Log [Jubilee, Madelyn, Alison & Nathan] ~ The Rules of Thinking...

[x-dazzler.livejournal.com]

Wednesday afternoon, around 5.30pm. Take one harassed doctor, one whiny teenager, one in-chronic-pain former rockstar and one concussed merc. Add snark, issues and consequences, mix well and stand back.



Jubilee walked into the Medlab, pulling the sling on her wounded side tighter to stop her arm from pulling the stitches. The stitches, never exactly comfortable were beginning to become incredibly vexatious. At least Amanda would heal her shoulder now, even if Maddie had to tell her to do it. God, it'd be nice not to hurt every time she moved that arm.

"Hey, firecracker," Madelyn said, looking up from the pile of reports she was going through - another downside to the 'lab being busy, the paperwork never ended. Looking at the disgruntled expression on Jubilee's face, Madelyn sighed internally. Jubilee was not going to like the news she had. "Come into the exam room so I can have a look at things?"

Jubilee nodded, looking around for Amanda. The other girl didn't seem to be here yet. But possibly she was just busy in another part of the Medlab. She followed Madelyn to the exam room, carefully pulling herself up onto the bed there with her good hand. She'd worn a strappy tank top, as she hadn't wanted to have to fool around with taking her shirt off so that Madelyn good look at the injury.

"So, where's Amanda?" she asked as Madelyn started unwrapping the bandages from her shoulder.

"That would be my cue to tell you I have some good news and some bad news," Madelyn said, finishing with the unwrapping and carefully peeling off the gauze that had been laid over the wound to stop it oozing. No sign of infection, and the gashes were healing nicely. If at the normal, slow pace. "Which do you want first?"

Jubilee cursed silently, there would have to be bad news, wouldn't there? Couldn't pass a week without at least some bad news. "Do I have to have bad news? S'my birthday." she whined. She knew she was whining, and how annoying that could be but she was tired and sore and she just wanted to be healed so the pain would stop.

"Unfortunately, kiddo, bad news waits for no man. Or woman. Even if it is your birthday." Madelyn's voice lost a little of the sympathetic edge at Jubilee's whining - Alison had been reduced to tears from the pain on the last two check ups, and the knowledge that it was probably going to be a regular thing wasn't doing much for Madelyn's peace of mind. "Amanda can't Heal you today. Between Nathan's concussion and Manuel's ribs, she's overworked herself, and the last thing I want is for her to collapse." A faint, humourless grin touch her lips. "But it does mean I don't have to listen to you snipe at each other."

"Great." Jubilee said, the single word filled with disgust. "Well, guess that's the good news then. So, what's the bad?" she asked, no humour in her voice at all.

"Well, I thought it would have been obvious from 'Amanda can't Heal you today'. Or possibly not for a few more days. Girl's a wreck." Madelyn's conscience pricked her at just how wan and tired Amanda had looked when she had come down for medlab duty and to very reluctantly admit she couldn't actually do as she'd promised. The doctor had been one step away from insisting Amanda stay and sleep in the medlab for the next few days - she certainly looked like she needed it. "I'm afraid you're going to have to let Nature take its course for a bit longer. Which means another few days with the stitches in, at the very least, if you don't strain it."

"Guess that means I'll be dancin' in the sling tonight then. If I go at all. Is dancing going to strain these?" she asked, hoping Mads would say that it wouldn't. If she had to miss out on that, because of Sefton and her 'exhaustion', she was not going to be impressed. She wouldn't put it past the other girl to have faked it, just to ruin Jubilee's night.

"Not if you're careful. Which you'd have to be any way, considering who you're going with..." Madelyn had started re-wrapping the wound with a new bandage, but paused, a slight frown on her face. "Look, kiddo, I know it's not up to me to tell you how to run your personal life..." she began, but then there was an insistent beeping and buzzing from the Dread Beeper hanging off her hip. Grabbing at it, Madelyn pulled a face. "Hold that pose for me, Jubilee? I'll be right back. There's an alarm going off in Betsy's room..." Without giving Jubilee a chance to protest, Madelyn bustled off, leaving the girl high and dry.

