"You're really cool, Christine. Like. Super cool."

"Oh boy, I think those pain meds are working extremely well. I probably should've just given you a Tylenol."

Casey waved a hand through the air like a Jedi doing a mindtrick. "No, nah, this is cool."

Christine smiled. "You really like that word."

Casey laughed. "Right now, yeah. Did you like Stephen? I think he like likes you." It sure seemed like he did. "What do you see in him?"

"Kiddo, maybe we should talk about that some other time," Christine said, her eyebrows raised. She glanced away and then focused back on Casey. "Did he say he likes me or something?"

"Nooo, it's just—" Casey fluffed her fingers through her blue and black hair. She examined a lock of it. Huh, she needed more dye. "I can tell."

"I never could," Christine mumbled, or that's what Casey thought she said. "Stephen's not texting back. I have to go check on some other patients, will you be okay in here by yourself?"

"Yes, nice. I almost fell into the scary nightmare basement with the laundry, so I'm pretty tired. Might nap." Casey smiled and nodded, bobbing her head in time to music that she wasn't sure was actually in the room. Was her phone going off? Nope. Hmm. The walls were an ugly shade of blue grey and there weren't any pictures. It was better than the basement in the Sanctum. "I don't like the basement. You guys should decorate in here."

"I'll mention it to the board of directors," Christine said, a bit of a smile on her face. "I guess you're feeling better, at least."

"Loads." Casey bounced her foot against the pillow it was resting on.

Christine made a face at her. "Stop that. It's not magically healed, it's still sprained. Be careful with it." An x-ray had shown that Casey's ankle wasn't broken but the sprain was, according to Christine, severe. Casey felt like it was severely better now that she was on pain meds. She brushed Casey's hair out of her face, her touch gentle and kind and like a mom's. Or what Casey thought that would feel like. "I'll be right back, okay?"

"Hey, wait," Casey said as Christine started to leave. She pushed up on her elbow. "Thank you, Christine. For being cool and nice and stuff."

"You're welcome. Get some rest, and don't move around. No magic."

She saluted. "No magic, no moving. Got it." Once Christine was gone, she flopped back onto the gurney, one arm behind her head to act as a pillow. It had been a long day. And she could still hear music. Where was Stephen? Maybe he was never coming back. No, he'd come back for her.

Casey wasn't sure when she fell asleep, but she woke up to muffled voices on the other side of the door.

"-just a kid. You don't even like kids! And you adopted one? What were you thinking?"

"It's more complicated than that—"

'Don't drag her into your crazy magic world, Stephen. Don't do that to her."

"It's not like I planned this."

Casey swung her legs over the side of the bed. There was a twinge of pain from her sprained ankle, but it was ignorable. Tolerable. Yay pain meds. Why were they fighting? Personally, Casey felt like Christine didn't totally understand, but she appreciated that Christine cared. That was nice.

"I can hear you!" she called, "Through the door. It's just a door. It's not soundproof." Maybe she should eavesdrop or something, but she honestly didn't want to hear them argue. At least not about her. It seemed like it was about her.

As she slid off the table and landed on her good foot, the door opened.

Christine sighed. "I told you not to move around."

"I'm not around, I'm right here," she said, patting the table.

Stephen narrowed his eyes at her and crossed his arms over his chest. "Do you listen to anyone?"

Casey rested her hip against the exam table. "When I feel like it?" She exaggerated a yawn and rubbed one eye. "Where'd you go?"

"I was doing some research in Kamar-Taj."

"You didn't ask me if I wanted to go to Kathmandu." Casey wiggled her fingers at him. "Not fair. Not cool."

Stephen rolled his eyes at her while Christine looked back and forth between the two of them, incredulous. She poked Stephen's shoulder hard. "You let her go to Kathmandu like you're going to the corner store?"

"Not often," Stephen said, trying to defend himself. "Not on school nights."

Casey shrugged. "You do when I don't have a lot of homework."

Christine gasped and poked Stephen again. "Oh my God, who even let you become her guardian—"

"It's okay, Christine, sometimes we just go to California. We went to Canada for poutine last week," Casey said. "No big deal."

Christine's blue eyes cut at Stephen. "You're brainwashing her into thinking that's normal, just so you know."

Stephen frowned. "That's a stretch. And we live in a world with mythological figures and men in robotic armor suits and potential android overlords. A lot of weird things are considered normal now, Christine."

"Going to Canada for gravy fries on a whim shouldn't be normal."

"Sooooo you guys don't date because you fight a lot, right?" Casey asked. That shut both of them up. "Yeah, you should work on that. Get counseled." She gingerly put her injured foot on the ground, testing it out. They reached toward her.

Stephen grabbed her by the elbow while Christine took her other arm. With the two of them holding on to her, she didn't have to put weight on her foot.

"She's stubborn," Christine said over her head to Stephen.

He huffed. "I hadn't noticed."

Casey giggled and leaned against Stephen. "You're like human crutches."

"What did you give her, Christine?"

"I gave her a painkiller since her foot is sprained because you let her put on evil magic shoes—"

"Hold on, I didn't let her—"

"Don't fight, please," Casey said, looking up at Stephen. She nudged him with her elbow. "I think she's cooler than you and I like her, so don't fight with her. It worsens your chances and they're already pretty bad."

"My chances for what?"

Was he purposefully not paying attention—she started to explain that Christine might like him too, but Christine cut in. "Can you only portal into the janitor's closet or can you portal from here?"

In answer, Casey balanced her weight away from Stephen, freeing him up so he could use his sling ring. A second later there was a glowy-glowy portal in front of them.

Casey bumped against Christine. "Can you come over sometime and we can make real food?"

Stephen shot her a glare. "Casey Kinmont, you're making it seem like I don't feed you—"

"DoorDash and the bodega feed me."

"I provide perfectly good cereal and sandwiches."

"Please, Christine," Casey said.

"Oh, I'll definitely be over to check on you," Christine said. She squeezed Casey's arm as Stephen turned back toward them. "Seriously, you need to do less world-traveling during the week." She turned her attention toward Stephen and pointed a finger at him. "Take better care of her."

"I'm trying."

"Perfect," Casey said, giggling again at Stephen's exasperated expression. She reached her hand out to him, and he helped her over to the portal. "Bye, Christine. Nice to meet you."

"Bye, Casey," Christine said, "Stephen, I'll see you later."

"Goodbye, Christine. And thank you again," he said, his gaze lingering on her.

Casey leaned against his side, tilting her head back to look up at him. Wow, those were some ooey-gooey eyes. "Oh my gooosh, you like her so much, it's like, whoa."

Stephen spluttered, wrapped an arm around her waist, and hauled her through the portal while Christine covered her face with both hands. "Told you!" Casey yelled at Christine before the portal closed and Stephen extra-grounded her.