My new X-Perience

Perhaps an hour later, Ted caught up with Carla at the Nurse's station, mopping sweat from his pate with his clip-on tie. His usually morose, heavy featured face was lit with a tentative smile.

"I found the school. They're sending someone to talk to Dr.Cox about our Jane Doe."

"That's wonderful, Ted! Thank you! Dr.Cox will be thrilled!" She cried, flinging her arms around him in an exuberant embrace. He nearly fainted with improbable delight. And then, she was gone, bustling off to give Dr.Cox the good news.

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Professor Xavier hung up the phone and leaned back in his wheelchair, steepling his fingers bfore him. It was worse than he feared. There had been reports all month about mutants being accosseted in district X, but this was the first to be hospitalized, and one of his students! He knew he should have insisted she leave her apartment in district X and live at the institute. She was a proud girl, but sweet, and in no small part because she was an empath, able to feel what those around her did. Who would want to hurt her?

He sighed, massaging his aching temples. He couldn't let himself dwell on that. Calmer now, the Professor sent out a mental summons to his X-men. He would send them to smooth things over at Sacred Heart and bring Ethine back. There was always a chance she was at risk for further attack, and it would not be good for the hospital if it was made known they treated mutants.

"What do you need us to do,Professor?" Cyclops asked once everyone was gathered. The professor remained silent a moment, studying each of them; Storm, Jean, Cyclops, Wolverine, Nightcrawler and Gambit. They waited patiently for him to speak and listened intently when he did, explaining what had occured.

"I've had Hank pull together as much information as possible on the hospital and her doctor." He concluded, passing a thick file to Cyclops, who scanned it breifly before passing it to Jean. "You'll be meeting with Dr.Percival Cox. We're trying to keep the cheif of medice from getting involved, so be careful."

"Not all of us should go in, in case you're right, sir." Cyclops said after a moment of thought. "Logan, Gambit and I will wait outside and keep watch. Jean, Storm, and Nightcrawler should talk to the doctor." He turned to his wife with a faint smile. "You three are the least threatening."

Jean rolled her eyes, but grinned back.

"And, the most persuasive." She said lightly, tapping her temple with her index finger.

"That too." Cyclops agreed in all candor, and the professor relaxed somewhat. Ethine was in good hands. Everything would be fine. Nightcrawler sighed, flashing a wistful smile Storm's way.

"I will meet the rest of you in a moment. I do not have my image inducer on me." He explained. Storm smiled her understanding and gave his shoulder a breif squeeze before he vanished with a soft *bamf* of imploding air, leaving the faint smell of sulfur in his wake. Wolverine lit a cigar, chomping down on one end and jamming his hands in the pockets of his leather jacket, clearly impatient to be off. Xavier managed a smile as he watched them file out.

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Dr.Cox spent most of his shift with Jane Doe, though whenever J.D or anyone else was around, he was careful to let them hear him refer to her as 'Fender-Face'. He did have other patients, but he spent his breaks at her bedside and even started doing his paperwork there instead of in the cafeteria or the Doctor's lounge. It may not have been apparant by looking at her, but she was improving. He'd have her off the ventilator soon enough, and told her so, even if she probably didn't hear him. He found himself talking to her a lot; complaining about the insane ammount of paperwork he had to do and the hospital's piss-poor coffee, though he was careful not to let anyone see or hear what he was doing.

He broke off mid-tirade to stare down at her, looking away from the paperwork in his lap. In the name of god, why would somebody do that to another person? In an uncharacteristically gentle motion, he reached over to brush long, white-blond hair from her bruised face.

"When you wake up, I'm gonna wanna know what happened." He said quietly. A knock on the door interrupted his dark thoughts and he straightened, drawing his hand back quickly, and non too soon. J.D. poked his head in hesitantly.

"There are some people here to talk to you, about her." He said, nodding in the girl's direction.

"They better not be media." Dr.Cox snarled, rising to his feet.

"I don't think they are, unless they're hiding their equipment in all the wrong places."

Dr.Cox growled and shook his head, following the smaller doctor into the lounge where three people were waiting; a tall regal black woman with snowy white hair, a pale redhead with green eyes and a lean blond man with a well molded angular face. They rose respectfully to their feet when the doctor's entered.

"I'm Ororo Monroe." The black woman said, stepping forward and extending her hand, her voice a rich contralto. "And this is Kurt Wagner and Jean Grey." She continued when it became apparant Dr.Cox wasn't going to move. "Are you Ethine's doctor?"

"I'm the attending physician here." He said with a curt nod, rubbing the side of his nose with his index finger and folding his arms over his chest. "And you are?"

"We're her teachers." Jean offered with her most winning smile.

"Have you notified her family?" Dr.Cox asked, unmoving. The three exchanged an uneasy glance.

"She doesn't have any family." Ororo said at last. "We're here to take her back to the institute."

"She's not ready to be discharged." J.D and Dr.Cox said in rare and vehement unison.

"She's just had very extensive surgery." J.D. added, winking at his mentor, convinced he was helping. He was cut off my Dr.Cox whistling sharply.

"That's enough of that, Clara-belle." He growled, irked by the intereferance. "Go on, get outta here, go go go go go!" He barked, glaring J.D from the room. The three mutants watched, dumbstruck, before Jean shook herself and attacked the problem at hand once again.

"Not discharged, transfered." She clarified. "We have our own doctor and I assure you our medical facilities are state of the art."

Dr.Cox snorted his disdain for any private practice physician.

"She can't be moved." He insisted. Jean's eyes narrowed and she tried mentally 'leaning' on him, but found it difficult. he was strong willed and egocentric. It would have been easier to influence his protege, but he'd fled the room when Dr.Cox had yelled at him. Jean bit back a sigh, digging just a bit deeper. He was truly concerned for the girl, deeply so. He obviously had a personal stake in this. Unfortunately she didn't have time to look further. A wild beeping sounded and Dr.Cox looked down at his pager, dashing suddenly from the room.