xp_logs | Love Potion Number 9, continued...

And the really painful parts.
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The note taped to Doug's door read:

Dear Doug,
I've been thinking about our talk on Monday. Can you come see me? I need to clear something up.
Love, Em

Doug tapped quietly on the door to Marie's suite, and his eyes narrowed as it swung slowly open. "Em? I got your note," he said as he slowly walked into the room. "What'd you want to...oh god." He gulped.

"You're early." Marie unfolded herself from a complex yoga posture and pointed to a chair. "I'm almost done here." The coffee table had been moved and she was exercising on a mat where the table usually sat. Marie was dressed, or sort of dressed, in pale pink exercise tights, a thin, white, spandex tank-top, and a pair of long, sheer, pale pink gloves that covered halfway up her upper arms.

"I wasn't expecting you to be so prompt." She moved easily into the splits and rested her elbows on the floor in front of her, then put her chin in her hands. "But I'd forgotten how reliable you are." Her smile was rather affectionate.

"That's me. Prompt and reliable," Doug managed to get out, trying to take his eyes away from the way her body moved. He sat heavily, almost missing the chair entirely.

"It's a charming trait." Marie brought her legs together in front of her and, turning to the side, arched neatly up into a bridge. She stretched out the arch, baring her belly and the narrow, lacy waistband of her panties as the tanktop slid upward and the waistband of the tights slid downward. "Admirable, even." After holding the pose a moment, she kicked off easily and stood on her hands for a moment before bringing her feet down between them and standing up straight at last. "Have to stay flexible," she explained, turning her attention to Doug as she pulled the elastic out of her hair and shook it loose. "Don't you agree?"

Doug blinked, slightly incoherent from watching her. "Um, yeah. I'm...okay on the flexibility thing. Not nearly as...limber...as you." He coughed nervously.

"You're so cute." She leaned over and kissed him on the temple, just at the hairline. "You look a little tense." One hand on his shoulder, she walked around behind him and began rubbing his shoulders. "What's wrong, honey?"

Doug jumped slightly at the contact, before trying to relax into the backrub. "I...mmm...have been having a sort of...surreal day. Something's...off, and I'm trying to figure out what it is." He closed his eyes and let his head loll forward. "Sorry. I'm a little jumpy."

"That's okay. I understand." Her fingers worked up his neck, soothing away the tension. "Lean back," she murmured, pulling him gently to relax against the back of the chair.

Doug leaned back at Marie's direction, shifting down into the cushions. "It's been a rough couple of weeks, for that matter. All that stuff with the club..." He shook his head as he felt his shoulders tense up again.

"Relax, honey." She paused to run a hand through his hair. "It's okay. I know it's been hard on you. Remember, no facades here."

"Right. No facades." Doug let out a deep breath. "I'm just glad that we managed to get past my drunken stupidity."

"Me too." Marie's hands worked over his shoulders and along his collarbones. "I'd hate to lose you." She kissed his hair gently, breath warm on his ear. "It would have been /awful/. I don't know what I'd do without you."

Doug felt like he was going to melt into a little pile of language-translating goo. He made a noise in his throat. "I don't think I ever want to find out, Em."

"Then let's not." Her arms encircled him and she pressed her cheek to his hair, holding him close for a moment. "Better?" She ran the fingers of one hand along the nape of his neck.

Doug shivered at the heat of her skin seeping through the sheer gloves. He tried hard to just shout down the instinctive reactions of his body and enjoy the friendship. "Definitely better than thinking I'd pissed you off," he murmured.

"Hey." Marie came around in front of him and, taking his hands in hers, knelt down so she could look up into Doug's face. She smiled up at him and squeezed his hands gently. "I have infinite patience with the men I love. Trust me."

Doug's eyes shot open at the L-word. He searched her eyes. "Em...I..."

"I promised you no facades, right?" She blushed and dropped her eyes and then glanced back up through a few pale wisps of her bangs. "You're the impossible man, remember? And I do love you for it. So now you know."

Doug blushed beet-red. "Em, I thought you didn't...that I wasn't...you couldn't...I...meep." He stammered, unable to get anything coherent out of his mouth.

Marie laid her fingers lightly over his mouth and then kissed the back of them, transferring the gentle pressure to his lips with her fingertips. "You don't have to say anything. I'm sorry I've been so cold." Her other hand slid slowly up his thigh, her eyes on him were nothing less than adoring. "Can you forgive me for hurting you?"

