Log [Alison, Haroun] Waking up at last...

[x-dazzler.livejournal.com]

Alison finally wakes up, after sleeping for well over twenty-four hours straight. Haroun is there to keep her form panicking at what she remembers, and settles her down enough that she starts to make sense of things, just a little bit.



Though her slumber had been deep and steady up until a few hours ago, this was no longer the case. Alison's sleep had been tinged with red forever now, or so it seemed, and every attempt at reaching for the surface resulted in her being dragged back into the depths of her dreams again. She shifted restlessly in her sleep, small murmurs of protest eaten away by the sound baffles in the isolation room, the white noise currently being generated the only sound for Haroun to hear.

Haroun was running on very short sleep, but he didn't care. He could sleep once she came to or when his treacherous flesh betrayed him. Not before. He had to be here for her, to explain what happened, to evaluate the extent of the damage suffered.

She came to between one breath and the next, jerking up to a sitting position with her eyes wide open, reaching forward as though to try and grasp something. Shivering she looked around the isolation room, blinking rapidly, as though trying to make sense of anything and everything, one hand awkwardly reaching down to push at the covers only to stop, Alison staring at her unblemished skin even as the memory of the gem shards burrowing within surged back to life.

Haroun, a little slow on the draw given the amount of fatigue he was feeling, blinked and leaned forward to catch her if she should happen to fall. His lips moved, but the words were stolen away by the sonic baffles going at full-bore.

She jerked away at the sudden motion at the corner of her eye, red bleeding over everything for a heartbeat before fading away just as quickly. The face of a man screaming in pain melted away, leaving only Haroun staring at her in worry, hands half outstretched to help her. Reaching out once more Alison pushed away awkwardly at the bed sheets, freeing her legs, not even noticing the lack of sound with the roaring in the back of her mind, memories still cascading into each other. Steadily she was working back through what had happened, one hand rubbing at her arm hard, trying to make sure nothing was left under her skin.

Haroun's mouth moved again, but the words were stolen away. He pointed at her, then at the bed she'd just partially vacated with a stern expression. He noticed her rubbing at her arm, but he couldn't see anything wrong with her. Not visibly, anyway.

Real. He was real, she realized, even as she reached out to touch him, hesitantly at first and then more solidly, patting his chest even as she looked around the room again. Not the same room as she'd been when everything had blown up, but there was metal everywhere... and then she remembered Cain, lying on the other side of the testing room, chest gaping wide open and covered in glittering specs of gem, the details of the scene almost surreal in their vividness. She was nearly off the bed at that, mouthing Cain's name at Haroun, terrified at a thought she wasn't even able to put words to just yet.

Haroun gently but insistently pushed Alison back down onto the bed. He said something to her - something inaudible. Several inaudible somethings. He then stroked her hair gently, with a feather-light touch, before recovering her legs with the blanket on the bed.

She wasn't understanding him right, hadn't seen on his lips what she wanted to see, that Cain was fine and everything was all right and she didn't want to lie down, not when she could still practically feel shards still moving under her skin and tried to squirm free for a moment, before finally giving in with a confused whimper. A moment passed and she frowned, turning a just as confused gaze on Haroun before looking down at her arm and her hand - and hit the side of the bed. Hard.

Haroun blinked, expecting a curled-up-in-agony Alison from a strike with that amount of force. When she didn't curl up and start crying, he looked at her suspiciously, then picked up her hand to examine it more closely.

This freed her up to push at the bed sheets again with her other hand, though she didn't try to get off the bed this time, settling for curling up her legs to her side as she sat up once more. And very determinedly hit the bed again with her other hand. There was nothing under her skin but bone and muscle, and very normally functioning nerves. No shards of gem. No thing howling in perpetual rage and anger. Nothing like what Cain had been living through for decades now.

Sitting up he was prepared to allow. Motioning for her to Stay Put, he moved across the room and killed the sonic dampeners. "Now then. How do you feel?" he asked her, staying on his side of the room.

"Not hurting." Her voice was unsteady and she eyed the dampener on her wrist for all of a heartbeat before fumbling at it, pulling it off. "Not hurting, how's Cain please tell me how he is, he blew up he wasn't supposed to do that, nothing can hurt him!" She was half pleading by now, close to getting right off the bed again to go see for herself, shoulders shaking at the panic slowly winding through her at the thought that Cain might not have made it.

"Cain will recover." Haroun said. "Moira can give you more details once she frees up. For now, you need to rest. Regain your strength. And that is one nasty scar on your leg. That new, or is that from your encounter at the Mall?"

Relief made her nearly slip off the bed as the adrenaline that had been pumping through her died down to nothing in the space of a heartbeat - and Alison tracked his stare to her leg, only to end up being unable to look away, feeling sick to her stomach at the reminder. "Sabertooth." She reached for the bed sheet and pulled it over her legs slowly, breathing still unsteady, a tremor running through her. Cain would be all right. That was all that mattered and she clung to the promise of that fiercely.

"It is an impressive scar." he said with a grin. "I have an advantage - synthskin." he said with a small chuckle. "Do you think you can explain it to my very tired brain how you came out of breaking Cain all healed while he's eight different kinds of messed up?"

