[ussbansheec] "An Innocent Rose" Part One
- From: "Moria McEntire" <bansheec@xxxxxxx>
- To: <ussbansheec@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 15 Jun 2006 18:14:34 -0400
"An Innocent Rose" Part One
William Worthington, Briar Rose Esslemont, Emma Frost, Alexandria
Monroe-Frost,
This log takes place 11 years ago
"You want me to do what?!" William gaped at the nurse from the orphanage.
"She won't eat," the woman explained, her deep brown eyes full of
compassion. "We have to force feed her in order to get the right nutrients
into her or she'll die. You've seen how thin she is."
"Ever thought of asking her why she won't eat?" he growled.
The nurse blinked at him. "Of course not. She's a child, she doesn't know
why she does things..."
It was all he could do to not hit her as he stormed out of the orphanage
he'd been volunteering at for over a year. Most the time all he did was
play with the kids and do basic chores but their normal assistant was off
sick with some kind of rash that apparently looked like poison ivy and also
in quite a telling place too. So he'd agreed to help with the dinners
today. But being asked to hold a girl down while they force fed her was way
above the call of his duty.
Still spitting fire, he grunted as he span into his cousin's home, knowing
he'd be welcome and knowing even more that his father wouldn't understand
his foul mood. "Lex?" he yelled out. "You there?"
"No," Alexandria replied as she came out of her home office still in her
uniform. "I'm here." She took in the young man's expression and the scent of
anger and frowned. "What's Warren done this time?"
Balling up his fists, William actually shook with fury. "It's not him.
It's... The orphanage!"
Heading towards the kitchen of her and Emma's Manhattan penthouse, knowing
William would follow, the dark skinned, white haired woman pulled her long
hair back into a pony tail before grabbing the kettle to make tea. "The one
you've been working at?"
"They're sick, Lexie, really sick," he growled. His wings were puffed right
up with his ire and his eyes had taken on a yellow hue. "There's this girl,
can't be more'n ten, and because she won't eat, they're force feeding her.
They asked me..." He rammed his fists into the top of a counter. "They
wanted me to hold her down."
Alexandria blinked, the kettle hovering above the flame on the stove. "They
did what?"
"They force feed her," he said slowly, still trying to get his own mind
around it. "She's a good kid, too. Weird, but sweet. She likes playing
with the plants. Strange thing is, I've never seen plants respond to
someone like that. They just shoot right up when she starts singing to 'em.
But the way she looked at me when they asked... It was like I'd betrayed
her or something." He slumped into a chair, his whole body curled over in a
hunch.
After finally sitting the kettle down Alexandria went over and sat next to
her cousin. She put a gentle hand on his shoulder and asked, "You've every
right to feel this way, William. No child should be treated that way."
"But I'm useless," he whispered. "I'm in no position to adopt a kid. What
could I give her except a deep sense of cynicism?"
"A friend, someone to trust." Alexandria replied.
"Someone to screw her up even more than she is at the moment," he said
gruffly. "But I gotta get her out of there. I'm not sure but I think she's
a mutant. I think they know it and that's why they don't give a crap about
her."
Before Alexandria could say anything a rather chilly voice asked, "You think
who is a mutant, William?"
"One of the children at the orphanage he's been working at." Alexandria
explained as her lover walked into the kitchen.
Emma raised a blonde eyebrow. "Details please, William."
Suppressing the chilly shudder he always got around her, William explained
about the girl in the orphanage, about how they were treating her and how
she'd looked so scared. "She has this affinity to plants. It's my only
hunch but I do believe she's one of us."
Without a word to either one of the others Emma turned, walked out of the
kitchen and into the office.
William glanced up at Lexie and frowned. "What..."
Alexandria titled her head slightly and then shrugged. "I don't know yet."
Getting up she went about making tea. "She's quiet." She tapped her head as
she poured the hot water into a tea kettle. "Have you spoken to anyone in
charge yet, William? The director, a case worker?"
"It was a freaking case worker who asked me to hold her down," he growled.
"Apparently it's the only way to get her to eat. They said she totally goes
whacko when she's made to eat veggies, worse even than me," he snorted.
