Jubilee, Madelyn; Madelyn, Scott - Tuesday night

[x-madelyn.livejournal.com]

At the same time Hank and Scott are discussing the mission, Jubilee is dropping in on Madelyn. What she finds isn't exactly to her liking.



What a day. Night. All of it. Madelyn sighed tiredly as she slipped off her labcoat and slung it over the back of her office chair. Everyone was stable now. Every muscle ached, it seemed, from the exertion and from that last explosion flinging everyone around. A hot shower, time and space to have the nervous breakdown she'd been building up for the last several hours, and back to relieve Hank…

Jubilee swept into Medlab, heading directly for Madelyn's office at some speed. She'd been bored, and if there was one thing worse than being bored, it was being bored in an empty room. Madelyn hadn't been in her suite, which left the Medlab.

She slowed down somewhat at the sight that greeted her. Why was Medlab full of children and injured people? Eyes narrowed suspiciously, she hurried along to Madelyn's office, she'd ask her what was going on.

"Mads, why are there a bunch of strangers in Medlab?" Jubilee asked as she entered the office.

"Hmm?" Madelyn looked up tiredly, aware she was looking pretty bedraggled herself. At least she'd managed to dump the Kevlar vest at some point, but she was still in crumpled fatigue pants and thick woollen sweatshirt. "Oh, hey, firecracker. There was a bit of a rescue mission today - we brought them in from Northern Canada. Most of them are leaving tomorrow, so I wouldn't worry about it." She wasn't being deliberately evasive - it was just her brain was so fried right now she couldn't remember what should be said and what shouldn't, and so went for vagueness in general.

Jubilee noticed Madelyn's dress and her state of exhaustion with the same expression she'd scanned the room outside the office. There had been a lot of injured people out there. "So...you went along?" she asked.

Madelyn nodded. "They needed me to, firecracker. There were people hurt, and under fire... we had to get them out, get them safe."

Jubilee wasn't sure she'd heard that right. "You... but you're human"

"I'm also a doctor, Jubilee," Madelyn said sharply, a little stung. Bad enough she had Haroun rubbing her nose in that fact. "And I'm trained for this sort of thing. I'm not exactly useless, kiddo. Or defenceless."

"And what 'this' are we talkin' about, Mads? You don't have enough to do here, you gotta go lookin' for trouble?" Jubilee asked, reacting badly to Madelyn's tone. Mads had never snapped at her before, she didn't like it. In fact, she didn't like the fact that Madelyn had been anywhere near things that could cause the amount of injury she'd seen in the other room.

"I went because I was needed, Jubilee. I'm a doctor - we take an oath to help people when we're needed. No matter what. It was too much for Hank on his own, and there's no way we're going to let Moira go anywhere anything near a risk in her condition, so I went." Madelyn's tone was more exhausted than angry, but there was a certain edge to her tone. She didn't have the energy or the patience to be dealing with this tonight. "I'm fine - I was wearing the Kevlar, and they kept me clear of actual combat as much as they could."

"But not all of it" Jubilee replied, tone colder by the second as she felt a stab of fear. They'd taken Madelyn into combat. She'd not even known. What if Madelyn had died? She wouldn't...there would have been no way for her to say goodbye. No way for her to keep Mads safe. Just like her parents. "How could you do that? How could you put yourself in danger? How could you fucking do that without EVEN TELLING ME?"

"Jubilee, keep your voice down - we've got patients who are trying to sleep," Madelyn told her crisply. She could understand Jubilee's fears, especially being there with her when she visited her parents' graves and telling her what had happened with her parents' killers, but she didn't have the energy for this, not when she had just been doing what had to be done. When they'd done some good, beaten fucking Mistra for a change... "There's a lot I don't tell you, Jubilee, and all of it's to do with my job. I'm a grown woman, and contrary to what you might think, not completely helpless. They needed me out there, and I wasn't about to let them down. Because if I hadn'tbeen out there, there are at least two people lying in medlab now who would be dead right now, and a bunch of kids who would have been a lot worse off than that!"

"Better them then you" Jubilee hissed, having worked her way from scared to outwardly angry. It had always been that way, and the anger came easily, blocking out anything else and keeping her safe. "But hey, don't let me keep you from your new superhero lifestyle. I'm sure it was very satisfying, all that danger. Medlab can get so boring, can't it? Must have been a shock after being in the FBI. I'm so terribly sorry taking care of us kids doesn't measure up"

“Jubilee, for once stop listening to that damn internal monologue of yours and listen to me!" Madelyn snapped. "It's nothing to do with the FBI, or wanting to get into danger - for Christ's sake you'd have to be insane to enjoy what we did today! I know you're worried about me being hurt, but this isn't about you. It's about people needing help, and if I'm the one who can provide that, then that's what I'll do. Not because I'm bored, or want to play superhero, or even because I've got this deep-seated hankering to be an X-Man. But because that's what I do. I help people."

"Fine. You help people. But I don't have to fuckin' stay here and watch you come back in a fuckin' body bag. It's somethin' I learnt, Mads. I don't care about people who're already dead. Guess you just joined that list. Goodnight" Jubilee replied, tone as cold as she could make it.

