Tarnished

A X-Men Fanfiction

Written and expanded upon by RogueMoon

Original Idea by Peppymint

Posted and continued with permission of Peppymint

Chapter Three

::: :::

It was two days after Mrs. Davidson's visit that she called to arrange what she believed to be the first meeting between presumed father and son. All very sensible and by the book. She and two other agents would oversee the collection of hair samples to send away to Worthington Labs as well as ensure that Doctor Essex and Remy's meeting went as well as possible.

She politely explained over the phone that he should not be offended if Remy is a bit wary of him and hostile at first. Many children acted out in such a manner when meeting a parent for the first time as a cover for feelings of abandonment that they didn't know how to deal with. He should also bring a present.

Essex asked what kind of present he should bring for an eight year old, his voice clearly edged with stress and worry. A typical reaction of a parent in such situations. Carla felt for the man, convinced that Charles' was just wrong in this case. She'd already convinced the Doctor to undergo the paternity test, so she didn't back out of it.

He had been a bit confused by the request at first. Carla lied easily and told him it was required since Mrs. Mueller left no paperwork for the boy. That the state now required testing due to the questionability of such claims in cases like his, for the protection of the child, of course. Nothing out of the ordinary. He seemed to give it some thought and then nodded, agreeing, telling her it was quite sensible of the state to do so. That he'd be happy to have it conducted. Anything to finally be the father he should have been years ago.

She told him to bring something sentimental as a present. Something that would make Remy feel closer to him because it was part of his family. Essex went quiet over the phone at that point. Carla could practically hear him try to figure out what he could possibly give the boy that fit the bill. Being a bachelor for so long had its downside. He said he'd try. She laughed and gave him assurances that he would do fine.

They set the meet and greet tentatively for the next day. He could come to the CPS office and they would all drive up together for the meeting. It would be best between Noon and Four PM. Sometime during then. No more than two hours though, so as not to overwhelm Remy emotionally.

Essex expressed concern about what he should wear and Carla's heart squeezed in her chest for the man. He was just so nice and sweet. It was few and far between that such honestly decent people tried to do the right thing for their children. He could have simply let Remy stay at the School, unclaimed and left to believe his father didn't want him. But Essex didn't.

Carla ended the phone call with happy tears in her eyes. Xavier was just being overprotective and he'd see at the meeting how wrong he was about the doctor.

She called the institute next and spoke with the Professor, informing him of Essex agreeing to the paternity test and that the CPS had an appointment open between Noon and Four PM the next day, so they'd be driving up with the doctor so he and Remy could meet for the first time under safe conditions. And, of course, take the hair samples needed for the paternity test, which would then be taken directly to Worthington Labs.

Charles was pleasant during the call, but spoke only the bare minimum needed for the conversation. He was obviously still upset about the situation. As she ended the call, Carla just couldn't figure it out. The only time she'd seen anything like that was when a man was jealous of another man.

Her mind ticked idly over the thought and another bloomed in its wake. What if Charles and Mrs. Mueller had been lovers? Maybe he thought of Remy as his son now that she was dead... It would explain Xavier's reaction so well. He was afraid of losing the boy he had come to think of as a son. Oh, Carla's heart clenched sorrow at that idea. But there was nothing she could do about it now. She just wished Charles had said something to her about it.

Well, maybe she could speak to the doctor about allowing Xavier to visit every once in a while after they got the official business out of the way.

::: :::

Remy was waiting in the lounge with the rest of the team, all dressed nicely for the visit. To humor the CPS agents, nothing more. They had taken the now-young Cajun out shopping the day before to pick up something age appropriate and in the right size. He still refused to wear the damn tie Jean had wanted to put on him.

Xavier sat in his regular wheelchair, the hoverchair tucked away in his office until the visit was over. Rogue and Ororo had made refreshments: sun tea and lemon cakes. They were both dressed conservatively in dark turtlenecks and long skirts. Both sat on opposite sides of Remy, each holding one hand. He wasn't sure if it was to comfort him, or them. Maybe a little of both.

Jean was in a pale pink business suit that bordered on being white and sat next to Scott, who wore yellow polo and a pair of wrap-around sunglasses. They sat on the love seat opposite the door. Logan leaned against the wall behind him, a clean lumberjack shirt on over worn jeans. Bobby stood next to him, dressed in a long sleeve shirt and board shorts.

