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xp_logs2005-05-14 07:41 pm
x-cable.livejournal.com) wrote in xp_logs2005-05-14 07:41 pm
More scenes from the reception
Nathan finds himself on the receiving end of a very special pair of gifts from Moira and her family, and is a bit dazed by the implications. Haroun gives him a friendly kick in the rear or two.
Sitting at the head table - Moira was off greeting some of her colleagues who'd made the trip up for the wedding - Nathan fingered the Kinross tartan sash, fastened at his shoulder by the clan badge, and tried to stop his mind from going in circles.
And he couldn't stop staring at the sword lying across the table in front of him. He should have known Moira had something in mind she wasn't sharing, he'd almost sensed her giggling over the secret...
Haroun, free temporarily from the duties of ducking Domino and indulging Alison, plopped himself down in the empty chair next to Nathan. "Nice sword." he said, looking at the ancestral blade but not touching it. "And it was a purely lovely ceremony. For a Western barbarian, anyway." he grinned, teasing his friend.
Nathan smiled a bit hesitantly, reaching out and resting a hand on the hilt of the sword. "I can't believe she did that," he said softly. "Which is ironic, because I got the distinct impression that every Scotsman in the place was expecting it."
They had just been sitting down to dinner when Moira had risen, gesturing Billie over. In a clear, ringing voice that had made her sound very much the Clan Chief, moving between Gaidhlig and English for the benefit of their non-Scottish guests, she'd given him the sash and the sword. The sash, as a symbol of his acceptance into the clan, and the family sword as a symbol of his duty to protect her and their child. It was a centuries-old ritual, she'd informed the guests, and one 'verrae much worth preserving'.
So he was a Kinross.
"I can." he said with a grin. "I'm guessing by that my-brain-just-melted look that we've all come to know and love that it hasn't really sunk in yet?" he teased lightly. "Scots - they could almost be Moors at times." he said approvingly.
"I know that's a compliment." He ran a hand down the scabbard of the sword, shaking his head. It was old, he could tell that much just from the look of it. Old and beautiful and possessed of entirely too much signifiance... or maybe just enough.
"I shouldn't..." He stopped, trying to find the words. "I shouldn't be so... taken aback by this, I suppose. I've always believed that you can choose your family and love them as much as if you shared blood with them. But this..."
"You're right, you shouldn't. Didn't those ghosts in your head teach you _anything_?" he asked. "You got a whole new set of responsibilities now - and might I add far more important ones. Husband and father. And that's setting aside how much importance you want to put on all this pageant and theater with Moira's Clan."
Nathan rolled his eyes at him. "You're not getting it," he protested good-humoredly. "None of this changes the new responsibilities - nothing could, even if I wanted it to, which I don't." He leaned back in the chair, adjusting the sash. "But they mean it," he said, a bit frustrated by how he seemed unable to get across what he meant to Haroun. "Even the ones that don't like me, like Moira's grandmother. I could feel it. I'm not doing what I have to do as... just me, anymore. I'm part of them. My d--my child's going to be part of them, and that means I am too, and I just... didn't expect that," he said lamely.
Haroun blinked and grinned. "Was that a telling little slip I just heard there? Don't worry, your secret is safe with me." he laughed. "And of course they mean it! To them, it's the continuation of a line centuries old. Sort of like that little Don keeps whining about." he said. "You get to decide to what degree you want to honor it. Clan structures are notoriously unfriendly to Ds." he teased.
"Not to this D," Nathan said stoutly. "Look at the mother and role model..." He paused, shaking his head. "It's just... very strange," he said more quietly. "To think that part of what made me brush off the importance of this sort of thing..." He reached out to touch the sword again. "Well, that it might have been because I wanted it and never thought I could have it." He hesitated again. "'I am a part of all that I have met'," he quoted softly. "But I was missing some of the pieces most people have to build on."
Haroun shrugged. "Maybe. Way I scan it, you got, what, forty or fifty more years to figure it all out? Listen to Moira, she'll teach you everything you ever wanted to know about family. And now that you're going to have your own - now's your shining chance to actually be a father to your child, and not do what your folks did to you." he said urgently. "Assuming you don't bleed out in an alley somewhere on an op on the ass end of nowhere."
