Hank, Madelyn - late Monday night

[x-madelyn.livejournal.com]

Hank comes bearing pizza and beer, as an apology to Madelyn for the misunderstanding with Scott about Madelyn's status. Lucky for Hank, she's in a forgiving mood. Banter is shared.




Hank tapped on Maddie's slightly-open door, reaching one hand around it and flourishing the six-pack it held. "I come bearing stronger things than tea!" he called, balancing the pizza on his other hand. The icecream he'd stashed in the sample-freezer for later. "May I come in?"

Looking up (and looking rather liked a startled owl, since she had her glasses on as she was going through the results of various physicals on the team), Madelyn blinked at him while she took in the sight. "Come on in, Hank. Is it that time again already?" she asked with a grin. "Moira will be cranky at us for having pizza and beverage night without her."

"Well, I didn't see you at dinner," he explained, setting the box down in front of her, paper plates and napkins balanced atop it. "And it's been.... a very long, trying day for everyone. So I thought perhaps a little light alcoholic refreshment and cheese-drenched junk-food might be just what the doctor ordered." Also, he owed her an apology, and frankly, he'd prefer it if she was feeling friendly and relaxed by alcohol when he brought the topic up.

Madelyn set aside her reports, glancing at her watch as she did. "I missed... crap, I did. Damn, Carlie's going to think I've abandoned her to her fate. Then again, given the amount of glitter infesting my suite at the moment, that might not be a bad thing." She peeked into the box and grinned. "Cheese and pepperoni and mushroom - you remembered my favourite from last time? Hank, you really do spoil me. Have a seat - you're helping me eat this."

"But of course." He smiled, sitting down and helping himself to a plate. "Carlie knows where you are, by the way... I bribed her and Jubilee with another pizza to keep them quiet and in your suite. Also icecream, but mostly pizza. They can talk and giggle and.... do whatever it is teenage girls do that men are not allowed to know about." He grinned. "I thought it was probably the only way to keep her from stealing some of *our* pizza, once she spotted it."

"Very good idea - she's not very big, but she knows how to eat, that one." Madelyn grinned wryly, grabbing a plate herself and flipping open the box. The smell wafted up, making her mouth water and her stomach growl - definitely too long between meals again. "Takes after me, that way. And I'm surprised you made it out of there in one piece - they're in the makeover stage of the week-long slumber party. I've been hiding down here in case they decide to tackle me again. They're already planning something for this party on Saturday, I just know it."

"I threw the food to them and escaped in the struggle" He grinned. "Actually, I was invited to stay... I think Carlie wanted to crimp my fur or something dreadful like that. But I did have another lovely lady to bring food to, so I had to decline. Sadly. Very sadly." He made an exaggerated sad face.

"You are incorrigible," she told him, sliding a slice of pizza on his plate and getting one for herself too. "Beer me?" Beer and pizza, the perfect combination after the last few days. "So, how was your day? Any great advances in the world of science?" she asked with her mouth full. Pizza didn't wait for manners.

Hank smiled ruefully, opening a beer and handing it to her, accepting a slice of pizza in exchange. "Not really. Still working on Jono's problem, but apart from that, just trying to recover from the hurly-burly of the last few days. It's all been a little... overwhelming. You"

"That and then some. I'm just glad today went off with little in the way of hitches, your little encounter notwithstanding." Madelyn took a long swallow of beer and sighed happily. "Oh, that's good."

Hank nodded and sipped his own. "It is. And much needed. I, sadly, can only have one, but you go ahead." He smiled "I was very proud of Amanda. I really must get to know her better... she's a strange kid, but a good one at heart."

"She's come a long way," Madelyn agreed, nibbling at the pizza. "Against a lot of odds - last year wasn't easy for her, by any means. Still, she seems to have turned a corner now. From what Moira says, the addiction is being managed, and she does seem happier since we cut back the healing. Admittedly, it's only be Jubilee and Nathan down here since then. And Kitty, but that was hardly anything even for us."

Hank nodded, inhaling the first slice of pizza and taking a second. "They're all amazingly resilient, under the circumstances," he said proudly. "Our students are a credit to us... and even more to themselves."

