I want to tell you. I know who you are. Who: Clarice, Illyana, Moira What: Clarice and Moira make Illyana get a scan. When: Wednesday Morning, directly after Kitty goes all ghosty. Where: Kitty's Apartment, then Moira's Lab. Ratings/Warnings: PG-13 for talk of the Mafia and Cancer. Status: Complete
Clarice was talking with Moira in a low voice, as the doctor was getting ready to leave. After a moment, Moira came over and touched Illyana's elbow, "Do ye want tae come down tae me lab for a scan?"
Illyana's response was immediate and decisive. She tugged her elbow away from Moira and stated, "No."
Not 'no, thank you', or even 'let me think about it', but simply no. It was not happening. She didn't want a scan. She didn't want to know. She glared in Clarice's direction, then glanced back towards the bedroom where Kitty was currently being contained.
Her mind was already formulating ways to get back at the woman for tattling.
Kitty cared about her, and Clarice loved her, so of course they'd meddle. It was the nature of a Kitty to meddle. Clarice glared back defiantly, folding her arms.
"Lass, knowin' is better than not knowin', an' t'sooner t'better, I know ye know that."
"It has been 6 months, the cancer cannot have possibly returned that quickly." Illyana folded her arms defiantly, too. This is what she got for blabbing to Kitty about things, "I am never telling Katya anything again."
"Yuir due for yuir check up," Moira pointed out. "Ye cannae put this off anyway, and I have the most advanced scanner in the country." Moira shook her head, "She cares, that's what friends do, even if it pisses ye off."
"It is not her business. It is not ANY of ANYONE's business but my own!"
Obviously, the feisty little russian was going to be stubborn about the issue. A low growl emitted from her throat, and her lips thinned into a line. It was time for the scan, though. Moira was right about that, though where she would have learned that was also suspicious.
Illyana looked at Clarice again, then back to Moira, "I cannot afford it."
She meant more than just the scan, but didn't say more.
"It's on the house," Moira replied, smirking a little. "Ye see, it's me own personal scanner, and I can gather some information about ye mutation an' x-gene tae use in research sae I dunnae have tae charge ye."
It felt like she was being squeezed between a rock and a hard place, the way Moira was talking to her, and Clarice was still glaring at her. This was probably not a fight she was going to win, and she didn't want to say more while Clarice was standing there.
So she relented, with a slump of her shoulders, "I will submit to your scan. But I will only go alone."
Clarice's shoulders sank a little, and she gave Illyana a bit of a sad look, before walking out of the living room to change.
Moira nodded her head, "If that's what ye want, lass."
The reaction from Clarice was probably something Illyana should have expected, but it still hurt her to see. She stuck to her guns on it, however. There was a reason why she didn't want Clarice along for this. One she only felt comfortable mentioning to Moira alone.
She went to get dressed in silence, avoiding Clarice's droopy shoulders and steeling herself for the conversation she'd have to have, later. When she emerged from the room and returned to Moira, she wore a grim expression, "Let us do this then."
Moira nodded, and led her out to her car, "Be sure tae buckle up. It's the law." And then, zoom!
Most of the car ride was spent in silence. Illyana wasn't one to sit on pins and needles or show signs of inner anxiety, nor was she one to nervously chatter on. Whatever the scanner said would be what it said.
It wouldn't matter, because if the cancer was back she was refusing to treat it. She would simply enjoy life until it was over. If there was no cancer, then obviously she was just hallucinating for no reason... but that was still not treatable.
Moira parked. She wasn't in all that much of a hurry, obviously. Illyana wasn't rushing or panicking, and so she walked in, greeted the receptionist, and then led Illyana into the elevator. She knew Illyana, of course. Had dreamed about the sick little girl. About the disease that had ravaged her body, and her efforts to fight it, using what they'd learned from that death.
That the girl, in this life, had been stricken with cancer was heartbreaking., "Have a seat on t'table, lass."
Perhaps it was the fact that Illyana had dreamed of those events that kept her so calm. It felt, to her, like she was already living on borrowed time. She'd been a child and then suddenly a teen, a child again, died, resurrected... even in this life, she'd beat odds that other girls hadn't.
She slid up onto the table, and settled down to wait, "I want to tell you. I know who you are."
"Aye?" Moira wheeled the scanner over.
"Yes. And ... I hope you did not blame yourself for what happened, there."
"I only blamed meself for nae bein' faster, even if I know there wasnae much I could do. I just hoped we eventually found a cure. I havenae dreamed that yet." She started up the scanner, calibrating it to Illyana, "What kind did ye have?"
