Nurse Cupcake [Chase]

[Annie Holmes]

Annie’s outift

Having dropped her things off at her sister’s dorm and ditched the heavy coat and scarf (a mistake since she had to then run from the dorm to the main building) Annie poked her head into the staff lounge looking for her friends step-dad. Not spotting Chase there, she then took the next logical step and skipped down the halls, the heels of her shoes clacking against the floor as she did so. For someone who spent her life in silence, the college student sure made a lot of noise.

Flashing her usual grin at those she recognized, Annie lifted a hand and waved at other staff members who were using their Saturday to catch up on work. A teachers job must never be done. It sucked, they did such awesome jobs and got so little appreciation for it.

It didn’t take long, just a few minutes of skipping and she was filling the frame to Chase’s training room with her got-dressed-in-the-dark look and a bright smile. For someone as short as she was--just a few inches away from being a pygmy--Annie filled space. If she hadn’t tested negative for the meta gene then one might have though it was her talent. As it was, she was mundane as blood work could be, her little sister had been the lucky one there. No, she was naturally the way she was.

Looking in at the blonde man, Annie felt a sharp tug on her heart. He looked like a hot mess. Chase had definitely been through the wringer. Twice.

Clacking her foot against the floor twice to get his attention, Annie waved with one hand while holding out a colorfully wrapped box with the other. There was no actual guess work involved in what the box contained. Anyone who knew Annie knew that it was bound to hold cupcakes.

[Chase Campbell]

Chase was finally back at work. Finally. He hadn’t realized how much it meant to him until he’d been laid up at home, bored. He actually missed his students – even Vincent, for God’s sake – so when he’d gotten the okay to return to modified work, he’d agreed to all the terms, be careful, not too much strain, blah blah blah. It was harder than he’d thought, considering his usual teaching methods. And then there was the issue of his power. He hadn’t used it once since the day he’d been beaten by the dangerous Gestalt pair. It was confusing to the students, he could tell. He’d once been able to silence them all with a simple command in their minds. Now, he just told them to settle the hell down.

There had been problems since that day, between coming to terms with what he’d done, his own step daughter thinking he was abusive, and all the while trying to recover from his injuries. While allowing a biomanipulator to deal with all of them would have been easier, it didn’t fall in line with his idea of repenting. He knew it was hurting James, seeing him deal with everything like this.

He was also sure if his husband knew he was wandering around without the neck brace on, he’d catch hell for it.

Considering his activity levels were down, (read: he wasn’t engaging in full on tackle football with his students when they were good) he was actually dressed a little more professionally. Though he couldn’t actually consent to a tie, he’d done nearly all the buttons of his dress shirt up. Granted, the sleeves were rolled up, but it was better than what he usually wore to class. Before the incident. All he'd told his students about his absence and injuries was the same story he and James had given Ginny and Nikki. A mugging gone wrong. It seemed to be holding up well enough.

He was doing a few student evaluations when he heard the click of heels in the hall. He didn’t look up, because for all he knew it was another teacher. But the two little clacks made him glance at the door. Instantly, he was grinning. Annie, he actually liked. She was sweet, and polite, and one of Ginny’s friends he actually didn’t mind coming to visit. (Mia was entirely another story.) He quickly waved her in. “Hey, Annie!” He didn’t have another training session for a good hour, so he was happy to have her visit.

“Come here,” he invited. He could do with some company that wasn’t involved with the mess he’d made. “How’s school?”

Maybe she wouldn't notice the injuries.

[Annie Holmes]

It was super weird how Chase didn’t feel like Chase. Not in the same way a telepath or empath would feel, but the way a normal person notices slight differences in a person they’re used to being one way but aren’t anymore. The clothes were a big giveaway. The Chase Annie had come to know didn’t dress with all the buttons done. He was off. Off in a way she wasn’t sure cupcakes would fix.

Being mugged was scary stuff, there was no question about that. Traumatic even. He might be suffering from some kind of PTSD, but not being a psych major she couldn’t guess beyond that. Baking. That was her thing. Though it killed her to think she couldn’t do anything more for him than shove cupcakes at him. Cute as they were. Maybe it would help.

With her free hand she waved her own greeting and singed two letters to his question, OK. Returning the hand to the wrapped box she entered the room at a walk, closing the distance between them in a few short steps and held the box out, an impish grin upon her face. Once it was freed from her grip she tucked the iPad that had been beneath it as a sort of unnecessary tray between her arm and her side she began to sign slowly so that he could follow.

One had moved across her face shifting from an open hand to a fist before both hands came together in C shape in front of her before swooping around in arcs to create the same shape, but with the backs of her hands to him. A middle finger of each hand touched her forehead and chest before turning like a key. I missed classes, I was sick. The other signs went just as slowly, Mono is the suck, but dude, open the box!

