9/11 Issue: To Hell in a Shot Glass

[Esynthia]

Timeline: A few days after Purely Platonic Puking

Jamie: Jamie walked in front of Bobby, leading the way to the bar, then hopped up onto his chosen barstool. "Thanks for coming with me to try this place. It's not exactly Jean's style. And by that, I mean, I don't know how much I want her to be ogled by the clients in here." He glanced around the place, noting the pool tables and grungy customers. It was only a couple of blocks walk from the tenement though, so that was cool. Planning to become an alcoholic? No!

Bobby: "Yeah, I'd say she'd get a fan club." Bobby's boots stuck to the floor, which in his estimation was always a sign of a good dive bar. "With about seven teeth among the whole club." He parked his ass on a stool beside Jamie and shot him a sideways smile.

Jamie: Jamie motioned for two beers, whatever the house tap was, and gave Bobby a mock-suspicious glare, "How'd you know I had fake teeth?"

Bobby: Bobby gave Jamie an actually suspicious look and found himself checking out the guy's teeth. "Lucky guess?"

Jamie: "I'm kidding, dude. My teeth are all mine. Promise." He grinned to show off his pearly whites. The beers were set in front of them and he thanked the guy with a nod, glad it wasn't a douchey dupe. "So, what's up? How's life lately?" Maybe not the best idea to ask him straight-up about the fetus, but... "Speaking of life... Heard there's a new life in town."

Bobby: "Oh," he said, stupidly, then laughed a little at the guy's ridiculously bright grin. "Ya got me there," he said, shaking his head and giving the bartender his own nod. Bobby was just taking a sip of his beer when Jamie started talking and he very nearly choked.

Jamie: Yep, not the best idea. Dummy. Jamie winced in sympathy and reached out to pat Bobby's back lightly. "You knew, right? That wasn't me breaking the news to you? Jean said you knew." Did she say that? Sure she did... Or she projected it. Gonna just file that under mind-meld question for later.

Bobby: Bobby frosted his beer glass a little during his coughing fit, giving Jamie the stink eye for the entire fit. "I knew," he gasped, coughing again.

Jamie: Right! Jean had told him because she knew that Bobby wasn't nice to Rogue! Shouldn't forget important details like that, man. Definitely not before speaking. "Yeah, Jean said Rogue told her you knew. But your reaction..." Just own it. "Okay, fine, I forgot. Sorry."

Bobby: "What about my reaction?" He was still raspy and decided to take another sip to hopefully soothe his throat. "My reaction was to overreact, which I tend to do, and be an ass."

Jamie: "I meant to me bringing it up, but sure, we can go ahead and jump on that train of thought." Jamie narrowed his eyes, preparing to yell at his friend. "What the actual fuck, dude?! I thought you loved her! As a best friend at the very least!"

Bobby: He realized he'd never seen actual anger on Jamie before and found himself impressed in addition to feeling the usual guilt. "Yeah, yeah, I know. I do love her... I just... it was a lot, and the last thing I ever expected to hear."

Jamie: "From what I know, it's the last thing she ever expected to say! And she chose you to say it to!" It took a lot of willpower for him to not punch Bobby, forcing himself to face the bar and grip his pint glass with his wannabe fist. "The woman you love is pregnant. Not all of us can say that, man."

Bobby: "You're right," he said, taking another drink, then glanced sideways at his friend. "I get it. And I'm sorry for what happened to you and Jean."

Jamie: Jamie held his breath for a long moment, trying to reign in his anger. He rolled one of his shoulders and sniffed then picked the beer up and finished it off in one go. "Yeah, well. You should apologize to Rogue for being the biggest douche on the planet."

Bobby: Bobby waited for that long moment, watching Jamie stew, then relaxed. "I already did," he mumbled into his beer. "It was while she was barfing her guts up though..."

