The next day at breakfast there is a note from Cole on the table.
Gone on a hike. Back in 3 days. Might not have reception. -Cole
"It is considerate that he left us a note." Says Zane.
"What did you say to him?" Says Kai angrily while glaring at Jay.
"What? Why are you looking at me?"
Kai crosses his arms. "Well?"
Jay scoffs, "Well, um, I guess I did mention he should take some time for himself?"
"And now you've scared off another one.." Grumbles Kai.
"WHAT?! You don't seriously blame me for Lloyd?"
"You were the only one to speak with him." mutters Kai.
"Well maybe that's cause I'm the only one he wanted to talk to!" Jay regrets the words almost as soon as they're out of his mouth.
Kai slams the table and then storms out of the room. Jay is grateful today is a rest day, so he won't have to deal with Kai later.
"Can you believe him?" Asks Jay to Zane.
Zane looks completely unbothered by the display and says "Be ready to go in 10 minutes."
Jay looks at Zane with confusion, trying to compute what he just said. "It can't be a month already.."
"It is."
The drive to the city is done in silence. When Zane parks the car he says "we are here."
"Yeah.." Jay undoes his buckle, but doesn't open the door.
"Are you going in?" Asks Zane.
"Just give me a minute." Says Jay nervously, not making eye contact.
Zane waits most of a minute before saying "I could go in with you, if you want."
Jay fiddles with his hands, was that what he wanted? "If you did, you couldn't tell the others about it." He wanted some privacy relating to his new weakness.
"I won't tell the others, unless your life is in danger." Says Zane.
"Unless my life is in immediate danger." Clarifies Jay. "My life is always in some sort of danger."
Zane nods. "Agreed, so shall we go in?"
They sit together in the doctor's office. "So, last time I asked you to keep a log of your symptoms, and times you used the inhaler."
"Errr.." Jay pauses, he had forgotten about that. "I didn't make one.." he admits.
"Allow me." Says Zane who reaches for a notepad on the desk, ripping off the top sheet and taking a pen. He then quickly churns out a list of incidents including date, severity, medication use and trigger. He hands the sheet over to Jay for review. Jay blinks, surprised at the accuracy, which confirms just how much the other ninja must talk about him. Most of the triggers are listed as emotional, with one emotional/physical, and one thunderstorm. Jay takes the pen, squeezing in a line at the top for the scroll incident. His handwriting looks so messy next to Zane's smooth print. He hands it over to the doctor.
She scans it quickly. "Hmm, this is more than I'd hoped."
Jay looks down, feeling like he'd failed an assignment.
"But that's ok." She continues. "It gives us a starting point, something to track progress against." She smiles. "Now, most of these seem to be emotional, how did you get on with the psychologist?"
Shit, why did he let Zane come in again? "I, um, I wanted to see if I could handle it on my own."
The doctor gives a small sigh. "While the sentiment is noble, there is no shame in getting a bit of extra help. I can't force you to go, but it could be an extra tool in getting this under control." She gestures at the paper.
"I'll think about it." Lies Jay. Hoping that Zane will keep his mouth shut.
They spend the rest of the appointment discussing preventative medications, and filling in an asthma action plan. She writes Jay a script for a low dose preventer to see if it will make any difference. He is to take it each morning, and before exercise. He also gets a referral for another x-ray.
They stop off at the pharmacy, and then go to get ice cream. Jay picks at his, eating it slowly. "Thanks Zane. For coming with me again."
"It was my pleasure." Says Zane.
Jay sighs, "You're lucky, you don't have a human body that can get sick."
Zane considers the sentence for a moment before agreeing. "That is accurate. Disease seems terribly inconvenient."
Jay frowns, he was expecting a rebuttal, about how human bodies have their perks. Something had been a bit off about Zane lately. He had always been weird, but recently he seemed less emotional, less human?
"How are you feeling Zane?" Asks Jay, while trying to remember if he had checked in with Zane even once since the memorial.
"I am fine." Says Zane blandly. "All operations are within normal parameters."
Jay looks at Zane with mild concern. Something was definitely off, but he was stable.. Not glitching, speaking pirate, or sparks flying. Maybe this was just how nindroids grieve? Jay shrugs it off, maybe he'd speak to Pixal when she got back.
"Was there anything else you wanted to do in the city, or should we return to the monastery?" Asks Zane.