[Chase Campbell]

Was it really that obvious, how ‘off’ he really was? The trainer had thought he’d been doing a good job of hiding it. He’d been trying to be normal for so many people. His family, his students, his coworkers. He just hadn’t realized he’d been doing a bad job of it. If Annie could pick up on it, what did it look like to James and Nikki? Ginny? Everyone else?

Being mugged was scary. Being a murderer was even scarier. Being beaten by a fully synchronized Gestalt pair, even that didn’t compare. But those were secrets, things he needed to keep to himself. If it had gotten out that he’d killed someone, even in self defence, he was done for. He’d lose his job, his son, his family. He’d serve time in prison, and that was if he was lucky.

He was going to stop thinking about this.

Annie had once spent an afternoon with him while Ginny had helped James in the kitchen, trying to teach him the basics of American Sign Language. He’d been a slow, clumsy learner, but by the end of the day he’d learned a bit. He was able to follow her answer to his question well enough. “That’s good.” He was much better at reading the signs than trying to make them himself, but he did try. Sometimes. As soon as she was close, and the box was offered, he gently took it and set it on his desk.

Oh thank God, she had the iPad. If he failed at ASL, at least they had that. He tapped the box and managed to fumble his way through the signs for what he wanted to say. “Thank you.” He wasn’t entirely sure if he’d gotten that right, but at least he was trying. And so was she, as the signs moved slowly. He got most of it, but he wasn’t sure exactly what she said she was sick with. “What sucks?” He poked the iPad. “You know I suck at this.” But her demand, he could figure out. “Okay, okay.” He held his hands up in mock defeat. “You win.” He knew what he was going to find. Annie and cupcakes were just... inseparable. He opened it slowly, partially because he knew full well he didn’t deserve the treats, and in part because it was fun to watch Annie squirm. When he opened them, he arched an eyebrow and looked up at Annie. “You’ve been talking to Ginny.”

Not that the crutches against the wall, or the black contraption on his foot gave it away at all.

[Annie Holmes]

When someone couldn’t hear, or speak (through no fault of her vocal chords) then one had to be observant. To see. When one’s main form of communication relied on hand gestures, body language, and facial expressions, one picked up on more than most. In it’s own way, Annie’s deafness had created abilities most people took for complete granted. Sight. It was her savior more than anything else, and lead to her greatest fear.

Annie didn’t know what she would do if she were ever struck blind. She relied so heavily on that sense. It was her savior, her godsend. Being blindfolded for games like “pin the tail on the donkey” as a child had unnerved her so much she’d refused to play.

So what must it be like to be set upon by a mugger who then left you needing crutches and looking like one had been rolled over by a garbage truck? It had certainly affected the man before her who seemed, to her, much like a memory of the man he had been. The smile was there, the movements, but they seemed hollow to her. Distant.

Upon her instance he’d finally taken the box and opened it, all the while mistranslating “sick”. Opening the app for Word and her fingers flew across the touch-keyboard that appeared at the bottom, “Not sucks, sick. I had mono. Which does suck, so you were close. And yes, I’ve talked to Ginny. I thought they would make you feel better.” Or she’d hoped. His arched eyebrow seemed so blase that she was almost hurt.

It must be hard, Annie reminded herself, to be in his place. A man who wanted to take care of his family. What would her own dads be like if such an incident had happened to them? No, it was best not to think about such things. Instead she turned the iPad back around to face her and her fingers flew once more.

“You look better than I expected. G said you were pretty bad off for a bit there.” Maybe he didn’t want to talk about it, but maybe he did. She’d leave that for him to decide and instead continued typing, “Spring Break is coming up, you guys have any major plans? Disney maybe? Also, an easier way to say thanks without finger-spelling it, is to take your hand and keep it flat. Palm at your chin, and lower it in an arc so your palm is then face up."

[Chase Campbell]

It was more than the fake mugging that had Chase rattled. It was so many other things. It was keeping a secret that could damage so much more than himself. He was trying, he really was. Especially for a kid like Annie. She was so sweet, and he really didn’t want to upset her.

At least she took out the iPad and started typing. He waited, patience becoming a good skill to practice lately, and when she turned it around, he read it and shook his head. “And what were you doing to get mono?” It was easy to treat Annie much the same way he treated Ginny. Like family. Well, Ginny was family, but Annie was close. “They’re great. I’m sure James and Nikki will like them too.” He ran his fingers over the box lid. “I’ll have to keep my students away from them.” Treats from Annie (or James) were like treasure, and he wasn’t about to share with just anyone.

