xp_logs | And after the phone call, there's a Conversation.

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Jamie picked at his food, occasionally drumming his hands softly on his knees and craning his neck to try and get a better look at where Kitty went, around a corner toward the telephones. It was good food--he amused himself briefly with the thought of a cookoff between Chef Whatsisname and Lorna--but despite his sixteen-year-old appetite, the food wasn't the point of the evening.

Looking serious, Kitty smoothed out the skirt of her dress and then turned to head back to the table. And how do I tell him this one?

Jamie's instant smile at Kitty's reappearance wilted slightly as he took in her expression, but he managed to restrain his curiosity until she sits down. "What's up, love? Something wrong?"

"Yeah," she said, settling back into the chair. "That was Essex on the phone."

Oh, thank you for killing the mood, Dr. Creepenstein. Really. Appreciate it bunches. "What'd he want?"

"You know how they've not said anything about Ms Braddock?" she asked.

"Well, yeah . . ."

"Essex found out during the surgery... well, it's complicated, but essentially she's getting worse and we need to do something."

"OK. We can go see the Professor as soon as we get back. I mean, maybe he's already doing something and just hasn't made a big public deal out of it."

"No, he's not," Kitty answered, looking down. "She needs another surgery and if something were being done she'd already have been moved. The school equipment is good, but not good enough."

Jamie paused. "Okay, I'm not trying to argue with you or hurt your feelings, but . . . how do you know he's not? Essex doesn't know, he's not there. And if we've only got Essex's word that she needs another surgery instead of, y'know, another surgery might wake her up faster and stick a thumb in the Professor's eye . . ."

Kitty blinked, looking confused. "I know Ms Braddock's not been moved. She's still down in the lab with Dr. McCoy hovering over her, and they've no idea what they're doing. Dr. McCoy is the greatest teacher I could have in Phys and is a fully qualified G.P., but he's not a neurosurgeon."

"Okay, but how do you know the Professor can't do some telepathy thing that'd work just as well? And either way what does Essex expect us to do about it?"

"Telepathy can't fix a physical problem. If it were just that she were trapped in her mind then yeah, the Prof'd be the one to talk to, but for a phsyical problem you need a physical solution. As for the other..." she paused. "He wants my help in getting to Ms. Braddock."

Jamie blinked. "What do you mean, 'getting to?'"

"He's not allowed in the school, and she needs to get to the hospital anyway. He needs help to get her out of the lab and to a facility that will be up to the task."

Jamie blinked again, and opened and closed his mouth a few times. "So . . ." he finally managed, "basically he wants you to kidnap a comatose woman so he can do unauthorized brain surgery on her? Please tell me you said no."

Kitty raised her eyes to look at him, then sighed. "Yes, when lowered to the lowest common denometer, he wasnt me to help him kidnap a comatose woman so he can opperate on her without her uninformed," the emphasis was subtle, but there, "legal guardian's consent. And no, I did not say no."

"Hate to say it again, but you only have Essex's word he isn't in--" Jamie broke off, going pale. "Oh, hell, Kitty, do you have any idea how much trouble you'll be in when that goes wrong? Or if it doesn't? What if you get caught? What if she dies? What if she doesn't, and wakes up in the middle of an Army base, and calls for help? There's no possible way this ends well."

Kitty scowled. "Of course I'm perfectly well aware of how much trouble I'm going to be in. And there is a very possible way this ends well. Betsy doesn't die. She placed her trust in the doctor and, once she was unable to object, she was removed from his care. I sincerely doubt she would call for help upon waking and seeing the man she still believes to be her primary physician."

Inside she was worried. Dr. Essex hadn't been sure that telling Jamie was a good idea, but she didn't want to keep something like this from him again. But at the same time... she honestly thought this was right. And Jamie apparently didn't.

Jamie was obviously on the verge of saying something like "we don't know for sure she even is dying," but swallowed it, looking miserable. "Okay," he said finally. "Okay. I'm going with you. When you do this. And no arguing. Maybe I don't know how to make you see you're jumping into a hole here, but I can damn well jump in with you." He met her gaze firmly. "I love you and I think you're making a mistake and I'm going."

Kitty sighed, then nodded. "Fine. That's your decision to make. However, if you're going you're going to not hassle Dr. Essex. He's going to have enough to worry about without us giving him more problems." She smiles faintly. "I love you too," she adds, "and I don't think I'm making a mistake, and it will be good to have you there."

"I'll leave him alone as long as he doesn't try anything screwy. Well, screwier." Jamie trailed off, muttering half to himself. "But if he does anything else to hurt you, I'm damn well going to skip the 'long conversation.'"

Kitty raised an eyebrow. "Does anything to hurt me? What on earth would he do...?"

"Oh." Jamie shrugged a bit shamefacedly. "Just something he told me a while ago when it didn't look like I was going to believe him about the Professor punishing you for working on your powers. If I ever hurt you we're apparently supposed to have an ominous pause long conversation ominous pause. Like asking you to commit a felony, I guess."

Kitty blinked, confused. "What? An ominous pause long conversation ominous pause?"

"Yeah." Jamie demonstrated with a fairly good impression of Essex's glare and accent. "A long conversation. Euphemism straight out of the Top Ten Intimidating Conversational Tactics. I didn't know people actually said that." He shrugged again. "But that's part of why I never really trusted the guy."

"Because he threatened you if you hurt me?" The whole idea was so plainly bizarre. She couldn't imagine Jamie being a threat, although Essex as an overprotective father figure made a little more sense.

"Because he did that after trying to get me on his side instead of the Professor's, and using you to do it. Which took me a while to figure out, because I didn't think there were sides. But I don't like people trying to manipulate me like that. And then there's all the . . . stuff. Like, how he didn't want to let you take time off on your birthday. And how he was so damn cold about Algernon when anybody could see you were upset about it. It's like he doesn't care about people's feelings unless it's convenient."

Kitty blinked. "Jamie, this dinner is my birthday present from him, and he wasn't cold about Algernon, really. He was just Essex. We ended up talking about it, and everything, which was really useful." She sighed. "Look, decidedly not worth arguing over. He'll be too busy to bother you and I'll have you around as moral support. Ok?"

"Not worried about him bothering me," Jamie muttered. "But yeah, not worth arguing over." He reached across the table to take her hand. "And I'm always around to back you up."

Kitty smiled, glad he'd let it drop.