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xmutanthigh2007-12-05 03:29 am
dazzlerock.livejournal.com) wrote in xmutanthigh2007-12-05 03:29 am
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[scenes] Sorting things out...
This should have happened Saturday or Sunday, the first day or so after the sentinel attack. There's three scenes here, sorry it's SO long...I just really didn't want to spam everyone's flist with three separate posts...)
Julian flipped his phone open.
He hadn't been up for more than three hours -- one hour if the two the Doc kept him were discounted -- and he still couldn't find his best friend. After circling the infirmary twice, he'd deduced she was long gone. No one had seen her since they'd apparently dragged her rag-dolled form inside.
Julian couldn't ignore the sick feeling in his gut at her disappearance, and it stayed with him as the elevator took him away from the other injured students. It took only a few presses of buttons to get to her number, and the phone was ringing by the time he stepped onto the first floor, dodging a few insurance workers and contractors on his way.
Ali groaned, sitting up on the music room floor, startled awake by the irritating ring of her phone. Fumbling around in her pockets, her pants shredded from the night before, she only managed to flip the phone open as it stopped ringing. The screen showed that she'd missed Julian's call. The phone began to ring again immediately.
"It's too fucking early for this," she muttered, flopping onto her back before flipping open the phone. "Hello?"
"Miss me?"
Ali spun around to be greeted by Julian Keller's wide smile in the doorway. He was pale and his hair was in disarray, clad in jeans and a wrinkled shirt. A gash was still healing across his cheek, the line starkly red. He hung up the small device in his hand and stuffed it in his pocket. She breathed deeply, nodding, still holding the phone to her ear. She closed it, sitting up, hugging her knees. She was exhausted and she looked it. Julian frowned, noting the dark circles beneath her eyes, the lack of dazzle in the Dazzler.
"It doesn't look it." He stepped into the room, the door closing behind him.
"I'm sorry, Julian. It's just been a long night..." She looked up as the mutant came to stand above her, accepting the hand offered to pull her into a hug. The way she clung to him was all he needed to reassure her affection for him. "It's good to see you."
"Same," he said sincerely, holding her tight. "What are you doing in here, Ali? You could have just slept in my room."
"You've got a girlfriend again, Keller." She looked away. "I don't want to get between the two of you."
He scoffed lightly, looking to the pile of blankets on the hard floor. "You know I meant anything's more comfortable than that. I wasn't using my bed anyway."
"I just..." She shrugged, looking around at the abundance of musical instruments, "...kinda missed this room. It's been such a long time, you know?"
"Yeah, it has..." He trailed off, not taking his eyes off the small girl even as her gaze roamed. "You wanna get something to eat?" His smirk was slight, and underneath it Ali could sense a sadness, a hidden exhaustion she was familiar with. "I haven't eaten for more than twenty-four hours."
"I guess." She shrugged. "To be honest, food's the last thing that's been on my mind." She pulled on the standard issue hoodie she found in the music office. It still smelled like Scott. She had to admit: she missed him. She let Julian put an arm around her and lead her out of the music room.
"You look exhausted," he said, leaning into her ear, the observation obviously trying to prompt a full explanation.
"I am." Her fingers curled around the fabric of his shirt, pulling him closer to her. She had spent so long missing the comforts of home: her things, her room, and most of all, her friends. But now that she was back so suddenly, without any thought or warning, she found that though she was home, she still felt distance. Change. She forced a weak smile. "It's nothing, don't worry about it."
"I'm the best friend, sweetheart," he cooed. "It's my job to worry."
"I know." Ali smiled, a bit of her sparkle returning. "I just don't really want to think about it right now. Kept me up all night."
"Ouch," he winced mockingly, rubbing her shoulder in comfort. "And not in a good way, huh?"
Ali shook her head, only half hearing Julian as he led her into the kitchen.
He let her go to raid the fridge and she plopped onto one of the stools, tiredly leaning against her hand. Julian threw down a mix of strange ingredients and shot her a look over his shoulder, smirking. "So, beautiful," he started, one eyebrow raising, "what do you want for breakfast?"
