Terri's Peep Hut ~~ Fiction Archive

Pick Your Poison - Chapter Twelve

Title: Pick Your Poison

E-mail: xgrrl26@yahoo.com

Disclaimer: I only own Zach - all these other lovely mutants aren't mine. Rats.

Archive: WRFA, Mutual Admiration, Dolphin Haven Peep Hut anyone else, please ask and I'll happily provide :)

Feedback: Please? Pretty please? Good, bad, and ugly welcome.

Summary: Sequel to Chapter Eleven. By popular vote, Hank decides to do a little digging of his own into Marie's past treatment. He decides he needs to go to Westchester to do it.

Comments: Once again, this is a little late, due to holiday and birthday nuttiness ;) This one's also the last 'real' chapter of the series. I've had a blast writing it, and it's been very challenging! Thanks to all who voted, sent me fb, or encouraged me to try this wacky idea out. There will be one more part, an epilogue of sorts, so read through to the bottom for your voting options ;) And please, for the love of God I beg you, no fractions ;)

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"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Zach was, despite the fact that he'd volunteered to go on this trip with Hank, still a little nervous. Everything he knew about the X-men, he didn't like, and now they were heading into the 'belly of the beast' as Hank called it Westchester, and the mansion.

"No," Hank answered truthfully. "But as I told Logan and Marie, I think it is important for us to uncover whatever we can about the treatment Marie received while she was here. If I were in her shoes, I would want to know the truth, and as her treating physician, I wish heartily to avoid any surprises in the future. I do not think there is any other way than to see the treating facilities and the records for ourselves. I do not trust them to convey complete and accurate medical information to us, especially after this last revelation. Logan has alerted them that we are coming and has indicated that he expects their full cooperation in this matter. If they are at all decent, they will do as he has asked."

"They don't seem real decent from what we've seen of them so far."

"I concur." Hank looked over at Zach as he finished the drive to the mansion entrance and parked the car. "Zach, it was very brave of you to volunteer to accompany me."

"Thanks. I'd do anything to help out Miss Marie both she and Mr. Logan have done so much for me, you know? But I am a little nervous. I'll feel better when Jason gets here tomorrow."

"As will I. Reinforcements never hurt. But in the mean time, remain in close proximity to me, yes? I believe we will be safest if they do not separate us." Zach nodded, and both men grimly exited the car.

"Dude, here they come. Act normal, OK?" Jubilee cracked her gum to emphasize her point.

"You're telling me to act normal?" Bobby queried in disbelief. "If he managed to stomach you two, I'm no problem."

"I still think we could've totally handled it on our own. I don't know why we have to have an 'official' x-man with us. Right, Kit? The big blue guy, he was totally digging us. We're cool." Kitty just rolled her eyes at that. "Well, we're semi-cool. We're definitely cooler than Dr. Grey or Mr. Summers or the Prof., so we get the gig. Just try not to ruin my mojo, OK, Bobby?"

"If only that were possible."

"Here they come," Kitty warned. "They brought that cute one with them."

"Chica, he's taken, remember, and so are you. Your boyfriend's standing right here, in fact." Bobby cleared his throat and Kitty blushed a little, making an apologetic shrug. Jubilee ignored them, keeping her eyes on their visitors, and flinging the door open with a flourish before they quite arrived.

"Welcome to Casa Xavier! Good to see you again, dude."

"Ah, yes," Hank temporized. "Hello. May we come in?"

"Mi casa es su casa, amigo. You remember the Kittster, and this is Bobby 'the iceman' Drake."

"Hello. I am Dr. Henry McCoy, and this is Zach. We are pleased to make your acquaintance. Please show us to the medlab." Hank had decided that a formal, get-straight-to-business approach would be best. He didn't want to spend any more time in Westchester and in the presence of the X-men than necessary.

"Can do. The iceman here is gonna stick with you, you know, just in case you need something. It's this way." Jubilee gestured for the men to follow her down the hall, and, after a brief hesitation, they did. Hank was not surprised that they'd have a chaperone for their visit, but he had hoped it would be one of the x-men he knew. The known was better than the unknown in this kind of situation. He wondered what 'the iceman's' powers were and whether his attitude was similar to those of the x-men he'd met before. "So, how's it been hanging? How's our chica, R-uh, Marie? She's e-mailed us a coupla times, you know."

Hank did know. He also knew she'd been very nervous about doing so, but that her short, not-at-all-deep notes had been met with civility so far. He was glad the girls, the 'terrible twosome' as Logan called them, had been able to manage that. "Marie is doing well."

