Log: Peter, MJ, & May Who: Peter Parker, Mary Jane Watson, and May Watson-Parker When: Friday, March 21, 2008 Where: Xavier's School, the lounge on Pete & MJ's floor What: Peter and MJ are watching the news trying to hear any news on what's going on in Seattle since a bunch of their close friends are there. MJ feels useless and vows to find some kind of superhero-worthy skill even if she's not a superhero, and May says her first word.
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They hadn't had time to celebrate Mary Jane's birthday.
It was too hectic, too busy, too dangerous. MJ had been glued to the television while Peter was away, and now they were there together. It was late, too late for a lot of the students, and May should have been sleeping, too -- which she was, just not in her crib. She'd woken up, and after trying to coax her back to sleep, they'd just given up. Now Peter was holding her, laying on the couch with May on his chest and MJ on top of him further down. They were tired, but they just couldn't stop watching.
Peter flipped the channels with the remote in the hand not taken up by his daughter, muttering, "Where's Seattle. Why don't we have any footage of Seattle?"
"They're focusing on Washington D.C. and the East Coast around here," said MJ, chewing on a fingernail. She was huddled up on the couch with her head on Peter's hip, looking tired and worried. Kim, her best friend, was out in Seattle. And what did Kim do? She put things in her purse. She volunteered to be with the junior X-Men and she wasn't supposed to fight... They'd all gotten considerably lucky in the battle, so few people on their side turned up dead. Now, she was expecting both Kurt and Kim, two people she was very close to, to come home in body bags.
Was this the price of being lucky enough to have Peter come home alive?
"There also might not... be anything left of Seattle, but you'd think they'd say that if it was true."
"Don't say that," he responded automatically. "Seattle's alive. There are still things in Seattle." As much to convince himself as to convince her. Kurt was his friend, had helped save his life once, babysat his daughter. Kim kept MJ sane. Tommy was a little screwed up in the head, sure (wasn't everybody?), and she'd gone running off, too. Aside from shoot things, Peter didn't even know if Tommy had other powers. Aubrey was out there -- Aubrey who couldn't hear. It was a nightmare to wait this out. There were so many ways it could go wrong: if one of the kids died, if Kurt or Tommy died and had to come back without one another, if Kim couldn't defend herself and ended up dead, or Aubrey. It was hard not to imagine someone dying, when things were so unstable.
"This can't end well," MJ said softly, rubbing small circles into Peter's thigh with her fingertips. "I----It just can't. The kids out there? A bunch of people who aren't really fighters? God, Pete. They can't all come back alive."
"Stop. Stop it, they have Logan with them, and ..." ...Well, that was it, wasn't it? Damn. "They'll be back. Promise."
MJ lifted her head, frowning. "You can promise me stuff all you want, tiger, but that doesn't mean it's going to happen. You don't have any control over this. I know that blows your mind, but you don't."
"They will be back," Peter said firmly, looking down at her when he did. "Logan will take good care of them, and Aubrey and Tommy are stronger than they look. They'll be back."
"And what about Kim?" MJ asked quietly. "Apart from her... thing with her purse..? She's basically like me. What if it was me, strapping on a uniform and going out there like I knew what I was doing? Huh?"
"You wouldn't. Look, it ... she made her choice." Peter made a face. "She's around people with bigger powers, and you never know when they purse thing will come in handy. Have a little faith."
"She'll come home... I'm sure she'll be okay," MJ said halfheartedly, sitting up and hugging her knees against her chest. "I'm just saying we've been obscenely lucky so far."
Peter pushed himself up, habitually curling his legs and cradling May between his knees and chest. "The X-Men, they're good at what they do. It'll be okay. If we can pull of Washington, Aubrey and Logan can rescue Kurt."
"We can hope so, anyway." MJ glanced at him, reaching out to gently stroke May's hair. She felt so useless here. She felt useless after years of being Spider-Man's enemies' number one hostage. She knew a basic amount of self-defense, but against people with superpowers it was pretty useless. She figured she could take down your average mugger, but no one these days dealt with average muggers. Maybe if she... learned some first aid? She knew a little bit from bandaging Peter up.
"There has to be something I can do," she said.
