Friday afternoon, Jean goes to see Cain

[x-jeangrey.livejournal.com]

Jean flipped a few lose strands of hair back over her shoulder as she headed out the door to the boat house. The post on the journal system yesterday by the new groundskeeper had reminded her of something Ororo had mentioned to her, and Jean figured it was time to stop by and say 'hello', and at least attempt to appologize for anything she might have broken when her memories came back. The stories she had heard about Cain Marko had the quality to them that would sound like exaggerated gossip, if it weren't for their frequency and consistency.

Cain looked up from where he was chopping wood when he caught the motion on the path. Red hair, most likely Marie-Ange wanted to ask him something and... wait, no, the hair was shorter and... oh, great, he thought to himself.

Taking a second to steel himself, Cain shoved his hands into his pockets and wandered out onto the path, letting his obvious route cross Jean's. She was coming out to talk to him, obviously, since Remy was away on some mysterious business. He immediately wondered if she'd broken something, after all, Nathan had shown that telekinesis was rather destructive, and she HAD made a bit of a mess when she arrived.

Jean blinked slightly as she caught sight of him. Well, the size, at least, was most definitely not just school gossip. Smiling, she nodded to him and called out, "Mr. Marko?"

"Dr. Grey," Cain replied, leaning against a tree and folding his arms. "Been a pretty eventful week for you, I'd imagine. How's the land of the living treating you?" She seemed to be in pretty good health, and Cain noticed the inhibitor on her wrist, same model that Dani had been wearing earlier. Great, he thought. More psychics with control issues.

"I would say that 'eventful' just about covers it, yes," Jean agreed. "I wanted to find you and appologize for any mess I have made when I first came. I... I wasn't in my right mind." Which led to her wondering who's mind she had been in, and what to do about the reminents of that life.

"Stuff got fixed," Cain mumbled. "Should see Nate when his brain's sprained. He went through I don't know how many windows the first three months." Why was she being so damn polite and conciliatory? He paced away from the tree. "You're making a hell of a lot of trouble, being here," he finally blurted out. "Undoin' a lot of hard work, especially with these kids."

That was a low blow, and Jean looked away before resetting her shoulders and answering, "That was... not my intent." That was so far away from her intent it didn't come with in lightyears of it. "I never wanted to hurt the children, or anyone."

"Ain't saying you did," Cain answered calmly, looking past Jean to the lake. "But look at it this way: there's a lot of kids in that school looked up to you, wanted to be like you. Then you go be a hero, and get yourself killed for it. Hard lesson they had to learn that day - yeah, you can risk your life to save people. But odds are, you're gonna lose it." He slowly shifted his eyes to her, squinting slightly. "And now here you are, and what's that tell them? 'Do something foolish and stupid, because you get a free pass to come back anyway'? Shit, Ramsey got shot in the damn chest for the same damn ideal. Lucky to be alive, he was."

Cain cracked his knuckles absently, staring past Jean again. "Beggin' your pardon, but you were a lot better object lesson when you were a dead martyr."

The nasty little voice in her head was back, quite happily agreeing with Cain that everyone had been better off before she'd returned but she shoved it away again. "Foolish and stupid?" she asked slowly, making sure she'd heard correctly. "Is that what you think?" Not that it mattered what he thought. What did he know? Although the rational part of her was being over run by the fire that was slowly burning in her mind.

"What I think?" Cain asked, arching an eyebrow, "You got what you wanted. I've read the reports, you went out of the bird, held back an entire reservior's worth of floodwater, lifted the jet into the air, burned out, and got crushed under a couple million gallons of water. Y'ain't stupid," he admitted, "I think you knew what was gonna happen, and you considered it a fair trade."

He folded his hands together, sighing deeply before looking up to meet Jean's eyes. "Ain't gonna tell you it wasn't your right to do it. Y'had a full life, your choice how you were gonna end it. But these kids? They idolized you, figured the best thing they could do was follow the path you laid for them. You got it in their minds that it's noble and brave to die for your friends. Ain't a damn one of them needs to die for anything, they ain't barely lived for anything." Pausing, Cain realized his hands were shaking. Why was this bothering him so much?

The children - it always came back to the children. He just wanted to protect them in his own way, and that she could understand and respect, even if she disagreed with what they needed to be protected from. Slowly the fire in her vision faded away as her shoulders slumped. "It isn't fair to them," she said softly, "I know. It isn't fair to them, or to Scott, or to anyone. It's just the way things are. I'd change it if I could - I would change so many things for them if I could, but I can't. I can only do my best with the time I have - the extra time I have," she amended, "to try and teach and help them."

Cain cocked his head, suddenly feeling like he'd verbally had his legs kicked out under him. She was supposed to get mad and argue, not be all agreeable and apologetic. He had no idea whatsoever how to deal with agreeable.

"Well, I... uh... can't argue with that, I guess," he mumbled awkwardly. "These kids need to know there's something to live for, not just make some stupid heroic stand for. They're doing a good job of it, up there," he forced himself to admit, "these kids have some good role models, and if you tell anyone I said that, I'll throw you into the lake." Finding himself grinning, he nodded to the boathouse. "Well, now that I've told you you were better off dead, want some coffee?"

Jean flinched visibly at the mention of the lake and stepped back from him, eyes widening as she fought back the sound of crashing water in her mind. She felt her breath start to speed up and closed her eyes, fighting for control. "Anything but the lake," she managed, voice sounding strained.

Cain blinked, then realized what he'd said and noticing Jean's reaction. "Hey, I didn't mean... are you all right?"

The inhibitor meant that nothing was flying around, and she could focus on that as a good sign, even if it wasn't one of her own making. "I'm... I'll be ok," she said slowly, opening her eyes again. "I don't... do very well with large bodies of water these days."

"No shit," Cain filed that little detail away and turned towards the boathouse. "As I was saying, coffee? Come on in, take a load off, and I'll tell you about the first time Nathan blew out his windows with his power..."

Banter. Banter was good. "That sounds lovely," she said, following Cain down the path. "Thank you."