Log - Tabitha and Dani in the Library, Amelia and Tabitha in the Medlab

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In the Library, Tabitha is Dumb, and Dani catches her.



Across the room, an alarm chimed on the desk top computer. Tabitha looked up from her PDA and inventory to check the time. Top of the hour, time for calisthenics.

She shut down the PDA and marked her place on the shelf. She unbuttoned her sleeves and rolled them up to her elbows. With little preamble, she dropped to the carpet to start her push-ups.

Dani hadn't seen Tabby in days and she was fed up, knowing that she was working herself too hard on whatever it was she was doing. Dani was prone to working to much too, it seemed to be a problem a lot of people at Xavier's had, but she at least knew how to relax a little! "Tabby?!" she called, wandering into the library looking for the blonde girl.

Tabitha froze half-way down at Dani's call. She scrambled to her feet Dani worried that she worked out too much and Tabs had no desire to strengthen that perception. She grabbed for her PDA as she called out. "Over here, Dani!"

Picking her way through the stacks, Dani finally came upon Tabitha. "How's it going?" she asked, looking around curiously. The library did not look in disarray which was a good thing, only a small pile of books sitting on one table.

Tabitha tried to breath shallowly, hoping her face didn't shine with sweat. "Pretty good, actually. I've only found two or three books that weren't in the database."

"Uh huh," Dani nodded and cross her arms over her chest, obviously not believing her. "Since when does inventory make your flush and sweat?" she asked, suspiciously, pretty sure she had a good idea about what was going on. She was worried about Tabitha, while diet and exercise was good, she was dangerously close to hurting herself with it.


Tabitha's fingers flew over her face. Her hands went to her hips. "Uh, I get really excited about my work?" She knew it was weak, even as the words tumbled over her lips. She turned away from Dani abruptly, and fell straight to the ground as her knee gave out from under her.

"I was born at night," Dani replied, making a face at her, "but it wasn't last night." Dani dropped to the ground automatically, reaching for Tabitha. That was not how knees were supposed to behave while doing inventory in a library.She wasn't a doctor or a medic, but it was best to see what the knee was doing before they called for help. If there was.

Tabs hissed through the grinding pain in her leg. "Stupid thing. It was supposed to be ready for action weeks ago." She bit her lip worriedly at the prospect of standing. "Maybe I should hit Jean up for a brace."

"You're too hard on yourself," Dani disagreed, "And you gotta let yourself heal. Ain't gonna do no good to no one if you hurt yourself like you did," she pulled out her cell phone and dialed for the medlab to send someone up. "I didn't fall off the turnip truck, Tabitha. You are hurting yourself. Stop," it was a command, but it was tempered with concerned for her friend and a kindness in her eyes. Dani worried for her, which was something that Tabitha did not seem to be doing much of for herself, at least not to the point where doing herself permanent damage had become a fear.

"I can get down to the med lab," Tabitha insisted as she hauled herself to her feet. The first step had her clutching the bookshelf as pain shot up her thigh. "Okay, maybe not." She squeezed her eyes shut and took a fustrated breath. "I don't understand, I'm not even doing as much as an Olympic athlete, not even half as much. Why do _I_ get injured?"

Dani rolled her eyes openly now at that logic, though she did lend Tabitha support as she tried to stand. "You ain't an olympic athlete and we ain't got olympic coaches here. We got a Danger Room and some gizmos Forge built. Don't be stupid," whoever was in the medlab would be here soon. Hopefully they'd give her a logic transplant when they fixed her knee, "Tabby, you are hurting yourself. That ain't healthy."

Amelia has no patience with Tabs' idiocy.



Tabitha kept her eyes down as the doc poked and prodded her with a
scowl on her face. Well that made two of them. Neither one was at all
happy about their circumstances. "What went wrong? Why isn't it
healing right?" She asked with a glare at her knee.

Amelia shot her a displeased look. "You can't hazard a guess?" There
was something that was not quite sarcasm in her voice. "Danielle's
told me about the way you've been approaching the concept of exercise
lately. Tell me, are you sparing any thought to the caloric demands of
such a rigorous fitness regime, or has that gone the way of your
common sense as well?"

Tabitha scowled, but didn't look at the angry doctor. "Several fitness
magzines and journals said seveteen calories per pound to maintain
weight, take away five hundred calories to lose it. I've been eating
nearly 2500 calories a day!"

Amelia just stared at her, slightly wide-eyed. "That," she said, her
Russian accent thickening, "is the most ridiculous and irresponsible
thing I have ever heard. Especially when recovering from an injury.
I've realized, Ms. Smith, that X-Men are usually cavalier about their
health, but congratulations - you've reached a new low."

Resentment burned through Tabitha. "I did everything the best sources
recomended, to the letter. Olympic athletes and marathon
runners do the same thing every day." She was only vaguely aware that
she was repeating herself. She felt a little muzzy, to be honest.

Amelia's eyes narrowed. "I don't know what kind of trash you have been
reading, Ms. Smith, but let me indulge myself by sounding like the
children for a moment - nutrition, you're doing it wrong."

Tabitha rubbed her head with the heel of her hand. "I just-" She broke
off, uncertain. Even her muzzy brain could put the pieces together.
Everything kept getting harder instead of easier, the bad sleep, the
injury just not getting better. "Crap."

"Tell me, were there mutant athletes in your magazines?
Energy-projectors, with their very particular metabolic challenges?"

She felt a flush steal up her neck, into her cheeks. She averted her
eyes, not willing to meet the doctor's gaze. "I- I didn't even
think..."

"I didn't think you had." Amelia took a step back, folding her arms
across her chest. "The knee requires a significant amount of rest and
proper physiotherapy, at this point," she said disapprovingly.
"You'll have to curtail your training completely for the time being."

"What?!" Tabitha started to object. Amelia's expression stopped her
mid-breath. If she was honest with herself, they were all right. Dani,
Scott, Amelia, her conscience. She let out a breath. She could cut
down to some long daily walks, give herself time to heal. "All right."

Amelia proceeded to demonstrate her not-quite-telepathy. "You will
have to curtail exercise, completely," she amended. "For the
time being. While we sort out precisely what you're doing wrong with
your diet, and how to best restructure your fitness regime."