xp_logs | Medlab, Jean and Terry (Reply)

Jean checks Terry over to find out exactly how much she's been hurt.

Terry let go of Bobby reluctantly after he'd helped her down to the medlab and watched him disappear again without a word. She sat in the cold examining room and waited for one of the doctors to show up. She hoped it would be Dr. Grey. Jean had checked her over briefly while they were still at the fair but had ordered her to have a full check up once they got back anyway.

There was nothing on earth that would have prevented Jean from getting back to the school as fast as humanly possible. She almost attempted to levitate the stragglers who she had to wait for from her car to get them their faster, and the speed limit had decidedly not stopped her. She made it to the medlab only a few minutes after Bobby had left, even though their car had left easily a quarter of an hour before she had. "Hey, sweetie," she called softly as she entered the room.

Terry attempted to smile at her then winced as she cracked her lip again. "Hi, Dr. Grey." She'd tried without much success to clean off her face on the car right back and knew that she was a mess. "It's worse than it looks."

"I know, sweetie. It usually is." Her earlier examination had told her Terry's nose wasn't broken, but she was going to want a good look at her ribs, make sure that vile little beast hadn't broken them. First though... "Let's get you cleaned up properly, huh?" Her touch was gentle as she washed away the dried blood and dirt.

Even so Terry whimpered softly, it was always worse when someone else was making it hurt. Still she felt better once the sting of the antiseptic died away. "Will I have to walk around with a steak on my eye like in the movies?" she asked, trying to make a joke.

Jean chuckled softly, more in appreciation at the attempt than the joke itself. "I think we can manage some more advanced treatments than that," she promised. "Although if you want, Lorna's not here to defend the kitchen anymore. I'm sure we could find something..." Yes, it definitely looked worse than it was, although any damage to her students automatically fell under the category 'unacceptably bad' as far as Jean was concerned. She moved on to Terry's hands, cleaning out the dirt that had ground itself into the small scratches.

"I'd better not." She hissed and made herself hold still rather than jerking her hands away. "Catseye might think that I'm bringing her lunch and attach herself to my face. Then I'd walk into a wall or something and just get more bruises."

"And more bruises are definitely to be avoided. There we go, all done." Jean let go of Terry's hands, smiling softly. "Sorry about that, but it's usually better to do it quickly and thoroughly than to pretend it will hurt less if I go slow." A distinct lack of need for bandaging, which was good, but Terry was going to be sore for a couple of days at least. "Can you take off your shirt, sweetie? I want to get a look at your bruises, possibly get x-rays, make sure your ribs are ok. You said you weren't having any trouble breathing back at the fair...?"

Terry nodded and with Jean's help slipped her dusty t-shirt over her head. Her skin was already red and purple in large patches. "I can breathe fine. It hurts to move some but not any kind of sharp hurt." She looked down at her torso with some surprise. She hadn't realised he'd kicked her that much. It hadn't seemed that long. She shuddered involuntarily.

Jean rested a hand on Terry's shoulder, squeezing lightly. "Definitely not broken, then," she said, keeping her voice calm and thoroughly burying the urge to go find the boys who'd done this and make them regret it. "Looks like they missed your ribs entirely," she added, as the bruises were all concentrated on her stomach. "We can probably do without the x-ray, but you let me or one of the other doctors know right away if you think there's something wrong."

"I will." No worries about that. Terry wasn't reluctant to admit injury though she hated needles and would go to great lengths to avoid getting a shot. "I'm sorry, Dr. Grey. I didn't mean to screw up everyone's day out."

"Oh, Terry sweetie..." Jean wrapped an arm around Terry's shoulders, hugging her. "Don't apologize. This was not your fault, love. Not in the least."

Terry shrugged one shoulder, "I thought I could deal with him. I mean, I recognized him. I should have just run but I didn't." Confessing to Jean was always easy, something about her made Terry trust her without reservation.

"I would much rather you guys were confident and felt safe than be afraid of everything. You have to live your life, and we want you to. And the fact that you knew when you couldn't deal with the situation anymore and called for help just proves how bright you are."

Terry nodded and rested her head gingerly on Jean's shoulder. She was suddenly exhausted, the last of her adrenaline draining away obviously. "I could have done better," she said stubbornly.

"Hindsight is twenty-twenty, love, but I promise you, you did not a single thing I could find fault with." Jean reached up with her other hand to brush the hair softly back from Terry's temple. "You're good to go, though. Advil or aspirin as you need them, or let me know if you want something stronger."

"Thanks, Dr. Grey." She blinked at Jean for a moment, all thought fled. Finally she came back to herself, "I'm going to sleep now, okay?"

"Sounds like a good plan. You want to crash down here, or go back to your room?"

"I want to go to my room." Her voice broke and she realized she sounded like a scared child. She tried correct it. "I think I'll sleep better there. You said I was okay right?"

Jean's heart broke at the tone of Terry's voice. #You're fine, love,# Jean pathed, projecting reassurance and security. #And you're safe. Not going to let anyone hurt you again.#

Terry nodded and pretended she wasn't crying even when the tears slipped down her cheek and dripped off her chin. "I know. I'm just being stupid. I'll be fine once I sleep some."

Jean wasn't going to begrudge Terry the tears in the least, but neither was she going to make her face up to them. #Not stupid.# The thought was emphatic and unjudging. "But yes, sleep sounds like a good idea." And she was going to have a private thought with Charles about insuring it was restful sleep. Terry did not need nightmares just now.