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Summary: Theo decides to try Scott's advice regarding the secrets of his past, and talk to his sister.
Date: Wednesday, September 29, 2010. 2:32am
Log Title: Phoning Home
Rating: PG
Xavier Mansion - Theo and Jaidee's Room
This room is spotless. Every pencil is in place, every sock in line. There is no dust permitted, oh no. Theo's desk is organized to such a degree that everything seems to be painted into place. His bed has a green and blue bedspread, and you could bounce a quarter on it. Decorations are scarce, and no pictures of family or friends are found anywhere.
The cursor on the screen taunts Theo. The small blinking line on the connection follows a series of commands he's issued to set up his computer as a phone. The teen sits on his perfectly made bed, bare soles of his feet pressed against each other.
Connect? Y/N?_
With all of his knowledge and ability to control technology, that single cursor keeps his entire attention. He pulls the headset over his dark hair, and glances down at the keyboard. Y. Each of the preset jumps begins, bouncing the signal all over the country. Alabama, Florida, Oregon, Texas, North Dakota. The hubs keep changing, and finally, a single word crosses the bottom of the list.
Connecting…
The sound of the phone rings over the headset. Once. Twice. Thrice. Theo is already starting to regret the decision. His heart starts to race, and he has to remind himself to breath. And then there's suddenly the click on the other end. Someone has answered the phone.
"Hello?" the man's voice is groggy sounding. But it's 2:30am, and most people are asleep at this time.
"Hi, Tom?" Theo asks. He rubs his face, and stares at the screen, though it gives him no new information anymore.
"Yeah, this is Tom, who is this?" the man answers. "You better have a good reason for calling my home at this hour.
"It's Theodore," the teen answers. There's a moment of silence on the other end.
"Mary, Mary wake up!" The voice is directed off of the phone. "Who is it?" comes the woman's voice. "It's Theodore, he's on the phone. "WHAT?"
Back in Manassas, Virginia, Mary MacIntosh sits straight up in her bed and turns on the bedside lamp. she takes the phone from her husband and brushes her blondish hair from her face as she holds the phone to her ear. "Teddy? You're all right? Where've you been? We've been worried sick! Are you hurt? Where are you? We'll leave tonight to come get you, just tell us where you are."
Theo picks up his laptop, and walks out of the room. He doesn't want to wake Jaidee. "Mary, I'm fine, I can't come to you, I wanted to—"
"What do you mean you can't come to us? Who's keeping you from leaving?" Mary demands, voice already frantic. She pulls the covers off of herself and begins pacing the dark bedroom in her white silk nightgown. Tom gets out on the other side, and goes to her side, wrapping his arms around his wife. "Let him talk," he whispers in her other ear, and gives her a kiss on the side of her head.
"Mary!" Theo says again, "Shut up and listen, I'm fine, nobody is keeping me from leaving." He considers his own statement in his head. Actually, they are, but not the way that Mary thinks. "I had to leave, it wouldn't be safe for you and Tom or Abigail if I stayed." He enters the elevator, and heads down to the lobby where he won't be overheard. As the doors open, he steps off, he is relieved that no one else has decided to stay up late. At least, not in this room. "What they said on the news is true," he tells his sister. "I'm a mutant. And if I come back they could try to kill me again, and they could kill you."
"Who was it?" Mary asks. "The police don't have any names to chase, your worthless friend Kyle didn't give them anything they could work with." She sinks back into her husbands arms as she speaks, and puts one hand to her forehead.
"I don't know, it was too dark to see them, but Mary, there were a lot of them," Theo answers. "I found a place that is safe. There's a school, it watches over teenagers who are mutants," he says. His voice softens, almost to a whisper. "It's really a good place, I really like it here." He goes and sits on the couch in the lobby, cradling the laptop as he speaks.
Mary scowls. "They don't love you like we do, Teddy," she retorts. "We're your family. You belong with us, we'll protect you. You tell that school," the word is said with distinct distaste, "that you're leaving and you're going home. Where you belong."
Theo punches the seat of the couch. "No! I'm not leaving. They killed Mom and Dad. They killed Sarah, and Hannah, and Claire, and Rachael. Do they have to kill you and Abigail too before you'll figure it out?" Theo's voice raises with emotion. "I can't lose you too!"
Mary starts to crack with emotion herself, and pulls away from Tom. She furiously paces the room, and then goes to her dresser. She pulls out a pair of blue jeans, and slinds them on under her nightgown. "No! Theodore, listen to me. We'll get police to post a guard outside the house. We'll hire a bodyguard if we have to. You're coming home and that's final. I already have legal guardianship of you, I applied for it the day after the fire. You tell that school that if they don't turn you in, I'll go to the police, they'll lose their accredidation, and I'll have them in prison for kidnapping. You tell them THAT! Now where are you!?"
Click.
"Theodore? Teddy!" Mary covers her mouth. "He hung up." Unable to control herself anymore, she bursts into tears, and leans against her dresser. Tom goes back to her side and pulls her into an embrace. "Shhh. We'll find him. It's going to be okay." She presses her face into his neck, and continues to weep.
Theo slaps the laptop shut, and rips the headset off brutally, pulling the cord out from the laptop and chucking the device across the room, where it comes to rest on the floor. A look of rage contorts his face, which gives way to sorrow. Both hands grip the back edge of the laptop hard enough to turn his knuckles white, and he doubles over. He buries his head in his lap, and sobs.
