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[x-dazzler.livejournal.com]

Set Tuesday morning, around 5am. In which Alison, after having caught up with events after her stint in iso, nabs Angelo in the medlab and packs him off to bed before going to find Nathan in the greenhouse.



Angelo had followed the doctors down to medlab when they took Amanda and Manuel, and was now sitting miserably in the waiting area, trying to stay out of the way but hoping for some kind of news. He knew there were probably more productive things he could be doing... he just didn't much feel like them, at that moment.

Clad in her synthsilk suit, the dampener turned on, Alison stared down at the screen of Hank's computer. He'd given her access considering the night's events, and she'd kept updated on things that way - though being in the medlab for most of the events meant she was getting a front row seat, no less. She'd left Angelo quietly watching for the better part, but now that things were quieting down, the list of Things To Do was getting worked out. Among them, getting Angelo to lie down in the medlab and remain quiet until things were sorted out. He was probably still in the waiting room, she figured, leaving Hank's office to make her way there.

"Angelo?" her voice buzzed thinly over the dampener, barely audible - the quietness of the medlab at the moment made it come through clearly enough, though.

He looked up at her, attention distracted from the rosary tangled around his hands, then shot to his feet. "Alison. Are they... is there...?"

"They'll both be fine." Physically, anyway. "Nothing permanent was done to them physically. We're looking into the rest - we don't have much information right now." Her tone was somewhat curt, Alison clearly pre-occupied with several things at once. Including the need to hunt down Nathan fast. A fast look let her know that Angelo was unharmed and mostly just about the miserable waiting for news. "Leave a note to Madelyn on her desk, to see if she'll allow Amanda visitors. Best way to do that for now." Because of course, Angelo would want to see Amanda. "I'm going to ask you to stay away from Manuel and not speak about what's happened until we know all the details."

He didn't miss the "physically", and he'd seen the state they were both in when they came home, but he didn't push for more answers than that. It wasn't like it'd do anyone any good. "I'll do that. Don't wanna get in the way, she'll be busy, but... yeah. An' I can keep quiet, sure."

"Leave her a note. She'll get back to you on it." Alison glanced at the door, frowning a bit. She should email Scott and Ororo about nailing down Pete too, before he flew the coop. If it was even possible. The pain thrummed unpleasantly at her, reminding her of how ineffectual she was right now. Well, there were some things she could do at least. "Thank you." And then she looked at him, sharply. "You need rest. You won't do Amanda any good at all if you're exhausted."

He looked a little sheepish. "Yeah. Was kinda waitin' for news an', well... tonight was one of those nights anyway. 's why I was out of my room when they... got back."

It was mildly irksome to see people who did have the choice to sleep not doing so. Alison ignored that however, instead just giving him a pointed look. "Room. Go. Sleep. And again, thank you for the quiet." If nothing else, sleeping would keep him quiet. Hopefully. "Soon as Amanda can get visits, you'll know. I need to go find Nathan now."

He nodded. "I was gonna take either the pills or Am... the pills, if I still couldn't sleep after I'd been out for a walk, but then... well, you know. I'll go do that now."

"Good." With a short nod Alison took a stock of the Things to Do, decided to send that email off first and slowly headed out of the medlab, silently cursing the fact that she couldn't really go any faster no matter what. And adding 'calm yourself before talking to Nathan' on the list, while she was at it.

~*~

Tuesday, mid- morning. Alison and Lorna continue patching up their friendship this time through the power of discussing their respective romantic relationships.



Lorna skipped the formality of knocking and nudged open the door. With a bowl of soup balanced in each hand it wasn't like she could have knocked away. "Lunch!" she announced breezily. One of the two spoons hovering near her elbow zipped over and presented itself to Alison with a little bow. "I made soup. It's a little bland so hopefully it'll be better on your poor sensitive little tastebuds."

Looking away from the computer screen, Alison grinned in welcome. Distraction from current events was more than welcome. And she was pretty sure she'd skipped having anything to eat so far in the day. "Food?" Her voice was muffled, but she'd been learning to make herself audible despite the constraints of the sound dampeners. "For me? Joy!" It was a very clear contrast to the previous week, that reaction.

"No, ninny, I'm just telling you about it so that I can mock you when I take it away again." Lorna sank carefully to the floor, still balancing soup bowls with admirable steadiness. "That way I get to see your little face fall. It makes my day. Like kicking puppies." To say that Lorna was in a silly mood was probably something of an understatement. She held one of the bowls out to Alison, "Cucumber soup. Cold."

"Shh. You don't want to kids to know about your kicking puppies pastime. They'd be all heartbroken over how mean you are." Catching the spoon carefully, Alison grinned once more. It hurt a bit, prickles of pain wherever there was pressure, but today she didn't care. For all that bad things had happened the previous evening, damn it, good things were going on too. "You look pleased with yourself." Eyes narrowing, she focused on Lorna for a moment.

Lorna's eyes widened innocently as she plucked her own spoon from the air. "Me? I'm just here bringing soup to a sick friend. Doing good deeds, ingratiating myself to the almighty. He loves it when we are nice to the down-trodden." She spooned up a bit of the cool green soup and gestured with it. "Eat, eat!"