"Appreciate the caveat," Nathan said with a wry chuckle, but the wryness faded, and he looked around, his expression hard to decipher. "I don't think I've ever been this happy in my life," he said, almost in bewilderment. "I just... it's almost too much." He looked back at Haroun, a smile breaking over his features again. "Now I'm half-afraid that my head will explode the day Moira gives birth."
"It had better not!" he laughed. "She'd find a way to clone you or something so she could kick your ass herself. And hey, man. You deserve a little happy in your life. Let's face it, you've had one helluva run. Government assassin, mercenary, X-Man, teacher, friend ... and now husband. Soon to be father. Enjoy the rewards while they're there, man. It's a cruel world, and you need to stop and appreciate what you have while you have it." He got a little distant as he spoke, and inside his mind he was remembering his own failure to do what he was speaking of.
Nathan caught the turn of thought and nudged Haroun's shoulder. "Hey," he said sternly. "The same right back at you." His smile came back. "Although, if you forget to stop and smell the roses I'm sure she'll remind you."
Haroun smiled. "Hey, I'm here, aren't I? I'm getting better, honest." he said. "And speaking of the flowers to be smelled, I should probably go track her down and risk a system crash with another turn around the floor."
"Go, trip the light fantastic." Nathan smiled, shaking his head. "Just going to catch my breath for a minute here," he murmured, and touched the sword again.
"Take as long as you need." he said, his real meaning evident. "Enjoy yourself, Mr Kinross. You've earned it!"
Nathan gets along with Rory's replacement much better than he did with Rory. He and Curt banter, prove that men can be catty too, and eventually raise their glasses to the Kinross women.
"I think," Nathan pronounced, taking a healthy sip of his punch, "I could very easily develop claustrophobia." As huge as the 'audience' had seemed out during the ceremony, pack them into the reception area and suddenly there seemed to be this solid mass of people. He grinned at Curt. "And I'm entirely too big to crowd-surf easily, even without this." He gave his cane a tap.
Curt snorted very softly into his own cup--this one spiked just a little bit with some rum--before taking a sip. "If you were healthy, Nathan," he said, quirking an eyebrow, "then your telekinesis would be able to handle your weight just fine. But in your current state? The last thing I wish to do during your wedding is play doctor because you inadvertently squished your wedding guests."
"I topple over entirely too easily when I'm not recovering from a broken back," Nathan said sagely. "Ask Moira about how often I fell on her during the first few months of our relationship." Curt was raising an eyebrow at him, and Nathan grinned. "Seriously. Like a toppling tree, on a regular basis. She and some of the others back at the mansion used to joke about putting me on a bungee cord." He took another sip of his punch. "Back when my precog was giving me such trouble," he said in explanation, more quietly.
"Ah, yes, that would do it. I've read your medical file." Curt caught the look and gave Nathan another small smile. "The unlocked parts of it, anyway. Moira has that thing under enough passwords and coded entries that one would guess that you were worth more than Fort Knox. And at least you still have all your original pieces." Holding up his other arm, he glanced at the missing appendage wryly. "I hear our beloved leader of Muir Island has a thing for damaged employees."
"No," Nathan corrected immediately, "she has a thing for highly intelligent coworkers with a knack for persevering through difficulties. Which... actually, doesn't explain Rory." He paused, then gave Curt a not-at-all repentant look. "Sorry. I shouldn't be that nasty at my own wedding, should I?"
"If you can't be petty and sarcastic about people who yearned after your wife at your own wedding, when can you?" Curt asked innocently, pausing for a second to kiss his own wife as she sped by, barely more than a flash of red hair in the crowd. "Women at weddings, scary, scary thing aren't they?"
"Scary, and yet, oddly wonderful," Nathan said, watching Dom dance by with GW, beaming. "This is kind of a remarkable experience from a telepath's standpoint." None of Moira's less pleasant relatives were close enough to hear. "This kind of atmosphere... it's almost intoxicating."
"Every once in a while, I wish I had your gift," came the quiet response as Curt turned his eyes towards the crowd. "But it's hard enough in the world we live in being a "cripple", much less a mutant. Gift, curse all rolled up into one not so neat little package." He cleared his throat. "What are your plans now?"
