Log: Doug, Laurie and Jean

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Posted early due to timezones. Meant to be set for Friday 19th December 2008 at 4:30pm with the end part of the log probably being around 5:00pmish.

Laurie collapses during a practice session at her martial arts class. Doug makes sure she gets home safely.



Laurie placed her bag at the wall along the edge of the mat, stretching out as she watched a few others of her white belt class practicing.

She was feeling faint and exhausted after a night spent mostly awake. It hadn't been dropping off that was the problem, but staying asleep. Coughing had woken her up nine times out of ten and the slight specking of blood on the tissue she was using this morning was alarming. She needed to pass her pre-test to be considered for testing though and to do that she'd have to keep working hard.

She'd go to Jean after this week, get her to do a full work up on her to find out why the virus wasn't going away. But for right now, she needed to get her head in the here and now.

With testing coming up in just a few weeks, and black-taped stripes indicating a passed pre-test showing up with more frequency, the general level of tension and anxiety was starting to show on the less confident students. You could always tell who didn't feel comfortable with the material, because they would invariably practice obsessively.

Master Lee was just wrapping up the advanced belt class, having delivered a somewhat scathing lecture on consistency rather than last-minute heroic efforts. It wasn't particularly directed at anyone in the class, but more a general observation designed to skewer those students who recognized that they were -not- consistent.

Consistency was a rather mild word for the way Doug had been in the dojo nearly every night attempting to re-learn the entirety of his black belt curriculum. He'd taken his discussion with Master Lee to heart, and while he was still uncomfortable teaching any of the curriculum, he at least was feeling a bit more comfortable with his belt around his waist.

Laurie nodded at Doug and bowed carefully before stepping out onto the Dojo floor, joining the members of her belt class in their warm ups. She'd known intellectually that Master Lee's lecture hadn't been directed at anyone in particular but she couldn't help but think she herself could have been doing more. Shortness of breath, and the occasional weakness lately had made it hard to train at her best, but she soldiered on, as it were.

She was not going to let a simple cold, no matter how tenacious it was get the better of her.

Doug stopped his work and bowed when the advanced belt class wrapped up, and again when the beginner class moved to the front of the floor. Then he went back to his study, an intent look of concentration on his face that was broken every few minutes as he looked at an open binder at his feet before going back to the curriculum he was working on.

Once the white belts had bowed in, Master Lee directed a few of the students, Laurie included, to the back of the floor with him, while another of the instructor-level black belts took the rest of the class through some basic falls and sweeps. At the best of times, Master Lee's expression was impassive - and on evenings like this, when he was readying the students for belt tests, he carried an utterly bland expression, no sign of what he was expecting from his students, or what they might expect from him.

He paired the students up, and stepped back slightly, observing them for a moment. He briefly turned his back on them, to face Doug, communicating a "pay attention to them." request with a nod of his head and eye movements. Without a word, he returned his attention to the quartet of white belts. "First combination."

Laurie glanced uncertainly at Master Lee for a moment before focusing her attention back on what she should be doing. It wasn't hard, not really, and she'd practiced enough now that it was almost second nature. She squared up against her partner, bowing first with her head up, her eyes meeting his before she stepped back into a fighting stance and then punched forward with her left fist and then brought it back, before following up with her left foot, making sure to curl her toes upward as she kicked.

The student paired with Laurie blocked as they had been taught, pushing Laurie's fist aside and then bringing her other forearm down to block Laurie's kick. Despite that as white belts, they were to step through the moves and counters, contact still happened from time to time, and this was one of those times, the other girl's forearm hitting Laurie's ankle lightly.

"Watch your contact, white belts." Master Lee hadn't missed it, or Laurie's wince, which seemed slightly out of place to him, as the block hadn't been forceful.

Doug tried to match Master Lee's impassive observance, that odd ability of his to seemingly see everything that happened in the dojo all at once. It was difficult to see and retain everything he saw, despite the slight advantage his power lent him.

Laurie raised her hand for a second, stepping back slightly and giving herself some time to recover. Despite the fact that the block hadn't been all that forceful, it had hurt and the ache seemed to radiate up her leg and her ankle throbbed as she shook it out before moving back into attack stance.

"Okay, I'm good." she said, waiting for her opponent to line up again.

