Lee greeted the doctor and the doctor greeted Mrs. Brooks right back.

Lee had been right in the cab. This wasn’t weird at all. Could you think sarcastically? Yes, Tarin decided, you absolutely could. It made sense though, Lee had pointed out that it had been over a decade since she’d been at the Mansion and there was no way that the doctor who had delivered Kevin would possibly be aware that things had changed.

Still, the widening of Lee’s eyes, the way those eyes darted over to him…Tarin had to chuckle and shake his head. If he wasn’t used to things like this happening yet, he was never going to be. Besides, as far as mistakes were concerned, this one wasn’t all that bad.

Still, Lee gently corrected the Doctor who simply nodded. He did take things in stride.

Lee explained what had happened and Tarin sighed a bit, ”Full strength. With lots of energy.” he said, not knowing if the doctor would need relevant factual information to figure out and fix whatever was going on with Lee’s hand.

Tarin laughed slightly when he saw her look over after DocProf called her ‘Mrs Brooks’. That was a good thing, not nearly as awkward as it could have been then.

And DocProf simply nodded that he understood as he gently took her hand in his to start his examination.

Only for Tarin to give him more exact details about what happened. The older man glanced at Tarin for a moment before looking back at Lee with a raised eyebrow. ”What was it you punched?” DocProf asked as he turned her hand over before letting it go. ”Can you move it? Open and close your hand? Move your wrist in both directions? And why would you hit something that hard? You know you’re not impervious.”

Lee sighed hearing all the questions. She may as well tell the man the actual reason she’d done it because apparently Tarin would share the answer anyway it seemed. ”In large part, to prove a point. But I didn’t realize it would be that hard,” Lee replied as she ignored the look from DocProf and followed the directions for moving her hand. It was definitely getting more stiff and sore to move. ”I’ve never used even half that much strength for anything before.

“And I hit a face,” she continued after a moment. ”Mostly jaw. I did have sparring gloves on when I did it and made sure my hand and wrist were in as close to perfect form as possible before I did it.”

After she had made all of the movements that she’d been directed to, Lee let her hand return to a more neutral, though still very sore and uncomfortable position. Though after the moving, she did have to admit it was growing more painful than just sore.

”You punched a person?” DocProf asked, and if Lee wasn’t mistaken, he actually sounded shocked or surprised. ”And where are they? How much damage was done to them?”

”It was a spirit. No harm done. Right?” Lee told DocProf before looking at Tarin for confirmation.

At least Lee was sharing the facts of the situation now, even if it was earning her stern looks and build up to that lecture she had mentioned.

Tarin had been right too. It all had been to prove a point. They’d pretty much established that before Robert and Rachel left, but the confirmation straight from Lee had Tarin shaking his head again.

At the news that Lee’s fist had connected with a face, the doctor actually looked a bit shocked, and concerned for the other person. It was a fair response, and the questions the Doctor asked were fair too.

Lee pointed out quickly that she’d been sparring with a spirit and looked to Tarin for confirmation.

”They don’t feel a thing. Can’t be injured. Tony was fine before we left. I can bring him in if you want to be sure…” he confirmed.

For a minute, Tarin thought he was going to get away with not introducing himself to the Doctor, but the man was looking at him with the kind of eyes that just made you feel like you needed to explain yourself.

”We weren’t introduced…” Tarin said, “I’m Tarin Brooks. From the other side of the rift…”

That said, Tarin glanced at Lee with the slightest hint of I told you this would be weird. evident in his face.

Lee nodded when Tarin confirmed that Tony was fine. She wouldn’t have done this if it would have actually hurt him, even if he was dead.

But the talk of spirits did not pass DocProf’s attention, and the man looked over to Tarin. Who introduced himself. And then immediately looked at her, giving a look.

Lee simply shrugged at him. Yeah, ok, so it was a little weird. But honestly this was a lot better than most of the other times when he was introduced to someone who’d known her ex-husband as well.

For his part, DocProf only eyed Tarin for a couple moments before turning back to Lee’s hand. ”Without doing any x-rays, I'd say that you have at least one hairline fracture. I don’t imagine there’s anything out of alignment, though, since you are still able to move everything. Though, if what Mr Brooks here said is right about you using full strength like that, you’re lucky that that’s all there is. Unless there are other injuries, since you said that you were sparring?”

Lee simply shrugged a bit at first. ”I mean, I’ve definitely got some bruising because I was sparring, but that’s it other than the hand.”

The Doctor didn’t say anything after Tarin introduced himself and Tarin suddenly felt incredibly self-conscious standing there. The Doctor was looking at Lee’s hand again though and he did think that something was broken in there. It was definitely a good thing they’d come to get things checked out.

