A New Hope
Chapter Four
By: Lily Handle
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Author's Note: More rewrite, and this is actually has mostly brand new scenes! Every scene, but one is completely original and does not have a scene in the old version like it. Nifty huh? Well, that's the purpose of a rewrite isn't it? Please read and review.
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"I just can't believe it," Dr. Dominguez said, shaking his head sadly, "You decided to work two weeks more, even though you could have started the leisurely life of a school nurse all ready, what is wrong with you?"
"It's called, giving time for my replacement to get here," Hope replied, sliding her chart into the discharge slot, "And I'm still living the leisurely life, I'm a Chandler."
"So, how much time do you have left with us?" Lola asked, sidling up to Hope and elbowing her in the side, "I mean we have to have a going away party you know."
"Please guys, don't," Hope sighed, "The last party you threw for a doctor you got them one of those cakes in the shape of a pair of breasts."
"Only because Dr. Franklin was becoming a plastic surgeon," Dr. Kincaid pointed out. Dr. Lucy Kincaid was close to Hope's age, and use to be her medical student, before Lucy graduated. Now they worked together on the trauma team.
"And what kind of cake do you get for me?"
"Uh…ex…excuse me," Everyone behind the desk looked towards the person who had interrupted their friendly banter. The boy was short, looking over the counter top suspiciously and he had a very large black eye.
"Can I help you?" Hope asked, there was something familiar about the boy. The brown hair with a lightly green tint, the pale skin and the smell were very hard to forget, but Hope couldn't come up with a name.
"Yeah, uh, I'm lookin' for, uh, Dr. Chandler," The boy said, eyes darting around nervously. Obviously he's uncomfortable in hospitals, Hope thought, instantly putting on a friendly smile.
"Well, you've found her. Let me step around the counter here and we'll see what I can do for you," Hope said pleasantly. When she came around the counter she tried to keep the boy's eyes focused on her, but they just kept jumping around, like he expected someone to jump out at him, "So, what can I do for you, Mr.…"
"Todd Tolensky," the boy said quickly, "Uh, you uh were my doctor once, I was wondering if uh you could uh look at my eye."
"Sure thing, Mr. Tolensky, let's go find a bed for you." Hope gently laid her hand on Todd's shoulder and steered him towards a bed. Todd didn't walk, Hope realized, he hopped. He hopped to a bed, then sat there, shifting nervously. "Hey, Berry," Hope called as the nurse went by, "Can you get me Mr. Tolensky's medical records and a new chart?"
"I…I just wanted to make sure uh the eye's not broken you know?" Todd said, looking around, like he was expecting someone to jump out and attack him.
"What happened?" Hope asked while pulling on a pair of rubber gloves.
"Nothin', just a stupid fight."
"Uh huh, I guess I don't have to tell you fighting is wrong, correct?" Hope said, carefully pressing around the blackened eye to see if she could feel a break. Todd just shrugged and flinched away from her fingers, "Sorry about that. Any double vision?"
"Hey, Dr. Chandler, heard you were leaving us," A passing nurse called, "Hope you got a good job!"
"That's a very bad joke!" Hope called back, shaking her head, "So, any double vision?"
"No."
"Good, how about head aches?"
"No."
"Dr. Chandler the guy in room three is crashing!"
"Got to go, be back in a second," Hope patted Todd's hand before running towards her patient in treatment room three. She arrived just in time to save the patient; luckily it was just a minor heart attack and easily treated. Hope arranged for a cardiac specialist to see the patient. She didn't expect the specialist to show up for at least an hour or so because cardiac specialist didn't think the emergency room was worth their time. Hope sighed easily as she walked back towards the bed where she had left Todd Tolensky only the bed was empty.
"Hey, Lola, what happened to my patient?" Hope called, staring down at the empty bed.
"Uh, the little creepy frog-like guy? He left, just hopped out," Lola answered.
"He may have had a potentially serious injury," Hope frowned, "You let him leave?"
"Doc, I hate to tell you this, but he had a black eye, nothing more," Lola rolled her eyes, "Relax." But Hope frowned down at the bed a little while longer, she didn't like that he had just left. He said he'd gotten in a fight, could he have been abused? Hope wondered, that would explain his nervousness.
"Dr. Chandler, there are other patients to see," Dr. Dominguez called in a sing song voice as he walked past.
"There always are patients," Hope muttered, but she turned away from the empty bed and grabbed a chart.
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Toad hopped into the Brotherhood house with a triumphant, "Ha! Double O Toad has returned."
"Yeah, great, what did you find out?" Pietro asked, zipping into the front hall.
"It's true, she'd leavin' the hospital," Toad hopped into the living room and jumped onto the couch, "Don't know why you had to have Blob hit me to find it out. They weren't talkin' about it like it was some big secret."
