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Summary: Nicholas rushes to the medbay to see Jill now that she's returned
Date: May 21, 2012
Log Title: You're A What Now?
Rating: PG
Xavier Mansion - Medical Bay
The Medical Bay contains the latest medical equipment to patch up students and X-Men with the smallest and worst injuries. Six beds line the walls for injured patients. Equipment lines the walls, medicine in the cabinets, and more serious medical supplies locked in cabinets. One this about this room it screams sterilization.
From the moment the Blackbird touched down at the school, it was no secret that something important had happened. Though information and explanations were at first not forthcoming, it was naturally only a matter of time before the whole school knew. The kidnapped girls had been recovered.
The medical bay has been closed to visitors for the past 24 hours, kept on a lockdown and quarantine procedure of its own. Inside, rigorous examination, speculation, and trial and error have finally resulted in the quarantine being eased just after sunset on Sunday evening. There is still a medical mystery afoot, centered around a blonde teenage girl sitting uneasily on the edge of a bed, casually dressed, hands on her knees, nervous, and by all accounts, deceased.
Dr. Reyes is still working through that last fact, sitting opposite the blonde girl whose back is to the entrance and tapping gently with a rubber hammer with a triangle-shaped head. "Patellar reflex… is normal," the doctor says, a frown creasing the chocolate brown skin of her forehead. She makes a note on a chart, determined to make a full and thorough record even if some of it doesn't make sense.
After having shut himself in his room for the last few days, Nicholas was a bit late to hear the news so by the time he rushed down to the medbay there were only a few hours left of quarantine, which gave him the chance to put on something other than pajamas, shave and look like he didn't just crawl out of cave. Now that quarantine has lifted, he enters into the medbay stopping after taking a few steps in. He looks around, trying to find a glimps of the blue girl and his eyes completely go over Jill, that is until he registers it's the same face he's seen when she's using her image inducer and walks over to the girl and the doctor. "Is everything okay? Why are you wearing your image thingie?" He asks her, worry filling his voice.
The blonde girl turns sharply at the voice. "Nick?" It's clear now that it is Jill, the same wavy hair, almost constantly pouty-looking lower lip, thin arms and legs. Instead of the bright sapphire, however, her eyes are like cut rubies, a piercing bloody red. "Nick!" she gushes, standing so quickly that she upsets a metal tray of instruments on a small rolling table. Devices of polished metal and obscure medical purpose spill to the floor in a clatter. The girl is on him, throwing her arms around the boy and pulling him tightly to her. Dr. Reyes has an exasperated look but allows the moment to linger before rising, clearing her throat gently, and putting a hand on Jill's shoulder to guide her back to the bed. "Mr. Gerhardt," the doctor offers, though with a tone of slight reprimand directed not at him, but the girl.
Nicholas returns the hug, holding onto her just as tightly. "I thought…you…I'm just glad you're back." He says and it's obvious from the tone of his voice he's getting a bit emotional. When Jill's guided back to her bed, Nick turns to wipe his face with the back of his hand before turning back and taking a few steps over. "Hey Dr. Reyes." He say to the Doctor since he spent some time down here with her not to long ago. "What's…are you okay? I mean..just…your eyes and you're…not blue." He says.
Jill blinks, mouth slightly open, and turns her head away at the mention of her eyes. "It's… umm… it's kind of a long story," the girl hedges. She shoots a sidelong glance at Dr. Reyes, who after taking her seat on the bed opposite merely shrugs helplessly and nods. "I was, umm…" Jill begins haltingly. "I'm okay… sort of." After a moment more of steeling herself, the story pours from her in one, long torrent. The kidnapping, the imprisonment and the tower, Dracula and his son, and finally, her turning. The doctor nods along with the story, obviously familiar with it already. It takes only a few minutes before Jill seems to run out of words. "So… umm…" she tries to continue with obvious discomfort, looking back at Nick for the first time since beginning her story. "I'm kind of a vampire now."
Nicholas listens to everything Jill says, even moving to sit next to her if the Doctor allows. "I heard Vampires were involved from Quenton." Nicholas says quietly looking down at the floor. "That's why I didn't go on the rescue, I'm too green at this stuff." It's not easy for him to admit it but he knows it's true. "So…vampire." He begins looking up at her giving her smile that is some how sincere and forced at the same time, like he's trying to hide his worry. "Well, it doesn't matter cause you're still important to me, vamprie, blue, whatever. You're back and I'm here for you if you need a friend, that's what really matters." He pauses to take a deep breath. "I missed you a lot."
The girl's red eyes lower away from Nick, staring down at her hands in her lap. "I missed you too," she says quietly. "It was… it was so hard. I didn't even know how long we were today when somebody told me. It was always night there and the clocks never worked and…" She trails off, clamping down on the unfettered emotion creeping into her voice. "Three months. We were there for three months. It felt so much longer and I was so afraid… Now it seems so stupid. Connor and the others *did* come, so it… it didn't mean anything."
