Chapter 12
At seven a.m. Charles, Erik, Alex, Hank and Noah stand outside in their uniforms, ready to head out.
Sean is still busy scrubbing the windows and is only about half-way through.
Charles shields his eyes from the sun and looks up. "Eight a.m. is your deadline, Sean. Do make sure you've done the back of the house by then."
Sean groans. "Professor, that's way too little time. I can't get all of this done by then."
"You should have got up earlier, then."
"I couldn't! Jill was trapping me!"
Alex walks over to the little girl picking at blades of grass and picks her up by the waist before folding her over his arm like a sack of potatoes. "Is that true, madam? Were you giving Sean trouble?"
"No-no, she wasn't giving me any trouble or anything!" Sean calls down from up on the ladder. "She was just wrapped around me like a little snake."
"Alex! Come on, we're heading out!"
"Heading out?" Sean asks, "Where are you guys going?"
"New kid's got a little sister with a mutation stuck sharing a roof with nuns. That's gotta' be one of the most boring lifestyles I can think of."
"What? You guys are leaving without me?"
"Well, Raven's staying here, too. To keep an extra eye on the kid."
"But- ugh. Fine. Go have fun without me."
Alex beams up at him. "Will do, Torch."
"Banshee!"
"Yeah yeah. Carrot-top."
"Get your lemonhead out of here!"
Alex snickers and sets Jill down before getting into the car, shutting the door just as it drives off.
Sean glances down at Jill who'd returned to picking at blades of grass and studying them intently. "Just my luck, huh?"
She looks up at him and smiles.
It is Erik, this time, who returns with an armful of little black-haired girl with big blue eyes and cherubic cheeks. The moment Noah gets out of the car, he flocks around Erik like a worried mother hen, even though the child is obviously unhurt. When Erik humors him and places the little girl on her feet beside her brother, he immediately clasps her hand in his and pulls her along to the main room.
Raven, deciding she doesn't want to be outside right now, what with the fact that Sean still hasn't finished washing all of the windows, walks over to the duo seated next to each-other on the couch and takes in how very alike they are. The black hair and blue eyes are one thing, but they have the exact same nose and chin, as well.
She sits down on the girl's other side. "What's your name, sweet-pea?"
Long eyelashes flutter and big blue pools of light fixate on her current hazel ones. When the answer finally comes, it's hesitant, like a whisper, and Raven wonders if it's a result of living in the nunnery for so long.
Still. 'Abigail' seems to suit the child. Even though she obviously dislikes the name.
"But you can call me Abby. Or Gail."
"And what's your last name, Abby?"
"Barrows."
Raven shoots Noah a look. "Pretty close to Barrons. I have to say, you do know your stuff, kid."
He shrugs and wraps an arm around his kid sister. "Wanna' see my room, Gail?"
She grabs a hold of his arm and nods with a huge smile. "I'd really really like to."
"I'm sure we could figure out a way that we could share. Charles is really nice in that way."
Raven smirks. She doesn't know what her brother did to change Noah's mind about him, but it must've been big. Just a few days ago Noah was shouting at them all to 'cut the crap' and 'realize that this man's controlling your minds!'. So it's with a smile that she overhears him telling Abigail about how cool the man is and how nice he is for letting them all stay here, in his mansion.
"She must be hungry," she mutters to herself, getting up to fix the girl something. When she enters the kitchen, she finds Erik purposefully flipping pancakes with Alex watching him, drooling.
"Is that for Abby?" she asks, sitting down beside Alex.
"And the rest of the livestock," Erik replies, "Because Lord knows how much you kids eat." He shovels the pancake onto the stack that is steadily forming on their nice china, probably unaware of the fact that they never use those plates. Ever. The only reason Charles keeps the china is because it would be too hard for him to throw away any remnants of his mother.
Alex reaches out a hand toward the stack and Erik deftly smacks it away. "Little ones first."
The teen glares at him and rubs his hand, muttering, "Those damn kids have it all."
Raven chuckles and grabs a pancake off the stack for him, slapping it onto his face. "Here you go."
Alex, not in the least bit put-off by the fact that he has pancake all over his face, plucks it off and folds it two before sticking an end into his mouth. "Why does she get to have one and I don't?" he asks around his bite of sugary dough.
"I'm a lady," she replies, "And besides, what are you whining about, you're the one who got it in the end."
Erik waves a spatula in her direction. "And I will not be misled by you again. No more first serves for you, either."
She pouts. "Eeeeriiiik."
"Scheiße! Do I live with a bunch of toddlers?"
"Apparently," Raven deadpans, grinning.
Erik merely groans and continues flipping pancakes.
By the time Sean's done, he's sopping wet and smells of window-cleaner, and it's six o'clock in the afternoon. Erik tells him to wash up before dinner and the boy is eager to get out of his wet clothes and into a warm shower. The problem is that Jill isn't intent on letting him out of her sight.
"C'mere," he says, and little Jill is faced with a conundrum. Resolve to be stubborn and follow Seanie, or listen to this big, scary man?
In the end, it's fear versus fear and she decides that it's the most immediate fear that needs dealing with first. So she walks up to the man whose name is Erik Lensherr, and tries her best not to flinch when he puts a hand on her shoulder.
"You're too young to be stepping into showers with men," he says. She thinks it's a joke, because she can see the mirth dancing around in his eyes and the little grin that's pulling at his mouth. She doesn't know what to respond, though, and thankfully Charles decides to step in just at that moment and intervene.
