I Like Driving In My Car

[Cannonball]

Sam had managed, with the help of one or two of the older, more eager students, to get the collapsed orange monstrosity-mobile off the main driveway and round into the garage. It had involved him effecting a temporary repair which had left him covered in engine oil, but it had been enough for him to get one of the kids to sit in and steer whilst he and the others pushed.

He'd borrowed, for the purposes of collecting his youngest sibling from the railway station, a nice little hatchback. Aware that time was running shorter than he'd anticipated (a regular problem for Sam - timekeeping was for other people, not him), he'd not changed, although he'd washed the worst of the oil off his face and hands.

Rather diligently he put a plastic cover over the driver's seat before he got in.

He drove the car around to the front and beeped, waiting for Paige.

[husk]

Paige had fallen asleep in Warren's room watching the movie after her sob-fest over the argument with Bobby. He'd woken her up after the hour she'd mentioned having until they had to leave, and ran to her room to brush her hair, change her shirt, then came speeding down the stairs.

Time wasn't really the greatest concern to Paige, either. With eleven siblings, you couldn't be in a hurry to go -anywhere-, so you got used to being late.

She wore a pair of tennis shoes, blue jeans, and a white tshirt with the X-Men insignia over the heart as she jumped into the car. Noting her brother, she shut the door with an exasperated sigh.

"Sammy! You fool, you gonna go ta the train station lookin' like a grease monkey? Gah, you smell like the garage." She rolled down the window a bit, then shooed him with her fingers. "Well, let's go then!" She was a little irritable, not having wanted to move from the safe little cocoon of sleep she'd found for herself.

[Cannonball]

"Was just fixin' up the car to get it off the drive," said Sam, mildly, although his eyes betrayed a modicum of hurt at her words. What Paige thought of him was important to Sam. He'd long considered her his only hope in terms of how to dress and how to act. He'd been given all the worry genes, she'd had his portion of style ones. "Time went by quick, is all. I washed the worst up."

He waited for her to buckle in and sighed inwardly, before putting the car back into gear and easing it out of the Institute drive and down the leafy lane towards the main road. He felt faintly self-conscious after Paige's words.

"I wonder what Momma was thinkin' when she put that li'l squirt on a train by himself," he said, more to himself than to Paige. "He's a li'l tearaway at the best of times, I dread to think what kinda mischief he's done got up to cross country."

[husk]

"Likely couldn't afford ta send Lizzie with him, honey..." she said, sounding sympathetic. They traded off in that way, the oldest Guthrie kids.. when one got frustrated with the way Mama did things, the other would pipe up her defense. It was hard to find fault with a woman who had succeeded in keeping them clothed and fed all these years.

"And yeah, he'll likely be drivin' everyone crazy. But at least he'll be outta Mama's hair, and we can keep an eye on him." Even more reason to stay at the mansion, Paige thought. No reason to go leavin' again, Sam.

[Cannonball]

"I'd have paid if she'd asked me. There's money in the family account."

Since he'd got himself a better paid job, Sam had never got out the habit of sending a large chunk of it home to his mother, even after she'd re-married. Old habits died hard, after all, and he'd spent several years supporting her and the other eleven kids. The first time Momma had refused money from him, he'd not known what to do with it, so he'd set up a savings account for the whole family and paid generously into it every month.

If he'd know it, it was one of the things that had driven Brenda to leaving him. She'd hoped that he would move past being the dutiful son and start living his own life - but Sam's sense of responsibility was colossal.

"I guess I'd best stay long enough to see him settled," Sam thought out loud. "If I didn't know better, I'd say Momma was sending y'all up here one at a time just to keep me from broodin'!"

[husk]

Paige grinned as if she were in on the plot the whole time. She wasn't- it had taken a few years to soften Mama to the idea of her leaving for the school anyway- but it was always fun to tease her older brother.

"You bet honey. Ain't gonna have your toehead skulking around like you got a raincloud over you. You got family, Sammy, and that don't change no matter who you're married to or not."

She wasn't going to mention the argument, at least not before she could figure out exactly what it was about. But to have gone through all the trouble of getting Sam used to the idea that she was dating someone who'd been arrested for murder, and then introduced them, only to tell him they may or may not be dating at all... she'd feel like an idiot.

So she perched her tennis shoes on the dash and kept her mouth shut.

[Cannonball]

They drove in silence for a while. It wasn't an awkward or uncomfortable silence, but even so, Sam - who had a lifetime of knowing how his siblings worked - sensed that something was eating away at his sister.

"Tell me it ain't none of my business," he said, conversationally as he turned the car onto the freeway and headed for the railway station. "But what's eatin' ya, honey?"

[husk]

Caught.

Paige sighed. She wasn't going to lie to him. Couldn't, in fact. They were always terrible at keeping things from each other.

