xp_logs | Jono tries to visit Paige, but is stopped short by Doug the Doorkeeper

Sometime well into the night, Jono put down his guitar he hadn't been playing anyway and decided he had to go see Paige. He slipped along corridors, relieved to not see anyone else about. He couldn't have faced them, knowing they'd look at him with disgust for harming one of their own. He rounded the last corner and stopped, spying the form of someone sitting by the door.

Doug sat in the same chair that he'd been in while sitting vigil for Jamie, grimacing as he took a slug out of a can of lukewarm Mountain Dew. Staring off into the distance, his mind whirled with scary possibilities of Paige not waking up, Paige being paralyzed...

For a moment Jono entertained the notion of turning back, then he ground his metaphorical teeth together and walked on. "Is she in there?" he nodded towards the door.

Doug's eyes narrowed, and he snapped unthinkingly. "And you care because?"

Jono tensed automatically in response to the tone. "And your opinion matters because?"

Doug clenched a fist unconsciously, trying to be polite and failing miserably. "Because she's my friend, you jackass. Because you make her want to cry sometimes. And I have to sit there and watch her hurt while I can't do anything about it."

"I told her she would get hurt," Jono lashed out, his words smarting in Doug's mind. He had been repeating those words to himself for a while now, not even knowing what he was trying to prove with them. "Because that's what I do, I hurt people and she doesn't listen."

Doug slammed a fist against his thigh in frustration and growled the words he had been trying not to admit to himself. "She doesn't listen because she loves you. Hell if I can understand why, but she does. And when you love someone, you don't usually do the logical thing."

Jono took a startled step backwards. "She.. she doesn't," was his choked reply. "She shouldn't." Then his eyes narrowed. "How would you even know?"

Doug smiled a smile full of mocking and self-loathing. "It's my gift. I can understand languages. Any language. Including body language. She won't say it, but to me, she might as well be screaming it at the top of her lungs."

"Oh," something seemed to crumble in Jono and his shoulders sagged. "Do you think I could go see her now or do you want to call me some more names?"

That same something crumbled inside of Doug and he covered his face with a hand. "God. I'm sorry. I don't know what I..."

Jono nodded reluctantly. "I'm.. glad you care." He lifted his hand to the doorknob. "Sleeping wouldn't hurt either."

Doug grimaced and took another swig of his Mountain Dew. "I'll sleep when my friends stop lying comatose in the medlab." His face softening, he tried to extend an olive branch. "You're not the horrible person you think you are. She certainly doesn't think so."

"I'll let her make that decision again when she wakes up," Jono says, resigned, and opens the door. "She has good friends," he adds, deciding the olive branch is worth accepting.

Doug sighs, lost in his thoughts again. "I try, at least. Seems like I can't do anything for anyone, though." He waves a hand. "Go. She'll want to see you, if she's up. And even if she isn't, she'd want you there."

Jono nods and slips inside.

And once again, Doug stared off into nowhere, alone with his worries.