"Sometimes I think we made a mistake, focussing so hard earlier on protecting them. All it did was make them feel like we couldn't trust them, and look at all the ground we had to cover to regain that." Madelyn sounded pensive. "So many of us had such normal lives, 'though, why wouldn't we want the same for them? Even for the ones who had such extraordinary childhoods... more so, for them. But we can't do that for them, not even here. Especially not here. All we can do is try and teach them not just how to survive, but how to live."

Hank nodded. "I sometimes feel rather at a disadvantage, having had such a happy, loving home as a child," he said ruefully, sipping his beer again. "It's difficult for me to imagine what some of them must have gone through, and still are going through, a few of them. I was always so entirely accepted and loved at home, that it wasn't nearly the trauma it might have been when I wasn't so utterly accepted outside it."

"And then you get me," Madelyn added with a chuckle. "Why on earth any of them listens to us astounds me sometimes. But then again, we can offer them something they haven't had - stability."

Hank nodded. "And a sympathetic ear, when and as required," he agreed. "We may not understand, but we can still listen, and try at least to imagine." He sighed. "And try very hard not to say the wrong thing. I've been doing that rather a lot lately, in my attempts to re-involve myself with life here..."

She raised her eyebrow at him as she took another pull at her beer. "Anything I can help with?" she asked. "Although I tend to do pretty much the same thing myself - fortunately on a less regular basis than a few months ago."

Well, there was no help for it... he had to tell her, it would be unfair to her not to, and he might as well get it over with. "Actually, I owe you an apology on that front," he said quietly. "I had one of my foot-in-mouth episodes yesterday and today, in which you were unwittingly involved. I still think I was right, mind you... but I handled it badly." He smiled sheepishly. "I really should have known better than to have an attack of knight-errantry on your behalf, even if there was a principle involved as well."

"On my behalf?" Madelyn looked honestly confused, wondering what on earth Hank had said about her. And to whom. "Hank... what did you do?"

He sighed. "I took exception to the fact that you have not been offered membership to the team," he admitted. "Not that I have any idea whether you want to join, but you should have been given the option." That out, he braced himself for the explosion. He really should have waited until she was on her second beer before bringing this up.

Madelyn paused, slice of pizza raised half-way to her mouth. "You took..." Carefully she lowered the pizza back onto the plate, she picked up a napkin and wiped her mouth and fingers. Crumpling the napkin, she spoke again: "Hank, what on earth possessed you to think I'd want to be on the team?" A thought occurred to her. "Foot in... Oh God, Hank, you didn't ask on my behalf, did you?"

"Of course not!" He shook his head firmly. "I would not make such a presumption, certainly not without asking you first. But the offer should have been made... would have been made, if you'd had powers as well as your other qualifications. It is unfair and unjust that it should be withheld merely because you can't sneeze flames or spin like a top on your toes."

"Well, thank God for that..." Madelyn shook her head. "But Hank, you yourself have pointed out the sense in having you as field medic - in certain situations the lack of powers is a definite disadvantage. And I'd never set up the team or myself to fail because someone who was needed elsewhere was distracted by keeping me out of danger." She shrugged. "Tactically, it's stupid."

"But not all the time, as I also pointed out. There are times when you will be of more use than I am." Hank sighed. "And, to be honest, I've gone on barely more missions than you have of late. Given that, at the moment, we are doing almost exactly the same job, with very similar qualifications... medicine, plus another skill that the other X-Men do not possess... it seemed to me very unjust that I should be considered a member of the team, while you were not."

"But the thing is, you never know. A perfectly simple milk run can turn into a firefight, and as you've told me before, you have _years_ more training and combat experience." Madelyn shook her head. "I can appreciate the principle - you look at it in isolation, objectively, and yes, it does seem unfair. But when you look at it in tactical terms, practicalities... I'm far more useful off-team than on it, Hank." She sighed. "And you went to Scott about this, didn't you? God, I'm going to have to go see him, make sure he knows I haven't been bitching about the lack of leather in my closet..."

"Don't worry, I assured him that I had not spoken to you on the subject. I'm not quite so ham-fisted as that, despite how it must sound." Hank sighed. "And I still think I was right," he added stubbornly. "You are quite right in that you could be more useful off the team, and I certainly would not want you to be in any danger, or at least not more than can be avoided, but that was your decision to make." He smiled ruefully at her. "As much as I'd like to keep you entirely away from the slightest risk, it is not my place to do so. Nor is it Scott's, or anyone else's, place to decide for you that something is too dangerous for you to attempt."