Jamie: He was glad he'd already swallowed or he would have choked, much like Bobby earlier. He motioned for another beer and turned back to arch an eyebrow at Bobby, "Gross. Glad you apologized, but maybe you should do it again when she won't get an idea that you did it because you felt bad that she was making offerings to the porcelain god?"

Bobby: "Okay, maybe it wasn't while she was doing it, but it was shortly after..." Bobby winced and took another swallow of beer. "Stark left her sick at the asylum while he was off being presidential or something."

Jamie: That made Jamie frown, eyebrows furrowing together in skepticism while he accepted the beer from the bartender. "He being an asshole about it, too?"

Bobby: "I..." He wanted to say yes, but he couldn't lie, even though a part of him wanted to. "She said it was so she was close to Hank in case something went wrong while he was busy."

Jamie: Both eyebrows went up at Bobby's hesitation, then he laughed. "You were totally about to say awful, horrendous lies about your boss." He grinned and took a healthy swallow of his fresh beer. "This is why I'm my own boss. Only my selves can say something like that about me, but then it's also about them. So they don't." Oh really? "Normally." Better.

Bobby: "I was not!" He started, then made a face. "Fuck me, yeah, I was. It's really hard to hate the guy..." Bobby stared into his beer and then downed the rest in one go. "I'm totally letting the word salad about slandering yourself go, by the way."

Jamie: "At least it's just me slandering me and not somebody else doing it," he raised his pint in a mock toast and took another drink. Jamie nodded for another beer for Bobby and gave him a sympathetic smile. "Did she at least accept the apology? Are the two of you back to where you were?"

Bobby: Bobby had to at least agree with that, giving him a shrug and a half smile, then glanced at the bartender to give him a nod too. "She did. We're..." He paused, licking his lips to try to decipher his own feelings. "I don't know what we are, dude."

Jamie: "In love? Just friends forevermore? Teetering on the edge of insanity because you want her so bad it hurts but you can't have her because you were a jackass and she took it the wrong way and it turned into an epic misunderstanding?" No, not him. Just us. ... "I mean, does she want to settle down with Daddy Stark now? Or what?"

Bobby: "Best friends in love? It sounds like a teen drama..." he trailed off when Jamie went down his own little rabbit hole, eyebrows going up. "That's what happened with you and your redheaded shadow?" He chewed his lip over the last words. "Or what. Apparently?"

Jamie: "Yeah, maybe... Okay, fine, yeah. She cheated, in my mind because I thought we were exclusive, but she was my first girlfriend so I didn't know we needed to have the discussion about it, so she didn't think she cheated. I found out, yelled, stormed off, fully intending to just take a couple of days and cool off. Sheeee didn't think that." He slurped his beer and shrugged. "Apparently question mark? So she's not gonna stay with her baby daddy?"

Bobby: "She sort of cheated, but didn't, but didn't know you weren't really mad?" And he thought his love life was complicated. "She says that she still wants to be with me, but that the baby complicates it. That's the understatement of the fuckin' century."

Jamie: "Babies complicate everything. That's kind of what they're made to do. Everything changes when a kid gets involved. Suddenly, you have to think about someone else first. Someone who can't take care of themselves." Jamie stared into his beer. "Someone who could die from something we wouldn't think twice about doing. This tiny person who needs you to do everything for them. To keep them safe."

Jamie: He cleared his throat and looked up, "That comes first. But you know that. You're a dad."

Bobby: "They do," he agreed. "I was still a dumbass when Ripley was born, but you learn to grow up enough to keep that tiny person alive and hopefully not give 'em too much fodder for therapy later on." Bobby downed half his beer. "Zach is too little to understand what's going on, but Rip... she's too smart. She knows what divorce is, and it's fuckin' hard, trying to keep it together for her."

Jamie: "That sucks, dude." Jamie tilted his head and frowned in thought as he looked at Bobby. "Does she remember Lorna?"