This time she was meant to block as her opponent went through the combination. She pushed the punch away with a right arm block, a little slower then she might have done had she been feeling better but still adequate as far as she was concerned. The kick almost hit however, and she had to scramble to block it with a low block from her left hand.

**

Laurie listened carefully as Master Lee gave them the next technique they were to practice. This time it was a side breakfall, something she wouldn't have to do with a partner to her immense relief.

It wasn't until she'd placed her right foot to the front and left of her left foot and started to fall that she realised that this could be bad. When she hit the ground, and started to cough, that worry was confirmed.

She couldn't breathe, and the coughing didn't seem to want to stop. She tried stretching herself out and rolling herself to get into a better position to open up her lungs but there just didn't seem to be enough air anymore.

Doug was already moving as Laurie was beginning the fall, some clue in her body language telling him that something was wrong. As she rolled to her knees, he barked "Break!" in the same authoritative tone that Master Lee used to signal people to stop what they were doing, especially if they were sparring. The rest of the class came to a halt as Doug crossed the floor and pulled her to a sitting position. He jerked her gi top more widely open, his motions brisk. The exposure of her thin tank top and sports bra were completely overlooked as he attempted to ensure that her airway was clear. That she was coughing and not choking was a good sign.

Laurie continued to cough, and she pushed at Doug to give her more room. Sitting up didn't seem to help, and her eyes widened at the spatter of blood she noticed on the hand that gripped Doug's sleeve.

Master Lee sent the other three white belts to join the rest of their class, with instructions to the instructor to dismiss the class early. "We will finish your pre-test on your next class." was all that he said as they crossed the dojo to rejoin their classmates. "Miss Collins, do you ... " he started to say, and then shook his head briskly. "Douglas, do you think Miss Collins needs an ambulance, or does she simply need to be driven home?" If Laurie had dragged herself to class when ill, she couldn't be trusted to assess her own medical condition.

Doug felt a flush of embarrassment wash over him, his skin reddening when he had no real reason to feel such. He frowned. Physical reactions that had nothing to do with his own emotional state were a surefire indicator that Laurie had lost conscious control of her powers, which meant that he needed to get her out of the dojo quickly. And taking her to an emergency room was probably not a good idea if she had no control. Besides, the mansion had the next best thing to a full hospital, and staff who understood how to work around mutant powers.

"I think it best I take her home, sir," he said. "There's a medical staff at the institute, and I'll make sure she gets attention." Even if he had to put her in a joint lock and frogmarch her there. He slung Laurie's arm over his shoulders and supported her toward a standing position.

Laurie had finally gotten control of her coughing but she still didn't feel it would be pertinent to start talking considering the state of her throat. Instead, she simply shook her head and tried to lean away from Doug. It was embarrassing to say the least, and she wasn't sure that being this close to her was a good idea.

Laurie was practically weak as a kitten, and it was easy to keep her from moving away. "None of that," he told Laurie, an authoritative tone that did not brook disagreement. "I'll call you when I get her there to let you know what's going on," he told Master Lee, leading her out to the car she'd driven from the mansion, fishing the keys out of her gear bag and helping her into the passenger seat.

He looked over to where his own car was parked. He'd figure out a way to get back to it later. He put both of their bags in the trunk and quickly got behind the wheel, taking his gi top off and throwing it into the backseat so that it wouldn't restrict his movement. Then he started the car and pulled smoothly out of the parking lot.

Laurie leaned her head against the window as Doug drove, feeling wrung out and exhausted now that the coughing had subsided. She had a feeling that Jean and Amelia were going to be somewhat PO'd at her, and that didn't even count Scott when he found out she'd been training through an illness. She wasn't looking forward to the lecture she was going to get from Master Lee once he let her back in the dojo at all.

She glanced over at Doug, and opened her mouth to tell him she'd be fine once they got to the mansion, and then closed it again. He wouldn't believe her, and her throat was too sore to really attempt talking anyhow.

Doug flicked his eyes over at Laurie, mentally tallying up the number of lectures that she was likely in for. For that matter, if he'd done the same, he would have probably had several more on top of the ones that she had coming. Angie would have murdered him, for starters. He thought briefly about giving her a few of his thoughts while she was a relatively captive audience, but that seemed like it would be piling on.

So instead he remained silent for the rest of the trip back to the mansion, until they parked the car and walked around before Laurie could get out. "C'mon. Medlab," he instructed her in the same tone from earlier, keeping a firm grip on her arm as they entered the mansion and headed straight downstairs.



