Juliette didn't look up as she shook her head at Sam, "try not to laugh," she instructed. Laughing would cause the muscles in his abdomen to contract, which could be potentially bad for his injury. She ignored his comment, figuring that it wasn't the time to talk about it.

Healer. Good. She let in a breath of relief. "Well, healed but irritated is better than in pain," she pointed out. She had no idea how long the wait before he could see a doctor would be, and she didn't want him bleeding out on a stretcher because she asked him to come.

"My shift is done right now," Juliette said instantly. "The hospital will be closed for the rest of the day, and there's no way they would make any of the staff present stay and work. Any patients brought here will just be sent to a different hospital." That would make the wait to see anyone twice, if not three times longer than usual. 

Driving him was a different matter. Living in the city meant that she didn't have any need for a car, nor the funds to pay for one if she did want one. Anywhere she went, she usually took the subway. Then, she remembered that she had borrowed a car for a demonstration she had done at a school and hadn't found the time to give it back yet. It was still in the parking garage connected to the hospital.

"Come with me," she nodded to Sam and stood up, ready to help him walk if he needed support.

”Goes against my character.” Sam retorted to her telling him not to laugh, even if he was upset his default setting was fake it till you make it. Years and years of being beaten down taught him that eventually you would be happy again. Even eventually it all goes to **** again.

”Oh, good! Err… not about the hospital closing but rather you getting down with your shift.” Sam shifted his eye not sure if what he was saying made sense. ”I’ll follow you anywhere!” Sam said leaning up and hopping off the gurney in his gown. Sam looked down and frowned slightly, even if it wasn’t a dress it felt like one. There was too much movement down there for his liking and also his rear was exposed.

Looking backwards at his butt he closed the gown behind him and held it slightly, ”How about I meet you out front after I find my clothes… Not appropriate to wear to a school you know?” At this Sam stopped holding the gown closed and then turned and headed to the elevator hoping he was going to the right floor.

It took him fifteen minutes or so but he managed to find his clothes. His pants and shoes were own despite how painful it was to move from the knife wound. Ice still covered each one of the wounds making it impossible for him to bleed out but internal bleeding was still a possibility so he tried to restrict his movement, which was why he was still wearing the gown. Not for a fashion choice but rather because the last thing he needed was someone saying he had gotten drunk and lost his shirt. He never lost his shirt they just got destroyed way easier then pants did.

Eventually tracking Juliette down the ice-mancer opened the front door and hopped in. ”You have a car in the city? Thought I was the only one.”

"Yeah, do that," Juliette nodded quickly at his question of finding his clothes. Explaining why she was driving up to a place she had never been with a clothes-less resident was not something she wanted to do in that moment. Or ever, really.

She watched him go for a moment, making sure that he was able to walk alright, and then went to the parking garage. It didn't take her long to find the car, or to start it up. She waited in the front seat for Sam to come back fully clothed.

Or, at least, she had assumed that it would be fully clothed. He came back wearing everything but his shirt, which was instead replaced by the hospital gown. Juliette understood that his injuries might be uncomfortable, but that didn't make it any less strange. She suppressed both a laugh and a smile as she watched him duck into the little car.

>>”You have a car in the city? Thought I was the only one."

"It's not mine, actually. I'm just borrowing it, so maybe try not to... bleed on it?" She winced at the sentence. It had come out much more uncaring than she had meant it. Better just to move on and try not dwell on it for too long. She kept talking as she pulled the car out of the parkade and drove away. "You have a car in the city, though? I kind of figured that you lived at the mansion."

Raising an eyebrow at the new amount of Sass Sam smirked and then stared at her. ”You’re right, it would be insensitive of me to bleed in a borrowed car after I got stabbed and shot coming to your rescue. Not to worry though, I got the gown on and the ice on each wound. So there will be no blood in this car from me.” Sam said looking back towards the dashboard trying not to laugh again but finding it difficult.