Bobby: "Nope. She's seen pictures, and heard stories, but she was a baby when Dee died." He downed the other half. "Paige is her mom, and Rogue is her aunt. Rip doesn't know about me and Rogue, Paige and I are at least civil enough that we're keeping the kids out of the drama. As much as we can."

Jamie: Jamie's eyebrows went up and he blinked at Bobby, "Rogue is her aunt? Like... Calls her aunt and everything?" He whistled low. "That's fucked up. Maybe you should look into getting her into therapy before you tell her that her aunt is her new mommy."

Bobby: The blink and whistle made him make a face and he signaled the bartender for another. He might need something stronger at this rate. "Auntie Roguey..."

Jamie: "Yikes." Jamie winced and drank more of his beer, deciding that was better in his mouth than a foot. His or Bobby's. "Her kid gonna call you Uncle Bobby?"

Bobby: Bobby choked again, but this time the coughing fit was shorter. "Okay, we need shots over here." He waved for the bartender, still clearing his throat.

Jamie: "It's a valid question!" Jamie couldn't help but laugh at Bobby's reaction, though. "That's probably how she's gonna have to refer to you in front of Tony, ya know.”

Bobby: He shot Jamie a heated look but it quickly cooled. "Yeah, you're right," he ground out, then ordered shots of whiskey when the bartender appeared.

Jamie: Jamie kept his eyes on the bartender since he wasn't sure what expression was showing on his face right now. He knew he was right. He also knew it sucked. "So, what. She's gonna keep up the song and dance with the billionaire until the baby pops out, then say 'oh, sorry, Ah gotta spliuht?" Of course, Jamie also knew, from what Jean had said, that it wouldn't be that easy for her.

Bobby: Bobby let out a heavy sigh and shifted restlessly on his bar stool. "Yeah, so she says. There's no way it's that simple though." He licked his lips and rotated the empty beer glass on the bar, frosting the condensation.

Jamie: His eyes slid down to Bobby's glass, watching the frost trail upwards. "Probably not." He took the whiskey and passed Bobby's over to him, turning to face him at the same time. "But you do know she loves you and she'll do anything she can to be with you. Boiled down, it's pretty simple. It's the logistics that suck."

Bobby: Catching the shot, he took it without preamble and licked his teeth. "Yeah, just need a half dozen of those for this conversation," he laughed, but it came out bitter. "Problem is she loves him, too."

Jamie: "Yeaaaah, I'd heard that." Jamie took his shot and put the glass down. "We can change the subject if you want. How's the divorce going?"

Bobby: He made a face and ordered another round of beer as a chaser. "Paige is being civil, which... I almost wish she'd be angrier, it's better than this... fake polite thing." He slid his shot glass back toward the bartender and gave him a nod.

Jamie: "Maybe it's not fake? Maybe she's trying to make the best of a bad situation. You know how Paige is." Jamie shrugged when the bartender asked him if he wanted another shot. Why not? "Or maybe she got some good ..." Don't say it. But- NO. "Help down in Hawaii."

Bobby: Bobby shot Jamie another look at that tone. "The only help I know about is Sebastian Shaw paying for her lawyer, and that trip to Hawaii." Jamie was saved by the bartender, who returned with shots and another round of beer.

Jamie: "Hey, you're the one who wants to be with someone else. Why can't she?" Jamie met his glare with a stare of his own. "Do you want to be back with Paige?"

Bobby: "A big part of me wishes Rogue had never told me, and things would go on the same. I was trying to get Paige to spend more time at home and her residency was almost over. Things could have gotten better." He looked away from Jamie. "I still love Paige."

Jamie: "Then go back to her. Grovel, remember?" He shrugged one shoulder and picked up his next shot. "If you can deal with knowing that Rogue loves two men, but you more than him, she can deal with knowing you love her more than Rogue. She's a strong, badass lady."

