it, and he watched her to see if she was enjoying his impromptu little show.

Alison was smiling crookedly at that, pushing back up just a  bit to indeed enjoy the show, and while she was at it not quite but almost matching him button for button, fingertips toying with the buttons of her blouse. Sorting out the whole team thing versus the relationship thing versus being a mother thing versus sticking to her music thing still threw her for a loop now and then when she stopped to think about it, and... and she was going to have a serious talk with Miles about bringing up the Marriage Thing. Leaning down once more as soon as he was done, blouse undone and skin pressing against skin this time, Alison went for the very distracting, which involved little to no thinking at all.

Haroun looked up at Alison, her smooth skin, the by-play of muscle underneath it, and just grinned. He still couldn't believe his good fortune, and a small part of him was waiting for the other shoe to drop. He kissed her, hard, and then flipped the two of them over so that she was laying on the bed, and he was straddling her, looking down on her with great amusement. "So how does the Goddess feel?" he asked her again, trailing a finger around the top of her slacks, then around her belly button.

Nicely distracted, which was how things should be. "Oh so very lucky," she murmured, lips curving into a small, contented smile. She stretched out slowly, very much aware of the light touch traveling against her skin and savoring every second of it, even as it drew a faint shiver from her in response.

Haroun scooted down a bit to admire her charms more directly. "Ooh. Front-hook." he said with great amusement. "Tempting." he added with a saucy grin. "Food should be here in twenty-seven minutes." he said after a quick consultation with his 'ware's internal clock. He then kissed her belly-button, just to be silly about things.

"He has a willing woman at his fingertips and he yearns after the front hook." Alison wrinkled her nose at him at that, grinning teasingly. A small huff of breath escaped her his lips rested against her skin, the only sign that the touch had actually tickled - if only for a moment. Pushing herself up on her elbows she grinned down at him, trying to work her legs free slowly, not at all in preparation of mischief of any sort, of course. "Mmm. Bet you they get here early just because you said that."

Haroun grinned, and let his fingers wander down her front to the front of her slacks. He undid the catch and unzipped them slowly, but left it at that - it was far more erotic and exciting to get the glimpse of what lay beneath through the opened gap than to just peel them off entirely. "How are your nerves holding up?" he asked her before kissing down the expanse of skin that he just revealed, stopping just above where her underclothes started.

Low laughter greeted the question and Alison reached down to run a fingertip down the side of his neck. "I'm fine," she assured him, and then finally freeing up one leg, set about proving her point. A shift of weight and a few well placed, light and teasing touches and she worked them around so that he was now lying on his back again, grinning wickedly at him the entire time. They weren't going to have time for anything too involved, she was sure of that - but it didn't mean she couldn't have fun testing his limits. Just a bit. "See?" And before he could pull her down for a kiss she leaned in, lips trailing down the line of his jaw slowly.

"You look fine, and you certainly feel fine." he said, looking down at her as she moved down his torso. She was learning what sensitive spots he still had with disturbing speed, and sending useless impulses all up and down his spine. He let his hands move up her sides, marveling at the feel of her skin, the shivers she gave off from time to time.

It was without a doubt fun to take her time doing this, the fact that it wasn't going to go anywhere more than this in terms of his own physicality not sitting easily with her still. But she'd known before and she was living it now and that was what being with Haroun meant - and she accepted that. It simply meant drawing satisfaction in the reactions she could generate, every single one of them. And simply being with him. After working her way up slowly once more, hands still trailing over his chest, Alison opened her mouth to inform him of the fact that this was very much about the feeling good... and rang.

"Aw, Hell!" Haroun swore with feeling. He quickly switched their positions, standing up and not bothering with buttoning his shirt. He picked up a nearby blanket and threw it over Alison, then answered the Intercom. "Food's here." he said. "I'll go get it. Wait here for me, get the movie ready to go?" he said, then he blew her a kiss and disappeared downstairs after snagging a few bills from her wallet.

Still peeking over the edge of the blanket more or less covering her, Alison blinked once slowly, and then snickered. The snickers gave way to laughter as she pushed the blanket away, peeling away the already mostly off clothing and changing into something more comfortable before popping the DVD in the player and returning to the bed to curl up under the blanket again, still chuckling softly.

