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Charles walked into his office and absentmindedly shut the door after him. His attention was wholly focussed on the patient file in his hands and so he did not notice the figure sat in the chair behind his desk until a throat was loudly – and very obnoxiously – cleared behind him
‘Ahem.’
Charles jumped at the noise, jerking his eyes away from the report and almost dropping it in the process. He swung around to face his desk and his eyes fell on the man sitting behind it. He blinked, momentarily nonplussed, and then sighed. ‘Erik,’ he said resignedly. ‘What are you doing in my office? And,’ he added, his eyes narrowing when he realised just where Erik was sitting, ‘more importantly, what are you doing in my seat?’
Erik smirked at him and then deliberately used his powers to swivel the chair in a slow 360 degree circle. ‘You didn’t expect me to sit in that ugly wooden thing, did you?’ he drawled, throwing a disgusted look at the visitor’s chair opposite him. ‘It’s horribly uncomfortable. I’m sure it’d do terrible things to my posture.’
Charles raised an unimpressed eyebrow. Erik had better posture than probably anyone in the whole hospital. ‘Right,’ he said sarcastically, his tone dripping with scepticism. ‘You didn’t steal my brand new, ridiculously comfortable chair because you’re an ass with dominance issues. You decided to steal it because of it was ergonomically superior to all of the other chairs in my office.’
Erik sighed. ‘I haven’t stolen your chair, Charles,’ he said, rolling his eyes and sounding terribly put-upon. ‘Well,’ he added with a smirk. ‘Not yet, anyway.’
‘Don’t you dare,’ Charles said snippily, finally moving forward and setting his files down on the desk with a thud. ‘Or I’ll have you spend the rest of the day thinking that you’re a six year old girl and get Jean from oncology to braid your hair.’
‘No you wouldn’t,’ Erik said at once, leaning back confidently in his chair with a lazy smile. ‘You like me too much.’
‘Don’t tempt me,’ Charles muttered, before straightening up and crossing his arms over his chest. ‘You still haven’t told me what you are doing in my office, you know. Don’t you have a perfectly functional one of your own just one floor up?’
Erik shrugged. ‘Yes,’ he agreed, wrinkling his nose. ‘But there are people in it.’
Charles’s lips twitched at that. ‘You say people as if you were talking about cockroaches,’ he said, amused in spite of himself.
‘I may as well be,’ Erik sniffed, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms. ‘They’re both pests, as far as I’m concerned. Though at least cockroaches usually have the decency to keep quiet and stay out of sight.’
‘Why are there people in your office?’ Charles asked, wisely deciding to ignore the unflattering comparison.
Erik shrugged, looking completely uninterested. ‘The usual, I suppose,’ he said glumly. ‘They want to thank me for saving their lives or something ridiculous like that.’
‘How awful of them,’ Charles deadpanned, the corner of his lips tugging upwards.
‘You have no idea,’ Erik grumbled. ‘Couldn’t they have just gone off and lived the rest of their mediocre little lives without bothering me with any of it?’
‘Apparently not,’ Charles said dryly. ‘How truly terrible for you.’
Erik’s eyes flicked up at that and he fixed Charles with a stern gaze. ‘Somehow I don’t think you are giving me the full measure of sympathy that this warrants,’ he accused.
‘Oh believe me,’ Charles said fervently. ‘I am giving you the exact amount of sympathy that you deserve.’
Erik gave him a flat look. ‘Your wit never fails to astound me,’ he muttered.
Charles smirked at that, looking excessively pleased with himself. Erik rolled his eyes and pointedly directed his attention elsewhere. He cast an idle glance around the room, momentarily looking up when Charles finally took the seat in front of him, and then his eyes then dipped to the documents that Charles had placed on the table a little earlier. ‘What’s this?’ he asked, picking up the folder and flicking through it.
Charles was leaning back in his chair and rolling up the sleeves of his shirt but at Erik’s question he glanced up. When his gaze fell on the files his expression clouded over. ‘One of my patients,’ he said tiredly, sighing and running a weary hand through his hair. ‘Mrs. Rutherford. I spotted a shadow on her initial scans so I had her go in for an additional MRI. It doesn’t look good, I’m afraid.’
Erik’s eyes narrowed as he took a moment to study him, noting the pained look in Charles’s eyes and the unhappy twist of his mouth. He then glanced down at the scan inside the folder, studying it for a minute, his face expressionless. Then he set the file down and turned to Charles. ‘You care too much,’ he said bluntly.