Alison eyed the soup for a moment - either it would taste horrible, or not. But she was willing to bet it'd be overwhelmingly cold no matter what, first. A small taste proved her right and she paused, shuddering briefly. Cold, cold, cold! Considering she was still radiating heat as well as light, she supposed it might not be helping things on that score, either.

Lorna licked her spoon clean and wished she'd thought to bring some pepper - this really was quite bland. She raised an eyebrow at Alison, "Is it that dreadful? I thought it was mostly boring." She was already adjusting her list of sick Alison friendly foods - which was much smaller than well Alison friendly foods.

"Cold. Only s'not, I know. But cold!" Waiting a moment, Alison took another careful taste, letting her own light warm the soup a bit first - at least the perpetual glow had some use. Other than the crazy tan she had a sneaking suspicion she was acquiring. After a moment, the verdict was handed down. "S'good!"

And back onto the list it went. Lorna missed the well Alison list. Being able to make anything and get approval was probably leading her to complacency though. "Oh, okay then." She ate her own soup, placidly.

It didn't take a genius really. Mostly someone who knew Lorna like the back of her own hand. "Sooo." Studiously, Alison made sure she wasn't within soup-spitting reach. Just in case. "I see Alex and you worked things out and are at the whole 'sex is safe and fun' level?" It was to the point and blunt, but then again, Lorna should be used to that by now from her, when it came to that sort of stuff.

Should have been being the key phrase. Lorna nearly spit her soup in a startled choke and ended up coughing when she swallowed hastily to avoid it. She dragged a paper towel over her mouth and quickly re-learned how to breathe. "What?"

"You have that look." Alison felt remarkably serene about all of this, to be honest. "The whole renewed 'I'm in love, we're in love, physical tangible proof of this has been tacked on to everything else, whee!' look." She smiled a bit, carefully taking another sip of soup because when Lorna brought her food, she ate it, lack of appetite notwithstanding. "Everyone gets that look after the first time." Well. Some had a lot more smugness to it too, sometimes. It had probably been a few days.

"Christ." Lorna set down her soup next to her and bent over, resting her forehead on the carpet. She stayed that way for a few moments then sat up again, giggling. "Trust you to read me like an open book. Yeah, um, sort of a birthday present." She grinned and it was just short of a very Silly Grin. "You may now proceed to make fun of me."

Grinning widely, Alison shook her head. "In a few minutes. For now I'm just going to be very happy for you instead. Both of you." There would be definite teasing about the whole birthday present angle. "And of course I can read you like an open book - though honestly, there are probably a few more people who've guessed if you've been walking around that That Look since your birthday."

"I'm going to hope that's not true since my parents have recently expressed a wish to see me home for Thanksgiving." Lorna made a face. "Mom still isn't up for cooking and we don't let Dad cook. It's not safe."

"Especially not since he might figure out his little girl is sleeping with her boyfriend right in the middle of cooking something." Alison mimed something going boom, as Lorna's parents struck her as the time who would emphatically not think of that until it got slapped in their faces in a very obvious way. "How's your mother doing?"

Lorna rolled her eyes, "We already had the 'no, I'm not having sex with him' fight when I flew out because of Mom's accident. Having the 'yes, I am but it's none of your business' fight is going to suck." Lorna sighed, "She's doing pretty good, still pretty messed up and on some pretty excellent drugs from what I gathered while on the phone."

"Too bad they're not coming here for Thanksgiving." Alison looked far too innocent. "then I could have told them or something." She paused to take another careful spoonful of soup. "Course, then we'd have to explain me blowing up, but hey, if that put things in perspective for them..."

"More likely it would remind them that Alex also blew up and all the fun that ensued from that." Lorna made a face. "Can we stop talking about this now? I've been trying not to think about it."

"Okay," Alison answered serenely. And then grinned. It was the grin that said 'ok, now I tease you to death', even though there was a hint of happiness that had nothing to do with teasing or even Lorna at all. "Alison was Happy. "So! Details, woman! What's Alex's idea of seducing you, mmm?"

Lorna narrowed her eyes, focusing past the teasing on Alison's good mood. What was going on there? "Hot chocolate and cake that actually tasted like cake. I was really impressed, actually. He completely failed Cooking, you know." She shook her head, "Sometimes I wonder how he didn't starve to death in Hawaii."

"The beach bunnies took pity on him." And Alison apparently had none. "Took him in and fed him and clothed him and hugged him and-" she stopped, smiling angelically. "Probably didn't call him George though."

Lorna threw her paper towel at Alison. "Brat. Brat Queen." She didn't sound all that upset, more smug than anything really. After all the beach bunnies were half a world away and certainly had never been in Lorna's position.

The paper towel fell short of the bed, as Lorna had meant for it too, and Alison couldn't help a wicked grin. It was always fun to tease Lorna - and Alison's mood was spectacular. Her eyes flickered to the red rose in the small vase on her desk, a brilliant red still. "That's me," she answered serenely, wishing she had enough power control to create a halo of light over her head.

Lorna noticed the quick look and grinned, "So - how are you and Haroun doing?"

