1/30 Instance: Fire and Ice

[Slarti]

Timelined after Stupid Is As Stupid Does and Didn't Mean To.

rachel: Rachel poked through the contents of the fridge. Not feeling all that hungry, she slumped into a chair at the table and rested her head against it. McCoy had kicked her out of the medlab, and the thought of Ben didn't help her appetite.

Bobby: The alcohol was mostly out of his system, but now he was thirsty, so Bobby headed for the kitchen. He got a bottle of water from the fridge before he even noticed Rachel was in the kitchen. "Oh, hey!"

rachel: "Hey," she muttered, pushing herself back up. Rachel chewed on her lip as she tried to think of something else to say. Social skills were something she'd been lacking lately. "...What's up?"

Bobby: He shrugged, grabbing a bag of chips from a cabinet and sitting down. "Nothing much." He cracked the bottle open and took a long drink before looking at her. "You look cheerful as usual."

rachel: "Feel as cheerful as usual, too," she rolled her eyes, sitting back in her chair.

Bobby: "Awesome. We're a winning pair then, yeah?" He popped a chip in his mouth and gave her an exaggerated thumbs up. Chewing, he considered her. "Ever figure out how you uncharcoaled yourself?"

rachel: "No..." Rachel stared at a spot on the table. "Changed again last night...while I was sparring with Ben..." Didn't mean to.

Bobby: Bobby paused mid-sip. So he wasn't the only one having... control problems. "Really? That sucks... is he okay?"

rachel: She could feel herself choking up and took a deep breath. "...No." Rachel glanced up at him and whispered, "I almost killed him."

Bobby: "Oh, shit, Rae... I'm sorry." He reached over to her limp hand on the table and gave it a squeeze. "But, you didn't, right? So, it's... well, not okay, I know, but not as bad as it could be."

rachel: "No. McCoy kicked me out after a while..." she resisted the urge to flinch at his touch, "He was trying to get me to actually try against him, said stuff about me and Josh and being back there..."

Bobby: "Oh." He noticed her discomfort, and let go of her hand. "I'm sorry," he repeated. "He will be okay though?" Shit, he hoped so. "Guess he was playing with fire, huh?"

Bobby: Bad pun! "Um, yeah...."

rachel: "As far as I know. Rogue's with him unless she got kicked out, too..." Oh shit. Rogue was going to kick her ass later. Oh well. She deserved it. ...playing with fire? Bad Bobby!

Bobby: "Well, good." Bobby tapped his fingers against the table top. "So... do you want to talk about it?"

rachel: Rachel chewed on her lip. She knew she should, but talking didn't seem to be helping. Didn't help with Josh. The thought managed to bring a frown to her face. "I feel like shit. Like, I just want to keel over right now. I didn't mean to."

rachel: "I've never sent out a blast of teke that powerful...didn't even know I could. It scares me..."

Bobby: "Believe me, I know the feeling. It's hard... this whole readjusting thing." He agreed, then looked at her questioningly. "More power than before... y'know?"

rachel: "Yeah, I know. Still having problems with my telepathy, too. Gave Josh my nightmares one night..." Rachel shoved the thoughts of Josh away. She could brood over him once Ben was okay.

rachel: "Anyway..." She couldn't talk about herself anymore. "How are you? Like, seriously." He had to be about as okay as she was.

Bobby: "You gave Josh..." Okay, well, maybe his and Lorna's problems weren't so isolated. He put on a small smirk. "Maybe we all need, like, group therapy or something? I have kinda random... not really nightmares, but, thoughts." He coughed. "At really bad times."

rachel: "Yeah. He hasn't had them since, or he won't tell me if he is, and he doesn't remember anything." She tried to return his smirk but couldn't. "Probably. I can't imagine it'd go over well though."

Bobby: "Probably not." Bobby took another drink from the bottle, wondering if she could smell the whiskey on him. He had managed to convert most of it, but, he could still feel some of the effects. "Um... I just want to apologize, if I did anything in there that was... well, crazy is a relative term, but I remember some stuff. Like singing."

rachel: "Yeah, you sung. 'You are my Sunshine' to be specific, and it's fine. I don't think any of us were...well, sane," she shrugged.