"We're leaving in the morning for Tuscany," Nathan said with a smile, having been looking forward to that since the moment he'd made the hotel reservations. "Can't be away for as long as we'd like, because there are final exams to deal with back at the school. But we should have a nice stretch of time to relax in the Chianti Valley and tell the world to go away for a while." He rested his hand on his chin, still smiling. "We're well-overdue for a break, both of us."
"I'll say, from the sounds of it you lot are due for one bloody long vacation." Curt paused and wrinkled his nose slightly. "Good grief, they're starting to rub off on me. God help me if I develop a burr to my words, my wife would never leave me alone then."
"A lot's happened... well, this whole last year, but the last few months especially." Nathan didn't elaborate. "But," he went on more briskly, "here we are." Finally. "I'd have been just as happy to have our honeymoon here," he confessed, his lips twitching. "I love Muir. But I knew damned well that if I didn't get her away from the clinic, she'd find excuses to work, honeymoon or no honeymoon."
"And I highly doubt I would have been much of a deterrent in the way of getting her out of the labs," Curt responded truthfully. "On top of the fact that my family and I live here and, really, for your honeymoon you should get away from it all. Including two hyperactive children with a tendency for ambush style games at 3 in the morning."
"They're great kids, by the way, in case I didn't mention that when they ambushed me yesterday," Nathan said with a chuckle. "We'll have to make sure to introduce them to the newcomer when the newcomer arrives." Which really wasn't going to be too long, Nathan reflected. "Strange, how nine months can seem like such a long time but then go by so quickly," he mused.
"Thank you." Curt suddenly looked very, very sympathic. "Ah, how I know that feeling well. It stretches forever but before you know it--fatherhood. Scary, wonderful fatherhood. I expect Moira and you will be over here with the bundle of joy soon enough." He cast a quick glance around. "After all, eventually this will all be his or her's one day."
"Marrying into nobility. Heck of a stretch for someone from my background - and I suspect Moira's grandmother will remind me of that periodically until the day she dies." Nathan smiled wryly.
"Which will not be soon enough. Whoops, was that out loud?"
"I see you've met the... dear old lady," Nathan said with a perfectly straight face, then raised his glass of punch. "To the Kinross women?" he suggested whimsically.
Chuckling, Curt raised his glass. "To the Kinross women. May they never lose the sharp tongue that keeps them alive forever."
Alison and Nathan get a few minutes to talk. Alison muses, and reveals a little more than she maybe intended to. Nathan is tickled, and makes a mental note to plot. Then Alison makes a very good suggestion for an ex-Mistra bonding activity.
Oh, it's good to sit down... Nathan picked up his water glass, gulping at it quite unashamedly. It was warm in here, and had gotten markedly more so once everyone had started dancing. He very definitely needed a bit of a break from that; he was holding up fairly well, he thought, but he definitely needed to pace himself. Although it's somewhat embarassed when your six-months-pregnant wife is dancing up a storm...
Wife. His eyes lit up with glee. He liked the way that sounded, even in his head.
"You look like a kid in a candy store," Alison remarked cheerfully, sitting down next to him after handing him a glass of punch. Headache medication had been fetched for Haroun, who was resting a bit before she wandered off to bring him back to the main room for a dance or ten, and this meant hunting down and finding the newly married folk to extend her good wishes. "Moira's in the middle of that somewhere, isn't she?"
"Yes indeed." Nathan gazed at Alison, smiling. "You look beautiful, by the way." He traded the water for the punch, looking thoughtfully at her. "Where's your date? I haven't seen Haroun since the dancing started."
"Thank you. And he has a wee headache," Alison said calmly, smoothing the prim (by her standards) dress down as she claimed a chair next to his, the Scottish lilt to her voice unnoticed by her after the entire evening's singing. "We found him some aspirin and I'l going to go get him in a bit to see how he feels. And possibly see if I can charm him into many dances with me." After a moment, she gave Nathan a solemn look. "I don't think it'll be very hard."
"I suspect not," Nathan said, leaning back in the chair and letting his breath out on a long sigh. It was a weary-sounding sigh, but more contented than anything else. "The evening will be winding down before we know it," he said thoughtfully. "I can't believe it's gone by this fast. Next thing I know, we'll be on the plane for Tuscany..." He brightened considerably at the thought.
