nextgenerationmarvel | Some kind of trouble....

The new internship was going really well. They were good kids; really good kids. Different conditions: two genetic disorders, two car accidents, and ... Luke ... but they were all responding well to getting their hands around a paintbrush or a pair of safety scissors.

Luke less so, not because his injuries were more severe -- in fact, they were less so than several of the others, but because he couldn't seem to relax. Then.... she could tell by the way he fumbled with the art supplies. The damage that had been healing after his previous accident ... or 'accident' ... was renewed. Kind of subtly, easy to miss if you weren't kind of studying this sort of thing obsessively.
Caroline calmly put in the call to DFYS ... but what about that night? Luke definitely wasn't talking enough to make anyone else take definite action immediately, and law-abiding citizen or not, Caroline wasn't sure she trusted the system to act quickly. Maybe she did have a little of Momma's revolutionary streak in her after all. She managed to keep him late, but eventually, the sun had long set, the center was closing... "Hey, Luke, I'm gonna walk you home, okay?" She didn't really give the kid much choice as she accompanied him. "Maybe have a talk with your Mom about how good your art's coming along."
"Mom'll be at work. And Dad... won't want to talk about art."
"Okay. Well, I'll just walk you home anyway."

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"Hold on. What's that word you keep usin'? I don't know the language." he said, trying to understand what Caroline is saying.

The waitress comes over to the table and sees Caroline's tears. She gives Tommy the evil eye as she asks for their orders.

"Just a burger and fries for me, please." Tommy requests.

"Oh, sorry. It's ... Momma's not from Kentucky originally; she was a refugee. Basically, it translates to 'shill for the oppressors.' " But then she smiles at the waitress and asks for a BLT and a peanut butter milkshake

"Peanut butter milkshake? Never had one of those. Is it good?" Tommy asks.

The term 'shill for the oppressors' sounded about right, though he knew his prison was one of his own making.

"You're a very nice woman, Kentucky Caroline. Thank you for...listenin' to me."

"It is. You can try some. I'm a real peanut butter addict." She smiles. "You're real welcome, Tommy."

"All right, then. I will do just that." he said, smiling at her. Her smile was infectious and Tommy liked that. He couldn't remember the last time he'd felt so at ease.

That said a lot about him, he figured.

"So how is living with your cousin? Do you get along?"

"He's great. Really good musician and a wonderful cook."

"That's not a bad combination at all. Sounds like you two are really close." Tommy said.

The waitress came back with their drinks and noted that Caroline wasn't crying anymore. Her attitude toward Tommy softened, but only a little.

"It's pretty late. Your friends aren't gonna send out a search party, are they?" he asked.

"I'll check in, just in case." She got her phone out and texted that she was okay, without having an actual phone call to have to explain yet.

"So... do you have anyone back in Missouri who has to worry about...stuff?"

"If you mean what I think you mean...no. No one back home at all. Whole family's gone." Tommy said.

"I'm sorry to hear that," she says sincerely.

And when the food comes, she'll happily dig into her sandwich and put a second straw in the milkshake

"Don't be. They were bad people." Tommy said. It sounded cold, but in his mind, it was the truth.

He bites into his food as well, enjoying for a bit before he tries out the peanut butter milkshake.

"Wow. That's...that is really good. I'm gonna have to try order that from now on." Tommy said, grinning a bit.

"I'll have to try to take your word on that, but I can still be sorry there's no one waiting up for you. Immediate blood, it's always been just Momma and me; the cousins are distant genetically, but we've got a big family in practical terms, and ... it helps. With a lot of things."

And then his milkshake enthusiasm brings windchime giggles.
"You should. Besides, protein is good for the blood sugar." And very little else in a milkshake was, but hey...

Tommy didn't know who his blood relatives. He'd been too afraid to look into his birth parents because it meant he'd have to forget his father, Jake Templeton and Tommy wasn't ready to do that. Not yet.

"Well, I'm a growin' boy. Protein is a good thing."

"Exactly so!" Caroline says cheerfully.

Tommy ate his food quickly. This was the first real meal he'd had in awhile and he wanted to enjoy it in case he didn't get another one in the near future. He watched Caroline eat, if for no other reason that one could learn a lot about a person by watching them eat or sleep.

And he didn't think he'd be lucky enough to see Caroline sleep tonight.

"So do you work with a lot of kids like the one from earlier?" he asked.

Caroline ate heartily, but with reasonable table manners. "In terms of joint and nerve damage, yeah. Not so much the same cause."

"I wish people weren't such crappy human beings." he said quietly.

"Most people aren't," Caroline tries to remind them both, managing a smile. "Plenty of decency in the world, and we can't go forgetting it. So we just help where we can." Pause. "But I shouldn't have let him go home."

"You couldn't have known what was gonna happen. People hide who they are really well." Tommy said, all-too-familiar with that.

"But you proved that there's decency in the world, Kentucky Caroline." he said.

Soft windchimes. "Sweet. Thanks."

Tommy finished his food in contemplative silence, thinking about his next move from here. He had to head back to New York to check on Roxie. Hopefully Joe would be back by then but if he wasn't, he didn't want her to worry. Tommy was still amazed that he cared about Roxie's worry for him. She didn't really understand who she was worried about.

Same as Caroline, it seemed.

"I'll take care of the bill, Kentucky Caroline. Then I should probably get you home. You've had a lot of excitement today, young lady." he teased.

Windchimes. "Probably." She'd argue over the bill; he doesnt seem like he has a lot, but she's also used to this being a matter of pride and isn't going to mess with that.

It'll all be settled easily enough, and home they go.

Once the bill was paid, Tommy would lead Caroline back outside to his bike and hand her his helmet. "Come on, Kentucky Caroline. Let me take you home and pretend I'm still somethin' of a gentleman." he said, sliding over the seat of his bike and starting it up.

Once she was settled, he'd take her as close to her home as she'd allow.

Some kind of trouble....

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