xp_logs | Callie & Julian: Bad News (Reply)

Julian delivers the news of Fred's accident to Callie.

His palms were sweating, a cold fear gripping his gut as Julian knocked on Callie's suite door. Why did he have to tell her? Why did Fred put him down as his emergency contact? Why was he now laid up in the medlab in a comatose state, with the likelihood of recovery about even with the chances of sudden death. 'Deep breaths, Keller, she'll need you to be stronger than she is right now,' he knocked again.

She was on her way out, to the library, or the greenhouse (she hadn't decided which yet) to study. Backpack filled to the brim with books and notebooks, with some spillover into her arms. As she reached to open the door she heard the knock and opened it to find Julain staring at her, looking as white as a sheet.

"Um, hi," Callie said a little warily. "Are you okay?"

"Callie," he began what he'd rehearsed on his way here, "I need to talk to you, can we sit down for a moment?"

"Sure." She took a step back to usher her visitor in and closed the door behind him. The backpack was set down next to the sofa, and the books in her arms were set on a small coffee table nearby before Callie enjoyed the luxury of sinking into the plush cushions. "What is it that you wanted to talk to me about? Do you need water or anything. You look a fright."

He began to speak, the words catching in his throat, "I need to tell you something and you need to keep calm when you hear it, okay?" Without waiting for her to respond, Julian pressed on, "An announcement is about to go up on the journals. It's about Fred, Callie, he's...he's...." Julian choked back a couple tears for his roommate and shook his head, "Fred is in a coma."

"What do you mean," she asked, knitting her brow in confusion. "What happened?"

This wasn't the response he'd expected from her, though it didn't surprise him too much. "Fred is down in medlab, unconscious and unresponsive to stimuli. They..." he gulped, "they don't know if he'll pull through."

"What happened," she repeated calmly, slowly. "Was there head trauma?"

"I don't know," Julian squirmed, "I kinda zoned out until they told me they'd stabilized him but he's still in critical condition. Doctor McCoy might know more, he's the one who told me." Running a hand through his hair, Julian let out a long breath, tears still being bit back. "I'm so sorry, Callie."

Not a word more was uttered as Callie rose smoothly from her seat. Her face was stoic, void of any emotion, though the look in her eyes indicated that she was busy thinking, digesting what she was being told. She crossed behind the sofa and pulled her backpack onto her back before gathering her books up from the table. "Thank you Julian." Her voice was empty, unattached. "But I'm afraid I have some homework to complete. I must go."

"Callie, what the hell?!" was all Julian could think to say.

"You are welcome to stay here as long as you need," came the reply. She stood before him the very image of poise and calm, masking the waves of emotion that were hidden beneath. Callie did not want to mention how she and Fred had been in a fight (or rather a terse disagreement) just a few days prior. Nor did she want to reveal how some of the blame should probably fall to her. He had clearly been upset enough to storm out the last time they had spoken, but had that added to this? She didn't know. She knew she wouldn't have been able to deal with knowing that she had in fact helped put Fred in his current state.

"Anything in the fridge with my name in it you can have as well," she continued. "I know you're upset and I'm sorry I don't know what to say to you. Perhaps you should talk with Mr. Haller, he'd be better at helping you than I could be."

"Callie, Fred could die and you're just going to go do homework?!" Julian was, for lack of a better term, pissed off. "You know what, fine, whatever, but if you want to see him, just come find me, because I'll be down in medlab with him- where you should be." Storming out of the room the young scion slammed the door behind himself.

Callie shook her head sadly at Julian's actions. He was wrong, he didn't know what it was like to lose someone who was so close to you, to watch them waste away before your eyes until they became a shadow of their former self. She didn't want to go through that again. Visiting Fred would only serve to hurt her more. It wouldn't be him in that medlab bed, just an empty shell. It would be better to remember him as the smiling, strong person she had mostly recently gone to the Rocky Horror Picture show with. That was the memory she wanted to keep. And studying would help her keep her mind off the fact that there was nothing she could do.

All she could do now was to keep living and pray.