"I get to drive with you!" Doug sang.
Moira shook her head as she got into the car. She knew it had been a bad idea to agree to his request. Doug immediately crawled into the passenger's seat and buckled in. His head barely came up any higher than the dashboard since he was small for his age. She had wanted him in the back seat, but perhaps it was better this way. At least she'd be able to keep an eye on him.
"This isn't a huge expedition. I'm just going down to the store," she said, buckling herself in.
"Yeah, but I heard you're gettin' stuff for the Professor's birthday," he said, "Surprise party! I love those!"
So Doug had gotten wind of it, had he? Their idea of a surprise party was just a token of appreciation for the man who had changed their lives. Sean had come up with the idea and roped the rest of them in. Alex had made them swear to secrecy even though he couldn't keep a secret to save his life, proved by the incident in the Danger Room. In fact she was willing to bet that it was Alex who had leaked it.
"How did you hear about that?" asked Moira, turning the keys in the ignition.
"Hank's computer told me," Doug replied, "It likes me."
She frowned and pulled out of the driveway. They had saved a list of items and ideas on Hank's computer. It had been printed out; she had it with her so that she could use it as a shopping list in the town. Hank had been helpful during the whole event, but she hadn't thought he'd just leave his computer open on that.
"You mean you read it on his computer?" Moira asked.
"No, I talked to it and it told me," he said.
She paused.
"You can talk to computers?" she asked.
"T.V.'s too," he said, "I'm working on phones but so far nothing."
Moira filed that away. It was something to mention to Charles.
"Anyway," Moira said, "It's going to be a quiet event, just the staff, Alex, Hank, Sean-"
"And you because you're in love," interrupted Doug.
She nearly slammed her foot on the brake. Luckily she was able to avoid doing it.
"Doug!" she exclaimed.
"It's true!" he protested, "You're going to get married, aren't you?"
"I-"
"And then I can come to that and eat cake," continued Dough, "And then you need to hurry up and have kids so I can play with 'em before I get old enough to have my own."
If she didn't have to keep her eyes on the road then she would have stared at him.
"You…really have this planned out," she said.
"Yup," said Dough cheerfully, "You should too. I mean, you're nearly thirty. That's really old."
"Thank you so very much," Moira said dryly.
"But you should definitely marry the Professor," said Doug, "Be Mrs. Professor. Sounds better than Ms. MacTaggart by far."
"I'll keep that in mind," she said.
She shook her head. Was it that obvious that the two of them were together? Did they look like they were prepared to get married?They weren't sneaking around, but it would have looked unprofessional for the students to run into two staff members making out. It was embarrassing enough with Alex. At least he had only told Hank and Sean. Oh, and one of them may have told Doug. Again, probably Alex.
Mrs. Professor indeed. As uncomfortable as it made her to talk about her relationship to a ten year old she did have to wonder. Would it be so bad if that was what ended up happening? She would stay with Charles and the school for the rest of her life. It certainly wasn't what she'd envisioned when she was little, but the CIA was out of bounds for her now. The more she thought about it the more she saw that perhaps it was a desirable outcome, if not one that was far in the future.
"I think you should have balloons," Doug said, "A party without balloons is no fun."
"Sure thing," she said, redirecting her attention to Doug, "Balloons are very festive."
"Good," Doug said, "Do you know how balloons are made? I do. They take some rubber and then they-"
Whatever he had been planning on saying was cut short by a man appearing in the middle of the road. Moira slammed on the breaks, putting them into a tail spin, but the man had disappeared. Seconds later something stopped the car's progression with a jolt. Her head jerked forward and then slammed into her seat. Next to her she heard Doug whimper.
In the review mirror she saw someone in red. She tried to focus on him just as the doors to the car forced themselves open. The buckles gave way on their seatbelts and Doug grabbed onto her arm in fear. All of the metal in her clothing started to vibrate. When she felt herself get pulled out of the car Doug was with her, gripping all the tighter. As the pavement of the road came nearer she encircled Doug with her arms so he wouldn't be hit upon impact.
The impact never came. Instead they were set gently down but Doug just grabbed the front of her shirt. She started to make comforting sounds as Doug began to cry. Footsteps approached them and she looked up. Her eyes finally focused. Moira swallowed, her grip on Doug not loosening.