Charles raised an eyebrow. ‘I beg your pardon?’
‘I said you care too much,’ Erik repeated, his tone low and disapproving. ‘You take things far too personally, Charles. You always do. You can’t save every single person who comes into the hospital, you know.’
‘As if you can talk,’ Charles immediately scoffed, raising his chin defiantly. ‘You’re just as bad as I am.’ He rolled his eyes when Erik glared at him. ‘I know that you want everyone to think you’re a big heartless monster, Erik, but you and I both know that deep down—’ he paused as Erik’s eyebrows shot up, ‘— okay, very deep down, you care just as much as I do.’
Erik sent him a withering look.
‘Oh don’t give me that expression,’ Charles laughed, shaking his head. ‘I know how much you care, Erik. The fact that you have patients currently waiting in your office to thank you proves as much.’
Erik scowled. ‘If I had known that they would end up being so irritating then I wouldn’t have bothered saving them,’ he said grumpily.
Charles gave him an indulgent look that said quite clearly that he could see past all of Erik’s grumpy bluster. ‘What did they have anyway?’ he asked curiously.
Erik snorted. ‘Lupus,’ he said, the words tinged with distaste. ‘It’s always lupus. These people could at least have had the decency to come in with something more interesting.’
‘How inconsiderate of them,’ Charles murmured, his lips twitching.
‘Yes,’ Erik agreed with a downward tilt to his mouth. ‘It is.’ His eyes fell once more on the folder in front of him. ‘I truly don’t know how you do it, Charles,’ he said, shaking his head. ‘Granted, I know it is different for you, being a telepath who specialises in brain surgery, but how you bear the monotony of working on the same thing day in and day out I will never know.’
‘It’s a mystery,’ Charles agreed even as he glanced down at his watch. ‘It’s also something that I should be doing right now.’ He folded his arms across his chest and gave Erik a pointed look. ‘And you, Dr. Lehnsherr, should currently be upstairs in your office accepting your patients’ earnest and heartfelt gratitude.’
Erik’s nose wrinkled and he waved a dismissive hand. ‘No need,’ he said carelessly. ‘I have Summers and Cassidy taking care of it.’
‘Alex and Sean?’ Charles frowned, uncrossing his arms and leaning forward. ‘Are those two really the best people to be dealing with your patients?’
‘They have to learn some time,’ Erik said with a shrug. ‘Besides,’ he added. ‘They lost the coin toss.’
Charles narrowed his eyes. ‘You let them toss a coin over patient care?’ he demanded, radiating disapproval.
Erik smirked. ‘Actually it was your sister’s idea. She and Salvadore practically run rings around Summers and Cassidy, you know. Those two are idiots.’
‘You know very well that they are not,’ Charles said immediately. ‘They’re both very bright, if a little … undisciplined. I know you like them, Erik, admit it.’
Erik made a face and shrugged. ‘I suppose they’re not entirely useless,’ he said grudgingly. ‘I wouldn’t have hired them on my team otherwise. Your sister is by far the brightest though.’
Charles beamed. ‘I’m sure she is,’ he said, pride evident in his words. Then he sighed. ‘I just wish that she had continued in neuro for a bit longer before throwing the towel in. She could have been so—’
‘Wasted,’ Erik said immediately, interrupting him. ‘She would have been wasted there, Charles. Anyone can be neurosurgeon—’
‘Hey!’ Charles protested, glaring at him.
‘… but not everyone can be a good diagnostician—’
‘Well of course you would say that,’ Charles snapped.
‘— and Raven has it in her to become an excellent one.’ Erik finished. He then shrugged. ‘You ought to be glad she changed her specialty, Charles. The only reason that I chose her for my team was the fact that she was an extremely talented general surgeon. I doubt I would have picked her if she had remained in neurosurgery.’
Charles frowned. ‘What do you mean?’
‘Well,’ Erik said simply, ‘Neurosurgery is your field. If she had continued with it then I would have always compared her to you.’
Charles stared at him, not knowing what to say to that.
Erik continued. ‘Face it Charles, if she had become a neurosurgeon then she would have forever remained in your shadow. Next to you she would always have been second best, no matter how much she accomplished. Quite frankly, getting away from you was the best thing she ever did.’ At Charles’s suddenly hurt expression, Erik sighed. ‘I know you had your heart set on her following in your footsteps,’ he said gently. ‘But her decision was made a long time ago now, Charles. It’s past time that you learned to accept it and let it go.’
