Madelyn, Miles - Tuesday evening

[x-madelyn.livejournal.com]

As Miles makes his escape following this awkward scene he runs into Madelyn at the front door and she offers him asylum. Which leads to cookies, hot chocolate, and an awkward question for Madelyn as well.



Madelyn was on her way up the front steps, arms full of assorted parcels and bags that had been loaded on her when she'd left Philadelphia. Of course, she could have unpacked the car earlier, but there was Numb Butt to walk off, and then Jono and Cain to check on, and the few kids that had remained behind to say hello to...

Making it to the front door, she paused, realising a flaw in her cunning plan - the door was closed, and she didn't have a free hand to open it. Of course, she could put stuff down, but that was too easy... Instead, she settled for thunking her forehead lightly against the door. "Hello? Help?"

The door opened on the second thunk, Miles hopping up and down while trying to tug on a boot, until he hopped right into Madelyn's leg and fell right back on his butt with a startled look. "Miles would like to know what Doctor Madelyn is doing in the middle of his escape route, please," he asked solemnly, looking up at her with wide eyes.

"Trying to bring all this stuff inside..." Madelyn tilted her head at the small boy, an amused smile on her face. "Escape route, huh? What exactly are you escaping from this time? Since I might be inclined to offer asylum if you're being unfairly persecuted by She Who Tickles."

"Mama is mean!" Miles said this with utter conviction, even as he scrambled to his feet. Helping the one offering him asylum only made total and complete sense after all - and he should have done so right from the start, too, only Madelyn had looked like she had all the packages under control. Until now. Chucking off his coat and hanging it from one of the lower short kids type coat hooks Cain had installed a while ago, Miles closed the door behind Madelyn and then reached up to accept whatever package needed to be taken - or fell down first, at that.

"Uh-huh," Madelyn deadpanned, unhooking one hand enough to wave the plastic bag hooked over her fingers at him. It held several Tupperware containers of Carlie's home-made Christmas chocolates - she'd made enough for the whole school, just about. "That one not too heavy for you, kiddo?"

"Miles is strong." It wasn't quite as ebullient as his response may have been before a certain incident at the mall, but it was there and sincere enough nonetheless. He took up the bag, toed the a stray boot back into place among the other boots and after a last cautious look towards the stairs leading up, glanced at Madelyn, hoping they'd be heading towards the medlab and safety.

She nodded - everything was jumbled up, and the food she'd brought would have to be evenly distributed, and that wouldn't happen if she left it in the kitchen. "Downstairs it is, kiddo. Better than risking running into the tickle monster again." Leading the way to the elevator, she gave him a curious look over the parcels in her arms. "How long do you think you'll need to hide? Because I have this jigsaw puzzle my little sister gave me, and it's too tricky for one person. Think you can hang around and help me? I might have cookies in all this..."

A somber look greeted that question and Miles shifted a bit, trying to hide the guilty look. But he'd wanted to know, had to know... "Miles will have to hide forever. Until he is old and still bald and Mama isn't grounding him anymore." Even if grounding hadn't been mentioned. Yet. "So Miles thinks that he should stay with Doctor Madelyn and help her with the puzzle before going to bed." He nodded wisely at this, because puzzles were fun and so was spending time with Doctor Madelyn, or almost anyone in the mansion really.

"That bad, huh?" Madelyn raised her eyebrows as they moved into the elevator, Miles punching the button for her. "Worse than the time you and Artie put Frank in her bed?"

"Yeeeees," Miles replied, heaving a very loud and sorrowful sigh. Alison had mostly been amused after the shock, at that one. There'd been something about the look in her eyes that had said maybe touching that subject with Haroun hadn't been the best thing to do. He looked down at his toes and sighed again.

The elevator pinged obligingly, telling them they were on the right floor, and Madelyn led the way to her office, curiosity eating at her. The exploits of the youngest residents of the mansion were always amusing, at the very least. And if it was a really bad prank on Alison, well, there might be bribery material involved. "Just dump that over here, kiddo," she said, dropping the rest of the parcels on her desk which was actually paperwork-free at the moment. "And I'll just find... ah-hah! Cookies, and a puzzle! You want to clear a space on the coffee table? Those magazines can just go in a pile on the floor. I'll make us some chocolate - it's getting cold out there."