Haroun arrived a few minutes later, bearing an armful of food. "I come bearing food." he said unnecessarily as he shucked the shirt entirely and put the food on the table closest to the bed from which they were going to watch movies. "Got you sesame chicken, since I think you liked it from last time, and I wussed out and tapped The General." He dug through the bag, retrieving little cartons of sticky rice and enough soy and duck sauce to dunk Piotr into.

"Mmmm." Alison tugged the blanket so that she could shift around easily and scrambled about to lie on her stomach - yep, table in perfect reach. Body mostly covered if not too much, which was Just Fine and how it should be too. Reaching out she patted the control, grinning at him while knowing only too well the view he was being gifted with. Silk camisoles and pajama bottoms were fun that way.

Haroun gave Alison one of those Looks - the "I can't believe how beautiful you are and one of these days I will wake up and this will have all been a dream it's that good" Looks. He ran a finger up her hamstring, from the knee all the way to her behind. And a glorious behind it was, even with the loss of tone from her enforced stillness and injury. Black silk. He loved black silk on her, the contrast with her milk-and-cream skin. Just like the contrast with his own darker hues.

Well, if he was going to be distracting, Alison wasn't about to tell him to stop, far from it, food or no food. She pushed herself up to her knees and reached up, drawing him down just enough to kiss him thoroughly. She leaned back a bit as she did so, teasingly trying to draw him back down on the bed with her.

Haroun may have been slow at times, but he could sense an invitation when it was offered to him. He snuggled up close to her, and cracked the lid on the General Tso's Chicken that he got for himself. "I am so boring." he mock-complained as he took a bite of his food.

She snickered at that, curling up against him while enjoying the combined sensation of both silk and skin with what was probably too much fervor, but she didn't care - it felt good. And she could still feel that touch running up her leg. "Does that mean next time I get to be creative and order something you've never tasted before?" The question was innocent enough, even as Alison eyed the carton left on the table pensively. Getting the chicken meant having to move. Away at that. That was Bad.

Haroun cranked up the heat, and without being asked used his superior position to grab her chicken and pass it over to her. "Yeah, I think next time we get Chinese you get to order." he said musingly. "Because I'm in a rut."

"Thank you." She opened the carton and lifted it up, setting it at equal height with the plain old General Tao Chicken he was holding. "Go on. Be daring," she deadpanned, planning on ordering pretty much everything but the mundane the next time just for fun. Or maybe they could go out - she still owed him that date, though the place she was planning to take him to was emphatically not Chinese. And now that she wasn't quite as distracted as before, what Miles had asked him was starting to nag at her again, and she frowned a little.

Haroun shrugged and took a piece of her sesame chicken. "Not bad." he said after chewing it a few times. "I like Chinese. They only come up to your knees." he deadpanned. "Just think of all the many things they've done to impress!"

She thumped him on the shoulder for that, mindful of the food but still enough to be felt. "Doofus." The chopsticks (thankfully within reach) were acquired, although apparently Alison's appetite had entirely deserted her for some reason. Oh yes. That. "About what Miles..." Good grief, she couldn’t even say it.

Haroun tensed and looked over at Alison. He was trying to play it cool, but his organics screamed tension. "Wherever did he get that idea?" he asked. "I mean, really!"

"Probably because of Nathan and Moira," Alison was quick to point out, as it was the only thing that Made Sense really. Alison knew she'd have to talk to him about it, figure out why and if there was something she should be doing to make things right for Miles, although she wasn't sure what was wrong to start with or if anything was, other than the entire trying to run away attempts. "He's only eight, it's not like he's ever been exposed to the traditional family structure before... probably the first time he has in a healthy environment, now."

"That makes sense." he said with a reassured smile. "That's got to be it." he said, nodding in assurance. "And Miles needs a steady hand in his life. Maybe this is his way of getting one."

Alison went very still, the carton still held up in front of Haroun, though her eyes slowly shifted to look at him, her head cocking slightly to the side in the process. "Ooooh?" Her voice was silken and smooth as the made the querying sound, the expression on her face one of rapt curiosity.

