He had been working in the garden all day again. It was the same spot, where he had been hit by a girl falling from the sky the other day. To his dismay she (her weight mostly) had kept him from being able to work in the garden for a whole day, while he rested in his room (which was still quite inhumanly clean, so much so in fact, one might think he had a houseworking mutation), trying to ease the pain in his back with generous doses of ibuprofen and a few select alcoholic beverages. The latter he had procured from a stash that rested well hidden in the most obscure space imaginable. One that none of the teenage children were ever to come close to. Not unless they had business in mind that was more important then snatching a drink from there. He had hidden a few good bottles of beer (German beer of course) in the cleaning-supply storage room at the end of the teachers hallway. In a box labeled “chemical cleaners”... such nasty words he used when needed. Appropriate ones.

The ibuprofen had worked. As had the alcohol. Until the next morning at least, when he had, just to make the rather unpleasant feeling in his head abate, taken another generous infusion of the non-steroidal drug into his intestines. And now he was out and about again as they said. Doing what normal gardeners did. Working with plant life. And just as an added benefit, observe everything and everyone that was working, walking, coming and going from and to the mansion. Just the usual days work that required little attention to perform. Just everything as usual. Ordinary really, he in his gardening clothes. Working on the exact spot that he had worked on the days before. Well not yesterday. But it was a good place. And he was not in a hurry. There was just too much to see. It was just that, from time to time, his eyes wandered upwards now. Just to check. One could never make sure enough after all.

Yawning, orange eyes slitted open, peering out from under her blankets at the wall. The gorgon was tired... almost to tired to get up and eat. But, alas, her stomach wouldn't leave her be... Her covers were thrown to the side, and Andrea sat up in bed. Boy, oh boy, did her face hurt. Slipping from the comfort and warmth of her blankets, she padded across the room, into the bathroom, and snatched her glasses up from beside the sink. The sight that met her eyes once she flicked the light on caused her to wince, and she gingerly touched the large, dark bruise that encircled one of her eyes and a good portion of her cheek. She hadn't realized that she could bruise so well with green skin...

Her stomach growled loudly, interrupting her inspection of herself, and she scowled. Her eyes dropped to her shrinking tummy. "Yes yes, I know I know. I'm getting there, hold your horses." Changing into a pair of pants and t-shirt that hadn't used to be baggy, she slipped into her coat and tugged the hood up, before ushering herself out into the hall. The twenty two year old made her way towards the kitchen, but had barely made it out into the hall before she spotted a familiar face moving towards her. "Oh no.." Glancing left and right proved to hold no escape, so, like any other reasonable minded person, she slammed back against the wall and attempted to hurriedly return to her room. She didn't need anyone seeing her shining reminder to say clear of window ledges at the moment, especially him....

Saph had been feeling a little shifty lately... It was all of these random pokes he had been feeling... They were getting more and more frequent. He flinched as he felt a tap on his shoulder, and turned to the side, looking around wide eyed. "Ey... Don't F*@# with me, Smokey... Ima break you..." Smokey, that was the name he had given the invisible person who followed him around and messed with his head by jabbing him every few seconds. He felt a touch on his back, and spun, throwing a fist through the air, and hitting nothing. "... Bastard...I'll get you next time, you'll see." He mumbled, and paused, shaking the cobwebs out...

He hadn't been able to get much sleep, what with Smokey and his/her antics. He frowned, and continued down the hall, pausing as he saw a familiar green hue... Was she trying to hide from someone? Who? He walked on up. "Hey Andrea, what's u-OH MY GAWD WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR FACE?!" Well, he could have been more tactful there.... oh well.

Wincing at the somewhat scream he sent her way, she froze in her tracks and scratched at her uninjured cheek sheepishly. This was bad... really bad. In fact, it was so bad that she was willing to fake a heart attack on the spot to distract him. "Oh... Um... This?...I... Um, got hit by a shovel..." The tone of her voice betrayed her nervousness, quite honestly, and she winced again. "But it's nothing to worry about though, so, if that is all I shall just be on my way..." Turning on her heels, she started to march off towards her room again- more determinedly this time....

Saph's eyes widened. "Someone... hit you with a shovel? Jesus, it even left an outline on your face!" His fists clenched... And he thought Smokey was being a jerk! Maybe it had been smokey!