She turned, not hurrying as she walked out of Madelyn's office. It was the last straw, and she was sick and tired of this place. It never really ended, there was always the next crisis around the corner. The one person she'd counted on to be safe to care about was no longer safe. It was time to leave.



Overhearing Jubilee's outburst, Scott checks on Madelyn first, and finds one shaken-up doctor.



Madelyn watched Jubilee storm off, knowing she should go after her, or at least call her back, but she just didn't have it in her. Not now, not after everything. Dropping onto the couch, she buried her face in her hands. Forget later, now seemed like a good time for that nervous breakdown.

Scott, who'd heard the tail end of the discussion, if you want to call it that, slipped soundlessly through the door a minute later. He'd go after Jubilee later. He came over and sat down on the couch beside her, hesitated for a moment, and then put an arm around her in a tentative half-hug.

She stiffened at the contact, fighting for control again. She was a professional, she could handle this, handle Jubilee's temper tantrums... She began to speak, but all that came out was a strangled hiccup.

Scott's arm tightened around her. "It's okay," he said, his voice low and soothing. "She's reacting without knowing all the facts. She was scared for you. I mean, I was seriously tempted to come in here and punt her across the room... but I get it."

"I shouldn't have yelled at her," Madelyn managed. "I knew she was scared, lashing out the way she usually does, I shouldn't have let her get to me." Her shoulders slumped a little. "It was just... I couldn't leave them out there, Scott. Not again. Not when I could help, stop them from dying, like before, like Vermont..." Words failed her then, and she gave into the tears she'd been holding back by sheer force of will.

Okay, screw the half-hug crap. Scott edged closer, giving her a proper hug, if one that was a little more fierce than he'd actually intended. "You're exhausted," he whispered, "and you've been through hell in the last twelve hours. Do not blame yourself for not being able to take that from her. And do not question what a fucking amazing thing you and the other did today. Ever."

"We only barely managed it," Madelyn admitted, groping for the box of Kleenex on the coffee table. "That's the worst part of it, Jubilee was right, I could have died out there, we all could. It was a miracle we survived."

"I haven't gotten it all pieced together yet," Scott said, reaching out and passing the kleenex box to her, but leaving one arm around her shoulders. "Kurt and Kylun gave me their take, and Ali gave me as complete a report as I'm getting tonight, I think. I've heard Hank's version, of course, and the two of you have Nathan and Haroun down here playing Sleeping Beauties..."

"It was Nate. He broke Morgan's conditioning... I'm fuzzy on the details, but there was a series of explosions, some kind of TK thing..." Madelyn blew her nose, voice still wobbly. "We were pinned down, no long-range defences... If they hadn't had orders to retrieve the kids alive..."

He should have suggested to Alison that she take along Lorna, or even Wanda, trainee or not... but then, they'd headed out of here thinking it was a medical evac. "Hey," he said, giving her a little shake. "The what-ifs are ultimately self-defeating. Exhibit A, sitting right here beside you, remember? You all came through it. That's what's important. Everything else is negotiable, like Nate's always saying."

She gave him a wan smile. "Sorry. Jubilee hit me right in the what-ifs. At the time, you don't think, you just do the job... It isn't until later that you realise the risks." She held out her hand, showed him the tremble. "I always get the shakes afterwards, thinking about it all. Usually I get the chance to go and hide first."

Scott took her hand in his, squeezing gently. "You don't have to hide. I used to throw up after every mission, the first couple of years, you know..."

"It's not exactly professional," she told him wryly. "Big bad FBI agents aren't supposed to want to curl up in a ball after an assignment. Especially after she's insisted on being allowed to play with the big boys."

"I think there are a number of big, bad FBI agents who would have quite happily curled up in a ball during this particular assignment," Scott pointed out. "Facing those kinds of odds..."

"There wasn't time to think - that's the thing about multiple critical injuries, they tend to keep you too busy to think about the people shooting at you." Scrubbing her hands over her face, Madelyn sighed. "I'll be okay. After a very long hot shower and some sleep." She frowned. "Jubilee... I should talk to her..." She made as if to push herself off the couch, despite the bone weariness.

"No," Scott said, laying a restraining hand on her shoulder. "You take the shower and get some sleep. I'll talk to her."

"Thanks, Scott. I'll need to talk to her at some time, but not tonight. It'll just end up in another screaming match." Madelyn gave him a weary, grateful smile. "Don't be too hard on her? She's just scared."

"No screaming," Scott said firmly. "And no disapproving glowers, either. She just needs to know a little more about what happened today." He smiled. "There's a difference between being dumb and having blind spots. Jubilee falls very definitely into the latter category."

"I love my Captain," Madelyn quoted with a slightly stronger smile. Pushing the hair that had escaped her ponytail out of her face, she took a deep breath. "Okay, upstairs. Shower, crash for a couple of hours and then kick Hank's blue fuzzy butt into bed for a while."

"Sounds like a plan," Scott said, squeezing her shoulder before he got up. "Fantastic job today, Maddie," he said quietly. "All of you."