Doug smiled sadly. "There's nothing to forgive, Em. I've been the one hurting myself by not letting go. I don't blame you." He shivered at the feel of her hand on his thigh.

"I'm glad you didn't," she said simply. "The more I promised myself I'd be completely honest with you, the more I realized I wasn't being honest with myself." Both her hands rested on his thighs now and she leaned in to brush her lips across his. Her lipgloss was vanilla-flavoured.

Doug's eyes fluttered closed and he whimpered in the back of his throat. He licked his lips when she pulled back, tasting the vanilla.

"I'm sorry," Marie whispered. "I still don't know what you see in me. I can't be anywhere near the kind of woman you deserve. I just hope you mean it about giving this a chance."

Doug cocked his head to the side. "It isn't about deserving, Em. I love you the way you are. And I couldn't _not_ give this a chance. I'm just glad that you..." Doug trailed off and his eyes widened in horror. "Um, Em, what made you reconsider and decide to give me a chance?" he asked deceptively casually.

"You," she said, sitting back on her heels. "Like I said. The more I thought about it, the more it occurred to me that I really did love you." She reached out and took one of his hands in hers and brought it toward her. "I just needed some time to see it, that's all." Dipping her head, she kissed his palm gently, tongue flicking out to taste him.

Doug whimpered and tried to concentrate on his train of thought, which was headed in a disturbing direction. "Em..." he whispered throatily. "_When_ did you come to this realization that you loved me?"

Marie laughed at him and nipped sharply at his fingers, then let his hand go. "I've probably known it all along," she said, smiling at him. Placing her hands on his knees, she parted them enough to slide between so that they were inches from each other. She slid her arms around his neck. "You know how stubborn I am about some things." Her mouth ghosted across his and her tongue slid out to dampen his lips. "It's not always a good thing."

Doug groaned as his eyes fluttered closed again and his hands opened and closed spasmodically on the arms of the chair. "God, Em, I've been dreaming about this so..." He stopped short. His eyes snapped open and he tried to lean back in the chair, away from Marie's lips.

"I won't hurt you," she said quickly, moving to soothe him with a hand on his cheek. "I'm sorry, I..." Her expression was hurt, she bit her lip and looked at him with torment in her eyes. "I wouldn't," she whispered as tears welled up. "I promise."

Doug shook his head and quickly pulled his handkerchief out, wiping the tears. "Shh, no, Em. It's not you. I trust you." He stared at the wall. "I've been having these...dreams. And it was just making me feel so guilty, dreaming about you when I didn't have..."

Marie leaned her cheek into his hand and her tears soaked into the silk. "You can dream whatever you like about me, Doug," she whispered. "Don't feel guilty about any of it. It's okay." She traced the line of his jaw with a finger. "It's natural."

Doug nodded jerkily. "I know, I just...I'm so confused, Em. What made you change your mind? What about Logan? Why now? Why me?" He looked incredibly vulnerable.

"Logan..." Marie sighed heavily and insinuated herself into Doug's lap before he could protest. She snuggled up against him with her head on his shoulder. "I'll have to talk to him. It's just not going to work between us. He'll always be my best friend and my family, but he's just... he doesn't think of things romantically, you know? I want someone who's going to be a fool for me, I want the flowers and the songs and all that sweet stuff. I didn't think I could have it, but you hung in there and... yeah. The light dawned."

Doug sighed and closed his eyes. "Em. This is very important. _When_ did the light dawn?"

"I don't know exactly. I was sitting here on my own, reading, and listening to that CD you made me, and it just... clicked. I realized that you were singing about /me/." She laughed and kissed his ear gently. "It was the most wonderful feeling and I saw how honest you'd been and how I'd refused to look at myself. When I did, I knew."

~Oh shit. Oh shit oh shit oh shit oh shit...~ Doug repeated in his mind. He had a very very bad suspicion about what was going on, all of a sudden. Rahne, Marie-Ange, Lorna, Bobby, Kitty, Marie...the signs all pointed in one direction. He closed his eyes tightly. "Em...I have to go find something, okay?"