"Nothing, thanks." Her stomach growled, but uneasiness brought a nausea that dispelled any thought of food. "I'm okay."
"More for me," he concluded, taking a seat and digging into the plethora of food he'd randomly chosen. "So," he paused, stuffing a few pieces of lunch meat into his mouth. "What's going on?"
"Ugh." She sighed, picking at the hem of her sleeve. "Nothing. Everything. I'm not even sure any more." She dropped her face into her palms. "Next question."
He swallowed and watched her with a concerned and amused expression. "So," he carefully, "what's going on?"
Ali turned away from him, looking at the wreckage out the window. She wanted to collapse in her friend's arms, confessing her guilt over not being there when the sentinel attacked, her very keen desire to return to Xavier's. She sighed, silenced by an overwhelming fear that there was no place for her there anymore. "I'm tired, Julian." She turned back to him looking older, harder, and sadder than he'd remembered her being. "So tired."
He smiled, the quirk of his lips very slight. "So come home. Canada is for losers anyway."
"Yeah," she said absently. Another deep sigh. "If they'll even let me back here."
A scoff passed Julian's lips and he dug into the food again. "Don't be ridiculous, Ali. Of course they will. You might have been gone, but you were gone with Logan."
Ali turned back to face him. "Emma never wanted me on the team in the first place, that's why Logan got me onto Alpha Flight. I wasn't X-man material." She traced the patterns on the granite counter. "I doubt she's changed her mind."
"She'll deal," he said simply. "You want something bad enough you just keep trying, gorgeous. No reason to get down about it."
"I'm not about to waste my time here if I'm not wanted," she said matter-of-factly. "Alpha Flight still needs all the help they can get. Losers or not," she continued with a hint of ice in her voice, "I was part of team there."
He rose an eyebrow at her, lips twitching. "Don't get your panties in a twist, Blaire. I didn't mean it like that. Losers or not, Alpha Flight or X-men, I want you here and I'm glad you're back."
"Yeah, well," Ali said, reaching to take a small sip of Julian's orange juice. "That makes one person."
"Does someone not want you around?"
"I dunno." Ali shrugged, slurping at the juice again. "Doesn't seem like anyone missed me much. Figured nobody even noticed I was back."
Julian laughed shortly and looked at her incredulously. "The roof of the mansion is caved in. Half the student body is in the infirmary. But if it'll make you feel better, I'll throw a welcoming party and a parade in your honor."
"You know that's not what I meant, but if you're gonna be a prick, Julian," she finished the juice, filling it again and sliding it back to him, "I have other things to take care of."
He graciously gulped half of it and slammed it back down on the counter, Adam's apple working. "For the first time I'm not just being a prick, sweetheart. A lot's going on around here, if you haven't noticed. A lot's happened since you've been gone. I love you and so does everyone else, but there are more important things to worry about right now than harping about people acting like they haven't missed you enough."
"Believe me, Julian," she said slowly, shaking some of the more haunting images from her time in Canada out of her mind, "I know." With that she frowned, a decision made, and strode out of the kitchen.
"Where the hell are you going, Blaire?" Julian demanded, twisting in his seat at the counter.
"I'll see you later, Julian."
Her hand hovered before the door as she took a deep breath, hanging her head, not looking forward to having to tell Logan she was leaving the team he had gotten her a spot on.
"Come in, Alison." Emma's voice emerged from the office. "I've been expecting you."
"Emma?" Ali frowned, slipping inside and closing the door behind her. "Where's Logan? This is still his office, right?"
"It is, but if you'll recall, mine was in the wing of the mansion that was damaged and, until it's been rebuilt, Logan has been kind enough to share his." Alison nodded, taking a seat as Emma gestured for her to do so. "I'd like to thank you for the part you played in defending the school. The faculty should have--"
"Shoulda, coulda, woulda, Frost." Ali shook her head, sighing. "I have a handful of those myself. I just wish I'd been here..."
