xp_logs | Amanda, Nate - Monday morning

Nate plans his great escape from medlab, but is thwarted by a determined witchbrat. It all ends in tears.

Not going to be sick, Nathan told himself, gritting his teeth as he swung his broken leg over the edge of the bed. His stomach was lurching and twisting, his head was spinning, and he was already thinking longingly about those little blue pills, but he was getting up, damn it. Getting up and going upstairs to Moira. Enough of the fucking medlab. Thoroughly enough. At least they hadn't put him in a hospital gown this time.

There was no sign of his crutch. "Fuck," Nathan hissed through his teeth, and concentrated enough to levitate instead. It didn't do much good for his headache, but necessity was a bitch sometime. If his TK gave out on him, he would crawl.

"An' just where the bloody hell d'you think yer goin'?" Amanda stood in the doorway, arms crossed over her chest and a frown on her face. She looked exhausted and too-thin, but determined.

"Upstairs," Nathan grated. "Want... to come? Look like you should go to bed too."

"Not in that state you aren't. Look at you, you can barely hold yerself up." Amanda ignored what he'd said about her own state and came in. "Now, are you gunna get back in that bloody bed and rest, or do I have t' make you?"

He glared at her, catching himself as he started to sink a little closer to the ground. "I can hold myself up for long enough to get upstairs to Moira," he said, clearly enunciating each word. He was starting to see spots, though, which was a bit alarming. "Where I am going. Right now."

"An' you think she'll appreciate you near killin' yerself t' get there?" A low blow, Amanda knew, but for fuck's sake, the man was impossible. He'd nearly died - again - just the day before and now he was making escape attempts. "I know you hate this place, Nate, but yer gunna do yerself some serious damage if you keep this up. Damage I can't fix."

"Then why did they put her where I can't be?" It came out almost in a cry, and Nathan felt his grip on his telekinesis start to slip, and managed to levitate himself back to where he could catch himself on the rail of the bed and not come down on his bad leg again. "She's crying in her sleep... and they put her somewhere I can't touch her..."

Seeing him slip, Amanda reached out automatically with her own telekinetic spell, wincing at the effort - Nate was a big man. "I dunno, you'd have t' ask the docs," she said. "An' she'll be all right, she just needs rest, same as you do. An' the link works both ways - you don't think she can't feel the pain yer puttin' yerself through right now?"

"They didn't think..." His shields were a wreck, again, and he had sensed how busy they were, how much they had to deal with. "Just didn't think... I need to go to her." Determination gave him the strength to levitate again, and he rose back into the air, shutting out the pain and the fatigue with every bit of willpower he had. He could collapse once he was upstairs with her.

Amanda hated to do it, but she knew Nate wouldn't get five yards in the state he was in, and that would hurt both himself and Moira. Drawing on the power of the orb in her pocket (she'd come down intending to heal him again, if need be), she grabbed him telekinetically and lifted him back into the bed. The effort made her head spin, and she swayed slightly. "Sorry, Nate," she gasped when she could. "Can't let you do it, least not right now. Yer gunna hurt yerself, an' her."

Oh, that was more than enough. Nathan gritted his teeth and lashed out at Amanda. She yelped as he knocked her off her feet, rather gently, then levitated her into the air. Once he was sure he had a firm grip on her, he levitated himself off the bed again. "Going... upstairs," he gritted. "You're coming. Find... you a bed," he went on, drifting towards the door and pulling her along behind. "Then I find Moira and f-fall over. Sound good

"Bloody stubborn bastard of a man..." Amanda muttered. She was tempted to just let him go and see how far he got before he did his felled tree impersonation again, but with the broken leg and smashed shoulder, that was going to cause more damage than she was willing to allow. Without any clue as to whether it would work, except that it had worked on Manuel, she cast a shielding spell, trying to free herself of Nate's grip. Carrying himself was costing him, let alone her. Inevitably, her nose started bleeding again - it was too soon after yesterday's fun to be doing even half this level of magic.

