"I've been through a lot," Raven argued. "I can lay in bed all day if I want."

"Oh, my," Missy said as she saw the panda. It wasn't clear if she was happy to see it or not.

Bee stood the screen up. Wolfe's typically stoic face was on the screen though to Raven, he looked more than a little annoyed as a few veins in his forehead were popping out more than usual.

"You want to hold her?" Lucy asked, "She's like a big, lazy cat."

"Bee woke you up," Raven noted for the record.

"Uh, that's alright," Missy said with a smile. She didn't seem like she was afraid to. She just preferred not to.

Wolfe sighed, "What on terra are you doing?" he asked, "Why did Bee call me and put you on?"

Lucy shrugged, "You want to see something specific?" she asked.

"For no conceivable reason," Raven replied smoothly.

Missy shook her head. "I was just wandering," she replied.

Wolfe looked around the room for a moment. Bee was sitting off in the corner, watching the show. "How badly did Laurel injure you?" he inquired suddenly.

"Do you have any hobbies?" Lucy asked, petting Rosemary.

Raven blinked, wondering why Wolfe asked. "... Uh... Well, she managed to bruise most of my body," he replied.

"Uh, not to many," Missy replied.

Wolfe's face showed a flutter of relief and then went back to not showing any emotion as he watched Raven for a long awkward moment. "Have you been in bed for the last 24 hours?" he asked calmly.

"What's your favorite one?" she inquired.

Raven blinked a few times. "... Yes," he replied.

Missy sighed a little. "I don't know."

Wolfe stared at Raven for a moment, "When I was 12 I broke ten bones in my body and was back up walking in 2 days..." and proceeded to give Raven a list of all the injuries he had had and how fast the recovery was. "And Kale was just shot three times in the back last night. He's fighting for his life in bed while you're just moping about how it might kill you to move. He might actually die so get up and live your life." with an implied, wuss at the end. There was actual pain in Wolfe's eyes. Pain at what was happening to his 'family' and pain because he could do nothing about it.

Lucy blinked, "Really?"

Raven seemed to grow nauseous as the list continued on. But the end threw him completely off guard. He stared blankly at the screen for a few long moments. "... I'm sorry," he told Wolfe honestly. "I didn't know... But there's nothing more I can do." He frowned as a little anger came into his voice. "I'm not moping about about his it might kill me to get out of bed. I worked my ass off, I got beat up, and now I'm taking a break. And sitting in bed is how I choose to live my life today so I'll be more rested and prepared to handle whatever the terra else life's gonna throw at me tomorrow."

Missy shrugged. "Work takes up most of my time."

Wolfe stared at Raven silently for a moment before cussing and running a hand threw his long hair to get it out of his face. "Sorry." he muttered, "I shouldn't have taken it out on you." he glanced back at Raven. "Do whatever you want with your life, I don't mean to tell you how to live it." There was chaos beginning in the background and Wolfe looked away for a moment.

Lucy blinked, "Work?"

Raven blinked at the screen, waiting for Wolfe to explain or hang up.

Missy nodded.

Wolfe stared back at Raven, "I'm glad you seem to be healing up fine. It's clear your head and tongue weren't injured at all. I'd be a loss to humanity if that priceless face and know-it-all mouth were lost. I'll call you later." he teased though the pain remained in his eyes, and with that he abruptly hung up. Bee snorted in the background.

"What kind of work?" Lucy asked.

Raven shook it off before shifting a little and closing his eyes again.

"It's a secret for now," Missy replied.

Laurel was starting to move around on the bed. After another minute or two her eyes slowly blinked open and she groaned, rolling over onto her side.

Lucy's eyes widened, "Why? Is it something... bad?"

Nic didn't do anything to speed up Laurel's morning wake up routine. He was sitting at his desk, doing something complicated on his computer like usual.

Missy chuckled a little. "It's probably not what you're thinking," she explained. "What I do is only scary for bad people." She winked a little.

