Participants:
| Scene Title | I Hope They're What They Want To Be. |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Megan drops off some chocolate peppermint christmas cheer for Brennan when she finds out he's in doing paperwork. They discuss the strange weather, Genetics and evolution and make plans for New Years Eve |
| Date | December 26, 2009 |
Suresh Center - Second Floor
The second floor is an idiosyncratic combination of small medical center and psychiatric hospital. In the back of the building are several lab rooms, equipped with everything from blood-test equipment to an MRI; despite its size, the facility is competitive in a features sense with many larger and more mainstream hospitals. The core is dominated by a multipurpose room, usually serving as a cafeteria but sometimes transformed into a game hall or ad-hoc movie theater; on either side of it are the two permanently-staffed nurse stations, the balcony at the front offering a view of Roosevelt Island and the opportunity for plenty of sunlight.
One wing of this floor has been given over to a medium-term ward, intended to house medical or psychiatric patients for only a few days, perhaps a couple of weeks at most. Most rooms are double-occupancy, particularly for medical patients, but in some cases they may be allocated as singles; all have large exterior windows and are surprisingly not painted in generic institutional shades. Rather, they each have their own personal theme, from ascetic to modern, oceanic blues to autumn reds and browns. Rooms are allocated primarily by what environment a patient feels comfortable in. The opposite wing is the Suresh Center's juvenile ward, designated for the care of Evolved children and teenagers coming to terms with their abilities. It has its own rec room, several single-occupancy rooms, and at the end of the hall a larger shared room for siblings, friends, and children who do better in company. As for the adult ward, the decor is engaging and inviting rather than blandly uniform.
Visitors are required to check in at one of the stations before going anywhere else on this floor, and in some cases may be provided with an escort for the duration of their visit.
She volunteered to work today. The Suresh Center is not expected to be busy, but Megan Young has nowhere else to be and the few additional medical personnel in her department all have families to go home to. Since no one has actually come through the doors needing anything, the redhead has used the time to run an inventory, finish up paperwork from the week, and make a pot of Godiva hot cocoa. With two mugs that have candy canes hanging inside them melting, she walks from the small kitchenette to the other office — she heard Brennan come in a while ago to work on his own paperwork. She doesn't knock, merely entering the office and setting the mug down for him. "Merry Christmas," she tells him softly, intending to slip back out and not bother him apparently.
"Merry christmas back Megan" Brennan looks up from his paperwork with a grin. "Not out shopping and catching all the sales?" He teases, a glance to the mug. "You and my daughters are of the same mind. Dessandra made just this same thing for me before they headed out to attack the stores like godzilla attacks Japan." The Doctor eases back, leaning into his chair so he can pull a small wrapped box from his desk and hold it up for the woman to take with a waggle. "Happy New Year too"
A faint smile quirks her lips upward and Megan admits, "Normally I'd just use peppermint schnapps, but what with being on duty, it seemed like a bad plan. I seem to have been born without the shopping gene." There's a bit of a lift of her brows, though, as the gift-wrapped box is proffered. "Now you're just making me feel bad," she says with a smile. "I didn't really… do much for Christmas this year except for my nieces and nephews." Setting her mug of hot chocolate on Brennan's desk, Megan reaches to take the box from him.
"Ahh well, not so much for you but that's the key's to a little storage space, where Michelle went a little crazy and she bought out half a dollar store and wrapped it. For your kids. How she managed to get her mother to help, I don't know, but they have beens pending days with the girls doing that. Boxes in there that you can rummage through. I think there's even blankets with cartoon characters on it as well. Warm clothing" He smiles widely at that thought.
Megan looks up, surprised. "Tell Michelle thank you," she replies sincerely. Her smile blossoms over her face and she says softly, "If I'd had any brains at all, I probably would have asked you to join us yesterday. Some of us pooled resources to do the same thing at several of the safehouses. But this will help. Immensely." She opens the small box to remove the keys, looking at them with a faint grin. Then she picks up her mug from his desk. "I don't know why you still manage to surprise me, Harve. But you do."
"As much as I would loved to have joined you, yesterday was for my family. I probably would have declined regardless. But at least you can dish these out over the next little bit" He grasps his own mug, lifting it and himself from out of the chair. "How do I surprise you? I'm really curious"
For a long moment the redhead seems to be weighing her words, one hand absently sliding up to push a lock of hair back off her face. Though she usually pulls it back at work, Meg isn't really expecting today to be too busy so she's not dressed in the usual business-casual attire that she wears to the Center. Today's more about warm brown woolen slacks and a festive deep green sweater with snowmen frolicking on it. "You're pretty vocal about some of your pro views, and I often find myself… surprised that you'd go to the extra lengths that you and Michelle have both been willing to go to in order to help my kids," she finally says softly.