Jubilee looked down at the bandages only half done, her expression clearly that of someone not at all happy with the current situation. She'd have to go dancing with the sling afterall, which would mean she wouldn't be able to dance with her usual style. That totally sucked. Okay, so she knew she was being childish but these stitches had been in forever and she just wanted them out already. She'd spent ages in the cast after breaking her arm, even with Amanda's daily healings and now she was back to having an arm immobilised, even if it wasn't the same one thankfully.

She really, really hated this. She practiced her pout, deciding that it was past time to have a good old fashioned sulk.

Alison, walking very cautiously into the medlab, was being careful about not quite admitting to herself that she was maybe pushing things just a little bit. The power on her wrist unit had run out through her fault alone (nothing Hank or Forge couldn't fix in a second) and the walk over had been, well, long. But it was so damn hard not to after finally being allowed some time to herself and her day had been a relatively good one nonetheless - though maybe being in the isolation room wouldn't be too bad a thing now. She wasn't walking like an old lady but she knew the stiffness in her limbs due to the pain made for a less than graceful sight. She stopped Jubilee almost as an afterthought, the young woman's pout drawing a raised eyebrow from her.

Jubilee could feel someone watching her, looking up she noticed Alison and the look she appeared to be getting from the older woman did not seem sympathetic. She abandoned her pout and smiled. "Hey Alison, how ya doin'?" she asked.

Wincing was how Alison was doing, just a bit. No white noise generator and no wall sized sound baffles meant that the small percentage of sound that got by the suit Forge has modified hurt. A lot. The iso room was just there and not too far away, so she headed there without a second thought, hand waving for Jubilee to follow in an afterthought. The monitor in the isolation room would do well enough for the conversation. Madelyn was going to scold her for letting the power on the wrist unit to wear out.

Jubilee followed behind Alison, her expression baffled. She wasn't entirely sure why Alison wanted to talk to her. Although, maybe she'd just got bored sitting in the isolation room and had wanted some company. She unwound the bandage from her arm, leaving the small pile on the Medlab table. She didn't particularly want to trail bandage along behind her and as long as she didn't move her arm the stitches wouldn't pull too badly. She'd gotten a look at her arm while Maddy had been checking it over. The claw marks from the demon still looked angry and red after only a week, five perfect lines of stitching, four on her back and one at the join of her arm where the demons thumb had dug in. She didn't particularly want to think about what it might have done if she hadn't blown it apart shortly after.

"Doing not so bad," Alison finally said, pointing at the console set up in the isolation room so that Jubilee would know what she was saying. The white noise generators were almost a balm on her frazzled senses - considering bad was being back in la la land, bleeding lasers and being decidedly insane, Alison was sticking to 'not so bad' for pretty much anything. The claw mark on Jubilee's arm weren't even really noticed - unsurprising in a way, considering Alison had her own set, although the healing was more advanced thanks to Amanda. "You?"

Jubilee shrugged and then winced noticeably as it pulled at the stitches. "Been better. Mads said Amanda couldn't do a healin' today cause she had to heal Nate. So, guess I'm gonna be dancin' with the sling on tonight. 'Course, if Amanda had healed me days ago, it wouldn't have fuckin' mattered that she had to heal Nate today."

It was amazing, Alison thought distantly, how you could go from relatively calm if a bit cranky because you hurt to outright wanting to strangle someone in two seconds flat in spite of the hurt. But doing that would hurt more and Madelyn might take it badly besides, so instead she closed her eyes for a moment to calm down before looking at Jubilee again. She glanced at the stitches, and perspective being most admittedly a tad bit skewed, dismissed them entirely after a few seconds of observation. "It's really not all that bad. Besides, considering how you put it in the journals, consider yourself lucky she is at all." Jubilee didn't need to know about Amanda's need to prove herself useful. "You might even consider actually showing some appreciation, even. I'd have let you rot if I'd been in her shoes, all things considered. Ethics goes both ways." The comments were matter of fact as opposed to angry however, Alison's expression decidedly bland as she spoke, the words blipping on the screen steadily.

Jubilee stared at the words, a small prick of guilt stabbing at her. She knew she was being unfair to Amanda but it had been a bad week and right now, what she really didn't want to be was reasonable. It would appear that reasonable Jubilee had taken a holiday to Bermuda, taking with her common sense Jubilee as well and wouldn't be back any time in the next few minutes at the very least. So instead, angry Jubilee took control of the brain and growled at the words printed on the screen in front of her.