Laurel eventually sat up and looked around. She blinked as she spotted Nic and yawned, "Shooting guns is harder than it looks." she commented in a voice harsher than usual, "My shoulder's practically frozen stiff." she complained as she tried to rotate it and winced.

Lucy seemed a bit relieved, "Well... would you like to go swimming?" she asked.

"Hmm..." Nic noted, still staring at his computer. A few moments later he added, "You could probably get some treatment for it."

Missy chuckled a little. "I saw the swimming pool. I'm thinking about going sometime after lunch."

Laurel made a face, "I'm not a weakling." she retorted before getting out of bed and going over to him. "What are you doing anyway?" she asked as she plopped down beside him.

"Can I join you?" Lucy asked eagerly.

Nic put some time into trying to come up with an explanation. But he gave up. "Housekeeping," he decided.

Missy shrugged. "Sure."

Laurel blinked then tapped her feet against the ground for a moment, staring at her lap. "So are you mad?" she asked bluntly.

Lucy looked terribly excited, "You're really sweet!" she suddenly gushed, "How can you stand to hang around black Dominic? You're like another Laurel!"

Nic was silent as the computer screen slowly started to look less hectic until there were only a few windows. "... I don't think so," he replied as he stood.

Missy smiled kindly, not terribly sure how to take that.

Laurel continued to tap her feet, "But you're not sure."

Lucy didn't seem to notice as she played with Rosemary.

Nic frowned a little. "... I don't spend time thinking about how I'm feeling..." he tried to explain.

"Well it matters to me, Dominic!" Laurel snapped back with a frown, still staring at her lap.

Nic blinked. "... I've been trying," he explained further. "I'm not that good... I don't think I'm mad at you; it's a lot to take in."

Laurel seemed to relent as she sighed and leaned back on the couch. "Yeah..." she muttered in agreement, "It's a terra of a lot to take in." She paused before changing the subject, "So how'd your trip go? Did you get everything done you needed to?" she glanced back up at him, eyes calm once more.

"... No," he replied bluntly as he went over to the cabinet and grabbed a towel.

Laurel snorted lightly, "Then why did you come back?"

"Something went wrong, didn't it?" he asked as he slung the towel over his shoulder and pulled off his socks.

"But you could have hardly known that." Laurel replied, "Who's the girl anyway? You seem to have lots of pretty girl friends." Her tone was a bit odd as she crossed her legs on the couch. "I do feel bad for the way I treated her yesterday." she sighed.

Nic blinked, not competently getting it. "... She noticed the tour had been canceled early," he explained as he started walking toward the bathroom. "And I knew that could only mean something happened. So we came here."

"I don't know if anything happened to them, but it was Akil, my cousin, who came and took my father away. They must have found out about it and rethought their plans. Akil found us too easily." she stated as a matter-of-fact as she played with a loose string on her pants, "Part of me wants to get up and go to the Okorie and get my father back right now. But I know that's stupid." she mused, "And I know you'll help me deal with my family... So I'll wait."

[[blah, Laurel ordered me to change it. I was a bit too tired last night. xP]]

Laurel hadn't asked a question so Nic didn't reply as he walked in the bathroom, leaving the door open a crack in case Laurel felt like asking any more questions as he turned on the water to take a shower.

Laurel was silent for awhile as Nic showered, "I'm glad you're back." she said just loud enough for him to hear before she left the room quietly.

Laurel went straight to Raven, she asked a girl where he was on the way and presently opened to door to the infirmary with a slightly pained expression. Bee had already left.

Raven was snoozing on and off.

Laurel took a seat beside Raven, watching him for a moment before suddenly reaching over and pulling up his shirt.

"Stop, Aaron," Raven mumbled quietly from his semi-sleep state before slowly waking up. "Huh?" he asked as his eyes tried to focus on Laurel.

Laurel looked over the bruising before pulling Raven's shirt back down and tucking the blanket around him, "You should have knocked me out." she muttered a bit angrily to him before she leaned over and kissed him gently on the lips, "I'd never want to hurt my fake boyfriend." she explained as she brushed the hair from his eyes. Her tone was a bit harder than usual but her eyes expressed her typical concern.