Sam leaned over and turned the radio on low wholesome classic rock played in the background. Typically he didn’t touch the dial on someone’s car but between her comment and his he felt like he needed to test the boundaries a bit. ”I do though, Pontiac G6, that was before the eye was taken. Depth perception is a little off now though, however the bike it’s still pretty easy to ride even with the single eye.” Sam said pointing out the route to the mansion. ”The car was more if I needed to go further and pick up a new resident. I’m not a fan of driving the mansion’s van. Too bulky and I can’t pick up a kid on a motorcycle and one eye. No parent would ever let that happen.”

The soothing sounds of Led Zepplin played in the background as Sam mouthed the words to ‘When the Levee breaks’ ”So, borrowed car. Safe to assume you moved to the city from somewhere?” Sam looked in her direction while placing his hand on his knee, ”Guessing small town girl?”

"Sorry," Juliette winced at Sam's reaction to her comment. It had been insensitive, to say the least, especially since his injuries could be circled back to her. "If you do bleed, I'll clean it up. It's the least I can do, I guess." She didn't add the comment about it being her shift manager's car.

She was silent as Sam turned on the car radio and put on a classic rock station. Led Zepplin sung through the speakers, filling the echo-y car. Juliette grinned and tapped her fingers on the steering wheel along with the beat. "Good choice," she commended and nodded to the radio, following his lead of mouthing the words.

>>”So, borrowed car. Safe to assume you moved to the city from somewhere? Guessing small town girl?”

"Atlanta, Georgia, so no," Juliette grinned widely as she reminisced. She was glad he was able to talk. It would keep his mind off of the pain. Usually, she would talk to patients while they were in the E.R., but it was usually far more awkward. "That's where a lot of my childhood was spent, anyways. Not where I was born. I've never stayed anywhere too long. And you?"

”Teasing.” was all Sam had to say to her response, he did that a lot, he was also fluent in sarcasm and being a jackass according to Ghost. Sam didn’t plan on leaving a mess. He could have gotten to the mansion from a police cruiser or an Ice slide but he preferred the company this car came with so he made sure not to mention he could have gotten a ride elsewhere.

She liked Zepplin… in his head he was dancing, not many women liked Led Zepplin, and even fewer when it came to girls he was talking to. Sam raised an eyebrow not sure how to respond as if she was just pretending. He waited for the right time to ask her a follow up question to make sure she wasn’t just messing with him. However he did chime in, ”Favorite song, second favorite is ramble on.”

He winced as if it hurt to find out he was wrong, he had been wrong before and he’d be wrong again but he thought he was always good at reading people. This seemed to not be the case at the moment. ”Colorado.” Sam said not going to much into it like her, ”Never stayed in one place to long. Haven’t had an actual home since the mansion, really. At least not one that I can remember.” he trailed off thinking about the few memories he had of his mother then the many of his ‘not real family’ see Sam had lived many places but there was only one real home and that was where they were going.

”So, city girl then. Never been to the country?” he asked curiously.

"Ramble on is good," Juliette nodded, bobbing her head along with the beat of the song. "My favourite's always been Whole Lotta Love, though," she admitted. "Ramble on is a close third, though. Definitely close."

>>”Colorado. Never stayed in one place to long. Haven’t had an actual home since the mansion, really. At least not one that I can remember.”

"Can't say I've ever been to Colorado," Juliette noted as she pulled onto the highway, "but I've heard it's nice." So then he did live at the mansion. Question answered, in a round about way.

>>”So, city girl then. Never been to the country?”

"What gave you that idea?" She smirked, "I lived in this tiny town in Iowa for about eight months. I think the top population recorded was 1,000 people. If that's not country, then I don't know what is. It's kind of hard to disappear as a mutant in the country, though. So, staying in the city is easier. What about you, city or country?"

She liked a lot of Zepplin apparently… this was becoming too good to be true. Sam shifted in his chair and leaned against the car door then nodded his head, ”Mountains were my favorite. Any time of day or night, the snow, sun, wildlife. It had everything.” Sam was starting to feel a little nostalgic for a home that never was and he reached into his back pocket and grabbed his flask. He was getting to nostalgic and it was starting to hurt him more than the knife wound.

”I feel like ever country girl is supposed to own a car though.” Sam pointed to the next turn then shifted his attention back to her. His adrenaline was wearing off and he was starting to feel a little tired. ”Both, I guess. I’m needed more in the city but the country… something about going outside and seeing everything in the sky then waking up first thing in the morning…” Sam shifted his gaze.

