“No, it’s my amateur opinion, Carrick,” Liz said, not even bothering to look back. All she’d get would be a bored gaze, a sneer, or a look of total disinterest, if he was even bothering to look her way. The aloofness of a cat. “I’m not a veterinarian and I don’t have magical diagnosis powers.”

Liz rolled her eyes at herself. Why did she let him bait her like that? She’d thought she was doing well with handling him but AGGG. Every single encounter went like this! If only she could smack with him with some sense and maturity! Maybe a mutant could go ahead and make people grow-up or something!

They were nearing the school and Liz just had enough. “Then you should’ve gotten the Doc instead!” she said exasperatedly. A small squawk and phantom pain reminded her to maintain the flow of tranquility. She lowered her voice.

“Seriously, what is your problem?” she asked, still not looking his way. For all she knew he could’ve flown away. “You came to me and asked for help and every single moment since, you’ve been sarcastic and spiteful over every single thing I’ve said and done. I am not going to put up with this, Carrick.” She approached a door and she stopped by it, her hands full, and stared at Carrick pointedly, like the hawk would stare at a rabbit. “Do you want to do the rest of this yourself?” she challenged him.

”Hear ya need a degree fer that.” he said more to himself but he didn’t know what she was capable was now that she was older. Maybe her powers evolved. ”Figured ya knew enough about birds.” that and her class was closer to him than Doc. Maybe he wasn’t even in his office. His tail flicked the more he thought about it. It was a heat of the moment decision and this was the next best option. His fingers were already chewed up from the small flying raptor.

”Saw you first, needed gold but took the bronze!” he too raised his voice then lowered it his hands still behind his head. If it wasn’t for the bird cradled in her arms he would have gotten louder. He didn’t lose at shouting matches. Not anymore.

”My problem?” Carrick chuckled while his tail flicked in irritation, trying to change the subject ”Clearly the problem is littering!” he looked to her then arched nose and lip into a snarl. He opened the door and avoided her gaze.

”Sure, let’s give the guy that tried to do the right thing by getting an adult the bird that already pecked the **** out of his fingers while he tried to handle things on his own.” he met the challenge and held the door with his foot and reached out revealing his pecked fingers in the process. ”Come on! I’ll take it from here.” he waved his hand and then held out his arms to cradle the bird. His other forms didn’t see the point.

”Love ta explain it to Doc.” he flashed his pointed canines in a smile.

Elizabeth’s hawkish stare only sharpened as Carrick so infuriating smiled. “Oh no, you do not get to play the victim here,” she cut in. “Your abrasive and snide comments have been completely unrelated to the matter at hand and altogether uncalled for!” Liz bared her own teeth in response and seriously considered antagonizing the hawk in her hands and throwing him at Carrick, just to really give the boy something to complain about!

Instead, she ignored the boy’s gesture and strode past him into the now-opened door. No, she wasn’t handing the hawk over - the less movement it had to undergo the better. But she didn’t have a comment for Carrick either.

Oh, that wasn’t to say she hadn’t come up with about twenty or so things she wanted to say, but she was self-aware enough to know she didn’t truly mean them and they would be far too damaging. You’d only hurt it. Hah, like you could be trusted to do anything right! or Maybe if you’d grow up you wouldn’t need to get another adult to do something so simple or any number of things. Only Carrick got under her skin like this!

But she had to be the mature one, because God knew Carricsk wouldn’t be. “Come on, let’s just get to the Doc. Have him take a look at your hands, too.” She didn’t bother lecturing him on his attempts to handle a wild animal - she knew it’d be futile. Besides, if there was any infection or anything, they were already heading toward the Doc anyways.

She called his calling of her bluff and Carrick retracted his bloodied fingers and shoved them into his pockets as he reluctantly followed his Ex and current biology teacher towards the infirmary. ”I would never.” he said lying. It was exactly what he was doing. Carrick was good at playing a part, right now it was a victim. ”Haven’t changed much then have I?” his tail flicked behind him.