"That's an absolutely gorgeous place you two picked for the honeymoon." Shaking her head, a hint of wistfulness to her voice, Alison chuckled and continued. "Making me want to hunt up a few places for potential vacations sometimes this summer. You know, other than the Mexico spot, I haven't gone anywhere in a while..." Alison took a sip of her drink and then changed the subject. "I see your mercernary friends are behaving and not, what's the expression again... packing heat."
Note to self. Ensure she and Haroun take a vacation at some point this summer. Nathan smiled, sipping at his punch. "I'm pleasantly surprised... well, not really. Those I invited are generally of the same caliber as the Pack when it comes to discipline and experience... they know better." His gaze went a little distant as he stared out at the dancers. "It's good to see them all again," he murmured. "I've missed them."
"Weddings are meant to be happy occasions and about getting one's family gathered together in one place to celebrate things, aren't they?" There was no wistfulness this time, though the shrug that followed had a definite awkwardness to it. "Well, as cliched and cute as it sounds, still looks like that's what it's about to me right now." She skipped merrily on ahead, trying to get away from the quicksand like topic that marriage was. "You know, Muir makes me want to get a place of my own one day. Not like the apartment in town, but... just somewhere away from everything, you know?"
Nathan tilted his head, unable to help a slightly speculative look as he went on. "You should. Maybe in the Adironacks? Moira and I saw some beautiful places up around Lake George when we were there last year. I think you'd like the mountains." He grinned. "Although you might have to invest in extra blankets and so forth for your sun-loving boyfriend. Gets awfully cold up there."
Laughter greeted that, Alison relaxing without her even realized she'd been tensing up. "I was thinking somewhere warm, actually. I like the hotter temperatures. Although going skiing up in the mountains might make for a fun trip. Wonder if Haroun knows how to ski..." It had, simply put, never come up as a topic of discussion before.
"It could be one of those all-too-entertaining couples experiences that the two of you can laugh about years down the line," Nathan suggested, immensely entertained by the image of Haroun on skis. "And yeah, warm might suit the two of you well. I don't mind warm myself, but Moira doesn't deal with heat well..."
"Miles likes the snow but he likes being outside so much and being stuck inside gets to him at times. And Haroun would like the heat better, for sure." Alison would as well, she knew that without a doubt. "I've started writing again." The change of subject was perhaps abrupt, but made sense to Alison. "Music I mean," she clarified for Nathan's sake. "Songs."
"Mmm," Nathan said, smiling at her in quiet approval. "Another reason why a little retreat of your own might be a good idea. I can't imagine there's much in the way of quiet conducive to the creative process around the mansion most of the time." It was so nice to be sitting here like this, he thought contentedly, talking about life, not just work, or the team, or the past or the future...
"The mansion has so many people there, it's kinda normal that. But yeah..." A retreat. Alison pondered that concept over in her mind, liking the sound of it. A lot. What had been a nameless urge was slowly solidifying into something nice and quiet and... maybe even normal. She stared down at her drink without ever seeing it, a small smile curving her lips at the thought. "Quiet little place. It'd be nice."
Nathan bit his lip. Hard. Oh-ho. I see what's going on now. Not that he was going to say it aloud. No provoking panic... "You should," he said again, quite firmly. "It'd only give you more help balancing things. You have no idea how good it is to know that Moira and I can always head over here if we feel like we need to."
"Well, we always have the apartment..." But it was in New York. And somehow, New York didn't translate to 'hidden place far away from everything and anything' just right then. Not when one had been exposed to Muir Island in all of it's glory. "Mmm. No rush, but we could start looking into it. I don't think we're ever going back to Mexico," she added calmly. "But there's so many places to choose from. Italy or Spain, maybe..."
"Well, I'll be able to give you a first-hand account of Tuscany in a week or two," Nathan pointed out with a chuckle. "As for Spain... Galicia is rather nice." His expression went wistful as Nash and Matsuda danced into view for a moment, Gavin holding the much smaller Isabel as delicately as if he were holding a flower.
She followed his gaze and chuckled. "He was telling me something about wanting to teach, earlier. Go back to a normal life. I didn't tell him yet, but when I was in the one room apartment phase of my life, there was this one community center always looking for a baseball coach for the kids... They kept going through them so quickly it got to the point no one wanted to try anymore." Alison smiled pensively. "I thought I'd call them up to ask if they were still looking now." If they were, it'd be entirely up to Nash to pursue matters. "Isabel seemed to think it would be a good idea."