"You will tell me who did it, right away, so I can blow their freakin head off!" He looked around angrily, as if the person might be right there, and then felt a poke on his shoulder, which caused him to spin in place, and then turn back to Andrea. "Where do you think you're going?! Of course I gotta worry about this! You're a nice, innocent woman, who would never do something deserving of a shovel thrashing! I'll make who ever did this to you pay!"

Another cringe wrinkled her nose and tightened her lips into a thin line. She ducked her head, attempting to leave quietly while he had his back turned. When he spoke up, and proceeded to inform her as to why he had to worry, she froze mid step. "No, no, no!" She turned again, waving her hands about to stop him from thinking such things any further. "It isn't like that Saphirus. It was an Accident."

Taking a few steps closer to him, she crossed her arms over her chest and continued. "I actually kind of walked into it... Got distracted and Wham! Shovel in-... my...face..." She realized after the words left her mouth, that describing the incident might, possibly, only make things worse...

"Uh..."

"jeeeesus..." Saph ran a hand through his hair. "It's alright, Andrea... You don't have to lie to me." God, she was so nice... Trying to protect what ever evil man had done this to her... She was too much of a good person to prosecute even the people who had done something wrong.

"Hey, don't you worry... Tell me who did it, and I'll make sure they never hurt you again, okay?" He reached up to place a hand on her shoulder... holy crap, she was frail as a toothpick.. had someone been harassing her for days? Worrying her so much that she hadn't eaten?! Someone was gonna freakin die for this! "Where did this happen? Here?"

"Uh.. No. In the garde-" She slammed a metaphorical foot down on the breaks to her tongue, and coughed loudly. She had almost blabbed, Bad Andrea, Bad! "I really don't remember much..." She paused, trying to look like she was thinking hard on where it had happened, before she shrugged and continued on. "Nope, can't remember a thing..." She patted his hand on her shoulder, and forced a grin. "Too bad, say, how about some lunch?" She pretended to check her watch for the time; while she mind raced furiously to figure out something she could distract him with. "We could go to the mall, or to-"

"The Garden?! So who ever did it is here... And they hit you so hard you can't even remember well! No one hits someone that hard on accident!" Saph nodded firmly.

"Alright, You're coming with me, We'll find out who did this and make them pay!" He didn't give her time to respond. The older mutant grabbed her hand and pulled her along with him. "I know you can't remember who did it; things get fuzzy when you get hit in the head hard. STOP POKING ME, SMOKEY!" He was poked again, and shook his free fist as he walked. "So I got an idea... We check all of the shovels, whichever one matches the imprint on your face belongs to the guy whose face i'm going to break." He nodded again, and rounded the corner, headed straight for the garden.

"What? No! Saph-" She was jerked forward, an unwilling tag along on his journey to right the wrong that had happened to her . She ignored his sudden out burst for a moment, as she wiggled weakly and tried to free herself from his grasp. "urg, really Saphirus- This... Isn't.... Necessary!" Finally, after a moment, she managed to slip free, and stumbled to a stop behind him. "You are misunderstanding all of this..." Taking a moment to compose herself, she slipped her hood down and straightened her coat- trying to look as dignified as the situation would allow. He could be so stubborn sometimes, so very... Pig headed! And yet, she knew he was only doing this because he was worried, and he cared. She sighed, and prepared to launch into a long lecture about how it wasn't important and how much of a misunderstanding it all really was...

Saph didn't let her talk; within seconds he had her over his shoulder. Jees, she was light... She must not have eaten for days! "It's okay, who ever this guy is, I can take him. You don't have to worry about him hurtin me, I can kick anyone's *#s." He smiled, and finished the trip to the garden, ignoring any kicking and screaming... She wasn't really strong enough to do any real damage, and he knew she was just being fearful; people did some crazy things out of fear, like acting like nothing bad had happened to them.

Saph reminded himself that it was his job to take care of the people who couldn't defend themselves... The people he cared for... He zoned out for a second... Yeah, Andrea had kinda found herself one of those soft spots in his heart; he was fond of her in his own way, so he would defend her. He passed by a man working in the garden, and looked back. "Hey buddy, you know where there's a tool shed or something around here? I'm looking for your shovels."