Charles had turned his face away for much of Erik’s speech but at the end of it he let out a small, amused huff of laughter. ‘Says the man who still nurses a grudge against Dr. Shaw from all the way back in med school,’ he said wryly.
‘That’s different,’ Erik scowled. ‘Shaw is an asshole. Worse, he’s a negligent asshole. Not to mention an unscrupulous one.’
‘At least he’s not here anymore,’ Charles said, his tone soothing.
‘Good,’ Erik said flatly. ‘If there’s one decent thing that Frost has done in this hospital then getting rid of Shaw was it.’
‘Emma’s done more than a few decent things for the hospital,’ Charles said reprovingly. ‘The mutant clinic alone is—’
‘Not enough,’ Erik said grimly before reluctantly adding, ‘though I’ll admit that it’s a start.’
‘I’m sure Emma will be happy to hear you say so.’
‘Yeah, well, Emma can go kiss my—’
Do I hear my name being taken in vain?
Both Erik and Charles started as the door abruptly opened, revealing the hospital administrator, Emma Frost, standing in the doorway. Her eyes moved first from Charles to Erik, and then she smirked. ‘Gossiping, are we boys?’ she drawled.
‘Speak of the devil,’ Erik muttered darkly, giving Charles a significant look.
Charles, however, was facing the doorway and was beaming up at Emma. ‘Emma,’ he said, sounding pleased. ‘What are you doing all the way up here? Don’t you have a board meeting soon?’
Emma’s smile turned a shade more genuine as she turned to Charles. ‘I do,’ she said, heaving a delicate sigh. ‘But that’s in half an hour so I’m in no rush. As for why I’m here …’ Her smile turned wry as she slowly tilted her head so that she was looking Erik in the eye. ‘Well, that reason is currently sitting in your office chair, sugar.’
Erik scowled as Charles turned to look at him. ‘Oh what now?’ he grumbled, glaring at Emma mutinously.
Emma raised one single fine eyebrow. ‘Your team is currently looking for you,’ she said evenly, meeting Erik’s glower with a cool, unperturbed expression. ‘Apparently you’re wanted in your office.’ Her coolness momentarily melted away and her eyes glinted. ‘It seems that some poor misguided newly-recovered fools have their hearts set on thanking you.’
‘Yeah, well, I’m busy,’ Erik grumbled, deliberately settling himself further in the chair and giving no indication that he was planning on leaving any time in the near future.
Emma’s eyes narrowed. ‘Busy doing what exactly?’ she demanded, placing her hands on her hips.
Erik gave her a cool smile, his lips pulling back to reveal rows of shiny white teeth. ‘Getting a neuro consult,’ he said glibly, reaching out and grabbing hold of poor Mrs. Rutherford’s MRI and holding it up for Emma’s perusal. ‘I was just asking Dr. Xavier here about his opinion on these shadows on the scan. He’s been most helpful.’
‘I bet he has,’ Emma said flatly. ‘And Dr. Xavier and I will shortly be having words on aiding and abetting the dereliction of duty, don’t you worry.’ Charles cringed. ‘But now, if you don’t mind, Lehnsherr, you have a couple of grateful patients in your office waiting to thank you and you will see them and you will be gracious or I’ll have you put down for an additional 30 hours of clinic duty on top of your existing quota. It’s your choice.’
Erik scowled. ‘That’s excessive,’ he said, glaring at her.
‘You think that is excessive?’ Emma raised an eyebrow. ‘I wouldn’t push this if I were you, Lehnsherr. I can do far worse.’
‘She’s not kidding,’ Charles muttered, giving Erik a rueful look. ‘You’d better go, Erik.’
Erik just continued to glare at Emma.
Emma met his gaze unflinchingly. ‘Thirty hours of clinic duty, Lehnsherr,’ she repeated softly. ‘Thirty long hours – supervised.’ Erik blinked and Emma smirked. ‘Don’t think that I don’t know that you’ve been handing off your usual clinic hours to your minions, sugar. Did you really think that I wouldn’t notice?’ She shook her head. ‘You won’t be getting away with it here.’
Erik scowled. ‘This is tyranny,’ he declared as he grudgingly stood up from behind the desk. ‘Nothing but pure, underhanded tyranny.’