"I'm glad to hear it," Bobby chimed in. "She and I were good friends before well, before everything happened." Hank restrained himself from arguing how he could be such a good friend if he'd remained indifferent to the quality of her medical care and her suffering, and settled for exchanging a dark look with Zach.

"Have the records been gathered for us?" Hank resolutely steered the conversation back to the matter at hand.

"Yep. And the Prof. said if you have any questions to ask him. He's teaching a class right now but he'll be down to say howdy later. The computer stuff Bobby can show you how to access the system. It's all in the medlab." Jubilee herded them into the elevator and pushed the appropriate button.

"I should expect that we will need no more than 48 hours to complete the review. Has Logan mentioned that another of my associates, Jason, will be joining us tomorrow?"

"Yeah. Said you're returning the rental car and driving back to BFE Canada in this Jason dude's truck."

"BFE?" Zach inquired.

"Heh. Just an expression. Means Bum-Fucked Egypt. Slang for the middle of nowhere." Kitty explained it a little awkwardly. "Jubes has lots of colorful expressions." The elbow Kitty delivered to Jubilee's side clearly illustrated that the rest of them should be kept to herself. Bobby gave Kitty a measured look. He didn't like that she seemed to be a little shy around Zach. That was usually a sign that she liked someone. It had been a sign she liked him.

"Oh," Zach said. The elevator doors opened, and Jubilee promptly herded them all back out.

"Here we are, the X-medlab, where all the fashionable muties go to fix their ouchies. Your records stash is over there. Make yourself at home, dude."

"Thanks, Jubes, Kitty," Bobby said, hoping to give them a cue to leave. He had a few questions for the big blue doctor of his own and a few more that the Professor had suggested he ask. That would be best done alone, without Jubilee's constant monologue. The girls seemed to, for once, take the obvious cue.

"Adios, then. If you need anything, let us know."

"Bye," Kitty quietly offered as they both returned to the elevator.

"Let us get started," Hank said, heading straight for the boxed files. Bobby gave a reassuring smile to Zach, and followed.

"Don't worry, darlin', I'm sure they're OK. Chuck wouldn't be stupid enough to pull anythin', I don't think." Marie had been a little shaky ever since Hank left. It never occurred to Logan before that she probably depended on his constant presence in a way too, much like she depended on Logan's. Part of him, a big part of him, didn't really like that. He wanted to meet all her needs, be her everything. But the more rational parts of him realized that other attachments were healthy for her. The vast majority of him definitely wanted that for Marie. "They'll call tonight, Hank said, 'round midnight their time. It'll be OK."

"Maybe we shouldn't have let him go." Hank had come to them with this plan, this request to go to Westchester and do some digging himself. He'd said that Jean's confession made him curious about what else they might not know, and that Marie's question why had they kept on giving her the drug after the initial overdose was a very good one, indeed. Hank was curious about all of it, and Logan thought it was important to know what else was done to Marie too. The best way, the way to be sure to get the most and most accurate information, was for Hank to take a good first-hand look. It had been Marie's idea to have Hank take one of the older kids for backup, and Logan seconded that, adding that Jason could probably swing by and bring them home for a little added surety. He'd also made sure to give Chuck his best bad-ass attitude when he called and warned him to play straight with his best friend and one of his kids, or face the consequences. He didn't think Chuck would pull anything, not now. He just hoped he'd give Hank all the information on Marie, that he wouldn't try to hide anything.

"They'll be OK. If somethin' goes down, I'm on the next flight out there to kick ass and get them back. Marie, if Jeannie fucked the initial dose up, we dunno what else coulda happened. Hank's right. We don't want any surprises down the road."

"I just don't want people taking risks for me. If they got hurt"

"They both love you a lot, darlin'. It was their decision. That's what that's what family does for each other, huh? You're always sayin' that we're a family with the kids. Hank goes in there too." That brought a small smile to Marie's face. "If I thought it was real high-risk, I wouldnta let him go. When they call tonight, we'll get a feel for how it's goin'."

Marie scooted into his embrace, hugging him tightly. "It's more than that. I'm scared for them, but I'm kind of afraid to know too."

Logan squeezed her back and rested his chin atop her head. "Whatever it is, we'll handle it, baby. We've gotten through this far. Whatever's in there, we'll cope with it. I'll take care of you, Marie, I promise."

"That's part of what I'm afraid of." Logan froze with surprise and tension for a moment, but her next words eased his fears. "I want to start taking care of you a little bit now, now that I can I can talk some. I don't want you to be stuck always having to take care of me. I don't want it to be like that any more. I want to give things to you too."

