xp_logs | Julian, Jean and Nathan: Medlab Mystery

Going to get fresh bandages for his burn, Julian discovers his mentor in the medlab.

It had been a couple days since Julian had been down to the medlab and after this afternoon's trip to the quarry he needed to get the bandages on his hand changed anyway. Still feeling a little woozy from fully discharging his pent up energy, Keller was slouching through the lower corridors of the mansion. 'Most schools had a nurse's office, our's has a medical laboratory...how the hell did I get here? he thought to himself as the doors to the lab slid open with what was starting to become a familiar hiss.

Due to his state he didn't take stock of his surroundings right away and strode toward where he assumed Doctor Grey-Summers would be; the small cube of space that was supposedly her office. "Doctor Grey-Summers, I need to get my bandages changed," he said weakly, looking over at her empty desk chair. "Uhhh, damn, come on...," he grumbled, slowly starting to turn around. First the coma, then the wonky power-swapping virus, then my computer decides to explode...okay so the virus came before the coma but still,' he sighed and began to project his thoughts, not shouting per say, but loudly. 'Doctor Grey-Summers?'

#Back here, Julian,# came the reply, attached to a mental image of one of the less frequently used hallways in the medlab. #Need me for something?#

Starting down the hallway she'd indicated, he leaned on the wall for support. 'I need my bandages changed, do you have time?' With a slight stumble he found the room she was in, attending to someone who was laying on a table. "Ah, I mean, if it's not too much..." then
everything came into sharp focus. It was Nathan laying in the hospital bed and he looked like he'd wiped out against a coral reef. "What the...."

Jean looked up, startled, her mind clearly having been in too many places, thinking about too many things at once, and her first reaction was, "Ah, dammit." And then she mentally swore again, because she didn't swear in front of the kids, she didn't and it was definitely a sign of how tired and stressed she was that her accent had shifted to match. "Sorry, Julian, didn't mean to drag you back here, I wasn't thinking. You shouldn't be in here... Come on, let's go back up front and I'll get that hand checked on."

Though he was a little stunned that Doctor Grey-Summers had come near swearing, Julian's attention was elsewhere. "Nathan, Jesus, what the hell happened to you?"

Nathan, who'd half-drifted off while Jean had been doing her exam, heard a voice he hadn't expected and twitched, hazy gray eyes opening and trying to focus on Julian. "Oh... hey," he mumbled. "Long story."

"Damn," Julian swore again, absently approaching the bedside of his mentor. "Nathan, wow, I..." a pang hit him where he thought his heart was- a sudden emptiness that he'd only felt a few times before in his life. Part of him wanted to reach out and give Nathan a reassuring
squeeze, but he didn't know if it would be appropriate, or allowed for that matter- given they were in a back room. Unfortunately, what he did say flowed from past his lips without thinking, "You look like hell, Nathan."

"I'll be okay," Nathan said, trying to force a reassuring tone into his voice. The words came out a little stronger, but sounding more tired than anything else. "Seriously. Don't worry."

Jean snorted at that, then belatedly realized that Julian might think she was declaiming the wrong portion of his statement. "Nathan, the day we all stop worrying about you will be the day that Moira finally lets me just sedate you and keep you tied up down here for your own good." But he was awake, and seemed to be doing ok, so she stepped back to let Julian and Nathan talk for a little bit.

After an awkward moment of silence, Julian smiled reassuringly, showing just a hint of teeth, "You know, whenever we don't have lessons for a week or so, you always end up getting you-er, hurt."

Nathan managed a smile. "Long story," he said again, hoarsely. "I'll tell you about it... most of it. Later, though. So I make it through the whole thing." There'd been a couple too many conversations today, he thought.

"Oh, alright," he shifted slightly, heading toward the door, "I'm guessing we're not going to have our session next week." He turned back and smiled, reassuring himself that everything would be alright, that this was Nathan laying there and he was the toughest man he knew. Part of him, sadly, just wasn't so sure and wanted to run far away; to be scared of whatever did this. Pausing by the door, "Um, feel better soon," he said to Nathan, then turning to Doctor Grey-Summers. "I'll wait out here for," he held up his hand and paused, "whenever
you get a chance."

Jean exchanged a worried glance with Nathan while the young man's back was turned, then set her clipboard down. "Come on, kiddo," she said, crossing the room to open the door for him. "I've got the time now - Nathan's not going anywhere and this will give him the chance he's looking for to fall asleep before I get back because he thinks I won't wake him up just to poke him some more."

"Heartless woman," came the muttered reply, but Nathan watched Jean usher Julian out of the room, and thought that it was a good thing this was all done with and he could get about not scaring the crap out of his students and everyone else he cared about.