"I think it would be good for him," Nathan said with a nod. "Gavin's got the qualities you'd need for something like that." He smiled a bit wryly. "One of the reasons he was never made a field commander, actually." He shook his head, watching him and Isabel. "I'm glad they came. Just sorry Chris couldn't."
Pondering that for all of two seconds, Alison shrugged then slipped a very slim phone from the small purse that matched her dress, and handed it to him. "So call, then. It's even got video streaming. Next best thing?"
Nathan gazed at her for a moment, then smiled and cast out a questioning thought at four specific minds in the crowd. Gavin and Isabel paused in their dance, looking in his direction, and Nathan could sense Ani and Ian reacting from somewhere out of sight. He glanced back up at Alison. "I think," he said quietly, "that's a heck of an idea."
Nathan and his fellow ex-operatives follow through on Alison's suggestion, and then have a toast.
Nathan hit the disconnect button on the phone and leaned back in his chair, smiling a little. Cole had been obviously touched to hear from them, and he was very glad that Alison had made the suggestion. Seated around him, Gavin, Isabel, Ani and Ian were all smiling as well, if a bit wistfully.
It still felt so right to be here with them, Nathan thought. Natural. Even with all the missing faces and empty chairs. Conditioning or no conditioning, too, here they were mimicking each other's body language as if they were back at Mistra and no time at all had passed. Strange how some things lingered.
"Well," Ani said brightly, when no one else broke the silence. "I think that was a very good thing to do. Poor Chris. Izzy, you should take him back some cake. The cake's really good." Isabel just smiled at her, almost indulgently.
"Mmm. I agree. There was one layer that was strawberry," Ian said appreciatively, and actually licked his lips. "Strawberry and something alcoholic."
"What is it with ferals and strawberry-flavored food?" Gavin asked curiously, rubbing absently at the scars on his face. Isabel reached up and took his hand, giving him a reproving look, and he rolled his eyes a little at her before he went on. "I never did get that. It seems like a pretty odd sort of food... fetish... thing."
Anika laughed. "It's good!"
"Better than good," Ian amended. "And so few of us can actually eat chocolate, remember. We need to satisfy our sweet tooth somehow."
He could have sat here and listened to the banter all night, Nathan thought. At another time, he would have. But there were other demands on his time tonight, other people he needed to see, or talk to, or in some cases, dance with. He had to do his duty as the groom, be social and all.
He wasn't ready to leave them just yet, though. Nathan flagged down a waiter, murmuring to him, then smiled at the other four as they turned their attention to him. "I had a thought," he explained. The waiter was back, quickly, with one of the bottles of wine and a tray with five glasses. Nathan nodded at him, then took both and filled the glasses himself. "This is the only alcohol I've had all night, by the way," he said, "and I think I'd better limit myself to a sip or two. No tolerance anymore."
"Are we drinking to something?" Gavin asked as the glasses floated through the air, distributing themselves. They were in an isolated enough corner that Nathan didn't think anyone was liable to spot the display of telekinesis.
"That was the thought." Nathan was suddenly almost overwhelmed by the memory of standing out on the porch at the mansion, doing this with Ani and Mick and Tim. Judging by the sudden, suspicious shine in Anika's eyes, she remembered as well.
Gavin sighed softly, picking up on the undercurrent between them. "Absent friends?"
"New lives," Isabel added quietly. "Let's not forget that."
"Or the strawberry cake," Ian said flippantly. Gavin scoffed at him, and he grinned unrepentantly. "What? Just trying to lighten the mood."
"To the bride and groom," Ani said very softly, almost in a whisper. "May the saddest day of your future be no worse than the happiest day of your past."
Nathan gazed across at her for a long moment, blinking a bit rapidly, then raised his glass. "To pack," he murmured. "Wherever we may roam. To family."
Sitting at the head table - Moira was off greeting some of her colleagues who'd made the trip up for the wedding - Nathan fingered the Kinross tartan sash, fastened at his shoulder by the clan badge, and tried to stop his mind from going in circles.
