Hello, I'm your wife. Allow me to introduce myself.

[magneticmiss.livejournal.com]

She sat at a table set for two at one of her father's favorite restaurants. The candles, flowers, place settings and linens were all arranged just so. As is she, she thinks, in her brand new dress and shoes, her nails freshly manicured, her hair trimmed and styled.

I might as well be one of the decorations.

A small thought as she plucks at the hem of the tablecloth.

She's waiting to meet the man she's going to spend the rest of her life with. She's less than excited. Matter of fact, she's downright nervous...if not a little scared...but she can't let any of that show, what with the dutiful guards lurking in the corners. She also figures any smidge of potential romance is utterly destroyed by their presence.

She sighs, glancing down to check her watch without being too obvious about it, then takes a sip of water...and waits.

Comments

[exiles-2h.livejournal.com]

He's never been too fond of crowds.

Come to think of it, he's not sure he's ever been too fond of people.

Still, the eyes of his family (flesh and electronic, he knows) are upon him, so he makes his way to the table and gives a little bow. "Good evening. I'm sorry I'm late."

[magneticmiss.livejournal.com]

She glances up and blinks. For a few moments, she looks a bit like a landed fish with her lips parted like that, but it isn't long before she regains her composure and smiles at him shly.

"Oh, that's ok. I haven't been waiting long. You must be Alex."

[exiles-2h.livejournal.com]

Yes, I must be, musn't I? he thinks, too accustomed to keeping things unsaid to relax around a stranger. Instead he simply smiles, then bends to kiss her lightly on the cheek, murmuring, "Sorry. Appearances--" just before his lips brush her skin.

[magneticmiss.livejournal.com]

She goes very, very tense, almost jerking away from the kiss to her cheek. Her face burns in furious embarrassment, her fingers touching where his lips did.

Appearances. Well, at least not everything will change.

Her eyes flicker up to him as she gives him a tight, small smile then they lower again, and she gestures to the chair across from her.

"Please. I..uh..didn't know what you would like for appetizers or to drink, so I waited."

[exiles-2h.livejournal.com]

Dammit. He sighs as he seats himself. "Sorry. I'm...."

A deferential waiter approaches, and he orders water. "Um, for appetizers ... this is a kosher restaurant, right? I don't know much about kosher food. Why don't you order something and I'll try it out?" He manages a small smile. "Maybe I'll like it."

[magneticmiss.livejournal.com]

She smiles some then turns her attention to the waiter.

"Chicken lettuce cup for me, please, and wild mushroom puff pastries for the gentleman."

[exiles-2h.livejournal.com]

"Wild mushrooms?" The smile becomes a little more genuine. "Do you like to go hiking?"

Maybe we can have something in common after all.

[magneticmiss.livejournal.com]

"I've never gone, but I do like being in our gardens."

The very idea of getting out of the city and away from her family brings an unexpected light to her eyes.

[exiles-2h.livejournal.com]

"I love to go rock climbing," he confesses, drawn out by that light in her eyes, against everything prudence would require. "Getting out in the middle of nowhere, just me and the mountain face...."

He has spent a lifetime schooling his expressions, but he can't completely hide the longing for solitude. And why shouldn't he relax a little? This meeting is for public consumption, after all. It's grist for the rumor mill. "I could teach you," he offers, "if you'd like. Or ... if you're not into that kind of thing, maybe we could just try a day trip upstate."

[magneticmiss.livejournal.com]

She could write a book about observing people and the telltale signs they give when they aren't paying attention, or think no one else is. What she sees from him as he talks calms her nerves before she realizes it, softens the edges of her face.

Again, she finds herself smiling, this time a little more honestly.

"I've never really been out of the city, so I don't know what I would like."

She hadn't meant to admit that much and blushes, lowering her eyes.

[exiles-2h.livejournal.com]

The awkward silence is brief, thanks to the timely arrival of the waiter, who deftly places the lettuce cups in front of Lorna and the wild mushroom puff pastries in front of Alex. "Thank you," the future groom says quietly, then picks up a pastry and gingerly bites into it. Pleased, he breaks into a more genuine smile. "Hey, this is good. You know your food."

[magneticmiss.livejournal.com]

"Just don't ask me to cook it."

She chuckles softly before taking a dainty bite of her chicken.

There are things she'd like to ask him. What does he expect from a wife? What female members of his family would he like in the wedding party? What are his ideas on children? Eek! All of those questions suddenly become stupid and trivial as she watches him from beneath her lashes.

[exiles-2h.livejournal.com]

The wild mushroom pastries are good enough that he can pretend they are his sole focus for the moment, though he studies her with every bite.

She's pretty--no, she's lovely. It could be worse. Unless....

"You know," he says quietly, "I don't ... we can...." Alex sighs, tired of toying with his fork and setting it beside his plate. "Look, I know I'm not who you expected to marry. Neither one of us has much choice in this, but we can choose how to behave to each other. So...." He's blushing and knows it, but can't stop it. "If you'd rather be more like ... friends ... that's okay. I don't--" He swallows, unable to say, I don't want to force anything. That's my family's way. Not mine.

[magneticmiss.livejournal.com]

Her brows had lifted as he starts and stops over and over again, then blinks, setting her own fork quietly down to the side of her plate.

She can't help the brief glance she gives to the silent guards, but her smile is more relaxed, more open when she looks back to him.

That's...sweet.

"Let's try this again. Hi. I'm Lorna."