"That makes three of us, then." Logan had slipped in, startling the two women, striding across the room to stand by Emma. "Wishin' won't change what happened."
"True enough, dear." Emma placed a hand over Logan's on her shoulder. She closed her eyes, dispelling her guilt and turning her heart to diamond. Looking at Ali directly once more, she breathed in. "We were curious as to your plans."
"Yeah, I, uh--" Ali swallowed hard, mouth dry. "About that." She looked at Logan, biting her lip. "Look, I know you went out on a limb for me, and I know they need the help up there, but after this...it's bigger than Alpha Flight and the X-men put together. Graydon Creed--"
"Blaire."
"--he's right in our backyard. Plus--"
"Blaire."
"--I have field experience now. I've led a couple of missions, Guardian gave me a small team during the Halifax fiasco a few months ago--"
"Alison, shut up for a moment." Ali paused a moment when Emma interrupted her. "You bring up very valid points, but ultimately the decision is yours: will you be staying here at Xavier's or returning to Canada to continue on with Alpha Flight."
"This is my home." Ali swallowed, eyes flicking from Logan to Emma. "I want to stay here, but if you won't give me any responsibility..." her eyes fixed on Logan, though her comments were clearly meant for Emma, "I'm not a student anymore. If I stay, I don't want to be treated like one."
Emma and Logan exchanged looks, Emma raising a questioning eyebrow before nodding slowly, speaking not entirely to the younger woman. "Scott is going to need to extra help with the music program this semester. Perhaps..."
"Hn." Logan nodded. "I sure as hell ain't taking his classes."
"I don't think anyone wants that to happen, dear."
"Wait," Ali face twisted: perplexed, concerned, "what's going on with Scott? He's--he's okay, right?"
The telepath nodded curtly. "He's recieved requests to further and expand the autoshop program which, strained as we are, leaves the music program inadequately staffed for the time being."
"I could pick up his course load entirely," Ali began, "I know his curriculum inside and out; he basically made me memorize the damn thing when I started with him. Actually," she smiled, turning the thought over in her head, "I'd really like to pick up teaching for Scott. But that's not exactly the kind of responsibility I was talking about..."
"Then what are you talking about?" Emma asked, a slight twinge of annoyance entering her voice.
"The team," Logan spoke for the young woman, "she wants a spot on the X-men."
"You can't send me into the field, then let me come back only to chain me to a desk, Logan." Ali entreated her mentor, eyes pleading. "If I can't be on the team, I can't stay. Not when so much is happening...I have to do something to help."
Emma sighed, rubbing her temples with one hand. "Alison, I'm not entirely sure that this is my decision to make--"
"Then whose is it?" Ali demanded, taking a deep breath to calm herself. "You were the one that wouldn't let me join in the first place, right?" She crossed her arms, looking to Logan. "I was 'too impulsive,' right? 'Unreliable?'" She frowned. "Well, now I'm field-trained. Alpha Flight has a place for me, they want me back there. So, tell me, Emma: if you don't want me, why should I stay?"
She met her look, raising an eyebrow at her. "I think that the real question here is why do you want to stay?"
"My friends are here. My family is here." Ali leveled her with a look that seemed mature beyond her capacity. "I've seen first hand what the Friends of Humanity have been doing across the border. I want to protect this place and everyone in it from that kind of hate."
She didn't reply for a few moments, taking the time to collect her thoughts before nodding curtly. "Very well, let me offer you a deal." Ali opened her mouth to object but Emma held up a hand, cutting her off. "Tomorrow, either in the Danger Room if it's in working order yet or I'll arrange for us to use another similar facility, you and I will spar and you can show me what you've learned. If Alpha Flight's taught you well and you're up to the X-men's standards, and I assure you I won't be unreasonable, I'll convince Ororo to let you on the team."
