LOG: Cain and Amanda, Sunday morning

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"Soup's up!" Amanda called, coming into the living room of the boathouse
where Cain was installed. "Literally, in yer case - Lorna made chicken an'
vegetable, the smell's been drivin' me crazy all the way over here." Then
she paused, realised that 'hello' had been missed somewhere in there, and
also 'is it all right if I come in?' Then again, Cain was a patient,
her patient in a way, and she sort of figured she and Nathan
stuffing the Gem into his DNA probably meant they were past the whole
carefully polite thing. She hoped. "An' hi, by the way. If yer gunna throw
anythin' at me, wanna wait 'til I put this down? You shouldn't waste
Lorna's food. She takes is personally." She indicated the Cain-sized mug
she was holding in both hands - she'd figured a mug would be easier for him
to manage than a bowl, with less of the whole humiliating spoonfeeding him
thing.

Cain nodded, indicating the bedside table with a jerk of his head.
"Th'nks," he grunted. "'ppreciate it."

Ever so slowly, Cain pulled himself to a fully upright sitting
position with his arms, then gingerly reached over for the mug. His
hands shook as he picked it up, and he squinted as he concentrated.
The soup inside sloshed, and he was thankful that Amanda hadn't filled
the thing all the way to the top. Finally, he settled for placing the
mug on the table by his head and leaning over to tilt it gently and
slurp at the soup. He felt some spill into the bristly beard he'd
grown during his convalescence and swore.

"'s still... awk'ard," he mumbled. "Not too co'rd'nated."


"But better than you were before the hols," Amanda pointed out,perching on
the edge of the bed with a napkin at the ready. "All right for me t'...?"
she asked, nodding at the spill. Give the man a little dignity at least,
instead of treating him like an enormous baby. The thought brought a most
disturbing image to mind, and she thanked her lucky stars Cain wasn't a
telepath. And that she could keep a poker face.

Cain nodded, tilting his chin up. "T'ank you," he mumbled as Amanda
mopped up the soup from his jaw. "Talk'd to y'r teach'r th' oth'r
day." Cain waited for his words to sink in. "Strange. Magic
pr'fess'r?"

"Strange? I thought he was in London... Oh, right. He did the projection
thing, did he?" Cain nodded, and Amanda tilted her head, curious. "Checkin'
up on me work, was he? Hope he wasn't too much of a pain - he's all work,
that one."

"Good man." Cain intoned, nodding his head. "Cares 'bout you. Wants t'
make sure... y'r safe." Sighing, Cain leaned back, the soup forgotten.
"Told him... y' did good. He's... proud. I'm proud. Y'... saved m'
life. Didn' haf t'."

Amanda reached over and carefully took the soup from him so he didn't spill
and waste perfectly excellent Lorna food. "Yer wrong," she said softly. "I
did have to. You think I could live with meself if there was somethin' I
could do an' didn't? 'Cause of something stupid like the fact we don't get
on?" A sudden smile crossed her face, 'though. "But yer welcome. Makes
usin' all that power worth it."

Cain shook his head. "Too much risk. You..." he hacked out a cough.
"...addict'd b'fore. Could've been ag'n. F'r me?" He reached a hand
out to weakly pat Amanda's knee. "Not w'rth it."

Amanda did something Cain had never seen her do before - she blushed bright
red to the tips of her ears, looking down at the large hand that once had
been waved in a fist under her nose. "It's always worth it," she said
softly. "Every time." She raised her head, looking him in the eyes. "You
understand then? What happened before with me an' the Gem an' gettin'
hooked? I didn't mean to - there was just so much power there, an' I don't
have an off switch."

Cain nodded weakly. "Wasn' y'r fault. I... wasn' fair. Blamed you.
Treated y' pretty bad. Was... wrong." He held his breath for a moment,
then let it out in a sigh. "'m sorry."

It was her turn to reach out, patting his hand briefly. "Forgiven," she
said, hoping he understood how much it meant to her that he'd said that,
since there was no way she could put it into words. "Now, wanna give that
soup another try? Need t' build yer strength back up an' all that. The
place misses you."