Jean and Angelo in the medlab

[x-jeangrey.livejournal.com]

Angelo's keeping Jean company down in the medlab.



It was going to be a very long night. Angelo was set up on one of the office tables, for the time being, college texts stacked next to him. He didn't look to be having much luck concentrating, though, having scanned down the same page at least three times.

Jean was working on some paperwork of her own, her coffee cup close at hand, and nearly drained. Half stifling a yawn, she set her pen down and stretched. "Ugh."

Angelo glanced up at the sound, seizing on the distraction. "You okay there?" he asked automatically.

"Oh, well enough," Jean said with a shrug, spinning around in her chair. "Although I could do with more coffee," she added, peering at her cup. "You?"

"Well enough", he echoed, eyeing his books and the empty cup somewhere among them. "Not doin' all that well at the study, though."

"What are you working on at the moment?" Standing up she picked up her cup and drained it before heading towards the coffee machine in the corner. Pulling out a new filter she set to brewing a new pot.

"Uh... tryin' to work on a paper for my Human Rights class", he said tiredly, pushing the book aside for a moment. "Jumped on that course when it came up."

Jean flashed a grin over her shoulder. "I can imagine. Good professor?"

"Yeah, he's pretty good." That got a real smile. "Really knows his stuff, an' how to talk about it."

"And combine that with a topic you really care about... So is the paper giving you trouble, or are you just having trouble focusing?"

"Mostly trouble focusin', I think." He sighed and put down the pen in his hand, nodding to the door of Nathan's room. "I know he'll be fine tomorrow, but..."

"Fine and plenty cranky, I'm sure," Jean said, doing her best to sound reassuring.

Angelo chuckled. "Yeah, probably. Especially after gettin' woken up once an hour all night. This time."

"Speaking of," Jean said, leaving the coffee pot to fill for a bit and heading back to her seat, "thanks for hanging out down here with me. I appreciate the company, and I'm sure Nate appreciates the occasional change of scenery."

"Not a problem", he said easily. "Thanks for lettin' me come down an' help. I'd only've been upstairs tryin' to study instead if you hadn't." No sleep for him tonight.

"But would you have had better luck?"

"...probably not", he admitted. "Maybe even not as much."

"Hmmm? What's up?" Jean looked concerned - she'd been concentrating on her own work, but it hadn't escaped her notice that there wasn't a lot of page turning or not taking being done by her companion.

He shrugged. "It just helps to be down here when he's got himself hurt again. I swear, I'm gonna get Joel to make me officially his bodyguard."

"He really is going to be ok," she said, her voice gentle. "Yes, he got pretty thoroughly worked over, and it's not terribly reassuring to know it could have been worse, but I promise he'll be ok."

"He's come through a hell of a lot worse, I know", Angelo said quietly. "But still... thanks for lettin' me help, even just a little bit."

"Of course," Jean said, smiling. "You're always welcome down here. Now, did you need more coffee, too?"

"Wouldn't say no, when it's ready." He grinned crookedly. "Got to stay awake, an' all."

"Here, cup." She held out her hand to him. "And I'm going to go hunt down some cookies."

"Cookies, too?" He handed over his cup. "You're the best."