"You know, I could have been an Olympic gymnast. All my teachers said  so. Only, they don't allow mutants to compete. But I still had the skills, so it was okay. Even on the streets, I still kept them up. This year, I've been able to train maybe a week in every four. First she gives me a broken arm, and now I get these cause I tried to save her ass and all I get is people tellin' me how awful I am. So don't tell me it's not all that bad. You got any idea what it's like bein' that good and feelin' it slip away? Fuck, Alison, I can't even sleep properly right now. Wake up every hour or so cause the damn stitches pull."

No idea how being that good is and feeling it slip away? Jubilee had clearly taken leave of her senses and forgotten everything about why Alison had moved to the mansion in the first place. Just a small footnote, her career was. Yep. She's completely forgotten who she's talking to. Alison had no inclination to throw that in Jubilee's face quite so simply though, even as she smiled thinly at the angry girl. "Oh, I'm so sorry. Because of course sleeping with another girl's boyfriend shouldn't upset her in the least. Complete overreaction on her part - heck, she probably had it coming, is that it? And the demon you sicced on her, with your own blood and all? Probably would have found it's merry way to her and attacked her without any help from you at all too. So really, none of it was your fault and none of the consequences attached to doing something incredibly stupid or selfish should have landed on
your head. And Amanda should just heal you even if it knocks her clean out because the telepath with a lingering concussion isn't as high on the priority list of healings compared to you wanting to go dance your silly little head off tonight and have. Fun."

She paused for a moment, the look in her eyes artic, a direct contrast to the warmth of the light surrounding her. "I'm sure I have no idea what you mean. It's not like losing my career wasn't my own responsibility after all. I accepted that it might happen the moment I came out as a mutant in front of a staring audience of thousands. But don't talk to me about pain, little girl. You have no idea what pain is. You can't even begin to imagine what pain is."

She was still angry but Alison's words had hit home, the stirrings of remorse beginning to surface, she forced them down. Hadn't she been trying to make up for what she'd done? Hadn't she been working as hard as she could? It was just so unfair.

"I'm not sleeping with Manny anymore." Jubilee said, her tone clipped. "And I didn't help to summon anything. If she hadn't fuckin' threatened me in the first place, I'd never have gone lookin' for what those scars meant."

"Anymore. Oh, wow! What, you expected congratulations on that one now that you've graciously decided it's over, complete with confetti and admiration? Think again - do you ever stop to think about what you do to the people around you, or is it so much about you that  you
can't even conceive of there being anything else?" Alison remembered the fight with Scott in the hallway only too well. "The damage is already done and considering how long things did go on, there's really not much patting on the back for you there. You drove the knife in repeatedly and made it clear to Amanda you could get exactly what you wanted and it that it didn't matter to you in the least what it did to her in the process."

Hard words, certainly. And Jubilee wasn't the only self-centered brat in that one, considering it took two to tango. But there was no way Alison was able to cut Jubilee slack on that one - it hit personal issues to hard. And heavens did being sarcastic do wonder to make her forget about the pain. "As for the scars, considering how important it was to her to hide them and how much shame she clearly associated to them, well, you're getting congratulations there. I've seen sharks with less appetite for blood than you on that one. You realize that you've been consistently hitting her in the two areas likely to hurt her the most? Non-stop at that? There are consequences to what you do. Grow the hell up and take what comes to you as a result with a minimum of grace instead of whining about it like a spoiled three year old brat."

Jubilee gaped at her, the brewing storm that was her normal emotional state taking a sharp tip into hurricane.

"Where the fuck do you get off, Alison? You know, I'm getting pretty fucking tired of people blaming me for everything that happened. Did even one of you ever think that she might have pushed me just a little bit too? Or did you just think I went around tearing into her because it fucking amused me!? But no, she's your precious little fucking darling, who could never do a damn thing wrong. So I must be the big bad, mustn't I? I have to be the one that made all the mistakes, that just pushed her and pushed her till she exploded and broke my arm because she's such a delicate little fucking soul. And then, then I get told I'm saying things because I think it'll stop people from punishing me for the mistakes I did make. Because obviously, I couldn't be sorry for what I did. I couldn't want to change. You just...ARGHHH!"

