xp_logs | This takes place sometime in the last few days

Angelo sat in his chair by Paige's bed, the way he had been since the accident. He was starting to get hungry, but was unwilling to leave the medlab in search of lunch, in case something happened while he was gone.

Kitty'd finished her own lunch quickly in order to make sandwhiches for the boys she knew were still down in the medlab. She'd left one by Doug, but he hadn't responded to what she said, and she rather suspected he'd not noticed she was there. Making her way into the lab with the other one she looked aroudn for Angelo.

Angelo raised his head when the door opened, and raised a hand in greeting when he spotted her. "Hey, Kitty. Come to visit?"

"Kind of," she replied. "Came t visit, and to feed." She raised the tray she was carrying so he could see the sandwhich.

He smiled gratefully. "Oh, you star. I was just starting to get hungry."

Kitty smiled back. "I'm not surprised. Did you even eat breakfast?"

"Er... no, actually", he admitted. "Didn't want to leave, in case something happened while I was gone. Don't want to miss it when she wakes up."

"Yeah, that's what I thought. Given that's what I was doing down here when it was Jamie..." She carefully puts the tray down on clear table next to him and sits.

"Is Doug still out there?" Angelo asked, suddenly remembering. "I don't know why he just doesn't come to sit in here. At least it's a bit warmer..."

"Yes he's still out there, and I don't know either. Right now I don't think he'd hear you if you suggested it, but you might try it later. I think he thinks of himself as a sentry."

Angelo chuckled wearily. "Well, that's no bad thing. I've tried to get him in here before, but I'll try again in a while. Maybe he'll actually listen this time."

"I hope so. The chairs in here are more comfortable."

"More comfortable than the floor, definitely", Angelo agreed. "Or has somebody given him a chair?"

Her eyes widen. "Oh, there's a chair out there. I didn't realize there hadn't been... He's got a little table, and a pile of empty Mountain Dew cans too, but the later isn't much in the way of furniture."

"I *think* he was sitting on the floor to begin with. But I didn't see when he arrived, so I could be wrong. And he's got Mountain Dew? I'll have to go steal some from him, then - I've been managing with Dr MacTaggert's coffee."

She nods. "So much Mountain Dew he's going to make himself sick. From what I remember he doesn't even _like_ the stuff. He just mainlines it to keep himself awake while he does this. But at least Jamie was only... out for day or so."

"Yeah", Angelo said, frowning. "But from what I heard, he wasn't actually physically hurt, right? It was more the strain of the dupe thing...."

She's quiet for a bit. "Kind of... it's complicated, and he doesn't like to talk about it. He wasn't physically hurt, and at the same time he died, in his own head. He feels everything his dupes feel, so he felt the wall..." She breaks off, looking down at the ground.

Angelo, realising he'd brought up an awkward subject, tried to comfort her, clumsily, putting a hand on her shoulder and squeezing it. "Hey. He'll be OK... and so will be Paige. Dr McCoy said so."

"Oh, I know he's going to be ok. I mean, he's better now that he's talking with the Professor. And Paige'll be fine, eventually. It's just the getting to the fine which is hard."

"Yeah..." he answered quietly. "I just wish she'd wake up..."

"Yeah, I know..."

They sat in silence for a moment, Angelo unsure of what to say. Finally, he turned to look at her. "Are *you* OK?" he asked. "I mean, all this stuff going on with Jamie and now Paige can't be easy for you..."

Kitty shrugged, tucking a hair behind her ear. "I'm ok," she said. "I was mostly upset that Jamie wasn't talking to me, but he got over that."

Angelo nodded, understanding. "I don't know what this is going to do to Jono", he said, almost to himself.

Kitty sighed. "I don't know either." Suddenly she frowned. "Blast Haroun!"

Angelo looked startled. "Why? What's he done? I haven't really been looking at the journals, these last few days."

"Oh, he's just being horrible. He's taken to ranting vitrolicly about Jono, and saying the worst things he could. He compared Jono's accident to John's attacking the cop cars!"

Angelo took that in, then asked, "Why would he say things like that? Everybody knows Jono has problems with his energy, right?"

"So I'd have thought," Kitty answered, sounding annoyed. "But he's blaming Jono for not being capable of controling his powers. As though Jono didn't _want_ to. Honestly, he'd probably blame Mr. Summers for not being able to control his optic blasts without his glasses."

"People are telling him he's wrong, though, right?" Angelo asked anxiously. "I hate to think what it would do to Jono to see somebody say that without being corrected."

"Yes, of course. And some of us are doing more than just saying 'you're an idiot, go away.' And if you can't figure out who did that then you've not been living here long enough." A small smile accompanied this last statement.

"Oh... might that be Sarah?" he asked, half-smiling.

"Two points to the newbie," she answered.

"How's Jono doing, anyway?" Angelo asked. "He's only been down here once. Has he shown himself around the mansion much?"

She shook her head. "No. He's pretty much hiding from the world, I think. I've not seen him anyway."

Angelo nodded grimly. That was pretty much what he'd expected to hear.

Kitty sighed, looking at her watch. "I should probably go. I've got class."

"What have I missed? Anything important?" Angelo asked lightly.

Kitty shook her head. "Nothing you won't be able to catch up on. I'm sure the teachers'll extend any deadlines, and if you've got any questions you can ask."

"OK", he answered. "Paige is going to have a fit when she realises how much class she's missed."

Kitty nodded, and gave a weak smile. "Yeah, she may actually just be caught up instead of weeks ahead of everyone."

"We're going to have to stop her from overworking herself as soon as she gets out of here", Angelo told her. "Recruit Illyana, maybe."

"Yeah. We'll make the little blonde one sit on the bigger blonde one until she admits that it's ok to not work yourself to death." Kitty paused, then said, "Um, I think Jamie or I might be bringing 'Yana down here sooner or later. She said she wanted to,but... well, it might upset her. I just thought you should know."

"Thanks for the heads-up. I'll be ready. And hey, maybe Paige will wake up before the little one comes to visit."

"I hope so," Kitty answered with a smile. Standing up she made to leave. "I'll make sure something gets brought down around dinner time too. Don't know what it'll be thought, and Lorna may preempt me."

"Thanks", Angelo said sincerely. "You two look after me and Doug so well."

"Well hey, this place is like a second family, and I've never had brothers to look after before."

He smiled again. "Glad to give you the chance."

She smiled back, then leaned over suddenly and kissed him on the cheek. "I've got to run."

"OK. See you later", he said warmly, raising a hand in a half-wave.

Waving, Kitty ducked out the door and, after pausing to see that Doug had actually started eating, albeit still in some sort of trance, she raced down the hall.