"Bobby and I are fightin'... yeah, first day and already into it." she sighed. "It's stupid. I just.. it was a difficult thing to deal with, seein' a guy for two weeks and then BAM, arrested... he hadn't even told me that the whole thing had happened. So I was kinda shoved into either bein his girlfriend, or signin off... and I didn't wanna do that."

She wrapped her arms around her knees, looking out the window. "Guess that's why I got so mad at him. There's somethin' else goin on, but... I don't think we'da fought about it if there wasn't that whole stress goin on too."

[Cannonball]

"Ya fightin'?" Sam cast a glance sideways at his sister. "It's to be expected, honey, the guy's been in trouble with the law. I don't reckon as that'll have left him feelin' so hot, ya know?"

What the HELL was he doing, actually sticking up for the jailbird? He swivelled a finger briefly in his ear. "Maybe ya jus' need to give him a li'l space, let him get used to his freedom again for a few moments. What else is it ya think is goin' on?"

He pulled off at the appropriate exit and navigated his way through slower traffic. "'gain, honey, if it ain't none of my business, ya tell me to mind my own."

[husk]

She shook her head. "That's just it Sammy, I don't know what the problem is. I think that telepath screw with his mind." she sighed. "And that's just it, I shoulda been more sympathetic. Instead I got mad at him cause I thought he was accusing me of cheating when in reality it was he who-" She cleared her throat, and winced.

"Oh sugar you're probably right. I should just give him some space. Didn't seem ta be what he wanted, in fact... seemed to me he's wanted more than I was ready ta give, for a while now..."

But people were never completely right about what it was they needed. Most often the only thing they were able to see was what they wanted. Running her fingers through her hair, Paige suddenly knew exactly how Bobby must have felt.

[Cannonball]

"Give it a li'l time to cool down," advised Sam, who'd always been good at giving the kind of advice he'd never been able to take himself. "Talk to him 'bout it tomorrow. But make sure y'all do it on neutral ground. Go for a coffee or somethin', hell, I'll drive ya there if it's a problem. Jus' don't stew on it. Y'all have been under pressure. It'll be fine, Chubs. Big Brother has spoken."

He flashed her a brief, but loving smile.

"Now tell me where I need to be goin' to park this car, will ya? I ain't too familiar with this road setup. They done gone changed it since I was here last..."

[husk]

Paige directed him where to go. She'd been here just a few weeks ago, less than two months back when she'd first arrived to join the ranks.

Getting out of the car, she felt like giving Sam a hug, but as he was covered in oil, she wasn't about to go anywhere near him. The found out when Lewie's train was arriving...

"Ah hell. Ten minutes ago. Hope the poor guy ain't scared outta his mind!"

She took Sam's hand and rushed with him- Sam was never that good at keeping pace with his lightfooted sister, so sometimes she had to force him to- into the station, looking around for the little boy.

[Lewis Guthrie]

Lewis didn't like the crowds at the train station. People a lot taller than him, who probably didn't even look down and see him at their side, jostled him, cut in front of him, pressed in on all sides as they rushed to catch their trains or find their loved ones.

Lewis lugged his suitcase, which held most of his worldly belongings and wasn't even very large or very jam-packed, over to a half-wall just outside the train station building. He set his bag against the wall, wiped his nose with his sleeve, and looked to the bench nearby. It was full. He then looked to the half-wall. A slow grin appeared on his face, making the side of his face which was all scraped up tingle slightly. Already over-excited to be seeing his big brother and sister, he giggled to himself as he went to the bench.

He put his hands on the wall and stepped up on the arm of the bench, causing the person sitting beside the arm to throw him a confused and irritated glance. He simply smiled at them, and with a tooth just to the left of his two front teeth missing, his smile was infectious. The stranger couldn't help but return it, and choose to ignore that he trod on their jacket on his way up onto the wall.

Once on top of the half-wall, he stood proudly and surveyed the crowds below. 'Sam an' Paige'll hafta see me up here,' Lewis thought proudly. Plus, he'd get to walk along and try and balance on the brick-wide ledge.

[Cannonball]

Sam, who was being hauled along by his ever-impatient sister and half-struggling to keep up spied Lewis first.

"Lewis Clark Guthrie, y'all get down off that wall RIGHT NOW!" he bellowed at the top of his - quite considerable - voice. "Before ya FALL down, ya little..."

Whatever Lewis was a little one of was rather mercifully drowned out by a passing train sounding its horn appropriately loudly. Sam glowered at it and steered Paige in the direction of the wall.

"Little swine never DID do anythin' by halves," he complained of his youngest sibling (of whom who was almost as fond as he was of Paige - not that you'd have got him to admit it out loud, though).

