The Kid's Table

By Mice

Chapter 7: Hartford, Hereford, Hampshire

-Hyperion Hotel, October 4th-

"Nan, why am I here?"

"Because you're a gifted empath, Harpo, and I need you here."

"Then why am I here?"

"You, too, are an empath, Jacqueline. I need both you and your father here."

"Then why am I here?"

"Me too."

"Me three."

"Dr. McCoy, I'm going to need your help. Mr. Summers, I would like you to look over us all as we go under. And Mr...?"

"Worthington. Warren Worthington, III."

Nan sighed. "You're here because you have no where else to go."

"Oh." Warren sat himself on a couch near Annie. "Well, I'll keep Scott company."

"We'll begin once Bobby gets here. Jacqueline, bring Bert over here..." Nan motioned to her great-grandson and anointed his head with oil.

"Should I find Bobby...?" Hank offered.

"I can do it." Drake'son closed his good eye and concentrated for a few seconds before the door opened.

"Who knew about that!" Bobby accused the room. "Who knew about that particular sick, dark thought?! I never told Scott that, I never told Hank that, and I would never in a million years trust Warren with that particular thought that I was just jammed into my head!"

"Hello," Drake'son waved.

Bobby looked at Drake'son. He had an eye patch. Physical scars. A chip in his tooth. His eyes went down to his boots and found a carving of a very hungry wolf. "Of course. Alternate dimension me would know about that!" Bobby went to touch Drake'son's forehead when Nan grabbed him.

Anointing his head with an oil, she lectured him. "Careful, Robert...you're not used to your empathic skills."

"But, Nan! He's alternate dimension me! I must find out what we have in common! What we don't! What we -"

Drake'son closed his eyes again and projected a new image into Bobby's head.

"Fine, we'll get to it later." Bobby looked to where Annie was laying, unconscious. "How is she doing?"

"Nothing's happened yet," Nan explained, anointing Drake'son's head. "I put her under a psionic sleep in preparation. Dr. McCoy?"

Hank got up and walked over to Nan who anointed his head.

"You four are going to save her."

"Me, the Bobby's and -"

"Bert."

Hank stared down, remembering the silent boy who once stared at him with great admiration as even though years had passed, none of Bert's cuteness waned nor did his admiration of big, blue and furry things.

"Big Blue!" Bert exclaimed as he pumped his fist.

Bobby looked at Bert and then back at Holland. "And you are cool with this?"

Holland shrugged. "Bobby, you try telling him why entering the mind of a woman with the psionic spirit of her mother trapped there with your cousin, your cousin's doppelganger, and a giant blue fuzzy man that he would not SHUT UP about for a month after meeting is a bad idea and if he doesn't cry or get his heart broken, then you can keep him because you are obviously a better parental figure."

Bobby looked to Bert. Still not a talkative kid, but one who gave good bitch face and gave it now, sensing his family member wanting to get in the way of his adventures.

"Adventures, Bobby."

Bobby nodded. This was good logic. "I will not take away your adventures, Bert."

"All right, if that's settled..." Nan arranged Jacob, Holland and Harpo around Annie. "We are going to stand guard and provide a bridge from here to Annie. Once you are in her mind, you may not have the same form. This will reflect on her relationship with you. I'm trusting Drake'son and Bert to provide extra telepathic assistance in case anything happens."

"It's Annie, guys," Bobby smiled. "She's not Jean. And that's a good thing. This should be easy."

Drake'son shook his head. "I've done this before. While I understand that there are some differences between this world and my own, but I don't doubt that she may still have the same fears."

Bobby nodded. "Worms."

"Abandonment," Drake'son corrected.

"Insecurity," Hank added.

"Worms are definitely there, though." Bobby looked at her. "I carried her across a sidewalk in the rain once because they were covered in them and she couldn't cross it. BOOM. Intimate boyfriend trivia. Okay, who is ready to do this! YEAH!"

Hank went over to Drake'son. "Where was he when you summoned him?"

"Drinking Rockstars with Johnny Storm."

"Oh, Saints preserve us..." Hank shook his head. "Wait, shouldn't Sean be here?"

"I sent him on a separate errand." Nan took Jacob and Harpo's hands. "Besides, it's bad luck to see the bride before the wedding."

-Elsewhere in New York, Present-

"No point of screaming, darlin'. I can scream louder than ye. Don't make me brag."

The older woman in the corner of the room reached for a vase or anything to fend off her Irish attacker.

Sean grabbed her arm and punched her in the head. It would make her sleep. "Yer gonna be sore in the head, but ye ain't gonna be in there for much longer anyway..." He collected her body and left out of the apartment window to return to the hotel.

-Hyperion Hotel, October 4th-

"Scott, I need to talk to you."

Scott checked on Annie, who was unconscious and safe. The empaths were maintaining a connection and Hank, Bobby, Drake'son and Bert sat eyes open at the table, hopefully entering Annie's mind to find and retrieve her mother.