"It did feel like longer and being stuck like that…I'm really sorry Jill. It just sounds awful. Makes me feel guilty for moping around here when you've gone through that." Nicholas admits as he looks over at Jill. "No..you can't say it didn't mean anything. You did something, you tried something. It might have all worked out in the end if you did that or not, but you don't know that. You were brave Jill and willing to do that for the others, don't…don't belittle yourself by saying it didn't mean anything. You've got one of the biggest hearts out of everyone I've known and it's part of the reason that I…I missed you." He says looking away from Jill for a second as it's a bit obvious he changed what he was going to say.
The vampire shakes her head, unconvinced and uncomforted by Nicholas' words. In the awkward silent moment, she lifts her head to look at him, sniffling. It may come as something of a relief (and a medical curiosity) that the tears are thoroughly normal, not something strange like tears of blood. "B-but now… I mean… Nick, I don't show up in mirrors anymore. I drink blood, and I *like* it." Her fingers touch lightly on his shoulder to get him to turn and face her. "Nick, I'm *dead*."
"Ahem," Cecilia Reyes coughs unconvincingly into her fist. "Undead, actually," she corrects then has the decency to look a little contrite. "Which, if you think about it, is a lot like a mutation. You'll have limits and have to make certain allowances, there'll be an adjustment period, special dietary needs." Her smile is equal parts sympathetic and reassuring. "I deal with a lot of mutations and as far as I'm concerned, this is no different. Just food for thought," she adds, standing up and taking her tray of instruments to a far counter with a large autoclave cabinet.
Jill's knees bounce up and down in a nervous little gesture. "Well, I've been this way a little while now anyway. It's not like it just happened yesterday, or that I didn't know what I was getting into. It's just… just awkward, I guess. Forever didn't seem quite so long at the time."
Nicholas looks at Jill and takes a deep breath. "It's…I'm not saying it's a good thing Jill, it's just, for me, you're still here and that's enough for me. I know it's not for you but…I honestly thought you were dead, like gone dead like…them." He didn't have any hope that she would return. "So for me, I'm just relieved that you are at least back even if you are…different. I don't know what to tell you or do except be your friend cause I care about you, a lot. A lot more than I thought I would in the short time I've known you. I'd say I'd find a cure for you but I can't make false promises that I know aren't true. I just…" He close his eyes, hard, to hold back the oncoming emotions. "I just care about you." He whispers not really sure what to say.
"I… I didn't mean to make you worry," the girl apologizes, sounding more like her old self than ever. She wipes tears away with her little fingers. Gingerly, her weight shifts to one side, touching her shoulder against Nick's in a friendly, if not particularly intimate moment of physical contact. Jill smiles at him without showing any teeth, the kind of expectant smile designed to ellicit another in response.
Nicholas wraps an arm around her shoulders in repsonse to the shoulder to give her a sort of side hug. "Don't apologize for making me worry, it's not your fault. If anyone owes me an apology it's Dracula for making me worry." He says attempting a bad joke and returning the smile back to her. "Just, I'm here for you okay? If you need to talk, to cry, to complain about how unlife isn't fair, someone to just hang out with, anything."
"I don't think you'd be gettin' an apology from him, even if he wasn't… umm… y'know." Her own attempt at a return bad joke goes a bit astray at the still fresh memory of Dracula being staked. Repeatedly. She didn't like him, certainly, but to witness such violence visited upon anybody, even an enemy, was just… "Thanks, Nick," Jill responds after her moment of introspection, resting her head on his shoulder with a long, slow inhale.
Dr. Reyes clears her throat conspicuously again and Jill straightens up quickly. The doctor makes a gesture with her hands, urging the two teenagers to 'spread out' a little. "If you're feeling hungry, Miss Pervinca," she adds, making no effort to disguise her meaning. "We can see about getting something for you."
"Th-… that'd be nice, please. I mean, thank you, doctor," says Jill, properly chastised. She looks embarrassed, confiding to Nicholas in a quiet voice, "I wasn't gonna, y'know, do anything. It's just…" After a moment of failing to properly form her thoughts into words, she shakes her head. "I wasn't gonna do anything," she says to the doctor's back without raising her voice enough to carry that far.
The idea that Jill would have done anything, such as decided to look at him like a juice book, didn't even cross Nick's mind, but now that the subject has been brought up, the thought is there. He clears his throat before looking over to Dr. Reyes. "If you need any blood donations, I don't mind." There's an unease to his voice like he's steeling his courage to offer. He looks back to Jill and leans his head down to speak to her quietly. "If…if you really do need it..well…I said I'm here for you just as long as you don't…you know." Kill him, turn him into a vampire, that sort of thing.
