xp_logs | Haroun and Madelyn

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Haroun's sparring with Madelyn when she discovers exactly what it is that he's been trying to hide. Things do not go well. Set for Wednesday evening (2/2/2005)

Haroun looked at Madelyn and frowned. Given the rules of engagement, he couldn't just bull rush her or kick her into a broken jagged pile of bones, so he needed to use his speed and quickness to score touches against her. And given how much his back was screaming at him, maybe sparring Scott and Maddy both in the same day was not among his greatest Ideas Ever. But he would be doing her a disservice to be tapping out on her now, and then he'd have to answer a whole lot of questions he didn't want to answer. So he kept his guard up and kept things very, very simple - no jumps, not a lot of twisting, just nice linear techniques.

Madelyn noticed the change in his style - usually Haroun liked to practically taunt her with the fact he easily jump-kick over her head and used it as a distracting move - but took it on board. Adapt or die; maybe this was something new he was trying out. She feinted at his face with a short jab, which he blocked, then followed up with a low-low-high combination that probably wouldn't get through but which would keep his attention while she went for a sweep at his feet on the last punch.

Madelyn was getting crafty on him - she was trying to set him up for something. He sidestepped and fired off a ridge hand – perfectly controlled, but with enough English on it that if he had wanted to he could have taken her head clean off with it. He followed it up with a quick low-mid-high flurry of roundhouse kicks with his inside leg, make her work for her desires to close the distance and neutralize his greatest asset - his legs. The moment he fired off the high kick he knew it was a bad idea - his back screamed bloody murder at the twisting and the motions required to do the kick correctly.

She deflected and trapped the ridge hand neatly - breaking blocks on Haroun weren't worth the bruises they entailed - and dodged forward and to his offside to avoid the kicks and pull him off balance. Mainly because if one landed, even with Haroun pulling them, she'd know about it and then some. "Getting slow, buddy," she told him playfully. Because she was already moving , she didn't notice his wince - continuing forward so she was behind him now, she let fly with a couple of kidney punches that connected, although only at half-power. No point in making work for herself, and Haroun's back was always a weak point.

Haroun knew he was in trouble when she stepped to his blind side. This was confirmed in a blazing orgy of pain when she tapped him on the kidneys, right over his twisted back muscles. She didn't go all-out, which was just about the only thing keeping him on his feet right then. He did stumble forward, though, and very nearly lose his balance altogether - it took two steps for him to catch himself and get his feet underneath him. He then fired off a combination of blows at her head and solar plexus - nothing too fancy, and nothing that would strain his back beyond the point where it already was.

What the hell? She'd only just tapped him - there was no way she'd hit him hard enough to make him stumble... Dancing back away from the punches, she made the time-out gesture with her hands. "Whoa, partner, hold it there," she said, not approaching until he saw him drop his fighting stance. "What the hell was that?" Looking at his face, she could see the pain being barely held in-check, the extra sweat rolling down his face and the clench of his jaw and tension in his neck and shoulder muscles. "Is your back giving you trouble?" she asked, going for the Most Likely Suspect.

Haroun grinned and shrugged. "Don't be absurd." he said, hoping that she'd buy this explanation and leave him _alone_. "You're my second sparring partner tonight. Scott tagged me there earlier."

After a moment's reflection, this was not perhaps the wisest tactic he could have taken. "I'm fine." he said in as reassuring a manner as he possibly could.

"Bullshit," Madelyn told him bluntly. Without warning, she stepped up to him, taking advantage of the momentary drop in his guard, and poked him firmly in the back, right in the spot he'd strained last time, helping support the Blackbird.

Haroun very nearly collapsed again, only a firm instruction to the cybernetics kept him on his feet. "OW!" he said, swatting with far more force than he intended at Maddy and her Pokey Finger of Pain. "Knock it off! That hurts!" He then skipped backwards out of her immediate reach, and instantly regretted it as his back screamed signals of pain over his meat and to his brain.

The swat took her on the shoulder, knocking her off balance it bit, but she didn't retaliate. "This session's over," she told him crisply, coming forward again to take his arm, whether he was going to let her or not. "And probably a good few more. C'mon, you're coming down to the lab - I want to run an ultrasound on your back, see how much damage you've done." Her tone brooked no argument.