Doug makes sure Laurie sees Jean.



Doug kept his grip on Laurie's arm and sent a questing thought forward. If Dr. Voght was in the Medlab, then there would be no purpose to it, but if Jean was the one there, then she'd be forewarned about the pair about to come visit her. He steered Laurie down the corridor and to the Medlab's entrance.

Laurie for her part was silent as Doug led her through the house, not even struggling against the hand that gripped her arm. The shock of not being able to breathe had finally fired home to her just how sick she was, and just how much of a lecture she could probably expect from the two doctors when they saw her. She was meant to be smarter then this, studying to be a doctor as she was. But she'd just thought...she didn't know, maybe she just hadn't wanted to admit that she could get sick just like everybody else.

She had finals that still needed to be done, and what was going to happen with that now? She'd only done the first few of them, she couldn't afford this, she really couldn't.

"Can't I just go to my room?" she asked softly, her voice barely above a whisper as they walked. "I promise I'll go see Jean as soon as I'm done with finals."

"No. You'll see Jean -now-," Doug told her firmly. She clearly had not judged her own health, so he wasn't about to let her off lightly. He wouldn't have put it past her to 'forget' to see the doctors, so they were going to get this done while he was there to make sure of it. "In."

The thought Doug had sent to her had Jean already prepping a bed in one of the private rooms rather than simply an exam table, which would have been more difficult, given the cast on her arm, were she not telekinetic. As it was, the bed was still making itself as she stepped into the main room, frowning at Laurie. "Thanks for bringing her down, Doug. Laurie, what the hell were you thinking?"

Laurie's look was faintly rebellious now, and she'd folded her arms in front of her, her shoulders hunched forward. "I needed to get through finals, I can't afford to miss any of them or I'll never keep up my grade point average," she murmured, her voice still low and as soft as she could make it, in an effort to circumvent another round of coughing.

"So, this would be where I point out that all of your professors can and will make allowances for illness and that tests can be rescheduled." Jean's frown deepened. "Can you help her onto the bed, Doug?" she asked, as the blankets stilled at last.

Doug made an affirmative noise, doing his best to keep from drawing attention away from Laurie. He sensed that this was a discussion some time in coming, and he wasn't about to give her any easy outs. His grip was firm but not rough as he assisted Laurie to sit on the bed, despite her continuing to struggle weakly.

"What if they hadn't?" Laurie stated, her tone turning sullen at Doug's continued insistence that she stay to be treated. She finally subsided in her struggles when she realised he just wasn't going to release her. "I'm a mutant, and this is Westchester. I wouldn't put it past the whole damn town to be a bunch of assholes of the highest order."

She didn't mention the fact that she still had friends in town, or that her mother still lived not far from the mansion. As far as Laurie was concerned, they were exceptions that proved the rule. Just because some people could be nice, didn't mean the place itself was nice.

"It is not a matter of them being assholes or being saints, Laurie," Jean argued, slipping on her stethoscope (the only thing keeping Laurie from getting one of Moira's refrigerated ones was the knowledge that cold on her chest would not help whatever Laurie had come down with). "Allowances for illness and family problems are standard at all colleges. If a professor gives you a problem with them you go to the Dean, and if he gives you a problem your doctor has a word with him. Believe me, he would not be giving me a problem." The frown shifted into a full on glare as Laurie's increased volume let on more of the raspiness in her voice.

"I didn't want to give them any reason to think I wasn't as good as everyone else." Laurie muttered darkly, breathing in as far as she was able, which wasn't far given the fact that she started coughing the moment she tried it. She clutched at Doug's arm and covered her mouth with the other, turning her head away as she gasped.

Jean's eyes narrowed fractionally, but it wasn't hard to see as she slipped into full on red-haired righteous rage doctor mode. "Right. Of course. Because anybody else would be able to just shrug off what sounds alarmingly like pneumonia. And that's why I had Nathan practically chained to a bed down here for a week last year when he had it." Jean's mouth opened to continue and then snapped closed. She took a deep breath, and her frown twitched upward into a humorless smile at the action. "Right. Doug, thank you again for bringing her down here. Yours was unquestionably the better judgment in this case. Now, if you'll excuse us, we're going to have to have a talk, and then Laurie needs a proper examination before she can chose to either rest or be sedated."