"Sure." Marie leaned in and kissed him softly, barely lingering a heartbeat. "I can't say no to you. Promise me you'll come right back?" She looked him in the eyes, one hand on his cheek, and her love for him was more than evident. "I've wasted so much time with you and I don't want to miss another minute."

Doug closed his eyes. "I promise I'll be right back." ~Actually, if what I think is happening is happening, I'm going to run away very fast and hope you can forgive me.~ He opened his eyes and gazed into Marie's, love and sadness in equal parts shown in them. He cast his gaze downward. "Kiss me goodbye?" he asked softly.

She kissed him again, or more a series of tiny kisses, pulling her body close against his. Her mouth never lingered on his too long but over the course of things her tongue and teeth explored his lips and at the end, her tongue slipped past his teeth to slide against his own before she drew back. "Think that will bring you back to me?" she murmured.

Doug left his eyes closed for a second, then opened them. He smiled wryly. "If that can't, nothing will, Em." He stood up and moved quickly to the door before his body betrayed him again. Looking back, he drank in the love in her eyes. "I love you, Em."

Marie was kneeling in the chair he'd left, arms folded across the back of it and her cheek resting on them as she watched him leave. "I love you too," she said, smiling gently at him. "So very much. Don't leave me for long, okay? I don't know that my heart could take it."

Doug smiled back. "Cross my heart, Em." Quietly, he let himself out and shut the door behind himself.

--------------------------

Doug trotted quickly down the hall from Marie's room to his own, a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. ~This is bad. This is very bad. This is very very bad.~ And so forth in his head, adding more 'very's every time. He opened his door and made a beeline for his desk. He opened the bottom drawer and closed his eyes defeatedly. It wasn't there.

"Lost somethin'?" came a voice from behind him, a voice that made his already-pounding heart sink. Amanda. She'd told him to be careful.

Doug winced as he stood back up and closed the drawer. "Yes. The potion. It's gone. I wasn't going to use it, but it's not..." He turned around and trailed off. "Amanda?" he asked warily. "What are you doing in my bed?"

"Waitin' for you," she replied. She had the blankets pulled up around her, but Doug could see her shoulders were bare. "I figured you'd be back once yer got sick of all those other girls. They don't love you, you know. Not like I do."

Doug covered his face with a hand. ~This is far beyond very bad. This is a freakin' train wreck.~ "Amanda," he said quietly. "Something went wrong with the potion. I need you to reverse it. Can you do that for me?"

"Of course," she said with a winning smile. Doug's hopes rose - surely it wasn't that easy? "After." Hope died a horrible, messy death.

Doug rolled his head back and tried to think quickly. "You're sure you couldn't do it real quick beforehand? Just as a little favor to me so I can devote all my attention to you?"

She pouted. "It can wait. An' I can't. All those tutorin' sessions an' not bein' able t' touch you... Well, I can't wait any more." Letting go of the blanket she held to her front, she gestured, and Doug felt himself dragged forward by some unseen force. Just as well, since the sight of Amanda's breasts, no longer hidden by the blanket, had short-circuited something in his brain.

Doug shook his head and dug in his feet against the pulling force. ~Do not stare at the breasts, Ramsey. Concentrate.~ He turned his most winning smile on Amanda. "Can you wait just a minute longer? I need to go...make sure that my roommates don't come back and interrupt us. Wouldn't want to scar the little kids, now would we?"

Bad choice of words. A shadow crossed her face at the word 'scar'. "It's because of this, ain't it?" she asked, gesturing at her front, the scars stark against pale skin. "That's why you dont' want me."

Doug shook his head and smiled reassuringly. "No, I promise it's not that, Amanda. I'm sorry I picked that particular phrase. You're beautiful, and I'm flattered...it's just, I'm really nervous about Artie or Miles walking in. Alison'd kill me." ~Of course, she's going to have to get in line behind Jamie and Logan, I think...~

"Then lock the door, silly," Aamnda said with a giggle. "I'd do it for you, only it's metal an' I can't grab it properly. Unlike you." Her brows furrowed in concentration and Doug flet the tug increase.

Doug tried a wolfish grin as he attempted to turn up the charm to convince Amanda. "Mandy, I can't go lock the door if you keep tugging on me like that, silly. Let me go a second and I promise I'll be right back."

