xp_logs | Best. Guidance Counselor. Ever.

He'd spent far too much time using a crutch in the last year, Pete reflected, as he headed down to medlab. Definitely time to get that refresher course. He was supposed to be there to see Bartlett, let her check on whether or not the infection in his shoulder was clearing up OK, but first of all, he had a stop to make. He knocked on Sarah's door, then pushed it open.

"Afternoon. We need to have a little chinwag, you and I."

"Come on in," she said, hesitating slightly. There were two ways this conversation could go, and she wasn't looking particularly forward to a lecture on how "fucking stupid" she was. Pushing herself up to sitting, she crossed her arms over her chest. "Go for it."

Pete glanced at the defensive pose she'd adopted. "You can relax. I ain't here to give you a bollocking." He gestured at his own injuries. "You ain't got the monopoly on stupid round here just yet. Actually, I might be here to help you out. I'm sure you know that finding your little squad of bastards a second time around isn't going to be as easy. So I've got to decide: do I help you find them again, or do I just go off and do it all on my own?"

"Yeah?" Her arms were still crossed, but her expression had eased up.

"You'll probably want that folder I got. Ask Shinobi to pull it out of my bag when you get a chance. It's got names and powers. I can go through it and tell you who I took down."

Pete nodded. "Well, that's a start. It'll give me people to look for besides Crow. But mostly what I'm looking to be convinced of is that you're going to be smarter about taking these bastards down, next time."

"I'm not going to try to do it alone again, if that's what you're asking." She didn't add that she probably would have if she'd thought Shinobi didn't have a reason in wanting his own revenge.

"Well, that's a start. Mostly, what I meant was: if I look for these fucks, then it's not so much that you won't be going alone in a general and haphazard sort of way, and more specifically that I and anyone else I think I need to bring along will be coming too. Regardless of whether I find them in the end, or you or Shinobi turn them up, that's the price for my looking for them, and sharing anything I find with you. Can you live with it?"

Sarah considered it, but she knew there really wasn't much choice in the matter. "As long as I get to go--and fight, I guess that's fair. But none of this 'leave it to the adults' bullshit. They killed my family, and I'm taking them down."

Pete nodded. "Good. There's one other last thing, but this one I think you'll be able to live with a little better. Once I'm on my feet proper, you and I are going to sit down and work out a proper training plan for you, since Logan's not about. You're good, Sarah, but you're still going to be a liability going after these bastards if you don't learn a bit more discipline and self-control."

"Discipline and self-control are bad words," she said dryly, and then shook her head. "That's what Grey Crow harped on. Discipline. Essex said if I could learn it from Grey Crow, it might help me control the bones. I wonder if he knew."

"Right now, I dunno. Doesn't really matter. And even a cunt like Crow can teach something useful, if it suits, although I suspect my approach to teaching it is a bit different. I like to get away from sparring when I can - otherwise, you're only learning something you can use to fight with, and as your guidance counsellor, I ought to be able to do better by you that that." He smiled slightly. "I mean, at some point, these bastards'll be dead, and then you've got the rest of your life to think about..."

"But the sparring's the fun part," she said, squirming in her bed a little, "I could use a good spar. And a cigarette. I'm so -sick- of being in this bed. Besides, once they're dead, -that's- when I'll worry about what happens after."

"Oh, there'll be sparring. But there'll be other stuff too, and I ain't promising you a laugh riot here, but I'm going to make as damn sure as I can that you come back alive from the next time. You've used up your free shot at them - they see you coming back at them, they're going to realise that they need to fuck you up much worse than they did to stop you. As for the rest of it, look on it as a character building exercise. A chance to exercise a bit of self-control."

He paused.

"Actually, no. Hang about." He glanced out the door, then, seeing no-one about, tossed her half a pack. "Look on this as a little practical exam. Smoke those before they let you out of here, without getting caught. I don't care how you do it, or who's help you get, just don't get caught. If you do, you didn't get 'em from me."

"See, -this- is why you're my guidance counselor, and not Jake," she said, catching the pack and tucking it neatly into a pocket in her writing notebook on the table beside the bed. "I owe you, more I guess, now." Pulling her laptop up and onto her lap, she pressed a few buttons and opened up her email program, wondering just how fast Jono could get downstairs. "You already been to see the docs? You mind keeping them busy for a few minutes? Sparky's on his way."

"As it happens, I was just on my way for my regular bollocking from Dr Bartlett, so you're probably good for the next fifteen to twenty minutes while she checks me dressings and tells me that getting shot is stupid. I'm not sure why she thinks I do it for fun..." Pete flashed her a grin as he headed for the door. "We'll talk again later. When we can both walk unaided."

"Perfect. Thanks Pete." She smiled as he walked out, wondering vaguely if Jono would come any quicker if she thought about it really hard. The clock was ticking afterall.