The X-Project

After a 'tip' from the Stepfords, Kurt finds Doreen trying to call her Father over and over again.

Doreen sat on the floor of the rec room in the corner, her tail back against the wall her legs crossed comfortably. She had been talking to her mom every day. Whether it was over email or by the phone, she at least had her mom as a contact. But she wasn’t trying to call her Mom right now. It was going to be her birthday shortly and she had been here a few weeks and she hadn’t heard from Dad.

He knew she was going here. Doreen had taken a day before she left and sat in his office building in the lobby waiting for him and told him as he had walked by. She still wasn’t quite sure if he heard her. It did concern her a lot though that Mom said Dad still hadn’t come back home. He didn’t have a reason not to if it was just her appearance that was making him uncomfortable.

It was that and the fact that she simply really wanted to talk to her Dad that Doreen was doing this. Her little brother had given her Dad’s new cell phone number and she had his office number – the one that went past his secretary.

Clawed fingers fumbled with the cell phone and dialed it slowly and listened to ring after ring until it rolled over voice mail. Doreen frowned and tried the other number to the same result. She switched back to the first, reciting the number in her head and holding the phone out of Monkey Joe’s reach as he kept jumping for it.

“No,” she snapped at her friend, “Down,” she said simply, one of the English commands that he knew. Monkey Joe clicked angrily and Doreen tried the number again, her tail drooping with each time. She knew from experience that a voice message wouldn’t be answered so she was hoping that he’d pick up, though that seemed less and less likely as she kept it on.

A pair of blue feet appeared, eventually, in her field of vision, and Kurt crouched down to her level. "Doreen? The Stepfords told me you were here. Is everything all right?"

Doreen looked up. The tears starting in her eyes she willed away like you could a figment of your imagination and snapped the phone shut, “Why do they care where I am?” she asked taking a second to wipe her eyes with the back of her hand.

"That is not quite what they said", he said with a shrug. "They do so love to gossip... but what they said does not matter. Has something happened?"

Those girls were proving themselves to be like a lot of the popular girls back home and though Doreen tried to see the good in everyone she wasn’t quite sure about the Stepford sisters. “I don’t know. Not really,” Doreen said. Something happening would be her Dad answering his phone. “It’s just…” she looked up and smiled – or tried to, “Sort of a long story, I guess.”

"I have time." He settled with his back against the wall, ready to wait it out with her. "If you would like to tell me, that is."

“If it’s not going to bother you or anything,” Doreen said, giving the cell phone to Monkey Joe who was now delightedly clawing and chewing on the closed device. She was pretty sure she wouldn’t have to worry about it suddenly ringing. She hoped it would, but she knew it wouldn’t.

"It will not bother me at all", he assured her. "If you are unhappy about anything, the staff want to know about it. Perhaps we might be able to help."

“Okay,” she said. She really didn’t want to be a bother to anyone. Even without trying she had managed to cause problems back home. “It’s not anything here,” Doreen said, “This place is amazing. Well, the Stepfords are a little creepy but don’t tell them I said that because I’m sure they can be something else if they want,” Doreen started. “But that’s not the problem… I… well, I’m trying to call my Dad.”

"Ah." There was a world of understanding in that one syllable. "He is not making himself easy to contact?" By you, was the unspoken end to that sentence.

“Pretty much,” Doreen said, reaching down to give Monkey Joe a scratch, “I have his new cell phone number and I know his work number – the one that goes past the secretary – and I know he’s busy, but…” she paused and Monkey Joe ran up to her shoulder as she pulled her legs up to her chest.

“He was supposed to move back home,” she muttered. After all, she left, if he was freaked out the problem should be gone and things could start to go back to normal.

"Did he say he would?" Kurt asked gently, trying to establish the exact situation. "Or is it only that you thought he would, now?"

“No. He only talks to my brother now,” Doreen said, curled up. “But, I mean, he left because of me so he should be back home now.”

