Lana nodded. "Yes, we shared a bed."
"And your sleep improved? I'm also concerned about your safety having to sleep with a silence globe. In a combat zone, it means something can sneak up on you."
Lana nodded, "I understand your concern but my tree tells me if there's a problem. In the case of that outing, the only issue was while we were awake and we dealt with it."
Blaine added in, "the problem would come in if we were in an environment where you couldn't put up a tree."
Lana nodded, "in that case, we'd be in a shelter and shouldn't need to worry about danger in the night."
"Actually, Lana," Doctor Cogito responded, "the higher-level planets may have shelters, it's not a guarantee, but they do get attacked in the night. Sleeping with a silence globe is quite dangerous. Do you mind if I prescribe you a sedative to help you sleep?"
Lana opened her mouth, closed it, took a deep breath, "yes, I do mind. If danger happened in the night, I'd still be in danger due to grogginess."
Blaine chimed in, "I know what will help. We'll go to the library after this. She'll be fine."
The doctor nodded. "I want you saying these affirmations three times a day for the next month. If you need me, I'm here."
Lana nodded, took the sheet of paper and the trio walked out.
Just as they got to the door, "Blaine, could I talk to you alone for just a moment?"
He let go of Lana's hand, "I'll be right back," and returned to the doctor.
"I have a lot of concerns here. She might become dependent on you. I need your thought on this."
"Doc, we are saving each other. We both have a lot of trauma and are helping each other. I can understand your concerns but right now we are not in a dependency. We are okay apart but we are stronger together. It would be easier if the danger against her was addressed but we still don't know all the specifics. I also don't know how much I should tell you. There is someone in this school who is working against her. I was taken off her help team in the name of my grandmother. They said she was against this but my grandmother is the one who told us to hold hands after that whole Star thing. It's hard to know who to trust and it's pushed us together even more."
The doctor's eyes grew serious. "I see. I want to do a test. If she and her roommate are okay with this, I want you to spend the night with her from tonight until the outing. Don't use the globe. Report back to me on Sunday with the results."
Blaine looked shocked, "but I'd get in trouble!"
The doctor typed a few things. Clicked here and there then typed rapidly. A few more clicks and Blaine's badge around his neck dinged. He looked at the badge in shock then looked back at the doctor.
"This was put in under doctor confidentiality. Noone can access this information for any reason except me. The sergeants need to accept it with no questions. This permission is set to expire after Sunday night. It's just an experiment."
Blaine nodded, thanked the doctor and left.
Outside the office, he grabbed Lana's hand and escorted her and her brother to the library. At the market computer, while looking for something specific, he explained to Lana and Dobin what the doctor said and showed him the badge. Lana smiled while Dobin frowned.
"I'm sorry, Lana. I'm such a horrible brother. I was so selfish."
"At least you know that now. It doesn't change the fact that you are my brother and I love you. Now, help me find a set of sai for Duff. Those basic tier are probably not going to cut it on the next outing. I'll let him try, though. I was also wrong. I thought I had 300 credits but I have 3,000. Maybe something will be used?"
Lana found a pair of level-4 sai for 4,500 credits. She clearly didn't have enough. Dobin gently pulled her chair back, "let me sit there."
He clicked add to cart then hit the shopping button once then typed level-4 dagger in the search bar. A LOT of options showed up. He narrowed the search to throwing and found a pair of fire and ice daggers. He added those to the cart, bought some plain level-4 arrows for Rene, and checked out.
He printed his receiver ticket then looked at Lana, "you aren't the only one who can use their own money to help the party out. It's about time your brother started acting like one." He stood up and went to get his packages.
Lana grinned at Blaine who just completed his own purchase and printed his ticket. "Let's go pick this up," he said with a smile.
After receiving their packages, Lana asked, "do you guys want to store those in my bracelet?" She made sure to keep her voice low. They looked at each other, removed the packaging, and handed the items over. Lana grinned broadly at what Blaine purchased. She didn't even want to think about the associated price tag.
Once they got to the tree, Lana gave Kattie her new daggers ensuring she knew they were from Dobin as well as the arrows for Rene.
She then saw the Super Kitchen was all packed up. "Any feedback on the kitchen?"
"It's perfect. We can work side-by-side and not be under foot." Kattie was the first to respond. Almin seconded what she said.
Lana sent a text message off to Paul to let him know.
[Super kitchen works great!]
He responded back pretty quick.
[Come do the commercial. I want it done before the outing if possible.]
[On my way.]
"Blaine, I need to go to Paul's room to cut the commercial."
He chuckled, "I'm going with you."
Lana turned to the others, "if we aren't back in time, wrap it up at 9. Make sure you are taking turns so you have appropriate rest in between to avoid injury."
Kattie laughed, "get out of here, moooom." She laughed even more.
Lana laughed as well and they left.
This time, Lana and Blaine both cut the commercial to demonstrate how well two people can work in such a kitchen. Just like with the previous one, they had clothing superimposed over their images. They demonstrated creating a whole meal with each doing their own part flawlessly. Blaine needed a lot of coaching but it was eventually done.
Curfew was 30 minutes away by the time they were done. They stopped by his room to get the things he'd need for the next day then went to her room. Lana needed to feed Kent. He wasn't eating as frequently but he was eating more in one sitting.
While she was feeding him, "Kattie, the doctor wants to do an experiment with my nightmares. Do you mind if Blaine spends the night for the next few nights? I'm supposed to sleep with him here until we leave with the globe turned off and see what happens with my nightmares. It might… impact your sleep."
"One: I'm glad you are getting help. Two: if it means Blaine needs to sleep here, that's fine. I sleep in PJs anyway. Three: if you have a nightmare, it will be just like before you had it and it's just a few days. Let's do this."
The trio sat down and did the night-time meditation. Blaine then informed them the affirmations started now as well.
"You want to do them with me?" Lana asked in shock.
"What do I not want to do with you?" Blaine grinned.
Lana giggled, "you are so good to me!"
She pulled out the sheet of paper she had placed in her bracelet. "It says to repeat three times a day, for 30 days, three phrases that best fit your situation and continue on from there the next 30 days."
They looked over the list together and decided on the three for this first 30-day period.
All together they said, "I am safe and surrounded by love and support," three times.
Next they said, "I am held and supported by those who love me."
And last, "I am open to healing."
As they said the very last word, curfew rang. At this time, they should have no boys in their room. They fully expected a sergeant to knock at any time. Lana decided to open the door and peek out in the hall. The same sergeant who stopped by when she was healing Blaine that time was standing there, seemingly trying to decide if he should knock.
"Uh, hi. Are you healing anyone at the moment?"
Lana smiled, "actually, could you come in for a moment?"
She shut the door behind the sergeant and brought him into the main area. "My doctor is running an experiment with me right now, starting tonight, to run until we leave for the portal, so Monday morning. He has given Blaine permission to stay in our room overnight for this period of time."
She nodded to Blaine to show his badge. The sergeant looked at it and nodded. "Thank you for letting me know. I take it you are all getting ready for bed?"
Lana nodded, "I was going to read for a bit longer. Kattie stays up a bit studying but I'll be putting down blankets for him to sleep and didn't want him being woken unnecessarily."
The sergeant nodded and made a note on his tablet of the temporary exception. "Alright! You guys get some rest. Don't stay up too late!" He then walked out leaving three smiling students.
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