[She really isn't; once Mike shows up, he can find her tucked away in the corner of the clinic, with a stack of paperwork that she's pretty sure is never ending.
[when Mike arrives, he's got two coffees and some fruit, balanced in his hands and arms like a pro. Though, when he sees Steph and the paperwork he can't help but make a face]
[he quirks a brief grin, because he did that as soon as he got to the cafeteria with his own cup. He pulls a chair over and sits down, putting an apple on the table, too]
[She gets that a little better, now, having spent so long in Exsilium feeling like she had to carry that Bat alone, with Robins that she needed to protect.
It's a different sort of perspective.]
I don't know why the hell we let Skyler anywhere near him in the first place, I knew she wasn't gonna be able to handle it.
[She had a little more hope for Jesse, since he kept his cool the last time Walter was here, but apparently she overestimated him.]
To be fair, it wasn't as if we were expecting him like that.
[hell, Mike didn't even know him back then. He takes another sip of coffee] But letting Skyler near him at all was a bad idea. Especially considering what she remembers last.
[She runs a hand through her hair, a little more roughly than is strictly necessary. It's a thing she does when frustrated.]
There's no way in hell I'd ever let my dad near my mom again, even if he was from one of the "good" times. [airquotes and all] And she's in a lot better place than Skyler is.
[ah. Mike frowns a little; he can understand that. He's saw some pretty bad shit during his time as a cop]
I hate to say it, but we're not going to be able to keep her away from him no matter what we do. She'll do it if she wants to, regardless of how bad an idea it is.
Usually it's my job to fuck everything up, I'm not used to being on the other side of it.
[That could be self-deprecating, but she's talking about the things she fucks up on purpose, messing with people's perfectly put together plans.
There's a reason she called herself the Spoiler.]
I think Jesse's past help. I hate to say it, but... [A shrug; it's gonna take more than they've got to get him out from under Walter.] Skyler might be a different story. And it'll make our lives a lot easier if she's coping better.
[self-deprecating or not, Mike's eyebrows go up] Well, good thing I was usually called in to "fix" things, huh.
["Fixer", "Clean-up", any other name you could give to what he did.
But he knows what she means about Jesse; he remembers, plain as day, telling the kid to get out while he still could. And he's only heard a little of what happened after that]
"Time heals" and all. But I don't know how long it'll take for that.
[With Saul thrown in as well, since he's definitely a problem solver.
She picks up her pen again, not to work on the paperwork, she just needs something to fuss with, flicking it between her fingers as she thinks.]
Jesse would probably just laugh at the suggestion, but maybe we could get Skyler to talk to an actual professional. We've got all of Earth's history at our disposal.
Page 56 of 107