Not talking about the scar, which Alison considered anything but impressive, was a good thing. She brushed one hand against her arm, focusing on the question alone, holding back the tears of relief for now. Cain would be all right. Moira could tell her more later. "I..." And she remembered promising Cain not to tell about the gem, about the fact that he wasn't a mutant. She knew only too well what had happened to him now, every details burned in her mind. "I'm not sure." Nothing made sense, really. "Maybe Moira..."

Haroun nodded. "Leave it to Moira. She'll answer any questions you have." he said, only partially misunderstanding Alison. He contented himself with latching onto her hand with both of his and stroking the back of her hand with his thumb. "If I was the sort of believe in miracles, I'd think that one has happened here." he told her.

The slight stiffening in her entire body was from reflex and nothing else, fading slowly as she looked down at her hand. Her fingers closed around his hands, returning the grasp. "It doesn't hurt." The whisper was soft, almost bewildered and Alison watched their linked hands, realization finally sinking through fully now that some of the panic was receding.

Haroun grinned. "That's fantastic! Looks like some good has come from this." he said with a laugh. "Looks like your recovery time is being cut down to zero, don't you think?"

But at what price? She tried to return the smile, though it faltered despite her best attempts. "Yeah. Yeah, it has." Reaching out, she traced a line down his arm slowly, still needing to actually feel the lack of pain. No lingering stiffness from the constant tension, no ache deep inside, no flaring of hurt on her skin. And with that she found herself tugging at his hands lightly, drawing him closer.

Haroun gladly let himself be pulled forward towards Alison. "Whatever the cost, we'll pay it. Cain is alive. We'll get him the help he'll invariably need. Nathan's out cold, and Amanda's sleeping it off. The price has already been paid."

She hadn't realized she'd spoken her question out loud. Or maybe, Alison thought, slow to finish drawing him closer for a hug until she remembered she didn't need to be careful, finished the gesture almost awkwardly, she had just been that transparent. What she'd seen still lingering in her mind, but there was nothing she could do, nothing she could say about it until she could talk to Cain. "Miles?" As soon as she asked she knew he was fine, that someone had taken care of him of course. She clung to Haroun even so, careful not to dislodge the bed sheet from her legs.

Haroun hugged her back with a restrained ferocity. "Miles is fine. Been playing with Jamie and Doug for most of the time you've been out." he reassured. "Do you want me to go get you something to wear? I imagine that hospital gown's pretty awful for a fashionista like yourself."

If it was a toss up between being held like that just a bit longer and getting rid of the gown, she was going to keep both hug and gown. "Mrf." Which wasn't comprehensible maybe but the way she held on probably was. "Not yet." She took one breath, and another. Still no pain. "Before you go tell them I'm not hurting anymore though. They're going to run to so many tests on me," she murmured, sounding a bit dazed at the thought.

"Okay." he said with a grin. "And they will run test after test on you. While things seem OK now, this could be temporary, or reversible, or causing more damage that you just can't feel right now. So you'll have to bear with us while we be all thorough and stuff." he babbled. "It is good to have you back." he said with a wicked grin. "Once the Docs give you a clean bill of health, I believe that I have a whole lot of teasing that I'm going to have to get paybacks for?" he winked.

She was fine, knew that in an immutable way, but it was Haroun's light teasing that cause her to finally smile genuinely for the first time, a low and brief chuckle escaping her. "I think you're absolutely right. You do." It was scary how good it felt, to simply be held and not hurt for it. She didn't want to move at all just yet, even though she knew someone would have to be warned soon. "Ooh. I can take a shower! And... guitar. Music!" She made a strangled noise, simply because there were so many things she could do now that trying to list them all at once was somewhat problematic.

"Poor little deprived rockstar. I should expect to be a Recording Studio Widower for a while, I suppose? Maybe if I can push my way through your hordes of adoring fans I can wave hello through the window." he mused with a grin. "Seriously, though. Go get caught up for a while. The 'Bird could use some attention, she's been woefully neglected of late, and you know how women get when they feel neglected." he smirked.

"Tests first." Finding out how Cain was too, was higher up the list. Hugging Miles silly also rated at the top, at that. The whole not hurting thing was really starting to settle nicely, and having something to focus on was keeping her from falling back into the state she'd been in when waking up. She wasn't sure how long she'd been out, but she could feel exhaustion hovering at the edges, waiting to claim her again. "Women get cranky when neglected," she murmured, leaning against him that much more, closing her eyes. "Very cranky."

"Catch some bunk time. You've earned it." he said, tucking her in as best he could. "Sleep. I'll go let the docs know that you came to and that your status has changed." he promised her, and then brought up a little heat to help her get back to sleep.

She stretched out slowly under the blankets, the softness of the fabric a sharp counterpoint to how everything else had been beforehand. With a faint sound of contentment she followed the path from Haroun's hand to rest her hand flat against his forearm, relishing that sensation as well. "Tell Miles," she reminded him, with a small sigh. "An' news 'bout Cain." And with a final unintelligible murmur, she slipped under.