Haroun stayed put. "No." he said, voice dangerously calm. "I told you, I'm fine. A little rest, a little Tiger Balm, and I'll be as good as I ever get by morning." He let her grab his arm, but he rooted himself in place to make it difficult and embarrassing for her to try to drag him along.

"You're fine, are you?" Madelyn's eyes had narrowed. "All right then, touch your toes for me. If you can do that without any trouble, nice and smooth, then I'll quit bugging you." For that moment, any way. She'd just schedule him in for his physical tonight - he'd managed to be 'too busy' for it all last week and she'd let it go because of Carlie's visit. And if he didn't budge she'd just poke him in the back again, regardless of how many swats he dealt her.

Haroun sighed, and used his superior tolerance for pain to bend down and touch his palms flat against the ground - no matter how badly his back was screaming at him. The effort cost him, though, and when he straightened up (awkwardly, at that) he was ashen in complexion. "Can't afford to take any downtime right now. Black is on primary, and
Dazzler has me scheduled for some intensive integration exercises" he explained. "Don't suppose you could just give me something for the pain, could you?"

"So now you're admitting there's actually a problem?" Madelyn said acidly, but concerned by the change in his complexion - he had to be in serious amounts of pain here. "And I know you're on primary, but if you screw with your back, you could end up a lot worse than on sick leave for a few weeks - you could cause permanent damage that would keep you off a team for good. And possibly send you back to a wheelchair, if you fuck up the connection with the 'ware." Her grip on his arm softened a tad. "Come down to med lab, let me have a good look, and we'll see what we can manage without putting
you off active duty. But you'll have to be straight with me about exactly how much pain there is and how long you've been having it."

Haroun sighed. "I have to stay on-duty. That's non-negotiable" he said, and then followed her out of the Gym and down to Medical. On the way there, he explained. "Been happening off-and-on since we had the incident with the Blackbird. Just twinges, mostly, cured with some Tiger Balm and a good night's sleep. But now it's getting worse" he confessed. "Pain is going in deeper, staying longer. I just need to hold on for another week or so, until Alison's back into her command slot. Then I can down check myself and take some time to heal."

Madelyn resisted the urge to thwap him. "And why exactly didn't you mention it to one of us earlier? Because if you had, we might have been able to treat it then, and you wouldn't be in the state you are in now." It really was frustrating, this sort of thing. People didn't seem to realize that pain was an indication something was wrong and possibly might need fixing... "And you've been running yourself even harder into the ground lately, which probably didn't help."

Haroun sighed. He knew she wouldn't understand. "In case you haven't noticed, we've been a little busy of late in the X-world. With getting the Jet upgraded and being made Alison's Exec and command integration and bringing the trainees along, I've been too _busy_ to check myself in for some downtime." he offered by way of an explanation. "I could be called on at a moment's notice." he said after a few moments. "To fight, maybe to die. I can't afford to be sitting on the sidelines crying about a little bit of pain when the others are off risking their lives."

That stung. "Oh, of course, we're too busy sitting on our asses down in med lab to pay attention to anything else that happens in this place," she practically snapped as they reached the med lab and she directed him to one of the exam rooms. "Maybe I'm not being called on to fight and maybe die, but it doesn't mean I don't pay attention to what's going on. Because every time you guys go out, we're the ones back here wondering if today's going to be the day that we lose one of you, and doing the prep to try and avoid that." She pointed to the table. "Shirt off and get your plastic ass up there." As he reluctantly complied, she went on. "You think I don't know what it's like to be called on a minutes' notice? Guess how much warning we got of Alison's injuries? Ten minutes. Doug I didn't even get that - he was shot in front of me, and I had to react then and there. Halloween was a little better - we got all of fifteen minutes' warning before actual casualties started coming in. We might not be fighting, but that doesn't mean we don't know what living on that edge is like, because we're living on it with you, every fucking day. And we know the value of downtime when we can get it - you take care of yourself when you're not running crazy, because who knows when the next crisis is going to be? Why else do you think I'm getting back into the exercise and healthy eating again? Because I ran myself into the ground last fall and I can't afford to not be at the top of my game. The same as you can't be. So don't give me this bullshit about being too busy to get a back strain looked at - it was you being a stoic stubborn moron and you know it."