"So more my unique point of view surprises you." He nods his head slightly a few times, Meandering his way over to a window that overlooks the parking lot. "Compared to other places, having to register an extraordinary ability, is a small price to pay for having it. Having seen what some of the other countries do, what they treat their evolved's like, makes me glad that I live here. Sure, I don't have an overt ability, and it's fairly useful, but it beats involuntary drafting and mass genocide of those with unique genetics"
Nodding slowly, Megan replies quietly, "I can't argue there. I have to admit that I find myself…. grateful to not have an ability. The really destructive ones are pretty damn terrifying." She shrugs. "Thank you. Not just for the keys, but for… " She pauses. "Just being who you both are."
"But that doesn't mean that what we have is perfect. It'll just.. it'll take time to change it. Like everything else. So, besides your kids and all that, what are you going to be doing on your holidays? Things are quiet for once it seems. No buildings collapsing or massive fires" There's a pause though, as something tickles at his mind. "You know any atmokinetics?"
Megan glances at him and sips from her mug. "Not personally, I don't think." Though she knows OF one, certainly. "And aside from my kids and working here…. not really doing anything." She smiles a little. "I didn't even put up a tree this year. I don't much feel like celebrating," she admits. "Been a rough year."
She doesn't know an atmo personally. "Let me know if you come across one? Michelle's worried" Why she's worried, he's not expounding on. "You should. Celebrate it, tree and everything. Even when things are bleak, you need to keep your chin up" Brennan turns away from the window to focus his gaze on Megan.
Megan tilts her head and asks calmly, "Why?" Not the tree and everything. Michelle's worry. She watches him with thoughtful blue eyes. "I keep my chin up by coming here and making sure that people who need it are well cared for. You should worry more if I coop myself up in my apartment because it probably means I'm tying one on."
"That storm the other day. The blizzard." He gestures towards the window with his coffee cup, other hand in his pocket. "It sprung up and it seemed normal, bad, but normal. Except that Michelle kept looking outside all day. Can't remember if you know or not, but she's an atmokinetic. She tried to help lessen it but couldn't. I got it out of her the other day. She could feel an intense grief, sadness almost.. devestation. From the storm." As if storms had emotions.
Megan didn't know, and it's clear in her expression. "I don't know one personally, but I know of one. I'll have someone check into it," she replies immediately, worry clouding her gaze. She doesn't seem remotely inclined to merely dismiss it, clearly. Storms with emotions? It's a brave new world out there. "Harve… what about your girls? Are all of them… talented?" Because the genetics of this intrigue her. She's just as often run across a parent with a perfectly normal kid.
"Let me know will you?" So he can put Michelle's mind at ease. Was a long shot really.
"Don't know. We're waiting till they hit twelve before we'll have them tested. Even then, we'll leave it up to them to decide whether they want to know ahead of time whether they are or aren't, or whether they want to discover like others do, naturally" Or at least until they hit 16, in which case he'll insist. But knowing his girls… "Why do you ask?"
Megan shakes her head slightly. "Most of the children that I've dealt with have been of parents who don't have the mutation. Some of them do, sure. But given that the people I deal with are terrified, doing a lot of tests on them is not in the cards. It's a gene, from what I understand of it… so I wonder if it's a recessive gene — if two parents WITH the gene automatically produce a child with it, where with one parent it seems to be a toss-up, and in my experience MOST of them come from people with no gene." She shrugs. "Mostly just a side interest, honestly."
"The evolution of the species has to start somewhere. Maybe this is just the start, that people with extraordinary abilities is the next step in the evolutionary chain. It is a gene, but not to say that two people with it will produce an evolved child. Two brown haired individual's can produce a red haired child. It's a matter of what's in your history. Just maybe, this is the new history. In as much as I an a physician, I don't hold the answers and sometimes, science can't produce it either. Nature just takes a hold. For my girls sakes? I hope they're what they want to be. Ability or no""
Megan smiles slightly, raising her cup to him from where she stands. "Now that, Harve, I can definitely drink to." After a swallow from her cup, she moves to turn to leave him. "I just wanted to wish you and yours a happy holiday, Harve. I'll let you get back to work."
"I'll let you get back to yours too Megan. Make sure to take some pictures of the kids who get the stuff. So Michelle can at least preen and punch my arm" Brennan mosey's back towards the chair and his desk, sitting back down in it with a creak of protest from the furniture. "Try and have a good holiday, rest of it, regardless. Will you?"
There's a moment where she pauses in the door, and Megan asks witha briefly furrowed brow, "Do I seem to you that I'm not enjoying it?" She pauses to consider it. "I'm sorry if I've given you that impression. I …. guess it's been a while since I really enjoyed much of anything," she admits. "Though I did enjoy yesterday quite immensely."
"Maybe not as much as you could?" Brennan offers. "If you like, my Wife and I throwing a new years party. You're more than welcome to join us. I think it's our first one in a while that we've thrown. I promised the girls they could stay up as late as they like. You could bring some of the children"
Megan slants him a look, one that comes with a smile. "Well, finding your Christmas spirit is always easier with kids involved. I'll definitely bring some of the children and let them celebrate. Thank you."