Liz never got the snide comments when they were dating. The shifter saved those for everyone else but after how things went down since she broke up with him now she seemed to be the main focus of the comments. He was good at pretending he was immune to feelings.

”What’s wrong with me hands?” he asked stubbornly and very sarcastically pulling them out of his pockets the tips that were covered in blood a few seconds ago now had little traces of lint and whatever else was in his pockets at the time. It looked a little like bird seed. He brushed his hands together.

”I’m only going cause I’m worried about Icarus, not because ya told me to.” he said naming the bird without permission. It was also more to prove to his other forms that they were wrong in wanting to kill the bird. It could still have a life without flight.

Liz had the presence of mind to bite her lip, holding back her instinctive retorts. It was funny, when they had dated Liz never had the urge to insult Carrick. She knew he had flaws but she knew he had so much more potential and strengths than it seemed. She had always wanted to help him, encourage him, support him, especially because too often other people didn’t bother trying.

Then everything changed after they stopped dating.

There was still that part of her that loved Carrick, that saw who he was and who he was again. And with his older years and memories gone, for him it was as if no time had passed between their breakup and her return. And that was the part of her that was so irritated at him. And heartbroken. Carrick was Peter Pan and she was Wendy. Even if Carrick didn’t change Liz had.

Elizabeth said nothing. Of course he had changed. It had been about a year since his age reversion. But there wasn’t seven years of change and honestly, Liz still didn’t know what to think about him. Her heart and head warred constantly on how to work with him.

She exhaled loudly. Let the annoyance pass. Let it drain away, like rainwater upon dry ground. “Your hands are bleeding,” she said, not bothering to look back. She was watching the hawk like a...well, hawk….and focusing on walking smoothly so as to not jar her precious cargo unduly. “You could get infected, if not from the hawk’s talons, then from something else you touch.”

Such as anything under his bed. She highly doubted that in the changes in Carrick in the past year, his under-the-bed cleaning habits had improved. She shuddered as she remembered the time she’d possessed a rat to search out something he’d lost there. The things they’d seen! Liz had been forced to abandon the rat to its doom.

“Fine. Whatever,” the blonde said tiredly. No sense arguing with Carrick over why he was doing what she wanted, as long as he did. Breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in, breathe out. A quick psychic touch revealed the hawk was started to match her breathing pattern. Just stay calm and focused and don’t give him any more easy hooks to dig into your skin!

Letting out a little huff, Carrick continued to follow finding it odd she grew so much. She was a little taller than him when they first met and while he was taller than her now it still felt weird. Time what a weird concept. ”Really?” he asked shoving them back into his pockets.

She could have said the sky was blue (it was currently) and he’d try to argue. Which he begrudgingly found funny because when they were both younger Carrick figured she was always right about everything. She was the only reason he made it this far in school. If it wasn’t for her encouraging him to go to class and helping him study he probably would have left years ago.

”Fine!” he shouted wanting the last word. That meant he won the argument right? The Infirmary doors approached and ‘whooshed’ open. Instead of entering on the first ‘whoosh’ he waited till he could do it again, if not to irritate Liz further because he liked the sound. ‘whoosh’

”Heya Doc, find a patient fer ya!” he said keeping his hands in his pockets nodding to the bird in Liz’s arms. His tail flicked and he found a wall to lean up on. ”Can ya fix ‘em?” Carrick asked in a softer tone. His other two forms encouraging him still to kill the injured bird. Carrick really didn’t want to.

Elizabeth bit down on her tongue quickly and harshly, to the point where the hawk gave out a caw of minor pain before Liz could suppress it. “Shhh, we’re almost there,” she told it, reinforcing the spoken word with mental resonance, broadcasting images of the infirmary and mixing them with memories of nests and shade trees, stolen from the minds of other birds of prey. Hopefully it would get across a concept of safety and security.

Liz figured she’d get a blister from biting her tongue so much during all of this. She was going to need to take Zorro for a run, Nico for a fly, or hit up Sam or Serena for sparring practice. Maybe all three. She could use the practice in splitting her attention between her own self and animals.

She just knew the longer she was around Carrick the worse it’d get and the more likely she’d be to do or say things she’d deeply regret.