Ali frowned, not believing for a second Emma would judge her fairly, but knowing there was no way around the deal. She looked to Logan, knowing she'd receive no help there. "Fine." She rose, biting her tongue against a small, petty comment about bedroom loyalties. "I guess I should call JP, fill him in." She strode to the door pausing to look back at the two behind the desk, opening her mouth to say something before thinking better of it and leaving without a word.
Emma sighed, dropping her face into her hands as the door shut. "Well that went simply marvelously."
"Give her a chance." Logan looked down at her, his hands on her shoulder massaging gently. "She's not the same girl she was when she left."
"I'm not trying to be unreasonable about this," she replied, "But honestly, Logan; if I'd just let her on to the team, she would've been questioning my motives and what not. If she's learned as much up there as she says she has, I'll keep my end of the bargain."
"Mm, about that." Logan frowned deeply. "She may have learned something else while she was up North, too..."
"And what might that be?"
Logan raised an eyebrow, bending down to kiss her before glancing at the clock. "Look at that, I gotta go talk to the contractor about Danger Room specifications with Forge. Might as well improve if we've gotta rebuild anyway."
A wary look crept onto her face as she half turned in the chair to face him. "Logan, what the hell are you not telling me here?"
"Nothing, Em." Logan headed for the door. "Nothing at all."
Logan found her sitting in the gardens, smoking a joint and staring at the wreckage of the mansion. He sat down next to her, leaning against the tree and lighting a cigar. She glanced at him, half-expecting to be told to pitch the joint. He simply puffed at the cigar.
"You okay, kid?"
"Sure." She shrugged. "Got no reason to be otherwise."
"Right." His gaze fixed on the mansion's half existent roof. "Everything is hunky dory."
"Can you not?" she asked him flatly, coughing a bit as she took too hard a hit. "I got enough of that from Keller this morning."
"Hn." They smoked in silence.
"So," she said eventually around a mouthful of smoke, "guess I'll probably be heading back in a day or two, eh?"
"You chickening out, Blaire?"
"Come on, Logan." She hugged her knees to her chest. "You know Frost'll never let me on the team."
"She's offering you a spot on the faculty."
"Not on the team." She flicked the roach, retrieving a cigarette from the pack in her pocket. "Everyone still thinks I'm a liability, especially her."
"So you're just giving up?" Logan shook his head. "Doesn't sound like you, kid."
"Alpha Flight still needs me," she nodded to the stray students that were still puttering about the wreckage, trying to speed up the clean up work that needed to be done before the contractors could start the rebuild, "does anyone here?"
"Maybe." Logan rolled the cigar between his fingers. "Maybe not. You gonna stick around to find out?"
She didn't answer. Finally, she glanced at him, taking a final drag of her smoke. "Ask me if I'm okay again."
"You okay, kid?"
"No." The word tumbled from her, shaky and raw. "Not at all."
Logan said nothing, waiting for the deluge he knew was coming.
"I still have nightmares." Her voice wavered. "Thirty-seven kids, man, all missing. Those poor women..." she buried her face in her hands, "the way they were crying...it was like listening to someone dying."
"They weren't dying, Blaire."
"No," she shook her head, "but we still haven't found those kids. What does that say about me, that I'm about to turn my back on that?"
"Dunno. What does it say?"
"That for as many nightmares I have about the Friends of Humanity," she drew out slowly, "I have twice as many sleepless nights wondering when they're going to do the same thing here." Logan placed a hand on her back, a firm reassurance at the base of her neck. "What it comes down to is which do I feel more guilty about: not being here, or not being there?"
They slipped into silence again, Logan eventually removing his hand.
Ali straightened to lean against the tree, unlit cigarette between her lips. "I don't belong here anymore, Logan."
"You sure?" He got up, cracking his neck. "Give it your all tomorrow," he dropped the small coil of a new pair of earbuds into her lap, "show Em why I think you oughta be an X-man."
Ali watched him go, fingering the slender black wires, a tiny mile tugging at the corner of her mouth. She closed her hand around the headphones, smoking lazily as the sun began to set.
Julian flipped his phone open.