Jubilee's voice had started off at normal levels but by the end of it, she was shouting, gesturing for emphasis as sparks dazzled around her body, mute testament to just how much she'd lost her temper.

"Jubilation Lee! What the hell do you think you're doing?!" All right, possibly not as effective in a sound-dampened room, but the screen picked it up as all caps and it looked loud. Charging into the iso room, Nathan a brief step behind her, Madelyn paused just short of grabbing Jubilee by the good arm, realising with the sparks that probably wouldn't be a good idea. Reining in her fury at the sight of someone trying to blow up one of her patients (apparently), she gave Nathan an questioning glance and tapped her forehead, clearly asking him to calm Jubilee down telepathically if he was able.

Nathan had instinctively flung a shield up in front of Alison as soon as he saw what was going on, and he flinched as some of Jubilee's sparks bounced off it and provoked a stab of pain behind his eyes. But he shook it off and glared at the girl, not dropping the shield between her and Alison.

"Jubilation," he said, his voice absolutely icy. "Settle down. Now. Or I do it for you." He hoped to hell she'd take a step back of her own accord - he wasn't sure he was up to it.

Nathan's voice was like a splash of cold water and she groaned softly. Great. More people to glare at her. With not a small amount of effort she brought her temper under control, going through a short meditation technique to shut down the sparks she'd only just noticed. Opening her eyes, she looked at the three adults, her expression sullen.

"You don't have to do anything, Nathan. I shut them off."

Alison wasn't saying a word by then, staring straight a head over them all and at the wall, with that same bored expression on her face she'd worn during the better part of Jubilee's rant, sparks not even acknowledged. Not taking a teenager seriously was the fatal offense and she was making use of it with much pleasure. #She needs to mediate more.# She wasn't sure if Nathan catch the thought, but it was worth a try. It probably meant he'd catch the undertones of her mood as well, which was still nicely sublimating the pain to a lower level, which was probably not a bad thing - he'd get the hint to keep Jubilee quiet until Alison got a hold on her temper. Words were her stock in trade - and she'd not even started to use them to their full effect.

"What I'd like to know, is what they were doing on in the first place. And in here. Do you have any idea of how delicate the equipment is in here? And what would happen to Alison if it got damaged?" Of course, she didn't, Madelyn reminded herself, making herself take a step back. There would be an explanation, and that wouldn't be easy to give with the three of them looming over her like some kind of inquisition. Glancing over at Alison to make sure her light levels hadn't increased, she was relieved to see they hadn't. And intrigued by the expression on her face.

Nathan's outward expression was stony as he lowered the shield around Alison, but inwardly, he felt anything but. His nerves were still raw enough that coming in on a scene like that, not to mention what Jubilee was still projecting at the top of her mental lungs, was fraying his self-control rapidly.

Now that she'd calmed down slightly, she was beginning to regret her previous outburst. Especially considering she now had to explain why she was shouting at a woman to who sound was currently painful, even with the buffers in place. Jubilee realised she didn't particularly have a good explanation except 'she hurt my feelings' which sounded very childish in the cold, harsh light of logic. It would appear that common sense Jubilee was back from Bermuda and had brought along logical Jubilee as well.

'Damn' she thought.

"She...I was just, and then." she began and then sighed. "Ain't got a good explanation, Dr Bartlett. I lost my temper."

Well. That was a minor improvement. Alison allowed herself to pay attention to Jubilee again, gaze more than a little flat still - the improvement wasn't covering anything of what had been just brought up, after all. "I didn't lose mine," she said carefully, that same cold expression not yet gone from her face. "We will all agree that it means Jubilee was at a severe disadvantage during this talk." Because she had been. And Alison had been very much keeping herself for being outright destructive to her, instead being as blunt as a mountain dropped on someone's head. "We had a difference of opinion regarding actions and consequences." The words 'And pain' she kept to herself, riding out a flare of it in the confines of her mind.

Following on the heels of that other conversation on Jubilee and consequences, Madelyn had a good idea what might have followed. "Was that strictly necessary, Ali? In here, especially? If the white noise generators had been damaged..." She looked at Jubilee. "You could have killed her with one of those sparks, Jubilee."