The magazines he piled on the floor, although neatly so, Miles taking his time with them before pondering the bag of cookie containers he'd been carting about. He finally tugged the bag over to where all the other bags were, knowing only too well the look on Madelyn's face - he was going to get the details dragged out of him, one way or another. He was Doomed. More Doomed if Alison ever found out. He was the Doomed of all Doomed. "The coffee table is all cleared, Doctor Madelyn."

"Great." Cracking open the cookie container, she held it out to him. "My mom made these. Only Very Special People get to have them, since they're very precious." She dropped into her Gollum voice at the last word. As Miles took a cookie, she switched on the electric kettle and dug out two clean mugs and her personally-made chocolate mix. The one without the sedatives.

Miles eyed his cookie and then looked at Madelyn speculatively. It was Bad, judging from Alison's response, though going for straight out whapping over the head might be a good way to test if it was just a Thing with Alison, or if it was a Thing in general (and thus, really That Bad.) "Miles asked Haroun if he was going to ask Mama to marry him."

It was a good thing Madelyn had set her mug down, because the chocolate was on the hot side and snorting it would have been painful. As it was, she had a small choking fit before managing to squeak out: "I see. And how did Haroun react to that?" Because the look on his face must have been priceless, and she was half-tempted to go butter up Cook for a peek at the surveillance tapes, if the moment had been captured.

"Haroun went and fell down the stairs!" Miles was still somewhat peeved about that. "Miles thought Haroun could fly." Well, he knew he could. Falling down the stairs like that had made Miles feel bad about surprising the man like that, too. A lot. "And Miles does not think offering cookies would fix things." He sighed heavily, looking down at this hot chocolate, the mug still on the table, then reached for it. It was hard to relate to Haroun sometimes. Ok, often.

The snort did escape this time - it was so typically Haroun, and the mental image wouldn't go away... Trying desperately not to laugh, Maddie nodded. "Between you and me, kiddo, Haroun can be a bit clumsy, flying or not." Especially in dramatic, nearly-drowning-self-in-the-pool ways. Time to check the balance of the 'waer again, 'though... "I think you might have surprised him a bit, that's all. Alison too - I take it she turned up while you and Haroun were discussing all this?"

"Haroun is never clumsy," Miles observed. "Haroun flies very well and Miles has seen him fly," there was a hint of yearning there, which went entirely unnoticed by the little boy, "and Miles did not think he would go down the stairs that way." Yep. There was guilt there. A wince followed. "Mama always sneaks up on Miles when he is doing something maybe he should not be doing. Miles sometimes wonder if Mama can't read minds like Nathan does, only Mama never told anyone and keeps it a secret just in case Miles is up to something."

"You haven't seen him in the gym, kiddo. Remind me to tell you about the time he dropped the ten pound weight on his foot. Mind you, it was because Alison walked in wearing... ahem, never mind. I think you startled him, but when you startle most people, they don't fall down the stairs, do they?" Madelyn cautiously sipped her chocolate, confident the biggest bombshell had been dropped, but still wary of chocolate in the nasal cavities. "And it's a mom thing, the mind reading. Mine does the same, and she's not a mutant at all."

Miles was of the opinion that most people he startled were considerate and didn't try to crack their skulls open by taking leaps down the stairwell, but he figured he might as well let that one go. A sip of hot chocolate was just about the best thing in the world, and he took a long moment to enjoy the taste and the way the mug warmed his hands. "Being able to do that gives Mama an unfair advantage," he grumbled just a bit, before setting the mug down and reclaiming the cookie. "Doctor Madelyn? Can Miles ask a question?"

"Of course you can, Miles," Madelyn said with a smile, snagging a cookie of her own.