"Shoot, Warren."

"She's in love with me, right?"

"Who is?"

"...Annie!"

"Annie?"

Warren shook his head. "It sounds weird, but it makes sense. She shows up on my doorstep with Hank and Bobby on Christmas. She's been to the opera with me -"

"And with Hank, and with Bobby. And why wasn't I invited to that?"

"I've flown her wherever she needs -"

"I really like opera."

"She flew in a order of In-n-Out from Los Angeles when she returned with Drake'son. And she asked me to accompany her back to her home to talk with her family." Warren sighed. "She is in love with me and I'm going to have to break two of my best friends' hearts."

Scott remained silent.

"Well?"

"Well, what?"

"I have to hurt two of my best friends!"

"Because you think she loves you?"

"No, because she is in love me."

Scott shook his head. "No, Warren. You love you. And you are jealous of the attention she pays to Hank and Bobby."

"I am not."

"You went to Wyoming with her without question."

"...I like adventure and the west. Homes in New Mexico and Colorado for several years, remember?"

"You're jealous that you're not in a love triangle."

"Well, aren't you?" Warren raised an eyebrow.

Scott laughed. "No!"

"Why? Wasn't it fun, Scott? You and I fighting over Jean?"

"We fought over her?"

"I wooed her. And you...what did you do?"

"I saved her," Scott said simply. "And then she saved me."

"I saved Annie!"

"Actually, Hank saved her. You were just there."

Warren's face fell. "But -"

"No, Warren. She doesn't love you."

Warren heaved a deep sigh. "You wound me, Scott."

"If I wanted to wound you, Warren, I'd remind you that Jean chose me."

"Then let me ask you this, Slim," Warren baited. "Why are you so interested in her?"

"She's an orphan." Scott went to her side brushed her hair back. "She's family."

-Santa Monica, CA - June 1st-

"I can't wait to get back to New York." Annie said as she opened up another invitation to a Matt Murdoch party, one where the RSVP would be No. "How much more do we have to pack up?"

"Not much, but it might go a wee bit faster if you were helpin' me." Sean dropped another box into the living room. "How did ye get so much stuff?"

Annie smiled. "You know, maybe I don't need it. I do have the memory thing going for me..."

Sean opened a box labeled "ANNIE" and began to look at the items. "This clock doesn't even work...neither does this one...do you have a collection of non-working clocks, woman?"

"Sort of...I find working on clocks relaxing." Annie smiled. She had been expanding her programming and mechanic background to include learning about watch making. She started out with clocks. She was halfway through with a watch she made herself for Sean as a gift for their wedding.

"Can we just throw it away? It doesn't work."

"Let me look at them, and maybe -"

"What is there to look at, Annie? They're broken clocks!"

"One of them has a tungsten component that I'm going to need later, I just need to see it -"

"Describe it to me and I'll get it for you."

"Sean, just let me look! It's not a big deal!" Annie tried to grab the box back from Sean who instead threw it up against the wall, smashing the box and scattering the pieces. Annie winced at the sound and began to pick it up. "Sean, you didn't need to do that...do you need some time to cool off or -"

"And ye wanted t'be an X-Man? They don't get time to "cool off". And they don't carry junk wherever they go."

"I know, Sean. I was just -"

"Just shut up and accept it."

Annie knew this argument. She could insist she didn't do anything wrong. She could try to get him to calm down by going for a walk. She could leave and never come back.

Annie had a lot of choices.

"I'm sorry, Sean. You're right." Hopefully that would end the -

"Just shut up and accept it."

Annie nodded.

"Yer just glazing over." Sean stalked towards her.

"I'm not...I promise, Sean..." Annie felt her body tensing. This was going to be a bad day.

Sean breathed in and out, not in meditation but in anger.

"I promise..." Suddenly, nothing seemed better than the idea of another Matt Murdoch party.

Sean put both of his arms on either side of her, trapping her against the wall.

"Please?"

She felt so small.

"Stop crying."

"I'm sorry, I didn't realize -"

His fist slammed against the wall. "Stop it!" Sean's face was in hers. Annie wished she could phase into the wall like Kitty. She closed her eyes tightly as she could feel his breath close.

"Can...can I have a few minutes?"

He went to her ear and shouted, "No!"

"I need a few minutes to just-"

"Get it together NOW."

"Please, Sean -"

"Ye wanted to be an X-Man, Annie. You want to parade around and be a super-hero? You think they get a few minutes to get composure?"

"I know, I know - but I'm not an X-Man..."

Sean leaned in close and whispered, "Saints preserve us all." Sean left the apartment.

And it today wasn't as bad as yesterday was...Monday was a good day, though. She hoped there would be more days like Monday and that Sean would get better with time.

She slid down to the floor, still crying, tears burning across her face. She was leaving her apartment near the beach to move back to New York City. She was going to be married in four months. She was no longer a kid but an adult.

And nothing felt like a choice.