"Thanks for subbing for me," Xi'an said, "That bitch hit me a lot harder than I thought."
Lorna smiled at her friend, deciding to believe that the bitch in question was Domino and not her sister. She switched on the coffee maker, checking to see if anyone was about to come into the break room. There were still a few members of the faculty who didn't know about the X-men, and she didn't want to tell the Professor that he needed to erase someone's memory because of her loose lips.
"No problem," Lorna said, "Next time leave some more lesson plans though. I don't speak any French, and some of the kids were laughing at my accent."
"I can give you a few lessons," said Xi'an cheerfully.
"I'm not sure that I'd be any good," Lorna said.
"Nonsense," Xi'an replied, "I learned how to speak English fluently. Learning English is much harder than learning French you know."
Xi'an's frank, mother tone always made Lorna want to laugh. Xi'an was only five years older than her, but apparently she'd been partially responsible for raising her siblings. It had given her a tone that most teachers would kill for.
"I'll take your word on it," said Lorna.
The coffee pot finished and she poured out two mugs. She added the right amount of cream and sugar before putting the mugs on the table. Lorna took a sip, basking in the moment. It was Friday afternoon, classes were done, and she wouldn't have to correct anyone's grammar until Monday.
The door opened and Lorna gave it a wary look. It was just Alex though, and she relaxed immediately. His eyes fell on her, but she saw them flick to Xi'an a second later. Lorna smiled and was about to invite him to sit with them when he abruptly turned to leave.
She stared at him, frowning.
"Alex?" she asked.
He paused at the door, lightly putting one hand on the frame. Lorna waited for an explanation. Maybe he'd just forgotten something. Instead she saw him hesitate, and then turn around and walk over.
There seemed to be something intense in his posture. She couldn't help but worry about what that could mean.
"Hey," he said, "Um, I was just, you know."
"Not really," Xi'an said.
He gave her what looked like an annoyed look before sitting down. Xi'an quirked an eyebrow and sipped her coffee. Lorna cleared her throat, wondering what to say next, and why Xi'an kept looking like she expected Alex to say something.
Thankfully, Xi'an sighed. She finished drinking her coffee and began speaking.
"Has Hank figured out how to miniaturize those defibrillators yet?" Xi'an asked.
"Yeah," said Alex, "He just wants to do some training before he lets us have it."
He turned to Lorna.
"We're going to be including small medical kits in our belts from now on," Alex said, "Hank can't be everywhere on the field, and if he gets injured...well, it just seems like too much of a blind spot not to do anything about it."
"Wow," she said, "Great thinking."
She reflected on what had passed for medical care at the Brotherhood during her time there. Most of the more advanced procedures consisted of a shot of whiskey and a steady hand to sew up the wound.
It made her shake her head inwardly, but it also gave her an idea.
"Could I sit in on those classes?" she asked.
Alex looked a little surprised. She was sure that Xi'an was surprised too.
"Just, might be a good idea for more people to know first aid around here, as well as some more advanced things," she said, "For the children, or if Hank ever goes away or gets sick, things like that."
She curled her fingers around her coffee cup.
"I can sub for most of you except Hank after all," she said.
"Yeah, of course," Alex said, "Makes sense."
Silence descended seeming thicker than it had before. What was going on? Alex drummed his fingers against the table top. Xi'an finished up the rest of her coffee, giving Alex a hard look. With a shrug she got up.
"Anyway," she said, "I need to come up with lesson plans for the next couple of days. I'm afraid I wasn't quite as industrious as I should have been when I was laid up."
She traced an invisible line on the table and put her coffee cup in the sink.
"You two have fun," she said.
Xi'an walked out of the room, leaving Lorna and Alex alone. Lorna sipped her coffee, feeling inexplicably nervous. Maybe it was the way that Alex kept looking at the table, almost like he was trying to see if any words had miraculously appeared on it.
Finally he looked up at her, exhaling.
"Now that classes are done for the day, for the week really, and it's getting late, I was wondering if you'd like to get something to eat," he said.
"Sure," Lorna said, "The cafeteria shouldn't start serving anything for another hour, but we both know that there are ways around that."
The words sounded stupid the moment she said that. Lorna wasn't stupid: she had a feeling that there was something else at foot here. He had waited for Xi'an to leave first before asking. Lorna just had absolutely no idea what to do next.
"I was thinking somewhere off-campus," Alex said, "Maybe later?"
Her mouth went dry. The invitation was slightly ambiguous, and Lorna had no wish for whatever was happening to be misunderstood. She tried to think of some clever reply which would force him into a plain answer, something witty that actresses said on TV.
In the end, she decided against it. Lorna had managed quite well without having to give trite little speeches. She doubted that it would help if she broke that tradition.
"Alex, is this a friendly dinner date, or is this something else?" she said.
Lorna was both surprised and pleased with just how calm her voice came out. Alex stared at her for a moment longer before exhaling.
"The latter," he said.
Relief flooded her. Lorna hoped that she hadn't sounded too stupid when she'd spoken, but Alex didn't seem shocked or uncomfortable because of her words: just waiting. In some ways it was much easier to deal with that now that she knew what it was that he was asking.
In other ways it was much, much worse. She swallowed a few times, her fingers clenched around her coffee mug. The words she had spoken to her mother still rang true, as did her reasons behind them. Not that Alex wasn't interested in her, he obviously was, but things were different.
In the ensuing pause, Alex continued to give her his frank look.
"So," he said, "Do you...do you want to?"