"Good. Very good. Spectacular." The twinge of sadness at the weekend was buried oh so nicely over the recent glow of happiness. The sadness would fade soon, she knew - she'd just been so damn scared things were beyond repair somehow. Probably because what she'd thought was solid had been shown not to be. She hadn't spoken to Lorna about the weekend, hadn't outright told anyone really. Madelyn knew from being the one to tell her Haroun had left and Nathan knew because it had been inevitable he'd pick up on her thoughts while she'd been so very depressed... "We had an argument Friday. But we talked about things yesterday."

"Did you inform him about what this 'whatever it was' was? Because he seemed confused on that point when I talked to him." Lorna went back to eating her soup, her head tilted to the side in casual interest.

"Yeah." Her smiled dimmed, because now the weekend was more on her mind. "Yeah, made that clear yesterday. Crystal clear." But she was smiling again soon enough, sighing softly. "I never dreamt it wasn't clear to him. I mean..." Alison opened her hands a little, shaking her head. But they'd talked yesterday and she'd been very greedy of his time and he hadn't minded in the least.

"Boys are morons," Lorna pointed out with a little shrug, "Except for mine, of course. But yeah, you guys are still learning each other. It's not like he's lived with you for a year and can read you like a book. Besides you were Dense Girl for plenty long."

"I was dense girl because the flirting threw me off." Alison shrugged, a bit awkwardly, careful not to tip the soup out of the bowl. "It was just hard to believe he- well, yeah. Generally dense too, but there you go. The talking a lot is fun. We can't get distracted all that much right now, so it keeps us on track there."

"He is kind of an incorrigible flirt but it's fairly easy to tell when he's serious about it. At least I think it is. You're just dense." Lorna grinned at her. "Good to know some good is coming out of your touch-me-not status. Sometimes talking really is necessary."

"I guess I'm just really bad at figuring out if he's serious or not about flirting then," Alison said somewhat diffidently. "And dense." Tacking that on meant Lorna could keep teasing her about it, which was fine with her. "We were overdue on the talking. A lot. And it's as much my fault there... it's not like there wasn't ample information to help me figure some things out."

"But now you are going to do better and you managed to come to that decision without a crazy separation period and all his friends and family hating you." Not that Lorna was still the teensiest bit raw about her and Alex's fight. "These things happen. Better to deal and move on than dwell on it. Somehow Lorna managed to say this without the smug zen aura of a smug one breath couple.

"Well. He can't introduce me to his family since going back to Morocco would be bad." Alison shrugged a bit, knowing only too well how much it affected Haroun. She didn't point out her lack of communication with her own family - Lorna knew, and besides, that hadn't been what the comment had been about in the first place anyway. "Moving on is good. I have plans for the moving on being even better, too."

"Oh? Details, girl, give me details." Lorna set her soup aside again and bounded up onto the bed so she wasn't looking up at Alison anymore. It was giving her a crick in the neck.

"But that would be telling!" Alison grinned cheerfully, not minding the bed's motion even though she probably should have. The pain was always there anyway. "And I'm not telling you the details on The Plan." The capitals were audible. "You put my CD case in my underwear drawer and let him look."

"Well of course, I did! It's traditional!" Lorna protested. "Can't I even have a hint about the Plan? I would give you hints if it was my plan!" The completely false nature of that sentence was glossed over with a winsome smile.

"No. You'd let me dangle and beg and suffer without mercy and not tell me a single thing." Alison's smile was very toothy indeed. "And then you'd mock me non-stop. To boot. And enjoy every single second of it without feeling an ounce of pity for your poor," 'roomie, she'd nearly said, "beleaguered friend."

Lorna drew herself up with great dignity. "That is a lie! It is a false lie!" she exclaimed. Her attempt at righteous injury failed fairly quickly and she dissolved into giggles.

"You let him look in my underwear drawer. You led him there!" Alison grinned, clearly not minding in the least despite her indignant tone of voice. "You wench! At least it wasn't the fancy things drawer. That'd have killed the poor thing on sight." She smirked at that, reaching up to tuck away a strand of stray hair - she'd been letting it grow out slowly after they'd come back from Asgard.

Lorna paused in the act of fixing her ponytail and blinked for a moment before beaming brightly at Alison. "Yes! See, just the regular drawer! Could have been worse. Yup!" She nodded vigorously and wouldn't quite look her friend in the eyes.

Staring at Lorna for a moment, Alison narrowed her eyes. "Loooorna." She didn't care how much it hurt, there were things that needed accounting for. And besides, she could always make up for the fact that he'd seen those by just buying something new. And different. So there. Good lord, she was lucky Haroun hadn't died of a heart attack on the spot. "A description of the look on his face might save your hide, wench."

"Hmm," Lorna gave it some very obvious thought, "Poleaxed, is the term I believe. I wasn't there while he was actually going through it but yeah, when he staggered out? Kinda like someone had been applying a board to the back of his skull. It was cute." She grinned, "I did remove some of the more entertaining pieces. You still have a few tricks left, promise." Leaning back on her elbows, she gave Alison a considering look, "Where did you get that red one by the way? With the silver straps? And does it come in purple?"