Emma smirked. ‘Now, now, sugar,’ she purred. ‘This is just me winning.’
Erik opened his mouth to retort but Charles interrupted before he could. ‘Choose your battles, Erik,’ he murmured, shaking his head. ‘You’re not going to win this one.’
Erik turned his glare on him. ‘Traitor,’ he muttered half-heartedly before turning stiffly to Emma. ‘I’ll go and suffer through the gratitude,’ he said loftily, folding his arms across his chest. ‘But I want 30 hours less of clinic duty.’
Emma’s eyes narrowed. ‘Not happening,’ she said flatly.
Erik eyed her for a moment. ’Twenty five,’ he said at last.
‘Fifteen,’ Emma countered.
‘Twenty.’
Emma’s lips twisted. ‘What do you care anyway?’ she asked with a huff. ‘It’s not as if you ever do it yourself anyway.’
Erik grinned. ‘Would you believe me if I said that I was doing it out of consideration for my team?’
Emma and Charles exchanged a sceptical glance before turning back to Erik. ‘No,’ they said in unison.
Erik shrugged. ‘Fair enough,’ he said. Then: ‘Twenty-two. And that’s my final offer.’
Emma didn’t look very pleased by this but she rolled her eyes and sighed. ‘Fine,’ she said huffily. ‘Twenty-two. Agreed.’
Erik grinned widely. ‘Excellent,’ he said, clapping Charles on the shoulder and making his way to the door. ‘I’ll head up now and keep to my end of the bargain. Charles, Emma,’ he gave them a satisfied nod and then went on his way.
You looked very pleased with yourself, Charles sent him as Erik made his way up the staircase to the next floor.
Why shouldn’t I be? Erik’s voice sounded amused. Things went just as I expected them to.
You mean that you expected Emma to bully you into interacting with your patients?
I mean that Frost was forced to bargain and I got exactly what I wanted out of it. When Charles didn’t seem to be overly impressed by this, he continued. Summers bet me that I couldn’t get Frost to let me out of clinic duty for the next month, he broadcast smugly. Twenty two hours gets me safely over my required monthly quota.
Ah. Charles tried not to smile. And what does Alex get in return?
He could practically feel Erik’s smirk from the floor above. He gets to do my share of clinic hours for the next three months.
Charles sighed. ‘Oh Alex,’ he murmured, shaking his head. ‘You poor boy.’
‘He’s telling you about the bet, I assume,’ Emma remarked from where she was still perched against one of Charles’s cabinets, calmly regarding her nails.
Charles gave her a wry smile. ‘He never learns,’ he said, shaking his head with mild exasperation.
The corner of Emma’s mouth pulled upwards. ‘Which one are you talking about?’ she asked, unable to hold back a smirk.
Charles grinned up at her. ‘Well I was talking about Alex,’ he chuckled. ‘But I suppose that the statement applies equally well to Erik. He really should know better than to think that there’s anything that goes on in this hospital that escapes your notice, Emma.’
Emma preened.
‘Are you ever going to tell him that the only reason you’re giving him time off clinic duty is that the patients actively refuse to see him?’ Charles asked curiously. ‘That we’re actually losing patients because of him and that it’s in everyone’s best interests if he goes nowhere near the clinic?’
‘Oh lord no,’ Emma immediately shook her head. ‘Did you see how quickly he complied just then? Usually it takes hours to convince him to do anything. No,’ she shook her head. ‘I’m going to milk this for all it’s worth. Hold the threat of actual patient interaction above his head.’ She turned her sharp gaze on Charles. ‘And you are going to play along with it, aren’t you sugar?’
Charles gave a loose shrug. ‘Well my brand new office chairs aren’t appearing out of thin air now, are they?’ he asked lightly, getting up from his plain wooden seat and stepping over to the swivel chair and lowering himself into it. He smiled. ‘It was really very good of you to remember my complaint about my old office chair, Emma. My back ached something terrible after sitting in that one for too long.’
‘You’re welcome, sugar,’ Emma purred as she turned and slowly made her way out of Charles’s office. ‘Now you just make sure that you don’t let anything slip when you’re canoodling with your shark-faced boyfriend and everything will be fine.’
‘He’s not my boyfriend!’ Charles called out as the door swung shut but Emma was already gone. He pouted at the empty room and leaned back in his chair. ‘Why does everyone always say that?’ he sighed.