Logan parted from her so that he could look into her eyes as he spoke. "You do. Every day, darlin'. I couldn't be without ya. You make me so damn happy, Marie, just bein' around me, just hangin' out with me. You're mine, darlin', and that's never gonna change, no matter what. There hasn't been a single day with you that I've ever felt bad about, nothin' that I've ever looked back on and thought I wish I was doin' somethin' else. Every day I was with you was a damn good one. Don't you worry 'bout a thing. It's all gonna be OK." Marie's lips slowly spread into a smile. "C'mon. Let's see what's on ESPN. It'll be a little while before they call." He gently guided her into the den, hoping that the midnight call would bring good news.

Hank had shuffled through the majority of the files in a few hours. He was beginning to revise his earlier estimate of two days. Now, he thought, they would probably just be finishing up when Jason arrived in the morning.

"Everything going OK?" Bobby had periodically inquired that of Hank since his examination of the records had begun. He'd also tried asking a few questions, all of which Hank politely sidestepped, indicating that he wanted to focus on the records. Hank had even brushed off the Professor relatively quickly, refusing a substantive answer to any of his inquiries as well. He just didn't trust these people.

"Fine, thank you." What he was finding in the records wasn't putting him any more at ease. It appeared that Jean had continually kept Marie sedated with mutatol, and had taken few measures to evaluate the effectiveness and appropriateness of the drug's ongoing use. There had been blood tests done, but no notations on the level of mutatol in Marie's system had been made. Violent outbreaks when the drug began wearing off were attributed to Sabretooth's violent personality. Hank found it particularly troubling that, in a facility with two telepaths, neither made any significant efforts to help stabilize Marie's mind. That kind of thing was risky, yes, and would be especially so in Marie's situation, but if they all cared as much about her as they claimed to, they would've tried it, Hank thought.

"You guys sure you don't want anything to eat?"

"Positive," Hank replied absently, as he thumbed through one of the few remaining folders.

"It's not poisoned or anything," Bobby joked. Neither of them laughed. Hank kept on browsing the file and Zach just looked nervous. "Look, I know things in the past have been kind of rough between you guys and us, but, regardless of what Logan's told you, we're not all evil. In fact, hardly any of us are. Jubilee she's about as bad as it gets."

"I would say Dr. Grey has considerably exceeded Jubilee in that category." Hank's eyes never left the folder. He turned another page. Bobby huffed and tried to think of a response. Zach spoke before anything remotely tactful came to mind.

"Mister Logan didn't tell us you were all evil. He said you had good intentions, but you don't really ever stop to think about how your big plans hurt other people. Judging from what I've seen of you so far, that's about right." Zach took a deep breath and tried to calm his nerves. He didn't want to just let that little slight to Logan pass without comment. Hank finally did lift his head from the pages before him to give Zach a bolstering smile.

"*Mister* Logan? He makes you call him *Mister* Logan?"

"People who have proper manners address their elders by Mister or Miss," Zach answered coolly.

"Yeah, but Logan and proper manners are about as far apart as this place is from China. *Mister* Logan?" Bobby was laughing a little now, and Zach wasn't finding that very amusing.

"I guess he's not up to your standards in manners. If the way you treated Miss Marie is any indication, I wouldn't want to have your manners." Zach's retort had taken Hank's attention completely away from the file now. "I don't think there's anything funny about that."

Bobby quickly sobered. "No. Sorry. I didn't I didn't mean any offense."

"You people never do," Hank chimed in. "And yet you continue to behave atrociously, ignorant of the effects your speech and actions have upon others."

"That's not true," Bobby defended. "We're just trying to do what's best for Rogue. We care about what happens to her."

"Your treatment of her here, in this very medlab, would seem to indicate otherwise. Your approaches to her, regardless of her wishes, are also quite unconvincing."

"But we're letting you look at the medical records now," Bobby argued. "We're opening up our whole database to you in a good faith effort. Why would we do that if we didn't really care about Rogue?"

"Her name is Miss Marie," Zach corrected.

Before Bobby could say anything, Hank continued, "I do appreciate access to your files. However, I find it difficult to change my opinion of you based on an isolated incident of decency and good judgment. I apologize I do not mean to offend. But I have seen what your vision of 'the best for Rogue' looks like," Hank shook the folder in his hands a little for emphasis, "and it seems to consist of a state of constant sedation, regardless of the physical and psychological effects on the patient. There are dozens of notations about why this or that approach is necessary to protect the staff and students from Marie, and not one about Marie's own progress, her own state of mind and body. I am sure that defining 'what's best for Rogue' as what is least dangerous and least troublesome for the rest of you is very convenient. It is not, however, accurate." Hank shut the folder with a snap, and reached for another in the dwindling bin.