Nathan felt... something, like a knife slicing through the telekinetic flows. Backlash seared through him, and he didn't hear Amanda's yelp as he lost his grip on her. The flash of pain in his head was swamped by worse as he fell heavily, onto his bad shoulder. For an instant, he blacked out, but pure rage dragged him back, and he swore, spitting Askani profanities as soon as he caught his breath.

"Bloody fucking hellfire..." Okay, that wasn't exactly what she'd intended happen. Picking herself up off the floor, ignoring what was going to be a bastard of a bruise later on her hip, Amanda scooted across to Nathan. "Christ, Nate, I'm sorry, I didn't know that was goin' t' happen," she said, reaching out to help him sit up, already bringing the healing incantation to mind, despite the pounding in her head. "Don't move, I'll get the docs."

As soon as she touched him, he felt it. Pain, she was in pain -- pushing too hard? Her thoughts bounced erratically against his, and without even thinking about what he was doing, just reacting on instinct, he reached out with his telekinesis and pulled the orb out of her pocket, right into his hand.

"Thought... we had an agreement," he gritted out, his eyes watering with pain. "You d-don't hurt yourself."

Without a power source, the spell faltered. "'M fine," she grated, not even noticing the thread of blood running from her nose. "An' I should've gotten you t' promise me the same thing." She muttered something else that sounded like "Great sodding stubborn plonker."

"Lying... through your teeth, you little brat.." He was blinking rapidly, his vision going fuzzy around the edge, but he saw the blood trickling from her nose, and it just made him angry. "Ought to break the damned thing..." But he set the orb down instead, giving it a little push so that it rolled away, and slid his good arm around Amanda's shoulders, pulling her in close in as fierce a hug as he could manage. "Stubborn... ridiculously stubborn..."

"Takes one t' know one." Amanda's voice was muffled against his shoulder. "An' don't break it - bloody thing cost me five hundred quid. An' I don't wanna have t' deal with Patches again, the little weasel."

"You're tired," Nathan said heavily. "Pushing too hard... need to stop, Amanda. No one's dying... have to think about yourself..."

"I will when you don't need it any more," Amanda countered, pulling away a little. "For fuck's sake, Nate, you think I like seein' you like this? I hate it, an' I can do somethin' t' help, an' I'm gunna keep doin' it." She glared at him a little. "You'd do the same if you were me."

He tried very, very hard not to grind his teeth. "You don't get to hurt yourself trying to help me," he growled, not letting go of her. Again, he found himself wishing for two good arms, although he wasn't sure whether he wanted to give her a proper hug or take her over his knee. "I feel... like shit warmed over, yes. But I am not dying, and you have already done... so much for me. I'm not... letting you push yourself to the point of collapse, or worse..." He could sense it in her, the strain. Too much. Entirely too much.

"I can deal with it, I have to." Amanda tried to hang onto her anger at him for being such a stubborn bastard, but she was so very tired, and her head was hurting and had been since yesterday. "I need t' make up for what I did, for usin' the magic t' kill... It's gotta be some kind of use, or what's the point...? I can't stop yet…" Something in her finally broke, and she sagged, burying her face in his shirt and letting the tears come. "I have t' show 'em I'm not a bad person any more..."

His shields were so full of holes that he had to squeeze his own eyes shut as they started to burn. "You're... not," he whispered raggedly, hugging her tightly again. "Never were. Never." His throat tightened, as if someone had closed a hand around it, and he 'pushed' what he was thinking at her instead, ignoring what that did to his headache. #See the way I see you... # Not just a student - a daughter, part of him insisted steadfastly - not just a friend to be trusted, but someone who could be depended on. Someone who was strong, so strong, and so determined to do what was right. Who cared, sometimes too much. Too willing to deny herself, to sacrifice, but all the more admirable for that...