Bobby: "There's that part of me that wants to, for sure." Bobby reached for his shot. "I also wonder if maybe Rogue getting pregnant is just... like if it's fate, or a sign, or something. A sign that she should stick with Stark."

Bobby: He downed his shot and followed it with a swallow of beer. "And I don't think Paige would ever forgive me."

Jamie: "It's not like you ran out when things were good, dude. Things were hard on you and Rogue gave you comfort. I think that makes sense." He took his shot after Bobby, again, and put it upside down. No more yet. "Jean thinks it is..."

Bobby: "Jean thinks what is? A sign?" He made a face into his beer. "It doesn't matter what makes sense, she's not gonna forgive me. It's Rogue. It's not like I can cut her out of our lives, either..."

Jamie: "Yeah. She thinks Rogue should stick with Stark. Nobody else made her pregnant ever, so how could it not be a sign?" Jamie picked up his beer to work on nursing that. "It's Rogue, he mimicked, softly. "What does that matter? Paige is your wife and you love her."

Bobby: "And Rogue is my best friend and I love her, too." He sighed and muttered to himself. "Jean might be right. If me and Rogue were ever meant to be, why would she get pregnant?" The muscle in his jaw worked and finally he blurted it. "It should have been me."

Jamie: "You didn't know if you wanted anymore kids, dude," he said, still keeping his voice soft. "By that logic, it wouldn't have been you and she wouldn't have any kids of her own."

Bobby: "The idea of having kids with her? With Rogue?" He shook his head, thinking of holding Anna in her bed just days ago. "It's something I never would have thought was possible. Something I never knew I would want so badly."

Jamie: "Do you only want it now because you can't have it? Or do you want it because you want to start a family with her?" He arched a brow at Bobby as he took a long drink. "Jealous or genuine, Popsicle?"

Bobby: "Both?" He shook his head again. "But it's genuine. Her powers... they don't work on me the same way as everyone else. We always thought it was just a weird fluke, and then I thought, maybe, it was a sign we should be together. But then she got pregnant, with just an ordinary human. She can't touch him, but somehow he managed to knock her up."

Jamie: Jamie frowned, taking the knowledge in, and letting it roll around in his brain for a few moments. "She can't touch him, without her inhibitor, you mean. So, for all intents and purposes, she's also 'just an ordinary human' when she's with him. Maybe you can touch her, but it wouldn't have let her get pregnant because of the fact that her powers may actually be what keeps her from getting pregnant, like you thought."

Bobby: "Yeah, that's what scares her, and she won't take the bracelet off. Hank said he thinks it's safe." Bobby took a long drink. "She used an inhibitor before. Those patches. Eventually, they stopped working for her, so she's scared that Stark's inhibitor bracelet will eventually fail too."

Jamie: "Nothing's meant to be used all the time, dude. Our bodies grow resistance to things." He drummed his fingers on the bar, thinking about things for another minute. "Do you think it's safe for the baby if she tries to take it off? If she feels something's wrong, she can put it back on. Or would it be in time?"

Jamie: Jamie blinked, realizing he was more asking the questions to the air than really asking anything of Bobby. "Sorry. My parents were nuclear physicists. Science is in my DNA. ...badumtsh."

Bobby: "Most inhibitors don't work on me," he said, then reached over to flick the leather of Jamie's jacket. "So why are you always wearing that, dude?" The alcohol was starting to do its job and he let the questions wash over him with a few nods. "Yeah, who knows. What I do know is if she takes it off and something happens she'd never ever forgive herself."

Jamie: "I don't always wear it. Only when I'm around people. I let myself use my powers more often than not." Jamie reached up to pop his collar and gave Bobby a grin over his shoulder. "But I look damned good when I do wear it." Right, serious, somber things. He let his face adjust to the appropriate emotion before speaking again. "So maybe someone takes it off for her? So she would be angry at someone other than herself?"

Bobby: "I'll let Jean be the judge of that," he laughed, downing another swallow of beer. "Yeah, like who? Me?"

