xp_logs | [log] Doug and Marie, around 1pm on Sunday.

Marie decides that she needs to talk to Doug, just to thank him for being such a sweet guy. Isn't he, though?

After lunch, Doug decided he felt like taking a little walk outside. Grabbing his coat from the hall closet, he bundled up and let himself out. Wandering through the snow, he took some time to revel in the peace and quiet, a sharp contrast to all the confusion that was going on inside the mansion. It felt surprisingly good to be out by himself just relaxing and thinking. Scooping up a snowball, he tossed it at a tree and smiled. Stuffing his hands back in his pockets, he took a deep breath of crisp winter air and continued walking.

Wrapped up in a blanket, staring out her window, Marie saw him leaving. -I should go talk to him.- Then she realized that she was still wearing the clothes she'd had on the day before. -I will when he comes back. I can't go see him like this. I should get ready to face the world anyway.- Folding the blanket over the back of a chair, she headed for the shower.

Rounding a corner so that the mansion was completely out of sight, Doug brushed snow off of one of the numerous stone benches that sat along the various paths that ran through the grounds. Breath steaming in the air, he watched snow drift gently down, blown from a tree by the gentle breeze. Finally, some unknown amount of time later, he stood up, stamped his feet, and turned to head back to the mansion, feeling surprisingly refreshed.

-I wonder if he's back.- Marie realized that she'd forgotten to check the clock. -Just... go,- she told herself irritably. Still, she stopped to look at herself in the mirror before she went, and then regretted it immediately. She looked as though she'd been crying all night; a too pale face with charming dark circles under her eyes and the lingering glassiness from too many tears in them. She pulled on a pair of dark red velvet gloves -- comfortingly protective -- and, steeling herself a little, she went to Doug's room. When she got to the door she forced herself to knock without hesitation, not wanting to back out of saying what he deserved to hear.

Doug, having hung up his coat and outerwear, trudged up the stairs, headed towards his room. The walk in the snow had helped a lot, but now his feet were rather soaked. Clean dry socks sounded very good right now. Rounding the corner, he pulled up short at the sight of who was knocking at his door. His heart flopped over and his first instinct was to run away. He wasn't sure if having another emotionally charged conversation so soon after the last one would be good for either of them. But, summoning up his courage, he made himself keep moving towards his room. Placing a hand on her shoulder, he said quietly, "Hi, Marie. Looking for me?"

Marie was so wrapped up in her thoughts that she didn't hear him coming. His hand and his voice startled her. She spun and backed up into his door, immediately defensive, eyes wide. "...Doug." The tension faded from her a little when she realized who it was. "Yes. I... it won't take long."

Doug's heart flopped over again at the sight of the circles under Marie's eyes. He had a sneaking suspicion he was at least partly responsible for those. He felt a vague twinge of guilt, but still wasn't sorry he'd finally come clean about his feelings. He felt remarkably liberated, having finally been honest with himself and her. Leaning around her, he unlocked and opened his door. "You want to..." he made a vague motion towards the door.

"Thanks." She stepped into his room, arms wrapped around herself, and stood out of his way so he could come in. "I was waiting for you to get back. I can come back later if you'd prefer, though."

Doug shrugged. "Honestly, I was thinking of trying to give you some space today. I mean, last night was...well, I'm not sure what it was, but it was." Doug was babbling a bit, and tried to rein himself in. "I just...with the way you needed to get away, I thought I'd try and give you some time to sort things out." He grinned wryly. "But I am nothing if not predictable, so it wasn't too hard to find me. Anyways, I'm not doing anything right now, so if you need to talk, we can talk." He moved over to sit on his bed, diplomatically leaving Rogue the swivel chair sitting at his desk.

Doug made a vague hand-motion in the direction of Marie's face, specifically the circles under her eyes. "I...are those my fault? I...didn't mean to make you cry. I'm sorry if I did."

"No," she said emphatically, shaking her head. "Not your fault. You didn't do anything wrong." Marie sat down in his chair, biting her lip. "I... I ended up saying some things I think I needed to say to someone else last night. It was just really hard." She closed her eyes on more tears. -Damnit, you'd think I'd be done crying by now.- "Anyway." She carried on, opening her eyes again and focussing on Doug's face. "I needed to say some things to you too, and I didn't want to wait."

Doug nodded as encouragingly as he could and sat quietly, hands folded in his lap.

"What you said last night... I don't know if you're right about all of it," she said, keeping her eyes on his. "But I needed to hear it, whether you are or not. I really did." Tears welled up again and a few escaped to run down her cheeks. "You can't know how much. I don't know what I'm doing now. I don't know what's going to happen... I just wanted to thank you for being brave, even if I'm not."

Doug smiled gently. Pulling his handkerchief out, he tentatively reached towards Marie. When she didn't pull back, he very softly brushed away the tears running down her cheeks. He pushed her chin slowly up with a silk-wrapped finger, not afraid to look her in the eyes anymore. "You don't always have to know what you're doing, Marie. It's okay. And I wasn't really brave. I was just so tired, and I just couldn't sit there and leave it all bottled up inside anymore. And I still think that you're brave. You're the bravest person I know. But you don't have to be brave all the time. Sometimes you can let a friend help carry the load for you."

"Thank you." She managed a small smile through her tears. "You really are a nice guy, in the best way possible, and a good friend. I should go for now, though, I think. I just needed to tell you that about last night and thank you." She leaned forward and brushed her lips across his cheek before he could move away, just a feather-touch that was gone the next second as she stood up.

Doug sat, looking slightly stunned. His fingers crept involuntarily up to brush against his cheek. His lips worked, but nothing came out.

"I'll see you later, maybe after I have some sleep." She stroked his hair back from his forehead and then stepped away from him. "You have a good day, okay?"

Doug nodded jerkily. "You too. Um...sleep well."

"I'll try." She let herself out of his room and closed the door behind her, feeling horribly wrung out all of a sudden, as though someone had cut the strings that were keeping her upright. -I hope I can sleep.-

Doug, for his part, flopped back on his bed, a silly grin plastered to his face and his fingers still pressed lightly to his cheek. ~Maybe I do have a chance...~