xp_logs | Adrienne is back

Adrienne wakes up.

Beeping. Beeping. More beeping. Alarm clock? Coffee maker? Was the cat standing on something? What was Garrison doing? Why didn’t he stop? Adrienne went to roll over and realized she couldn’t move. What the fuck?

Opening her eyes and expecting to see their bedroom, Adrienne was surprised to find herself staring at an unfamiliar ceiling. “What the fuck?” Her voice sounded strange. Raspy. The beeping started getting faster and people in white coats suddenly appeared. She had a hard time focusing around them, moving her head around to try and read the digital clock and calendar on the wall. "What the fuck?!"

"Ms Frost, can you look up please." A pen light danced over her eyes, blinding her for a moment.

"Are you in pain?"

"Can you sense anything through your mutant abilities?"

"Are there-"

"Geez, a little help here, Moira?" There were a couple of snaps and the figures in white coats vanished, replaced by Garrison's face. He was smiling in a goofy way, eyes shrink wrapped in tears. It was one of the more unattractive looks he'd sported. "Babe... hey... it's me."

“No, i’m not... i... no, I don’t...” Adrienne frowned at the people in white coats. She kept her face impassive as Garrison entered. “Uh... hi? Do i... know you?” Frowning, she looked quizzical.

"Oooh shit. I wasn't expecting that one." Kane's expression flipped to near panic in an instant. They had mentioned that there might have been mental damages left over from her accident. "It's ok. We just need to... we need to get Emma. Emma can solve this." He said, half to himself.

“Who’s Emma?”

"... and Jean. And Haller. Haller owes me. It's okay. We'll get your memories back, Adri, I promise." Kane said with that utterly sincere tone that people used to use for pledging crusades or revenge on who killed their parents in an alley after a movie when they were a boy.

“I don’t... i’m sorry... I don’t know who these people are? I just... i’m so confused... where am i?”

"Muir Island. You had an incident with your powers. An... overload. You've been in a coma ever since."

“And you’re...?”

"Garrison. Kane." He added lamely after a pause. "We, uh... we were close."

“Wait, what?!” Adrienne lifted an arm to smack him. “What do you mean ‘were’?!” She screeched at him. “It’s only been a year, asshole! I know i gave you permission or whatever, but you didn’t actually take me up on it, did you?” Oh, I guess the amnesia jig is up now. Damnit.

"I-wait-" Kane's expression flashed to anger. "Are you kidding me? After a year and you're joking with me?"

“Well the coma wasn’t a joke!” Adrienne responded, feeling slightly bad for joking.

"Are you-" His hands curled up in front of him as a dozen emotions fought for control. After a moment, he seemed to slowly unclench. "No, it wasn't. Did you already come out before now? Moira said that your results suggested that you were getting close which is why we were all here."

Adrienne frowned. “If i came out before now, I don’t remember. Really. I... wait, who’s all? Like, for real this time,” she smirked.

"Moira's had a team working on your condition for almost a year now. Emma's been all but personally driving up wheelbarrows of money for her to add resources." Kane said, finally sinking down to sit on the end of her bed.

“Well, she can afford it,” Adrienne smirked. “Or she’ll send me a bill. With interest. Unless she went broke in a year. Hey,” she frowned when he sat on the end of the bed. “What’s up with that? Come here!” She held her arms up for an embrace, but saw that they were encased in some kind of compression sleeves. “Whoa. What’s this?” She asked, poking at one of them. A quick peek under the covers showed her that her whole body was covered in some kind of suit.

Kane shook his head. "Babe, I love you but man, you have no idea what we've worked on trying to get you back. I mean amnesia? Really? What world did you think I don't lose my shit about that?" He came over, slipping an arm around her. "This is how we got you out of the coma. Which I'm still fifty fifty about putting you back in for that joke, you minx. This suit helps reduce the input of, well, pretty much everything. Every dust particle, skin flake and mite that hits your skin, you read with your powers. This cuts it down enough that it doesn't overwhelm your mind. Over the next... I don't know how long, they'll slowly increase the input until you're able to build up control in blocking the input."

Her chuckle turned into a bit of a wheeze, but she powered through. "C'mon, post-coma amnesia joke is like, classic!" she told him in a teasing tone, badly covering for the rush of thoughts and emotions she was trying to keep out. Time to lose your shit about all of this later. Stay focused. One thing at a time. "I... y'know. Appreciate it. The work you put in. Everyone put in. I do, I just..." can't process it right now. Biting her lip, she poked at the suit again. "Wow. That... sounds like a hard-working suit. It can really do all that?"

"That's what they tell me. It's... the tech is beyond me, to be honest. When you're not in your suit, they've got a suppressor for you to wear. They want you in the suit as much as you can, but obviously, it's not like you can wear it all the time."

“Ooo, is that a sexual innuendo?” Adrienne responded with a smirk.