Haroun shrugged, and then winced as his back muscles pulled with the gesture. "All right, so it's not all been fluffy puppies and rainbows down here either. Doesn't invalidate my point. Last fall, could you have looked Moira in the eye and said "Sorry, Doc, but I need to take some time off because my back hurts. You'll have to deal with everything on your own."? Yeah, I didn't think so either." he said nastily. "I just need another week - then I'll check myself in, take myself off the training roster, and get healed up properly."

"It's not the same thing and you know it," Madelyn pointed out, not exactly being gentle with her examination. The muscles of his lower back were a mess of tension, compensating for the injured part. "Why do you think it's taken so long for Alison to be put back onto active status? Because we - and she - wanted to make sure she was in top shape for the job. And as soon as we got the breathing space and Hank came back, I did take that downtime, because I knew if I didn't, I wouldn't make it to Christmas. None of us is so indispensable we can't be covered for when we're injured. You could have had a week, easily, with the rest of the team taking on your duties, the same as Moira and Hank pointing out they're quite capable of managing the place without me. No matter how much that hurts my pride," she added, knowing it was probably a point with him, too.

"You're not a second-in-command." he pointed out uncharitably. She may not have been gentle, but he never said a word about it. "All we need is another week to get fully integrated. Then Gold takes the ball and I can catch some no-training healing time. I'll have two weeks to rest up and heal. Think that'll be enough?" he asked her.

"You do realize you're insulting the person who could very easily get you taken off active status with one email to the right people, yes?" she pointed out, grabbing one of the hot-and-cold packs from a drawer and tossing it into the microwave to heat. "And I'm not the doofus who exacerbated a pre-existing injury by over-training on it. Be nice." When the pack was ready she came back. "Lie down on your front and I'll put this on it for a while, then use the ultrasound to reduce some of the swelling. I won't be advising you get taken off active duty, but I am telling you to cut back training to as little as possible, and nothing overly strenuous. And I'll be telling Alison that as well."

"Truth hurts." he muttered, but he did as instructed. The heat pack went on with a hiss from him, and an attempt to stretch to relieve some of the twisted-rope back pain. "Just have to get through the next week. Then I will be good and march my plastic butt down here and let you people give me a thorough going-over. Nathan seems to think
there's something wrong with my testosterone implant."

"The team isn't the only way of achieving something, Haroun," she told him quietly, voice flat. "I'll get you through the week, but you're going to have to co-operate. And that includes being straight with me. Or so help me, I'll turn you over to Hank right now and he and Forge can pull you apart like that damn robo-squid to find out exactly how you work. What's this about the implant?"

"Hell if I know. I had a really bad day, a few days ago. Nate was trying to help me. He said something about hormone baths and it affecting my thinking. I told him that he wasn't telling me anything I didn't already know, and then I may have asked him where he got his degree in cybernetics from." he said. "And the team is the way for _me_ to achieve something. Not all of us have our MD and secret police training." he pointed out. "I hurt people. It's what I am good at."

She didn't say it, but the thought occurred that he didn't always need to use his fists to hurt people quite satisfactorily. It was pushed away as her being too sensitive to a patient's bad temper. "You're up to nearly twice a week on the filtering, aren't you?" she asked, knowing full well he was since that was one of her duties still. Perhaps time to hand things back over to Hank, given he had the mechanical training and the brain a
size of the planet. "And the team being that important to you is all the more reason not to screw around with your health. Just don't rub my nose in it that I'm not team and never will be, and try and tell me I don't understand, all right? I'm not stupid and I'm not useless." She turned the heat pack over, moving it slightly higher. "I'll go get the ultrasound equipment. Don't. Move."

"I'm not going anywhere." What _WAS_ it about medicos and their perpetual need to be all pissy? Maybe this was just a Female Thing. "Three times on really good weeks." he called out to her as she went off to go get the machine. "And I didn't say you were stupid. When did I say that? If anything, I'm the dumb one here. I have to go hit things to be useful. You? You get to think through the bad guys, or put us dumb grunts back together when we get shot full of holes."