"An' I don't think you'll be right back, so we've got ourselves a problem, don't we?" Amanda gave him a smoldering look. "Tell you what. I'll get up an' help." And before Doug could protest she had dropped the blanket completely and climbed out of the bed. She still had underwear on, which probably saved Doug's sanity, but he got a full view of everything else, including the scarring.

~Damn. Gotta get to the door. Gotta get to the door. Running for it's out. Let's try distraction.~ Before Amanda could reach the door, Doug called softly. "Oh, Mandy...wanna see what you've been waiting for?" He played with the hem of his sweater.

A hungry look crossed Amanda's face, and she changed directions, heading for him now. "I got meself a good idea from that night at the club, but I wouldn't say no..." she replied, voice husky.

Doug moved to meet her halfway. ~Okay, halfway there, Ramsey. You can do this. Don't freak out, keep your mind on the goal.~ Peeling the sweater off, as well as the T-shirt underneath, he grinned. "From the way you left me high and dry, I thought you weren't interested."

"Ever heard of playin' hard t' get? Had t' make sure you were worth it, that you really wanted me. Ain't easy for a girl t' give her heart away t' just anyone." Amanda reached out and ran her fingers along the revealed skin of Doug's chest. "So smooth."

Doug shivered and brought his hands up to caress Amanda's shoulders. "Yours feels nice too, Mandy," he replied. Slowly nudging her backwards toward the door, he smiled. "Do you mind it that I call you Mandy?"

"You can call me whatever you like," she said with wicked smile. She ran both hands up over the planes of Doug's chest and up his neck. "Do I get a kiss, Doug?"

"Absolutely, Mandy," Doug smiled at her and bent down to brush his lips over hers as he continued to maneuver her toward the door.

Amanda had other ideas than just a chaste meeting of lips. She wound her arms around Doug's neck and pulled him close, nudging his lips open with her tongue. She pressed herself against him tightly, breasts rubbing against his bare chest.

Doug moved Amanda so her back bumped up against the door, wood cool against her bare skin. Bracing himself with one hand, he slanted his mouth across hers and allowed his tongue to meet hers as he pressed his chest closer to hers.

Part of the plan was working - Amanda was distracted. Unfortunately, so was he - especially when she moved her arms from around his neck to run her hands down his back - and beyond. And the tongue piercing was making for some... interesting sensations.

Doug was trying desperately to keep _some_ higher brain function online, while his libido was screaming 'all functions to the battle bridge!' Screwing his eyes shut, he fell back on Austin Powers' mantra. ~Margaret Thatcher naked on a cold day. Margaret Thatcher naked on a cold day...~ Slowly, he removed one hand from where it was glued to Amanda's panty-clad rear end and moved it toward the doorknob.

Amanda grew tired of groping his arse through his jeans, and her hands moved to the front, undoing the button with practiced ease.

With a convulsive heave, Doug grabbed the doorknob and opened the door a crack. He slithered through and slammed it shut behind himself, gasping for breath and taking a moment to rebutton his jeans.

Muffled pounding came through the door. "Ramsey?! You bastard. I'm goin' t' send you to a fuckin' demon dimension, you gutless..." A final thump, and something that sounded suspiciously like a sob. "I trusted you..."

~I'm sorry, Mandy. You shouldn't have. I've really screwed this up. I promise you, you'll thank me in a couple minutes.~ With that, Doug took off at a dead run down the hall, heedless of his lack of shirt. "MANUEL!" he yelled.

Manuel, for his part, was oblivious to the panic and the shouting and the betrayal and the fog of lust. The reason? He had his iPod blaring, and he was losing himself in the ebb and flow of his music. The door to his room was cracked, however, to break up the stuffiness.

Pushing open the door, Doug attempted to rein in his panic, focusing instead on a resolve to fix the mess he had made. "Manuel?" he called, as he moved into the Spaniard's field of vision.

Manuel blinked, then with a flick of his thumb turns down the volume on his iPod. "Do you normally just come barging in without knocking?" he asked, sarcasm dripping from his voice.

Doug shrugged. "The door was cracked, you weren't paying attention, and it's urgent," he replied, just a touch of that reined-in panic creeping into his voice.

"My willingness to deal with your perceived crisis is waning rapidly. So what's this bloody great emergency that has you all aflutter?" he smirked.

