Emma reached under the couch and pulled out the third bottle of vodka in as many rooms. Ariel had only been at the school for a few days but had wasted no time in making herself at home. Tossing the bottle in the clear trash bag she carried around, Emma sat back on her heels.
It was tempting to drink and numb the pain but she couldn't allow herself that privilege. First of all, it would be irresponsible for a telepath to drink herself into oblivion, not to mention dangerous to both herself and those around her. Secondly, she didn't deserve that treat.
Domino stopped as she saw Emma sitting there. "You okay?"
Emma got to her feet and explained her actions. "Just getting to every one of Ariel's hiding places."
Dom looked at the drink and laughed. "She has rotten tastes." Then, soberly, she remembered some of Terry's tricks. "But, when getting drunk is the point, I guess anything will do."
Emma stood up and nodded. "I keep my liquor under lock and key, so this is the first time I've had to deal with the situation."
"Terry struggled with it." Domino followed her to the next hiding place, the bathroom. "Ah, yes, the old 'in the crapper' stunt," she said as Emma lifted the toilet's top.
This one was a couple of wine coolers, and Emma looked at them. "How can anybody be so sick and I wouldn't know it?"
"Until Jimmy took Theresa to AA, we didn't know the extent of her problems." The albino sat down on the seat and sighed. "I felt like we failed her."
"I failed so many people." Ironically, being around someone as guarded as Domino made it easier for Emma to let her own guard down.
On any other day, Domino wouldn't have responded. But today, she needed to talk. "I was somewhat lucky." The irony of that word stuck her in the center of her heart. "Three of the kids lived."
Emma started to walk out, but turned around and explained, "Ariel hid a bottle in the library." Domino walked with her. After all, she didn't have anything better to do.
***
Rahne waited until Jono had come out of the doctor's office and went back to his seat in the waiting room before walking into the doctor's office. "Dr. Samson?"
The short man's face, used to holding a smile on it, lit up. "How's my favorite former patient?" He motioned to a small chair and offered her his candy bowl. "Stocked with caramel candy- your favorite."
Rahne smiled as she sat down. "Thanks." She took two pieces and started to unwrap one. "So how are the children?"
"Ariel left for an inpatient clinic this morning." Leonard Samson started to play with his kooshie ball. "She and her sister are in for a long, uphill battle."
"That I knew," Rahne admitted as she looked around the room, remembering the long hours she spent working though so many problems. "Sam is worried about his sister."
"She asked to come back." They had consulted his calendar and found a free afternoon. "She, Angelo, Monet, and Jono all need to come back. Especially Jono."
Rahne sighed and tried to work out how she could be at the school to bring the students back and still be on Muir Island with the other X-Men. "It's sae complicated since we took in Rachel."
"Rachel?" Dr. Samson leaned over his desk, elbows propped up as he waited for Rahne to explain.
"A wee bairn that we found and needed a home." Rahne said, fudging the details a bit. The doctor didn't need to know how they found Rachel, or where. "We're raising her as a group."
"Children do need consistency," he reminded her as he watched the maternal way Rahne's face glowed. "A village can raise a child but she still needs two parents to nurture her."
"Sam's such a big brother- he even called his mum lookin' for ways tae help Rachel feel better when she has colic. Did ye know that ye can put a baby on a drier and it helps?" Rahne kept a listening ear on the sleeping baby as she continued.
"How does it feel to be on the same team as him?" The question, one he could have meant as a therapeutic question, came out with a friendly intonation.
Rahne blushed. "Except for seein' him in the buff and kissin' him, everythin' is fine."
"You kissed Sam?" Leonard smiled. So many of Rahne's emotional problems were directly tied to the love and affection she received from others. Sam was so generous with his emotional support that, if he were ever so inclined to play match-maker, it was the pairing he would have picked.
"Aye. A was sae drunk that A dinna ken what A was doin'." Rahne tried to explain away her actions. "But A still don't ken what his tongue was doin' in ma mouth!"