"That's disgusting, Erik," he says, sitting down on the other end of the couch and leaning back comfortably, crossing one leg over the other.
"It's the truth," Erik replies, really smiling this time, and she smiles back at him because she thinks it would make him happy.
"See? She agrees!" he picks her up and places her on his lap, saying, "She might be the smartest one here!"
"I believe that spot is reserved by our mister McCoy downstairs, who, by the way, was the one who found a way to get little Abigail out of that nunnery."
"Ah, yes. Who would have thought he'd studied law? I didn't even know we had that many rights."
"You didn't know? You seem like the kind of person who would look that up right away."
"Why? Because I am intent on defending the rights of Mutants?"
"Well... yes."
"There is only one right that matters to me, Charles."
"And which one is that?"
"Don't do to another what you don't want to be done to yourself."
"I don't think that's a right."
"Well it should be."
"Very well then. Fancy a game of chess before supper?"
"Only if the little one is on my team."
Charles pouts (quite adorably if Erik is one to judge).
"How about we let her decide?"
"Fine. Jill, do you want to be on the winning team, with me, or the losing team, with Charles?"
The poor girl looks like she's about to wet her pants. She opens her mouth to reply, but no sound comes out. A little hand is raised instead to indicate the person she wants to play with, and Erik sees the way Charles is smiling warmly at her, fairly begging her with those damn persuasive eyes and long eyelashes, and those plump red lips with a ridiculous little bow and –
"Dinner's ready!"
"Saved by the bell, eh, dear?" Charles asks, giving her warm pat on the head before getting up. "If that boy isn't out of the shower yet he'll miss supper."
Erik smirks. "As if you could be that 'cruel' to him. We both know that you would fix him a plate and stick it in the oven to reheat if need be."
"I would do no such thing," Charles responds, but Erik knows better.
"Seanie's coming down for supper, right?" Jill asks, and both men look down at her at the same time. It's no secret that she only speaks to Sean, but perhaps they've found a way to get her to talk to them, namely, if it's about Sean.
"Have no fear, sweetheart, I'm sure Sean's stomach couldn't turn down food if he wanted to."
Erik picks the girl up and heads into the dining room with her. He sets her down on the chair next to Sean's and Raven scoots over a seat so Alex can sit on Sean's other side. He doesn't miss the way Abigail looks at the girl when she sees her in his arms, but he decides not to think too much of it, especially when she giggles gleefully from being poked in the side by her big brother.
"No elbows on the table," Noah reprimands, but his voice is soft and his tickling fingers soften the sting of chastisement.
"You're worse than mother superior," she chortles.
He makes a face. "Did you just compare me to an abbess?"
"Yep!"
Sean makes his entrance with a towel wrapped around his neck. "Sorry I'm late." He takes his seat and doesn't call her on it when Jill scoots closer to his side.
"Not a problem, Sean," Charles replies, "but since you crossed your deadline, I will have to find an alternative punishment for you."
"What?" the redhead squawks. "But I still did it! I just needed a bit more time-"
"-I wouldn't call eleven hours a bit more time."
"C'mon prof," Alex tries, "he obviously worked as fast as he could, what with the way that Jill was out there with him and all. He wouldn't want to make her sit outside with him all day. And if he really needed eleven hours to finish the job, I doubt getting up earlier would have helped, unless you wanted him to get started straight-away."
Raven, who's busy ladling some greenbeans onto her plate, doesn't miss the deathglare Erik sends Alex and quickly passes him the bowl, asking, "Greenbeans, Erik? They're very good, you know. Made them myself."
He takes the bowl without comment and without even looking at her, seemingly intent on slicing Alex open with his eyes.
"I think I can judge for myself when additional punishment is or isn't fair, Alex, but thank you for your consideration on the matter," Charles politely responds, succeeding in making the blonde slump back in his chair, red-faced.
Sean pops a cherry tomato into his mouth and looks down, chewing thoughtfully. When he's finished swallowing, he looks up at Charles and says, "Okay," ever-so-simply. The man seems to be pleased with the response, and smiles warmly at him before passing the fish to Raven.
Jill, who doesn't seem to agree with the fact that the young man she'd sat by the whole time would have to do even more work, takes pity on the other redhead and puts one of her cherry tomatoes on his plate. Sean looks over at her serious face and nearly bursts out laughing, but instead he pats her on the head and smiles kindly at her. "Thanks Jillybean."
Jill, believing that her work is done, attacks her greenbeans with glee. She hasn't seen so much fresh food in the same place in years! And nothing has ever tasted as nice as Raven's greenbeans, either! That gruel from the dark scary place couldn't compare at all to the meal in front of her!
She feels someone's eyes on her and looks up, catching Charles' sad gaze, and wonders what she did to make him upset with her. Was it the tomato?
/No, sweetheart. I'm not upset about the tomato./
Oh, right! He speaks mind!
/Well, I don't speak mind, exactly, but... Anyway, don't worry about it, little one. I was just a little sad that the men in the scary place didn't give you proper nutrition. I mean food./
Oh. Okay. But everything's better now.
He smiles at her and she sees his eyes genuinely clear up. /Yes, Jill. Everything's better now./
They continue their meal in silence, finding it more pleasing to listen to everyone else talk.
And everyone else has a lot to say.
A/N: Don't worry guys, Charles probs just has him reading a book or something. I didn't mean for it to be an actual punishment, more a reason for Charles to test Sean and see if he really respects him enough to listen to him, even when he feels that something's unfair. And I'm sure he coddled our little banshee as much as possible, no worries ;)