[husk]

Paige shot Lewis a look that was half Mama, half conspirator. Paige was, of course, twice the troublemaker Lewis was at her age, and while she'd mostly grown out of it(mostly), she still appreciated a good misbehavior when she saw one.

"Lewie!" She cheered, and caught him as he jumped down, lifting him off his feet in a great big hug. "How's my baby Lew?" she said, kissing his cheek a few quick times then blowing a raspberry on his neck.

He was likely getting a little old for that sort of affection and she anticipated getting a complaint out of him for it, but she also delighted in embarrassing the hell out of her brothers whenever the opportunity presented itself.

[Lewis Guthrie]

Lewis' jump into Paige's arms was actually half-jump, half-fall, as he'd spun around upon hearing Sammy's voice thundering across the station. Luckily, neither of his older siblings seemed to take it that way. He hugged Paige tightly, his hands clasping behind her back, but when she started kissing him, he began to try and wriggle out of her arms, arching his back to get his head away from her raspberries.

He saw his older brother upside-down and reached out over his head for him. "Sammy save me!" he cried, the wide grin on his face ruining his faked horror.

[Cannonball]

"I'll do something with ya, ya little sod," said Sam, grumpily as he always was around the younger kids. It had become tradition now. He pulled the little boy out of his sister's arms and hugged him swiftly. "How ya doin', ya little monster?"

He lifted Lewis up onto his shoulders and picked up his suitcase. "This all ya got?" he said. "Or did ya pack half the state like ya sisters usually do?"

He shot a glance at Paige and grinned wickedly at her.

[husk]

Paige rather maturely stuck her tongue out, and followed her brothers slowly back to the car.

"How was the trip kiddo? I didn't see ya with security so I'm figurin' ya at least didn't get caught." She grinned.

[Lewis Guthrie]

Lewis hugged his brother something fierce, then cackled with laughter as Sam lifted him up onto his shoulders. "That's all," he answered, bouncing up and down a bit on his big brother's shoulders. "A lotta the stuff Mama wouldn't lemme bring 'cause ev'rybody else had ta play with it too."

"An' I left my trainset even though it's mine - y'all remember it's mine, right, Sammy? 'Cause I bought it with my money I got from feedin' the Pickers' cow when they was gone last summer!" As Lewis petitioned for Sam's support - which held a lot of sway with the younger kids - he leaned forward and tried to look over Sam's head at his face. It mostly just served to make him feel like he was going to fall off of Sam's shoulders.

He sat up and settled for grabbing Sam's ears like reins. He'd always pester Sam - and all of his siblings, for that matter - until they got mad. Then the older ones he left alone. When the younger ones got angry, he just bugged them harder.

"Well Lizzie says it's hers too 'cause Mama said I had to share it, but I told her no it wasn't but then afore I left I put it on her bed cause I figured since I got to ride on a real train and she didn't that she could have the dinky lil plastic one." The way Lewis acted like he didn't care about the trainset wouldn't fool his two older siblings - it had been one of his most treasured toys, a sign of his first job and his hard work.

"How was the trip kiddo? I didn't see ya with security so I'm figurin' ya at least didn't get caught."

"I stayed real quiet," Lewis said to his sister Paige, his little chest puffing up a bit with pride. "An' that was the longest darn busride I ever been on! It. Was. Six. Hours! An' Mama packed me enough food ta feed a horse! Oh, an' she baked all y'all some treats, too - she put somethin' in a box and packed it up all careful-like. It smelled like one 'a her pies!" Mama's pies were Lewis' favorite food, especially her hot apple pie. If ever they wanted Lewis to behave, the way to get his attention was with promises of his Mama's cooking.

"Oh! And Mama told me not show all y'all this--" Lewis said as he pulled up the sleeve of his t-shirt to reveal an ugly purple bruise on his arm and shoulder. "Yah 'member those rotten Carmichaels? Donnie and Joe? Well they was tryin' ta get all friendly with Mel at the country fair last week an' I beat 'em up!"

The Carmichael boys were about twelve, and were much more brawn than they were brains. It was somehow unlikely that Lewis had beat them up. Lewis continued, and what he said made the story make a little more sense. "Well, Jeb did mosta the beatin', but I kicked one of 'em in the shin! He hit me, though. But I just laughed at him."

[Cannonball]

"Them Carmichaels come from a bad background," said Sam, in a sour tone. He'd had his own run-ins with the clan during the early days of discovering his mutation, although being older, the violence was a little more intense, the bruises a lot harder to hide from his mother. "Y'all do well to keep clear of 'em Lewis."

He shifted the boy on his shoulders as they walked towards the car, listening to his happy babble with a sort of confused bewilderment.

When the kid pulled his ears, he smiled, then raised his hands to grab the boy's own and remove them.

"Off," he said, "else I'm gonna take off with ya still on my shoulders, ya hear me, Squirt?"