Instead of telling her that alcohol just loosened inhibitions or that Sam seemed to respond to the kiss, he refrained because he knew that would have embarrassed her. "Just give it time. You've both been through so many changes that it wouldn't be a good idea to start a relationship now."
Rahne nodded. "That's what Celeste said. She's a friend of mine."
"Still miss Dani?"
"More than ever. This whole situation with Sam would have been easier if A had her around." She missed her best friend in a way that was hard to believe. "Celeste is nice and all, but our friendship isn't the same as the one that Dani and A had."
"Each friendship is a gift to be treasured."
"And A still hope tae see Dani again, and tae know she's ma friend."
Doc Samson nodded. It was wonderful to meet people he had helped. Rahne had grown so much from the time he met her. "And how are you doing?"
Rahne sighed. "A've lost sae much of ma family, but A'm standing on ma own two feet."
"Glad to hear that." Doc Samson got up. "I've got to get going or I'll miss my son's piano recital." He walked her to the door. "Keep in touch."
"A will."
***
Half an hour and eight bottles later, Domino and Emma sat in Emma's office, nursing drinks. "The kid did have a lot of stuff." Domino said as she looked around.
"I swear, I want to make Matt's life worse." Emma had discovered during the mindscan that the man had been giving Ariel the bottles. "Somehow, what I've gotten planned seems mild." She sipped her brandy Alexander.
Domino took a sip of her Long Island Iced Tea as she asked, "What's going to happen to him?"
Emma grinned like a cat who had managed to eat chicken salad off its caretaker's table. "As of tomorrow, he's being transferred to a remote part of Canada to monitor snow levels in the mountains."
"And he won't quit?" Domino was surprised at the idea.
"Won't even cross his mind to change his situation. Every day, he'll be miserable, every night he'll be worse off." Emma looked very proud of herself. "One day, when he seeks professional help, then things might change for him."
"I'm impressed." Domino lifted her drink in a salute. "Nobody messes with someone you care about."
"I don't--" Emma started to protest.
"Yeah, and you didn't hire the Six Pack to keep Pete safe." Domino was talking about the first time she and Emma had met.
"That was ... something else." Emma remembered vividly her part in the events that had brought down the biggest white slavery ring to date. "Especially...."
Domino sat back and grinned lusciously. "Especially." Then a slight blush crossed her face as she added, "At least Celeste never asked how I knew Tony."
"That was a very . . . impressive time." Emma had learned a few tricks thanks to the way Coy had tried to stop them. "That was one of the best times of my life."
A shadow crossed Dom's face. "I can't believe that I let Cable die."
"Nothing we could have done to change it." The words, so trite and simplistic, actually made sense.
"You didn't let him walk away."
"I just failed to protect my students." The Hellions, Jubilee, and Penny had been just as innocent as she had been once upon a time. And just as her parents had failed to protect her, she had failed to protect those whose safety had been entrusted to her. "I did my best, but it wasn't good enough."
"Same here." Domino downed her drink and started to mix another. "What do you do when your best isn't good enough?"
"Allow it to become a livable ghost." Emma offered her advice.
"That takes time." Domino knew that fact all too well.
"But, with time, it is possible." Both of the women had refused the counseling offer from Samson but, in a way, their own talk had nonetheless brought healing to their two hearts, and planted the seeds of friendship between the two powerful women.
***
"Ange, you okay?" Paige asked as she saw him hunched over in the corner at the doctor's office. They were waiting for Rahne to get done.
He wasn't going to cry. There was no way that he was going to let that much of his guard down, not even to remember his daughters. The sad thing was that he had gotten so used to turning a cold shoulder on Death that he doubted he could drop his emotional shields, even if he wanted to. Ange turned to Paige and said, "Sure, chica." Looking at her face, he asked, "Are you okay?"
"Just thinking about things I don't want to." She sat down next to him.
"I know the feeling." It was cold enough to hang meat in the office, so he offered his jacket to her. "Things will be better, soon."
"It had better be."