"You'd look suspicious just hopping in without being injured," Lance said, he was sitting in an armchair, idly rubbing his head with one hand, "Why does Mystique care about some stupid doctor anyway?"
"She's going to work at the Institute," Mystique said, gliding into the room with a disdainful look around, "That's all you need to know."
"Yeah, but, there's somethin' more to it right?" Toad asked, practically hopping in place, "I mean for me to you know go check it out."
"No," Mystique growled, "But I want you all to pay attention to what the X-men say about her."
"Oh come on, that mean's somethin's goin' on, right?" Toad asked again and Lance sent a fissure out, sending the couch into the basement. Those still in the room heard a muttered ouch coming up from the basement, but they ignored it.
"Just have an ear out, understand?"
"Yeah, sure thing Mystique," Pietro said, smiling.
Lance kept silent until Mystique left the room, then looked towards Pietro, "What do you know, Pietro?"
"Nothing," but Pietro was still smiling, which made Lance frown even more.
Blob walked in and looked around, "Where's the couch?"
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They threw a going away party anyway with a cake in the shape of a dollar sign. Apparently everyone had voted it was the cake shape that made the most sense, but Hope just didn't get it. She'd told the whole staff, multiple times that she'd refused to be paid. She couldn't tell them that her paycheck was instead going to be part of her research grant, actually she'd worked everything out with Charles over her last two weeks working at Charity. No pay, just grants when she needed the money for research. It had taken some convincing, but Hope had simply explained the only money she really wanted from Charles was the grant. Her own bank account was large enough to support her for a very long time. Hope was nervous though, she'd been moving her stuff to the Institute over the two weeks and it didn't look like the students liked her very much. They clearly regarded her as an outsider, of course they were a little more personable than Logan. Hope got a slight headache just thinking about the brooding instructor who seemed to tail her every move in the Institute. Like I'm going to break my contract, Hope thought, by telling the world about the school. It was an incredible place, actually, one that she would have to mention to Michael. A school to train mutants to use their powers. Just incredible.
"Hope, you're not smiling," Dr. Dominguez said, sidling up to her, "And you should be happy to get out of this mad house."
"I am, you people were driving me nuts," Hope sighed.
"No, honey, you did that all on your own," Berry said in passing and Hope did the mature thing and stuck her tongue out. But Dr. Dominguez was right, she shouldn't be worrying about her job at the Institute, at least not yet. So she mingled, like she used to do when she was still living at home. She relived harrowing cases, weird cases and sad cases. She actually found herself blinking back tears when the staff presenter her with her locker tag.
"Oh boy," Hope sighed, "I bet you all want a speech or something."
"Please, spare us!" Dr. Dominguez called.
"Then I will, I'm going to a better place now. With a nicer boss, a smaller workload and a safer place. Ha." She smiled at the laughter, "I promise I'll visit, I'll miss you all and good-bye." But it wasn't really, Hope had to wade through the crowd for hugs, more promises to visit soon and arranging lunch dates. By the time she was able to reach the elevator Hope was strangely content with everything. She stepped into the elevator when it opened, punched the button for the garage level and leaned back against the wall. Tonight she had one last check to do on her apartment, then she'd drive over to the Institute and spend her first official night there. She'd have to wait to start her research though, she needed the students to trust her first. The mutants she had talked to before had mostly be reluctant to talk about their mutation, her brother was the same way, but after a few talks or bribes they had all opened up to her. Some even let her draw blood and run some test. She wanted answers for her brother, she wanted him to live an easier life if anyone ever found out about his X-gene. Hope sighed loudly, stepping off the elevator into the garage. Her SUV waited in the parking spot she'd been given along with her residency. Oh boy, she was tearing up again.
Hope walked over to the driver side and looked around the garage, "Good-bye," She whispered before getting in and driving off.
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There was one box in the trunk of Hope's SUV of stuff she had accidentally left in her apartment that she had picked up on her last look through. She was now sitting in her SUV outside the gates of the Institute, playing with her key card to open the gate. It wasn't working, which was unusual. Normally she slid the card in, the gates opened and she'd go the garage. Tonight though, the machine kept spitting out her card. Hope drummed her fingers on the door, contemplating Murphy's Law when some static burst through the speaker.
"You got a problem, Doc?" It was Logan's voice through the static.
"Key card isn't working," Hope said, leaning a little out of the window, "Can you open the gate for me?"
"Right." Curt and terse as always, Hope thought as the gate began to swing open. She still wasn't use to the sight of the Institute, the grounds were impressively manicured, the fountain was lovely in the early evening and the school. What a beautiful building, classic lines, and an understated elegance. Hope had grown up in a plantation house, a pre-Civil war house but the Institute's architecture was completely different and she still felt oddly at home there. Hope was surprised to see Logan standing outside the garage, arms crossed watching her drive up. She stopped near him and got out of her car.