Hank wasn't in the room, his appearance a bit too controversial for the meeting. Instead, he watched over the cameras from below ground. If Sinister tried anything, he'd be ready.

Two cars pulled up in front of the house, black and official looking. Out of the first stepped three people: Carla, a chubby balding man and a tall man with a regal bearing to him carrying a leather attache case. Out of the second car stepped a skinny woman with a severe looking bun who carried a small suitcase. They approached the door and knocked.

Ororo stood and followed Xavier to the foyer to let their guests in. They both smiled politely and greeted the three CPS agents and gave a slightly colder greeting to Doctor Essex. He played the part of nervous soon-to-be parent quite well. Eyes slightly wide and hands figiting on the strap of his bag. But when the agents weren't looking, when they walked ahead to greet Remy, Essex was smug and calm and utterly full of himself.

The X-Men could only sit there and watch as Carla greeted Remy, speaking to him like the child she thought he was. Small words and smiles and a happy voice, "Remy. I'd like you to meet Nathaniel Essex. Your father. He's a doctor, isn't that nice?"

Remy glared at the man, mistrust painted on his expressive face as he replied deadpan, "Oui. C'est grand."

Carla grimaced and looked back at Essex, who was looking between his feet and Remy in a wholly uncomfortable manner, "He knows French, Doctor. He's very well learned. Why don't you have a seat..." She glanced around for a place to sit.

There was a long couch on the opposite side of the room from where Remy was seated between Rogue and Storm. Carla smiled and gestured to it, trying to defuse the tension in the room that bled off everyone involved. Essex gave a thin smile and moved over to sit down, slipping his bag off his shoulder and setting it at his feet.

With a short look around the room, he leaned forward and picked up a pastry. After eating it as quickly and politely as possible, he clapped his hands in his lap, "Wonderful cake. My compliments to the chef."

Ororo offered a thin smile that never reached her eyes and nodded to the man.

Carla took a deep breath and clapped her hands, "Well! Why don't we take those hair samples now and get that out of the way." She smiled at the other woman, the one with the severe bun, who then stepped into the room and set her briefcase on the table. Flicking it open, she removed a pair of plastic surgical gloves which she secured with a snap. Then a pair of scissors and a plastic bag.

She moved over to the doctor first and gestured at him. He nodded and turned his head to allow her access to the hair at the back of his neck. She did her best not to make the trim too uneven before slipping the black lock into the bag, sealing it and then marking it. It did not escape the doctor's notice how attentive the X-Men were to the sample taking and his response. He smiled innocently and with seeming relief towards Carla just to mock them.

Remy shifted in his seat as a new bag was removed from the suitcase and the lady approached him with the scissors. Mrs. Davidson took it as him being nervous, and rightly so, though for entirely different reasons than she thought, "It's okay Remy. She's not going to hurt you, just cut off a little bit of hair at the back of your neck. Just like a barber would when you go to get a haircut."

His perpetual frown and glare did little to deter the woman, despite his red on black eyes. She was older and didn't seem to care if a kid was a mutant or not. They were all children that needed a firm hand to guide them. She gripped his head with one hand and tilted it to the side, then leaned over and carefully snipped some hair from the very base of his neck where the cut would be hidden by the longer hair around it. She slipped the brown hair into its own bag and sealed it, then removed her gloves and labeled it as well. Nodding to the group, she closed her briefcase over the samples and left.

Carla looked at Xavier pointedly, "Those are going to go straight to Worthington Labs. It shouldn't take more than a week to get the results back. Now, how about we let Doctor Essex and Remy get to know each other. With a little bit of privacy."

The look of alarm that passed over Charles face removed itself quickly enough and he replied politely, "Remy has asked us to stay with him. We'd like to respect that."

"Of course, that's fine," Essex replied with a smile to Carla before she could say anything and waited until she sat down with the other CPS agent on the couch next to him before he opened his attache case. He pulled out a thinly stuffed velveteen rabbit a pearly gray color that looked fairly old with a much newer bright red ribbon around its neck. It wasn't very big, only about a foot from ear tip to toes.

His smile was soft and a bit shy as he stood and leaned over the table to place it in front of Remy, patting it on the head after he carefully set it down. Then he sat back in his seat and lay his hands in his lap, steepling his fingers. The doctor sounded genuinely nervous as he spoke, "Mrs. Davidson said I should bring you a present. I wasn't sure what to get you."