All things considering, James had taken the attack well. He’d even taken the truth okay, and Chase was honestly just waiting for the day that James stopped and the reality of the situation really, fully sank in. That was the day he never wanted to come. He loved his family. His husband, their kids. He was so afraid of losing them, and the worst part was, he wouldn’t blame them for leaving. Not at all.

He really had to stop thinking about it.

He read the second iPad note, sighing quietly at the first part. “I was. Narcotic drugs are not fun.” Thankfully he was off the demon pills now. Tylenol usually did the trick. “No plans yet. I don’t think Disney’s in the cards, though.” Then again, maye it would be nice to take off from Pilot Ridge for a while. As for the rest of the instructions, he tried to follow them, looking at Annie with a hopeful expression. It would be nice to do something right for a change.

[Annie Holmes]

An expression danced across Annie’s face that said she’d heard otherwise about narcotic drugs not being fun. Quite the contrary, there were so many people who popped them like tic-tacs that it was pretty much proven fact that narcotics were fun. She didn’t take them just to take them. Had never had reason to take them before, and hopefully no reason to take them in the future. Pain, after all, had a nasty tendency to hurt.

At his gentle tease, Annie’s face went as red as the plaid on her skirt. She hadn’t been kissing anyone, which is more or less what Chase had been eluding to. The most she could figure was that she’d taken a drink out of someone’s water bottle and BAM bacteria explosion leading to infection. Hell, she hadn’t actually kissed anyone since... ever. Unless one counted the game of spin the bottle at the one early middle school party that had ended with the guy (Sheldon) who refused to kiss-kiss her and ended up kissing her hand. At first she’d thought it was because he wanted to be a gentleman about it, but later learned he didn’t want to be known for “kissing the challenged girl” only challenged wasn’t the word he’d used. The word he’d used rhymed with ‘card’.

Flipping the iPad back to face her again her fingers flew so quickly across the board, there were a few typos she didn’t bother to correct. “nthing! i didnt do anything to get it. not tht way anyhow! I just borrowed someone’s wter bottle as best as i can tell.”

Turning the iPad around, and nearly losing her hold on it in her haste to show the message to Chase, Annie’s face reflected her embarrassment. Perhaps the fun in teasing her came from her instant reactions. Maybe a little. Her head came up again in time to see him sign 'thanks' correctly. For which she barely nodded her head as a 'yes', still staring at him, willing him to understand the truth behind her text.

[Chase Campbell]

No, narcotic drugs were not fun. Maybe in his younger days, Chase would have found amusement, and a plus side, to the way they made him feel. Now, he’d found them more of a pain in the ass than anything else. They knocked him out, and before that, they really did a number on his mind. When all he wanted was to spend time with his family during his recovery, the medication had made it difficult. He eyed her, reading her expression easily. “I mean it, missy.”

Well. That had either turned out better, or worse than he’d thought it would. He was used to teasing Ginny like that, but she usually took it in stride. Poor Annie. He actually thought about taking it back, but then the furious typing came out, and he was curious as to what she was saying. (For the record, anyone that called Annie that word was asking for a punch to the face. She was one of the sweetest kids he knew.) Good thing she didn’t go that far in her explanation.

When she did finally turn the iPad to him, he read it and had to laugh. It was weird, laughing again. At least at something like this. It wasn’t faked. “Okay, okay! I was kidding.” He paused there, wondering why Annie hadn’t been kissing. She was a pretty little thing, and sweet. There had to be someone at the university interested in her. ‘I’m sorry,’ he managed to sign (why had that been one of the first few she’d taught him?) to her, all the while still grinning.

Chase patted the desk, inviting her up. “I have some time to kill, and you’re good company. What else is going on, apart from mono and baking?” As he said it, he plucked one of the tiny little candy pills from the top of one of the cupcakes and popped it in his mouth. Hey, he needed a sugar fix, because James still wouldn’t tell him where he’d stashed the Sour Patch Kids.

[Annie Holmes]

Scrunching up her face at Chase, Annie stuck out her tongue. Teasing or not, it had struck a tiny little nerve that was attached to a whole host of insecurities. She wouldn't let him know that, however, since she liked him and knew he hadn't meant it in that way. It wasn't his fault she was an undesirable. A great friend and a total go-to girl, but little more than that for most everyone around her. It was too hard, too much work, and too intimidating to try to learn a whole new language at an older age. Annie understood it. It didn't make things easier to take, but she did understand.

Hopping up on the desk next to her friends step-dad, Annie pulled one leg up beneath her to allow for a more even place to rest the iPad. Watching his hands finalize the signing for 'sorry' Annie grinned a little. One of the most useful words in the existence of any language. When one was learning one was bound to make many, many mistakes. Some more insulting than others. So having 'sorry' to fall back on easily was more than just a little useful. Reaching over she patted Chase's knee in a friendly i-understand-and-it's-okay manner.

