Meditation Soothes the Soul...Dani meets Nathan

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Nathan makes the dual mistakes of walking into the kitchen and being entirely too reasonable. Fortunantly, he has experience with these things.



Danielle stared out the kitchen window, not really looking at anything. It had been a common pasttime since she had gotten back from Oklahoma. The only thing she really paid any attention to was cooking, although since Lorna did most of the meal planning, she didn't have to think that hard.

The presence in the kitchen was an unusual one, and Nathan wasn't surprised to see that it belonged to the new girl, Danielle, when he came in. A psi, her file said, and one with a unique manifestation. And pregnant, which was the root of her control problems. "Hello," he greeted her lightly as he moved towards the fridge.

"Oh! Um...Hello?" she replied, jumping up from the table, "Did you want something? Lunch?" she asked, unfamiliar with the, she assumed, teacher. It was only a little after the normal lunch hour and there had been leftovers.

Nathan waved at her. "Just getting a drink," he said amiably. "Don't worry, I can help myself." He opened the fridge door, looking back over his shoulder at her. "Danielle, right?" he asked, even knowing the answer.

"Yes, sir," she nodded, sitting back down in the chair. Idly she pushed back her newly shortened hair, it was still new and different. She didn't quite know what to do with it. "I don't think I've met you?"

"Nathan," he said with a smile. "I haven't been around much in the social sense since you got here, unfortunately, so no, we really haven't been introduced."

"Good to meet you," Dani replied, not quite looking at him. While she wasn't being overtly hostile, she certainly wasn't being as friendly as she normally was, at least to new people.

Not in the best of moods, I see... Well, he could certainly understand that. "You and I might be running into each other more often," he said. "I'm teaching the cooking class for the little kids this term."

One eyebrow rose, "You cook?" she asked, dubiously. While she new better than to question her elders, something about him did not quite fit. Maybe it was the almost perfect calm he seemed to be radiating, yet almost giggling at the same time.

"I cook. Not like Lorna, but fairly well," Nathan confirmed cheerfully. Juice, where was the juice... "She wanted more time to handle her advanced cooking class this term, so she asked me to step up."

"Would you stop that?" she asked, heading over to the refrigerator, "What are you looking for? You're letting the cold air out!" she chastised.

Nathan grabbed a bottle of juice and quickly closed the door. "Well, I can't see through the door," he said very reasonably, "and what I wanted wasn't immediately obviously, so..."

"So you just let all the cold air out and drive the bill even higher?" now she was irritated. He shouldn't be so damn reasonable! "This is why you think first!"

"Hey." He waited for a moment, making sure she was finished, before he went on. "I knew what I wanted, I just couldn't see it. And kindly don't yell at me." He smiled a bit wryly. "I have enough women in my life to do that already."

Danielle paused, mid-rant, realizing she was yelling at a teacher. "Fine," she muttered, heading back to her chair. "Men."

Nathan blinked, then shook his head. "I didn't mean to irritate you," he said, amiably enough. The girl had had a rather bad week.

"Yeah, well," she stopped, breathing deeply. She could feel herself losing control over this, which angered her even more. She shouldn't be losing control this easily!

Nathan tilted his head at her. Stress, plus hormones, he thought. No wonder she was having trouble with her powers. "There's something you can do about that, you know," he point out.

"What, go get a coat hanger? I don't think so!" Danielle yelled, just like a man! Always taking the easy road, "And I'm not wearing an inhibitor all the time either!"

Nathan blinked. And blinked again. "Meditation," he said after a moment, just as calmly.

"I've tried it," she replied, beginning to cry. She always seemed to lose control of her powers and then cry about it. She did not cry! There was no need! And yet she couldn't seem to stop either, just like her powers. At least this time no one seemed very affected by them. "I'm sorry. I hate the hormones."

"It's okay," Nathan said gently, then smiled. "You know Doctor MacTaggart? My fiancee? The other pregnant woman in the house? I'm used to the hormones, Danielle."

She sat down on the floor, using her sweater to wipe her eyes. Even she was willing to admit her omnipresent poncho needed to be cleaned sometimes, "Really?"

"Really," he said kindly, crouching down next to her. "Add that to all the other stuff you're dealing with, and really, I'm impressed you're as together as you are."

"Together?" Dani repeated, unsure he was actually referring to her, "I'm not together. I keep losing it!"

"But you keep pulling it back together, too, don't you?"

"Mmmhmm," she nodded, sniffling, "Barely. Hahkota helped. So does the box. I'm not doing it myself! Everyone else just picks up after me, ain't it?"

Nathan paused, then shrugged, still smiling. "People tend to do that here. Hell, for the first several weeks I was here, people were literally picking me up off the floor on a regular basis. I kept falling over."

"I have to do it, though, if I can't...what good will I be? I'm not falling over, I'm breaking apart," breathing deeply again, she tried to focus. Once she was focused she was usually okay for a while, but these breakdowns were getting old.

"Something like this takes time and persistence," Nathan said after a moment. "I can help, I think. If you want me to." Some of the Askani meditative patterns might be just what the doctor ordered.

"Do I have time?" Danielle asked, looking at her stomach, "I was fine before I was pregnant..."

"Psionic mutations are difficult to deal with under normal circumstances," Nathan said reassuringly. "Between your pregnancy, and all the stress..."

"I'm hopeless?" she finished, nodding. "I kinda guessed that."

"No," he corrected her gently, "you're just struggling. This is a very good place to get help when that's what's happening."

"But I don't have time! Even if we did something every day, it wouldn't be enough!" her hopelessness was almost tangible, even as she knew she wouldn't give up. She hadn't come this far and back for nothing.

"One day at a time," Nathan said steadily. "That's the only way to do it. I know it's scary..." He sighed a little. "But you've got to focus on trying."

Breathing deeply, she nodded, "I can do that. I think. I guess, I have to."

"Do you have anything to do right now?" Nathan asked, checking his watch. Still an hour before class. "We could make a start."

"No...I have a free period after lunch, to relax or whatever. Since I cook. So...what do I have to do?"

"Well, first of all," he said, getting up and offering her a hand, "we need to find someplace quieter and more comfortable. Meditation involves relaxation, so."

She accepted, standing up quickly. Even though she was barely showing, she was beginning to feel gravity affecting her. "Relaxing is good."

"Hopefully this'll help you feel calmer," Nathan said, thinking. The sunroom, maybe. It had a nice rug, and the ambience was soothing.

The sunroom was large and obviously, sunny. Danielle was surprised she hadn't found it yet, but then, she might have and just not remembered, her first memories of Xavier's weren't very clear. "It's almost like outside," she marvelled, standing in the center.

"Why don't you sit down and get comfortable?" Nathan suggested. "Whatever position you're most comfortable in." He sat down cross-legged on the floor, himself, and grinned at her. "If I start floating, don't be alarmed."

"Floating?" that was...odd. Unsurprising since Forge had mentioned people flying, but still odd. She sat down, cross-legged, spine straight. "Okay. I've used meditation before, but it hasn't seemed to work here."

"Not this type of meditation, you haven't," Nathan said with a smile, and pulled up one of the basic patterns in his mind.