"If this girl is a mutant with a connection to flora making her do such a
thing as eat them, it could be as traumatic as breaking my connection to the
winds." She offered softly.
"Shit," he whispered wretchedly. "I gotta go back and get her out. I've
got to help her."
Stepping out of the office Emma asked Alexandria if she'd join her for a
moment.
"Stay there." Alexandria told William as she sat a cup of tea in front of
him. Then she went into the office with Emma.
He wrapped his wide hands around the cup as if the warmth would heat up the
deep, deadening cold inside him. Those pale green eyes had looked so lost
this time. He'd never seen a kid look so frightened.
Nearly twenties minutes passed before Alexandria finally came back into the
kitchen. "Good you're here." She said as she walked up to William. "Had to
wait on Jean to confirm something for us. Care to show us the way to your
orphanage?"
"Um..." William put the cold cup of tea down and climbed to his feet.
"Sure. So she is a mutant?"
"Yes." Emma said as she carried her briefcase from the office and headed for
the door. "A recently active one which is why we hadn't picked her up
sooner. Scanning orphanages has been common practice since Scott."
"You're going to get her, aren't you?" he insisted as he followed her out.
"Please tell me you are."
Emma looked at him oddly. "Would we have asked you to take there if we were
not?"
"With you, who knows," he snorted. "By air or the conventional way?"
Alexandria snorted. "Flight outside of an airplane or helicopter makes her
sick."
Emma huffed. "We will take the car."
"Riiight," he groaned as he folded his wings as tightly against himself as
he could. "Coz that's just the most awesome way to travel: canned
sardines." Grunting, he climbed into the car and hugged his wings tightly.
He gave the driver the directions then tried to sit back as comfortably as
he could.
"Sorry." Alexandria offered with a warm smile. "I guess cars really aren't
made for people with a wing span."
"No, really?" he sighed. It always amazed him how the Frost and Worthington
drivers seemed to manage to find ways through any kind of traffic, even
heavy. But he ceased his wonderings as they drew up to the unimpressive
doors to the orphanage. "There," he said, pointing his chin at then
graffiti ridden walls.
As soon as they stepped out of the limo a man walked up to Emma, handing her
a bundle of padds. "Everything is in order, Ms. Frost."
"Thank you Norbert." Emma replied as she headed up the steps of the
building. "William, would you see us to the director's office please."
"Sure." Some of the kids were playing out front and they all waved to him
as he passed. Smiling at them easily, he swept open the door and headed
straight for the neat little office belonging to the director. "She's just
in there, Em."
Striding into the office without knocking Emma walked up to the woman's
desk. "Hillary Billington?" She asked but before the woman could reply she
went on. "You are to release the minor child Briar Rose Esslemont to me."
The dark haired, perfectly groomed older woman stared at the woman before
her and simply raised impeccably plucked eyebrows at her. "Now why would I
do that? The Esslemonts pay good money to keep their child here."
That was unexpected. The girl's parents paid to have their child live in an
orphanage? "That's odd I thought this establishment was listed as an
orphanage not a boarding school. A matter I will be sure to bring up during
my next lunch with Mayor." Emma set the padds down on the desk and slid them
towards the woman. "Until then, court orders to have the child removed from
your less then remarkable care."
"It is an orphanage," Hillary said coldly, barely even blinking at the
PADDs. "Just so long as we keep the stipend, the freak is in her room being
fed."
William paled at the way she said 'being fed'. "What're you doing..."
"No more than is necessary to keep the money rolling in," the woman replied
cooly.
~~Briar,~~ Emma reached out carefully, ~my name is Emma. Don't be
frightened. Care you come down stairs please?~
"Tell me," Alexandria said as she stood beside her lover, still in her
Starfleet uniform. "do the child's parents know of the forced feedings? And
are they prepared to answer child abuse charges along with you and your
staff?"
Emma smirked. "Better yet are you and the child's parents ready to take on
this battle? I ensure you Doctor you and the Esslemonts will run out of
money long before I do. Frost International has rather deep pockets."