"Perhaps by choosing not to push the point I've already made that choice, Hank," Madelyn told him, a little more gently than before. Dear, funny, generous, misguided man. "Sure there are times when I wonder, when I watch the 'Bird fly out and wish I was on it, but it's the same part of me that used to wish to be a superhero when she was ten and jumped off the garage roof trying to fly." Reaching over to pat his hand, she went on. "Focus on your strengths, but accept your limits, Hank. I'm not cut out for the team, and I know that." With a snicker, she added.: "And I so can't see me in the leather suit, can you? I'll stick with my faithful Kevlar vest."

Hank opened his mouth, and then paused, eyes going distant. "Oh. Yes," he said after a minute, still staring into the distance. "Leather suit. Definitely not... uh... you. Although I must say, I think I could force myself to get used to it."

"Incorrigible." She rolled her eyes at him and retrieved her pizza, which was getting cold. "So, I'm guessing the pizza and beer offering was to soften me up before the big confession?" she asked, before taking a bite.

"No, the beer and the pizza was a tangible apology." He smiled ruefully. "So is the Chocolate Fudge Chunk icecream. I apologize better when I have something I can give to people, I've found. It... is a way for me to try to show that I do care, even if I have made something of a mess of things."

"Not so much of a mess - I'm glad you told me, even at risk of red-headed wrath..." Madelyn was remembering using the expression 'puny human' to him, and realised she might have given him the wrong impression. And she'd talk to Scott and probably Alison tomorrow, given he would have emailed both of them about this, just to clear things in her own mind and theirs... "I appreciate the thought, Hank, that you'd take so much umbrage on my behalf, 'though I wish you'd talked to me first before going to team leaders."

"It wasn't entirely on your behalf..." Hank admitted. "If you aren't qualified to be on the team because all you do is put them back together when they break themselves, then neither am I, as I very rarely do anything else. I threatened to resign my membership of the team," he admitted, a little shamefacedly. "And I meant it. If merely being a doctor and a former FBI agent, with all the requisite skills, does not qualify you to be a member of the team, then being a doctor and part-time inventor does not qualify me. I won't have you patronized by being excluded on the basis of your genetic status, and I won't be patronized the other way for the same reason."

Madelyn didn't point out that genetic status _did_ make a difference, as far as she was concerned, in sheer practical terms given the sort of situations the team faced. Hank was as stubborn as she was. "Tell you what," she said, finishing her beer and reaching for another - after that conversation, she needed to unwind. "If a situation comes up that needs the two of us out there, you can go in to bat for me to your heart's content. But in the meantime, I'm happy to see what Alison comes up with."

Hank nodded. "I was wondering..." he said slowly. "I pointed out to Scott that, were you sufficiently well armed, you could put up quite as good a fight as anyone. And even if you don't wish to seek out danger as a member of the team, it's bound to find you sooner or later. How would you feel about carrying a few non-lethal but debilitating weapons on your person, should the situation require it"

"Considering certain remarks by a certain Cajun I'm currently ignoring, some non-lethal alternatives would be a good idea." Madelyn tilted her head at him curiously. "What were you thinking of?"

Hank shrugged. "A miniaturized tazer, perhaps, a tranquillizer gun... all plastic, perhaps, to deny Magneto that edge should you encounter him. A flashbomb or two, maybe... that sort of thing." He grinned impishly. "And if I sit Forge down in front of a few Star Trek episodes, I could probably get you a phaser in a month or two."

She laughed outright at that. "Throw in a utility belt and you'll be adored henceforth," she said, a gleeful gleam in her eyes - what science type could resist the offer of their very own phaser?

"Oh, well, with *that* kind of incentive..." He grinned at her. "Am I forgiven, then, for having an attack of foot-in-mouth disease?" he asked more seriously. "I've apologized to Scott already, but I wanted to tell you and apologize to you as well... I hadn't asked you, and I probably should have."