Even after Amanda's healing spell last night, there was enough left of the concussion, plus the backlash, to mean that his shields were less than exemplary even by his usual standards. Nathan looked from Jubilee to Alison to Madelyn, his frown growing into a harsh scowl as he picked up on what precisely the subject of discussion had been. "Well," he snapped, careful to keep his voice low, "I'm terribly sorry that my concussion got in the way of your clubbing plans, Jubilee. Bad me."

"I didn't mean it that way. S'not like I'm not hurt too though, and I always seem last on the list." Jubilee replied, still feeling out of sorts and sullen but with slowly dawning remorse.

The fact of the matter was, she had been resentful that the others got healed before her. Not because she begrudged them the relief, just that her shoulder hurt and she'd been looking forward to having a functioning arm again and then, nada, back to where she was now. It hadn't been a very nice emotion, probably one of the pettiest she'd had since the attack at Halloween.

Alison took a deliberate step back. She was aching and it was getting hard to ignore that now that she wasn't keeping herself deliberately focused on something else. "I'm not even on the damn list," she murmured, unaware that the console was obligingly flashing those words as well, just as it had been everyone else's. It occurred to Alison that she was considering kicking people out of her iso room. It was amusing, in a very darkly humored sort of way.

"You don't look like you're in that much pain but maybe I was too busy listening to you tell me how I didn't know anything about pain to notice." Jubilee replied spitefully.

Nathan's eyes widened, then narrowed. Without stopping to think about how much he was going to regret doing this when the moment passed, or the dubious ethics of it, he lashed out with his telepathy and grabbed Jubilee's mind hard enough to wrench a gasp of pain from her. Rather more gently, he reached out to Alison - and linked the two of them, a full-blown, if temporary and one-way connection that would let Jubilee feel everything Alison was feeling. Every ounce of the pain that she had so casually brushed off.

It took a few seconds for Jubilee to become aware of what was going on, her mind still reeling from Nathan's telepathic grip. It was then, just as she'd recovered her equilibrium that the pain hit. It was sudden, shocking and there was nowhere to run. She tried desperately for a second to search for the small inner core that she went to while meditating but she couldn't think fast enough to reach it before another wave of pain washed her away. She ached, everywhere. And even the small sounds filtering into the room were an agony. Tears streaming down her face, she whimpered and dropped to her knees. "S.s.top i.it." she whimpered, body shaking as she pressed her hands into the floor. She couldn't think, it wasn't just that there was pain, she'd always handled pain before. But this, was constant waves, one crashing upon the other till you couldn't even brace yourself anymore. She tumbled, fell, mind holding onto the reality of her fingers on the floor, gripping tightly. "P.p.please. Stop!" Finally, thankfully, she could feel the blackness reaching up to hold her and pull her down, giving up consciousness only to feel the pain follow her down. Jubilee slumped to the ground, body twitching and stiff, a tight ball of pain.

Alison frowned as she saw Jubilee go down - the physical reaction and the look of pain suddenly all too familiar. Along with the familiar sensation of a link suddenly active at the back of her mind... Oh boy. Nathan was going to be upset with himself for this, she thought distantly - with a curious lack of pity for Jubilee. Mostly because it was only temporary, perhaps, with the sure knowing that it would end and soon be nothing but a memory for the girl, whereas Alison still
had to deal with that very same pain for weeks if not months to come. #Nathan? That's enough, clansib. I think she'll understand, now.# It wouldn't have taken long for the pain to take Jubilee out - and with Nathan having undergone something similar with the virus, she could see where he'd overestimate another's tolerance to pain. She reached out, gesturing for Madelyn to tend to Jubilee while her fingers closed on Nathan's sleeve - she was keeping him here and close by, no matter what.

Madelyn was already there, checking Jubilee's pulse, making sure she hadn't hit her head or or shoulder as she'd fainted. Already she was coming around, although very groggily. "I'll get her to a bed, let her recover," she said to Alison and Nathan, her tone strangely calm. Her sympathy for her patient and her desire to help Jubilee was greatly tempered by the girl's words and display of temper. Helping Jubilee to her feet, she left the iso room, heading for the other cubicles, with a backwards glance and a don't go anywhere" to the pair of them. Nathan didn't really register Madelyn's warning look. His head was spinning from the effort of the link, and... his fingers hurt? No, Alison's fingers hurt. He detached himself from her mind as gently as he could, and told himself that falling over was really not appropriate. Oh, I shouldn't have done that...