"Well, it makes sense!" he said defensively. "He knows that you and I have been seeing each other for a little while now. Maybe he wants a male presence in his life, and since you and I are dating..." He left the rest of that comment unvoiced.

As tactical retreats went it was a fairly standard fallback - and a reasonable one as well, somewhat. Maybe. A bit. With a small nod, Alison decided against stabbing him with her chopsticks. For one, it'd get blood and cybernetic fluid on her bedspread. For another, she found that her appetite was returning and she needed the chopsticks to eat. And maybe, just maybe there was something about what Haroun was saying that might make sense. A bit. A small portion of it. But she'd need to talk to Miles first on that one, because Miles had strong male presences in his life already and ow, now her brain was hurting. Small boy think, while startlingly easy at times, could also get rather nebulous. "Miles already has strong male presences in his life." Cain, Nathan, Charles. And Haroun, doofus that he was. "And you're a part of his life now too."

Haroun exhaled heavily. "I suppose you're right at that." he said, then turned his attentions to eating. The question had him rattled and rattled hard. He was going to have to spend some serious skull-sweat-time to figure out why, precisely, but it did. Pensively, he ate the rest of his food in silence. "Movie still on, or do you want to kick Miles's question around some more?" he asked her once all of his possible distractions were gone. He also turned off the heat he was radiating, just to be absolutely sure. "And although I'm fairly sure that this question will get me stabbed with a chopstick, what do you think of his question?" he asked her.

Alison's chopsticks were being used to hold a piece of chicken so Haroun was perfectly safe at that point. As was Alison for that matter - hearing that while actually trying to consume said chicken however likely would have resulted in her choking on it. Just a bit. With the heat emanating from Haroun slowly fading, she tried to drag her scattered thoughts to offer him something that would at least sound normal and not reflect the fact that the word marriage wasn't anything she'd ever, ever associated with her future. "Even as a kid, all I ever wanted to do was sing. I was going to make it big, sing what I wanted to sing... write what I wanted to write. And grow old and die. I-" she waved the chicken about just a bit, "never really thought of it before." She wasn't even banking on the growing old part anymore, after what had happened.

Haroun tried not to feel how her words seemed to cut the very core out of him. He tried really, really hard. "Of course."  he said blandly. "You have your career, I have my life, and the boy was being impertinent." he added, snuggling a little closer to Alison. In the privacy of his own head, he added ~Besides, I can't give you any sort of life that would be worth living. Best to just take what comfort and pleasure we can before we die.~

"Not impertinent," Alison finally said, after a long pause - the blandness of his voice making her wonder though she was just too afraid to ask. "He's never had anything normal at all - now that he's hearing about what normal is supposed to be, it's... natural for him to wonder." She didn't say 'I guess' although it was right at the tip of her tongue. "Even if I can't give him normal, not with the fact that I'm an X-Man and- everything else." The blowing up, the having to go through security procedures regularly, the fact that he'd never physically fit in and she didn't want him exposed to that fact every day of his life, and then there was everything else too. "I... feel like the crappiest parent that was ever crappy sometimes." The admission was spoken lowly, Alison reaching out to dump the carton on the table before leaning back against him. She'd never said as much to anyone, but there it was.

Haroun shrugged. "You seem to be doing OK. I'd do it differently, but I am not you. That's important. Miles seems to be happy, which is important, and he's learning important things from your example. Discipline. Respect. Intelligence. Good humor. All the things that make a good person a good person." he said musingly. "So you really don't have much to complain about right now."

There was a small, unintelligible sound and Alison frowned a bit - she hadn't been complaining had she? She hadn't thought she was. "He had a lot of it to start with. I'm still surprise he kept faith in people after everything he's been though." He was quiet about it, but there was therapy with Samson and every now and then there were still the most hair-raising moments he would tell her about. She shook her head a bit, stopping that particular train of thought right there. And yes, appetite still very much gone. "I..." at a loss for words, she just smiled at him a bit hesitantly. "Thank you."

