The doctor grunted and nodded. "There's a woman here...says she's his mother." He wrinkled his nose slightly and shrugged. "The boys never once mentioned a mother, and after his father I don't quite trust the woman. Plus I wouldn't put it past a tavern customer to try and get the boy to themselves," he admitted before poking his head into the boys room. He was awake, just drawing...good. or maybe not good. Time would tell. "you've got a visitor. Says she's your mother," he muttered, upon which sage snorted. "My mother's dead," he replied shortly, never looking up from the paper. The doctor sighed and nodded. "just come talk for a moment and we'll figure it out." Sage groaned but got up, huffing "she gets five minutes" as he walked out the door.

Mari nodded quietly to the man.. well, Sage hadn't actually said anything about the woman to her, but surely that meant she couldn't have been awful, right? That was her process of thinking anyway. What she'd gathered, though, the woman was dead... so it was interesting to see how this would play out. She didn't say anything, though... she'd just be there if he needed to be sat down to take a breath, she could do that while the doctor got rid of the woman... it might have to be that way if, as the doctor said, the boy got violent.

The doctor led sage into the kitchen, where he sort of just leaned against the wall and stared at the woman, face cold. "Well? Talk," he all but hissed. The doctor gave him a warning look as the woman blinked in surprise and went on a whole ramble about how she was his mom and...well he wasn't really listening. "She's dead. You're not my mother. I heard you flap your mouth, so now you can go," he growled, turning towards the door. The wan shot up from her seat to stand up and block the doorway, assuring him she was his mother. Something flashed in his eyes then, as he got furious. "I think I know what I saw," he hissed. "Dad smashed her head against the damn floor. You don't survive getting your head crushed. And you definitely don't live once the rats have scattered your bones across the street. I know she's dead." He took a step forward then, towards the woman. "And if you don't leave right now you're going to get the same fate. Your skull looks like it'd be easy to crush against this door," he spat. The woman scrambled back as he lept at her, and the doctor lept for him to keep him from chasing the woman down. He thrashed about, though once she was out of sight, he just sort of collapsed back into the doctors chest, exhausted and remembering things he did not want to remember.

Mari perched on the side of a table as she listened to the woman talk... she wasn't listening either, more like she was just watching as Sage just seemed to get more and more and more worked up as the woman blabbered on. She must have used every word under the sun to make him believe that she was who she was saying she was, but Sage had made it... very clear that she was lying. Though, Mari had to admit she was almost a little scared of the boy... of what he was thinking once he'd threatened the woman. She kind of rushed over to the window once she was out of sight, and all Mari could see was a very angry-looking woman out in the garden, staring back at her through the window... it was almost scary to see. She kind of quivered before going back to sitting on the table... she didn't know what to say to him, but just being in the doctor's arms seemed to help the boy.

After a moment of silence the doctor slowly let go of Sage, who sort of just stood there, seemingly in a daze. His head was spinning, and he looked like he could fall over if someone breathed in him. The doctor sighed and took his hand before tugging him back in the direction of his room, knowing the boy would feel at least a bit better curled up in his own bed. Besides, it would get him away from the window, where he was staring in the direction of the woman...that certainly wouldn't help anybody. He gestured for Mari to follow if she so pleased...her presence did seem to calm the boy a bit too, so she'd be useful, especially if the boy got that upset again. Sage curled up in a ball on his bed once he got back, and just sort of put his back to the world and stared at the wall, completely lost in his own thoughts by then...it was clear he was, too.

Mari kind of pursed her lips when the man asked her to come along. In truth, she wasn't sure if she'd be much help at all... she wasn't doing very much, but she'd come along if the doctor thought she'd be of use. She followed them along to the doctor's ward, then went to sit down in the chair next to the bed. She kind of felt like she didn't have much of a right to be there right then... to have been there when this woman claimed to be his mother. It wasn't her place... but he would have asked her to leave if he disliked her presence. She watched the doctor go before her eyes fell back on Sage... he looked so lost in his little world, and she wasn't sure that world was a nice place to be. She sighed and placed a soft hand on his shoulder where he was laying, clearly not entirely sure about what to do. "Are you okay?" She whispered, though she already kind of knew the answer to that one.

Sage just sort of lay there as the doctor sighed and walked out, probably to see if he could find something to help. He was dimly aware of the girl sitting down next to him, and putting her hand on his shoulder ...though it took so much effort to give a response, even if it was just a small whine. He thought it was pretty obvious that he really wasn't, but he appreciated the girl all the same. He sort of reached his hand over slowly to hold the girls hand. Well, not really hold....he didn't really have a grip. But her holding him was a bit calming, so reaching for her hand was something he could do to reach for any kind of help he could find.

Mari frowned when he went to hold her hand... he just seemed so feeble right then, and she really felt awful for him. She didn't know what his relationship with his mother had been like... but it had to have been a whole lot better than the one he'd had with his father if that was how he reacted to the whole thing. She gave a soft nod, kind of understanding his little whine even if it was wordless, and took a tighter hold of his hand, since it didn't seem like he had the energy to do that for himself. She moved to perch on the edge of the bed, and ran her other hand lightly through his hair... she didn't know what he was thinking, but if sitting in the quiet helped him, then so be it.

Sage was glad when the girl tightened her hold on his hand and moved onto the bed. He did appreciate the girl ...Anya would try to help, but she never understood it all well enough to get why he was so tired or whatever. Mari seemed like she understood at least a little bit better than Anya...or at the very least, didn't take his feelings personally like Anya did. Anya had always felt like it was up to her to keep him happy, and if he wasn't happy then she was failing, and that wasn't right of course. Mari just wanted to help...and having her here was helping. He closed his eyes when she started running her fingers through his hair, and eventually drifted off to sleep. It was a rough sleep, and he started shuddering almost right away, letting out tiny whines and whimpers occasionally...but it was better than getting lost in his own thoughts while he was conscious. At least he knew these were only dreams...flashes of things that happened combined with weird things that had never happened and we're never likely to happen, but were terrifying all the same.

Mari gave a kind of half smile when the boy drifted off to sleep... he couldn't hurt himself if he was asleep, and he couldn't hurt anyone else, either. She sat with him for about another half hour, just fiddling with his hair and running her thumb over the back of his hand... just trying to comfort him the best she could while he shuddered and flinched in his sleep. He certainly needed the rest, though. His quiet whines in his sleep just saddened her... he was having a rough time, she could tell as much, so she didn't want to leave... but she also wanted to go collect his surprise. She could give it to him tomorrow, it might cheer him up a little bit... but it wasn't too late in the day just get, so she content to sit with him a little bit longer until he'd managed to get himself into a deeper sleep.