"We didn't know any better. Yeah, Dr. Grey messed this one up, but we didn't know that the drug was making Rogue worse, not better."

"How could you not?" Zach put in. "She was she was in bad shape, anybody could see that. You don't have to be a doctor to tell."

"Perhaps we should drop this discussion," Hank interrupted. "I find it distracting from my review of the files."

"Look, you can't think that we "

"I need not think much at all, Mr. Drake. The signs of her degeneration were readily observable. Zach is correct. One need not be a doctor to see that. Your Dr. Grey failed time and again to recognize the danger signs that Marie was slipping away, worsening. She concealed relevant information regarding her treatment and destroyed records to cover her mistake. You her friends did little on your own to investigate her condition or make an assessment for yourselves. It takes little analysis to come to an opinion of your motives and character. Very little analysis."

"We trusted Jean," Bobby said, in a very pale tone of voice. Hank's words about not seeing for themselves what was going on with Rogue had struck a chord. "She she kept us out of the lab most of the time, for our own safety."

"I am sure that it is correct that being in proximity to Marie in her former state was indeed dangerous. But I know that if I had to face the choice of whether to submit myself to some risk to come to her aid, I would choose to take the risk. What do you suppose Zach and I are doing right now?"

"You're not in danger here," Bobby whispered.

"You'll do what's best for us, right?" Zach shot back. Bobby had no reply for that. He sunk back into his chair, thinking.

The phone finally rang at five past nine, pacific time. Logan eased Marie from her perch atop his lap on the couch and went to answer it. "Hello?"

"Hello, Logan. It is Hank."

"Glad to hear from ya." He turned to give a peeking-over-the-sofa-back Marie a reassuring smile. "How's everythin' goin' over there? Any trouble?"

"None so far. We have actually completed the review of the written files. I have made copies of the pertinent information. I will begin the computer review momentarily. We should finish around the time Jason is scheduled to arrive."

"What'd ya find out so far?"

"It was a little worse than I suspected. The doses and frequency of administration of the mutatol were quite high at the outset and only increased throughout Marie's stay here. Using Dr. Grey's logic that the drug would suppress Marie's violent outbursts I can see why this occurred. In reality, the drug worsened Marie's condition, and more of the drug only brought on more episodes. Logan, frankly, had she not had such a strong healing factor, and a strong mind, she would not have survived."

Logan let out a little growl at that, causing Marie to leave the couch to come over to him.

"I am surprised, somewhat, that neither telepath attempted to assist her in her adjustment to Sabretooth," Hank continued. "But other than that, there is so far nothing that makes me fear for Marie's continued recovery."

"That's good news." Marie was now pressed to Logan's side, listening in on the conversation a little. Logan put an arm around her, half in relief at Hank's words and half out of the ever-present desire to have her as close as possible. "I don't think they can get into her head 'cause of her mutation. I don't think telepaths can do that with her."

"Had they tried before and failed?"

"Nah. Not that I know of. Hang on." Logan looked to Marie for confirmation. Marie sighed, then motioned for Logan to give her the phone. He did, and she held it to her face for a few moments in silence.

"H-Hank?" Marie finally managed. Logan kept her close as she spoke. "They tried once. It hurt the Professor's head. It was it was after Logan saved me, after I absorbed him. I was acting like him and and the Professor tried to help but he couldn't."

Hank stood dumbfounded on the other end of the line. That was Marie. Marie was talking. She was talking almost normally. "Hank?" He heard Logan's voice again through the line. "You there?"

"Yes," Hank answered slowly. "That was incredible."

"I know," Logan agreed, grinning proudly. "She's somethin', ain't she?"

"Indeed." Hank was smiling quite a bit now too, earning him interesting looks from both Zach and Bobby.

"That's thanks to you, Hank. I won't ever forget what you did for us. I owe ya, and I don't think I can ever pay ya back enough. Finish up there quick, huh? The kids miss ya."

"I will. Thank you, Logan. And tell Marie I said congratulations."

"I will. See ya soon." Logan hung up the phone and turned a now-teasing smile on Marie. "Holdin' out on us, huh? Didn't know you had that much talkin' in ya. That was real good, darlin'." Not only was it a lot of words, but she said them in sentences and they were about a somewhat difficult topic. Over the phone, yet. Logan really was very proud of her.

Marie returned his grin. "It's easy when you're here helping me, holding me. You make it feel safe." Her eyes turned suddenly soft and warm. "Can we can we go to bed early? I want to be with you. I want to make you feel loved, as much as you make me feel it all the time. Can we?"

"We sure can, darlin'," Logan answered, already leading her to the hall.