"You won't be able to open the garage with a broken key card," He said, holding out his hand, "Hand it over and you'll get a new one."
"Sure thing," Hope said pleasantly, handing over the key card without a protest. While Logan seemed to be determined to be rude to her, Hope tried to be nice to him. Hard, since he usually made her want to hit him and she was pacifist.
"Charles wants to talk to you, he's waitin' for you in his study. I'll show you the way." Hope wanted to protest, she knew the way to Charles's office, but Logan just turned and started walking.
"I have a box in the trunk of some things," Hope called, walking quickly to catch up with him.
"It'll get to your room." Okay, thanks, Hope thought, muttering in her head. She had to keep walking quickly to keep up with Logan, but that didn't distract her from looking around her. She noticed that heads began to appear out of doorways and students stopped in the hallways to watch her walk by, which made her feel extremely out of place. They vanished though, as soon as Logan turned and looked at them, almost like magic. When he stopped outside a polished oak door, Hope also stopped, waiting.
"He's inside," Logan said looking at her curiously.
"Thank you," So he wasn't going in with her, as she had expected. Hope opened the door herself and walked in, closing the door gently behind her. Charles was sitting by the window on the other side of the room looking out onto the grounds, as Hope herself had done on her first visit.
"Welcome back, Dr. Chandler," Charles said as he turned towards her.
"Thank you, Mr. Xavier," Hope replied, walking to a chair and taking a seat. She felt comfortable enough around Charles to relax some of the stiff manners she felt around the other staff and students.
"I hope your last day at Charity was a good one."
"It was certainly an interesting last day," Hope said, "I don't know if it was good, but certainly it was pleasant."
"There is no reason for you to be nervous, Doctor." Charles said, knowing exactly how Hope felt deep down. It was almost eerie the way he could do that, read people with an almost careless ease. Hope was convinced it was some natural talent he had.
"I guess it's the new job jitters, Mr. Xavier. I'm very honored to be working here." Hope sighed, nervously twisting her fingers together to give herself an outlet for her nerves.
"You've had plenty of experience dealing with mutants, as well as children, I don't see why you'd be nervous."
"Well, yes, I have. I guess it's just that so far the reception from the students has been less than welcoming."
"It does take the students a while to welcome strangers," Charles smiled reassuringly, "Give them time. They also know part of the reason you're hear is your research."
"I'd rather just be a doctor to them for now. The research can wait, if they would be more comfortable that way. I know, from what you've told me that there's never been an instructor here that's exclusively a doctor, I can understand their hesitance to be part of the research."
"They'll come around, they all want to be accepted and your work can bring some of that acceptance to them, but enough on the future, I have a few things to go over with you, Doctor."
"Of course," Hope agreed, there was still a small amount of business to be worked out between them before everything became official.
"As I've already told you, you can not use the students names when publishing your work. I arranged a P.O. box for you to receive mail and send mail from. I believe it will further protect the students privacy as well as the Institute's," Hope nodded in agreement, they had gone over this many times, working out the complicated privacy issues with her research. "You also mentioned that you'd like to do an inventory of the Infirmary."
Now Hope was in her element, "Yes, while I trust that you have everything a school of this nature would need medically, I would still like to go through everything. I would just offer suggestion on how to make it more efficient and organized."
"If you want to make any changes, Dr. Chandler, feel free to tell me and I will see if there is something I can do."
"Thank you, I was very impressed with what you have now when Hank gave me the tour. I don't believe there will be anything to change." Hope jumped as a very grand and very old grandfather clock chimed seven o'clock,
"Well seems it is time for dinner, you'll find this an interesting experience Dr. Chandler."
"Please, call me Hope, it's what most of my employers have called me and Dr. Chandler, I think should just be reserved for the students." Hope said casually, waving away the honorific. Hope held the door open for Charles and walked slightly behind him, as she had done with patients as Charity that were in wheelchairs.
"It's an unusual name, Hope. Does your brother have a middle name shifting towards the unusual?" Charles tone was polite and interested. Hope was all too happy to talk about her family, they were a very large part of her life and she loved talking about them.
"Actually Mike's named after one of our ancestors, our great-grand father, Jonas Michael Chandler who went missing shortly after World War two. My mother always had hoped for a daughter so when I was born she named me Hope. My sister's name is Thea, it means gift since my mother felt she was one. My mother loves sentimental things like that," Hope chatted, smiling slightly.