"No!" Jill insists in a horrified whisper, shaking her head. "I shouldn't. I mean, he warned me and… and I really don't wanna hurt anybody, even by accident. Especially you." She sucks in her top lip as if to keep her fangs firmly under guard. "Sorry," she manages at last, red eyes dropping to look at her slippered feet.
"Well if I need to donate blood like someone would a blood drive…" Nicholas kind of stops himself and nods. "I know you're the last person who would want to hurt anyone." He says giving her, what is hopefully, a reassuring smile. "I know the others will be happy you're back, we were all worried. Though Shane'll probably be pissed off that you got turned into a Vampire…not at you." He says quickly. "Just at the situation."
"You think she will? I haven't seen *anybody* else yet. You're the first visitor I got." Jill fidgets, more of the old Jill Pervinca showing through in her shy, awkward demeanor. "I dunno how anybody's gonna react, but I also dunno if there's any place *less* likely to judge somebody for bein' different than here." Comforted by her own thought, the vampire girl nods vaguely without looking at anything.
"That's because you've been in quarentine." Nick explains to her. "Noone has been allowed to see you until recently." He says before nodding. "Yeah, I gotta agree with that one, it's hard to judge anyone around here. So trust me, she's going to be pissed. You should have seen how pissed she was when Envy stabbed me a while back."
Jill's ruby eyes bug. "What?!" She twists, eyes roaming up and down Nick as if she might see a knife sticking out of him that she had somehow failed to notice before. "You got stabbed? What happened? Oh my God, are you okay?"
"Hey, I'm fine, there was this crazy chick who wanted to cut off Mason's hand because he's famous and I was in the way so she stabbed me with her extending finger nails. She's insane." Nicholas says. "Anyway it's not important right now because I'm okay, so is Mason. What's important right now is making sure you're okay."
The blonde girl blinks a few times. "Ooo-kay," she says uncertainly to Nick's story, but on the other hand she just told him how she was kidnapped to a magical castle and turned into a vampire, so she has to cut him a little slack for sure. It's only fair. She looks up as Dr. Reyes returns with a tall paper coffee cup with a white plastic lid, complete with a straw poking out the open hole. "Oh, thanks." It's a good disguise, a sanitized presentation that's almost perfect. "I'm fine, really. I mean, I don't feel-… It's hard to explain," she concludes, turning to her drink. As Jill takes the first sip, what she's actually drinking is obvious even through the white drinking straw. It is not coffee.
Nicholas can't help but feel a bit creeped out at watching Jill drink blood. "I'm not just talking about physically." He says trying to look anywhere but the cup. "So…uh..does it have to be human blood or can you drink something like rabbit blood?" He asks out of curiosity as there are several things he wants to ask but most he feels are to insensitive. "So how long are you stuck down here? I can bring you anything you need because trust me, it get so boring being stuck down here."
Jill pauses in her meal, frowning and looking thoughtful. "I, uh, I don't know. Geoffrey gave me the basics. Sunlight bad, crosses bad, but it's not like I got a handbook or anything. I don't even know where he is now." At the second question, she defers to the doctor with slightly pleading, puppydog-eyes look.
"She'll be here for another day or two at least," Dr. Reyes assures. "We're running every test we can think of, and probably a few we'll make up as we go. I'm not really an authority on these things. Some of your professors with more experience than me are trying to arrange some outside consultation with…" For once the doctor pauses, choosing the next word with delicacy. "Experts. Until then, it's best if you stay here for observation."
Nicholas nods to Jill with an 'I'm sorry' expression. "I'm really happy you're back. Just let me know if you want any movies, books or anything and I'll get them for you." He says leaning in to give her a side hug. "I'll come down to visit again as soon as I can. Hang in there okay?" He stands up and gives a smile, pausing for a few moments as if he really doesn't want to leave or maybe say something more. "I'll bring flowers next time.
"I dunno, my computer maybe?" The vampire gives a quick return squeeze, keeping her coffee cup well away from Nick. At arm's length, even. "I hate to think what my inbox looks like after 3 months of not checking it." She stays seated when he rises, her own smile genuine but subtly strained. "I'd like that. Thanks." After a pause she asks idly, "It seems like we spent too much time down here, huh?" It's clear she doesn't expect an answer.
Nicholas nods to Jill. "Okay computer it is, and I'll bring a couple of movies down also." He doesn't say anything about emails knowing his inbox is usually bare. "I'll be back in a few hours, promise." He feels bad leaving her but he knows he should take care of somethings. With another awkward pause he stops, gives a wave and says. "Again, I'm really happy you're back." Before heading out of the medbay.
