"And I don't know if I can handle it."
Professor Xavier looked thoughtfully at his former student. "Ariel, if you feel any reluctance about continuing with Logan, I understand. I know he can be…" he smiled a faint smile. "Difficult."
"No, I've dealt with difficult. I've dealt with difficult and dangerous and angry. I mean, come on, Charles! My specialty is adolescent mutant psychology, for pete's sake. Difficult and dangerous and angry is what I do."
He rolled his chair closer to where she stood. "Then what is it, Ariel?"
She closed her eyes, her hand on her forehead.
He's so vulnerable.
Yes. He's been in a fragile state since he got here. Probably long before that. I think he may be stronger than he appears, though.
But he trusts me now. He thinks I can make it all better… and Charles, I don't know that I can. I don't want him to be hurt any more than he already is. He could be in emotional agony for Lord knows how long if I get it wrong…
"Ariel," he said aloud, taking her hand. "I have great confidence in your abilities. Rest assured that I knew exactly what I was asking when I called you." She turned and looked at him, a little fearful. "I called in the best." She blinked a few times, the tears returning.
"Can I ask you a question, Professor?"
He smiled warmly at her, his blue eyes sparkling. "Of course."
"Why don't you work with him?"
Xavier sighed and gave her hand a squeeze. "I've tried. Frankly, Ariel, he needs a gentler touch than I'm capable of mentally. With your skills, you can get him to show his memories to you, so that he sees them himself. I can only go and root them out."
She dabbed the tissue in her other hand against her face and laughed. "Oh, so you call me in for the one you can't handle? Right."
He looked at her quite seriously. "Right."
A knock on the door was followed almost immediately by it opening. Familiar dark waves of hair peeked around the corner, hazel-green eyes peering nervously inside. "Oh. Ah. Hi, Professor."
"Logan." Xavier tried to reach for the controls of his chair, but Ariel was hanging on to his hand like it was a life preserver. She didn't turn to look at Logan, and didn't see him hold up his hand for the Professor to stay where he was.
"Prof, I'd like you to stay. I don't want her to be frightened of me… any more than she already is."
Charles raised his eyebrows, but nodded. Logan looked back to Ariel.
"Dr. Waters, can I talk to you?"
"Tomorrow, Logan. We have an appointment then." She managed to keep her voice from shaking, but she held the Professor's hand more tightly.
"Right. Can I just say one thing, then?"
She wiped her eyes, looked at Charles and took a deep breath.
If I start crying hysterically, tell him I sprained my ankle or something, okay?
His smile reflected back to her, and she pulled herself together, turning to face the door. "Yes, Logan? What is it?"
He looked nervously at her, at the Professor, and glanced at the wall he'd damaged. "I just wanted to say I'm sorry." He slipped through the doorway and walked slowly over to her, clearly afraid of frightening her. "Here." Pulling his other hand from behind his back, he held out a field bouquet of tiny blue flowers. "Maybe now that I know what to expect from myself during these sessions, I can be a little more… ah…" He rolled his eyes. "Gentlemanly."
She reached out and took them, their hands touching for a moment. She looked deeply into his troubled eyes. "Thank you." Inhaling the sweet musky fragrance of the flowers, she relaxed a little. "Where did you get these?"
"Ah, by the stream out back. Rogue showed me where they were."
"Rogue?"
"Yeah… I told her that I, well," he glanced back at the wall, "… needed some flowers fast." He looked vaguely embarrassed.
"Do you know what these are, Logan?"
"No. Are they bad?"
She shook her head as her self assurance slowly returned. Maybe she could make this work after all. He was more resilient than she thought. Sad, damaged… but not half as fragile as she had feared. "Not bad. Not bad at all." She walked over to the shelves near her desk, picked up a small alabaster vase and filled it with water from the cooler. Placing the flowers in it, she turned back to face him. "Actually, they're one of my favorite things. They're called 'forget-me-nots'."
Logan looked back toward the door, and shook his head. "That kid has a weird sense of humor."
Ariel put the vase carefully on her desk. "It's important to me that you know something."
He looked like he might bolt at any moment, but nodded. "Go ahead."
She walked up to him and put her hand on his cheek. "I'm not afraid of you." Her eyes were serious as she turned back to her desk and sat down.
"Ariel, I –" He stopped, shook his head. "You know I wouldn't blame you."
"I know. And that's why you know that I'm telling the truth."
He stared at her, then nodded slowly. Looking toward the Professor, his demeanor became more his usual. "I'll fix the wall, Prof. And, ah, the one outside, too."
The Professor's eyebrows raised slightly at that, but he smiled. "Thank you, Logan." Charles knew the maintenance people could do it, but the Wolverine was radiating repentance. It would do him good to 'make it better'. "I appreciate that."
"And, Doc-"
"We'll talk about things tomorrow. Don't forget our appointment." Her expression blossomed into a full smile, and she moved the flowers closer to her notebook before she opened it.
Relief seemed to flood the room when she smiled, and Logan ducked his head to both of them. "Okay. Good. See you tomorrow then." He smiled an almost boyish grin, and left as quickly as he came.
Oh, Charles. She looked at the tiny, fragrant flowers, touched them gently with her fingertips. Is it going to be this interesting the whole time?
I shouldn't be surprised. "You can't say I didn't warn you, Ariel." She laughed ruefully, holding her head in her hands.
"I most certainly can. Thank you for being here."
"Anytime." The Professor looked thoughtful as he headed for the door.
"Professor?" He turned to see her. "Professor… he really is stronger than I thought, isn't he."
"As I said, Ariel… I think there's more to him than we've imagined." The door opened for him and he rolled out into the hall. "And I have a strange feeling."
"Yes?"
"That it might be easier for you to think of him as a friend rather than a patient."
"I don't know, Charles. Ethics and all."
"Ariel. If there's ever been an unusual situation for ethics, this would be it."
"I suppose." She ran her fingers over her hair and looked uneasy. "Charles?"
"Yes."
"Am I…" She didn't finish, and the Professor smiled.
"I think you might be, my dear. Be careful."