Jean and Laurie

[x-wallflower-.livejournal.com]

When: Monday 4th June 2007 Time: 20:00

What Happens: Laurie waits for her checkup, now that there's time for one.



Laurie sat on the med lab bed, dangling her feet somewhat aimlessly as she waited for Jean or Amelia to come check her out and give her a clean bill of health. She knew that there were a couple of them to get through, so she didn't mind the time, besides, after a couple of days in a concrete cell, Med lab or anywhere else was pure luxury.

Jean checked again to make sure she'd grabbed the right file before knocking on the door and peeking into the examination room. "Laurie?" she asked, smiling at the girl, although she looked a little frayed around the edges. "Hey, sweetie. How are you doing?"

"I'm alive." Laurie replied, picking some dirt out from under her fingernails. "Have they brought everyone in yet?"

Jean nodded, setting the file down on the table and drawing over the spare chair. "Yes, they're back, safe and moderately sound. And beyond alive, can I get some details? Any exessive pain, bruises, cuts, etc?"

"Some bruising, some small cuts, nothing serious." Laurie responded almost mechanically. "They didn't need to touch us, they made sure they wouldn't have to."

Oh yeah, that was reassuring. "Mmm-hmm. Which leads, I believe, to yet another interpretation of 'how are you'. How are you coping?"

"I want my Mom." Laurie said, tears slowly forming and slipping down her cheeks. "Can you please call her, get her to come pick me up?"

"We can do that, sure," Jean said, leaning forward to offer Laurie a packet of tissues from her lab coat. She actually had half a dozen packets in there - none of the kids were coping well, it seemed, although they had different ways of showing the stress. "She already knows you went missing, and that we got you back. I think she's really just waiting for the right moment to come sweeping in, so giving her the green light on that's not hard."

Laurie took the tissues, wiping her eyes and then her nose and trying hard to smile. "Mom's probably been giving the Professor and Mr. Summers hell, hasn't she? She gets a little mother bear like, when it comes to me."

Home, she wanted to go home. Not the mansion, which had become home of a sort but the home of her childhood, the home where the rooms was filled with memories that didn't have anything to do with this world, or what had happened or whether she could ever be truly brave enough to cope with it all.

"With reason, I'd say," Jean said. "And don't worry, the Professor can handle it. And..." A brief pause. "And he'll call your mother now. "

"Thank you." she replied, hesitating for a second before looking more directly at Jean. "Can I go now? I want to pack a few things."

"While I admit, the main purpose of this isn't the physical proper, let me do a quick check-up? Won't take long, I promise."

"Okay." Laurie replied, fidgeting.

She didn't want to answer any more questions but she couldn't exactly refuse to let them check her over.

Either Jean was picking up on that desire (one of the handy tricks of the telepathic doctor) or she truly did want to get through a basic physical, because she set her stethoscope in place and, movements reassuringly sure, did a quick examination, limiting her questions to things like "Does this hurt?"

"All right," she said after a few minutes. "Unless there's anything you want or need to go over, you can go ahead and get ready."

Laurie didn't need to be told twice, with a nod she hopped off the Medlab bed and was out the door as fast as she could go without actually running.

Jean bit at her lip as she watched Laurie go off. She wished she could do more, but she knew that some time away from the craziness, somewhere safe and reassuring, would do more for Laurie than anything she could say or do. And when she was ready to come back, they'd be here to help her.