xp_logs | Hank, Maddie, Sunday evening

Hank and Madelyn do some low-key sparring in the gym, mindful of Maddie's bad shoulder. Afterwards, they talk, and he tells her about his planned adoption of Dani's baby...

And then he drops a bigger bombshell. Yes, that one.

Hank tapped Madelyn gently on the good shoulder with his closed fist, then stepped back as she swung at him. "And that, I think, will do for today," he said, a little regretfully. It had been fun... but she was slowing down a little, despite her effort not to, and he'd seen a wince or two. "As I so repeatedly and fruitlessly point out to our fellows, healing goes much better if you give it time, and don't push." He grinned. "I trust that you, as a doctor, will be sensible enough to see the truth of this."

"Oh, believe me, I like having fully functioning limbs way too much to push this too far," Madelyn assured him, wiping the sweat from her forehead with her arm. Her tanktop was damp with it as well, tendrils of hair escaping her braid and clinging to her temples and cheeks. Her shoulder had definitely had enough, though, she realised with a wince as she rotated the joint experimentally. "Hot shower for me, definitely. It's grumpy, but not excessive."

"Good. We've timed it just right, then." Hank stretched, his back cracking a little as his hands extended halfway up to the ceiling. "Rrrgh... I needed that, too. I've been skimping on the exercise, of late. Between working nights and waking up for classes...." He smiled at her. "And, of course, lacking in the incentive of a charming sparring partner. It's not nearly so much fun alone."

"And a bit difficult too - there's only so many ways to beat up a punching bag. A partner gives you all sorts of permutations." Her towel and water bottle were sitting over on one of the benches along the wall - she collected both, towelling off the sweat before taking a log drink, the towel slung around her neck. "Thanks for indulging me, Hank - I've definitely slowed down, so it can't have been easy for you, restraining yourself."

"Not at all." He smiled at her. "A slow, steady pace can be just as beneficial as a fast one - as in Tai Chi, for example. I do have my moments of bouncing off the walls, but I also have sufficient control to keep myself to a slower pace. I'm not one to get frustrated if I'm not going at full speed all the time." He knew some of their teammates were, and suspected that was what she had in mind.

"It's not easy for _me_, either, but like I said, I'm not silly. I know I have to take it carefully, which means no sparring with Haroun until I've got the all clear." Madelyn rolled her shoulders again, carefully, trying to keep them from stiffening up. "I need to get back out to the shooting range too - you wouldn't believe how much strength I've lost in my hand. Which reminds me..." She patted his shoulder, since she was all sweaty and fur would stick if she hugged him. "Thank you for my new toys. I didn't get a chance to say so before you left."

He smiled, giving her hand a gentle squeeze. "You're very welcome." He saw the shoulder roll and abandoned his own stretches to rest a hand on her good shoulder. He tried to ignore the very pleasant feeling of warm skin under his fingertips. "If you're stiffening up, would a quick massage help? I'll be careful with the bad shoulder." And, of course, he was offering entirely out of concern for her. Not in any way to prolong their time together.

She never could resist a shoulder massage. "That'd be wonderful, if you don't mind me being all sweaty," she said with a grin, already turning her back to him and flipping the brain over the bad shoulder out of the way. "I'm such a sucker for anyone doing this," she admitted, making a happy little noise as Hank started gently massaging the tension out of her shoulders. "I've had to compensate for the bad one, so the good one's almost as tense."

He smiled, working his way slowly up and down her back. "I'll keep that in mind," he promised. An excuse to touch her, even a little, was always welcome. And, he realized, this was a perfect time to talk to her.... about the baby. Yes. He really should find out how she felt about that before bringing up anything else. "I... if you don't mind, there is something I'd like to talk to you about, while we're both here."

Her eyebrow quirked, although he couldn't see it. "Sure, Hank," she said, curious - and perhaps a little relieved. Maybe now she'd have a clue as to what was going on.

"You recall, I'm sure, that I went with Dani when she went to get her divorce... Both because I have a certain official reputation, and because given the way things tend to go wrong around here, I didn't want her out of reach of a doctor for any length of time." He took a deep breath. "While we were gone, she... asked me to adopt the baby. I agreed."

Adopt...? Madelyn turned around to face him again, a broad smile on her face. "Hank, that's wonderful! I know how much you've been wanting to be a father, and I can't think of a better one, if adoption's what Dani wants to do." Now she did give him that hug, sweatiness be damned.

He returned the hug, smiling. "I'm trying not to get my hopes up too much," he admitted. "She may yet change her mind, and if she does, I'll accept it as graciously as I can." He smiled wistfully. "But I hope she doesn't. I do want to be a father, and I may not get the chance again. Besides, as fond as I am of Danielle, I think she's right in believing that she's not yet ready for the responsibilities of parenthood."

"Well, I'll have my fingers crossed for you. Toes too. You're both right - Dani's not ready to be a parent, but this way she wouldn't be losing her baby entirely." Madelyn's smile softened. "I really hope this works out for you, Hank. I've always thought you'd make a wonderful father."

