Log: Laurie and Hank

[x-wallflower-.livejournal.com]

Laurie visits Hank at his office in the Med Lab. Hank has somewhat of a surprise for her.



Laurie headed down to Hank's office, an air of distraction lingering as she mouthed the words of medical terms to herself.

Repeating thing at least five times quietly to herself was a memory trick she'd learnt early on.

"Dr. McCoy?" she called, knocking on the closed office door.

"Come in, Laurie," Hank answered with a chuckle as he dropped from the ceiling where he'd been reading a book on nanomedicine. Putting the book on his desk he leaned against the hard wood monstrosity and smiled at his young protoge.

Laurie grinned back, Hank's smiles were always somewhat infectious,"I still don't know how you can read like that, doesn't all the blood rush to your head?"

"Actually, that's the entire point, you absorb better I think while upside down...also, I've had years of practice and I find it more soothing to be working against gravity than with it." He chuckled again and motioned for a seat in front of the desk with a simple, "Please."

Laurie took the seat as indicated, folding her hands in her lap. She'd learnt that Hank would reveal things in his own time, and so didn't feel any need to rush, "I have a feeling that if I tried that, I'd end up down here with some sort of head injury."

Hank nodded as he took his seat across from her, "That's extremely likely, and speaking of injuries, have you checked in on our bed rest patients yet today?"

"I have," Laurie replied, her shoulders straightening as she moved into what she considered her professional persona. "They're all doing well, with varying degrees of irritation at having to be on bed rest, of course. Although I think that just makes them get better faster, to be honest. I've been helping Jean-Paul along a little with my powers but we'll see how that goes."

"Jean-Paul's refusal to stay in MedLab may set an interesting precedence. I see far more house calls in our future." Hank smiled and put his hands behind his head before leaning back in his chair. "I wanted to talk to you about, India. About how you're coping now that you're back."

“Fairly well, considering,” Laurie said with a wry smile. “I talked it over with one of the people Dr. Samson left a reference for. Sometimes I have problems letting things go or berating myself for not doing more, or being better. I’m learning to be better at all that though. We did the best we possibly could with the materials and time we had, and while people were injured, none of our people were injured fatally. It’s a better outcome then that sort of situation might have produced.”

"An astute estimation of the overall situation," Hank nodded, steepling his fingers together so that his claws clicked against themselves. "I want you to know that I, for one, was very impressed with your performance not only in India, but also when we got back stateside. You did the job and you're not letting it affect you." Hank smiled and tapped his fingertips to his lips, "Have you been keeping track of how many missions you've been out on?"

"Not so much," Laurie said, a somewhat wry smile crossing her face. "I've been so busy lately trying to make sure I get enough rest and food as well as do everything I want to be doing, and still have contact with my family and friends that it all sort of blurs together after awhile."

"Well, the operations in India mark a bit of a turning point in your place on the team." Hank reached down to his desk drawer and pulled out a small blue box, holding it out to her.

Laurie took the box from his hands with suddenly trembling hands, wondering if this was what she thought it was. She didn't speak for a long time after she'd opened it, seeing the X-man uniform inside, her X-men uniform. Not the grey of a trainee, but the black of a full team member.

"You...You all think I'm ready?" she asked finally, moisture pricking at her eyes.

"More than so, yes. You've handled yourself well in your past few missions and have really proven that you have what it takes to be a full part of this team. Keep in mind that should you accept this," Hank pulled out another, much smaller, box and opened it revealing a pair of gold epaulets. "There is no going back from this decision."

Laurie reached out and took the epaulets, holding them in her hand with an almost reverent air. She'd wanted this for such a long time now, and had sometimes despaired that she'd ever be ready enough. She still didn't feel like she deserved this, but she would work to the best of her ability to honour the trust they were putting in her.

"Thankyou, Hank," she said finally, looking up at him with a grin. "Would you put them on for me?"

"Of course," Hank grinned, getting up from his desk and walking around the large oak surface. "Have you given any thought to your new code-name? Discharge hardly seems fitting now that you're no longer a trainee."

“I’ve got the perfect one,” Laurie said, realising that she was finally going to be able to get rid of that ridiculous codename.