[For Moira and Layla] Introductions

[howmanylives]

Even now, after all this time, Jamie Madrox was never one for routine. He’d managed for a while, shortly after his suicide attempt, but besides his daily standing appointment with Reid and baseball practices, he’d done away with it almost entirely, preferring instead to wait and see, playing things by ear in case something more interesting cropped

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[butterflyfactor]

Layla glanced sideways at Jamie, long enough to lift an eyebrow at the idea, before she turned back to rinsing her own dish in the sink. The island weather happily suited the wardrobe she'd arrived in, and the clothes box was happily coughing up plenty of pairs of jeans with questionable lengths and halter tops.

It had not yet been forthcoming with strips, but she had her own, and there was a washing machine. She'd even taught Jamie how to use it.

She'd cropped the bottom of the Frankie Says Relax t-shirt the box had given her so it read Frankie Says, and had looped the straps of the capri denim overalls around her waist and hips so they acted more like a belt, and found herself less offended than she would have anticipated. Island life, in general, was less offensive than she'd have thought it would be, except for one glaringly huge problem that gnawed at her every second of every day she spent there

[nostoppinglife]

Moira wasn't generally one to interrupt the conversations of others, but with Jamie, it seemed perfectly natural. The girl was unfamiliar, but the M tattooed over her eye, so like Jamie's, suggested the friendship might not have been a new one, and it was difficult -- not to mention unnecessary -- to suppress her curiosity. So much, it seemed, had happened between her time and that from which most of the others had come.

"I'd wager that dog of his'll keep him busier than any trainin' might," she said, stepping past the girl to get to the coffee. She glanced over at Jamie, brow raising. "Ye gonna introduce me t' yuir friend, lad?"

[howmanylives]

"Moira," said Jamie, sounding equally parts surprised and guilty, like he'd been caught doing wholly inappropriate. The chair fell forward with a clatter, and he braced himself against the table, fingers spread wide along the edge. Pushing himself up, he got to his feet, quickly making his way over to where they were standing.

"Uh, hi, of course," he added, eyebrows raised, and he gave a flustered little wave, gesturing to them both. "This... is Layla Miller. She's, uh, my--" He cut himself short, changing tact mid-sentence: "Layla, this is Moira MacTaggert, Nobel Prize winner, brilliant geneticist, and, most importantly, the closest person I have to a mother."

[butterflyfactor]

The fact that his brain hasn't physically exploded out of his skull is pretty impressive.

"Doctor MacTaggert," Layla said, smiling and offer the woman her hand, "it's a pleasure to meet you."

[nostoppinglife]

"Likewise, lass," Moira replied, shaking Layla's hand as she darted a glance at Jamie. As sweet as his description had been, the absence of any ability to sum up Miss Miller here was, in comparison, notable. "I'm sorry, Jamie, I didnae catch how ye know each other."

[howmanylives]

"She was a member of X-Factor," Jamie said quickly, flashing Layla a look that he could only hope conveyed any number of things, even if he wasn't entirely sure which was the most pressing. It wasn't as though they were doing anything wrong. In fact, they weren't doing much of anything, save for sharing a hut with two separate bedrooms, a comfort as much as it was a convenience. But calling her just a teammate left out some of the complexities of their relationship, such as it was, though he'd be hard pressed to come up with a more fitting title for her even if he tried.

[butterflyfactor]

Layla returned Jamie's look steadily and with no detectable concern.

"And was about to return to the team, but," she gestured lightly to their surroundings and shrugged, pressing her lips together in a what-can-you-do expression.

"Little sidetracked."

[nostoppinglife]

"Sidetracked," Moira echoed with a wry smile. "I know the feelin'." If nothing else, finding herself stuck here had proved a quick reminder that she needed to snap out of all that pointless self-pity. She'd screwed up. She moved forward. "That makes, what, half yuir team here then?"

Come to think of it, she wasn't entirely clear anymore on just who made up X-Factor these days. She wasn't sure she would have known the names if she'd heard them anyway.

[howmanylives]

"From my perspective, it's just Terry and I, actually," offered Jamie, failing to mention that Terry was really the only one of them all who'd been a current member of X-Factor at the point of their departure. He'd walked away from that life before he'd ever shown up here, after all.

"Rahne was already with X-Force by the time I left, and like Layla said, she wasn't back yet. Most of the team isn't here."

[butterflyfactor]

"At least you knew I was coming back eventually," Layla said with a sunny sort of smile, replacing the mostly-dry dish in the cabinet she'd gotten it from.

[nostoppinglife]

"Come or go, they're still yuirs," Moira said, with a tone that implied this was somehow a way of agreeing with Layla. The teams she'd worked with had changed constantly over the years, but teams had a way of becoming family. "So ye're a detective like Jamie, are ye, lass?"

[howmanylives]

"In... a manner of speaking," said Jamie, nodding slowly. Layla had probably done less actual detective work than the rest of them, but she'd been helpful in other ways. "She had a knack for getting us right where we needed to be."

[butterflyfactor]

"Call it a gift," Layla added. Jamie seemed to be fielding the conversation, so she flashed him a frank sort of smile and stuck her hands in her overall pockets.

[nostoppinglife]

"An' a useful one, sounds like." Moira smiled, taking a step back towards the counter. "Well, dinnae mind me if the two o' ye had plans. I just came in f'r lunch."

[howmanylives]

"...do we have plans?" he asked Layla, sounding genuinely curious.

[butterflyfactor]

Layla didn't look at him but kept smiling at Moira.

"This should give you both a clear and accurate idea of what my role on the team was."