"Yeah, well, the implication that I wasn't paying attention to the team stuff sort of covered the stupid part," she grumbled, coming back, wheeling the ultrasound machine in with her. "Especially after I chewed out Alison the other week for not keeping me in the loop and making this job that much harder. Sore point." Plugging everything in, she let the machine warm up while she checked his back again - the heat back had reduced some of the tension, but not all. "And three times a week is getting scary, Haroun. I'm holding you to that complete workup with Hank once you're off active status." There was a ping as the machine went on-line, and she removed the heat pack so she could apply the gel required. "And hitting things isn't all you're good for - look at the work you do with the 'Bird. Even Scott's impressed, and you know how protective he is about his babies."

"Well, I'm not _completely_ dim." he said with a laugh. "I only get really stupid when Ali's around." he confessed. "I'm going to chew through more testosterone than any four men should by the time she's done with me. Not to mention the little games she likes to play" he grumbled. "The woman is going to drive me _insane_."

"She mentioned you guys were having more than the usual trouble finding private time," Madelyn replied, being nice and warming the gel in her hand before smearing it over his back. Not much she could do about the metal wand of the machine, though. "This is going to be cold, by the way," she warned, before starting to run the device over his back. The ultrasonic waves would stimulate blood flow and the nerve endings. "We talked about the hotel fire - it seems you're both getting pretty frustrated, but she doesn't seem the type to play games to me. I'd say she wants this as badly as you do."

"I'd like to think so." he grumbled. The cold felt _good_ - Haroun usually ran warm internally, so the coolness felt delicious to him. "But she loves to play the hot-and-cold game. One minute she's all hot and bothered and ready to go. The next she's all falling-asleep girl or no-I-don't-want-to." He then sighed deeply. "I have no idea what the hell she wants from me."

"Haroun, think about it. She's recovering from a fairly major injury. She's just been made a team leader, and has been working as hard as we'll allow to get back up to scratch. She's been teaching several classes. And she's raising a small child. I think she's going to be too tired for anything sometimes, and it's not anything to do with how she feels about you."
Madelyn couldn't help the snort. "And from what she told me the other day, she does want you. It's just a matter of timing - maybe when you're both off active duty and you're doing that downtime thing you've promised to do, you'll be able to work things out."

Haroun scowled as he pondered that thought. "That makes sense. Doesn't make things any easier, though. I jump when she crooks a finger, that's for damned sure." he said as he tried to keep as still as possible to let the machine do its thing.

"Maybe you should stop doing that," Madelyn suggested, running the wand over the tense muscles in Haroun's lower back. "Not that I'm saying be an asshole, but perhaps if you stopped pandering to her every whim, she might realize she needs to do some of the running." Not that she doubted Alison was, or at least, wanted to, but she knew Alison tended to be on the cautious side of things. "And talking is always good for telling people things you want them to know."

Haroun sighed again. "I've tried talking to her. It's not easy, you know." he said, peevishness leaking into his voice. "But you might have a point - I just don't want to lose her by backing off." He mused. "Because I definitely don't want that to happen - it's not like I'm swimming in opportunities, all things considered."

"You're doing her a disservice if you think that little of how she feels about you," Madelyn told him patiently, like she would to one of her students. Sometimes Haroun was such a teenage boy about things. "Remember I saw how upset she was when you took off for London. Now she's publicly called you her boyfriend, I don't think she's going to back off that easily. That wasn't a small thing she did, claiming you like that."

Haroun hrmmed. "You're probably right. It's just hard, when it's hot-and-cold all the damned time, and every time we do manage to swing some Us Time some damned thing happens. I swear, Allah hates the very idea." he grumbled half-seriously. "And OW! Watch it with the damned wand already!"

"Quit being a baby," Madelyn told him, making one more pass, before putting the wand away. "And you've got yourself to blame - if you'd seen me earlier, you wouldn't be in this state. Now, you're going to head back to your room and spend the rest of the evening resting. With your new best friend Mr. Heat Pack - ten minutes on, half an hour off, I don't want you cooking your kidneys." Her tone brooked no argument. "Then some light
stretching in the morning. I catch you doing another sparring session that isn't supervised and official Danger Room type stuff, and all bets are off with this week you want."

"Yes, Mother." he grumbled, but with a grin on his face. "I hear and obey. Tiger Balm, here I come!" he said, getting up off the bed and putting his shirt back on - maybe even making a small production out of it. "Thanks." he told Madelyn, before walking slowly out of Med lab.