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Meg is bored.

And still contagious.

And bored.

And covered in calamine lotion, which only does so much for the itching and clashes rather dreadfully with her hair.

And bored.

She eyes her pile of books without anything that could be called enthusiasm, turning the three bracelets on her wrist around, idly.

And then stops, as her fingers find the one link on bracelet from Laura that is heavier than the others.

She hesitates for a moment and then taps the communicator on her wrist that she's never needed to use in the more than two years she's worn it every day.

"Laura? Are you there?"

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"No, but if you don't mind dropping notes off with Bar for me when you go, I'd appreciate it.

"So that Parker and Castiel and Kim will know what's happening."

"I will not forget," X says.

This is a promise.

"You will ask them to visit you, too?"

She's curious.

"Or tell them not to worry."

"Both, probably," Meg says.

"Assuming they're immune to chickenpox, too.

"Otherwise I'll see them once I'm better."

"Oh."

X considers that point for a second.

Or ten.

"I do not think it will be problematic for Castiel."

Probably.

"I do not know about Parker. Or Kim."

Meg nods.

"Well, just in case," she says.

She really would hate to pass it along to anyone she liked.

(Well, Meg being Meg, she'd hate to pass it along to anyone at all. But especially someone she liked.)

"How have you been, Laura?"

"I have been okay," X says.

"It has been busy. Here. With repairs. And new people."

Beat.

"But there have not been many fights."

"That's good," Meg says. "The not having fights part, I mean.

"How are things at home?"

"Baseball season will start again. Soon. Tomas wants to start practicing now."

X does not fidget.

At all.

"He also wants to be an X-man. Like me."

"Oh, I see," Meg says.

"Well, I guess that makes a kind of sense. His wanting to, I mean. If I'd met you when when I was Tomas's age, I'd probably have wanted to be like you when I grew up, too."

X looks startled, eyes going wide.

The look lingers for a second. Then two.

Then --

"He tried to run away from home. In a mask. To reach Greymalkin Industries."

Beat.

"Inez made me talk to him. When I found him."

"Oh, dear," Meg says.

That's probably also understandable, if not exactly advisable.

"What did you tell him?"

"That he does not know if he is a mutant, yet. And if he is not, he can be an Avenger. Or in SHIELD. But he will have to be older. And he would not be able to play baseball."

X shrugs, one-shouldered and quick.

"His mother said he was grounded. Except for practicing baseball. With me."

Beat.

"He did not have much of a tantrum."

For what that is worth.

"Not much of a tantrum is better than much of one, I suppose," Meg says.

A second, and then she adds curiously, "Is there any chance he is a mutant?"

"There is not a history of it. In his family."

X frowns a little, thinking.

"I asked."

Beat.

"But that does not make it impossible."

"What about the situation with Hope? You said she was the first born after someone decided there shouldn't be mutants. Would that have any impact? Would that make it impossible for him to be one?"

"I -- "

X hesitates, gave dropping to the floor.

She shakes her head. Once.

Then she looks back up.

"No. It -- some people are awakening. As mutants. Now."

Beat.

"Teenagers. It is -- they are afraid."

Meg nods.

"I would imagine it could be a fairly frightening thing."

Honestly, being a non-mutant teenager was occasionally fairly frightening.

"I do not know."

Beat.

"I was seven."

She shrugs again, but this time she does not look away.

"Hope helps them. They tell her that she is the only one that can."

"Who tells her? The frightened teenagers? Or . . . some other 'they'?"

"The X-men."

Beat.

"And the teenagers. Now. She has found five."

"And do you think she really is the only person who can help?"

X hesitates, biting her lip for a few moments.

Hard.

Sometimes it is difficult to criticize the people in charge. But --

"I -- I am not certain. They do not have control to start. But most mutants do not. Did not."

She stays very still, deliberately not flinching.

"I do not know why people think it is different now."

Edited 2012-03-26 02:23 (UTC)

Meg is quiet for a moment, thinking about words.

"It sounds," she says, finally, speaking fairly slowly, "from what you've told me, like you had something happen that was . . . catastrophic. And people sometimes react to that sort of thing by, on some level, needing a miracle, for lack of a better word. And sometimes that miracle is a person, and he or she has to be faster and stronger and better and capable of righting the wrong.

"And whether or not that person actually is miraculous is almost irrelevant. Because it's about needing a savior as much as it is about having one.

"So if there are people who need to believe that Hope is the game-changer, that she can save you, then they may need to see her doing that. To be the one and only who can help.

"Even if she's not."

"That is stupid."

This is X's first and immediate response.

But after a moment or two of thought --

"And it is not fair. To her. Or to the other mutants. We can do things, too."

Beat.

"We can all help. If we are not too afraid."

"Well, it's irrational," Meg says.

She probably wouldn't say stupid.

"And, no, it's not fair. To anyone.

"And, yes, even if you can't all help in the same way, I would think that there would be ways for anyone who wanted to help to help."