Light touches nudged him along, a hint of imperiousness coming across each time. He could have, Alison decided, half the bed. But the other half was hers because now that things seemed to be quieting down, she was mentally crashing from it all, even though her body remained depressingly awake. "Sit down, you goof." She had no clue if he was watching the screen, reading her lips or listening telepathically, but the grumbling made her feel a touch better, anyway.

How had he wound up on the bed again? Oh, right. Nathan met the very blue eyes regarding him wearily. #Sorry,# he sent back, the barest of whispers. #Should have asked...#

Light shifted as Alison tilted her head to the side slowly in reaction to that - and then smiled, humor suddenly wiping out all the angry she'd worked up in the last hour. #You're one of the few people who doesn't need to, you know that?# Now, asking Jubilee was another story, but it was done - and something was telling Alison that if Jubilee didn't learn something from this... well.

Bleak certainty that he'd managed to screw up whatever small progress he'd made with Jubilee thus far settled on him like a lead weight and he sighed. #Knocking out students in a fit of pique,# he sent weakly. #Yeah. I'm doing really well here...#

The thought that answer that was suddenly flat and inflexible. #Better she know now, like this. Brief and with an end in sight, than what I'm going through instead.# Alison stared ahead at the wall on the other side of the bed for a moment. #She asked Scott to be join the team. Become an X-Man. She's not getting near a team as long as I'm a team leader,# the 'if I ever get to that level again undercurrent was barely perceptible, #unless I'm satisfied she's learned that her actions have consequences.# After a brief pause, she looked down at Nathan again. #Would have been better if she'd been asked, but she was setting herself up towards that one way or another.# She showed him, patterns branching out, all of them leading to that end event, clear for him to see. #See? She boxed herself in the moment she said that.# Which was perhaps why Alison was being so calm about this. Or maybe, Alison thought to herself, she was just looking at it from a very particular perspective - which didn't allow room for pitying the girl just now. Sympathy perhaps, later. She was going to talk to Jubilee. But not pity.

Nathan twitched. Violently. The chain of events she projected for him complicated itself spontaneously, blurred images flickering in and out, new factors... "Ow," he muttered aloud, one hand going to his temple.

Somehow, Alison managed not to say 'actions and consequences' to Nate, or even thinking about it all that much. Instead she hovered for a bit - in a way it was too bad the sound baffles only cut out real sound and not everything. She was fairly certain he'd not mind being utterly shielded for a bit. "No more thinking." He could read it off the console or not at all, but whatever happened she was siccing Madelyn on him when she came back. And then having a bit of a lie down herself. "Can you do me a favor? I'd do it myself, but it's not possible right now. Add two hours of meditation a day to her training regimen?" Carefully she claimed a corner of the bed for herself, because standing up just wasn't in the books anymore.

"Meditation?" Nathan asked a bit groggily. "Jubilee meditating... she'd tell you she does that already. Her Tai Chi..."

"Not enough." If she was still slipping on her power like that, she needed more. "I'm light based too, remember? Though her entire power seems to be tuned into her emotions. Mine's partial that way." She stopped at that. He knew, well enough. "Besides. Meditation after this might actually start some of that inner reflection - just an hour means she can talk herself out of it. Give her two to three non-stop and she'll either die of boredom, or actually go beyond the self-justifications to actually thinking." She paused. "Erm. It worked for me way back when?"

"Two or three hours with her thinking at me... yay." Oh, he was being such a wimp. He hid his face against the nice, soft pillow. #Emotions and powers... we psis know about that, oh yes we do. Although I haven't broken any furniture lately. Or walls. I'm improving?#

#Yes, you are. I may have to start retraining when things settle down.# Oh, so very wistful. Starting over again was just painful to contemplate. #Mind if I join in the meditating. I can taunt Jubilee by not thinking as much as she does.# The pause was superbly timed. #No. Wait.#

A muffled helpless laugh escaped him. #~Stab your eyes,~# he sent,  shifting without thinking to Askani. His mental voice took on a forlorn edge as he went on. "#~I'll begin again, as I will with Jono. Perhaps you should be there. A second set of eyes to watch for my next stumble.~#