"Pray," he suggested. Peter wasn't horribly religious, but ... God, there was really nothing he could do, short of joining them in Seattle, and he was tired and still recovering from Washington. "That's all we can really do, here."
"I meant, in the long run," said MJ, glancing at Peter. "I can't be the wife of Spider-Man if I don't have some useful skill." She leaned over in order to straighten May's pajamas where they'd gotten all twisted.
"You could ... go hang around Elvyran? I'm sure he'd be happy to pass on some medicinal knowledge." Peter smiled softly. "Or ... I don't know, maybe once things calm down, someone can teach you something hand to hand. Not me, I'm horrible, at it, but ... I heard somewhere that Scott's trained in martial arts or something."
MJ nodded, deciding it best not to mention the way Scott seemed to feel about her. Instead, she gave Pete a little shove so she could sit beside him instead of at his feet, and she rested her head on his shoulder, letting May grab her fingers. "I might as well learn something for as long as I'm here... and we'll ... well, what about moving back home? Do you think---? Things will settle down, we'll have a chance to go home, right?"
"I don't know," Peter admitted. "I like to think so, but a part of me doesn't want May in the city right now, let alone me and you. Eventually. Definitely eventually, but not now."
"I didn't really mean now, just... couple months, maybe," MJ said. She was obviously pining for a familiar environment. The school didn't feel like home to her. She liked it there, sure, but they had a house together and she would have liked to get her life on track. It felt like it was on hold. Then again, a lot of people probably felt that way these days.
May was squirming, kicking at Peter and whining. She was tired and cranky, and----
Immediately, MJ was bolting off the couch, bounding over the back, and leaving the rec room.
"MJ---?" Peter stood, preoccupied with calming May down and unable to run after her. "What are you---no, no, Mayday, shhh. Come on, hush. It's okay---"
May was soon inconsolable, screaming at the top of her lungs and probably able to be heard throughout the whole school, her tiny hands pushing against Peter's face.
Shit. She was loud, setting off his spider senses, and Peter didn't know what to do. "Come on, May, don't---shh." Peter tried to shift her, make her more comfortable, while he wished his spider senses would calm her the hell down.
It was just another few seconds before MJ was racing back to the room, skidding across the floor to land beside Peter. "Heeey... hey, Mayday, shhh, princess." Rubbing her back with one hand, the other hand pressed the Spider-Man plushie into her arms. "I know... I know, we forgot to take it with us, I'm sorry, honey..." She kissed May's cheek and nuzzled her while her wailing started to die down.
"...Oh you have got to be kidding me? Are you serious?" A plushie. A Spider-Man plushie had made her calm down. Dear God.
MJ gave Peter a pat on the back, smiling up at him----rather smug, after all, since May always liked to calm down for Peter and not for her. "Can't win 'em all, tiger."
"This poor kid is going to have a huge daddy complex as an adult," Peter muttered, handing May to her mother -- who had more than proven that brains trumped spider senses.
"Don't we all," said MJ, but she said it while she was cooing cheerfully at May and wiping her tears with her thumb. "There we go, sweetie... you're okay."
May was chewing on the plushie's head, rubbing her mouth against it and sniffling before a quite definite "Dada" was said.
Peter opened his mouth to reply--and then he paused, switching his words at the last possible second. "---what did she say?"
"Dada!" May squealed, waving the plushie----but the plushie was too big for her to really control and she ended up dropping it. She obviously was attached to the doll, but she was aware that the doll represented Peter.
Peter was practically glowing, catching the doll before it hit the ground. "MJ, I---When did she start doing that?" And how had he missed it?
MJ bit her lip, smiling a little. "You were in Washington," she said. A part of her was hurting a little that May's first word wasn't "mama", but she acknowledged that she was constantly making reference to Peter via the plushie when Peter wasn't around.
"Finally." Peter grinned, ruffling May's hair. "We need to hear something good these days, don't we?"
May seemed perfectly proud about the fact that her parents seemed proud of her, and she swatted at Peter's hands. "We sure do," said MJ, kissing the top of May's head----and then leaning over to kiss Peter. "Turn off the television. We won't learn anything. We just... have to wait to hear back directly. Come on."