"Doreen..." He reached out towards her, but left the decision up to her. "Even if your mutation made things worse between your parents, I do not think he would have left solely because of you."

Doreen didn’t move out of the way and all the cheek rubs in the world weren’t going to help make her feel better. “But before he was never like this,” she pointed out. She had always been Daddy’s Little Princess, now… now she wasn’t sure what she was to her Father.

"People take it in different ways, when their child is a mutant", was the careful response. "It may just have been too much for him... and your mother is not cutting you off."

“Mom is, well Mom’s always there, but I want to talk to Dad,” Doreen said. “I really miss him.”

"I understand missing people", he said quietly, and left it at that, hoping she would keep talking.

“I keep wanting him to call on my birthday but I don’t think he’s going to,” Doreen said sniffling.

"Oh, Doreen." He completed the gesture from before, now, reaching over to hug her. "If he does not, believe me, it is his loss."

Doreen started crying in earnest then. “I don’t get what happened. I’m not any different, right? I’m still me, aren’t I?”

"Of course you are still you", he assured her. "I am sorry your father is being this way, when he should love you no matter what... it cannot be easy."

She started trying to dry her eyes again. A harder task then it looked when the tears really weren’t stopping no matter how much she willed them too. “I just want him to be like he used to be, you know?”

"I do not see how you could not", Kurt agreed. "He is your father, and things were good. But sometimes things change, little one, whether we like it or not."

“It shouldn’t have changed at all,” Doreen said, lower lip trembling. “But he left me and mom but he still talks to my brother. I don’t get it at all.”

"Your brother is not a mutant", was the sad response. "It may be, somehow... he blames your mother, but your brother is still... normal."

“It’s not fair. I really, really thought it’d be okay again if I came here,” she admitted.

"I understand." He squeezed her shoulders, hoping for consolation.

She nodded between having someone who just listened and Monkey Joe clicking with concern and rubbing her cheek it was hard to really stay too sad for too long, “Thank you,” she said simply managing a bit of a smile this time.

"That is what we are here for", Kurt told her. "You can always come to one of the staff, you know that?"

“I know,” Doreen said, “I just… didn’t want to bother anyone,” she said sheepishly.

"It is never a bother. You, and the other children, you will be our top priority whenever it is at all possible."

“I know. I mean, I really didn’t want to come here at first but now I’m glad I did. It isn’t bad at all,” Doreen said, shifting a bit so she was sitting cross-legged again.

"I am glad you think so", he said solemnly, but then cracked a smile.

“I do,” Doreen said with a nod, “I hope things are easier for Mom at least a little bit now that she doesn’t really have to worry about me.”

"At least the financial burden might be less for her", Kurt agreed. "And if she needs any more help..."

Doreen shook her head. Mom wasn’t the kind to really ask for help unless they really, really needed it. And she supposed they had a couple of times. Back home anything that hadn’t been Doreen’s or Ryan’s and had been disposal had been sold and Mom had worked two jobs.

“I’m sure she’s doing okay. Mom’s strong,” Doreen said simply. She only wished she could be as strong as her Mom was sometimes. She paused as something else hit her.

“…My parents are really going to get divorced, aren’t they…?” She knew on one level that everything had been going on for almost two years, but it hadn’t seemed real.

"I think", he said carefully, "that if your father has not come home yet, it is most likely that they will. I am sorry."

Doreen hung her head for a moment and tried to push down the feeling of black despair that came with that, “…No… It’s okay,” she managed. She decided right then that she wouldn’t deal with this now. And it wasn’t going to happen for sure yet. There could still be hope.

"Perhaps it will be for them", he allowed, not wanting to crush her. "I will pray for it."

“Thank you again,” Doreen said, “You’re really nice,” she added, and meant it, “And not like some people back home who were only nice when they didn’t want to get caught being mean. I mean, like really nice.”

"I do my best", he said with a smile. "It is much easier with people who are nice back."