"All wonderful reasons, your family sounds like an interesting group of people." Hope looked down at Charles and wondered how much his work had alienated his family from him. In her interviews Hope had seen the terrible and frightening back lash some of those with the X-gene suffered from their families. It gave Hope cold chills to think about the idea of losing her parents over something like being different. Mike hadn't told their parents for that reason. While her parents were certainly opened minded about things, telling them he could manipulate plants was different. She heard the dinning room before she could see it. The noise of gossiping students was muffled but there. It seemed that she was the main topic of discussion for tonight, which was understandable. She'd been the topic of almost all the Institute's gossip for the past two weeks Hank had told her. Oh boy, she thought, time to face the music. Hope opened the door for Charles and the room inside went quite, leaving Hope to step in after and have all eyes turn towards her. There were more students than she had expected, so many in fact Hope felt her head reel a little bit. She'd seen glimpses of the students, but usually only two or three, there seemed to be so many at the table though. At the head of the table Hope spotted Ororo, Hank and Logan, each watching Charles and her with polite interest, though Hope noticed how Logan's brow furrowed a little and some of the students drummed their fingers. Hank, though, sent her a reassuring wink and a thumbs up. She was use to his appearance now, and smiled back.
"As I've told you before, we have a new teacher joining us here at the Institute, she'll be running the Infirmary so all medical problems will be reported to her. I would like you all to welcome Dr. Hope Chandler." There was kind applause and welcoming shouts all of which Hope accepted with a smile and a nod. A student had the guts to raise their hand after Charles had taken a seat, Hope had sat next to him, feeling like he was acting as the protective father for her.
"Yes?" Charles asked, looking over at the student with curiosity. Hope guessed that it was normal for the students to yell out their questions and not be this formal.
"Is she…like us?" The students ventured to ask, looking up and down the length of the table at those around him for support. The murmurs spread through the table reminding Hope of a swarm of locus just about to take flight, or a pack of cicadas in summer.
"No, I'm not," The murmurs of the table increased and Hope felt the need to explain, but she was never got a chance to, Logan cut her off.
"Relax, the Doc's got enough sense in her head to keep quiet about what goes on here." With that the table went back to gossip and joking. Hope could tell though, there was a warning in his statement. If she did tattle, he'd be after her. She knew his trust would have to be earned along with the students, but they seemed to be opening up to her. They shouted questions, listened when she answered, and even laughed at her jokes. She felt at home, suddenly, quickly and easily. When she offered up the need for volunteers to help her with the inventory of the Infirmary and the amount of hands that shot up had Hope looking over at Charles.
"I don't know who you will need, or who could possibly understand what I need them to do," Hope said with a smile on her lips and a light in her eyes.
"Well, that's a question you will have to ask Logan and Ororo. They know which students they can spare."
"We'll give you a list tomorrow who will be able to help," Ororo smiled approvingly down the table at the students. As the crowd waned so did Hope's energy, today had been hectic and an emotional roller coaster, but it had been a day of pure Heaven.
"I have to say, this was quite an event," Hope said smiling, "But I think I'll head up to bed now." Hope rose from the table, as did Logan, which bothered her slightly. She didn't need to be tailed but he just held out a new key card as she past him.
"Here," he said and Hope took the card. She walked to her room, playing with the card idly while she thought about the dinner. Logan's ringing endorsement was the one thing she kept coming back to. She knew that Hank had been answering question about her, as had Charles, but when Logan had said she was trust worthy they opened up to her. Why was that? What made his opinion solidify what Charles and Hank had told the students about her? He's a hard one to puzzle out, Hope thought as she stepped inside her room. She like the room, there were bookshelves along one long wall, where she could stack her medical textbooks. There was a desk that faced a window where she could set up her laptop and work. There was a small sitting area that looked out onto the grounds of the school, and through a door on the opposite side of the room was her bed and bathroom. Everything she needed to be comfortable, simple lines with no frills, the way she liked things. Hope didn't actually come up here to retire, she wanted her journal so she could scribble down her day. The box that had been in her truck was sitting on her desk, 'junk' written in thick black marker on one side. Though what was inside the box was not junk. In it lay months of hard work and hard digging. She'd raided the libraries video files and news clippings. She'd attacked the local newspaper editor, begging for any scrap of information they had on a 'mutants'. All that was in that box as was one well cared for laptop, masses of floppy disc, and hundreds and hundreds of hand written notes. There were little recorded interviews with the mutants she regularly talked to, and with the people who shared their secrets. Hope was after a leather bound journal where she kept all her personal thoughts. Every memory of her day would be written out with the precision of a medical report, but in her own personal thoughts. She had started keeping journals when she was just a kid, kept up the habit because she found the writing cleansing. Hope picked the journal up out of the box, chose one of the red armchairs that was part of the sitting area and sat down. She started writing easily, her thoughts on the students, her new position and fears. She kept writing late into the night. When she finally realized the time she climbed into bed and fell asleep quickly.
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Author's Note: Ah, rewrite goodness.
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