"By the time we had caught it, it had spread to my brain. But it started in my lung. We are not sure how I contracted it, but it might have had something to do with the old housing and equipment in Russia." Illyana shrugged a shoulder. Lung cancer in teens was rare, but they'd never questioned it so much as just tried to figure out how to fight it.
"I see. We'll start with yuir brain an' work our way down then, aye? Have ye experienced any unusual symptoms?" Scan scan scan went the scanner.
"I have been experiencing large hallucinations. This is the sort of things I was seeing before, though the things I see now are mostly related to Limbo," Illyana admitted. She otherwise sat there still as a stone.
After a pause though, she added, "My records are at a treatment center in Arizona, I can sign them over to you."
"It's possible that could be related tae ye dreams, but I dunnae know if anyone else is experiencing visions related tae their dreams." While the scanner did it's work, Moira started prepping Illyana's arm for withdrawing blood. There were additional tests she could run without keeping Illyana here, and on top of that she could continue catalogueing her research into the X-gene.
"I would appreciate that, thank ye. It would be good tae compare!"
"Whatever you need, da." Illyana replied. Used to such tests, she held her arm out without questioning and simply waited for Moira to draw as much blood as she needed. She didn't even ask what it was for.
"Only, if you do find that it is back, I must tell you that I do not plan to do anything about it."
"Are ye sure?" Moira gave her a critical look as she withdrew about 6 vials of blood. When that was done, she gave Illyana some orange juice. "I cannae say I'm happy with that, but it is yuir decision." Illyana obviously knew the side effects of treatment, and what it would mean for her. Not everyone had the desire to put their loved ones through that, "But do keep in mind that it's nae always sae bad as it was t'last time."
Illyana sipped at her juice. She was glad that Moira had provided that, because 6 vials was quite a dizzying amount of blood to lose, and she'd started to feel her head spinning. It was a feeling she didn't at all enjoy.
"My brother joined the Mafia to pay for my treatment the first time. I am here, legally, because of them. But I cannot allow them to pay for more. I do not want him to owe them more. And... it is 2% odds. You know. To survive like that. 2%. But I cannot think that I would be among the 2% again, should it return. It would be better if I kept my hair, and stayed Illyana, for as long as I can."
Moira needed ALL the blood. She frowned as Illyana spoke. She didn't sound happy about Illyana's circumstances, "I hadnae realized it had been sae bad for ye the first time. Surely there's somethin' we can do tae help ye brother?" She didn't like just giving up, even if it wasn't really giving up and just acceptance.
"Well... I do not know. He has not... been in touch for several months. At the moment, I simply send back the checks they send. They are supposed to take care of me. But I do not want their money." Illyana smiled a bit, "My brother is strong. He can take care of himself. Mikhail will help him, too. I just like to take myself out of the equation."
Of course both brothers would probably have told her not to think like that if it was a choice between her survival or death, but they hadn't let her make the choice the first time. She would have said now if they had, and now that she was here and making her own choices, she wanted to make them.
"But perhaps it is not more cancer and I am just hallucinating, Da? There is no reason to be so grim without proof."
"Well t'scanner is nae findin' anything, so unless there's somethin' in yuir blood yuir still clean. Ye should lay off the sweets, though." Moira smiled at the lass, though she was rather serious about the sweets.
"That's brave of ye tae return the checks, but ye brothers love ye an' when it's someone ye care about ye can be a bit blinded."
"I will watch my sugar intake, then," Illyana nodded, though she finished her orange juice. She figured Moira more meant the junk food she'd gotten addicted to lately.
"I know that they love me. I am alive because of that, but... I love them, too. It is better if I do what I can to look out for them, like they have looked out for me."
"Well, ye can tell ye friends yuir doin' good, an' I'll see ye in three months, unless somethin' turns up in the bloodwork, aye?"
"I am sure Clarice will be relieved to hear this, if she is speaking with me at all."
Illyana hopped down off the table, and nodded, "Three months then. But..." She gave Moira a sheepish smile, "Would you give me a ride home? I do not have my bus pass on me."
Moira laughed, "I will, lass, dunnae worry."
"Let us go, then. I feel like I am ready to face the firing squad." Illyana grinned. At least it was good news!
"Lets bring them some food on the way back. I'm sure they could use it."
"Katya likes this one diner's pancakes... Clarice likes them with chocolate chips." She was already formulating a way to appease her angry lover.
"We'll get her some flowers too," Moira whispered, as she led her back to the elevator.