Log // Alison, Haroun // Those sunny days...

[x-dazzler.livejournal.com]

Saturday, late morning. Alison finds a Haroun-in-a-wheelchair obligingly left for her in the medlab, and decides that there's just no way such a lovely gift can be left to linger there on his own.

Haroun sat in his wheelchair and fumed. Yes, he should be grateful that he survived his ordeal. But he hated being weak, and right now he was as weak as a kitten. He couldn't muster up the strength to wheel himself anywhere - and to make sure he didn't hurt himself trying Madelyn had locked the wheels of his chair. And worst of all, he was cold. He didn't get cold. Shivering, he adjusted his blanket over his lap and tried to get warm.

Leaning slowly in the doorway of the medlab, Alison surveyed the room. Desk, tables, various screens and storage cabinets, and… one Haroun in a wheelchair. At her mercy, no less. "Good morning," she hummed out the words, trying to keep a stupid grin from her face. Haroun looked as though he'd swallowed a bushel of lemons.

Haroun looked over at Alison, and for a brief moment he forgot about being helpless, forgot about being cold, forgot about just about everything else in his life to just focus on her. "Hi." he said after a moment, fighting to get the words out from around the lump in his throat. "Guess I fucked up." he said. "Forgive me?"

Her knees were wobbly as she walked through the medlab, picking her way through to him as quickly as she could without embedding anything on one of the desk corners in her way. "That's my line," was all she could manage, leaning down to hug him, carefully so and unable to help it - the sight of him fragile and ill still too near and fresh for her to be anything but as gentle as possible.

Haroun clung to her for a moment before breaking down completely. But in his culture, such things were no shame. A few moments, and he drew in enough of a breath to be able to try to pull back to look at her. "Don't give me that crap. You did the right thing." he told her in all seriousness. "And I never want to hear you say otherwise, do you understand me?" he demanded.

"Okay." She spoke softly, voice barely above a whisper, trembling every so slightly. "Okay." It was awkward to stay as she was, back hunched a bit over the chair, but she didn't care, unmoving for as long as possible. All the medical reports and all the promises didn't hold a candle to the actual sight of him, being able to just reach out and touch him without fear or worry. Finally though, she had to give in - reaching over she dragged a chair closer, setting it right next to his wheelchair, curling up on it while leaning over the side to still hug him.

"Good. Is it just me, or is it really cold in here?" he asked, shivering violently. "I've been freezing ever since I've been conscious. So - what'd I miss?" he asked, trying to keep things light for now. "Did we get Maverick out?" he asked.

He still asked that, she noted. "Sort of. We got him out, he went back and then got himself out. He phoned us later, to thank us - so I'd say yeah, we got him out." She tried to smile, setting aside the other bit of news she had for now. Her father's death… that could wait. For just a little bit longer, she was going to be selfish and enjoy just seeing him like this, alive and well. "I'll get you an extra blanket. It's not so cold here, but Hawksmoor said you'd be oversensitive to well - a lot of things. Temperatures is one of them." She suited deed to words, retrieving a blanket for him as quickly as possible.

"Great." he muttered around what sounded like the gunfire of his clacking teeth. "I haven't been cold in years. Is my power not working or something?" he asked. "I don't want to try anything - I'm a little under the weather right now." he said with the closest thing he could come to an apologetic shrug. "And who's this Hawksmoor guy?"

Unfolding the blanket, Alison lightly set it on his lap, tucking it around his legs and waist to secure it into place. Then curled up on her chair next to him once more, starting to emit the barest of glow, spilling as much of the faint light as she could in heat instead. "There. That'll help some, soon, just wait for it." She pressed to warm hands to his cheeks and smiled at him. "Hawksmoor is the doctor who did your first surgery. We tracked him down and brought him here."

Haroun paused to take that in. "I presume at some point I'll meet him, so I can shake him warmly by the throat?" he asked. "Guess Shaw came through for me when I needed him, then. Doctor, parts, all of it. That's good." he said with something of a yawn. Another thing he was going to have to fight to get back - his stamina.

"Um. Actually…" Trailing off a bit, Alison tried to fend off the 'oops, did something bad' feeling. She felt no guilt whatsoever at what she and Cain had done, but owning up to it to Haroun was another story entirely. "Ah, no. He didn't. Even tried to pretend he didn't have the parts for the first generation stuff. Never even - he never even informed us - you - of the fact that he had third generation hardware, for that matter. So… erm. Itsortagotliberated."

Haroun looked at Alison. "You're joking, right?" he said. "I owe Shaw  my existence. Him and Emma Frost both, although with Emma generally all we do is get together once or twice a year and talk about the Academy." he said, shivering violently. "Wait. Third generation? They did this to someone else?" he said, voice growing towards the "shouting" end of things - or it would if he was stronger.

