Chapter 7 - On The Record

"Chaperone," James grumbled.

Chance shook his head at James as they pulled up to Alyssa's place. He'd spent days texting back and forth with her while James had lost his memory, and somehow or another, that had ended up with a promise to do an interview about the whole… everything going on with his healing along with what little he could share about the team at large. "I'm pretty sure you can find your own way home," Chance said. "I'm not sticking around."

"Oh, definitely," James said. "I'm just … irked about the no-driving thing still."

"Hey, you were pretty out of it," Chance said. "Dr. Blue's just trying to be cautious, I'm sure. He mother-henned the heck out of me when I lost a couple years' memories."

"Yeah. A couple years. I lost one day," James said flatly. "And I still got the same time off as you did."

"Poor James. How boring to be surrounded by pretty girls taking care of you," he couldn't help but tease.

"I was not surrounded, you overly dramatic Summers."

"There was the girlfriend, the best friend, the girlfriend's sister… my wife, who is pretty even to a brother's standards, come on…"

"Your sisters too," James had to point out.

Chance paused for a second and then smirked. "Fair."

"Not like you didn't get the same treatment, though," James argued as they made their way up to the door.

"True," Chance said. "Let's try not to make it a habit, huh? Stop trying to copy me, little brother," he teased.

"Dude. No," James said, staring at him for a moment with a totally flat expression.

"I'm just saying, if you're going to take a dramatic hit to the head and lose all your memory, at least wait until mine's in the rearview mirror."

"The guy fired before I thought he was going to," James grumbled. "Thought it was just going to be a body shot."

Chance let his shoulders drop when he heard the genuine grumble and reached over to pull James into a quick side hug at the shoulders. "Still appreciate it," he said before he let go of James and rang the doorbell.

"It's open!" Alyssa called out.

With a shared glance, Chance and James made their way in to find Alyssa chatting with her sister by the equipment. "Hi, James," Kelly said with a smile. "Long time no see."

"Yeah, no kidding. I brought a punk with," James said before he shoved Chance at the shoulder.

Chance smirked his way and then waved at the girls. "I'm the punk."

"Yeah, we got that, actually," Kelly laughed before she got up to get out of the way so Alyssa could finish getting things set.

James gave Kelly a hug as she came over to greet the boys, then took a moment to find where they could simply stay out of the way. Ultimately, he ended up sitting by Kelly when she waved him over with a box of snack food in her hand and a whispered, "Be the silent peanut gallery with me.

"I'm not allowed to do anything else," James said, pulling a face. "Get a little bump on the head and the whole world freaks out."

"Yeah, don't do that to my sister again, huh?" Kelly said, flashing her pointed teeth, though he didn't think she was doing it fully consciously.

"It really, truly wasn't my intention," James promised, one hand over his heart.

"Better not have been," she said before she held out her box of Wheat Thins to him to share.

Of course, he turned her down but settled in all the same. "Does she usually have you do this?"

"Sometimes when it's just her, I'll man the equipment. Especially when she needs someone to do some after-editing so she can get some studying in."

He nodded. "And she wanted to try the double camera this time out, right?"

"Well, when you have millions of followers, you don't want to look like you're broadcasting from your parent's basement — as she tells it," Kelly said in a conspiratorial whisper.

James smirked at that. "Good to know."

Kelly returned the smirk and then propped her feet up as Alyssa gave them the signal that she was going to start recording, so they needed to stop talking. So rather than continuing the conversation, Kelly gave James an unmistakable 'proud sister' look that, again, he didn't think was a conscious thing either as she watched her sister get to work on her interview.

As usual, Alyssa started out with the softer stuff, beginning with how things were going with the team, how Chance was doing considering how much buzz was going on around him, how he was coping with being a healer. And as expected, Chance was careful not to give too much away.

Not that he wasn't giving Alyssa plenty to work with where he could. "I mean, yeah, it's different in ways you don't expect," he said as they got into the healing stuff. "It's not like there's anything that really prepares you for the little healing things like no tanning while your siblings are all getting the nice summer glow, you know?"

"Summers glow," James whispered to Kelly, who had to work very hard to hold back her laugh.