"Amanda. She...created a love potion because she was tired of me moping over Marie. I wasn't going to use it, but somehow it got used anyway, and something went wrong. Half the women, and...er...Bobby, seem to be madly in love with me."

Manuel just smirked. "I fail to see the problem. Look upon it as an opportunity - one that many young men would kill to have. Eventually, you'll pass out from sheer pleasure or this whatever-you-called-it will wear off and things will go back to normal."

Doug pinched the bridge of his nose and continued to concentrate on his determination to fix his own mess, actually hoping that Manuel might unintentionally mirror that emotion. "I suppose I'm not 'many young men'. I'd be taking advantage of them, and it would be _wrong_. And I don't know how long it will take to wear off. Or even _if_ it will wear off."

Manuel looked unimpressed. "And what, pray tell, is in this for me if I take the bewitched damsels off of your hands? And have you not talked to Amanda to reverse the potion?"

Doug grew pensive, knowing that simply saying 'I'll owe you' to Manuel might not be the best of ideas. Avoiding the subject for the moment, he continued. "Therein lies the problem. One of the 'bewitched damsels' _is_ Amanda. She's a little...crazed."

Manuel laughed at the mental vision. "Ah, Douglas, you should _be_ so lucky! She might give you an education that would, quite honestly, do you a world of good. She's quite skilled, for what she is."

Doug's hands clenched. "It wouldn't be right. Besides, when she gave me the potion, she said if I used it on her that she'd do drastic things to me. I have a feeling that the only thing that might keep me from punishment is if she remembers when she's more...sane...that I didn't take advantage of her."

Manuel quirked an eyebrow. "Aha! Hoist on her own petard, I see. Well then, since you're determined to ruin such a perfect situation ... and you have been extremely helpful to me with learning English - all right. I will do this for you as repayment. But from this point forward, we are even. If you need anything from me again, you will have to be prepared to compensate me in some way. Are we agreed?"

Doug breathed a sigh of relief, and extended his hand to Manuel. "We are agreed."

Manuel looked at the hand, stood, and shook it once, firmly. "Tell me what you know of this potion." he said, suddenly all business.

Doug nodded. "Amanda created it, said that a couple drops in a drink would be more than enough. The potion disappeared some time prior to this morning, and all day today people have been unusually affectionate toward me. Marie-Ange, Lorna, Bobby, Kitty, Marie, and Amanda. Possibly Rahne, but that is a little harder to tell."

Manuel made an 'ah' sound. "Kitty I knew about previously. How very fascinating. I think that I will have _words_ with the English witch when this is all said and done. " He looked excited now. "Bring me to one of the afflicted - or bring them here, I care not which."

Doug motioned with his hand. "How about going straight to the source? I just came from my room, and Amanda should still be there."

Manuel smiled. "She's probably in quite a state by now. Are you sure it wouldn't sully your innocence to see her in such a state? Wouldn't want you to feel like you were taking advantage of anyone..." he smirks. "Lead on."

As the pair moved quickly down the hall, Doug chuckled wryly and slightly self-mockingly. "Oh, I've already seen her in 'a state'. She was waiting for me when I got back to my room to see what had happened to the potion." He blushed slightly. "Almost completely naked."

Manuel laughed. "She's quite exotic, even with all of those scars." he commented. "Are you _sure_ you won't dally before I restore her to her senses?"

Doug nodded firmly as they reached his room. "Quite sure." Rapping gently on the door, he called, "Mandy, you still in there?"

Amanda, to her credit, wasn't wearing much more than a filmy black piece of gauze and a smile. "DOUGIE!" she said, taking a _very_ deep breath. "You came back!"

~Oh lord. She took her panties off, and where did she find that...~ Doug's train of thought derailed rather suddenly as Amanda threw herself into his arms, completely oblivious to Manuel's presence. "Uh, Manuel, now might be a good time to..." he murmured.

Manuel leaned against the wall and smirked. "A good time to what? Watch? I agree."

Doug shivered as Amanda's lips closed around his earlobe and suckled. "Remember what I said about drastic consequences and not taking advantage of her?"

"I do." he smirks, then his eyes blaze a cherry red. ~Dear Lord in Heaven, what has she _done_?" he exclaims in Castillian at what he sees in her emotional makeup.

"Dougie, you naughty boy, inviting Manuel to watch," Amanda breathed, ignoring the empath entirely as she shamelessly groped Doug.

