Hank, Madelyn - Wednesday morning

[x-madelyn.livejournal.com]

The grovelling continues... Madelyn gets a call as she's on her way back from checking on Cain for the morning, and she and Hank have a rather fun conversation - up until the point where Hank admits he isn't actually skiing in Aspen.




Madelyn was, as was becoming a regular habit, on her way back from checking on Cain in the boathouse. It was a lovely morning, if you liked your mornings cold and with a layer of snow crunching under your boots. Luckily, Madelyn did - she was humming 'Winter Wonderland' under her breath and wondering if she could get away with coaxing Miles into a snowball fight later if she finished going through the latest results from that study with Scott, when her phone started ringing. With a small sigh and a certain amount of resignation - the phone only rang when Something Was Wrong - she dug the offending device out of her jacket pocket and answered it. "Dr Bartlet speaking."

A voice as small as a rumbling baritone coming out of a chest as big as a barrel could be responded. "Hello, Madelyn," Hank said sheepishly. "I am calling... well, to offer you the first of many apologies. They are, I think, somewhat overdue." He'd barely seen her when she got back.... his flight had left the same night she returned. And... well. Now he realized how often that had happened lately.

"Hank! Anything wron... wait, apologies?" Madelyn blinked, coming to a dead stop. "Apologies for what, exactly? Don't tell me you replaced my donut order with Twinkies again."

"No..." Hank sighed. "But I have been a bad doctor, a bad friend, and a very bad Hank of late. Something that was... brought home to me, last night. I've been neglecting my duties there, and allowing you and Moira to take far more
than your equitable parts of the workload that we're supposed to share, while I gallivanted around working on other projects, or worked in my lab instead of the infirmary. And.... I am very sorry, Madelyn," he finished softly. "Words cannot say how much."

If Madelyn had been in the lab, she would have had to sit down. As it was, sitting down in the snow would involve in a cold and wet ass, so she remained on her feet. "Hank... I can't say you're wrong, but we've all had that happen, gotten so caught up with something that everything else is an intrusion." She ran her free hand through her hair, confused by the suddenness of all this. "We can take a look at the rosters when you get back - I've been meaning to catch you about reducing Moira's load any way, with the baby and everything..." A sudden grin crossed her face, echoing in her voice. "Of course, if you're really wanting to grovel, chocolate always works."

He laughed a little. "I have already picked up Guilt Gifts for you and for Moira... and if you haven't looked in your desk drawer, yet, your Christmas present was an assortment of red and green frosted doughnuts, carefully hidden from sticky student fingers." He leaned back a little in his chair, relaxing... at least she was willing to forgive him. That was a start. "I promise you, I will be around *much* more reliably, from now on. I shall charm Moira into letting me take on some of her workload... and perhaps you as well. You have been overworked of late, and I have a lot to make up to you." He grinned a little. "Remind me, next time you need cheering up, that I owe you a sock dance." Watching him do the slippery-sock-feet dance always made her laugh.


"Donuts? Ooh, I'll check as soon as I get back." Madelyn couldn't help a little skip, which probably wasn't the safest thing to do on snowy ground, as she skidded slightly on the touchdown. "Okay, what's brought all this on, Hank? Not that I'd be one to turn down a sock dance, but this smacks of sudden intervention. Or possibly New Year's resolutions."

"More of a very unpleasant wakeup call," Hank said, sobering. "I... happened to catch the news last night, I don't know if you've seen it... a young mutant girl was murdered in New York yesterday afternoon. I saw the report, and feared it was one of the students until they named the victim... and I realized that I had absolutely no idea whether she was a student or not. I knew there was at least one new girl I hadn't met... and I couldn't remember her name. It.. brought home to me how very absent I've been, of late."

"Oh, Hank..." Madelyn's voice was full of sympathy. "We've all got our ways of dealing with stress... With the way it's been around here lately, it's a wonder all three of us aren't stark, staring mad. Sometimes it's a matter of shutting yourself off to save what little's left." Changing tones (and ears, as she walked back towards the house) she went on: "When you get back, how about one of our pizza and movie sessions down in the lab, like the old days? We can brainstorm some ways of getting you back into the swing of things that don't necessarily involve cattle prods. Although I can't speak for Moira."

"I will do my best to placate the lovely mother to be with grovelling and gifts." Hank grinned a bit wickedly. "And the promise that under no circumstances will I deliver her child. With hands the size of snow shovels, I fear the miracle of life is not for me." He sighed sadly. "I will just have to leave that to you. Darn."