Bobby: "Ha!" He slid lower into the chair, sure he was turning red. "Well, lovely. You were kinda... sunspoty, I guess."

rachel: Rachel gave another shrug, "Suppose so. Can't really think of any way to describe it, and sunspoty works."

Bobby: "You're the fire, and I'm the ice. Hell of a combo." Bobby snagged another chip. "So... is Josh treating you okay? I mean, I know before all this you guys were..." He made a sour face. In fact, Joshy had been on his short list for a personal ass kicking before they'd gone on that mission.

rachel: She found the spot on the table she'd been looking at earlier. "...Haven't talked to him since the other day."

Bobby: "Ah, well, I can get that, but it's good to talk about this stuff." Hypocrit! He shook his head. "I mean, if you want him to know about it. Like, if you guys are trying to work things out. If not, then it's none of his business."

rachel: Rachel rubbed at her eyes. She didn't think she'd ever cried so much in her life, and here she was about to cry some more. "He knows. ...We tried to work things out...made it worse...or it didn't help..."

Bobby: Shit. Bobby sighed and moved around the corner of the table to a closer chair. "I'm sorry, Rae," he said softly.

rachel: "That's what Ben was talking about before I hit him...about how we weren't together..." No more crying. Her head already hurt. Crying would make it worse. "I...can't get over him...and...I dunno..."

Bobby: "You know, we've all been through... a lot. Maybe if you just give it a while? Work on making yourself better." Flaming hypocrit! "Then things might look a little better?" He shifted uncomfortably in the chair.

rachel: Wish I'd blacked out and stayed like that... Rachel shook her head, "Maybe. Dunno if it'll matter. My dad's visiting. Not sure if he'll want me to go home."

rachel: "Sorry..." she ran a hand through her hair, "I'm sure you have your own problems to worry about. I'm just kinda falling apart. Haven't talked to anyone really."

Bobby: "No, it's cool. It's good to talk about it, even if you're forced to talk to me." Bobby rubbed at a spot on the table. "Dad coming, huh? My folks have been calling a lot, and believe me, you're lucky you missed Lorna's mom." Her father was coming too, and he didn't want to think about explaining to Geoffrey how his little girl had wound up shacking up in his room.

rachel: "Yeah, I told him not to. He kinda hung up on me, so I didn't get much of a choice. Lorna's mom was here?" Her eyebrow raised. Okay. This was better. She could talk about this without having a breakdown.

Bobby: "Heh. Sounds like my dad. Sure we're not long lost siblings?" Bobby grinned at her. Cheering up. This he could do. "Yeah, her mom is kinda special. Like... I dunno... Donald Trump in drag. All snotty and holier than thou."

rachel: "I'd be scared if I was related you," Rachel felt a small grin. "Well, she sounds like loads of fun."

Bobby: "But just think, then we would be legally obligated to irritate each other. It'd be more of a binding contract." He nodded. "Oh yes. She's charming. She announced TJ was blue within two seconds of walking in the door."

rachel: "True. I think we're kinda family already though. Kinda comes with living here, y'know?" She snorted, "So she has powers of observation...nice."

Bobby: "Keen powers," he agreed. "I think you're right there. It's a big ol' weird family." She seemed to be in a slightly better mood, but he didn't want to leave her alone if she didn't want it... "I think I'm in the mood for ice cream. How about you?"

rachel: "Anymore ice cream, and I might explode...but sure. Sounds good to me." You should be checking on Ben, not eating ice cream. Ice cream was good though, and Ben would live.

Bobby: "All right, death by ice cream, coming up." He winked and got up to get the bowls. There was always time to take care of what he had to later.

[Ult_Sm86]

Ben can wait. Ice cream with bobby s way more important.

No seriously, he's not going anywhere. ( )eat the ice cream before it melts.

[Edited on 31/1/08 by Ult_Sm86]