”I was on the road a lot as a kid. Orphan. Meaning if I stayed in one place too long someone would start asking questions but the mansion, different story.” Sam debated explaining further but decided it was for another time. He didn’t want to scare off a woman who loved Zepplin with too much information. ”But why this city? Dozens of other ones right?”

"Sounds nice," Juliette nodded quietly. She had never actually been to the mountains in person, but it had always been something on her bucket list. She watched with a wary eye as Sam pulled a flask from his back pocket. It had been what, two o'clock when she had called him that afternoon? So why did he have a flask on him? Come to think of it, she remembered him having one on him the other night, too. It left an uneasy feeling in her gut, but she pushed it aside and tried to focus on the thought of mountains.

"Maybe I'm the exception?" Juliette shrugged at his other comment, "or maybe I've just never been able to afford one. One day, though. Then you'll be correct."

She sighed and kept her eyes locked on the road as she thought back to her time spent outside of the city. "Yeah, sunrises and stars are something that I've missed in the city. And the crickets. It just doesn't feel like nighttime here, but I suppose that's New York for you."

Orphan. That made her heart hurt a little. Sometimes she felt like an orphan, but she still retained the knowledge that there was someone out there in the world that she was related to, even if she had no intention of ever having a relationship with him. Sam didn't look like he wanted to talk about it, though, so she didn't say anything on the subject.

"There's work in New York," she took his segway in stride, "and lots of light. No one really seems to notice when one light flickers, since there's always another one close by."

”We get some of that at the mansion.” Sam said looking out the window trying to see where they were and how long till they were at the mansion, ”Crickets and sunrises, stars are a bit harder to see but you can make them out if you aren’t looking directly at them. More of a big picture view, you know?” Sam said thinking about the mansion at night and how many times he sat on the roof trying to see the stars. ”Though, the city does look pretty nice from the mansion roof. Nothing like a country sky but a city skyline isn’t too bad.” he said with another shrug putting his flask back in his pocket.

”That’s true. Ever caused a brownout?” Sam asked wondering if she was the cause of all the lights dimming on a city block before going back to normal. ”Were you that afraid of drawing power before you came here?” Sam asked knowing that some mutants didn’t feel safe anywhere. Sam used to feel like that until he learned that he’d have to adapt to any situation he was in. ”Another right then keep going. You’ll see it well before you hit the gates.” Sam said hoping security wouldn’t give her a hard time.

Ever since the bombings in Texas they had to increase the security around the perimeter. As long as he was there though they shouldn’t give them too much trouble. ”So how do you like having a car?” Sam asked trying to keep the conversation going.

Juliette grinned as she kept her eyes on the road, "maybe I'll have to check that out sometime. You know, provided that I'm allowed to be there and all." She had been meaning to get out of the city more, anyway. It was like a very slow form of suffocation.

She coughed quietly, "um, yes. I've caused my fair share of brownouts. Mostly in smaller cities, though. Nothing I would purposely do here would cause New York generator to malfunction. They take too much punishment for that. When I was in the country, though, the city once went an entire day without electricity because I wasn't watching how much I was taking." Okay, enough rambling.

"It's a lot nicer than the subway," Juliette grinned. She followed Sam's instructions on how to get there and watched for a few minutes before the gates of the mansion came into view. She stopped in front of them, waiting for Sam to make some sort of move since she had no authorization to be there.

The large iron gates stood closed, usually they were open at this time during the day however security was increased since the bombings sure it was in Texas but the school was full of Mutant children and had been known to house the X-Men who fight for equality. It also wouldn’t be the first time the mansion was attacked; with the extra security Sam just hoped it would be the last. ”Eddy!” Sam waved leaning down so the guard could see him through the car windshield.

The gate remained shut and the gatehouse empty. Then a form appeared from nowhere and the older gentleman not occupying the gatehouse waved to Sam. The gates opened and they were waved through. Sam didn’t say anything to Eddy but just waved then looked to Juliette. ”Increased security after the bombings down south. Sets some of the parents mind at rest.” Sam tried to make lite of the situation, ”They don’t know how safe their kids are. Every one of the teachers and staff members could take on a small army.” some could some could take on more Sam didn’t say where he fell. ”Really though, it’s a safe place.”