It took a moment for Alison to answer - she was laughing quietly, feeling oh so smug and then a little more besides. "Yeah, I think it does. Or you can always have it made to order..." Taking a deep breath, Alison managed to stop giggling for a moment. "So I'm guessing a girls' shopping trip is in order at one point, mmm? Since someone has a few plans of her own."

"He started it. I'm not above giving him a little incentive. Besides, I've always wanted pretty lingerie. I've just never had a reason before." Lorna flopped off her elbows to lie completely on her back, being basically lazy when actually engaged in a particular task. Sitting up required so much effort. "Anyway, it's not like I'll ever object to a shopping trip. Maybe after the holiday." She frowned. "I wonder if Jamie can make a turkey."

"You know, Lorna... the trick to wearing lingerie is that you don't wear it for someone else. You wear it for yourself first. Then someone else gets to enjoy how good you feel about yourself while wearing it." Alison winked after imparting that particular nugget of wisdom. "We can go shopping as soon as I get cleared to go out." It wouldn't be for a while yet, but Alison wasn't about to pass up at least making a shopping date with Lorna anyway. "And I bet you if you show Jamie how properly, he'll be able to."

"Online shopping," was Lorna's immediate rejoinder. She nodded toward the computer on the desk. "The wonders of the Internet never cease. It brings the stores to you." Lorna drummed her fingers against her jaw line in lieu of chewing on her nails. "Remind me that I need to hijack him when I leave here."

"Ha. I don't buy clothes online. That's the one thing I never do. Sizes are best judged by being tried on and the colors never match properly unless I can check them out on purpose." Alison took her clothes shopping very seriously indeed. "The rest I don't mind getting online though. And I'll remind you to chase Jamie down when you leave, yes."

"You are a freak. If it doesn't fit or doesn't match just send it back." Lorna was a fiend for quality but except for food, convenience was often considered the greater virtue. "I think Jamie'll be okay. Rahne will probably help too, she's pretty good in the kitchen." Lorna sat up, "I really need to start an Advanced Cooking class."

"Yes, you do. Means that there'll be more people cooking and less of you having to do all the work there for the hungry masses." Alison winked, only too aware of how much Lorna tended to cook - more than people realized, since most tended to keep to odd schedules, which meant there wasn't that many meals spent in groups in the mansion. "And things never match most of the time even when I go out shopping myself. No buying clothes online. Nyah."

"Whatever." Lorna waved off the shopping question, already absorbed in the idea of an advanced class. "I'd need someone to take over the littles though. I really think it's just criminal that most kids can't cook anything more than ramen. And I don't want any of the potential advanced students dealing with the kids. Gah, I need someone else."

Oh, well - there was an easy problem to offer a solution to. "Do what I did for music class. Get a TA." Alison grinned disarmingly at that, before glancing down at her soup. Not being hungry meant you kept forgetting to eat what you were holding. It was still disconcerting to realize that each time.

Lorna shook her head, "I don't want a TA. I want another teacher. Just someone who can handle the kids who isn't interested in the advanced class but won't kill anyone with his cooking. And all the people I can think of I want in the advanced class anyway."

Alison tilted her head to the side slowly. "You could always ask the others on staff about it, then. Unless you have someone in mind already? Cause you said 'his cooking' and all. So." She waited a bit, looking curious.

"Nah, no one in mind unless someone is hiding cooking skills. I just object to the use of a plural possessive when a singular is needed. Although," Lorna sat up even straighter, "Nathan cooks. And pretty well too. He'd have a hard time giving himself concussions at that too." She fell back on the bed and flung her arms to the ceiling. "I'm brilliant!"

"See? You had someone in mind after all." Alison nodded wisely, although her eyes gleamed at the idea. She liked this. Liked it a lot in fact. With everything that was going on, the mundane would suit Nathan just fine. And if cooking was it... Besides, she'd be hungry again one day. One more person to cook for her was a lovely notion. "Do it. If he gives you trouble about it let me know and I'll help."

"This totally solves my problem. Oh, I'm just utterly the most brilliantest person on the planet." Lorna laughed out loud, delighted by the whole idea. She pushed herself back up. "I have to go work this out. You can stop pretending to eat now."

"I wasn't pretending," Alison protested feebly. She just kept forgetting - not at all the same thing. "It'll do Nathan a world of good. I approve immensely. You're a genius." She grinned, trying not to look sheepish while holding her still nearly full bowl of soup.

"Gimme." Lorna flipped the ends of Alison's hair, figuring she was safe enough doing that in lieu of actually swatting her friend. She held her hand out for the soup. "I can always make more if you decide you want some. Takes ten minutes."

"Yes, oh wise and almighty Kitchen Goddess. You should get metal rings to carry the plates with," Alison commented idly, grinning a bit as she handed over the food. Or maybe she'd just buy one of those metal sets for Lorna to keep in the kitchen as special lugging around for the needy plates.

"Or a metal tray to rest it all on." Lorna had thought of it but really, it wasn't all that big of a deal. Waitresses and chefs handled worse everyday all over the world. No reason for her to do it the easy way. She gathered up her bowl and the two spoons.

"Thank you." Alison didn't specify the reason for the thanks, merely smiling a bit at Lorna as she stood up, holding the bowls and spoons.

