1¹ | Dexter ▷ Scott Summers | ✓

S E V E N T E E N

"Scott, do you want this plane to explode?"

Ruth glared at her boyfriend, trying not to scream. They were starting to back out of the hangar and she had mentioned she never liked the takeoff bit of the experience. Scott, being the loving boyfriend he was, tried to hold her hand. Her reaction was kind of dramatic.

"Ruth, what's going on?" Hank called, still backing out.

"Scott's trying to hold my hand and I'm probably going to kill everyone because I hate the takeoff of planes and Scott makes my hair burn."

She smacked Scott's hand away, ignoring the hurt look he gave her.

"You'll be fine," Alex said, looking at his nails, "Hank, share the data!"

Hank cleared his throat, maneuvering the plane around. "Ruth, I do see your point and I had observed some of your interactions with him because I too found the fluctuations of your mutation interesting.

"There is enough evidence to back my theory that your mutation reacting strangely is just your mutation.

"Your mutation is based off your emotions and Scott seems to bring up plenty of those. Your mutation just does what it's told. As we saw at the beginning, you seemed to get angry at Scott easily. I don't have all the information, but I can safely say you don't be blowing up planes today."

She sighed, looking around. "The fucker jinxed it, someone have wood we can knock on?"

Hank rolled his eyes. "Okay, everyone, I assume we all know the exits of the aircraft, there's one above us towards the back as well as one on the floor. Although, your first instinct should be grabbing onto Kurt who we have been prepping in the event of an emergency. Alright. Let's go!"

Ruth whimpered, closing her eyes as the plane started moving forward, slowly growing faster and faster.

"Hey, it's okay," Scott whispered, "We'll be okay."

Ruth laughed bitterly, her body stiff. "That line never works, you know it, Dexter."

He sighed and took her hand, squeezing it. "I know, but there's no harm in trying. Do you like climbing trees?"

She frowned, looking at him. "What?"

He shrugged. "You seem like the type to like climbing trees. I don't know what L.A.'s like, but I know it can't be all palm trees. You just seem like the type who climbed trees when you wanted to talk to people."

She thought back to all the times she and Lionel climbed the tree in his backyard to talk. That was why his parents built the tree house. It didn't stop them from climbing other trees, though. "Yeah, actually, I do. Why?"

He shrugged again. "We're going to your home town, city, whatever, and I thought you could give me a tour of where you liked to go. Jubilee's doing that too."

She thought back to her old life, where she and Lionel used to go, how many places they were kicked out of, where she was beat up. "Yeah, sure, I guess. I mean, Lionel and I didn't go to many places. We didn't like to go many places and we weren't always allowed in others."

He furrowed his eyebrows. "You must've been allowed some places. An ice cream parlor. What's your favorite ice cream."

Ruth faltered, feeling the plane jerk slightly. She thought for a moment. "There was this new flavor that came out last year, Cookies N' Cream. It's so good."

He smiled. "You'll have to show me your favorite ice cream place then. My favorite flavor's vanilla, so it's not that hard to find it around." Ruth laughed, the sound ringing through the plane. He frowned. "What?