xp_logs | The Road Home, Karolina

After a long day, Karolina makes it home. Haller and Callie greet her.

She didn't have enough energy to make the flight straight. On a normal day, at her usual levels, it only took an hour to fly from the mansion to the city. Today, after three days of exhaustion, hunger and most importantly, little sun, Karolina found herself stopped every few minutes to rest, hardly faster than she could have run the distance and with the same amount of effort. She was too tired to think by the time she landed on the front steps of the mansion and--lacking her key, her ID and her phone--leaned on the doorbell.

Jim started at the sound of the front-door buzzer, forgetting the half-hearted consumption of the sandwich Amelia had demanded he eat before she allowed him back in the Medlab. The telepath sighed, abandoned the meal, and made for the foyer. It hadn't been going down easily anyway. His last attempt to contact Betsy had once again resulted only in another throbbing migraine. It was stupid trying to stretch so far, but he had little else to do. His only consolation was that he was sure he'd know if she were dead.

Belatedly, he wondered who was at the door. Whoever it was had gotten inside the perimeter, so it wasn't the press, and it was highly unlikely an attacker would bother with the buzzer. Maybe someone had left and come back. Jim rubbed his forehead and opened the door.

"Forget your--" he started, then did a double-take, ". . . Karolina?

Her hair was dirty and wet and plastered to her back. The over-sized sweatshirt she wore had seen better days, grimy and pulled out of shape. Beneath the hem of it was an equally dirty white skirt. Her legs were bare and so were her feet. The glow that surrounded her day and night was weak, flicking out in palest colors. "Hello, Mr. Haller." Her voice sounded like the rest of her, pale, exhausted, beaten. "May I come in?"

Where have you been? would have been an appropriate question to someone who had been missing for four days, but Jim's job didn't require him to be a disciplinarian, and Karolina looked utterly miserable. Even had Jim ever learned how to scold, it would have been impossible. He placed his hand lightly on the girl's shoulder to usher her inside and instead asked a different question. "Are you hurt?"

"No, I'm fine." Karolina took a deep breath and stood a little straighter, "I know. I'm grounded. Can I just get something to eat first then I'll go to my room?"

Jim exhaled. "Eat. And don't worry about it. I think we can delay the grounding discussion until we're past the state of emergency."

"Right. Nowhere good to go anyway." Karolina gave him a little nod, too tired for her usual attitude. "Thanks, Mr. Haller." She pushed her wet hair off her face and padded away down the hall toward the kitchen.

* * * * *

Cessily's absence in their room made it feel very eerie. The suite had never been this quiet. It was unnerving, and it made Callie restless. She had tried staring on some of her homework, reading a book, sleeping, but she could not stand to be in that room any longer. With nothing else to do, Callie made her way to the rec room. At least here she would be able to fully engage herself in her movie watching without being reminded of what was going on. So she popped in Roman Holiday and settled in on the floor on a pile of cushions to watch.

Leaving Mr. Haller in the hall, Karolina walked toward the kitchen, bare feet almost silent on the polished wood floors. Her usual glow was dim, hardly a flicker, her hair wet. She wanted two things, a tofu dog and a shower. The sound of a movie distracted her from her mission; Audrey Hepburn was a weakness of hers and she stopped to lean in the doorway for a couple seconds.

A small rumbling in her stomach made Callie acutely aware of just how hungry she was. As much as she hated to pause in the middle of a movie, she reminded herself that as Jan said the day before, she did need to eat. With a groan she paused the movie and stood up to stretch and find something to eat. As she turned around she caught sight of a familiar figure in the doorway. "Kare," she asked in disbelief.

Karolina lifted her hand, sweatshirt falling back almost to her elbow. "Hi, Callie." She studied the girl for a second, "Are you feeling better?" It was a stupid thing to say, to ignore everything that Callie must be thinking about her right now. She was a mess and she knew it. There wasn't a whole lot she could do about it before her shower though.

"Kare!" Although Callie still did not have her usual level of energy she was able to cross the room fairly quickly with her long stride. She reached out to hug her classmate, but stopped herself with a quick reminder that Kare probably didn't want to be touched by someone who was gross and scabby. "I was so worried about you! But you're alive. And here! Are you okay?"

The blonde girl nodded, not trusting her voice to the lie. The truth was, she had no idea if she was okay. She was home, that was something. "I'm tired," she said, which was at least true. "I've had a long day." She shrugged uncomfortably at the aborted hug, "Sorry, I'm all wet. It was raining. I was just going to get something to eat before I ran up to change."

"I know I look all gross and stuff but I'm not contagious any more." Callie shifted uncomfortably, pulling the ends of her sweater over her hands. "You probably want rest, but I have movies if you want to join me. Later. After eating and showering and not catching hypothermia from being in wet clothes."

Karolina looked a little surprised by the offer but then she smiled and nodded, "Yeah, that would be nice. Thanks." She started to turn for the kitchen then turned back, fidgeting. "Um, if you don't mind that I'm all wet and disgusting, I don't mind that you're blotchy and...I could really use a hug right now."

"I'm so glad you're safe," Callie managed to choke out as she hugged Kare tightly.

"God, me too." Karolina clung back, and it was only that she was so very tired that she didn't start to cry. Swallowing hard and trying not to sniffle, she turned her head, resting it on Callie's shoulder. "So where is everyone else? It's so quiet here."

"You should probably get something to eat and change your clothes." Callie stepped back from the embrace. "Then, you know, we can talk."