xp_logs | Early this morning, Sarah tries to be helpful.

After Hank left, Shinobi had taken a few minutes to regain his composure - which meant just letting it out in the safety of privacy and picking himself back up afterwards - before sending off a quick e-mail to Sarah. The walk to his room was a similarly unsteady one, and he didn't bother to dress for bed beyond dropping his shirt onto the floor before burrowing under the covers to hibernate, curled up on his side with his back towards the bedroom door. He'd forgotten to lock the suite's door before coming to bed, but eh, what was the worst thing that could happen?

It's late, probably a good hour after she'd gotten his e-mail, but Sarah's now standing in front of the door to his suite, taking notice of the note that said Marie was with Logan. Well, that makes figuring out which side is Shinobi's a little easier.

She pads silently into the room, shutting the door and heading for the bedroom with the closed door, figuring her "sleeping" boyfriend is behind it. Somehow she didn't expect he was sleeping. Or at least, not very well. She opens the door slowly, dim light from the common area of the suite illuminating the room slightly.

He looks like he might be asleep after all.. but a moment after the door's cracked open, he shifts in place enough to groggily peer back over his shoulder towards the door, the blanket obscuring the lower half of his face before he tugs it down a little. Shinobi is, rather obviously, not in top form, given his reaction to the intruding silhouette is a quiet, perplexed "Muh?"

"Heh. Love you too." Sarah can't help but smile, shutting the door quietly behind her. "Just me." she says softly, "came to check and make sure you were okay." She takes a few steps closer to his bed, watching amusedly as he tries to work things out half-asleep.

It's easier, now that he has a voice to work with. "Sarah?" Blinking twice, Shinobi rolls onto his back so that he can start pushing himself up to sit, tilting his head to the side. "I'm.. I will be. I'm just tired. Long week."

Sarah nods in the dark, crawling into bed next to him. "Don't let me keep you up then."

"I'm probably too tired to sleep by now," Shinobi chuckles quietly, giving her a moment to get settled before leaning over to pillow his head against her shoulder. "Today just kind of.. blew. The week decided to catch up with me on an already bad day."

Reaching over, she scratched his head gently. She kissed the top of his head, about the only place she could reach without seriously disturbing their positions. "Want to talk about it?"

"I'm just in self-pity mode," he murmurs, closing his eyes and soaking up the attention like a sponge. "Feeling more than a little hypocritical, fairly helpless and useless.. just a mess. I'll be okay."

Sarah's not going to push him into elaborating, so she just nods again, finding his hand and holding it in her own. "Good." she smiles, "You'll let me know if you need anything? Right?"

"Just don't be put in a position to rely on your healing factor for survival again for a while, and I think I'll manage," Shinobi says after a moment, offering her hand a grateful squeeze. "I know you're fine, but if you were anybody else, you wouldn't be. And I couldn't do anything."

Sarah's first inclination is to tell him he worries too much. She's had her healing factor for so long that she's gotten to the point where she doesn't think about what could happen if she didn't have it. She wishes everybody else could think the same way, as they'd spend a lot less time being worried over something that doesn't matter. Instead, she scoots over so he has to look at her. "You got me /out/. Doesn't that count for something?"

Shinobi reluctantly lifts his head, but not before he can quickly swipe a hand across his eyes under the guise of getting some hair out of his face. "Of course it counts for something, sweetheart. I never said it didn't. I did everything I could, and I know that, but.. if it had been Paige, or Angelo, everything I could wouldn't have been *enough*. That's what bothers me."

"I get into trouble a lot," She says softly, "so unless you're planning on becoming "all-purpose rescue guy", it just isn't possible to keep me from getting hurt. It sort of comes with the territory."

"I know, I know." Shinobi waves a hand dismissively, scowling down at his lap a moment before unceremoniously flopping over onto his back with a tired sigh. "I'll be fine. It was just a bad day."

His reaction hurts more than she thinks it should, and she scolds herself for letting him get to her. He's in a mood. He said it himself. All the same, she sits there silently for a while, not sure she wants to respond to that.

The silence hangs until he can't stand it anymore, and he stretches an arm out to tentatively brush his fingers against her back. "I could use a hug," he says after a moment, allowing himself a faint smile. "I almost asked Doctor McCoy for one, but he was more tired than I was."

The feel of his fingers on her back tickles, and she shivers and squirms, nearly laughing at her own reaction. She curls up next to him, arm thrown gently over his chest. That's about as much of a hug as she can do with him laying on the bed like that. "I love you." she mumurs.

It's enough. "Love you too," Shinobi smiles, lifting his head just enough to give Sarah a light kiss on the forehead as he carefully squirms an arm under her waist so he can return the hug tightly. "Sorry I'm such a mess. I'll get better."

Sarah can feel herself relaxing when he hugs her and everything feels right again. "I know," she says, smiling a little, "you're tough."

"Coming from you, that's a hell of a compliment," he muses quietly, not quite able to fully stiffle a yawn. "Mmh.. thanks for coming up, Sarah. You didn't have to."

"I wanted to," she insists and adds with a grin, "You're not the only one in this relationship that can be stubborn when worried."

"That's reassuring," Shinobi grins, his voice a bit slurred from fatigue. "I'd ask if you were planning on keeping me company 'til morning, but I'm not inclined to let go if you weren't, so.. moot point."

Sarah chuckles and snuggles closer. "Oh damn. I was looking forward to sleeping alone tonight."