He hadn't been up for more than three hours -- one hour if the two the Doc kept him were discounted -- and he still couldn't find his best friend. After circling the infirmary twice, he'd deduced she was long gone. No one had seen her since they'd apparently dragged her rag-dolled form inside.
Julian couldn't ignore the sick feeling in his gut at her disappearance, and it stayed with him as the elevator took him away from the other injured students. It took only a few presses of buttons to get to her number, and the phone was ringing by the time he stepped onto the first floor, dodging a few insurance workers and contractors on his way.
Ali groaned, sitting up on the music room floor, startled awake by the irritating ring of her phone. Fumbling around in her pockets, her pants shredded from the night before, she only managed to flip the phone open as it stopped ringing. The screen showed that she'd missed Julian's call. The phone began to ring again immediately.
"It's too fucking early for this," she muttered, flopping onto her back before flipping open the phone. "Hello?"
"Miss me?"
Ali spun around to be greeted by Julian Keller's wide smile in the doorway. He was pale and his hair was in disarray, clad in jeans and a wrinkled shirt. A gash was still healing across his cheek, the line starkly red. He hung up the small device in his hand and stuffed it in his pocket. She breathed deeply, nodding, still holding the phone to her ear. She closed it, sitting up, hugging her knees. She was exhausted and she looked it. Julian frowned, noting the dark circles beneath her eyes, the lack of dazzle in the Dazzler.
"It doesn't look it." He stepped into the room, the door closing behind him.
"I'm sorry, Julian. It's just been a long night..." She looked up as the mutant came to stand above her, accepting the hand offered to pull her into a hug. The way she clung to him was all he needed to reassure her affection for him. "It's good to see you."
"Same," he said sincerely, holding her tight. "What are you doing in here, Ali? You could have just slept in my room."
"You've got a girlfriend again, Keller." She looked away. "I don't want to get between the two of you."
He scoffed lightly, looking to the pile of blankets on the hard floor. "You know I meant anything's more comfortable than that. I wasn't using my bed anyway."
"I just..." She shrugged, looking around at the abundance of musical instruments, "...kinda missed this room. It's been such a long time, you know?"
"Yeah, it has..." He trailed off, not taking his eyes off the small girl even as her gaze roamed. "You wanna get something to eat?" His smirk was slight, and underneath it Ali could sense a sadness, a hidden exhaustion she was familiar with. "I haven't eaten for more than twenty-four hours."
"I guess." She shrugged. "To be honest, food's the last thing that's been on my mind." She pulled on the standard issue hoodie she found in the music office. It still smelled like Scott. She had to admit: she missed him. She let Julian put an arm around her and lead her out of the music room.
"You look exhausted," he said, leaning into her ear, the observation obviously trying to prompt a full explanation.
"I am." Her fingers curled around the fabric of his shirt, pulling him closer to her. She had spent so long missing the comforts of home: her things, her room, and most of all, her friends. But now that she was back so suddenly, without any thought or warning, she found that though she was home, she still felt distance. Change. She forced a weak smile. "It's nothing, don't worry about it."
"I'm the best friend, sweetheart," he cooed. "It's my job to worry."
"I know." Ali smiled, a bit of her sparkle returning. "I just don't really want to think about it right now. Kept me up all night."
"Ouch," he winced mockingly, rubbing her shoulder in comfort. "And not in a good way, huh?"
Ali shook her head, only half hearing Julian as he led her into the kitchen.
He let her go to raid the fridge and she plopped onto one of the stools, tiredly leaning against her hand. Julian threw down a mix of strange ingredients and shot her a look over his shoulder, smirking. "So, beautiful," he started, one eyebrow raising, "what do you want for breakfast?"
"Nothing, thanks." Her stomach growled, but uneasiness brought a nausea that dispelled any thought of food. "I'm okay."
"More for me," he concluded, taking a seat and digging into the plethora of food he'd randomly chosen. "So," he paused, stuffing a few pieces of lunch meat into his mouth. "What's going on?"
