Scott and Alison, Saturday

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A little later, Alison catches Scott in the process of fleeing the house. She decides that going for a drive would be a very good idea.


He wasn't going downstairs. No. Downstairs and the medlab and all of that could just stay right where it was and he'd go outside, instead. Outside, where it was nice and cool and quiet, and the halls weren't buzzing with gossip, and no one was looking at him as if they expected him to do... something. Explode. Something like that. Scott picked up the pace, walking faster towards the front door. Just a bit of a walk. That would be good. He had convinced Hank that he would lie down for a bit, until the headache went away, but he needed air. Now.

The speed at which the door opened startled Alison so much she was nearly entirely run over as Scott barreled into her, barely managing to somehow keep them both on their feet. A brief glimmer of light escaped her - she had to concentrate to keep it reigned in today for some reason, said reason which brought a very ridiculous smile to her face. "Hey, hey! Where are you going so... fast... Scott?"

Alison. It was Alison, and she was glowing. Okay. "Just outside," Scott said, trying to step around her. "For a walk. There's a woman who looks like Jean in the house and I'm just... I need some fresh air now."

Blink. Glow go bye bye. "What?" No, making him repeat that was the bad thing, and she let him walk around her, only to fall in step with him, checking the slim case she carried around with her at all times, currently tucked in a small picket on the inside of the light coat she wore. She had her papers with her. "Come on." She snagged his hand, and pointed in the direction of the garage. "We'll take out Baby. If that's not getting fresh air I don't know what is." She, however, would be the one driving.

"I can't... I can't leave," Scott said, a wilder edge in his voice as she drew him towards the garage. "If it's not her, I don't know who it is, and... and I can't leave, Alison, when I'm not there it all happens and there's nothing I can do..."

"We won't go far. I've got my comm. Kurt can port in to us if you're needed back." She stopped and whirled around to face him - she'd only known Jean a brief time, after all. But Scott she'd know far longer, now. And seeing him like this was taking her right back to the days after Jean's death. "Nothing will happen while we're gone. I promise."

I promise. And he could trust Alison. That was why he had been so glad when he'd been right and all the others had picked her, because he'd known he could trust her, that they could all trust her... "She's in my head," he said, his voice ragged as he stared down at her. "She's in my head but she can't be, I felt her die..."

Team leaders always wore their comms. #Dazzler to Security. Patch me through to Charles, secure line.# The words were sub-vocalized, nothing Scott heard. "Shh. Come on." She started backing away, leading him slowly towards the car. "It'll be okay if we go out just for a little ride." Charles, eschewing the comms entirely, murmured something softly in the back of her mind. One request, no hesitation at all, and it was done. "Really."

"Hank says... amnesia? That it was like she was dead, but it shouldn't have mattered. Not if it's really her." Scott was shaking violently, even as that glowing place in his mind was suddenly, gently shielded. He still knew that it was there. That there was something there, that it wasn't dark anymore... "I should have... I left her, Ali, I--" His eyes were burning. No. Had to pull himself together. "Not her," he muttered feebly. "It can't be. I can't have left her."

"You did not leave her. No one left her." Alison knew everything that had been done, afterwards, just as well as anyone else did. "None of us did. Look at me." She reached up now that they were near the car, framing his face gently. "Believe me. And each time you're not sure, we'll go down and look at the files and go over them and I'll show you all over again. Okay?"

"Okay," Scott said, not sure what he was agreeing to. Things weren't quite... connecting. Funny feeling. Not in the humorous way. He let her urge him gently into the passenger's side of the car, registered her doing up his seatbelt before she went around and got in on the other side. "She was standing in the hallway," he said faintly. "Just... standing there."

It was warm in the area surrounding the mansion, though not off the estate - Ororo's good mood did not extend that far. And Alison had no clue what the weather would be like upon their return. But the top was opened, and without a second thought, Alison revved the engine, barely waiting long enough for the doors of the garage to slide open before heading out, taking the exit likely a touch too fast - though she didn't care in the least. Wind whipped around them and she concentrated on the road for a moment, before sliding a look towards Scott.

He was staring out blankly at the road, not really seeing it. Just Jean's face, looking up at him before it had all... "I can't do this," he whispered, something close to anguish slipping out from underneath the shock. "I can't. It can't be real." Because if it was real, if she was there and didn't disappear when he opened his eyes tomorrow... "It can't, Ali, please tell me it can't..."

"I am never, ever going to lie to you about something like this." Charles had updated her, as she drove - images flashing in her mind's eye, a confirmation of something she'd not believed at first. Switching to an even speed, she kept one hand on the wheel and reached out, taking Scott's hand in her own. One of the rest stops would do and they'd hit one soon. Very soon with the speed she was going at.

Scott let his head sag back against the seat. "Wake up," he muttered feebly. "I've got to wake up... this is too much, I can't do it. Why can't I wake up?"

"You can do it," Alison said, with quiet certainty, giving a couple in a slower car a heart attack as she weaved in and out of the slowly growing traffic. "But you don't have to do it now." She gave his hand a final squeeze, and released it to downshift - the rest area was near. "Not now."

He stared blindly out the window, not realizing it for some time when the car stopped. "I was just... coming through the hall," he said faintly, at last. "Just... walking, and she looked at me, and..." He stopped, wincing a little as he raised a hand to his temple. "It hurt," he said in a voice that was bewildered, almost childlike. "Like when it happened."

The door opened and closed behind her, Alison taking the keys with her - and then the door on his side opened, and she was crouched there, looking up at him. "It's not fair. People grieve and rebuild and learn to move on. Having everything turned around on them like that isn't how things go." She snagged one of his hands again, warming it between her own. It wasn't fair for either of them, but she had her priority, right now. Reaching up, she touched his cheek lightly.

"I didn't," he whispered, his eyes burning again. "The dreams, the headaches... I didn't, Alison, and I never..." He couldn't form proper sentences. This was stupid. He squeezed his eyes shut, just concentrating on breathing for a minute.

She shifted a bit, letting him collect himself - but not giving him enough time to hide, to withdraw. And then she just leaned in and hugged him slowly, not saying a word.

"I'm all right," he said a bit wildly, shaking. Remembering, vaguely, saying something similar to Hank when he had come looking for him in his office. "I'm okay, Alison, it's... it's just too much, I can't think right now..."

"Then don't," she murmured, not letting go. "Don't think. You don't have to right now. You don't need to do anything at all right now."

But the words were still pushing to get out, and he couldn't hold them back, even though he could hardly seem to catch his breath. "I would've given... everything. For so long. Just to... do that, to walk into a room and see her..." He was holding onto Alison, he realized, almost clinging. "I used to dream about it, about waking up and finding out that it wasn't real, that she'd been there all along and..." His voice broke.

And she hadn't been before and now that he'd stopped dreaming about it she'd shown up. Rocking him gently, Alison murmured something - it didn't matter what it was, other than being low and soothing. The cars drove by on the highway, the sounds brief interruptions in the nearby soundscape, and she held on to Scott, determined not to bring him back to the mansion until he'd found some small measure of steadiness.