"But you're adjusting okay?" Alyssa asked.

Chance nodded. "It helps that I've got a wife who heals, if you want to know the truth of it. She's always been my hero, so knowing she's got my back and knows what it's like makes it easier."

"So it's not just a simple thing to slip into then," Alyssa said. "Have there been problems?"

"Well, yeah, it hurts," Chance said with a shrug. "I don't know, maybe that will help other mutants with healing powers or help people understand their friends with healing powers. But it does hurt when you do something like, you know, crash into the pavement or even stub your toe. Not like that goes away."

"It's kind of an odd mutation, though," Alyssa said. "There aren't too many people that have to cope with that. Or have you been seeing more healers?"

"We've seen a few with less powerful healing factors than you're probably thinking," Chance said. "I know a guy who never gets sick, but that's the extent of it. It's just the more aggressive healing that my in-laws have that gets people's attention."

She smiled at him and nodded her head. "Your team is pretty well-staffed then, aren't you? Is the team still open to hopefuls? We've had a lot of interest and questions coming in."

"Yeah, of course," Chance said. "Anyone who can make the grade. But it's a hard test," he added. "If you go to any of the schools, you can be on the teams there, try it on for size."

"So there's no other route in unless you're a graduate of one of the schools?"

"No, but that's the most simple. There's no shortcut to being an X-Man, but if you're trained properly, you can go in at any age to ask for help getting up to the X-Men's standards," he said. "But not everyone has to be on the Westchester team or the ones out of Chicago or LA or any team at all." He leaned forward. "You don't have to be an X-Man to make a difference. I mean, I grew up with a cop for an uncle. I'd much rather see mutants making the everyday difference — so that the world doesn't think mutants are only either dangerous Superior Rising people or X-Men or Avengers for that matter — than watch mutants throw themselves at danger thinking it's the only way they can help." Chance leaned forward with his hands resting on the table in front of them. "If you run into the X-Men, it's either because you live around one of the schools, or you've found yourself close to trouble. Nine times out of ten, that's just how it is. And it's really hard for people to see mutants as normal if that's their only exposure. On the other side of the coin, it's really hard for mutants to see humans as anything but a threat if they're not getting involved in the world, you know?"

James waved at Chance to catch his attention, then signed out "add mutates" to him.

Chance didn't nod much, but he did catch James' eye before he said, "And it's not like it's a pure dichotomy. There are Inhumans, mutates, and aliens. I'm on a team with a half-Kree kid. You want to do some good in the world? Get out of your comfort zone and connect with people who are different." He gestured at himself. "Or this kind of thing is going to keep happening. People with an axe to grind thinking they can do anything to anyone they think is less-than. Experimentation. Death. Whatever it is they're excusing."

"And you advocate the same thoughts to mutants and humans etcetera?" Alyssa asked, smiling widely. "Seeing as we've got a growing audience of non-mutants too."

"Hey, you're talking to a kid who grew up human in a house full of mutants. I know better than anyone how important it is to find a way to coexist," Chance said. "I mean, it's not always easy. I got teased mercilessly when I was a kid. Half the time I had James to back me up, which was nice, but even when it was just me, I just had to keep going." He shook his head. "When I let it get to me, I made dumb decisions like trying too hard to prove myself and needing a bailout from Elin or James or my sisters. You get caught up in it when you're young and it hurts, but you can't let it stop you, either."

"I'm sure that was something else — growing up with all your friends on hand and close by all the time," Alyssa said. "Would you say they're like family too? That seems to be the agreed-on thought."

"They're not just like family — they are my family," Chance said. "My mom helped put all of us through school. My father-in-law helped us learn how to defend ourselves and how to change the oil on a bike. Hawkeye taught us to shoot — and how to be a hero no matter what powers you have. Yeah, that was my childhood."

"So it's got to be that much harder when you see your teammates in trouble."

Chance nodded. "We're all pretty protective of each other," he said. "All of us." He let out a breath. "But I think if you asked anyone in this kind of job that question, they'd say the same thing. Military, police, firefighters. You get close even if you haven't grown up together. It's just that most of us did, so we're even tighter." He shrugged. "But I think that's pretty apparent to anyone who watches us work or listens to my dad or anyone else for that matter talk about the team."

