Madelyn, Jean - Friday morning

[x-madelyn.livejournal.com]

Scott isn't the only one concerned about Jean's state of mind - Madelyn confronts her in her usual blunt style, and the result isn't quite what she'd expected.



"Jean? You got a minute? I've got something I want to talk to you about," Madelyn said without preamble, knocking lightly on the doorframe of the medlab exam room Jean was holed up in. The other doctor looked terrible, now she was thinking about it, and Madelyn kicked herself for not noticing earlier. If it hadn't been for Scott...

Jean looked up, eyes narrowing at the thoughts running across the forefront of Madelyn's mind. "If what hadn't be for Scott?" They were talking about her...

Uh-oh, busted. Madelyn had forgotten the telepathy, like she often did. "He's worried about you," she temporised. "He's concerned about how much you've been pushing yourself these past couple of weeks."

"Can't imagine why," Jean said, turning back to her notes. "He worries too much, really. I'm fine."

Madelyn crossed her arms over her chest, giving Jean the Look they'd all learned from Moira. "Don't deny it, Jean, you haven't been sleeping, have you? And working yourself half to death down here."

"I am sleeping," Jean snapped back, not at all amused to be getting the Look from this woman who was an intruder on her territory. "I sleep as much as I can. I'm sorry that seems to not be enough for you people."

"Sorry, Jean, it takes one to know one, and believe me, I know all the justifications. 'I'll sleep when things calm down', 'people need me', 'if I sleep who will do the work', 'go away, you annoying person...'" Madelyn was unphased by Jean's tone - if anything, the other woman's reaction only confirmed what had been suspected. She counted off the reasons on her fingers. "The Professor is more than capable of keeping an eye on Paige and helping her calm down if anything happens, and you're ready to drop on your feet."

"Why the hell does everyone think I don't want to sleep? I CAN'T sleep. I try and every time I close my eyes..." Jean couldn't even begin to describe her nightmares - certainly not to Madelyn. "Since I can't sleep I might as well do something that's useful."

"Because you know as well as I do there's plenty of options available for helping you sleep," Madelyn pointed out. "We've got enough sleeping drugs to put New York under for a week, we've got the world's most powerful telepath available to help you work out whatever it is stopping you from sleeping, or even to give you a telepathic suggestion. Hell, we've got a kid upstairs who can make Nathan sleep for hours just by waving her hands at him and saying some funny words." Madelyn's tone softened. "Jean, I don't have to tell you what's liable happen if you don't get some help sleeping soon - you know as much about sleep deprivation psychosis as I do, probably more given you've been a doctor here for far longer than I have. Let me take you to go see Charles."

"I don't need to go see Charles," Jean snarled. "Nobody needs to go see Charles because he's always around, always in my head. Everybody is always in my head and I just want them to go away."

Alarm flickered in Madelyn's eyes, but that was the only sign. Jean definitely wasn't going to be rational about this. Good thing she'd come prepared, even if she'd never live it down... "Jean, we want to help. You can see that from my mind, I know you can. And sleeping would make the voices go away, give you a chance to breathe, get your bearings back. I'll call Charles down, he can maybe give you a little nudge and you'll be off in Dreamland before you know it..." Her voice soothing, she reached behind her for the tranq gun she'd tucked into the back of her jeans. No doubt Jean would pick up her intention, but the other woman's TK wasn't up to shielding and this close there was no way she'd be able to duck in time.

It is a well documented fact that sleep deprivation makes people paranoid, and two weeks in the mental atmosphere Paige had been putting out hadn't helped any either. Of course, Jean would always maintain that it wasn't paranoia if they were plotting against you.

Jean caught the image of the tranq gun from Madelyn's mind, as well as the other woman's worry and fear for Jean, but in her current mental state it was not possible for her to properly process that fear. Instead Maddie's fear transmuted itself into her own terrors as Jean shrunk back, a scream ripping from her as her hands flew to her head against the pain of her TK coming on full force.

Or, rather, her TK trying to come on. As exhausted as she was, Jean managed the lightest of shoves against Madelyn, not even enough to cause the other woman to wobble, before the scream and her mind cut out and she collapsed to the ground.

"Shit, Madelyn said with feeling, kneeling beside the unconscious woman and checking her pulse. Strong and steady. And she hadn't hit anything on the way down. Madelyn remembered a note of Moira's in Jean's file, regarding her TK and overstraining. It was likely Jean would be out for several hours. #Charles, slight problem with Jean,# she thought as specifically as she could - she'd never get the hang of mental speech, she decided. The reply came immediately, soothing, calm, and she nodded. #I'll monitor her and wait for Hank, then,# she replied, grabbing a blanket and a pillow to make Jean more comfortable while she waited for Hank's superior strength.

"And it's not even as if I tranqed her," she said to herself almost mournfully, draping the blanket over the slumbering Jean.