Cyclops was right and he wishes he wasn't (cyclopswasright) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2013-02-03 13:24:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, scott summers (cyclops) |
I’d like to offer you a mutually advantageous proposition
Who: Scott and Adrienne, also Emma's mother.
What: Unusual seductions
When: 2/2
Where: Boston
Rating: PG-13
Status: complete.
Adrienne stood as the rest of the family wandered off to talk. Her husband went with Cordelia’s to the den, Cordelia and Hazel took the baby to the living room to build things with blocks, and Emma and Winston went to his study. Adrienne waited until they had all left to go around the table to talk to Scott. “I’m sorry your first visit has been so hectic.”
“First time I’ve been in a family environment in years,” Scott replied, smiling at her. “Used to be pretty hectic when there was just the two of us and our mother.”
Adrienne nodded. “I’m sure. Things can get fairly chaotic here, sometimes.” She chuckled, as though she was remembering a funny story. “I remember when Charlie was just a baby and everyone wanted to see him all at once. Poor Cordelia was surrounded the whole evening, and nobody could hear a word anyone else said over all the ‘ooh’ing and ‘ahh’ing.” There was a slight hint of bitterness to her retelling of the story. She mostly remembered and enjoyed that she hadn’t been able to hear Cordelia, and that her youngest sister had most likely been extremely uncomfortable the whole time.
“Can’t say that I’ve had that experience yet,” Scott replied. It was a half truth,anyway, but the full truth would just make her think he was insane. And that was before you got into the time travel.
“Pity,” Adrienne said, as she led the way through the hall and past the living room, which he’d already seen. Cordelia gave Adrienne and evil stare the whole way through. Adrienne ignored her. “You seem like you’d be a good father. You’ve seen most of the downstairs, so we’ll start upstairs. Father will probably want to talk to you alone after his conversation with Emma, so that works out well, anyway.” Adrienne made sure to take point, so Scott would be looking at her butt the whole way up.
"It's something I'd like, but I'm in no hurry." Scott walked after her, hands in his pockets as he moved. He seemed to be comfortable in large, opulent dwellings, even if he'd never grown up in one. He smiled wryly as he followed her up the stares stairs.
Adrienne stopped at the top of the stairs. They were the stereotypical hallway with doors on either side and framed portraits between. There were only three generations of Frosts to stare blankly at the pair, the rest were large photographs of sets of well groomed children and their well groomed parents. Adrienne opened the first door on the right. It led into a large, modern nursery. “This was Cordelia’s room, and now it’s Charlie’s room when he’s staying here.” She didn’t dwell on it, it was just the first one they came to. In fact, she seemed completely disinterested in the room and showing it off. She shut the door quickly and went one door down.
The next room was the same size, and contained a small library. Origami books dominated one entire shelf, and another was full of handmade scrapbooks. “Emma moved out first, so mother got a library in her room.” This time Adrienne stepped in. “I don’t know that she’s done anything with any of these books.”
"Does she read them?" Scott asked, a little more interested in the books than Cordelia's old room. Also that Emma had grown up in this house. That was of interest to him. He wondered if there was anything of her left in here.
Adrienne shrugged. “I don’t know what she does half the time, nor does she, I think.” She didn’t really want to talk about her mother. Scrapbooking was stupid, origami was stupid, and glassblowing or whatever the other books were about was stupid also. She did note his at least mild interest in the library. “Do you like to read?”
"Yes. I'm a big fan of some kinds of books. You'd probably find them boring, but they're interesting to me. And saved my life in Iraq." Strategy and tactics, the memoirs of generals and leaders. "You'd be surprised how useful the Art of War can still be."
“I wouldn’t.” Adrienne said, simply. “I read things like that frequently. I find them to be very inspirational.” She moved a little closer. “I have a bookcase filled with autobiographies of leaders and businessmen. If you’re going to be good at something, the past is full of good examples and lessons to learn.” Adrienne knew she would be the heir to her father’s company some day, and she was simply preparing for that moment. That was really the only reason she had any interest in children. Her sisters were too petty and short sighted to handle something as big as Frost Enterprises.
"Mmm." Adrienne reminded him of Emma's less charitable personality traits, writ large. He was glad she'd fled the family and allowed herself to grow in a different direction. Her sister was a power hungry woman. There was an attraction in that. "I find them to be fun."
“Fun is important, too.” Adrienne noted with a smirk. She continued moving toward Scott. “The next room used to be mine, and is the guest room, now. Since you’re a guest, it’s only appropriate I show that one next.” It was usually best to lay the groundwork before revealing that her mother had decorated the guest room in the most horrific mixture of pastels and flowers she could imagine. Flowers were such a buzzkill.
"Thank you." Scott turned to walk out of the library, not so much giving her the cold shoulder, but as though telling her that he was ready to see the next part of the tour.
Adrienne wasn’t surprised he hadn’t immediately fallen at her feet, but she was unsure how to proceed. She didn’t have the home court advantage like normal. She closed the door to the library carefully, and opened the next one. “I think she decorated it like this to discourage guests.”
There were now porcelain figures of puppies on the dresser. Ugh. Now she needed a reason to get him in there, without stating her purpose. Damn. “I think Mother keeps the embarrassing childhood photos in here.” It was lame, and they were in the previous room, but it was all she had. Puppies? Good Lord.