And yet, for every irritating, annoying, rasping thing Carrick did, such as deliberately playing with the infirmary doors when he himself had been so concerned with speed, there was also a genuinely concerned boy wanting to help another.

“What is it this time, Carrick?” said the doc, looking up from where he was cleaning some equipment. “Ah, hello Elizabeth. Who’s your friend?”

“Hello, Doc,” Liz replied, bringing the hawk over to him while still trying not to jar him. She barely noticed Carrick take up a position in the style of a sulky too-cool-for-this teenager. “Carrick found an injured hawk out on the edges of estate.” She filled him in on what she’d gleaned from the predator’s memories. “I’ve been trying to keep his mind off the pain and I’ve been pumping him full of happiness, but that’s it. We thought it would be best to bring him straight to you.”

She slightly lifted the bird, ready to hand him over or set him down, or keep holding him, as the doctor needed. She hadn’t actually seen him use his powers before, so she wasn’t sure what he’d need her to do.

“Oh?” Doc asked looking to the bird briefly then looking over to the ornery teenager leaning against a wall where he had some fragile stuff in a cupboard. “Carrick, mind your tail please. I just finished cleaning and reorganizing since you were last here.” Doc said calmly before looking to the small bird of prey cradled in Liz’s arms.

“Well hello there.” Doc said to his new patient before nodding his head to Liz as she recounted the events leading to them being there. “Sounds like you had quite the journey.” he said reaching a steady hand outward gently examine a few of the feathers on the wing mindful not to get a beak. “Carrick, I need you to distract the bird please. Long enough for me to examine further.”

Carrick sighed loudly keeping his bloodied finger tips in his pockets so Doc didn’t see them. He didn’t need a healer and he wouldn’t give Liz the satisfaction of being right. ”Ah, another admirer.” he said sure of himself ignoring Doc’s heavy eye roll. His tail knocked over something and the shifter turned his wings opening in the process. Doc sighed heavily, “Without breaking everything. Please.”

The bird shifted it’s attention to Carrick’s tail and then wings. ”Icarus.” Carrick named the bird again waving his tail in the air then producing a few smaller balls from his pocket and then proceeded to juggle. The balls were smaller ball bearings and reflective. Something he chose because they distracted himself easily. ”Why don’t crabs give to charity?” he asked the bird. Knowing it would bug the other two more.

Elizabeth smiled tightly and shook her head after catching the doc’s eye. She gave him her best “I feel your pain” look and just rolled her eyes in regards to Carrick’s antics. In a strange way, it was relieving that she wasn’t the only one to see him as something of an albatross around the neck, although even that relief came with some guilt.

The blonde smoothed those thoughts away by focusing intently on the hawk, sharing it’s thoughts and feelings and imposing her own upon it. As Doc ran his fingers ever so lightly over the bird’s body, Liz covered up the sensations with additional flashes and conceptualizations of Carrick.

<<Focus on the bird-man,>> she whispered into the hawk’s mind. <<Look at the juggling. See those shiny things? Shiny, metal, reflective. Focus on the shiny.>> Liz angled herself slowly and slightly so the bird could have a better look at Carrick and Liz sent a spike of curiosity into the bird. Motivational and focus, the beginnings of working with animals.

Then Carrick asked a joke and Liz could not stop rolling her eyes. That was a line she’d heard so many times before and while it was amusing the first time or two, it got old very, very quick. And that was without considering the differences between culinary/fishing terminology and internationally-accepted taxonomic rankings.

“Do you have anything that can put me out of my misery?” Liz whispered to the Doc. She didn’t care that Carrick could probably hear every word clearly, what with that enhanced hearing of his own. “Or better yet - do you have anything to put him out of my misery?”

Doc rolled his eyes again and forced a chuckle that was forming in the back of his throat to come out as throat clear. Carrick smirked and answered the question that was on everyone's mind, ”Because their shellfish!” he tossed a ball bearing up into the air and caught the other two then spun catching the last one with and outstretched hand.