#~I am glad you are trying again. I think you need this more than they do, honestly.~# She didn't elaborate, vaguely noting to herself that Audrai was a bad influence on the cryptic side of things. Oops. #~And I will join as a student for the one.~# She paused, a mental eureka taking over. #And nab the second as my TA. Jono needs something to complain about anyway. #

Nathan didn't stop hiding his face in the pillow. It was a very nice pillow. #Devious, # he sent back with a sigh. #Very, very devious. #

~*~

Luckily Jubilee didn't really weigh all that much, and Madelyn was stronger than she looked from all the weight training - she wrestled the befuddled girl into a bed, setting it at an incline that had her head lower than her feet so the blood would go back to where it beyond. Gradually Jubilee showed signs of returning to her senses, and she laid her hand briefly on the girl's forehead. "How're you feeling?" she asked.

"Fine." Jubilee croaked softly, mouth dry.

And it was true, she was fine compared to what she'd just experienced. She hadn't known, hadn't even begun to imagine what Alison had been going through. She was surprised Alison hadn't bitten her head off the moment she started whining about her stitches. And what she said about Amanda. Jubilee had known it was true but there was nothing she could do to change the past, only move forward and try to be better.

"I was being a whiny brat, wasn't I?" Jubilee said, remorse thick in her tone.

"A bit," Madelyn replied honestly. "Well, more than a bit. You've got quite the temper on you, don't you?"

Jubilee chuckled softly, trying not to jolt her shoulder, which hadn't been rewrapped as yet. "Mads, I got a lightning fast temper. Usually makes me say stuff I'd never say if I wasn't angry and then I spend the rest of the time afterwards feeling like a giant shithead. Quan, that's my cousin, he tried to teach me Tai Chi to help me control it. Guess that ain't workin' out so well."

She sighed and slowly sat up, pulling herself into a more comfortable position. "Stuff Alison said about Amanda and me, hit close to home, Mads. I never asked Amanda if she was okay with Manny and me. If I couldn't ask her, it wasn't all right. I knew that. Even if they both said they're in an open relationship. You think I could talk to Alison later? I know I can't take back what I said but maybe I can at least move forward. Try and show her I ain't a complete brat."

Madelyn raised the bed again as Jubilee started to sit up, and nodded. "If the anger's that bad - and I don't just mean the powers part, firecracker, I mean the words as well - then maybe that's something you should be getting help with. Before you do or say something you can't take back." She didn't add if you haven't already because she didn't have to. "It's up to Alison whether she'll want to talk - but I think she probably will." She looked at Jubilee, face unreadable. "What Nathan did was probably not the most ethical thing," she said. "But I'm glad he did it."

Jubilee smiled wryly. "Yeah. I'll talk to Samson tomorrow. Been meaning to go see him most of this week, anyhow. I ain't blamin' Nate for what happened in there. I asked him to teach me, right? Kinda means trustin' that he's always gonna do what's best for me, even if it's painful sometimes. If he's gotta ram that into my head a few times so I stop hurtin' people. Well, it's what I asked him to do."

She looked squarely at Madelyn then, her eyes haunted in a small way by the past. "I don't wanna be like my last foster father. He used to hurt people physically cause he couldn't face himself. I tried to hurt Alison in there cause I didn't want to face what I'd done to Amanda. I don't wanna be that person, Mads."

"Then don't be." Madelyn's tone was firm. "You're the only one who can determine who and what you are, Jubilee. Events might shape you, but they can't make you, not unless you let them." She glanced towards the iso room, hoping Nathan hadn't fled to commit ritual suicide or something. "This is where you start, all right? Start trying not to be that person, face up to what you've done. Talk to Alison, talk to Nathan, tell them what you told me."

Jubilee nodded, the light of determination sparking and catching in her eyes. She couldn't change the past; it was done.

'What is, is.' she thought, remembering Nathan's words.

But she could change the future; she could be someone to be proud of. Someone who didn't instigate and say things she didn't mean. She could break those habits now. She could. She would, starting now.

"I will, Mads. I promise." she said.

"Now, right now you're going to rest quietly for me while I check on Nathan and Alison, okay? I'll be back to finish wrapping that shoulder of yours in a bit." Madelyn's tone brooked no argument, or whining, but there was a slightly wicked glint in her eyes as she added. "Consider it thinking time."