"No trouble at all, babe." She nodded her head instead of waving since her hands were full. "I'll talk to you later. Let you know how it went with Nathan."

~*~

Around noon. Jamie finally kicks himself in the butt (we do not want to know if this happened literally, thank you) and goes to see Alison. They talk about many things, including Manuel (only, not everything about Manuel), Magneto, and purple cows.



Jamie knocked on Alison's door, a tray balanced in his other hand. He was feeling oddly diffident about going to see her, but--well, now she was getting better, maybe it would be okay.

The door opened after a moment, Alison almost cautiously peeking out to see who was there - and then smiled slowly at the sight of Jamie holding the tray. "Hi!" Her voice was barely audible over the sound dampener and fell flat due to the vibranium covering the walls, floor and ceiling of the room - but she was clearly happy to see him.

"Hey." Jamie smiled tentatively. "Can I come in? I wasn't sure if you were back on solid food yet, so . . ." He proffered the tray, which held two tall glasses full of something like a lavender milkshake. "I made purple cows. Sort of like, a grape juice float, only run through a blender."

Light illuminated the drinks, Alison leaning forward to inspect them with a soft murmur that didn't make it over the sound dampener. But the second sound she made sounded suspiciously like "Moooo!"

"'I never saw a purple cow,'" Jamie recited, his smile firming up. "'I hope I never see one. But I can tell you anyhow, I'd rather see than be one.' Mom always used to make me say that before I got mine. Was a joke of ours."

A bright smile greeted that - Alison was delighted to see him, without a doubt. And she then remembered that he was standing in the doorway holding a tray. Moving back, she tilted her head for him to come in, closing the door carefully behind him.

Jamie set the tray down and offered Alison one of the glasses. "So how're you doing? Nice to, y'know, actually be able to talk to you again."

She took the glass gingerly, though thankfully the suit blocked away most of the chill - the cold still seeped through though, almost shocking until she took a careful sip, then set the glass down. Oh man. That was the mother of all moo shakes she was tasting. Not quite as bad as what had happened with the custard, though - thankfully. "It's so good to hear, even if just a bit. Timed though. Grumpy doctors say so." It was hearing, more than speaking, which she was enjoying every precious second of, as faint as it was.

"Yeah, I bet it is. I--" Jamie winced slightly, and set down his own glass. "I saw how bad it was getting, in there, and--I'm really sorry I made it worse, coming in there and dumping all my whole thing on you like that, you were falling apart at the end and I could see it, and if I'd been thinking at all I just would've--you had enough on your mind in there you didn't need to have to sit in there worrying about me, too." He looked up at her, half-afraid of what he might see. "I'm really sorry, Alison, I never wanted to hurt you like that and if there's anything I can do to make it up to you I will."

She's set the glass down which was a good thing. Whapping Jamie on the head with the grape moo thing she actually felt like drinking would have been a bit frustrating. As it was, Alison gave him a somewhat disbelieving look and settled for arching an eyebrow at him. "You're apologizing for letting me be there for you?" She'd been half insane most of that day, but at least she had one good memory of it - that of helping Jamie. "You - gah. I really what to whap you upside the head now but I can't. Jamie! I'd have felt horrible if I hadn't had the chance to be there for you. And I hope - I hope it helped? That I made a difference?" Remembering Jamie being there did not mean the details were readily at hand yet, though a few brief flashes were surfacing nicely as they spoke. "Memory's still a bit shot in places."

"Yeah, it--you did, you really did, that was when I finally decided I had to go through with it, was talking to you and seeing how far you were willing to go to fix your problem. I just . . . you were coming apart at the seams by the time we finished talking, and you didn't deserve that." He ducked his head. "It just . . . felt selfish, going in and saying, hey, I know you're busy with your personal nightmare, but here's mine too."

Alison found herself looking down as well, not sure how to explain - she'd been avoiding doing so really, unless anyone had asked outright. "I would have come apart at the seams anyway, Jamie. One way or another. I did that a lot of that while-" She shook her head slowly, offering him a small, wavering smile. "I did a lot of that during that week. At least it's not all I have to remember, you know?" Miles smiling at her through the window, a short conversation in sign language. Haroun, always there whenever she looked outside, waiting. Jamie's email, and the conversation they'd had. Mick's visit, thanks to Nathan, which she remembered barely anything about other than she knew it had happened. So many other things, too.

"Yeah, I guess." Jamie rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "So . . . me sort of avoiding coming to see you since you got out because I wasn't sure what you were gonna say about that, that was kinda dumb of me, huh?"

"Naw." She eyed the float and dared another zip, shivering a bit at how cold the drink was. And then curled up in the big chair slowly, folding down into it in a by now practiced gesture. "It was and it wasn't and hey, I can't say I haven't done silly avoidance stuff myself before. Besides. It's not like you've overused your quota of dumb, really." He was a smart, sensible kid - sometimes, that deserved to be pointed out.

"Only because they hand out quota extensions with the x-gene, I think some days. I've pulled my share of whoppers." He grinned. "But hey, we both made it out of the medlab, even if you're extra shiny and I've got a set of memories that make me cranky when I poke 'em. And Magneto's got jack-all." Some expression flickered across his eyes, too quick to catch. "I call that ahead on points."