"Ugh." She sighed, picking at the hem of her sleeve. "Nothing. Everything. I'm not even sure any more." She dropped her face into her palms. "Next question."
He swallowed and watched her with a concerned and amused expression. "So," he carefully, "what's going on?"
Ali turned away from him, looking at the wreckage out the window. She wanted to collapse in her friend's arms, confessing her guilt over not being there when the sentinel attacked, her very keen desire to return to Xavier's. She sighed, silenced by an overwhelming fear that there was no place for her there anymore. "I'm tired, Julian." She turned back to him looking older, harder, and sadder than he'd remembered her being. "So tired."
He smiled, the quirk of his lips very slight. "So come home. Canada is for losers anyway."
"Yeah," she said absently. Another deep sigh. "If they'll even let me back here."
A scoff passed Julian's lips and he dug into the food again. "Don't be ridiculous, Ali. Of course they will. You might have been gone, but you were gone with Logan."
Ali turned back to face him. "Emma never wanted me on the team in the first place, that's why Logan got me onto Alpha Flight. I wasn't X-man material." She traced the patterns on the granite counter. "I doubt she's changed her mind."
"She'll deal," he said simply. "You want something bad enough you just keep trying, gorgeous. No reason to get down about it."
"I'm not about to waste my time here if I'm not wanted," she said matter-of-factly. "Alpha Flight still needs all the help they can get. Losers or not," she continued with a hint of ice in her voice, "I was part of team there."
He rose an eyebrow at her, lips twitching. "Don't get your panties in a twist, Blaire. I didn't mean it like that. Losers or not, Alpha Flight or X-men, I want you here and I'm glad you're back."
"Yeah, well," Ali said, reaching to take a small sip of Julian's orange juice. "That makes one person."
"Does someone not want you around?"
"I dunno." Ali shrugged, slurping at the juice again. "Doesn't seem like anyone missed me much. Figured nobody even noticed I was back."
Julian laughed shortly and looked at her incredulously. "The roof of the mansion is caved in. Half the student body is in the infirmary. But if it'll make you feel better, I'll throw a welcoming party and a parade in your honor."
"You know that's not what I meant, but if you're gonna be a prick, Julian," she finished the juice, filling it again and sliding it back to him, "I have other things to take care of."
He graciously gulped half of it and slammed it back down on the counter, Adam's apple working. "For the first time I'm not just being a prick, sweetheart. A lot's going on around here, if you haven't noticed. A lot's happened since you've been gone. I love you and so does everyone else, but there are more important things to worry about right now than harping about people acting like they haven't missed you enough."
"Believe me, Julian," she said slowly, shaking some of the more haunting images from her time in Canada out of her mind, "I know." With that she frowned, a decision made, and strode out of the kitchen.
"Where the hell are you going, Blaire?" Julian demanded, twisting in his seat at the counter.
"I'll see you later, Julian."
Her hand hovered before the door as she took a deep breath, hanging her head, not looking forward to having to tell Logan she was leaving the team he had gotten her a spot on.
"Come in, Alison." Emma's voice emerged from the office. "I've been expecting you."
"Emma?" Ali frowned, slipping inside and closing the door behind her. "Where's Logan? This is still his office, right?"
"It is, but if you'll recall, mine was in the wing of the mansion that was damaged and, until it's been rebuilt, Logan has been kind enough to share his." Alison nodded, taking a seat as Emma gestured for her to do so. "I'd like to thank you for the part you played in defending the school. The faculty should have--"
"Shoulda, coulda, woulda, Frost." Ali shook her head, sighing. "I have a handful of those myself. I just wish I'd been here..."
"That makes three of us, then." Logan had slipped in, startling the two women, striding across the room to stand by Emma. "Wishin' won't change what happened."
"True enough, dear." Emma placed a hand over Logan's on her shoulder. She closed her eyes, dispelling her guilt and turning her heart to diamond. Looking at Ali directly once more, she breathed in. "We were curious as to your plans."