"Yes, you should have," she replied firmly, before smiling. "But it was with the best intentions, so I can't be mad at you. You're forgiven, Hank. Just... next time the urge to be my knight overtakes you, talk to me first?"

"I will. I promise." He reached over to squeeze her hand gently for a moment. "And I won't send any more controversial emails because it's midnight and I'm bored, either," he added, smiling ruefully. "Which is what started the whole mess."

"Oh, not the dreaded midnight email. You wouldn't believe some of the trouble I've gotten myself into with those." Madelyn shook her head, squeezing Hank's hand back before he took it away. "And we have pizza going cold and ice cream sitting uneaten..." She nudged the box towards him, after finishing off her first slice and reaching for another. "Actually, pizza and FBI, that reminds me of a funny story going 'round the traps when I was first at the Bureau. It seems there was a group of agents doing some kind of document search at a mental institution, pulling an all-nighter, and in the natural course of things, they got hungry. So the agent in charge tells one of them to order in pizza. There's still a transcript of that conversation around the Internet, actually..."

Hank raised an eyebrow, taking another slice of pizza. "Really? I've never encountered it. What happens?" She wasn't angry! And having her take his hand for a moment had been... quite pleasant. All in all, this was going much better than he'd hoped.

"Well..." Madelyn washed down a mouthful of pizza with some beer, and went on. "The agent calls the pizza place, orders thirty large pizzas and a bunch of soda, and then when the agent's asked for an address, he tells them it's for the mental institution. Of course, that sounds really bad, so he adds, 'But that's okay, I'm an FBI agent'. Of course, the pizza guy isn't impressed, so he goes on: 'In fact, we're all FBI agents here at the mental institution.'" Madelyn snickered. "It went back and forth that way for a while, until the pizza guy hung up on him. They eventually got their pizza, but only after one of them drove down to the place and waved a badge around."

Hank snickered. "Oh, my... it's almost a pity our local delivery places know the school so well by now, we might have been able to arrange a similar debacle..." He grinned. "Maybe if somewhere new opens up and we decide we don't like it..."

"Well, this place is a madhouse sometimes..."

"Upon occasion." Hank chuckled. "Perhaps we could gain Lockheed's assistance. "Look, we don't have a dog, but you have to be careful of the dragon." "Dragon. Right." "No, really, I'm telling you, he goes crazy for pizza. Just tell him 'down, boy' though, and he'll be fine." He snickered happily. "We'd get hung up on for certain."

Madelyn started giggling, nearly snorting beer in the process. "Oh, that would be fun. We could make ourselves notorious... wait, hang on, we are already. Thank God Chang still likes us, or we'd never get anything delivered." Once the giggles subsided, she gave Hank a contemplative look. "I missed having you around, you know. And not just for your amazing ability to deal with anything this place throws at you. You can always make me laugh, and God knows we needed more of that around here this last year."

He lifted his beer to solemnly clunk it against hers. "To more laughter in the new year," he said solemnly, and then he smiled at her. "And more time spent in one another's company," he added lightly, trying not to sound to enthusiastic about that very pleasant notion.

"As long as some of it's not in here," she added, returning the toast. "Because I have to say, for a while there I'd seen more than enough of this place. Going out with Kurt sometimes was the only way I didn't go completely insane, I think." She realised they hadn't done that for quite a while, despite nebulous promises to arrange something. Definitely his turn, 'though.

"Then I promise that I will make sure you get to go out sometimes. Either by covering for you so you have a free afternoon, if you and Kurt want to go out again, or by taking you out myself." Should he have said 'when' she and Kurt went out again? And when she said 'going out'... what exactly did she mean? "I shall, in fact, make it a personal mission to take you to the Science Museum to let you play with the hands-on exhibits. They're great fun, and I'm told educational as well."

"I'll take you up on that," Madelyn told him, amused at the mental image of the two of them playing around with the hands-on exhibits. "Especially since Kurt's been so busy lately, even for buddy stuff."

Buddy stuff. Hank firmly refused to think about why that was a happy thought. "Please do. It's a lot more fun when you have someone to be silly with, don't you think?"

"Someone to laugh with rather than being laughed at?" Madelyn suggested, cheerfully oblivious.

"Very much so." He smiled at her. "And you're right. We could all use a few more laughs, this year."