"Ellen?" Remy said, walking in and seeing the large tiger sitting up, head held halfway up as if it were tired, and eyes half closed. The bandages were laying, blood stained and strewn on the floor. "What are ya doin' chere? Ya need t' rest."
"Got tired," Ellen said drowsily. "Of resting; too much sleep." Remy arched an eyebrow and then jumped up onto the table next to her, grinning.
"Tired o' too much sleep?" he repeated. Ellen growled.
"It can happen, when doctors use tranquilizers," she said. Remy's purple eyebrows furrowed.
"Jean's been slippen' ya drugs?" he repeated. Ellen lowered her head onto her front paws.
"To keep me down..." she said, her lips curling into a smile at the edges, a strange sight for such a large tiger, "I was bugging her too much... wouldn't lie down still long enough for her to change the bandages, ha ha."
"Where is de doctor now?" Remy asked, looking around. One of Ellen's eyes opened fully and focused on him, then her shoulders shrugged.
"Away? Out of the room?" she guessed, then sighed as her eyes closed. Remy patter her head.
"Well, how is de healin' goin'?" Remy asked, looking at the scabbing wounds that covered her body.
"Going?" Ellen repeated, eye opening again. "Don't ask... I think tigers are slower at healing than humans."
"It's not going to well den?" Remy said.
"It hurts. A lot." Ellen said, just as Jean walked in.
"Remy Kurt LeBeau, what are you doing in here?" the doctor demanded. Ellen sighed.
"Jus' talkin," Remy said. "You haven' let me see 'er in days!"
"She needs her rest!" Jean said.
"I'm tired of sleeping," Ellen said.
"She's right, you know," Hank said, walking in behind Jean. Jean turned to smile at Hank when he spoke again. "She might do better with a little exercise, she had been sleeping a lot lately."
"But her wounds haven't even scabbed over completely, and she's destroyed the bandages once again," Jean pointed out. Unnoticed by anyone Ellen had become human again, and she opened her mouth to speak while the doctors continued to discuss whether or not she would be allowed to get up when Remy shushed her quietly.
"Let de doctors t'ink 'bout it, den talk," he whispered, helping Ellen sit up next to him. The black and white haired girl smiled at him and then looked back at Jean and Hank, who seemed to have finally reached a decision.
"Stay until the wounds heal a little more, then you can get up, alright?" Jean said. Ellen rolled her eyes and leaned back slightly.
"I can get up," Ellen said scornfully.
"Well you won't," Hank replied. "Not if you want to stay safe, the injuries you sustained are not to be take lightly at all-"
"Have you done any blood transfusions or anything?" Ellen interrupted.
"No, why?" Jean asked.
"Because I'm feeling kind of dizzy," Ellen said, blinking. Jean walked over and put a hand on her head.
"I was right, you need more rest," the doctor said decided, moving away.
"Huh, big surprise," Ellen mumbled. "Should've kept my- (yawn) - mouth shut... I'm sooo tired."
"Now you're overplaying the part," Jean said, hands on hips as Remy got off the table and smiled while Ellen lay down and pulled out a typical white more-sheet-than-blanket cover up to her chest and lay down. "What are you up to?"
"Nothing," Ellen said, her purple eyes getting big and round. Jean looked over at Hank and sighed.
"Are you sure you're not related?" she asked. "Because I get that same look for you a lot."
"I don't honestly know," Hank shrugged. "I was waiting for Ellen to wake before I asked-"
"She's awake now," Remy pointed out.
"She's right here," Ellen pointed out, sitting up. "What? You want blood? Fine, take it, I don't care."
"No!" Jean said. "She's lost enough from her wounds, no blood samples until she's recovered! And you need to go back to sleep," she added.
"Hey, I was half asleep until purple head came in and blinded me with that neon hair of his," Ellen said.
"Everyone out," Jean said, grabbing Remy and Hank's arms and pushing them towards the door.
"De fille sure seems t' 'ave recovered enough t' talk better," Remy muttered.
"Hush young Remy," Hank said as they left. As soon as they were gone Jean turned and found Ellen staring at her, the blanket on the floor. Jean sighed.
"What?" Ellen said. "Not going to give me some tranqs to make me sleep?"
"You asked for those," Jean said. "Would you like some?"
"Will it help pass the time?"
"Probably."
"Ok."
Ellen's eyes snapped open, pupils dilating as her tail swished out behind her and she rose on the table top, stretching and then wincing, waiting for the intense pain she hid to lace through her body. The pain never came. Confused Ellen turned to look for her injuries, but the movement set off the lights, which temporarily blinded her.
"Dr. Summers?" Ellen said, shaking her head and backing up a couple steps, forgetting she was on a raised surface and stepping onto air, immediately falling and hitting the floor with a huge THUMP! Rolling over Ellen sneezed, which seemed to clear her senses enough for her to look at her legs, paws, body and tail and see... nothing. White and black stripped fur, like it had been before she attempted to save three teenagers and a furry blue guy.
"Huh?" Ellen voiced as she started to shrink. Within moments she was the human Ellen, also unmarked by bullet wounds that had been there earlier. No more pain either... well, besides the small impact from hitting the floor as a couple hundred pound feline. Suddenly Ellen smiled and reached to her neck, pulling on a black cord that lay hidden underneath her shirt. The only decoration on the necklace of horse hair was a white stone, long and thin like a needle.
The stone only had one mark of any kind on it; a black stripe running length-wise on the back, matching Ellen's hair and fur."Thanks gramps," she whispered.