"Yeah, I, uh--" Ali swallowed hard, mouth dry. "About that." She looked at Logan, biting her lip. "Look, I know you went out on a limb for me, and I know they need the help up there, but after this...it's bigger than Alpha Flight and the X-men put together. Graydon Creed--"
"Blaire."
"--he's right in our backyard. Plus--"
"Blaire."
"--I have field experience now. I've led a couple of missions, Guardian gave me a small team during the Halifax fiasco a few months ago--"
"Alison, shut up for a moment." Ali paused a moment when Emma interrupted her. "You bring up very valid points, but ultimately the decision is yours: will you be staying here at Xavier's or returning to Canada to continue on with Alpha Flight."
"This is my home." Ali swallowed, eyes flicking from Logan to Emma. "I want to stay here, but if you won't give me any responsibility..." her eyes fixed on Logan, though her comments were clearly meant for Emma, "I'm not a student anymore. If I stay, I don't want to be treated like one."
Emma and Logan exchanged looks, Emma raising a questioning eyebrow before nodding slowly, speaking not entirely to the younger woman. "Scott is going to need to extra help with the music program this semester. Perhaps..."
"Hn." Logan nodded. "I sure as hell ain't taking his classes."
"I don't think anyone wants that to happen, dear."
"Wait," Ali face twisted: perplexed, concerned, "what's going on with Scott? He's--he's okay, right?"
The telepath nodded curtly. "He's recieved requests to further and expand the autoshop program which, strained as we are, leaves the music program inadequately staffed for the time being."
"I could pick up his course load entirely," Ali began, "I know his curriculum inside and out; he basically made me memorize the damn thing when I started with him. Actually," she smiled, turning the thought over in her head, "I'd really like to pick up teaching for Scott. But that's not exactly the kind of responsibility I was talking about..."
"Then what are you talking about?" Emma asked, a slight twinge of annoyance entering her voice.
"The team," Logan spoke for the young woman, "she wants a spot on the X-men."
"You can't send me into the field, then let me come back only to chain me to a desk, Logan." Ali entreated her mentor, eyes pleading. "If I can't be on the team, I can't stay. Not when so much is happening...I have to do something to help."
Emma sighed, rubbing her temples with one hand. "Alison, I'm not entirely sure that this is my decision to make--"
"Then whose is it?" Ali demanded, taking a deep breath to calm herself. "You were the one that wouldn't let me join in the first place, right?" She crossed her arms, looking to Logan. "I was 'too impulsive,' right? 'Unreliable?'" She frowned. "Well, now I'm field-trained. Alpha Flight has a place for me, they want me back there. So, tell me, Emma: if you don't want me, why should I stay?"
She met her look, raising an eyebrow at her. "I think that the real question here is why do you want to stay?"
"My friends are here. My family is here." Ali leveled her with a look that seemed mature beyond her capacity. "I've seen first hand what the Friends of Humanity have been doing across the border. I want to protect this place and everyone in it from that kind of hate."
She didn't reply for a few moments, taking the time to collect her thoughts before nodding curtly. "Very well, let me offer you a deal." Ali opened her mouth to object but Emma held up a hand, cutting her off. "Tomorrow, either in the Danger Room if it's in working order yet or I'll arrange for us to use another similar facility, you and I will spar and you can show me what you've learned. If Alpha Flight's taught you well and you're up to the X-men's standards, and I assure you I won't be unreasonable, I'll convince Ororo to let you on the team."
Ali frowned, not believing for a second Emma would judge her fairly, but knowing there was no way around the deal. She looked to Logan, knowing she'd receive no help there. "Fine." She rose, biting her tongue against a small, petty comment about bedroom loyalties. "I guess I should call JP, fill him in." She strode to the door pausing to look back at the two behind the desk, opening her mouth to say something before thinking better of it and leaving without a word.
Emma sighed, dropping her face into her hands as the door shut. "Well that went simply marvelously."
"Give her a chance." Logan looked down at her, his hands on her shoulder massaging gently. "She's not the same girl she was when she left."