~*~

"Well, isn't this cute?" Madelyn said with a slight snicker as she returned to find the pair of them not far short of curling up like a couple of puppies on the bed. "Jubilee is fine, and considering the error of her ways," she added briskly. "And you, Mr Dayspring, have an appointment with the penlight that masquerades as the sun. And possibly the MRI machine. I need to check you didn't cause yourself any damage with that little object lesson." Her tone softened slightly as she pulled a small bottle of painkillers out of the pocket of her labcoat.

"And I figured you'd need a couple of these."

Perched carefully on the bed next to Nathan, Alison made a mock warding gesture of horror. "Oh no! Please don't tell Moira I had him in my bed! She'll chase after me with the shot gun!" Maybe this would mean they'd be skipping the tests for tonight and Alison could just go with being knocked unconscious by Charles in not too long. It was only for a few hours, but unconsciousness would be nice just about now. Carefully, she gestured at the nearby table and mouthed, "I'll come back in tomorrow morning?" to Madelyn, with a faintly pleading expression. Right now, things hurt and she was hanging on because she had too.

Nathan pushed himself up to a sitting position, ignoring the way his head was pounding in favor of trying very hard not to jostle Alison.

"Very smart, to be afraid of Moira," he said a bit groggily to Alison. "You should have seen what she did to that stewardess." He got up, swaying a little. "Shall I just go say hello to Mr. MRI and let the two of you... do whatever it is the two of you need to do?"

Madelyn pressed the painkillers into his hand. "Two, now. Water's in the kitchenette. If I hear a crash, I'm coming after you, even if I need a forklift to pick you up." She glanced at Alison. "And I suppose you think this means no tests tonight?" There was something of a mischievous glint in her eyes as she said it that indicated that may very well be the case.

Not even trying to read lips, Alison waited until Nathan had unsteadily walked outside the iso room and stared at the screen, before stealing a look at Madelyn - the look that seemed to say 'ok, you're off the hook for tonight' was oh so very lovely. "I will just curl up here and not move and sleep like a good little girl when knocked unconscious, yes?" Puppy dog eyes were achieved, far more effectively than Alison thought possible. "I'll come down early tomorrow afternoon for the exam, instead of in the evening?" She was seeing Manuel in the afternoon, but that was all she intended to last the day out for.

Madelyn held out for a moment more, then nodded. "After all this, I don't have the heart to put you through all that, and you light levels seem to be stable. You will come see one of us if there's a problem earlier tomorrow, 'though." That was most definitely not a question - Madelyn knew Alison's schedule, and that she had another session with Manuel, and those were never easy.

"Yes." Arguing about anything Madelyn had just said never even occurred to her. "All yours tomorrow. Just want to not move tonight. Thank you." The process of lying down was a challenge, but since the best way was to just do it and wait for things to settle, that's what Alison did. "Madelyn?" Playing dead could wait a few more seconds, actually. "Owe you an apology. Called you on stuff yesterday then hauled off and took a clear shot at Jubilee today." She'd been way too cranky to be allowed near people, but still - she owed Madelyn that much. "Not regretting I did it.  Just…" Gah. She was starting to lose track of what she was trying to say already. With a wince, Alison closed her eyes for a moment, trying to sort out her thoughts.

Madelyn blinked, then chuckled a little wryly. "And here I was going to apologise to you for blindly defending Jubilee when what she needed was something of a smackdown," she said. "I'm sorry it had to be you - you're in no shape for added aggravation. But if it helps... I think you did some
good. Started her thinking, at least." Then her tone turned businesslike. "I'll give Charles a call, let him know you're up for some downtime. I'll see you when you wake up, and we can talk then." Especially once she'd read the log of the entire incident and knew what they were working with. "Plot horrible evil things in the name of education."

"S'date." Alison smiled a bit, though the strain was showing now and she knew it. "Tell Haroun m'down here, please?" She'd come down early already as it was and didn't want him ending up in her room with her not being there. She'd only be out  a few hours anyway - she could see him before he had to turn in for the evening, at least.

"All under control," Madelyn promised, seeing now was not the time for banter. "Sleep well, hon."