xp_logs | Log: Nathan & Jane early Thursday morning

Nathan comes to check on Jane Thursday morning. He comforts her and suggests how she can help out, then they get a bit silly.

He was feeling the sleep deprivation, just a little, Nathan acknowledged, sticking his head through the half-open door and studying the girl curled up asleep on the medlab bed. Moira had stashed her in here hoping she'd sleep, and apparently it had been a good idea. She was even sleeping somewhat soundly, Nathan realized, smiling very faintly as he moved into the room.

As if to prove Nathan's assumption wrong, Jane moaned and twitched in her sleep. She was dreaming of dark men coming to take her friends away, to hurt them. Then, it was the shadow men coming for her and she just knew that she wouldn't be able to outrun them. If she could just get away...

Nathan frowned and came over to the bed, bending over her. "Janie," he said very softly, stroking the hair back from her forehead. "Come on, kiddo, wake up... you're having a bad dream."

Jane woke with a startled yelp, at first unaware of where she was. As her eyes focused on Nathan and she felt his soothing touch, she relaxed a bit. He was there and he'd protect her. Then she remembered what she needed protecting from and her eyes teared up. "Nathan... Where did they go!?!" She launched herself upwards to grab him in a desperate hug.

Nathan sighed, ignoring her semi-clothed state. If anyone wanted to call him on propriety... well, screw them. He sat down on the edge of the bed, wrapping his arms around her protectively. "We don't know yet," he murmured. "We're all doing what we can to find them."

Jane burrowed into his hug, glad of the reassuring physical contact. She needed to know that he was still there. "How can people just... disappear, Nathan? One minute there and then the next and Poof!, they're gone? I don't understand."

"Doesn't make much sense, does it?" he said with a tired, humorless chuckle. "Not much used to things like that myself." He stroked her hair gently as she buried her face against his chest.

"I should be used to the world not making much sense, but to lose so many of the people I hold closest to my heart in one fell swoop!" She shuddered and then asked in a tiny voice, "Do you think they will come back?"

Nathan thought for a moment before he answered. "I don't think they'll come back," he said finally, firmly. "I know we'll get them back."

The absolute confidence in Nathan's voice gave Jane a measure of hope. And these were people used to dealing with crises. In the months that she had been here, Jane had seen some scary things, but everyone usually came out okay in the end. Bruised, battered, traumatized, but generally okay. Jane pulled partially out of Nathan's hug and looked him straight in the eye. "If you think so then I trust you. They'll come back. We'll GET them back." A solid, determined look came into Jane's eyes. "And I want to do what I can to bring them back. What can I do to help?"

"I'm not sure," he said honestly, troubled by his inability to give her the sort of answer he knew she wanted. "Sometimes all you can do is wait, Jane."

Jane seemed to deflate a bit. "But. But waiting isn't helping and I, well, I know I can't do much to help, but I want to do something..."

"You know what you could do?" Nathan suggested, inspiration hitting, mostly due to the fact that the Askani were whispering in his mind, aggravated at him for not seeing the obvious. "Help the students who are still here. They're just as worried and scared as you are." He smiled down at her fondly. "I know how much you watch people. How easy you are to talk to. Do you see what I'm getting at?"

It wouldn't help get the others back, but maybe she'd just have to trust Nathan and Professor Xavier and the others to do that. And if he thought it would help, then maybe... Well, it would be better than doing nothing at all, sitting her afraid of her own shadow. "Yeah. I could help with the others. Oh! And maybe I could help here in the medlab, too. Because when they come back they might be hurt and everything needs to be prepared. In fact, it might be a good idea if I organized all of the remaining students. It'll get their minds off of the scariness And if we did all of the chores around the mansion and stuff, then the adults would have more time to focus on finding everybody." She nodded to herself. It didn't feel like she would be doing enough, but she didn't really have any of the skills necessary to help in a more concrete way. This would have to do. And maybe someday, if she worked at it, she WOULD have the skills necessary to help people.

"See?" Nathan asked, his smile growing. "Hardly needed any input from me at all." Damn, he was proud of her, he thought, hugging her gently. "Don't ever let anyone tell you you're not tough, Janie."

She grinned at him and hugged him back, her heart lighter and filled with more hope than it had been last night. "And you don't let anyone ever tell you that you're not a big, gooey marshmallow at heart, Nathan." She hugged him as tight as she could.

"They'll be okay," he said softly. "We all will. You just wait and see..." He grinned down at her. "And hey, if you really want to be helpful, you could be in charge of the coffeepot. Entirely too many people around here not sleeping. Caffeine is a must."

"Caffeine will not help with the people not sleeping, mister," she mock-frowned at him, deliberately seeming to misunderstand, "and besides, I think that the coffeepot is probably Lorna's baby right now. Or possibly, it's being snuggled by Moira. If you're not careful, Nathan, that coffeepot may replace you as her snugglebunny." It felt good to joke around like this with him, even though everything was so scary at the moment. Possibly BECAUSE everything was so scary.

Nathan blinked at her. "And where, precisely, did you get the idea that I'm Moira's snugglebunny?" he asked, trying not to laugh. Despite the worry, the lost night of sleep, this was just too funny. "Do I even want to know who you picked that up from?"

"Well, Amanda once told me that you and Moira were being disgustingly cute and snuggly together and said something about rabbits and then Paige giggled and said you two were snugglebunnies and I think it's cute."

That must have been a while ago, Nathan thought wryly. Back when Paige had still been kindly disposed to him. "I suppose it's marginally better than cuddlebear," he said wryly.

Jane grinned. "Actually, cuddlebear totally fits! You're a big, burly, dangerous, protective, cute teddybear! So there!" She poked him to emphasize her point.

Nathan gave her a tolerant look, easing back a bit. "I am many things. Cute is stretching it." He patted her shoulder, straightening. "You ready to get up and face the day, kiddo? We still want everyone to stick together, so Moira could probably find something for you to do down here in the medlab if you wanted. Or I could walk you back upstairs."

Jane sobered up immediately at the thought of going back to her empty, roommate-less room. "I'll stay here an help out, I think." Jane slipped off of his lap, stretched, and then looked around to find her clothes. Yesterday's clothes would work until she got up the courage to go to her room. "What are you going to be doing today?" She eyed him. "You should probably try to get some sleep."

Nathan tried not to shake his head at the sight of her wandering happily around in her underwear. It was an improvement over her being totally naked, he supposed, but he averted his eyes anyway, staring in the direction of the door. "I'm not sure yet, Jane. I don't need to sleep just yet, though."

Jane found her jeans and pulled them on. "I would have thought that Mr. Summers would have everything planned for all of the staff. I mean, I did notice the patrols last night. Were you patrolling, too? Are you sure you don't need sleep yet?"

"I was, yeah. And planning, when it comes to something like this, is an ongoing process." He smiled. "But yeah, I'm sure."

"Okay then, lets go find your snugglebunny and see what we can do to help her -- and everyone else -- out."