Manuel just leaned against the wall and chipped away at the potion's influence using his power. This was the first time he'd ever encountered another empathic effect in someone's mind, and as he was rapidly discovering he didn't like it One Bit.

Doug mentally pleaded with Manuel to hurry as Amanda's hands slipped to the front of his jeans and unbuckled the fly as she had done mere minutes ago. This time the zipper immediately followed, and a hand crept in to touch him through his boxers.

"A threesome? Never would have thought you'd be that adventurous, Dougie," she murmured with a wicked smile. "Just goes t' show you can never tell..."

Manuel scowled, and added more power towards counteracting the potion's effects. He succeeded in slipping underneath its effect on the sorceress's mind, and started to pry it off of her emotional fabric.

Doug's breathing began to return as Amanda's hands began to slow. "Um, Amanda? You calming down any?" He attempted to disengage himself from her arms.

"Dougie? I feel... odd..." Amanda blinked, trying to focus as Manuel's powers countered the potion. Then she swayed alarmingly. "What the fuck...? Where...?" She looked down at herself. "WHAT?"

Manuel grinned as he started to feel victory in his grasp. "This thing is very persistent," he said in Castillian, sweat popping out on his brow.

Doug quickly rezipped and rebuttoned his jeans. Grabbing his t-shirt, he quickly put it back on, grabbing a second one from his drawer to drape over Amanda.

As her awareness returned, Amanda realised that she was a) mostly naked, b) in a strange room and c) she wasn't alone. She clutched the shirt to herself, backing into a corner and sliding down the wall to curl into a ball. "What the fuck is going on?" she demanded, voice shaking.

Manuel kept his emotional claws in Amanda, striving to push the potion's influence completely off of her psyche. "I really don't have any attention to spare to fix that..." he said in Castillian. "Doug, handle it."

Doug squatted on his haunches, careful to give Amanda her personal space. "Amanda?" he asked softly. "Amanda, everything's going to be okay. We're gonna fix it. Do you know what's going on right now?"

"Don't look at me!" she rasped, and Doug backed off a bit. She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to make sense of what was happening. "There was something... making me act..." She looked at him. "You're fucking joking. I tried... with you?" With a groan she let her head fall onto her forearms, wrapped around her legs. "That fucking potion."

Manuel grimaced. "The one I'm holding off by sheer force of will? That potion?"

Doug nodded. "That potion. Amanda?" he tried to sound soothing. "Can you reverse it? Neutralize it? Do you need me to bring you anything for it?"

"There's a book. In my room. Big. Dark leather, gold letterin'. The counter spell's in there." She grimaced. "And you'd better fuckin' hurry, Ramsey. The sooner I reverse this, the sooner I can kill you slowly."

Manuel smirked, and waited for the translator to leave the room. "So, Amanda ..." he smirked.

"All hot and bothered, I see. But not quite the way you'd like. I'd like a copy of this potion you've made - for my own purposes."

"Didn't think you'd need something like that," she said harshly. She managed to pull Doug's t-shirt on, shivering a little with delayed shock. "An' after this, I'm not touchin' it again. Bloody Ramsey's a dead man."

"I don't." he smirked. "But capturing emotion artificially is of great interest to me." he said, still keeping the potion's effects from consuming Amanda's psyche entirely.

Doug, for his part, sprinted for Amanda's room. Paige might have been there, might not have. Doug wasn't paying attention. Finding the large book under her bed, he grabbed it and sprinted back to his own room. Skidding to a halt, he gave the book to Amanda.

She flipped through the book, heedless of the damage she was doing to the antique pages, until she found the counter spell. Furrowing her brow with the concentration it took to cast the spell and to fight the urge to fling herself at Doug again, she read a string of words Doug's power told him were a form of ancient Greek.

Doug waited patiently, his mind spinning. As soon as Amanda finished her incantation, he looked intently at her. "Is it fixed?"

Manuel, for his part, did not relax his empathic death-grip on Amanda's psyche until he got the go-ahead from her - just to be safe.

Amanda's hand flicked out, a stinging blow across his cheek that made his ears ring. That, and the sheer fury in her blue eyes, told him all he needed.

"Right. Thanks, Manuel, um, going now." Suiting action to words, Doug sprinted for the door and away down the hallway.