Wounded (Jack, Sam, and Open!)

[Josh Dalton Worthington]

As they leave the gallery, Josh drops the unconscious men and their weapons in the alley. As he sets them down onto the ground, one of them is already starting to slowly come to. Right. Time to leave before they wake up. He’s not thrilled with leaving them behind, but none of them were injured severely, and they had to get the woman back for treatment.

> "Two-seater? Not exactly the best ambulance in the world, but it's fast enough,"

Josh unlocks the vehicle with the remote, and slides in. “Yeah. I wasn’t planning on having any passengers.” He grins a little and pulls out the jar of cherries. “Was just running into the store for these…” Warren is totally going to kill me. On the bright side, we took care of them pretty fast. I’m not running very far behind… Ever since the combination of Baker Mansion, Paris, and the Baxter Building, Warren had been extremely protective of him. Which is really nice of him... and kind of hot. But I really can take care of myself, and I'd have given him a poke if we'd needed help.

> "Are we going to the mansion?"

He starts the engine and pulls into the street, gunning the engine. “Uh huh. Bullet holes are kind of hard to explain at the ER. And I don’t really want to rationalize what either of us were doing at that gallery after hours. Best if someone takes care of her at the Institute.”

As the town’s lights disappear, Josh looks over at Jackson. “Well done, by the way. I assume you haven’t done much of this kind of thing before.”

----------------------

Josh pulls the corvette into the garage and glances over. “How’s she doing? They said to bring her on in.” On the short drive back, he’d called ahead.

After cutting the engine, Josh steps out of the car and makes his way into the hallway. “Hey… we’re here!” He hears voices in the kitchen, and heads that way.

[Jackson Greco]

In teh car on the way to the mansion, Jack did his best to keep the woman in teh safest possible position. He also had his starbucks receipt, and on it he scribbled his cell phone number and shoved it into the woman's pocket. Then, Jackson shrugged, looking to Josh.

"I'm not much the 'fixing bullet holes type', and I want to make sure she knows who to call and thank if I'm not there when she wakes up," he laugehd a bit, trying to take a bit of the seriousness out of the matter.

“Well done, by the way. I assume you haven’t done much of this kind of thing before.”

Jackson chuckled ever so slightly. "Not like that, I haven't. Good work yourself, by the way. The light thing was pretty good." He followed that with the closing of his eyes. If he couldn't see anything, he really had only 3 other senses that would be analyzing the world around him... a slight comfort and break from the usual.

---------------------------------------------------------

Back at the mansion, Jackson did his best to get out of the low car. His head had practically been touching the roof of it while inside, it was a bit annoying. He still took a good lock at it to admire it. Damn, it was a pretty thing.

As gently as the big man could he carried Samantha liek a husband carrying his wife over a threshold. Okay, not quite the same way-- this bride was unconscious after all.

“Hey… we’re here!”

"...and be on your best behavior, we have a guest!" Jack yelled in thundering baritone. He had directed it to some of the still-awake younger students. Still, it's not like them misbehavign would reflect badly... their guest wasn't exactly aware, after all.

[sapphire]

Samantha was coming in and out of consciousness during the journey from the gallery to the mansion. But her strength wasn't strong enough for either of her heroes to notice. She could faintly hear voices talking in the background and someone holding her like a boyfriend at the movies. The sting in her shoulder was now numb with a hard throbbing beat making her arm completely asleep. Hopefully nothing was damaged besides a few muscles.

For a moment, her hand managed to lift up and touch one of heroes in the abdomen with a very slight moan. He was carrying her somewhere and she could only hope it wasn't to the morgue. The voices came again, but there were muffled as her unconsciousness was coming back slowly.

It was a welcome she gladly heeded to.

[Warren Worthington III]

For about the seventeenth time since Josh left, Warren checks the clock to see how long it’s been, and resists the urge to “ping” him telepathically for the same reasons as the last sixteen times: first, because he doesn’t want to seem as impatient as he actually is, and second because he wants to get over his annoyance at being left behind for a dessert topping before it spoils their date… which previous experience suggests that it will, if he’s dumb enough not to get over it before he links up with Josh again.

It’s an odd side-effect of dating a telepath, he’s learned, a little bit like the way couples can pass the same cold back and forth between them forever. A minor annoyance, left unaddressed, normally no big deal – except it pops up in the other guy’s mind, where it gets compounded by annoyance that you’re annoyed by such a minor thing… and back, and forth, and back, and forth, until it’s blown all out of proportion. Warren supposes that normal couples do the same thing over the course of years, but telepathic linkages are more, well, efficient than that, for good or bad.

Of course, they would deal with it if it happened, just as they’ve dealt with everything else… that’s the plus side of telepathy, you can get everything out in the open and dealt with and have perfect trust that it really was everything. “Trust, but verify,” to quote the old cowboy himself. But Warren would really prefer not to spend this particular evening dealing with an issue as silly as that one.