Scott peered around at the room, and then at the puppies on the dresser. It reminded him of a frumpy grandma's room, not a guest room at all. The puppies were mildly disturbing. Still, he entered the room of his own volition. He wanted to see if he was right about Adrienne's game.
Adrienne nodded, and took a deep breath. “I have a favor to ask you. Well, not a favor. I’d like to offer you a mutually advantageous proposition. Cordelia was correct when she said that my husband and I are unable to have children, and that we have tried quite a bit. She was incorrect when she said I am looking for another husband. I’m not quite done with Jacob yet. But I can’t wait very much longer to have children. So, if you would be willing to assist with that, I would be willing to pay you back for your time and efforts. I am in a position to be quite generous. Neither Cordelia nor Emma have any interest in the family’s business, but I’m certain my father will chose someone with children when he updates his will.” She would truly be sad when her father died, but now was the time to lay plans for when that happened. “We don’t need to be intimate ourselves, It’s your genetic material I’m interested in, not any sort of sexual favor, though if that’s what you want, I can be flexible.”
Well, he was only half right. Her game went a lot deeper than he'd been expecting. Scott folded his arms, head tilting to the side as he listened to her. He wasn't interested in either giving his genetic material, or taking sexual favors from her.
"You'll have to get your genetic material some other way, I'm afraid. I have an eye condition." He tapped his glasses.
She hadn’t expected it to be that easy. She smiled a little, certain she could obtain her objective, still. “I think you’re underestimating how generous I can be. If you don’t want the money yourself, think of the kids at your ranch. They would certainly benefit from the money, and it’s such a small amount of work on your part. I’m willing to accommodate any paternal urges you might feel toward the child.” She assumed there wouldn’t be many. Men just didn’t work that way. “I would even be willing to make you a board member when the company comes into my hands. You could do a lot with the kind of money that would bring in.”
It sounded a bit like a deal with the devil, but it was somewhat tempting, if mostly for the ranch. Still, Scott didn’t think he couldn’t be part of the kid’s life, and that would just complicate things. He had no interest in being a board member. “I live comfortably enough, and the Ranch does well enough. I’ll admit it’s tempting.”
Adrienne was now visibly frustrated. She stepped toward Scott, her voice a little louder now. “You don’t want to make me your enemy, Scott.”
As if on cue, Charlie burst into the room, squealing and laughing. Hazel Frost was on his heels, laughing as well. He streaked between the two adults, and so did Hazel, until she managed to ‘pin’ him to the bed. She looked up, then looked surprised, as though she hadn’t realized there were other people in the room. “Oh dear. Thank you for showing Scott the house, darling. Why don’t you run along now, I’d like to take my turn with our new guest.”
Adrienne was glaring daggers at her mother, but she turned and left the room without a word. Hazel smiled dreamily, and let her wiggling grandson up. “Well, they can’t all be winners.” She said with a slightly apologetic smile.
"It's quite all right. Really, I should thank you. Adrienne can be intense." Scott chuckled, clasping his hands behind his back. If she was like this here, he could see why things had ended the way they had in their dreams. He wondered if Emma remembered that yet.
He could also see where Hazel's daughters got their beauty, and it boded well for Emma in her later years.
Hazel smiled at him, all her dreaminess gone, like vapor. “I like you, Scott. Can you help me get some boxes down? I’d like to finally show off the pictures I took of Emma when she was younger.” She didn’t have to pretend to be slow-witted and dotty as much anymore. It was like the good china, something she only brought out for family gatherings. It put the girl at ease, and that was important to her.
He nodded his head, only raising an eyebrow in reaction to her sudden lucidity. This entire family was like a nest of vipers, he realized. "Just point the way, Mrs. Frost."
Hazel led the way out of the bedroom and into the library he’d seen earlier. “Will you and Emma be staying the night? We noticed you bought tickets for tomorrow, and we’re wondering if you had plans, or just wanted to spend some time away from home.”
She opened the closet, and indicated a set of boxes on a high shelf under other boxes. “They’re the ones with ‘E’ on the side.”
"We decided to take the opportunity to check out the sking nearby, since the epidemic ruined our plans," Scott said. He saw no problem with the truth, today, and Hazel had shown him a truthful side of herself. It was fair.
He stood on his toes, moving some of the boxes aside to get to Emma's.
“Oh, there’s a place near here that’s fantastic. Winston and I go all the time, when we want to spend a day away.” Hazel smiled, pleased that her daughter had found such a good man to date. “I hope we’ll be seeing more of you both.”
“I wouldn’t mind it,” Scott replied, ever the diplomat. It didn’t hurt that he was being truthful. Either they’d changed drastically or Emma just suffered from deranged parent syndrome. Parents were always better than you remembered. Usually.
Hazel nodded. “Good. And if you could get to work on more grandchildren, that would be wonderful, too. After forty years, you get used to the sounds of melodrama and tantrums.” Had it been so long ago that they’d had Christian? In a way, it seemed like only last year. She looked up at the boxes. Christian’s pictures were in Winston’s office, it was less of a reminder that way. He rarely used his closet.
Scott put the pictures on the bed. He wondered if Cordelia would corner him at some point too, and was generally more prepared for her. At least he hoped so.
"Children are up to Emma, I'd be mostly happy either way."
Hazel chuckled. “Then I’ll begin a more targeted assault.” She picked the boxes up, her expression becoming dreamy and serene again. “I’ll just grab her, and we’ll all go embarrass her to death. It’ll be fun.”
Scott grinned, and said, "I like your idea of fun."