[exiles-2h.livejournal.com]

This time, his smile reaches his eyes. "Hi. I'm Alex. It's nice to meet you, Lorna."

[magneticmiss.livejournal.com]

She resumes eating her appetizer with another shy smile for him.

"So what do you do...other than climb rocks?"

Could that be a bit of a smirk in that smile?

[exiles-2h.livejournal.com]

"I like to sculpt. I'm not very good, but I enjoy it. I like studying geology, going to museums about it, that sort of thing." Boldly he adds, "Anything that gets me away from ... crowds."

Maybe she'll understand that the crowds he hates most are related to him.

[magneticmiss.livejournal.com]

Oh she understands what is meant when one says that word with that tone of voice. She's heard it in her own enough times, so she gives him a knowing, a daring, covert smirk before taking another bite.

"Do you like the Museum of Natural History?"

[exiles-2h.livejournal.com]

"Sure. Would you like to go there some time?"

Too eager. He settles back against his chair. "Uh, that is ... if you want. Or if we have time." One corner of his mouth curls in a rueful grin. "They're keeping us busy, aren't they?"

[magneticmiss.livejournal.com]

She nods a little, wrinkling her nose.

"But part of keeping us busy is spending time to get to know each other. So, yes, I would like to go."

She loves museums in general, but this one in specific, though she sometimes feels bad for the animals that died to be there.

[exiles-2h.livejournal.com]

"I'd like that. Oh--" He turns as the waiter approaches again. "Um, yes. I'd like the ... uh...." A quick study of the menu ends in a relieved expression as he recognizes something he likes. "I'll have the lemon garlic lamb, please. Lorna, what would you like?"

[magneticmiss.livejournal.com]

"The fresh roasted chicken breast, please."

Her eyes flicker to Alex, then back to the waiter.

"And a bottle of Pinot Grigio, please."

[exiles-2h.livejournal.com]

Wine? Okay.

"I don't drink very much in public," he half-warns, half-apologizes to her. "I don't like losing control."

Especially because he's never been quite sure just how many implants Forge has installed in him ... and what Forge might do with his body if he ever got too drunk.

[magneticmiss.livejournal.com]

"It's a very light wine, and we don't have to drink the whole bottle."

I can't believe I'm going to say this.

"So long as it's chilled, it keeps quite nicely...for another day."

She clears her throat and blushes.

[exiles-2h.livejournal.com]

He likes the blushing. His sister-in-law never blushes. Neither does his niece.

He's beginning to like the green hair, too. "I'd like that."

He'd like it a lot. Spending the rest of his life with this woman doesn't seem so bad after all.

[magneticmiss.livejournal.com]

She surprises herself when she realizes that she'd like that too. She can't believe she's actually going to have to thank her father. This Summers son is not the monster she was expecting. Far from it, actually. She wonders what it would be like if next time his kiss went a little east of her cheek, then blushes again at that impertinent thought, and focuses on her place setting.

Fortunately, the wine's appearance at their table saves her.

[exiles-2h.livejournal.com]

The wine is shortly followed by the entrees, and as Alex's knife cuts into his lamb, he is struck by a horrid realization.

"You're not what I expected," he says, barely moving his lips.

[magneticmiss.livejournal.com]

She had taken a moment to just enjoy the aroma of her chicken before cutting into it and taking a bite.

Alex's question brings her attention back to him and her brows lift.

"Oh? What did you expect?"

It isn't as if I haven't been in every newspaper or on every channel at one time or another.

[exiles-2h.livejournal.com]

He continues to wield his knife and fork, speaking with the minimum of lip movement. "I didn't expect to like you." There is the barest suggestion of a sigh. "I'm sorry. That you're getting dragged into this family stuff."

[magneticmiss.livejournal.com]

Her cheeks once more turn a nice shade of pink as she smiles shyly at him. Then she lowers her eyes to her plate, the smile disappearing.

"Don't be sorry. I'm used to it."

[exiles-2h.livejournal.com]

I don't want you to get used to my family. I don't like being used to my family, and I've had a lifetime of practice.

"I'm sorry," he says instead. "You seem very nice, and ... well." Alex shrugs. "It's family."

[magneticmiss.livejournal.com]

This is taking a risk, but something about him is tempting her to trust him. Worse than that, it's tempting her to like him. She decides to take the chance.

She lifts her eyes with her chin still down, looking at him through her lashes. A very tiny smirk hides at the corners of her lips.

"Might be we're the only nice ones in either family then."

[exiles-2h.livejournal.com]

"Maybe." He has his own tiny, transient smile. "Sometimes it's lonely being the nice one."

[magneticmiss.livejournal.com]

Her hand slowly crosses the table top to brush her fingers against his. It's a shy gesture, ready to disappear like a soap bubble.

"Then maybe it's a good thing their plan backfired."

[exiles-2h.livejournal.com]

He tenses a little under her touch. So many touches at the Summers mansion are bad touches, especially when someone is humming "What a Wonderful World."

But she's flesh and blood, right? No gadgets, gizmos, or thingamabobs lurking in her skull.

He turns his hand to let his fingers brush against hers.

[magneticmiss.livejournal.com]

Her eyes flutter a bit, displaying her own set of nerves, but still, her smile is no less shy, but a bit more warm as she bravely links her fingers through his.

[exiles-2h.livejournal.com]

She shouldn't. He should pull away. He shouldn't let her get caught up in his family's poison.

But it's so, so tempting to have a friend.

Or maybe, comes the whisper in the dark corners of his soul, where he hopes even his niece and Xavier cannot see, an ally?