Chapter 2: Breaking It Down
By: Rhapsody
Leaving the restaurant by 10pm, Grace declined a ride home from Professor Xavier. Space, she definitely needed space. The words, his words were manifesting with her dominant thoughts. The tale of possibly having a sister was hard to swallow, but looking into Charles's eyes made anything possible.
Grace was headed for the train station that was only a block away from the restaurant. She could very well have walked home, but for the time it took her to walk the 12 street blocks home she would have driven herself crazy with all the new information.
The boisterous sound of wheels along tracks signaled that she just missed her train, so she didn't have to rush to find her Metro-Card. If she was lucky, it still had enough for the ride home and wouldn't have to purchase another.
Waiting for the 1 train, Grace stepped as close to the edge as she could without falling on the track and suffering the third rail singe. Being she was on the uptown side of the track she looked down the direction the train would come from, the downtown side. All she could see is the light of the previous station and an occasional rodent.
"What am I suppose to do?" her patience was wearing thin and her mind was reeling.
The train came and was crowded with people who obviously got on at Time Square. Their 'Rent", "The Lion King', and 'Annie Got Your Gun' programs, the Gap and Toys 'R Us bags, the people with brown paper bags labeled Midtown Comics and the teens with the Barcode arcade cards were a dead give away. Leaning back against the doors, she held onto the metallic safety bar, not for safety but out of habit because it was there. Looking into the bar, she could see a construed version herself and she frowned.
"I have a family. How do I tell daddy? Did he know that I had a sister? What will this do to me?" she was so lost in that thought and almost missed the conductor say, "Next stop, 66th street." That was her stop, but knowing that didn't stop her internal arguing.
"You've got to be kidding me! Daddy had to know if they had other children before me. They were his friends. At least that's what he said. But I don't need this! But I've already given him, Charles, my decision."
The arguing carried her all the way to her apartment and she didn't notice until she reached for the key in the lock.
"Where the hell have you been?" She was greeting by her wannabe sadist of a boyfriend. "You should have been back hours ago."
"Please, just leave me alone. I'm tired and want to go to bed."
"I guess she don't want to play tonight." If it was more than an act between them he would have been fuming at her impertinence and refusal to answer him to his liking.
***
When Charles exited the Restaurant, there was a car already waiting for him. He offered Grace a ride but she kindly refused. There was so much that he saw in her that reminded him of Ororo, but there were some major differences.
He sat in the bad of the Lincoln in his usual pensive scowl. Every now and then during dinner, he caught a stray thought from Grace. "Such pain and confusion. Perhaps this will heal them both," he thought.
He had known Ororo since she was a child-thief and from the conversation he had with her, he always felt an empty part of her grasping from something that she knew would never be. She would never have her childhood back the way it was. Her parents were lost to her and with them ended the connection of any possible family relations, short if her having her own family.
She had tried to connect with Forge in that way, but it ended badly. Their off and on relationship made the edges of her loneliness jagged and it almost seemed irreparable. Unknown to her there has always been someone in the shadows watching, her protector in a sense.
***
Back at the mansion…
"Hey 'Ro. What's doin' darlin'?
"Nothing, just thinking."
"Thinkin'? Ain't that dangerous in front of the large screen TV that you don't have a habit of watching?" He reclined in the leather easy-boy seat he staked a claim on.
"I do watch television occasionally."
"Yeah, the news maybe. But that's it. What? Ya felt ya needed a 'Lifetime' movie moment?"
An honest melodious laughter came from deep in her chest. It was good to his ears and soul to hear her laugh.
"What'cha thinkin' 'bout?" he sad as he popped the top to his Canadian brew
"Charles, actually."
"Yeah, Chucks been a little hush, hush lately. But I don't think it's anything ta be worried 'bout."
"I suppose, but I just feel a little uneasy about it. I do hope that it is not serious, whatever it is."
***
"How do I break this to Ororo?"
Tbc…
A/N: so, do ya like it or what? I really want to know what everyone thinks. It is important to me. If you want to flame me, bring it on! Just be constructive about it. What would you like to see? I'm open for suggestions.