"Don't think it wasn't a consideration." Kane said as she leaned against him. "The suppressor is pretty small, so you can wear it on your arm or leg and not notice it too much."

“Just like one of those house arrest or parole anklets!” she laughed. “So...” she smiled wanly, “catch me up on... what i missed, i guess? You still single?”

“Even smaller. Because it only is suppressing the input from your powers, they could make is relatively tiny. Plate it in gold and it could pass for a bracelet or a watch band.” He said.

“As for that, yeah, I’m still single. It’s takes more than a year to get me past you. They’ve been nice, letting by me drop in every few weeks and see how you’re doing.”

"You know how much I love gold-plated things," Adrienne smirked. "Aw, well, I'm glad you didn't have to wait longer than that. Garrison Kane without a woman on his arm is a travesty the world should not ever be exposed to!" She poked him playfully. "So how are things in New York? Come on, I have like, what, a year's worth of gossip to catch up on? Oh! Have your Jays clinched the division this season?" Somehow she figured it would be a sick burn, despite having no clue how the baseball season had gone.

"Nah, Yankees loaded up and buried everyone. Still, better than being Boston this year..." He said ominously. "Otherwise... yeah, I mean, the usual hullabaloo, but nothing earth shaking. Your former ward joined the X-Men."

“Damn Yankees,” Adrienne smirked, going for a chuckle but coughing again. “Did she? Good for her! That means she’s got you to watch her back. That’s great. Hey. Do you still have that dumb cat?”

"More like Rooney still has us. He lets Amanda and Fi feed him, but always end up in the suite." Kane said and gave her a half grin. "And while the Yankees did load up, your horrible team of dishonourable reprobates is having one of the best seasons in the history of the game. I was thinking of renting out your box to pay for my retirement during the playoffs, but I guess that's out now."

Adrienne's eyes widened, but she frowned at him. "History of the game? Are you just being dramatic?"

"Betts is threatening to finish with better numbers than Ted William's best year. Six games left and they've got a reasonable shot of winning 110 games. It's very sickening."

"Holy shitsnacks. Maybe I should go back into the coma? I don't wanna jinx it or anything," she teased, wheezing a little more. "You should definitely rent out the box to earn some dough," she nodded. "Or... is Tandy still running Meridian? I guess whoever's running it is the one who makes that call? I'll have to talk to... whoever it is." Oh Christ, what a headache. Wincing slightly, she fussed with her sheets a little. "Whoever it is, I'll talk to them about making sure it gets used. I'll probably have to stay here for a while, I imagine?"

"Unless you want to. Moira's ready to move you back home as soon as you feel up for the flight. You're going to need at least a few months of physical therapy to get your body active again, but all of the equipment needed is already at the mansion. Docs in the medlab will monitor your progress and there might be some tests back here, depending on how the suit succeeds but... yeah, if you want, we can be home by tomorrow afternoon."

"I... wow. Really?" Looking unsure, Adrienne squirmed uncomfortably. "I... don't be offended, but I... I think I might need a few days. I just... it feels like I went to sleep yesterday. But I didn't." She bit her lip, pushing back the flood of emotions threatening to bubble over to the surface. "It's been, a year? I think... I think going home right away would be... hard to process. I think being here for a little bit might help me catch up a little bit better. Come to terms with the time I've... lost."

"Absolutely. There's no rush, babe. Is it easier if I go and come back in a couple of days? I know it's a lot to process."

"No! I... I mean... if you have to go, it's cool," she shrugged, trying to sound nonchalant, though by now she had bitten her lip so much she was tasting blood. "I know you probably have a ton of more important things to do than babysit me."

"There literally isn't anything in the world more important to me right now than you." Kane said, as he perched beside her on the bed. "Whatever you need, I'm happy to do."

“Well, one of the things on the top of my list I don’t think we should do here... and is probably not, y’know, recommended by the physiotherapists yet,” Adrienne teased with a smirk. “How about... pizza? And beer? And a ball game? Together?” With a slight wince she shifted over on the bed and patted the space next to her. “Oof. Yeah, gonna have to work on, y’know. Muscles.”

"Yeah, don't get me wrong, nothing I would like better than a long naked marathon session. But let me talk to Moira and I can likely make pizza and beer happen. Even a ballgame, although it might be from yesterday." He pressed a kiss into the hair on the side of her head. "Which you haven't seen. And because I love you, it can even be the Bosox."

“Aw. Because I love you, you can pick the beer... and the outfit i wear while we watch.”

"I wish. You're in that suit for the next 24 hours babe. They're terrified you'll slip back into a coma and I'm not risking anything." Kane sighed. "I just got you back, babe. There's no way we're risking anything."

“Okay, well. I gotta talk to Moira about the fabric designer who has the contract for the suits. There’s definitely room for improvement here. Transparent fabric, for one,” she said with a waggle of her eyebrows.

"If you make a sex version of that suit... actually, I'm entirely supportive of a sex version of that suit. I've missed you, babe."