Her lecture was cut short, or rather, cut off, as she was swept off of her feet and planted soundly on Saph's shoulder. It took her a few moments to adjust to the height, before she strained her back in order to turn and try to glare at him. "Saphirus-.." She paused, unable to complete the 'you are in so much trouble that I am using your full name to yell at you' expression- seeing as she only knew his first name. So, she switched tactics. "Saphirus, you put me down right now!" She didn't receive the proper response of being set back down on her feet, instead, she was ignored and talked over. He was busy telling her about what he intended to do to the owner of the shovel as he escorted her down the stairs and out into the garden. By the time they had reached it, Andrea had gone fairly limp with her legs simply hanging like a rag dolls, plainly glowering at everything they passed from behind him as he marched on.

She had tucked her elbow up and into his shoulder, and was currently resting her chin in her palm when he spoke up again... but not to her. The twenty two year old raised an eyebrow, wondering who on earth he was talking to (probably whoever this Smokey person was...). She craned herself around, caught sight of a very familiar Gardener, and paled considerably. Saph was talking to Martin... and Martin was talking back to Saph.... Thankfully he didn't really pay that much attention, hardly even looked up in fact. He simply pointed to a shovel at his side, informed Saph he could have that one, (so long as he had it back in the allotted time) and passed over a key to the gardening shed. Andrea had a new found respect for the man, who could do and say all of that without so much as a glance up from his work. She released a carefully withheld breath, and relaxed into Saph's shoulder- which, as she noticed, was quite muscular... A light blush creeped into her cheeks and she chased such thoughts away with few good swings from a mental broom...

"Thanks, pal."Saph nodded, picking up the shovel Martin gestured toward, and then grabbing the key. He headed toward the shed, happy that Andrea had stopped struggling. "Y'see? We'll get this all taken care of, and you won't have to worry about a thing, okay? Maybe we can get you some lunch afterward."

He imagined the look on this guy's face as he knocked the crap outa him with his own shovel. He imagined the guy was a big guy, ona them bikers with the bald head and big arms that thought they were more important than everyone else. He hated jerks like that. Saph reached the shed, but his arms were too full to open it. He sighed, and set Andrea down gently. "Now you don't run. We'll get this guy, and you will feel a lot better." He reached in to unlock the door, and pulled the shed open, eying a collection/pile of old shovels. He propped Martin's shovel against the door, and got right to work on the pile, forgetting that the gardeners tool was even there.

He lifted an old shovel, and compared it to Andrea's wound... nope, next! In less than a minute he had gone through half of them.

Her feet touched ground again and she breathed a sigh of relief, one that wasn't meant to last long however. She watching him quietly, following his 'Don't run' order without hesitation. For if she ran, it might draw attention back to the innocent gardener. Instead, she turned her attention to the abandoned shovel that Saph had left sitting by the door. It was the same shovel that had been introduced to her face not to long ago, that was for sure- and it was also the one Martin had handed Saph. She blinked as a different shovel was held up to her face for inspection- it was much to round to match, before Saph tossed it away and dove into a pile of others.

She shifted awkwardly every time one was compared, trying to keep her eyes from straying too long on Martins shovel, before Saph turned his back and she acted out on an impulse. Snatching the shovel up quietly, she turned and hefted it as high above her head as possible, in an attempt to chuck it into the nearby bushes. If there was no weapon, the would be no criminal. The case would go cold... and she could have that lunch he had spoken of- which her tummy reeeeally wanted now...

Saph was out of shovels. He stared at the pile of discarded digging instruments with a cross look on his face, and reached up slowly to scratch the back of his head. Could it be that there wasn't a single shovel in this mansion that matched the print on poor Andrea's forehead?

He sighed, placing his hands on his hips, and shaking his head at the pile. A sudden sharp poke on his back caused him to pause, and turn. Andrea was holding a shovel up high. "Oh, looks like I missed one! Thanks!" He plucked it out of her fingers, and held it up to her face, slowly smiling. "We got it! Gee, you're braver than I thought! I wouldn't have found this without you!" He patted her on the shoulder firmly, but not too firmly, and took a closer look at the shovel.

Wait a minute... Wasn't this the gardener's shovel? Cannibalism?! No, no, no! But it did mean that he knew who his culprit was... The older mutant's hands gripped the shovel tightly, and he looked over to Andrea. "You stay right here, okay? Your nightmare will be over soon, I promise." He gave a stiff nod, and then casually strolled out of the shed, heading straight for the gardener at a controlled, slow pace. He maneuvered himself behind the man, careful to try and look like he wasn't up to anything, and then pulled back the shovel, preparing to bring it down hard.