"I can live with that," Alison said slowly, lips curving into something that was not quite a smile. "I can live with that juuust fine." Pain and all, she decided - Magneto generally being foiled was a lovely thing in general. She focused on Jamie again, smile changing to something more genuine. "How're you doing with those memories?"

"Cranky when I poke 'em, weren't you listening?" Jamie chuckled and took a sip of his Cow. "Actually . . . it's nowhere near as bad as I thought it would be. Not as bad as it was for Skippy at the time, definitely--that was his whole life, and for me . . . it's, on average, one-sixth of three months or so that happened a year ago. It's not a happy one-sixth, but I have my balance on them. I'm about done having panic attacks for this stuff." His eyes narrowed slightly. "They aren't worth feeling paralyzed over." He shook his head and took another sip. "How're you doing with the shiny? And . . . the rest of it?"

"Taking it a day at a time." More like a moment after another really, but there was no other way to do it. "Hank keeps teasing me about having the perfect tan once things start to even out and my power stops doing this." She lifted one arm, the suit's color barely visible in the radiance. "I don't really sleep so no nightmares for me yet." Miles had had a few, but she thought Jamie would likely know about those already. "And so far it looks like there won't be another try. So far."

"That's good. Don't be a dork and not sleep when you can again." Jamie laughed. "Perfect tan in November, huh? Lorna'll--" He paused. "Well, I hope she will, anyway." There was a question in there somewhere.

"She came to see me last week. A lot of the stuff people have been bringing up is made by her." Alison would recognize Lorna's cooking under any conditions. She went on, talking about that hardly a thing to fear after everything else. "We haven't talked about my helping Manuel train yet, though." Although that was now up in the air and then some, what with events at the Hellfire Club the previous night.

"Considering I'll give you dollars to donuts she hasn't even mentioned it to Doc Samson yet, that might take a while," Jamie said dryly, then added by way of explanation, "I helped her move. I wanted to e-mail you and get your half of the story, but I didn't get around to it, and then . . . stuff started happening. But I'm glad you two are talking at all."

She'd known he'd helped Lorna move - word had got around, after all. Taking a deep breath, Alison gave him a level look. "If you have any questions, you can still ask them. You know that, right?"

"Oh, yeah, I know." Jamie leaned back in his chair thoughtfully. "I know you wouldn't be doing it if you weren't sure you'd be safe, so you're taking precautions, so I don't need to ask that. I think I understand the argument for doing it at all--don't particularly agree with it, but I don't have to." He shrugged. "For the record, the situation with Manny--or, really, anybody with a power that can be used as a weapon, whether it's you, Manny, Jubilee, Mr. Summers, or whoever--reminds me of the time my cousin Nate took me to the rifle range, and I had an hour of safety training before I even got to see the gun. Manny's brain is always loaded, and I think he needs to learn to quit pointing it at people before he learns to fire it. But that's not up to me, and even if it was it's too late to have that conversation anyway." He looked up at Alison. "So I guess the only question I have left is . . . why does it have to be you? You knew Lorna would freak to the fullest extent of the word, so you must've had a good reason . . . but I can't think of anything that'd make it worth risking Lorna's friendship for his sake."

Alison sighed, although she'd been expecting that question - ever since the 'talk' with Lorna weeks ago... "He asked me. It's as simple as that, Jamie. I gave him an opening and he took me up on that and put himself on the line asking. It may sound as though he doesn't deserve to not be allowed to fall flat on his face - but if I'd slammed the door on him after giving him that opening... what kind of person would that make me? Or a teacher here, or a team leader?" She paused, blinking. "It hasn't been announced at large yet, but yeah... before the trip there was a vote for a third command team." She waggled her fingers at him, smiling a bit wryly.

"Anyway... it's - no one was there to step up to bat, Jamie. Charles," she nearly said was at that, managing to edit herself at the last moment, "is meeting with him regularly every week for one portion of the training. Ethics too, obviously. I'm not trying to change him, I'm not trying to save him, I'm not trying to do anything more than powers training. When he came to me he agreed to my requirements for the training too. It wasn't about risking Lorna's friendship. It was about doing what had to be done. Because someone had to do it."

Jamie grinned at the news. "Congratulations--couldn't've picked anyone better. I've been . . . kinda thinking about asking about training, actually. Since Asgard really, but more, after the last couple weeks." He sobered. "I guess . . . that's what I don't get, then. Why did you give him the opening? I mean, you say you're not trying to change him, fine, I wouldn't expect you to--but he does need to change, I think, anyway, and . . . it seems to me that it would make more sense to say 'okay, first you change, then, when you know how and why not to hurt people anymore, you get training.' I mean . . . he hasn't been complaining about people invading his head for a while, so I'm assuming he's got shielding down, and he isn't projecting at everybody in range all the time so he can shut that off, so . . . any training on top of that is just refinement, isn't it? I don't understand why you think it's important that he learn how to use his powers better when you don't know what he's going to use them for. I mean . . . what if he turns around and uses what he's been learning with you to hurt somebody like he did Lorna?"

