Jono wakes a sleeping Paige

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The medlab was silent but for Paige’s soft, even breathing and the occasional blip from the one machine she’d allowed to stay on. She hadn’t wanted to stay here the night but getting up those stairs had proven to be a tad more difficult than she’d anticipated. Dr. McCoy had carried her back to bed with her protesting most of the way but had been kind enough to tell her they could try again in the morning. She’d curled around her pillow in her sleep, knees pulled up close and blankets tucked tightly around her.

Jono didn't flatter himself by thinking he was good at sneaking around, it was just something he did a lot. Especially in the last few days. Sometimes it was a great upside he didn't need to eat or sleep, because that made avoiding everyone an easier business. And now he knew Doug and Angelo weren't keeping watch over Paige anymore, so it was relatively safe to visit her when she was asleep.

He opened the door quietly, glad that it didn't creak, then eased himself inside and was drawn to the bed where Paige slept like a moth to the flame.

Paige shivered as the breeze from opening the door stirred her hair. Her shoulders were bare and somewhere in her sleep she was acutely aware of this fact, folding in on herself in an attempt to duck further into the warmth her blankets held. A sigh was placed into her pillow, not entirely from the slightly chill.

He hadn't even decided yet he would touch her when he already found his hand reaching toward her. He let his fingertips trace the roundness of her shoulder and the curve of her neck.

With something like a moan, though filled with air and hardly considered noise, Paige opened her eyes, blinking into the darkness. There was a shadow in front of her where the light under the door should be and fingertips at her bare skin and for some reason all she thought was, “Jono?”

Jono didn't exactly snatch his hand back, but he did withdraw it. He knew he'd been tempting fate with that one, even if he'd preferred not to talk to Paige quite yet, but he would have to eventually and now would be as good a time as any. "I woke you," he stated.

"Mm... I've slept enough in the last few days, anyway," she replied slowly, as if her voice was being dragged through syrup. She could make out the whiteness of his cheekbones now, and his eyes if she looked slightly to the side. "I don't mind..."

"I'm sorry," he said then, almost a bit helplessly. "It's not much for causing this to you, but-" he shrugged, unable or unwanting to finish.

She smiled sleepily at him, warm and slow. “I was going to say the same.” She shifted a little so she could see him more than just out of the corner of her eye, still clutching her pillow. “You’ve no reason to be, though.”

"No?" Jono made a sharp, mocking movement with his head. "You were in a coma for days. Why do you even talk to me and not tell me to leave?"

“Because it wasn’t your fault,” she answered smoothly. Paige suddenly wanted very much to hold him, make sure he was real and stroke his hair, but gripped her pillow instead. “I don’t know who has made to make you believe so, but it wasn’t.”

Jono shrugged again, clearly disbelieving, but not saying anything for a while. He circled the bed and sat tensely on the chair Angelo had left there. "There's been a lot of- most people aren't saying it's my fault." He paused for a moment. "But it is. It's my control that failed. Someone said I should be put in a box until I learned not to blow things up."

Paige went very cold and something flashed in her eyes that could be seen even in the dark. “Well, then they’d better hope they are very far away from my metal husks and I once I get out of here, shouldn’t they?” She sat up straight now that Jono had backed away, and wrapped her blanket around her shoulders. “I’m supposed to be the super-genius, Jono. I should have known better. Heck, I did know better, I just didn’t care. This is not your fault.”

Jono ducked his head, not really wanting to argue the point anymore. He'd never stop thinking it was his fault, so he supposed others shouldn't waste their breath on it anymore. "They'd probably want to put you in a box too until you learned to control that right hook of yours," he offered.

“As long as it was the same box as you,” she said with a hint of a smile, throwing her plush rabbit at him.

He caught the rabbit and examined it before setting it onto his lap. "That'd probably defeat the purpose of the whole box thing." He looked at her thoughtfully, absently rubbing the rabbit's ears. "Ms. Frost invited me to go with her to her retreat in Maine."

“Probab- oh.” Her voice caught and she cleared her throat. “A retreat? Or a “retreat”?”

"A retreat," he said. "I don't know. Something about there not being anything to harm while practicing control." He looked down at the plushie, turning it to face him.

She nodded, watching her rabbit. “Are you going to go?”

"It might do good. And I like Ms. Frost. She doesn't try to tell me that everything will be all right," he lifted his eyes to her. "I can go away if you want to sleep."

“Yes, you should probably go.” She paused at his hurt look before shaking her head. “On the retreat I mean. Not now. I’d like you to stay.”

“But Frost. She’d be good for you. I guess.”

Jono had already almost jumped up from the chair, and now he handed the plush rabbit back. "I'll go anyway. You're not well enough to stay up a night yet. I'll see you tomorrow if you want."

Paige pushed the rabbit back at him, smiling. “No, keep him. This way I know you’ll really come back.” She folded her hands into her lap, settling back into her pillows. “Thank you, Jono. Rest well.”

He might've smiled if he could've as he tucked the rabbit under his arm and got up. "Goodnight," he said and exited as quietly as he had come it.