xp_logs | Alex and Scott, Saturday Night

After this log Alison tells Alex where he can find his big brother. He does his best to comfort Scott which includes lots of hugs to prove that no matter what, his little brother will be there for him.

He had gone back up to his suite after returning to the mansion with
Alison. Maybe he should have gone down to the medlab, checked
on--checked on her. Probably should have. But Scott had no energy
left, and the bruises from the battering he'd taken this afternoon
were starting to make themselves known. He'd made it to the suite, and
inside to the bedroom, and he figured he was doing pretty damned well.

After talking to Alison and finding out what was going on, Alex had
headed up to his brother's suite. He paused in front of Scott's door,
taking a deep breath to compose himself before knocking, then opening
the door and sticking his head in. "Scott? You here bro?"

Scott swallowed and sat up, running an unsteady hand through his hair.
"In here, Alex," he called hoarsely, shifting around so that he was
sitting on the edge of the bed, as if he'd just sat down for a moment.

His hands in the front pocket of his sweatshirt, Alex walked slowly
into the bedroom, pausing at the door before walking in. He sat down
on the bed next to Scott and immediately wrapped his arms securely
around his older brother's shoulders, laying his head on Scott's
shoulder. "Hey."

"You heard?" Scott asked after a long moment. He gave a rusty, pained
little laugh as soon as the question was out of his mouth. "Of course
you heard. Everyone probably has, by now..."

Alex just nodded his head, not moving otherwise. "How are you doing bro?"

Another ragged laugh. "I don't... really know, Alex. I can't... it
doesn't seem real."

That only made Alex squeeze tighter again, nodding. He didn't know
what to say to that, but he wanted to show his support.

"She was there," Scott said hoarsely. "Right there. I don't..." His
voice caught and he looked away, blinking rapidly.

Sighing, Alex picked his head up off Scott's shoulder and looked at
his brother, though keeping his arms wrapped around his shoulders.
"Shh...it's okay, Scott. You don't have to explain to me if you don't
feel up to it...I just want you to know I'm here for you...I'll do
anything, you know that, to help you get through this...you just have
to say the word..." And even if he doesn't...I won't let go...
Alex thought to himself as he hugged Scott harder.

"I just..." Scott could feel the last bit of resistance crumbling, and
he turned into the hug without really making the conscious decision to
do so. "I know we looked for her," he whispered. "We searched, the
Professor searched... but we didn't find her, Alex. I didn't find her.
I left her, and she's been alone for two years, and I've
been..."

Scooting closer, Alex took Scott fully into his arms, one arm moving
down to his waist so he could rub Scott's lower back comfortingly.
"Scott, don't blame yourself for this...I *know* you did everything in
your power to find her...I have no doubt. People in your life just
have a tendency to pop back up." He couldn't hold back a small smile
at that. "Look at me..."

"Wasn't enough." His voice cracked. "Why can I never do enough,
Alex... why can I never do it right, why is it always someone else
who's getting hurt because of what I can't do..."

Frowning, Alex pulled away slightly so he could look Scott in the
face, but still not letting him go. "Scott, don't you dare. No
one...no one can deny that you've done more and given up more
for the people in this mansion then anyone...and no one, especially me
and I'm sure Jean, will let you get away with thinking like that..."
Burying his back into Scott's shoulder, the younger boy almost crawled
into Scott's lap, ready to do anything to comfort his older brother.

"I don't know what to do," Scott whispered. "I'm afraid I'll wake up
and this won't have happened. Or that I'll wake up and she'll still be
there... I don't know which." He laughed again, hollowly, shaking his
head. "I can't do this, Alex, I can't..."

"Yes, you can, Scott..." Alex said firmly. "But you don't have to do
this alone...I know how it feels to not want to wake up because you'd
be unsure of the outcome...gods, sometimes I still I expect to wake up
with Her...but you helped me through that and I'm going to help you
with this.Us Summers Brothers have to stick together, ya know?"

Scott took a deep, shaky breath. Pull yourself together. He
tried to straighten a little, wincing as bruised muscles protested. He
hurt, inside and out, and he just wanted to curl up in a damned ball
and shut the world out, as cowardly and undignified as that might be.

With his arms wrapped around Scott's body, he could tell how tense and
stiff his brother was. Frowning to himself, Alex finally let go of
Scott and began to to tug at the hem of his shirt. "Take this off and
lie down on your stomach," he said firmly. Lorna had made him take
that massage class and he felt he could put his skills to good use
right now.

"I'm fine, Alex," Scott said feebly, not sure what precisely was going
on. His brain had finally decided that enough was enough and given up
the ghost for the day.

Not about to give up, Alex pulled the shirt over Scott's head and
pushed at his shoulders to get him to lie down. "No, you're not,
you're a worse liar then I am. Now lay down before I'm forced to sit
on you!"

"Ow..." Scott protested weakly, flinching away from Alex's
admittedly-gentle push.

Raising a curious eyebrow, Alex looked over the bruises on Scott's
upper body with a slight frown. Still determined to get Scott's mind
off Jean, Alex had to think of something else. "Well, my original plan
won't work but you should still lie down and get some sleep...you
really look like you need it.." After a moment of silence he added
softly. "I'll stay here with you if you want..."

"Please?" Scott asked a bit faintly, swaying a little. "Don't let me
wake up if it's not real..."

Alex responded to that with a sad smile, knowing the exact feeling.
"I'll do my best Scott. But no matter where you wake up...I'll be
right beside you. NOw lay down and get some rest...please?"

Scott sank back against the pillows with no further protest. "Don't go
anywhere," he muttered disjointedly. "Even if you're going to come
back... don't go."

Moving onto the bed to lay next to Scott, Alex took Scott's hand in
his. "I won't move an inch, bro...I promise."