And he couldn't stop staring at the sword lying across the table in front of him. He should have known Moira had something in mind she wasn't sharing, he'd almost sensed her giggling over the secret...
Haroun, free temporarily from the duties of ducking Domino and indulging Alison, plopped himself down in the empty chair next to Nathan. "Nice sword." he said, looking at the ancestral blade but not touching it. "And it was a purely lovely ceremony. For a Western barbarian, anyway." he grinned, teasing his friend.
Nathan smiled a bit hesitantly, reaching out and resting a hand on the hilt of the sword. "I can't believe she did that," he said softly. "Which is ironic, because I got the distinct impression that every Scotsman in the place was expecting it."
They had just been sitting down to dinner when Moira had risen, gesturing Billie over. In a clear, ringing voice that had made her sound very much the Clan Chief, moving between Gaidhlig and English for the benefit of their non-Scottish guests, she'd given him the sash and the sword. The sash, as a symbol of his acceptance into the clan, and the family sword as a symbol of his duty to protect her and their child. It was a centuries-old ritual, she'd informed the guests, and one 'verrae much worth preserving'.
So he was a Kinross.
"I can." he said with a grin. "I'm guessing by that my-brain-just-melted look that we've all come to know and love that it hasn't really sunk in yet?" he teased lightly. "Scots - they could almost be Moors at times." he said approvingly.
"I know that's a compliment." He ran a hand down the scabbard of the sword, shaking his head. It was old, he could tell that much just from the look of it. Old and beautiful and possessed of entirely too much signifiance... or maybe just enough.
"I shouldn't..." He stopped, trying to find the words. "I shouldn't be so... taken aback by this, I suppose. I've always believed that you can choose your family and love them as much as if you shared blood with them. But this..."
"You're right, you shouldn't. Didn't those ghosts in your head teach you _anything_?" he asked. "You got a whole new set of responsibilities now - and might I add far more important ones. Husband and father. And that's setting aside how much importance you want to put on all this pageant and theater with Moira's Clan."
Nathan rolled his eyes at him. "You're not getting it," he protested good-humoredly. "None of this changes the new responsibilities - nothing could, even if I wanted it to, which I don't." He leaned back in the chair, adjusting the sash. "But they mean it," he said, a bit frustrated by how he seemed unable to get across what he meant to Haroun. "Even the ones that don't like me, like Moira's grandmother. I could feel it. I'm not doing what I have to do as... just me, anymore. I'm part of them. My d--my child's going to be part of them, and that means I am too, and I just... didn't expect that," he said lamely.
Haroun blinked and grinned. "Was that a telling little slip I just heard there? Don't worry, your secret is safe with me." he laughed. "And of course they mean it! To them, it's the continuation of a line centuries old. Sort of like that little Don keeps whining about." he said. "You get to decide to what degree you want to honor it. Clan structures are notoriously unfriendly to Ds." he teased.
"Not to this D," Nathan said stoutly. "Look at the mother and role model..." He paused, shaking his head. "It's just... very strange," he said more quietly. "To think that part of what made me brush off the importance of this sort of thing..." He reached out to touch the sword again. "Well, that it might have been because I wanted it and never thought I could have it." He hesitated again. "'I am a part of all that I have met'," he quoted softly. "But I was missing some of the pieces most people have to build on."
Haroun shrugged. "Maybe. Way I scan it, you got, what, forty or fifty more years to figure it all out? Listen to Moira, she'll teach you everything you ever wanted to know about family. And now that you're going to have your own - now's your shining chance to actually be a father to your child, and not do what your folks did to you." he said urgently. "Assuming you don't bleed out in an alley somewhere on an op on the ass end of nowhere."
"Appreciate the caveat," Nathan said with a wry chuckle, but the wryness faded, and he looked around, his expression hard to decipher. "I don't think I've ever been this happy in my life," he said, almost in bewilderment. "I just... it's almost too much." He looked back at Haroun, a smile breaking over his features again. "Now I'm half-afraid that my head will explode the day Moira gives birth."
"It had better not!" he laughed. "She'd find a way to clone you or something so she could kick your ass herself. And hey, man. You deserve a little happy in your life. Let's face it, you've had one helluva run. Government assassin, mercenary, X-Man, teacher, friend ... and now husband. Soon to be father. Enjoy the rewards while they're there, man. It's a cruel world, and you need to stop and appreciate what you have while you have it." He got a little distant as he spoke, and inside his mind he was remembering his own failure to do what he was speaking of.