Alison considered his question for a moment, weighing the need for his understanding against her promise to Manuel. "You're assuming he can learn better without fixing his interface with the world to start with - I'm not sure that's even possible, Jamie. He's not a telepath - he's an empath. For Manuel, his power tells him the truth about everything. It also makes him who is is. But the problem is, it's a crutch and a flawed one at that." She frowned, shaking her head. "He tends to think in absolutes, related to him. In terms of punishment and reward. And while his power may show him what someone is feeling, his interpretation of those feelings are based on his own, and his own perception of the world. He's worked from bad data to start with. If he can learn to use his power properly, to not make certain assumptions... it's why both are being approached in tandem, but with different people. There's a match between learning ethics and learning to use his power that has to be made somewhere, and one can't happen with out the other. Maybe." Alison shook her head, sighing heavily. "I'm still trying to figure out a lot of this - and I can't go further in depth. That'd be a breach of privacy." And it's not as though they knew where Manuel stood now. Or even what would be told to the students. Yet.

"No, yeah, of course not--that's probably more than I really needed to know already." Jamie scratched his chin. "I'm not gonna sit here and pretend I know much about how all the psi stuff works, and if you say this is the way it has to be, well, then that's what it is, even if I don't much like it. I'm not--" He broke off, smiling ruefully. "I should have said this before. I'm not gonna pick sides on this one--you don't have to worry I'm gonna get upset and not talk to you anymore if you don't convince me you're doing the right thing, I'm not gonna decide you're picking Manny over Lorna and get mad, I just . . . I guess I needed to make sure this was something you were doing eyes open."

"That means a lot to me. The no picking sides." Even though everyone was seemingly convinced she was making a mistake other than Charles and Amanda, at least some weren't taking sides. "I had a fair idea of what I was getting into, yes." And what she hadn't expected, what had been impossible to anticipate - well, that was up to her to deal with, wasn't it?

"Well, I just refuse to lose touch with either of you, is all. I hope it'll all work out like you think, I just . . ." Jamie quirked an odd smile. "Y'know what part of it is, if you'll allow me to be stereotypically teenage for a second here, is it doesn't seem fair. I do something wrong, I get raked over the coals for it--as was only right, looking back--but Manny does something wrong, he gets people bending over backward for him." He shook his head. "Not just Manny, either. Seems like once you cross a certain point of doing something bad, it stops being 'hey, cut that out or else' and starts being 'here's a second chance, go ye forth to do good works hereafter.' I don't much understand that either." He snorted. "And here I go doing it again! Laying all this stuff on you out of the blue. How do you feel about this? And can I do anything to help?"

"Jamie? You learn from your mistakes. That's the difference..." Alison smiled wanly in return, feeling that needed to be clarified. "Others just bury themselves in them. I can't explain it all," and she didn't even want to think about trying just at that moment, "because I don't understand it all myself. But I know I can have faith in you. I'm just doing what I can and what I feel needs to be done right now. Don't even know that it'll mean anything or make a difference in the long run and maybe I'll have done it all for nothing, but I couldn't not."

She took a deep breath at his last few questions, remembering the previous' week lesson only too well. "I'm just doing it. Being methodical, concentrating on the training. It seems to be working, to some extent - at least I'm not getting anything from this of what seemed to be happening with Nathan." Of course, that probably had a lot to do with the fact that Nathan's phobias were throwing everything out of whack... "I don't break myself worrying about it otherwise, honestly. It's just doing what needs to be done." And she was repeating herself again, a habit she was starting to associate with the constant pain being less than optimal for a perfect line of thought when a conversation stretched on. It was getting very hard not to use past tense too, though she reminded herself that Manuel would likely still need training. At one point.

"I didn't just mean the training," Jamie said quietly. "The fight with Lorna. All the--you're still hurting, I can tell, even if they let you out of the medlab. Just in general. How do you feel, and what can I do to help?" His Askani was still nowhere near conversational on his best days, and he doubted he'd ever be up to dropping it into conversation as casually as the people who'd gotten it straight into their heads could, but he tried. "~Family means not standing alone.~"

She was doing the wobbly thing again, eyes tearing up at the words. People kept springing things on her that had that effect of late, it seemed. "I don't know. Everyone helps but all it comes down to is time. Things are supposed to get better slowly and there's nothing I can do but wait." Alison smiled unsteadily. "You help a lot already, you know. Miles keeps me updated."

"Eh. Just doing the best I can. Wish it could be more. I'm declaring us off the synchronized-trauma schedule, by the way. I'm going to put together a rotation and we're sticking to it."

Involuntary laughter greeted that statement, quickly stifled. "Should start up a scheduling book while you're at it. Bad guys should drop by only by appointment."

"That's right." Jamie grinned. "'I'm sorry, Mr. Lehnscherr, but this is recycling day, you'll have to call back later. Terrorism is Thursday and Friday mornings between nine and eleven, by prior arrangement only. Please leave your card and we'll contact you.'"

Smiling in amusement at that, Alison wrinkled her nose at Jamie, shaking her head. "I vote we use the card as source material for a voodoo doll or something." She wasn't entirely joking at that - talking about Magneto however, left her feeling restless.