”What heard that one before?” he asked knowing everyone had, it was a icebreaker to let people know he was going with the classics. Dad jokes, puns. Even when they were bad they were still funny.

The shifter started to juggle again noticing the birds attention on him. ”Just ignore ‘em lil beasty. They say you loose all sense of humor when you get older, why I like the way I am now.” he wasn’t miserable, well he was irritated he was forced into the situation with Liz. Sure, he could have gone straight for Doc but for some reason he thought of Liz and her powers first. Again irritating.

“Unfortunately I swore an oath to not do that.” Doc smirked trying to focus on the bird. Dislocated wing. Sprained ankle. Cracked rib. Doc’s hands lit briefly then stopped and started again and then stopped. ”Misery loves company. Only miserable because of said company.” he didn’t mean Doc or Icarus but her didn’t point it out. He wasn’t going to let her break his spirit or his showmanship. He was a professional after all.

”Police arrested a bottle of water the other day because it was wanted in three different states,” Carrick waited a second then answered delivering the punchline while his tail knocked over a small glass beaker filled with something yellow. ‘Crash’ ”Solid, a liquid and a Gas!” he stepped away from the liquid. ”That was like that when I got here.” he said quickly before his eyes caught two more quick light flashes from the Doc as he was healing his patient.

“It was worth a shot,” Elizabeth remarked grimly, resigning herself to listening to Carrick’s new brand of painful comedy. If she didn’t have the hawk in her arms she would’ve been gone already.

And that was a complete lie. Liz knew she’d’ve stayed no matter what. She was part of this now and wanted to see it though. It wasn’t even from a mistrust of Carrick - she knew his heart in matters like this. Although in light of this encounter, she was starting to question his other forms. She couldn’t recall him ever speaking about them in such self-aware terms. Granted, she’d really only ever known him when the gryphon was his only alternative, but with this demon form, it appeared that it actually...spoke to him.

And that was worrying, especially if it was advocating that he kill something.

Great. I’m going to need to bring that up to Gemma, aren’t I? Or maybe talk to Carrick herself? Although that would require him actually being a reasonable person and effectively communicating his honest thoughts and feelings.

“Ease up, Liz,” came a gentle voice. Liz blinked and focused her gaze on the doc, who was looking at her with a small amount of concern and clinical analysis.

Liz gave a smile and she switched the nature of her thoughts. The sudden brooding drained from the hawk and was replaced by the curiosity and fascination Liz had been broadcasting before getting lost in her own thoughts. “Ah, thanks, Doc,” Liz acknowledged, a bit embarrassed. Keep your head in the game, Liz!

Liz thankfully had missed Carrick’s other joke but extending her mind into the hawk’s once again, she could tell that most of its injuries were gone, the doc’s power having washed so many anyway. “I think we’re almost done here?” she said, her own abilities not quite a match for the professional’s diagnostic prowess. “Despite the jokes, even,” she said, her mouth twitching into yet another smile.

”All thanks to me and my power of laughter.” he said following Liz’s deduction. He didn’t want to be in the same room as Liz but some good had come out of it so far. Thankfully he didn’t have to kill Icarus, or rather his other forms didn’t have to. Even if they claimed it was a mercy killing.

Carrick silently wondered what would happen if he lost his ability to fly, only for a moment. That thought process was a train ride he didn’t want to get on and had a feeling there was no getting off till he came to a conclusion so he welcomed the glowing light from Doc’s powers and continued to juggle with the ball bearings glad they were doing a good job reflecting light.

”Sure, we can thank Doc here but whose really doing the healing here?” he asked oblivious to his own hands sealing their wounds. His tail swiped at a beaker knocking it off the ledge ‘crash’.

”Place is dangerous. **** just falling off of counters.” he looked back to the bird and added his next joke, ”Justice is a dish severed cold if it were served warm it be justwater!” Carrick chuckled to himself and wondered where Rowan was with the snare.

“The Doc. The Doc is definitely the one doing all the healing here,” Liz said firmly, unable to stop herself from taking Carrick’s bait. She could feel the effects on the hawk and it was such an odd sensation, to be wingless yet still feel your wing resetting itself and knitting it back in the way it was supposed to be.