"Do you have anything you'd like to tell our viewers?" Alyssa asked. "To keep them motivated to do better?"

Chance nodded. "Just don't give up," he said. "People are going to try to knock you down if you're doing good. I don't care if you're an X-Man or if you're an accountant. If you're doing good, people will try to knock you down, and you can't give up on it on their account. They're not worth it." He shook his head. "We need more genuinely good people. Not fighters, just… people like my mom. Good people. I'm pretty sure if more people were just nice to each other? We'd have a lot less angry people in the world."

She smiled at him a little wider. "Thank you for taking the time to talk. Our viewers appreciate getting the perspectives straight from the X-Men." She gave him a bright smile, then did her sign off — which got Kelly moving to take care of the equipment — and then she couldn't help but pop up on her feet and grab Chance's arm. "You're such a lifesaver. Seriously. Thank you."

Chance grinned at her. "Hey, no problem," he assured her. "You're a great interviewer."

"I just ignore the stupid questions that come in — or the ones that are too personal," she said. "Which is more than I can say for some people that are still interviewing."

"Well, there's always that group," Chance said. "I've heard it all, really."

"I'll be honest, I've been getting a lot of questions about you and the Howletts — and if they're still okay with you and Elin being together since your … you know. Mess."

"Of course they are," Chance said as if it was the clearest thing in the world. "My father-in-law was the one who helped me through it when it happened."

"Just another step in him trying to be one of us," James called out. "Still can't get the murder strut down, though. Bad form, brother."

"Yeah, Elin says I'm too sweet for the murder strut," he said. "I'll take it."

"Must be it," James replied loftily.

Chance shook his head at that before he thumbed over his shoulder for the door. "You can get him home, right? You know he's not allowed to be driving. Though if he's horrible, you absolutely can make him walk."

"It's not that far; I'll just run it," James said, shaking his head. "Your dad will love that."

"Pretty sure he'll tell the new kids that it's a rite of passage if he's feeling particularly annoyed with them," Chance teased as he shrugged on his coat.

"Thanks, Chance," Alyssa called out before she made her way over to where James and Kelly were still seated — and stole a quick kiss. "Are you editing already?" she asked, peeking over at Kelly's screen.

Kelly smirked as she moved to cover her screen. "I've been inspired," she said, flashing her sharp teeth with her smile.

"Uh-huh," Alyssa said, shaking her head at her sister before she pulled on James to go sit somewhere more comfortable. "Inspired or insane?"

"Yes," Kelly said simply, flashing her another smile before she went back to what she was doing.

"You should have Chance on more often," James said as she pulled him to where she wanted to sit. "He's a walking, talking soundbite. And I think he loves it."

"He had some good quotes," Alyssa agreed with a smile as they settled in — half wrapped up already. "But I like my regular guest better. For completely unprofessional reasons."

"Biased," he said, tutting at her. "That's probably not very helpful for your viewer counts."

"Maybe not, but I can't exactly help it," she said before she leaned over and stole a kiss.

"Didn't say I was complaining," James replied, smiling crookedly at her.

Alyssa grinned at that. "You better not be, because I'd hate to have to take back my birthday present for next week and get you, I don't know, a lump of coal. Early. For Christmas," she teased.

"Uh-huh," he said, nodding. "Just remember turnabout's fair play, birthday girl. Though you never told me what you wanted." He smiled at her again, pulling her closer for a more involved kiss. "Purely as a meter of expectation, mind you. I wanna know if I'm on the right track."

"Well, you're definitely on the right track for something," she teased, wrapping her arms around the back of his neck as she leaned in.

But that really just set the pace until the two of them were half tangled up and enjoying each other's company as they shared kisses and plotted for the string of birthdays.

And close by, Kelly caught the whole thing on camera, though obviously, once things went into personal details and plans, she edited it out. Still, it was the perfect little snippet to add on to the end of the broadcast — the two of them cozily wrapped up and teasing each other.

After all, the world deserved to see just how sweet they were. Not to mention this would help her sister to avoid dealing with stupid questions like whether or not Alyssa knew if James was single.

He was not. At all. So there.