The doctor wanted to know if there were any more injuries to talk about and Lee pointed out that she was simply bruised and a little beat up from the sparring. Tarin thought about bringing up the fact that she’d had the breath fully knocked out of her, but he’d already tempted fate by contradicting Lee’s story about the punch earlier.

Hearing she’d been lucky to only mildly break a bone in her hand made Tarin shake his head a bit, Lee’s siblings were really too much. Hopefully this would be the end of all that.

Right now, it didn’t seem like any more information from Tarin was needed, so he just watched, keeping his mouth shut so he didn’t end up in any more trouble with either of them.

DocProf looked up at Lee with a raised eyebrow when she said that she only had some bruising other than the hand. Lee just looked back.

Until DocProf spoke again. ”Now, am I actually healing you today, or are we being stubborn and I should get the x-ray machine ready for you?”

Then her eyes darted to Tarin briefly before dropping to her hand. ”No, you can heal me, please,” she replied.

DocProf nodded, then brought his hands back to Lee’s injured one. With some warm glowing, the pain that had been growing disappeared.

The Doctor kept after Lee, leveling the same look at her that he had leveled at Tarin a few minutes before. Lee looked steadily back though, she was still asserting that she only had a few bruises besides her broken hand. It wasn’t that Tarin thought Lee would lie about being hurt worse, but surely she would have mentioned anything else now.

Tarin didn’t miss the way Lee’s eyes flicked over to his when the Doctor asked if she was being healed or if X-Rays were needed and he tilted his head slightly. Did she think he’d have some kind of problem with her being healed?

Lee did opt for the healing though and as Tarin watched, the Doctor took Lee’s hand in his and a warm golden light seemed to appear. The light looked warm and comforting, and Tarin had to think that there were absolutely worse ways to have to interact with a Doctor.

”Wow.” he said, surprising himself a little.

Once DocProf pulled his hands away, Lee flexed hers, forming a fist and moving the fingers. It wasn’t as easy as it normally was, there was still a bit of swelling that the healer’s powers weren’t able to get rid of, just as she knew she’d still have the bruises, but other than that slight swelling, her hand felt perfectly fine now.

Looking up at DocProf, Lee gave him a smile. ”Thank you, it feels much better,” she told him.

”And no more of this ‘making a point’ with your body,” DocProf said. ”Flesh and bone can only take so much force, and we know that you can clearly generate far more than that.”

”I know, I won't,” Lee replied, sounding somewhat like she was being told off. ”If something like this ever happens again, it won't be because I was sparring or proving a point.”

DocProf hmm’ed, clearly not happy with the answer. But the man had both worked with the X-Men for long enough and knew how stubborn Lee could be, so knew that was probably the best he was going to get.

”And where was young Kevin during all this? I am surprised I haven't seen you two, or at least gotten worried calls at all hours over the years.”

Lee actually looked a little sheepish there as he spoke. She definitely remembered a number of middle of the night visits, and even more phone calls asking if they should come in while she was pregnant and Kevin was an infant.

”He’s not so little anymore, doc,” Lee told him. ”Kevin’s already a teen. He's in Texas with his father's family right now. But we spent a number of years in Toronto, when he was learning to walk and all those injury prone years. I'm sure you'll be seeing plenty of him soon when he convinces people to throw things at him to test his powers.”

And just like that, Lee was flexing her hand and thanking the doctor for what he had done. It had been that easy? Tarin knew that there had to be drawbacks to the Doctor’s power, there seemed to be with every power.

And now Lee was getting the gentle lecture that she’d been expecting when she’d suggested this as the place to come for help. Tarin agreed though, and while he might not say anything to Lee at the moment, he would not be helping her make that particular kind of point again.

The Doctor was asking about Kevin now, and Tarin had to smile a bit as Lee spoke about the teen and why the Doctor hadn’t seen them over the years. Tarin had told Rachel that it was like she and Robert had frozen Lee in time, but Tarin wondered if he kind of did the same thing sometimes…just in a different way. It was easy for him to think of Lee like she was now, even with everything he knew about it. Sometimes it was hard to remember that she probably hadn’t always been this way…even if she had told Tarin that exact thing.

It was something to keep in mind.

Lee pointed out that she was sure the Doctor would be seeing Kevin plenty when he was at school and Tarin had to agree.

Tarin knew he wasn’t saying much, but it felt almost like an intrusion to do so. This was a part of Lee’s life that he wasn’t really a part of. This was a person that he didn’t know and conversation was difficult for Tarin under normal circumstances, let alone with someone with this kind of history with Lee.

He’d been quiet before because he’d been worried he would say the wrong thing, he was quiet now because he was listening and learning.