"Hello Erik," she said, keeping her voice calm.
Azazel appeared next to him, looking at her with disgust.
"I prefer Magneto," Erik said, "And who is the boy?"
Something in her mind flicked about Erik not wanting to harm other mutants. At least Doug would be safe if she could communicate his X gene to Erik.
"Doug. He's a student at Charles' school," she said.
"Oh? He takes such young students," said Erik, kneeling down.
His tone was conversational, almost friendly. Moira knew that this wasn't a social visit though. If that was how he wanted to play this, then she could go along with it. It might give her time to think of something, although she couldn't imagine what. She had no weapons with her and the school was some distance away.
She bit her lip. Charles. Moira wished that she hadn't allowed him to tip-toe around her mind for so long. Then he might be able to feel her fear. Yet, he had tried to be extremely careful around her once she returned. He hadn't even touched her mind once since she came back.
There was nothing she could do about that now though. She had to keep concentrated on the situation at hand. And right now Erik was smiling at Doug.
"What's you power?"
Doug peered out and glared at Erik.
"Go…go away," he said.
"Do they teach any manners at your school?" he asked, "Because if they had then you would know better than to use that sort of tone with adults."
"Erik, please don-" she started.
The metal in her watch tightened. She winced in pain.
"You can speak when spoken to," Erik said, "But Doug, you shouldn't look to people like her for comfort like she's a teddy bear. And you shouldn't fear people like me. We're the same."
Doug shook his head. His fear was practically palpable. She tried to manuever Doug so that she was all but shielding him from the man in front of her.
"Erik, what do you want?" Moira asked.
Her watch tightened again and she had to grit her teeth.
"A good question, if not out of turn," he said, "And I did specify Magneto. But we need to ask you a few questions. You're going to need to come with Azazel and I."
Azazel gave her an unpleasant, toothy grin.
"If you come quietly then you won't be harmed," continued Erik.
"Well that epends on what questions you ask," she said.
He shook his head.
"Moira, Moira," he said, "You don't seem to understand your position. We are alone on this road. For all anyone at the school knows you'll be out several hours. So I suggest you make the choice to come with us in the spirit of cooperation that Charles is so fond of."
"Or?" she asked.
Erik directed his gaze down at Doug.
"He seems rather fond of you. It's adorable," he said, "But all children lose their teddy bears at one point or another. Or the teddy bear could lose the child. Either way."
She felt ice in her veins. Apparently she had been wrong about the X gene.
"Don't you take her anywhere!" Doug snapped, tears still on his face and still clinging tightly to her.
"Shhh," Moira said.
He hadn't realized that he was included in that threat. She resisted the urge to try to let him understand how dire his situation was and instead concentrated on keeping him calm.
"Adorable," said Erik, "But then again, no one has to lose anything. You could allow him to keep his bear if you think that's best. Now, do you want to keep him with you or have him sent back to the school?"
"You wouldn't take him," Moira said, keeping her voice calm, "He's just a child."
"Children tend to get caught in the crossfire a great deal," he answered, "But we wouldn't harm him. We don't harm our own kind. We'd simply…bring him along."
And feed him your propaganda? she thought, Lock him up somewhere? What would you do once you'd 'brought him along' Erik?
"I think he should go back to the school," Moira said.
"I don't!" protested Doug.
She tilted her head down so she was whispering in his ear. It was in Mandarin, a language that by the look on Erik's face he didn't understand.
"You don't want to go with me right now," she said, "These are bad people, but I'll be fine. You need to get back to the school and tell them what happened. Tell them that Erik came and took Moira. They'll understand. Can you do that?"
He nodded and detached himself from her.
"What were you telling him?" asked Erik.
"Just to go back to the school," she said, "He likes that language. Says it's calming."
"Cute," said Erik, "Azazel, take him home."
Azazel grabbed Doug by the shoulder and disappeared. He reappeared seconds later but Doug was nowhere to be seen. Azazel held his hand out to her. Erik smiled.
"Now Moira, come along."
Swallowing bile she got up and took Azazel's proffered hand. There was a flash of black and the road stood empty.