You’re being a spoiled silly git, he reminds himself. He’s not “leaving you behind for a dessert topping,” he’s doing his bit to make the evening perfect, and he’s just as impatient to get back as you are to have him back, and you know it. So how about you make yourself useful instead of sulking?

Which is actually a pretty good idea, he realizes, and pulls on his robe before collecting the plates and glasses and leftovers from dinner to bring them down to the kitchen. He considers bringing the ice-cream down as well, since it has started melting, then changes his mind… melting ice-cream has its uses, too. He grins at himself as he heads down the stairs: There you go… that’s the right frame of mind for Valentine’s Day!

He hears the Corvette pulling in and hurries a little… then stops at the entrance to the kitchen at the comment about having a guest, backing away a little so he can’t be seen, and thinks "out loud" in Josh's direction: Welcome back, hon… is this a wing-hiding type guest?

[Josh Dalton Worthington]

As he walks into the kitchen, Josh can feel Warren’s mind nearby and any residual tension lingering drains out of him. Sometimes it surprises him how just Warren’s presence can make him feel better.

> Welcome back, hon… is this a wing-hiding type guest?

The question almost makes him start laughing. She’d be a pretty big hypocrite if she was. No, she’s a mutant. There you are… Josh senses Warren lurking around the corner near the refrigerator. Besides, I'd never ask you to hide them. I love every part of you... especially the wings. He throws a feral smile.

“I’m sorry I’m late. But I got our cherries…” He sets the jar on the counter, and steps over to Warren, sliding his hands onto the other’s hips. Josh hooks his thumb just inside the waistband of his boyfriend’s pants and runs a hand across his back, kissing him. “I missed you.” After a moment, his tone becomes less playful.

“I saw some suspicious men breaking into that gallery downtown, and followed them. They attacked a woman inside - shot her. I met that kid Jack - the one in your class, right? - and he helped me out. We decided to bring her back for Hank to check out. I didn’t want to mess around with the ER.” Josh looks down for a second. “Sorry for interrupting our date and all.” He wasn't sorry about saving the woman, but fate seemed to conspire to interrupt their dates as of late.

[Warren Worthington III]

Warren returns the kiss enthusiastically, then moans in mock-dismay at the explanation. "We’re cursed, I tell you! Cursed! I swear, our next big date we do not leave the room. Ever. I’m serious." Of course he isn’t, and knows Josh knows it, and he nods a greeting to Jack and starts heading for the medbay before he’s finished talking.

"Anyway, Hank and Reed are both down there, working on a treatment for Drake’s mental thing… is it just me, or has that been getting worse lately?... so I’m sure they’ll be able to patch her up. It’s a good thing you two were around to help her… are you both OK?

[Josh Dalton Worthington]

>I swear, our next big date we do not leave the room.

How about we do that tonight? After the movie, anyway. Is that ice cream still good? Josh glances sidelong at Warren, making sure to keep their conversation private, but can't help but let a smile creep across his face.

>"Anyway, Hank and Reed are both down there, working on a treatment for Drake’s mental thing… is it just me, or has that been getting worse lately?... so I’m sure they’ll be able to patch her up. It’s a good thing you two were around to help her… are you both OK?”

Josh shakes his head sadly. “I think it’s getting worse, but that’s just me. His mind is a little on the creepy side after what happened at the Baxter Building. As he uses his powers, they get stronger, which makes his mental structure more... I don’t know. Mechanical? I told him to stop using them until we get a handle on a solution, but apparently it’s not an ‘efficient use of resources’.” He sounds upset, and rightly so - Bobby was worrying all of them.

“I’m fine - they didn’t get close enough to touch me. The perks of telekinesis, I guess. Jackson took a bullet… but apparently he’s kind of like Rogue. There are so many mutations around here I forget who has what.” Josh looks over to Jack as the four of them head to the elevator. “Do you need any medical attention?”

[Jackson Greco]

“Do you need any medical attention?”

Jackson headed into the elevator, looking down at the wounded girl once more to try and hold her as steady as he could. Didn't want to startle her all too much, after all. He was beginning to wonder what the details of her mutation were. Turning into a tiger sure did sound exciting. He'd have to ask her at some point when she was conscious.

He looked down to his slightly bloodied shirt. The wound was rather small, it'd scab over sometime tonight. Who knows where the bullets had been though. Ever hear of a soldier dying from infections in a seemingly harmless wound? Well, Jack did. He wasn't going to take any chances.

"Just some peroxide or something to clean out the cut. Nothing major. Maybe a Flintstones band-aid," he laughed slightly, something a little strange for him. He had made a joke. Quickly however, his expression returned to stone, and he became solemn once more.