"No. I'm not joking - he did everything to block us, though Emma helped. Everything happened fast after that, though and it wasn't an issue by the day after." She paused, waiting for his breathing to settle back into something calmer, before going on. "They seem to have all been hardware and software only tests. There are no references at all to any human implants or anything of the sort, in the data we got."

"Allah ackbar." he said, making a gesture towards the ceiling. "There are small mercies, then. I wouldn't wish what was done to me on anyone." he added, and then shivered again. "I really hate being this cold and weak." he muttered.

"You'll get better." Alison smiled at him at that, though she could feel her shoulders slumping slightly, days of accumulated stress and fears slowly easing away. "I know you will. And-" she paused, frowning slightly and laying the back of her hand against his forehead, just in case it was a fever spoke speaking - but all seemed well. "And I can get another blanket? Or if the heat I'm letting out is starting to settle in…"

Haroun looked at the door longingly. "Madelyn spiked my wheelchair's wheels. I've been in Medical for way too long. I'd like to get out for a short while." he said, looking at Alison meaningfully. "And I can't wheel myself yet." he admitted, even though it burned him to admit it.

Blink. Alison looked at him blankly, then stared down at the wheels - and hid a smile. He'd still have tried and probably hurt himself, if the wheels hadn't been locked. "Well, I think I might be able to steal you for a little while," she murmured, reaching down to flick the locks off, first one side, then getting up to get the other one. "It's sunny out. The sun is out, that might warm you up some…"

Haroun smiled at Alison as she bent over to undo the locks on his wheelchair's wheels. And then blinked as a cascade of entirely new sensations rushed through him. "What the hell?" he asked, blinking to try to clear his mind. He was freezing not just a moment ago, now he felt ... warm. Not exactly loose, but much less tense. Still couldn't move his new legs, but something decidedly odd was going on with the cyberwear.

"What?" Straightening up quickly, Alison leaned over him, searching for any of the signs which meant a rejection of the hardware, one hand fluttering over his thigh nervously. "What? Does anything hurt, is something wrong?" He didn't seem to be in pain but that was hardly anything to go by sometimes where Haroun was concerned.

Haroun blinked. "I don't know. I just got the weirdest feeling running through my body. I can't explain it. It's not pain - pain and I are old friends - but ... I don't know. Probably nothing." he said with an attempt at a shrug.

"Weirdest feeling?" Blinking a bit, Alison stopped fussing though, remembering Hawksmoor's many briefings as to what might happen while Haroun adjusted only too well. "Well. So long as it didn't hurt," she murmured, leaning down to kiss him lightly before adjusting the blankets over his legs one last time. And planning to let the medstaff know that something had happened, anyway. "Ready to go?"

Haroun blinked, and then nodded. "Yeah. Some fresh air would do me a world of good." he said. The feeling had come back a little when she kissed him, and he just didn't understand what it was, what it could mean. It wasn't like anything he could remember feeling - although, in all fairness, his brain was apparently parbroiled quite nicely lately.

She looked at him attentively, chewing on her lower lip for a moment, hesitating. Then decided that she'd not have been told a short outing was all right unless it was, and that Haroun would tell her if he didn't feel well, if such was the case. "Okay." And it took her a while to realize she was just staring at him with a silly grin and with a small smile of apology, Alison moved behind the chair to wheel it towards the door and outside, one hand involuntarily straying from the handles now and then to touch his shoulder to he side of his neck lightly, as though double checking he was really there.

Her touch made his entire spinal column feel like it had been plugged into a light socket - but in the good way. He was ridiculously sensitive right now - he could feel the coarseness of the blanket under his arms, the touches on his neck were driving him WILD, and occasionally he'd get some sort of strange cascade of sensation from the cyberwear. Given the choice, it was still a vast improvement.

As the tip of his feet crossed the threshold of the medlab doors, Alison leaned down, whispering into his ear in a conspiratorial fashion. "So. Are we wanting to make a grand escape for all the see through the front doors, or do we want to be sneaky and go out the back?" Either way, she'd try to loop by the hanger for him to see the Blackbird at least.

"I am completely at your mercy." he said with as much of a grin as he could muster. He hated not being in control most of the time, and having it stripped from him was sitting - badly - with him. But just hearing her voice and getting out of Medlab was worth a little frustration.

"Back door," Alison said at that point, changing her mind entirely from what it had been a mere few seconds ago. "Don't wanna share you with anyone at all just yet. All mine," she muttered with a small, near manic grin as they gained a bit of speed, the elevator thankfully already there. It didn't take long at all to make it outside, Alison slowing down only once as she also decided to set the Blackbird visit for their return. For now, getting outside and having time to spend with Haroun which didn’t' involve anything remotely linked to the medlab was good. Very good. Good in ways that made her chest tighten and her eyes spark with tears.

"Sunshine. What a novel concept. I'm getting disgustingly pale." He said with a weak smile. "Thanks." he said, voice thick with emotion. It meant a lot to him, to have something to fight for that wasn't him. More than she knew, he suspected. As soon as he was better, he'd have to remedy that.

Somehow.