The crash of yet more items pulled Liz from her sensory exploration and she grimaced. “Carrick, get a hold of your tail, okay? And wings too, while you’re at it!” she said. Was he deliberately playing the bull in the china shop? His jokes could be considered humorous in some circumstances but making a mess and breaking the Doc’s stuff was not funny at all.

At least that’s what she thought before the latest “joke”. “You are so fortunate you cannot understand a word he is saying,” Liz gravely informed the hawk. Sapient-people problems. Shifting her gaze, Liz asked the Doc, “After you’re done here, would you mind taking a look at Carrick’s hands? The hawk managed to scratch him up something fierce.”

His juggling shifted to one hand and he removed a single ball bearing out of the equation as he ‘hmmmmed’ out loud. While he didn’t want to be anywhere near Liz he was happy he could get under her skin. In some way it was a form of revenge for breaking his heart all those years ago. Carrick was petty, he had no illusion he wasn’t and didn’t bother hiding it.

The bushy tail flicked behind him upset it had nothing else to break, ”Sure, he mends bones, fixes scrapes and bruises but I don’t think I ever heard him tell a joke.” Carrick looked to the Doc who was well adept at ignoring the shifter’s comments, ”I think he needs to work on his bedside manner a bit more, brighten up a bit more.” the glowing from his hands seemed to increase at the comment and Carrick chuckled, ”Was that yer version of a joke?”

Adding the other ball bearing back into the mix he started juggling with all three balls again, ”I can try telling ‘em what ta do, you know what I’m like.” he said baring his pointed fangs in a smile, ”Like Hearding a cat, only I’m less furry. I can get one of the others in here if ya prefer?” he didn’t think any other of his forms would appreciate the company. ‘Mat-’ Carrick shook his head before the words could form in the back of his mind. That was an absolutely never.

”What’s wrong with me hands?” he asked pretending he was fine. The blood crusted and lint covered fingertips seemed to be just fine to the shifter as they continued to throw the balls into the air and catch them. He also knew that this would infuriate his former girlfriend even more.

Doc’s hands stopped glowing after a little ‘pop’ from the birds final bone. “Carrick got injured?” he sighed and rolled his eyes to Liz then to Carrick who continued to juggle though not having a need to do it other than to show off. “Well, I got a mess to clean up now, so let’s see them and I can get to work.” Doc said walking forward to Carrick.

”Yeah, there's glass everywhere..... ohhhh that’s how ya stay in business!” Carrick chuckled and caught the ball bearings one after another and pocketed them. ”Now, careful with ‘em! These me livelihood.” he said beaming showing off his hands after brushing them together knocking off the excess lint.

Despite his fingers being covered in blood the pecking marks were small, almost the size of papercuts now.

As the healing continued, Elizabeth found she was able to slacken her telempathic broadcast to the hawk. There was rapidly diminishing pain so no need for Liz to continue trying to overwhelm it with sheer sensory alternatives, emotional manipulations, and counter-impressions. Instead, she merely added on to the pleasure the hawk was starting to feel as he felt his body getting better.

Which was good because the effort was starting to give Liz a headache and she knew from past experiences that her own strong feelings tended to reflect back at her from animals if she wasn’t careful.

“Yeah, he said it’s nothing, but I’d appreciate it if you could look him over. Make sure there aren’t any infections or whatever,” Liz said. If there were, she knew Carrick would never admit to it and probably let his hands rot off before saying there was a problem. But Liz liked the janitorial staff too much to make them deal with that mess so she’d get Doc to nip it in the bud here.

Like Liz, Doc seemed determined to not rise to Carrick’s bait either. The patience of Job, that man had. As Liz shifted around with the hawk, moving it carefully to her jacket-covered forearm to avoid its talons, the Doc took hold of Carrick’s hands. “Hmmm,” he said after a moment’s thought. “Doesn’t seem like anything serious, other than the dirt. That’s good. But just to be safe, let’s go ahead and take care of those cuts.”