"I'm not trying to be unreasonable about this," she replied, "But honestly, Logan; if I'd just let her on to the team, she would've been questioning my motives and what not. If she's learned as much up there as she says she has, I'll keep my end of the bargain."
"Mm, about that." Logan frowned deeply. "She may have learned something else while she was up North, too..."
"And what might that be?"
Logan raised an eyebrow, bending down to kiss her before glancing at the clock. "Look at that, I gotta go talk to the contractor about Danger Room specifications with Forge. Might as well improve if we've gotta rebuild anyway."
A wary look crept onto her face as she half turned in the chair to face him. "Logan, what the hell are you not telling me here?"
"Nothing, Em." Logan headed for the door. "Nothing at all."
Logan found her sitting in the gardens, smoking a joint and staring at the wreckage of the mansion. He sat down next to her, leaning against the tree and lighting a cigar. She glanced at him, half-expecting to be told to pitch the joint. He simply puffed at the cigar.
"You okay, kid?"
"Sure." She shrugged. "Got no reason to be otherwise."
"Right." His gaze fixed on the mansion's half existent roof. "Everything is hunky dory."
"Can you not?" she asked him flatly, coughing a bit as she took too hard a hit. "I got enough of that from Keller this morning."
"Hn." They smoked in silence.
"So," she said eventually around a mouthful of smoke, "guess I'll probably be heading back in a day or two, eh?"
"You chickening out, Blaire?"
"Come on, Logan." She hugged her knees to her chest. "You know Frost'll never let me on the team."
"She's offering you a spot on the faculty."
"Not on the team." She flicked the roach, retrieving a cigarette from the pack in her pocket. "Everyone still thinks I'm a liability, especially her."
"So you're just giving up?" Logan shook his head. "Doesn't sound like you, kid."
"Alpha Flight still needs me," she nodded to the stray students that were still puttering about the wreckage, trying to speed up the clean up work that needed to be done before the contractors could start the rebuild, "does anyone here?"
"Maybe." Logan rolled the cigar between his fingers. "Maybe not. You gonna stick around to find out?"
She didn't answer. Finally, she glanced at him, taking a final drag of her smoke. "Ask me if I'm okay again."
"You okay, kid?"
"No." The word tumbled from her, shaky and raw. "Not at all."
Logan said nothing, waiting for the deluge he knew was coming.
"I still have nightmares." Her voice wavered. "Thirty-seven kids, man, all missing. Those poor women..." she buried her face in her hands, "the way they were crying...it was like listening to someone dying."
"They weren't dying, Blaire."
"No," she shook her head, "but we still haven't found those kids. What does that say about me, that I'm about to turn my back on that?"
"Dunno. What does it say?"
"That for as many nightmares I have about the Friends of Humanity," she drew out slowly, "I have twice as many sleepless nights wondering when they're going to do the same thing here." Logan placed a hand on her back, a firm reassurance at the base of her neck. "What it comes down to is which do I feel more guilty about: not being here, or not being there?"
They slipped into silence again, Logan eventually removing his hand.
Ali straightened to lean against the tree, unlit cigarette between her lips. "I don't belong here anymore, Logan."
"You sure?" He got up, cracking his neck. "Give it your all tomorrow," he dropped the small coil of a new pair of earbuds into her lap, "show Em why I think you oughta be an X-man."
Ali watched him go, fingering the slender black wires, a tiny mile tugging at the corner of her mouth. She closed her hand around the headphones, smoking lazily as the sun began to set.
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Aw, Ali!
"I don't belong here anymore, Logan."
You do! We missed you!!!!
Loved all those scenes. Especially the Julian one. :)
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Great scenes!
ooc
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:D
I'm so glad Ali's finally back! AND SHE IS STAYING. Even Emma said so practically already :D i loved the line about questioning her motives if she just let her walk on the team, though.
I still love Julian's habit of eating all kinds of food that don't go well together.
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I also uploaded this icon thinking of you, hehe.
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Now I'm hungry. I need to go eat something.