Remy gave him an incredulous look as his eyes went from the rabbit to Sinister and back again, "An' ya got moi a stuffed toy? Ya really think dat I'd like dat t'ing?" He picked up the rabbit and without much effort at all ripped the head off, tossing both pieces back across the table before crossing his arms and looking away.

For his part, Essex looked well and truly appalled for a minute that seemed to stretch into eternity before he leaned forward and carefully picked the pieces of the rabbit up, chuckling bitterly, "I suppose you're right. You're probably too old for such toys. I apologize for not thinking it through."

Carla's heart was breaking over the tantrum and the obvious pain it was putting the doctor through, but she said nothing. She was only there to make sure they didn't end up yelling at each other or acting violent. Her job was to start the dialogue, not lead it.

Essex's hands slowly pet the soft cloth of the rabbits body as he smoothed out the edges of the ripped seams, his voice quiet, his eyes not looking up, "Do you have a sewing kit handy?"

The others glanced at Xavier and he nodded to Ororo who stood, "I'll be just a moment. Please, have something to drink."

She left the room and when she returned several minutes later nothing had changed. No one had availed themselves of the tea. The room seemed to simply be waiting. She felt the familiar panic of claustrophobia and had to remind herself that the only thing making the room feel so small was the tension. Nothing more. She could easily escape.

She set the sewing kit down on the table in front of Sinister and retook her place at Remy's side, taking his hand once more.

The doctor opened the kit and retrieved a needle and black thread. It was the closest to the gray of the velveteen he could get. Threading the needled expertly, he began to carefully and meticulously sew the head of the rabbit back onto its body. It was like sewing together a person after cutting them open. His professionalism didn't allow him to make mistakes and when he finally tied off and cut the final knot, a person would have been hard pressed to determine if the seam was new or original. He picked up the ribbon and re-tied it with an elegant bow.

Then he smiled fondly down at the tow, petting it as he spoke, "This belonged to Adam. You never met him, of course. But he was your brother. From my first and only marriage. Born long before you were."

Jean and Scott found each other's hands, shock on their faces as they looked at him. They had traveled through time and seen the birth of Sinister some time ago. If Essex was telling the truth, the toy was over a hundred years old.

The doctor chuckled, fingers arranging the ears so they would fall just so. He seemed to be speaking as if there were no one else in the room, "He died when he was four. Malformed spine and his body didn't produce enough blood. He tried to live, but his body just wouldn't support him. His heart gave out on him. Nothing we could do. Rebecca... my wife... she bought this for him when he was only two. She's dead now. Like your mother."

He looked up to see Remy's eyes dart away from him and his smiled widened before he set the rabbit down on the table and gave it a little pat once he got it sitting upright, "Mrs. Davidson suggested I give you something sentimental to me. I don't really have much left from that time in my life." He shrugged and stood, picking up his bag. "Well, I'll let you get back to whatever it is you need to do today."

Carla and the other agent followed his lead as he nodded to Charles and extended his hand, "It was a pleasure to meet you, Professor Xavier." The professor accepted the hand and gave it a brief shake before Ororo helped their guests to the door.

As Essex and the CPS agents got in the car, he gave them a broad smile, "I think that went well, don't you?"

Carla's heart broke for him all over again.

::: :::

"Well..." Rogue began, hands folding into her lap as she looked around the room. "That was disturbing and awkward."

Scott nodded and looked at Xavier, meeting his eyes, "I don't know what game Sinister is playing at, Professor, but he's really pulled out all the stops on this one."

The X-Men began standing and stretching, talking about the visit and Sinister's actions with the hair sample. They'd be calling Warren immediately to ensure the test wasn't tampered with.

None of them noticed Remy had slipped out until Ororo started to pick up the uneaten refreshments and found both her friend and the toy gone.

::: :::

When she next found him, night had fallen and he was sitting on the roof above his balcony. She spun in the air, ready to join him when her eyes fell on the object in his hands. It was the little rabbit and he was petting it slowly, gently.

She didn't approach, veered off and landed in her room. For the first time she began to question if Essex had been lying at all. And she began to wonder what that meant for the future. More importantly, what it meant for Remy.

::: :::

End Chapter