X-Men: The Gifted Ones

34. JASON'S BATHROOM, XAVIER MANSION, WEST CHESTER, NY

She wanted him to take a bath!

Jason screamed hysterically when she led him to the bathroom. She wasn't getting him in that tub! Not after what happened the last time he had taken a bath!

"I won't force you," Jane said gently, kneeling on the floor to be eye-level with him. "And I won't leave you by yourself."

He stood in front of her and scowled.

"What about a shower?" she offered.

He shook his head.

"You'll feel so much better once you're cleaned up," she wheedled. "I'll help you comb your hair."

Her heart broke for the poor boy. Was there any normal daily routine that didn't bring on any trauma for this child? The boy wolfed down his lunch as if he'd never see food again. He was terrified to sleep in his own room. Hank said he had woken up to find the boy curled up at the foot of his bed the night before. Hank had carried him back to his own room, but Jason begged Hank to stay. The night on the chair in Jason's room showed in the stiff way that Hank walked the next day. Has anyone ever cared for this child, her mind raged, angry.

"No one's ever cared for me," he glowered.

Jane looked up, startled. "You read my mind?"

He only looked up at her, his eyes full of anger. "You yelled."

"Did I say that out loud?"

"Your mind did. To my mind."

Jane had to pause. She remembered what Charles had told her when they had first met: She was an empath. She would pick up others' mental pain. Her mind would instantly connect with theirs. She would be affected by the feelings of others, and they in turn would be affected by hers. She was feeling this child's anger and pain. He, in turn, would be able to feel her thoughts. "So you know, when I say I care, or I won't hurt you, you know I am not lying."

"I still don't trust you."

"I understand."

"You really do."

"You had something bad happen with a bathtub before, didn't you?"

He nodded.

"We had very different childhoods, Jason. When I was your age, and I had a bad day, my mom would always make me a bubble bath. She would fill up the tub with lots of bubbles. She'd scrub my back and massage shampoo through my hair. Then when I was ready to come out, she had warm bath towels ready for me. She put them in the dryer so they would be warm for me. Then she would give me my flannel PJ's and bathrobe fresh from the dryer and sit me at the table with a glass of cold milk and a plate of warm cookies. I'd dunk the cookies and eat them as she combed my hair for me. When she would do that, I felt like everything in the world was OK again."

Jason stared at Jane. It sounded like heaven. To have a mom like that!

"Would you like to try that?" she offered.

He didn't want to seem too eager. But the nurse at Forest Haven, she tried luring him with a bath, too. She went away for towels. He stayed in there all night, naked and freezing. He wasn't going to fall for that trick again! This woman was a nurse and nurses weren't to be trusted! "No!" he yelled. "No! I'm not doing it!"

The thing about the warm robe and shampoo being scrubbed into his hair seemed so tempting, too! Maybe Dr. McCoy would do that...!

Jane sighed as she saw the light drain from his eyes and turn to terror. He continued to scream loudly and he went running from the bathroom screaming for Dr. McCoy. She was left kneeling on the floor alone in the bathroom. She closed her eyes.