It was the next morning in Westchester, and Hank was finishing up his all-night marathon review of the mansion's medical records database. The information there was similar to what the files contained, with only minor additional observations or notations. Jason was due any minute, and Hank was preparing to wake Zach. The boy hadn't wanted to sleep, but Hank convinced him by saying that Jason may want help driving and Hank had no idea how to pilot a tractor-trailer, and furthermore no license with which to do so. Zach did. The boy had finally acquiesced at about 4 a.m., and was now snoozing in a chair.

Bobby remained awake, but he didn't say much to Hank after their earlier conversation. He'd overheard Hank tell Zach that Marie had talked on the phone, and closely observed both men's delighted reactions to that. Bobby had been thinking about all that Hank had said, and all that had happened. He wanted to say something to Hank before they left.

"Maybe you're right," Bobby said, out of the blue. Hank paid him no attention. "Maybe we didn't do enough or do the right things for Rogue. But we *did* care about her, we honestly did. She was a good friend and I miss her a lot. I know it sounds lame to say we never meant to hurt her, but we didn't. What happened with Jean that was just a mistake, and yeah, she compounded it with what she did and by not telling. But it was still a mistake. And the rest of us we were just doing what we thought *would* help her, we were trying not to get in the way. I don't want to lose Rogue's friendship forever because of this. None of us do."

"Then allow her to heal," Hank said, still not peering above the computer screen. "Allow her time to decide for herself whether she wants to continue a friendship with any of you. Stop showing up unannounced and demanding to see her. If it is truly her friendship and not the satisfaction of your own needs that you are seeking, then behave as though that is so. Try to think of her first. It is really not so difficult. Perhaps you could begin with trying to remember that she wishes to be called Marie now."

Bobby considered that for a moment, then spoke very quietly. "Xavier thinks you're training some kind of force up there, maybe for the Brotherhood, maybe for your own purposes, maybe for revenge on us because Logan's pissed about what happened to R - Marie. But you're not, are you? You're really you're really just out there, taking kids in, aren't you? You're really not planning anything at all."

Hank sighed, and finally looked up to meet Bobby's eyes. "Mr. Drake, I have found that one often casts suspicion or makes accusations about others based on how they would conduct themselves in a similar situation. Just because Professor Xavier has elected to attempt to train his charges to pursue his own ideals however well-intentioned and noble they may be one should not assume that everyone who lends a helping hand to a mutant seeks to do the same. Logan has never asked anything of the children he has taken in other than obedience to a few simple house rules, and that they take the opportunity he is affording them to better their lives in whatever way they see fit. I am certain that your Professor would not approve of encouraging one of his charges to get a GED and a commercial driver's license, but, in the end, it is the child's life to live. Those with a different philosophy than yours are not necessarily out to get you in some way. And if their exercise of the right to choose for themselves their own ideas, their own path, angers you, perhaps you should look within yourself for the cause of that anger, rather than channeling it into baseless accusations and paranoid suspicions. Having a difference of opinion, Mr. Drake, is not an offense to one who has any capacity for self-examination and logical thought."

The intercom buzzed as Hank was finishing that sentence. "There's a 'Jason' here to see you, dude." Jubilee's familiar voice carried the news.

"We'll be up in a minute," Bobby replied, and clicked the intercom off. The noise had woken Zach, who was now sleepily trying to stand up despite the kinks in his back the chair had caused. "Are you almost finished?"

"Yes." Hank instructed the computer to exit the database, then to shut down.

"I'll take you upstairs. Want to stop in the kitchen and grab something for the road? We've got granola bars, ding-dongs, Twinkies." Bobby noticed Hank's interest perk at that last option.

"I suppose we could indulge in some sustenance," Hank replied.

"Good. Heck, even if we did poison the food, Twinkies would kill you quicker." Bobby gave a broad smile as he said it, intimating that he'd take his risks with the Twinkie as well. That time, Hank smiled a little at the joke. Bobby had proven an interesting host. Hank thought the young man seriously considered his arguments and had reflected on his own views. That was definitely a worthwhile trait. Perhaps, Hank thought, in another situation, we might have been friends. After all, a man who shared his love of Twinkies couldn't be all bad.

OOOOKKKKK time for the final Pick Your Poison it'll be an epilogue that will have Logan and Marie reflect on all that's happen a little while after this chapter takes place. The question this time is who else do you want to see reflect on the events of the story? I'll pick up to three other people/couples and here are your choices you can vote for up to three but no fractions this time you can give one whole vote to each of up to three choices, people, so please spare my fraction-hating brain cells, I beg of you ;)

1) Hank (you knew I'd have to put him in there first..)

2) Jubilee and Kitty

6) Jason (not really in the story, but referred to!)