"Thank you. I'll be doing my best." He tried to keep the yearning out of his voice. "I know babies are a great deal of work, and that I'll probably have to put my social life - what little there is of it - on hold for quite some time, and I won't be getting any sleep for a long time, but.. it's worth it. More than worth it, to me."

"Well, if you need any help, you know you can ask me," Madelyn offered immediately. "I love kids, you know that, and it's important that you get a chance to have a break now and then." She chuckled a little. "You'll probably have a cue of babysitters out the door."

"Probably." Hank smiled. "The mansion certainly fulfills the 'village' requirement cited by many experts. Plenty of people around to help care for a child." He took another deep breath, his stomach feeling suddenly unsettled. He could feel her out, just a little, on the subject... "Of course, it's going to make dating difficult... although babysitters can be found, new babies shouldn't be left too often. And a single parent is, generally, less likely to find a partner than someone without baggage, so to speak."

"Not necessarily," Madelyn told him, her expression suddenly unreadable. Okay, so there were instances when there were feelings, thoughts... She couldn't put a name to it, but suddenly it was important that he know that wasn't the obstacle he thought it was. "It's difficult, yes, but not impossible, Hank. There's a lot of women out there who won't hold being a single father against you."

"Good." Very good. Okay. This was The Moment. Yeah. Okay. He sternly ordered himself not to throw up, stepping back a little and meeting her eyes. "Madelyn, could you do something for me? Would you mind, terribly, not saying anything until I finish telling you something? I'll tell you when I'm done."

Hmm, this sounded serious. With a nod, she stepped back slightly, to give him space to say what he so obviously needed to. "Sure, hon," she said encouragingly. "You can tell me anything, you know that."

"I hope so." He took a deep, slightly shaky breath. He had to be serious about this. No joking, no exaggerations, just the unvarnished truth. "Madelyn, I... care for you a great deal," he said slowly. His hands were actually shaking, he realized, and he clasped them behind his back, looking up over her head at the wall behind her, hoping that would make it a little easier to get the words out. "I would even go so far as to say that I'm very much in love with you. I have... kept that from you, until now, because I was afraid to say anything in case... well. I have some issues with rejection, that I'm sure you're aware of. Nevertheless, I don't want you to feel, for that reason, as if you are in any way being pressured not to say no, because that is absolutely the last thing I would want." He dragged his eyes down to look anxiously at her face. As long as there wasn't any obvious distress in her face, he thought he could manage to go on....

So, there it was, out in the open, finally. Strange, she didn't know how to react now she'd finally gotten her wish. She wanted to say something, to reassure him she wasn't about to run screaming from the room, but she had promised, after all... She gave him an encouraging smile and a nod, hoping she didn't look too shell-shocked.

He nodded, taking a couple more deep breaths. "I know that I'm not the only one with feelings for you," he said, determined to be just. "Kurt.... I don't know if he's said anything to you, but... he does care. A great deal. It would be unfair to him to try to... to get in ahead, because words come more easily to me than they do to him. Although these particular words are far from easy, I must admit." There. He might have just shot himself in the foot, there, but it was better that everything was out in the open, from the start. "And I want you to know that if you don't return my feelings for you... because of Kurt, or for any other reason... that I really don't want this to in any way damage our friendship. It's very important to me, and I would hate to lose it." His knees felt a little shaky, now, and he rested his fists on the floor to help steady himself. "And I know that this has been... very sudden. I'm sorry, but I was afraid that if I waited for a perfect time, one would never come. So... now you know. And since I've sprung this on you so suddenly, I should really give you some time to think about this. So... I'm going to go, and let you take some time to think it over, and if you could let me know how you feel about it when you're ready to do so, that would be very much appreciated." He was backing towards the door, now, torn between wanting to run like hell and to stay and find out NOW. But that wouldn't be fair to her, or to Kurt, or even to himself. "Uhm. Within forty-eight hours, say, would be wonderful." He gave her a probably very odd-looking smile, and bolted.

'Be careful what you wish for...' Madelyn took a couple of wobbly steps to the bench and sat down, mind awhirl. She'd wanted to know, and now she did - and now she had to choose. And either way, someone was going to be hurt. She knew she should listen to her feelings, but right now, those were in as big a jumble as her thoughts - briefly she sent a mental apology to any telepaths/empaths in the area picking all this up. Talking would be good, she decided. Someone to bounce thoughts of, get some advice, even if it meant owning up to being completely clueless for the best part of a... what? A month? More? When she thought about it, the hints had been there, all along. "Alison is so going to laugh at me," she said to herself ruefully.

Outside, Hank leaned against the wall, swallowing hard. "Courage," he said aloud, "feels astonishingly like food poisoning." He felt sick and shaky now, and absolutely terrified that he'd just screwed up beyond all hope of retrieval. But it had had to be done. Jean was right. With a sigh, he headed for the stairs. He was going to go upstairs, shower, and then get on with hiding under his bed for the next forty-eight hours....