xp_logs | Monday morning: Forge/Catseye, the recovery room

Early morning Monday, the docs let one specific visitor in to see Forge. The final dose of reality is just the relief he needs to start things healing.

Firmly wedged between a warm side and an arm, chin resting against the hollow of a shoulder and tail wrapped around a wrist - both in a reassuring and a "leave and die" way - Catseye watched, whiskers slowly arching forward once in a while, then falling back. Silence reigned in the room, though an occasional half purr broke through, tentative and hesitant. Shifting slightly, the cat lifted her head and burried her nose against the light t-shirt the sleeping boy wore, taking in a slow breath, tasting scent that was both alive and well and barely touched with blood, before settling down once more. Watching.

A whisker against his nose brought Forge slowly to alertness, hand reaching absently to the side, reaching for a lamp that was not there in a room he would never find himself trapped in again. As wakefulness set in, the dull grey walls of the recovery room in the medlab brought with them an unspeakable relief.

He was free.

Closing eyes suddenly tear-filled, he took a long, shuddering breath. His sleep had been filled with dreams that left him cold: images of using the Neutralizer to aid Magneto instead of thwarting him. And in every image, he closed on the vision of himself, clad in blood red and black, slowly donning a familiar helmet - becoming what he most feared.

The weight on his chest and arm caused him to realize that his dreams were just that, and this was reality, and he was safe.

Safe, yet powerless.

There was, Catseye knew, only one reason she was here now, why the quiet of the room was broken by anything but words. Shifting her weight carefully she crept a bit closer, moving slowly, one paw always leading ahead, letting her intent be known. And finally she leaned her head forward, whiskers carefully kept back so as to not tickle. Pressing her forehead against Forge's cheek she purred lowly, a quiet and calm sound, unlike the usual loud and boisterous rumbles most people tended to be gifted with.

Her presence was the final thing that clinched it for Forge. This was real, all of it. The ordeal was over, and now there was only living with the consequences. Part of him didn't want to know what everyone's reaction would be. But he knew that he had to find out. No more lies, no more hiding things. From here on out, everything was going to be straight and up front, no matter what anyone else thought.

Funny, he thought as he stroked a thumb over Catseye's back, that it was pretty much how she'd been from day one.