"As do the Esslemonts I believe," Hillary laughed though it toned down
considerably when she saw the pale face of her charge at the doorway.
"Who..." Briar whispered in a rasped voice that spoke of how raw her throat
was from screaming. "Who are the Esslemonts?"
Before turning to the child Emma leaned in close. "That maybe but not do
have my own company but the support of the Worthington's and the Xavier
Foundation. Do you true wish to cross me?" Her coldness quickly melted as
she turned to look at the girl. She smiled when she saw Alexandria had beat
her to her.
"No one of importance at the moment child." Alexandria said softly. The
sound of her voice did not go unnoticed and it made it hard for Alexandria
to keep her temper. "My name is Alexandria and this is Emma." She looked
over at the blonde. "William's told us so much about you."
"Will..." she gasped when she saw him in the back. "You... wouldn't...
do... it..."
Shaking his head, he had to bite down on the inside of his cheek to keep
from screaming blue murder and killing the bitch in the stilleto heals. "I
brought back up."
Those pale green eyes fixed on Emma and then on Alexandria. "Who... are
you?"
~We are like you, Briar." Emma told her. "Your new guardians." She said
allowed.
Briar's eyes flew open again and she took a step away from them and closer
to William. "Please... please don't do that." She stepped tentatively
behind him and watched them through his wings. "It hurts," she hissed
through cracked lips.
Emma and Alexandria exchanged looks. Emma had been careful. "Alright." Emma
said attentively. "Do you have any belongings you wish to bring with you?"
"My orchids," she said softly. "And wiffunpuff."
Alexandria offered the girl her hand and a warm smile. "My mother raises
orchids. She has a whole greenhouse just for those as well as another for
other flowers and many many gardens."
Briar took the hand carefully, glacing all the while between the doctor,
William and Emma. "You wish to see my room?"
"I want to help you get your things, child." Alexandria said softly. "Your
going to come and stay with me and Emma."
"She will not," Hillary exclaimed. "Go to your room, I will send Oscar up
to tend to you."
Briar actually flinched and grabbed a hold of William's hand in her free
one. "Please..."
"How much did you eat, child?" Hillary asked caringly. "My report says it
wasn't enough for a growing young girl. You need your strength. Oscar will
make sure you have all you need."
Alexandria managed to look up before her eyes turned pure white. The sky
began to cloud over and thunder rolled all around then building.
"William," Emma said as she fixed her gaze on the horrid woman, forcing her
way into the woman's mind. "take my ward to the car please."
"Wiffunpuff?!" Briar gasped as she was herded out of the office. "Please,
please..."
William wrapped his arms around her and simply held her in the foyer.
"It's okay, sweetness, it's really okay now. We'll go and find Wiffunpuff
then we'll get your orchids and go, alright?"
"Don't leave me with Oscar," she whispered.
"Now then," Emma said as she pushed further and more painfully into the
woman's head. "shall we contain this civilly?"
A clap of thunder shook the office windows as lighting lit the room.
Hillary collapsed onto her chair, shaking violently. "Wh... what d'you want
with her anyway? She's just a kid?"
"A child who's been treated less then humanly and apparently sold off by her
parents." Alexandria replied. "A child with the right to a caring and safe
home."
"Take her," Hillary cried as the pain in her head increased. "Saves on
feeding. She'll be dead soon if you won't force her to eat."
Emma left the woman's mind as she pushed the paperwork towards her once
again. "She will thrive with people who know how to care for such a precious
and innocent child."
Quickly signing them, Hillary shoved the papers away and slumped backwards.
"Just get out of my orphanage. I'll send any other freaks your way, shall
I?"
The blonde actually smiled. "I wouldn't worry." She placed the signed papers
safely in her case. "With in the week Frost International will own this lot,
the building, and the orphanage, and you shall me out of work." With that
she and Alexandria left the office, and entered the foyer just in time to
meet William and Briar.
"I know a nice little replomat if anyone's hungry?" Alexandria said as she
once again offered the girl her hand.
"Replomat?" Briar asked tentatively, hugging a little cream and beige womble
to her chest as William struggled over with two huge cases of orchids.
