They had both been sitting in the cafeteria when he went in, the Professor with his wheelchair drawn up to the table, the woman slumped over in her own chair with one knee drawn up to her chest. A few of the other students were looking over at them, but no one else approached. He wondered if Xavier were telepathically warning them away. The Professor usually took lunch in his office, but he assumed that the older man had thought it easier for the doctor to 'drop in' if they ate with the other students. The room was crowded with the lunch hour.
"Professor." He looked from one to the other. "It's nice to see you."
"And you, Mr. Simon." The Professor nodded to the silent woman across from him. "This is Rionach Faolan. She is Saoirse's sister. Miss Faolan, this is Julian Simon, one of our staff members here."
The telepathic nudge touched his mind. Don't tell her who you are, Dr. Simon. She's paranoid and I can't read her.
So the Professor didn't want her to know he was a doctor. He smiled, both to her and to himself as he stepped forward. "It's nice to meet you." He held out a hand and the woman hesitated before untucking her own hand from the folds of her sweater. Her grip was light and weak, and her skin clammy. He could see the beat of her heart in her prominent veins. It was no wonder the Professor wanted him to surreptitiously examine this woman. She appeared as if she could collapse at any moment, and behind the sunglasses—incongruous in the shaded corner—her face was pale and her cheeks sunken. His interest was instantly peaked. It had been so long since he had treated someone who actually needed him. Someone who was actually not a mutant. She looked malnourished, and her fingernails were uneven and cracked.
"We're just about to eat." The Professor looked at him. "Why don't you join us?"
"My pleasure." He pulled up an empty chair from a nearby table and angled it toward Rionach as he sat. "So, are you here to visit Saoirse?"
Her breath rattled in her throat as she spoke. "No… I'm here to take her home."
He frowned, pretending to be surprised. "Any particular reason?"
For a moment her lips quivered, then she shrugged. "I want her to have a normal life."
He smiled. "Well, I have to admit this isn't a normal school, but then if your sister is here, she isn't a normal girl."
A spot of color appeared on her cheeks. "She could be." She turned her head slightly. "Have you ever suffered for who you are, Mr. Simon?"
For a moment the memory came, the fire in the hospital, the soldiers, the screams of the frightened patients and interns, the anger of—
"Yes." There was a tingling along his spine and his head throbbed.
She looked back down at the table, tucking her hands tighter under her arms. "I don't want Saoirse to suffer."
"Here's your meal, Professor." One of the young waiters set the tray down between them. "Did you want something, Do—Mr. Simon?"
He caught the Professor's eye and smiled to himself. The young man seemed dazed for a moment. Xavier's telepathic wrangling again.
Across the table, Rionach's head jerked up for a moment, and she glanced at the boy. The sudden movement caught his attention as much as the sudden spread of color in her cheeks, and he watched her.
"Did you want something, Dr. Simon?" The waiter repeated himself, then turned red.
Rionach stood. "Excuse me. You can send my sister up to her room after her class, Professor. I'll be packing for her. It was nice to meet you, Doctor."