xp_logs | log: Dani & Dr. McCoy

This is set last night before my Dad's computer went wonky. Dani goes to visit Dr. McCoy with food and is very, very glad to see him well again.

Dani knocked on the door to Dr. McCoy's office, nudging it open with one
hip. Presumptuous to just enter like that she knew, but Dr. McCoy frequently
forgot to eat and her hands were full with his dinner tray. Venison stew
tonight.

Hank looked up from the stacks of work that had accumulated while he
couldn't do it... assignments to be marked, scientific articles to be read,
work on Jono's problem to do, the results of experiments to be analyzed...
and smiled as he saw a large tray with Dani behind it. "Food!" he said
cheerfully. "I am a big fan of food. Realigning the old DNA apparently uses
an enormous amount of energy."

"Uh, yeah," Dani agreed smiling, not pretending to understand. Carefully she
waited until he had cleared a space on his desk for the tray before setting
it down, "But you're always hungry anyways. Like me, so there would be
someone to eat it." She took the apple off the tray and munched on it.

"I am indeed always hungry." He took the bowl of stew, digging in happily.
"Mmm. Very good, too." He eyed her increasing bulge, smiling. "How's the
little fellow.... or little lady... doing, these days? I enjoyed feeling him
or her kick, before I got really bad - I remember everything, although it's
all a little fuzzy."

"You do?" Dani winced internally, she had hoped he wouldn't remember most of
everything, at least once it had become really bad. "We're fine. I've
decided I'm tired of saying 'it' all the time. Been looking at baby names."

Hank grinned. "You know, Henry is a fine name for a boy," he said seriously.
"A strong, intelligent sounding name." He ate a little more stew. Mmmm.
Meat. "Even if Forge has taken an entirely unreasonable dislike to it."

Laughing, Dani shook her head, "I'll keep it in mind," she told him
seriously, "But I'm not sure the school could handle two of you! I don't
know, you remember what I said about Shel? Ms. Dane had me talk to a
different lawyer about it. She said she was adopted too," Normally Dani
would not have broken a confidence, even a perceived one, but Dr. McCoy was
not only a teacher, but a doctor. He would not say anything.

Hank nodded. "There's nothing wrong with being adopted. My parents were
considering adoption, before they finally succeeded in having me, and I
think they would have made fine parents." He reached out to pat her hand
gently. "You know we'll all support you, no matter what you decide," he said
gently. "Right?"

Dani looked down at her hands, "Yeah," she replied softly, knowing they
would. For once her powers came in handy, "I just don't know. The more I
look up what it takes to raise a kid and everything...it's a lot," she
looked up, helpless, "It ain't an easy choice."

"No. It isn't." He patted her hand gently. "But it's not a choice we'll let
anyone force you to make," he promised. "If you decide you're not ready to
be a mother, then adoption is certainly a viable option... but if you do
decide you want to keep the baby, we'll support you in that."

Sometimes being an empath wasn't so bad, she relaxed again feeling his
sincerity. Taking another bite of her apple, she asked, "Sesame street
bubble bath?" changing the topic.

He laughed. "Miles picked it out. And the blue-tinted bubbles do go so well
with my fur. I've always had a weakness for bubble bath when I need a soak."
He grinned. "Although next time, I don't think I'll be getting the
bubblegum-scented kind. I get funny looks when I walk around smelling like
that."

"The student rooms don't have bathtubs, I hope you don't mind," Dani said
suddenly nervous, "I ah, I cracked the door, but I guess you know that,
um...nevermind."

"It's fine." Hank patted her shoulder gently. "You can use it again, if you
like, as long as you let me know in advance... the strain on your back is
only going to get worse, and a warm soak when you need it will do you a
world of good."

"I'm fine," Dani insisted, refusing to allow herself to be mothered by
someone...again, it was an all too common occurance for her liking
sometimes. She fussed around his desk, cleaning up his dinner, "You got any
more typing for me?"

Hank shook his head. She was so stubbornly independent. Like far too many
people around here. "Not at the moment," he said, letting her change the
subject for now... but determined to bring up the bath thing again later.
"Give me a couple of days to produce more notes, and then we'll be in
business once more. And did I remember to pay you for the last batch?"

"I think so," she said completely unconvincingly, "I can check."

"Given that I couldn't conduct a simple diagnosis without screwing it up at
the time, I doubt it." Hank smiled. "Let me know how many hours I owe you
for tomorrow, okay?"

"Yeah," Dani finished gathering up the tray before picking it up to leave,
"I'm glad you're better."

"So am I." He smiled at her. "And thank you for dinner. I appreciated it."