"Why do some people get married and some people do not?" It wasn't as though he'd ever even had a parent until Alison, really. But being at the Madroxes and hearing about Moira and Nathan getting married soon and then the baby as well... it made him wonder.

Madelyn considered the question - a perfectly reasonable one, she thought, given the circumstances. "When people get married, it's because they love each other so much they want to spend the rest of their lives together, and want to do something to show that. Something formal, like a wedding. Getting married is making a promise in front of all the people you love that you'll love and take care of a person for the rest of your life - it's a very big deal. Nathan and Moira have known each other for a long time, and they've gone through a lot together, so they've decided it's time they make that promise, to show they'll always love each other no matter what happens. You see?" At Miles' nod, she went on. "But some people prefer to keep that promise private, if they make it, so they don't get married. Or they might have had a bad experience with being married before, and are scared, or maybe they just aren't sure yet. Getting married is a big decision - most people prefer to be together for a while before even starting to talk about it."

That... was simple and yet not and Miles decided he'd take a bit more time to think about all this before deciding on what it meant. Exactly. Because even when things were simple, people usually found several ways to complicate them. A lot. Maybe if he asked something more specific to Madelyn, that might help. "Is Doctor Madelyn planning on getting married?" He looked up at her earnestly.

Madelyn did snort chocolate this time, and coughed a bit as she searched for a tissue in her pocket to clean up the mess. "You haven't been talking to my mother, have you?" she asked, only half-joking. "Um, maybe? I've never really thought about it seriously before - I'm very busy with the doctor-stuff, and that takes up a lot of my thinking space. Perhaps if the right person came along, I might..." she temporised, suddenly having a lot more sympathy with Alison.

"Miles has never met Doctor Madelyn's mama, but Miles is sure he would like her a lot." They were good cookies. Almost as good as Lorna's. Just almost. And Madelyn was doing that turning around the issue thing adults did when they got caught in their own logic. "So if Doctor Madelyn met the right person and wanted to let everyone know how much she loved that person, then Doctor Madelyn would want to get married?"

"Um, yeah, I suppose I would..." Madelyn answered, feeling somewhat like a deer in the headlights in the face of child logic.

Miles nodded in satisfaction, though the look on Madelyn's face gave her away entirely. Not quite as bad as Mama when Haroun had said the word 'marriage', well, not even close in fact, but there was still a lot of hints that she was feeling less than comfortable about it. "Is Doctor Madelyn sure or not? Suppose doesn't sound sure."

"Well, yes, if I met the right person and they felt the same way, yes, eventually I would want to get married." Oh, her mother would have loved this conversation.

It sounded like a lot of ifs and she had That Look on her face, but at least she wasn't piling on any more conditions and perhapses. When adults did that, they were trying to wiggle out of things, for sure. "Miles thinks adults make things too complicated sometimes." He sighed a bit, remembering some things best forgotten. And bit into the cookie, because now was all that mattered and the cookies were good, and not to be spoiled by a mood. "Miles would like to thank Doctor Madelyn for answering his questions. Can Miles ask more later, if Miles has anything else to wonder about?" That was bound to happen, after all.

Madelyn nodded, glad the heat was off for now. "We do, don't we?" she said with a slightly rueful smile. She didn't miss the slight change in mood, and her expression softened. "Any time you need anything, hon, you can come to me. If anything you can count on cookies and chocolate, if not actual helpful answers." She indicated the puzzle still sitting on the table. "Do you still want to help me with this?"

Miles decided it would be highly unpolitical to tell her that she should have a taste of Lorna's cookies (still the best) since that would mean implying that the cookies she was offering were inferior (only a bit, though). Instead he nodded solemnly. "Miles and Mama have the same deal, but Mama always says asking more than one person isn't a bad thing, too." He just hoped their talk on this went well – for Mama, anyway. Even if he was confused, he had a feeling she was worse off than he was on this. "Miles will help with the puzzle now." This, he knew, was something with a beginning and an end, which could be found if he worked at it hard enough. That was far more comforting to him than for most people, too.