"You can play catcher in case I slip?" Madelyn suggested innocently, giggling a little as she planned finding Hank a baseball cap and a catcher's bib for that very purpose.

Hank laughed. "Indeed... and provide moral support for both of you. And if Cable has concussed himself again, I shall nobly offer myself as a stand-in male for the purposes of being beaten by the mother-to-be." He smiled. "I am very glad that you forgive me for neglecting you," he said more seriously. "And I promise you that it will not happen again."

"If Nathan does concuss himself again at that time, nothing on earth will save him," Madelyn chuckled. "And you're welcome, Hank. Really - it'd take far more heinous crimes than neglecting me for me to not forgive you. Messing with the donut supply, for example." Making her way up the back steps, she switched ears again, balancing herself against the wall as she kicked snow off her boots. "Besides, you can make it up to me in all sorts of new and exciting ways. I've discovered this whole new concept - it's called being social. You do it off campus, even."

"I have already promised to take Alison and Miles out to lunch, to atone for my neglect." Hank grinned. "I shall do the same for you and Moira. Wherever you like. I'll even wear clothes." He really preferred the shorts, since clothes gave him clothes-fur, which was like hat-hair but all over. Still, for lunch with such a lovely pair of ladies, he could make sacrifices. "Cable may fend for himself for a few hours, and I shall have you all to myself!"

"Clothes, huh? A girl doesn't get an offer like that every day..." Madelyn said with a snicker as she came inside, closing the door behind her with relief. It was getting colder out there - it would possibly snow some more without Ororo's help. "There's a Chinese place in town Kurt and I went to for my not-birthday dinner - they have a lunch banquet. I'll run it past Moira when she gets back. By the sounds of it, Muir is doing her good, 'though."

"Then a lunch-banquet it shall be, if Moira agrees." Hank nodded. "And I hope it is... she needs badly to relax for a while. Stress, as we must remind her, is not good for the baby." He heard a shrill beep and looked up. "And I have an experiment finishing-" he started, and then bit his tongue. Drat it, he hadn't intended to tell Madelyn that he was working!

"Experiment? Henry Philip McCoy, you don't mean to tell me you're working?!" Madelyn's voice rose, and she sounded uncannily like her mother just then. "So I take it you're not skiing in Aspen right now?"

"Er... not as such, no," Hank said sheepishly. "That was... a bit of a fib. I knew you and Alison would be cross with me if I admitted to working in my holidays, so... well. I had hoped you wouldn't find out."

"Perhaps calling me from the lab with the machines that go ping wasn't exactly a bright idea, Nobel Boy." Madelyn shook her head, realised he couldn't see it, and went on. "And 'cross' doesn't even begin to describe it... What if we'd had an emergency and needed you in top shape and with all your faculties intact? You know winter break is the only real time off we get - there's a reason I insisted on everyone getting their fair share of break time. Break time which you weren't supposed to spend working."

"I was bored," Hank admitted guiltily. "I forgot I'd set the ping. And I've been eating and sleeping and everything.... admittedly not very well, because the bed is too small and my pillow smells funny. But I've already promised Alison that I will get plenty of sleep when I get back... I hope to be finished here and able to come home in a day or two." After he'd done some Guilt-Present shopping, anyway.

And now he was doing the Guilty Hank voice, which he didn't realise had the effect of reducing even the hardest heart (and she had one, according to Alison) to mush. "Go get that... whatever it is. No point destroying a day's work because I'm yelling at you. But get your butt back here so Al and I can take turns kicking it. Once you've caught up on sleep." Madelyn rubbed her hand over her eyes. Silly man. And he was doing exactly what she'd been doing only a couple of months ago... "Come home soon, okay?"

"I will." He smiled, knowing she'd hear it in his voice. "As soon as I possibly can. And I won't go gallivanting off to work on other projects any more, at least not for a while, I promise. I have too much to do there... including just spending time with my friends." He reached over to pop the canister that had beeped. Hm. promising. "And I will bring you back a surprise. Take care, Madelyn."

"You'd better believe it..." Madelyn straightened from the wall she'd been leaning against. "And I will - you look after yourself, too, you big furball. I'll see you when you get back, if Cain hasn't killed me for being too cheerful at him by then."

"Tell him hello from me, and that I'll be back to rescue him from all the females clustered about him and discuss sports and alcohol and other such manly things with him soon." Hank chuckled. "Although he may be enjoying having all you lovely ladies clustering around him. Oop... that's my door being a-tapped. Farewell, my dear... go forth and feast upon donuts!" He hung up reluctantly. He'd forgotten how much he enjoyed chatting to people.

Well. He'd just have to work faster and get home sooner.