"You're quite welcome." he said with a smile. "Now come on, we've got Jet Li in the DVD player. Besides, Miles' question is just absurd." he said with much false bravado. "Come on, I'll crank up the heat for you if you'd like..." he offered, motioning for her to snuggle up close if she was so inclined.

"Heat is good." Something deep inside was telling her that she was being a big damn coward, but she ignored it firmly, curling up closer instead, the control to the DVD thumbed lightly to start the movie. And he's said it was absurd which pretty much settled the case and stated his thoughts on the matter nicely, and it was far to early to think of such a thing, and in the second that followed Alison reminded herself that she'd never wanted to get married anyway so why would she ever think of such a thing anyway - and then she took a deep breath, wrenching herself away from all the thinking. "Heat is very good." And she knew he liked the feeling of silk, so draping a fair part of herself against him was only fair play in return.

Haroun cranked up the heat, because he knew how much she loved it. "Do you?" he asked her after a few long moments, forsaking the film in favor of exploring her earlobe with a fingertip. "Get married, someday? In general?"

It wasn't fair - she'd gone from slipping into the appreciation of heat and Haroun, feeling utterly safe on the matter to an abrupt turnabout which had her having to think about the matter, and seriously so. The tenseness which seeped through her had to be obvious to him too, even though she was trying to stay calm. And the way he'd asked said that maybe he wasn't as closed to the matter as she'd let herself think and panicking right now would be bad. Very bad. Levels of badness she didn't want to think about at all. "I don't know," she answered softly, only too aware that it was a miserable answer. "It's not something that's ever come up before?"

"Fair enough. Hypothetically, then." he said calmly, still playing with her earlobe idly. He had to know, even if pushing her like this was tantamount to suicide. It was insane - what right did he have to even ASK her this?

She wasn't even noticing what he was doing, her entire attention on what he was asking - it was far too soon to be even thinking of something like this, right? Or something? And it had nothing to do with Haroun himself, although she had no way of telling him that because it was the less likely to be believed answer, which meant that Alison would have to settle for the truth, as unhelpful as it was. "It scares me." She offered him a small, unsteady smile, hoping she hadn't somehow ruined something in the process of admitting to this.

"Scares you? Why?" he asked, finally stopping his futzing with her ear in favor of looking at her. "I'm talking hypothetically here, let's remember. What's so frightening about it? If you met the right person, I would think it would be a wonderful thing indeed." he stressed. He was NOT proposing to Alison. No way, no how. He was steadfastly ignoring the voice in his head, which sounded an awful lot like his grandmother, that was whispering sweet treasons about settling down and finding a nice girl to spend his life with.

Informing him that she always ended up not being the right person would be the easy way out, and well - cheap at that. And just not take them anywhere. Going into how it had seemed to make both her parents miserable beneath the happy veneer presented to society would also be unacceptable. And the rest of it she couldn't even explain herself, beyond a basic gut level fear each time the notion was brought up. Everything with Miles had just snuck up on her, happened so fast she'd never realized what she was actually doing until she was so involved there was no turning back. And sometimes she still couldn't believe she was a mother. And marriage... "It just scares me. I don't know how to explain it, I wish I did." And now her hands were trembling, just a bit. Alison shifted a bit, hoping to keep him from noticing, and she reminded herself that this was indeed, hypothetical. "You're right though," she managed to say, somehow. "It would be."

Haroun nodded. "As for me, I think it would be wonderful, but there's not much I could offer, really. X-Man, cyborg, no means of providing beyond Charles ... it would be a foolish proposition at this point in my life." he mused, then snuggled up close to Alison. "But enough of the serious talk. We have Jet Li to watch and Chinese food to eat."

It wasn't hard at all to just bury her face against him, sneaking a look at the television now and then although she wasn't really seeing the movie at all. There he was again with the definitive comment about not considering it seriously now, which was reassuring in a sense - anything else was too obscured and confused for Alison to even try to sort it out. But what he'd said to justify it just grated, and then some. And she could bring it up later when she wasn't feeling quite so rattled, she decided, ignoring the tiny voice in the back of her mind smartly informing her she was a coward. "Mmm. We do," was all Alison said, the tension starting to fade slowly.