The Doctor did seem surprised at how fast time had passed though and he shook his head, ”Ah…the folly and bravado of young mutant boys with newly discovered powers. I take it that means he’ll be joining us for classes this fall?”

DocProf probably understood that comment about young mutants better than most people in the world due to where he was and his powers and training.

”He will be here,” Lee confirmed with a nod. ”Even I have to admit that I can only keep him safe and sheltered for so long. But Kevin's definitely excited to be here.”

DocProf shook his head slightly. ”You know the boy will be fine here and well cared for. But like I've told you many times, Ms Smith, all this worrying and stressing you do is not healthy for you.”

DocProf then turned to look at Tarin. ”And you, Mr Brooks. How are you after all this sparring business?”

Could they come here a couple of times a week? Would the Doctor repeat that so Tarin could record it on his phone and play it for Lee every now and then? Tarin almost agreed out loud. Almost.

Everything Lee did made sense, the way she planned made sense, the way she worried made sense. It didn’t mean that it was good for her to do it though. It didn’t mean that all of that worrying and planning didn’t take a toll.

Like when they’d gotten here and she’d delayed getting help for a broken bone to try and find stairs so he wouldn’t be uncomfortable riding in an elevator.

The Doctor turned to Tarin now and asked how he was doing after all the sparring.

”Oh, I don’t fight. I’m just there for moral support and to provide an opponent that’ll actually go toe to toe with Lee.” he said, then studied Lee for a minute, ”She’s really good.” he added, waiting for the inevitable blush to spring up on her cheeks.

”Thanks for asking though.”

Well, Lee thought as DocProf frowned to Tarin, she'd gotten off fairly easily in terms of lectures. Just short admonitions about being careful not to hurt herself with her powers and the very frequent stop stressing.

And he was now asking Tarin about injuries, and Lee couldn't help but smile slightly. At least Tarin looked like he would be able to give Lee a serious challenge based on her size and apparent strength. The other bonus would have been if he decided to spar without a shirt. Now that would definitely level the playing field between them…

Just as the mere thought of it had distracted Lee enough that she didn't hear Tarin's answer until she saw him looking at her. Then all that she heard was ”She’s really good.”

And with that being the only thing she heard him say, that blush did start crossing her cheeks as she looked down at her hand again.

”With the…determination I've seen when Ms Smith has set her mind to something, that doesn't surprise me,” DocProf said, and Lee thought she could see him glancing between her and Tarin, but it was hard to know for sure with her eyes lowered.

”Is anything else hurting now that pain from your hand is gone?”

Lee took stock, moving a few joints around experimentally before shaking her head. ”I think it just feels like some soreness that will come up as bruises,” she replied as she looked up.

Yep. There it was. Even if Lee quickly averted her eyes, he’d seen the blush before Lee had dropped her head to look at her hand again. It made Tarin smile and shake his head. One day she’d get comfortable with the compliments.

The Doctor spoke and Tarin’s smile grew at the apt description the older man gave of Lee and her…determination until he was grinning and nodding. ”It shouldn’t.” Tarin agreed.

The Doctor was talking to Lee again, and Tarin watched as she tested her joints and responded that she thought she was fine. Maybe he could get away with just a little fussing.

”Ribs? Sternum?” he said, giving Lee what he hoped was a winning smile. ”I know I’m fussing…but you landed hard.”

Lee's head was down, so she didn't see the smile growing on Tarin's face as DocProf spoke. She could, however, hear that same smile in his voice.

Then, after she said she thought she was just bruised, Tarin started his fussing. Asking specifically about her ribs and her sternum, because of how hard she had hit.

Before she was able to say anything, DocProf was questioning her. ”You were hit in the chest during this sparring match, Ms Smith?” he asked.

”No, I wasn’t. I fell, hard, and had my breath knocked out of me,” Lee corrected.

”Well, let's see if anything happened when you fell. Lay back.”

Lee shot Tarin a look, not that she was upset, but more of a ‘look what you did’. But she laid back on the hospital bed for the doc to check her.

Okay, so maybe he was fussing, just a bit. But they were already there, what did it hurt to make sure everything was okay?

The doctor, it turned out, agreed with Tarin and wanted to check Lee out just to make sure that everything was okay. To be completely fair, had the roles been reversed, he probably would have been a little upset with Lee. To that point, the look she shot him before she laid down wasn’t exactly angry, but it was a bit accusatory.

Tarin shrugged a bit apologetically, but he wasn’t really sorry. Lee wasn’t moving like she had any broken ribs, but she had also complained far less than she should have when she and Michael had beaten each other to a pulp.

”Thank you Ms Smith. Now, tell me if any of this hurts.” the Doctor said, proceeding to check Lee’s ribs and sternum for any deep bruising or breaks.