"Told you this kid was a whiz with plants," he grumbled.
"It's a restaurant with replicators, machines that reproduce food."
Alexandria explained as they made their way to the car.
"From plants and animals?" Briar asked, already slowing.
"No, from energy," William told her. "Like plants get food from the soil
and from the sun."
"Not from plants and animals?" she whispered.
"Not from plants and animals." Emma confirmed as she helped the girl into
the car.
Briar held her stuffed toy even tighter as if they would all suddenly change
and become monsters who steal wombles. "It's possible to eat something not
from a plant?" she pused, totally confused.
"It is. A replicator is a device that can dematerialize matter and then
reconstitute it in another form. Takes and is just as nutritious as real
food. It's how people eat on starships." Alexandria explained while Emma
told the driver to head out into the city.
"You... won't force feed me?" Briar held one hand to her throat and rubbed
it slowly. A wicked thought stole through her mind and she actually smiled.
"I gave him poison ivy."
Emma smiled. "Good girl."
Alexandria chuckled and then shook her head. "Of course we won't force feed
you, child. You can eat when your hungry, but I have a feeling that if we
use the replicator we'll have no more eating problems. It's not very nice to
eat something you were just talking to the day before."
Still staring around, Briar opened her hand up and lifted it for Alexandria
to see. A small bud appeared out of the palm which slowly opened to reveal
a lilac flower. "Part of me. Like eating family."
"And they didn't even ask," William grumbled, his arm going around the girl
to hold onto her and kiss her temple.
Bright blue eyes went complete white as the tiniest of rain clouds formed
and the smallest of little rains tickled the girl's palm. "I understand.
When the Earth is harmed, when the air and sky are harmed, I feel it."
The flower grew and suddenly Briar tipped her hand so it floated off and
landed on Alexandria's lap. "Sorry, it's wet now."
A gentle wind make quick word of drying things off. "It's beautiful, child.
My mother would be envious."
"Should I make one for her?" Briar asked nervously. "Do you need more?"
The last think Ororo Munroe needed was another flower, but Alexandria knew
that that never stopped her mother from getting more. "I think, when we go
down to Westchester to see her, she'd like a flower from you very much."
"She can have one of my orchids," the girl whispered, still sore. "Would
she like that?"
"Hey," William said softly. "They're your flowers, little one, no giving
them away to people who have more than enough when all you've got are
these."
"He's right." Alexandria chucked a little. "In fact she's more then likely
going to give you your own garden and greenhouse space. It'll be larger then
what I can offer at the penthouse, but your welcome to what you need on my
rooftop garden."
When the car pulled up to their building the doorman opened the door and
Emma climbed out. She offered Briar a hand to help her out. "Here we are."
Briar took the hand but kept her other around the toy. It stared at Emma
with large goggle eyes and a worn squeaker that wheezed when it was squeezed
too hard. "Your home?" she asked.
"Yes," Emma replied as she lead the girl into the building. "one of them
anyway, and now your home as well."
It was so huge. Briar stared up higher and higher, not quite comprehending
how huge it was. It overwhelmed her, making her shake slightly. "Take me
back," she whispered earnestly. "Too big... take me back..."
"It's safe, child." Alexandria said softly as she crouched to the girl's
level. "Emma and I have lived here for years and William lives in a building
that's even taller."
Briar stared at William as if she didn't believe it. When he opened his
wings and flapped them playfully at her, she giggled lightly. "To fly away
from."
He was pretty sure there wasn't a sound in the world that could be better
than that little girl's laugh right at that moment. "But of course. I can
take you up to the blue one day when Em lets me."
Emma smiled, she couldn't help it. She'd fallen for the child the moment
she'd seen her. "Briar, would you like William to take you up to the
penthouse his way?"
Her whole face lit up and she very carefully placed the soft toy in Emma's
hands. "Do not let him come to harm," she warned so seriously for a girl of
ten. Then she threw her arms around William's neck.
He lifted her easily into his arms and flapped his wings slowly, gaining
height. "See you all up there!" he laughed as he spiraled up.
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