[Warren Worthington III]

> Is that ice cream still good?

Melting a little, but that can be good too… Warren thinks back, allowing some of the uses of melted ice cream to tinge his thoughts before dragging his focus back to the here and now… then letting out a relieved breath as tension he hadn’t known he was carrying releases when Josh and Jackson turn out to be OK.

"A Flintstones band-aid, huh, Jack? You think you’re kidding, but I’d bet money Hank has a pack of them squirreled away somewhere. He collects the strangest things…"

Warren inspects the girl from a distance in the elevator, hoping she’s not too badly injured. When the doors open again he flies down the hall towards the medlab. "I’ll let Hank know you’re coming, make sure they aren’t juggling toxins or anything…"

[Jackson Greco]

Jackson had taken soem time in the elevator to observe Warren and Josh's interactions. It was his enhanced cognition that saw all the signs of slight dissapointment in a night gone wrong. Picking up on this, he figured he ought to help out as best he could.

"I’ll let Hank know you’re coming, make sure they aren’t juggling toxins or anything…"

Jack nodded, looking down at the girl once more. "I'll take it from there once we get down there. You guys should get to use the rest of your night to not deal with a mini-crisis. I have nothing else to do anyway."

[Josh Dalton Worthington]

Melting a little, but that can be good too…

Josh blushes a little as he catches some of Warren’s mental images. Be good! There are kids in the room… but his mental reply is indulgent and slightly turned-on. You always know how to catch my attention, babe. He shoots a mischievous smile in Warren’s direction as they step out of the elevator.

> "I’ll let Hank know you’re coming, make sure they aren’t juggling toxins or anything…"

“Probably a good idea. Hank can get a little carried away sometimes." We really need a doctor around here all the time, and someone who’s not focused primarily on research. Hank’s always busy. Lately, Josh had been thinking along those lines for his future. It was something the Institute needed, and it meshed well with his academic interests. Honestly, research didn’t interest him that much, though he found it amusing how much Hank and Reed seemed to live for it.

After Warren takes off down the hall, Jackson speaks up.

>"I'll take it from there once we get down there. You guys should get to use the rest of your night to not deal with a mini-crisis. I have nothing else to do anyway."

Josh looks up, surprised. Were we really that obvious in the elevator? No, as long as the two of you were assuming Jack was blind. Telepathy aside, body language… He shakes his head slightly, coloring a little. “Well, I appreciate it. It seems like all of our dates have been interrupted with crises lately. We were in Paris during the Invasion in November… got attacked in a French restaurant.” Josh smiles a little. “Thanks. We’ll get going later if there’s nothing for us to do.”

[Warren Worthington III]

> Be good! There are kids in the room…

Um… hon? I don’t know how to break this to you, but Jackson’s about your age. Maybe older; not sure when his birthday is. So, um… well, “kids” is, maybe, not such a showstopper problem? Of course, the fact that Jackson is one of his students is, arguably, more of one… and in any case, that’s not really a direction he wants his thoughts going down tonight.

> " You guys should get to use the rest of your night to not deal with a mini-crisis. I have nothing else to do anyway. "

Warren’s sensitive hearing picks up Jackson’s comment as he heads down the hall, and he blushes a little… he hadn’t thought they’d been that obvious, although in retrospect he suspects they had been. Which mostly throws into sharp relief how much he’d changed in the last several months – back then he’d have freaked out at a wounded mutant showing up on their doorstop, but now it doesn’t even seriously interfere with his dating.

Well, OK. Maybe it interferes a little. But still… how blasé do I have to get before it seems reasonable to flirt with my boyfriend in an elevator carrying an unconscious mutant girl with a bullet in her? I wouldn’t have believed it when I first got here, but after the flight back from Paris… well, I guess I’ve changed.

His ruminations are cut short when he reaches the medlab, and Reed and Hank start putting aside the project they were working on to set up for a patient. He flies back to rejoin the other three, already halfway down from the elevator.

"Yes, what Josh said: we can spare the time to get her squared away. And I can't believe you don't have plans for Valentine's Day... I've seen how the girls in class look at you. You expect me to believe there's nobody you have your eye on?"

He grins slightly as they reach the medlab door. "Incoming, doctors! Her breathing sounds steady enough, can’t speak for the rest of her. Guys, what is her mutation, anyway?"

As Jackson puts the girl down Warren finally notices the bullet-holes in his shirt, especially the bloody one. "Make that two... you may be tough, but I still want you to get that looked at. Last thing we need is to explain to our insurance agents how one of our students got tetanus from a revolver slug; they’re irritated with us enough already. Not to mention your parents. And if you think being all heroic is going to get you an extension on next Tuesday’s assignment, I’d suggest you think again…"