Jamie: "Aaaactually... I was thinking Tony." He sipped slowly at his beer, giving Bobby a sort of side eye that said 'but you didn't hear that from me'. Because he didn't. It was never said, right? Right.

Bobby: "Tony?" He said it louder than intended, then hissed it again. "Why would he want her to take it off? He can't even touch her without her killing him without it!"

Jamie: "I dunno, dude! I was just thinking about how it might be best for her to not wear it all the time and you'd like to create some distance between them, and if it failed, that would definitely do it."

Bobby: "That's... sneaky!" He wasn't sure if he was impressed or horrified.

Jamie: Jamie grinned, proud of himself. "I'm paid to be sneaky. I'm good at my job."

Bobby: "Remind me not to piss you off," he laughed, deciding he was more impressed than horrified.

Jamie: His grin grew and he waggled his eyebrows once. "Tell me, Mr. Drake. What will you do once you've won the super...girl...?"

Bobby: Jamie had a lot of eyebrow to waggle and Bobby snorted. "Once I've won the super girl..." He took another drink. "I'd marry her."

Jamie: That wasn't what Jamie expected and he choked on his drink. He set it down and coughed until it cleared then looked over at Bobby, skeptical. "That's moving kind of fast, don't you think?"

Bobby: "When did you know you wanted to marry Jean?" He watched the guy from the corner of his eye, draining his beer and signaling the bartender again.

Jamie: "Irrelevant to my question." He narrowed his eyes, "I'm also not in the middle of a divorce trying to woo the most famous man in the world's pregnant girlfriend away from him."

Bobby: "It's totally not irrelevant. I knew when I wanted to marry Lorna, when I wanted to marry Paige," he paused, licking his lips. "And Rogue..." Anna. "We've had a connection for so long."

Jamie: "It is irrelevant because the only hurdle I had to jump with Jean was my thinking she cheated on me. You have legal ones and then some."

Bobby: "Okay then, reverse our positions. What would you do?" He cocked his head and rested an arm on the bar to regard Jamie, although it was somewhat drunken.

Jamie: "Uhh." Huh. How come that question was so confusing? "I see every side to every problem and every possible solution." That's why. Right. "There are too many things that I would do. Or not do. Or force someone else to do. All of them end mostly badly."

Bobby: "Okay, so, you see every side and every solution and blah blah blah, and you only see it ending badly? Why?"

Jamie: "Because every solution ends with someone hurt," Jamie said it simply and shrugged, then picked up his beer again. "And blah blah blah," he mimicked.

Bobby: Bobby supposed he couldn't argue with that, so instead he made a rude noise. "So long as it's not me or Rogue, why should I care?"

Jamie: Jamie blinked at him. "Because," he said softly, then tilted his head to make sure Bobby caught the importance of his next words, "It could be her baby."

Bobby: He sucked in a breath. "Like, if Tony took off the bracelet and she lost the baby."

Jamie: "That's one of the ways, yeah..." He stared back into his beer for a moment, then finished it off and called for another shot. "So, I would hope you'd care about that, even though it's not you or Rogue."

Bobby: "Well, yeah, of course I don't want a poor baby to die..." He made a face, unable to quash the thought that it would solve a lot of problems though. Bad, Drake. Evil. He decided he needed another shot too.

Jamie: Jamie watched his friend carefully for a moment, debating. "Nobody does... But, I mean, if it did... Nottosaythatwewoulddoanythingevertomakethathappen."

Bobby: Bobby's head whipped and it took him a long few seconds to decipher that. "No! Of course not! ...not that there's anything to do to make that happen." He realized what he was saying. "Fuck me, I'm going to hell."

Jamie: "Noooo," Jamie took his shot, coughed, and continued, "ooooooo...." He winced, "We're going to hell."

Bobby: Bobby took his shot and could only nod in agreement. "Yep."