”There is some outlets around the mansion if you need a recharge. Just don’t drain the school.” Sam smirked as he opened his door when they arrived in the circular drive near the grand wooden doors. ”I can give you a tour now too.” Sam smirked, ”Maybe you’ll be here long enough to see that view?” Sam hinted at the invite then waved her to follow him.

Juliette sunk slightly in her chair as a man came over to the car. He seemed to recognize Sam, though, so there had been no need to worry. It made sense why the security seemed so intense. If she had a kid in a school full of mutants, she could see herself being worried about attacks. Then again, most schools didn't have the X-men for teachers.

"Thanks," she nodded at the idea of energy. She hadn't thought about it until that moment, but she was really low. Too much going on around her, she figured.

"Lets just focus on getting you healed first," Juliette narrowed her brow a bit at him. She didn't mention the fact that she was going through the process of join the X-men. It seemed premature to tell him before anything was set in stone. "Where's this 'Doc' guy you were talking about?"

”He usually hangs out in the infirmary, or the kitchen then again ever since I bought him that coffee maker he usually just sticks to the infirmary. School full of mutants, he is usually busy, doing doctor stuff.” Sam said trying to sum it up in the most generic way as possible.

Sam dodged a few kids as they ran down the hallway to their next class, passing a few classrooms Sam pointed to the infirmary. It had the red cross on it and the word infirmary. The glass doors whooshed open as they got closer but Sam stopped, ”What ever happens remember for who I was and not who I’m about to become.” Sam said trying to hold back a smile as he pretended he was scared. Sam took a deep breath then entered the room. ”Doc!” the healer was busy studying some of his notes about some disease or some cure and he eyed them for a moment longer then looked back to Sam.

A long dramatic sigh and Doc set his papers down and raised an eye brow. “You were stabbed again weren’t you.” The healer asked rolling his eyes and then looking past Sam at Juliette, “Trying to impress a beautiful woman no doubt. I swear if you try as half as hard as you do to not get stabbed as you spend trying to impress women like…” Doc looked at her, “and you are?” he offered a hand ignoring Sam.

As much as Doc wanted to heal Sam to get him out of the infirmary he wanted him to suffer a bit more hoping that maybe he’d remember the pain. ”Juliette is her name. She’s a nurse.” Sam added as if that made everything better. ”She thought it would be better for you to have a look instead of waiting for another doctor.” Doc turned to Sam and laughed, “Like anyone else could patch you up, between you and Gawain I don’t know who is worse.” Doc sighed and then waved at Sam. “Remove the gown and let’s have a look.”

Sam took off the gown and then sat on the table then smirked to Juliette, ”I taught Gawain so… I think that make me worse.” “Just loved getting stabbed don’t you…” doc muttered as he looked back to Juliette, “Did you already have a look at him?”

>>”What ever happens remember for who I was and not who I’m about to become.”

Juliette raised an eyebrow and gave Sam a quizzical glance. "What's that supposed to mean," she squinted at him, but her question went unanswered as Sam slipped inside.

It seemed as though getting stabbed was less of a large event and more of a common occurrence. She suddenly understood why Sam had chosen to go to the hospital rather than to the Doc, since he seemed less than pleased to see the ice mancer.

She opened her mouth to protest being referred to as just another beautiful woman that Sam was trying to impress, but she was spoken for, apparently. She shut her lips tightly and glared at the two men in front of her.

"Yes, I look a look at him already," Juliette said, trying to hide her annoyance, "I did what I could, but I couldn't get any scans at the time and I wasn't sure about internal bleeding. That's why I suggested coming here."

"It's a good thing you did," the Doc sighed and rested his hand over the stab wound on Sam's side. "These bruises here are never a good sign." A golden light was emitted from his palms for a brief moment before he removed his hand, revealing a completely healed side. It seemed to be nothing special for the Doc as he moved quickly to deal with Sam's arm next.

Juliette blinked in awe, despite her annoyance. She couldn't even begin to imagine how much good a power like that could do at the hospital.