There were a few seconds when Lorna considered finding some excuse, putting him off in some vague way, but she revolted against the idea. Lorna wasn't a coward, and she hadn't come to Westchester to cut herself off from the world. So she took a slow breath.
"Sure," she said.
As the word left her lips a soft smile broke out across Alex's face. Although she didn't know what the night would hold, she had the feeling that she'd made the right choice.
Erik did not like the look on Quicksilver's face as they left Charles's office. He'd known that bringing him to the Institute could be problematic. Like him, Peter knew how to hold a grudge. However, he was unsure as to how strongly the young man at his side held onto past loyalties and friendships.
It was the only real reservation he had about Quicksilver. It was something of a flaw that he recognized in himself, but it wasn't necessarily something that was completely bad. Charles had proven himself a good ally in the past, in his own unique way. The world hadn't collapsed into disorder, the Sentinel program hadn't begun, and Erik could still wander free. It was a tenuous relationship, one that might very well be smashed now that the X-men had been resurrected.
Even so, he couldn't really see it as a bad thing. He knew, of course, that he still loved his little sister. There was a strong sense of betrayal there, probably growing every single minute that his sister didn't run back in tears asking for forgiveness. Erik knew that Lorna wasn't coming back though. There had been too much determination in her voice when she spoke for her to crawl back after a mere four years, if ever.
It had been a bitter disappointment. All of the Maximoffs had been a gift, of course they had been, and he wouldn't trade them. Quicksilver was a very lacksidasical creature, capable of strong loyalties and a fierce fighter, but a rather lacksidasical creature at heart and quick to anger. The Scarlet Witch had an even worse temper, and her power was unpredictable. They were still trying to figure out the best way to use it even after all these years.
He admitted, even if it was only to himself, that Lorna had been his favorite of the three. It wasn't just Lorna had been shaping up, in his opinion, better than either of her siblings. It helped that she also bore his power, but he'd known exactly how to shape her gift. He'd known what heights she could achieve with proper training, could only imagine her development with a guiding hand that refused to use pain.
Her charm would have been useful in future missions. They might have had to dye her hair for disguise purposes, but he'd envisioned a future where she would have been useful. He'd been careful not to play the siblings off each other, danger lay that way, but he was confident that the three would be a formidable force, with Lorna at the helm.
It was not to be though, and he'd focused his attention on other, more important things since then. Quicksilver was coming along nicely, as was his sister. They had been rebuilding their ranks. They were going to face some more opposition now, true enough, and this time it was going to come from someone he thought of as a worthy opponent.
He would deal with it though, just like he dealt with all things. He'd have to remind his followers that Westchester was still off limits, even in light of the recent information. Sentimentality might have no place in war, but there were children at the school. He wasn't some madman who was going to get them involved.
Erik turned the corner and heard footsteps coming down the hallway. He held out a hand to stop Quicksilver. Although he rolled his eyes, no doubt still seething over what had happened in the office, he stopped obediently. Together they stepped behind the corner, using it for cover. However, from his position, Erik could just about see when the person was going to pass.
The person in question turned out to be a woman in her mid-forties. Erik figured she was either a faculty member or a teacher, but she kept flipping through forms so he decided on faculty. She was looking down, her hair covering most of her face as she tried to flip through the papers.
Quicksilver sighed impatiently and looked away. Erik kept his eyes on her: he didn't want Charles to cry foul play later by accusing him of startling a staff member. The woman seemed to be her own worst enemy though, failing to keep the papers balanced and dropping them on the floor.
Next to him Quicksilver pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes. This was, quite simply said, annoying. Erik wanted to get out and begin coming up with some sort of response plan, not stay here and wait while this clumsy woman picked up after herself.
She stacked the papers neatly and looked up, sighing and brushing her hair away from her face. A bolt of recognition shot through Erik. No, it couldn't be. There was, perhaps, a passing resemblance, but he was sure that when he looked harder he was certain that he'd see something different.
But no. The more he looked, the stronger the resemblance became. He could see where age had hardened or softened her face, stress lines appearing in her cheeks and around her eyes. She seemed almost unbearably thin somehow, her fingers longer and bonier than they had been.
There was no mistaking it though: it was Magda. A thousand thoughts when through his mind as she walked into the office, closing the door behind her, each one angrier and more confused than the last. What on earth was she doing there?
Quicksilver sighed again next to him, snapping him back to reality. He glanced over at the young man next to him, his mind forming a plan.
"Quicksilver, there's something I need to discuss with Charles privately," he said, "Go ahead to the rendezvous spot. I'll meet you there."
"What?" asked Quicksilver, "This place has four people who tried to kill us a few nights ago-"
"Trust me, I can more than handle myself," Erik said, "It shouldn't take long. I'll see you soon."
Quicksilver sighed in frustration, but did as he was bid. His loyalty certainly had its uses. Erik doubled back, he wanted to make sure that Quicksilver really did think that Erik was seeing Charles, and then headed back to the hallway.
It was empty, which was a relief, but he could still see a light on in the room that Magda had gone into. He glanced quickly at the name plate on the door, and he felt another jolt go through him. Erik gritted his teeth and rapped quickly on the door, his mind spinning.
"Come in," Magda called, "Just a little busy in here-"
He opened the door and saw Magda leaning over her desk, busily pouring over the forms from the hallway.
"Sorry," she said, "I'm just all over the place…"
Her words died away as she looked up. Erik quietly closed the door behind him, jamming the lock with a quick twist of his fingers.
"You and I need to talk," he said, "Immediately."