Her mind filled with the feelings and images Nate was feeding to her, Amanda let herself have what Homily would have called 'a good cleansing cry'. His faith in her, his... love, overwhelmed the voice in her head that belonged to Rack, the part of her that insisted she was nothing, and always would be. Finally, with a hiccup, she pushed herself upright, wiping her sleeve across her nose. "I think I needed that," she said quietly, not looking up at him, but not because she was ashamed, more overwhelmed.

"Shouldn't bottle things up," he said hoarsely, smiling somewhat shakily down at her. "And yeah, I know that makes me a hypocrite..." She finally looked up, giving him a wobbly smile, and he gave a tired chuckle. "You know... really ought never to cry in public. You get all red and puffy." He laid his good hand on her cheek just for a moment, very gently. "You're one tough little witch," he said wearily, but warmly. "Don't have to be tough all the time, though."

"Yeah, well, pots an' kettles, Nate. Same goes for you." Amanda shifted into a slightly more comfortable position - her foot was going to sleep underneath her - but didn't let go of him. "An' I don't tend t' make a habit of blubbin', an' not just 'cause it turns me into the Tomato Woman. Rack used t' like it when I cried." She pushed the thought away. "You really see me like that?" she asked, wonderingly.

"Yeah," Nathan murmured. "I do." He closed his eyes for a moment, gathering the scattered remnants of his own composure. The link was still murmuring unhappily, and he looked back at Amanda. "Promise me," he said tiredly. "You give the magic a rest. For now."

She hesitated. Magic was the only thing she had that made her anything more than a stubborn - if cute - street punk. "I'll cut down," she said at last. "No usin' it unless I really have to. Like with those clone-things of Jamie's yesterday, or if someone gets hurt an' needs it. An' I'll talk t' Strange, see what he thinks. Last time I quit it backfired on me, an' I don't wanna mess meself up again."

Nathan nodded slowly. "Sounds fair," he said, then rested his head in his hand because it felt awfully heavy all of a sudden. "Should... teach logic to Manuel... he'd learn something..."

"I'm tryin'," she said with a rueful chuckle. "An' don't get shirty at me for suggestin' it, but maybe you should go back t' bed? Least for a little while, until yer feelin' stronger? You look ready t' drop."

"The floor's nice," he said tiredly. "Nice, cool floor..." He could just lay down and rest his eyes for a moment. Then he could go and find Moira.

"Nice cold floor, more like it," Amanda muttered. "You'll catch yer death, an' then Moira will kill both of us." She squirmed out from under his arm and looked around for the orb. It hadn't rolled too far, and she hooked it with her foot and rolled it back. "Tell you what, we'll go halves. Half yer power, an' half mine. 'Cause if I have t' call McCoy, yer never gettin' out of here an' he'll probably toss me arse into the next bed, an' then you'll have t' listen t' me whingin' all night." The orb was warm in her hand as she drew power off it.

Nathan eyed her. "If... you go find your own bed after," he countered, concentrating hard. Just enough telekinesis to get himself upright again... yeah, there we go...

"Does Manny's count?" she asked with an impish grin. As he rolled his eyes at her, she added: "'S okay, I'd actually sleep. He's still pretty much out of it. Those things yesterday, when they all died, he felt it. Knocked him for a loop." She squirmed back under his good arm, wrapping hers around his waist and readying herself for what was going to be a doozy of a headache when she used the spell again. "Ready when you are."

He cheated, just a little. Not that he was used to cooperating with someone else telekinetically, let alone someone whose telekinesis was magical rather than psionic, but he knew damned well that he was doing more than 'half'. Amanda did, too, to judge by the way she was growling at him as she helped him back into bed. "I...win," he gasped out, slumping back against the pillows and trying to smile at her.

"Yer bloody insufferable, you know that?" She shook her head - carefully - at him as she pulled the blankets back up over him. "Now, get some bloody rest, an' I'll tell the docs about the link an' Moira an' see if they can't move you upstairs. An' then I'll go get some sleep. Deal?"

"Deal," he whispered, his eyes already closing.