"Well, by 'contact' I meant 'arrest, imprison, try, convict, and execute,' but a butler would circumlocute. Why don't we have a butler? We've almost got a Batcave, so we need an Alfred." Jamie shook his head. "Y'know, I really was an idiot thinking things might be weird with you. Want me to detail Miles for that head-thwapping since you're on medical restriction?"

"Oooh. Now I have this mental image of Cain in a butler's suit, folding up the nasties and stuffing them in a box before mailing them off who knows where every time someone tries to barge in, while the rest of us go on without a clue." It was a pleasant mental image, actually. "Hrm." Alison pondered the question seriously. "I think I may take you up on that. That or a raincheck!"

"Miles," Jamie said firmly. "The raincheck is on that hug."

Laughing quietly, Alison nodded in assent. There was an awful lot of people on the hug list, which kept growing every day anyway. Maybe she'd just go around and hug everyone the day she was cleared totally from the medlab. Just maybe.

"That's a deal, then." Jamie grinned. "I'm actually supposed to go see Miles in a little bit--figured out a new trick in Unreal Tournament, and I'm gonna teach it to him so we can gang up on Doug later. I could pass the message on, unless you'd like to do it yourself."

"That's okay, I'll let you do that." She knew Jamie would probably explain why to Miles far better than she could just now. "Oh! By the way, Lorna was looking for you earlier. She has to leave tomorrow for her parents' place and was saying something about making sure you could deal with the turkey."

"Turkeys, going by last year. Doc McCoy practically eats a whole bird all by himself." Jamie sat back, looking slightly stunned. "She wants me in charge of Thanksgiving dinner? Whoa."

"Looks like it." It was too bad she couldn't eat solids yet. "You know, we can probably get some of those extra huge turkeys. Mutant turkey from Mars?" She winked innocently. "We might need a bigger oven though."

"Kitty's exhaustive physics tutoring compels me to point out that any turkey mutated enough to survive on Mars would probably not actually be edible by humans," Jamie replied wryly. "And I'm pretty sure we could get a whole pig into the big oven. But yeah, if I really am supposed to be in charge of this thing I am definitely going to be trying to find the biggest turkeys I possibly can.

"Betcha some would give it a try anyway," Alison quipped, having long forgotten about the Cows Jamie had brought along. "Besides, you don't want to put something too big in the oven. I think I've heard Lorna grumble about how it messes up the actual cooking times or something. Many medium sized turkeys maybe?" She paused, and grinned. "You know, I'll let you and Lorna sort it out... you can probably find her ambushing Nathan right about now."

"Ooh. That I have to see." Jamie got up to leave, then nodded at Alison's abandoned glass. "Those go kinda funny-tasting if you let them melt too much." He grinned. "Don't make me drag out the starving African children argument, now."

Alison blinked, then meekly picked up her glass to take another sip. It was still colder than it ought to be. And very very grapelike. "Miles just Looks at me whenever he brings up something for me," she said, just a touch sheepishly.

"Well, Miles can, he's got the industrial-strength Look. I, not being that intensely cute, have to employ other means. Like guilt." Jamie gave Alison his best puppy-dog eyes. "I mean, after I went and mixed the grape juice, and got out the milk and the ice cream and put it all in the blender and everything, just for you, you wouldn't waste it, would you?"

"I'm drinking!" The protest was feebly at best, Alison lifting her hands in a pretense at fending off the dreaded puppy-dog eyes. "Ooh. That's what I keep tasting in there. The ice cream." Well, of course there was ice cream in it if it was a float. Grinning sheepishly she took another sip, shivering just a bit. It was still way too cold.

"That would be it, yeah. Just vanilla, because I haven't found any other flavor that combines all that well with grape juice." He wagged a finger at her in mock reproof. "And I'm going to be checking up on you, young lady, so don't think you can get away with putting it down again once I leave." Grinning, he added "Just as long as you don't drink it too fast and freeze your brain, like I always do."

"Gah. I'll be careful." Making a mental note to take it slow, since everything was colder than it should be, Alison nodded slowly. It was nice to see Jamie this cheerful, considering the state he'd been in the last time she'd seen him. "I'm glad you're doing okay."

"Me too," Jamie replied, heartfelt. "And I'm glad you're doing okay. We're gonna seriously have to look into making this an extended period of okay, because these last couple months sucked monkey butt." He swung the door open. "I'd better jump if I'm gonna catch Lorna and find out if she really is crazy enough to stick me with cooking for this horde while she goes off and has nookie with Alex in beautiful sun-drenched California. Talk to you later, though."

"Talk to you later," she repeated with a smile, slumping back slowly in the chair as he closed the door behind him. Seeing several people a day like that was tiring. Very tiring. Adding to that everything that had been going on, including having to go all the way up to the greenhouse, and Alison was beyond tired and all the way to feeling drained. But, and she perked up more than a little bit at the thought, Haroun would be wandering by at one point and he made for a very nice pillow for one thing. She could rest then. And they could talk more. And maybe she'd wait a bit before poking him in the nose to see if it really was broken.

And that, Alison decided, was just as it should be.