Returning her hands to the iPad, Annie began the business of answering Chase. Not much had really happened, classes were going well, though she was falling behind when it came to the math stuff. It was all Arabic to her anyway. Unless it dealt with measuring ingredients she couldn't' quite wrap her brain around the numbers, but that was okay because her World History class was just fascinating. She wanted to go check out some of the living history sites they had around the country, but couldn't really pin-point a good time to do it. Maybe he had some ideas?

[Chase Campbell]

Chase playfully arched an eyebrow at Annie’s silent retort, pulling his own face back at her. A long time ago, before he’d become a trainer, before he’d met James, before kids had been a part of his everyday life, he would have never dreamed of doing that. Now, it just seemed second nature. Annie was a good person to play with, like that. She was upbeat, and easy to get along with. Really, if she didn’t have boys interested in her, there was no hope for the human race. She was sweet, and adorable. And honestly, if he could pick up bits and pieces of ASL, teenagers had no excuse.

He didn’t mind when students sat on the desk like that, particularly when he was talking to them one on one. The exception was Vincent Verax, only because he didn’t like that kid anywhere near his personal space. It always ended badly. He glanced down as she patted his knee, understanding the gesture. This was why he enjoyed spending time with Annie. She was just… angelic. Not to mention, she fuelled his unhealthy addiction to sweet things.

He paid attention to her answers on the iPad. He hadn’t been a stellar student himself, so he couldn’t blame her for falling behind in math. At least she found herself interested in something, though. During his time in high school, he’d only been interested in keeping his grades above passing, so that he could remain on the football team. College had been a crapshoot, studying things that didn’t really interest him, and in the end, had gotten him nowhere. “You should try travelling during spring break, or something. Who needs parties? You could go fine some real history. What do you think?” Was he trying to keep her side-tracked from what happened to him? Of course not.

[Annie Holmes]

Spring Break? Now why hadn't she considered that? It would be the perfect time to do a cross-country-and-back-living-history-tour if she planned it right. Kentucky and the Shaker farm they had there was an absolute. Even if all of the Shakers had died off, hadn't they? Or were there still the two in Maine? Annie would have to look that up later.

You're so brilliant! she typed on the iPad. I can maybe get my dads to meet me somewhere and we can do it as a family. Do you think Julie would be allowed to go? Why wouldn't she? She'd been making progress both in regular classes and in her powers training. Ginny probably had other plans and would make Spring Break an absolute blast for the Campbell-Kilbourn household. That was just how Ginny rolled.

Annie hadn't forgotten about Chase's situation. It was hard to forget after what she'd been told and could see for herself. It was his story to tell her, in his own time. Even if she wanted to know it right then. Patience wasn't always easy for the cupcake-obsessed girl. Teaching someone ASL was very different from waiting for answers.

If he wanted to chat about fluffy things, then she would chat about fluffy things. And try to keep her mind occupied with them. It was likely he was getting enough pressure from other people to just talk about it and probably needed someone who wouldn't poke and prod for information.

Are you going to torment your students with midterms before break? How do you test powers anyway? Not being someone with powers, Annie found the idea of tests difficult to wrap her head around.

[Chase Campbell]

Chase didn’t know much about historical locations, save for the Grand Canyon. Even so, that was more touristy, less history, and he’d only been there once. But if Annie was excited about it, all the power to her. He just smiled at her as he read the message.

“That would be nice, going as a family.” As for Julie leaving, well... she wasn’t his student. He wasn’t sure on her progress. But there was a possible case. He and James had taken Nikki to New York for a weekend. “I’ll look into that for you, but it should be okay.” He hadn’t even thought about Ginny coming to stay again. That would be nice. Give her and Nikki some bonding time as brother and sister.

If he had his way, no one was going to know what had occurred that day. Only James and Sean knew the truth, and that was how he wanted it to stay. The kids didn’t need to be exposed to that. Particularly someone like Annie. The girl was a sweetheart, and the last thing Chase wanted to do was tell her the details of the attack. About the murder, and the subsequent beating.

She was right. Enough people wanted the story out of him. It was a relief to have one person that wasn’t pressing him for information.

He laughed at her question. How was he going to torment them? “I test their control. They don’t write tests or papers for me. It’s all about physical and mental control. If they can do what I ask, they pass.” If not, well, he used to be able to simply get in their heads and hit the pause button on their power, a task which came much easier with mental powers than physical ones. “Most of my kids are going to pass.” At least he still had faith in them.