Nathan caught the turn of thought and nudged Haroun's shoulder. "Hey," he said sternly. "The same right back at you." His smile came back. "Although, if you forget to stop and smell the roses I'm sure she'll remind you."
Haroun smiled. "Hey, I'm here, aren't I? I'm getting better, honest." he said. "And speaking of the flowers to be smelled, I should probably go track her down and risk a system crash with another turn around the floor."
"Go, trip the light fantastic." Nathan smiled, shaking his head. "Just going to catch my breath for a minute here," he murmured, and touched the sword again.
"Take as long as you need." he said, his real meaning evident. "Enjoy yourself, Mr Kinross. You've earned it!"
Nathan gets along with Rory's replacement much better than he did with Rory. He and Curt banter, prove that men can be catty too, and eventually raise their glasses to the Kinross women.
"I think," Nathan pronounced, taking a healthy sip of his punch, "I could very easily develop claustrophobia." As huge as the 'audience' had seemed out during the ceremony, pack them into the reception area and suddenly there seemed to be this solid mass of people. He grinned at Curt. "And I'm entirely too big to crowd-surf easily, even without this." He gave his cane a tap.
Curt snorted very softly into his own cup--this one spiked just a little bit with some rum--before taking a sip. "If you were healthy, Nathan," he said, quirking an eyebrow, "then your telekinesis would be able to handle your weight just fine. But in your current state? The last thing I wish to do during your wedding is play doctor because you inadvertently squished your wedding guests."
"I topple over entirely too easily when I'm not recovering from a broken back," Nathan said sagely. "Ask Moira about how often I fell on her during the first few months of our relationship." Curt was raising an eyebrow at him, and Nathan grinned. "Seriously. Like a toppling tree, on a regular basis. She and some of the others back at the mansion used to joke about putting me on a bungee cord." He took another sip of his punch. "Back when my precog was giving me such trouble," he said in explanation, more quietly.
"Ah, yes, that would do it. I've read your medical file." Curt caught the look and gave Nathan another small smile. "The unlocked parts of it, anyway. Moira has that thing under enough passwords and coded entries that one would guess that you were worth more than Fort Knox. And at least you still have all your original pieces." Holding up his other arm, he glanced at the missing appendage wryly. "I hear our beloved leader of Muir Island has a thing for damaged employees."
"No," Nathan corrected immediately, "she has a thing for highly intelligent coworkers with a knack for persevering through difficulties. Which... actually, doesn't explain Rory." He paused, then gave Curt a not-at-all repentant look. "Sorry. I shouldn't be that nasty at my own wedding, should I?"
"If you can't be petty and sarcastic about people who yearned after your wife at your own wedding, when can you?" Curt asked innocently, pausing for a second to kiss his own wife as she sped by, barely more than a flash of red hair in the crowd. "Women at weddings, scary, scary thing aren't they?"
"Scary, and yet, oddly wonderful," Nathan said, watching Dom dance by with GW, beaming. "This is kind of a remarkable experience from a telepath's standpoint." None of Moira's less pleasant relatives were close enough to hear. "This kind of atmosphere... it's almost intoxicating."
"Every once in a while, I wish I had your gift," came the quiet response as Curt turned his eyes towards the crowd. "But it's hard enough in the world we live in being a "cripple", much less a mutant. Gift, curse all rolled up into one not so neat little package." He cleared his throat. "What are your plans now?"
"We're leaving in the morning for Tuscany," Nathan said with a smile, having been looking forward to that since the moment he'd made the hotel reservations. "Can't be away for as long as we'd like, because there are final exams to deal with back at the school. But we should have a nice stretch of time to relax in the Chianti Valley and tell the world to go away for a while." He rested his hand on his chin, still smiling. "We're well-overdue for a break, both of us."
"I'll say, from the sounds of it you lot are due for one bloody long vacation." Curt paused and wrinkled his nose slightly. "Good grief, they're starting to rub off on me. God help me if I develop a burr to my words, my wife would never leave me alone then."
"A lot's happened... well, this whole last year, but the last few months especially." Nathan didn't elaborate. "But," he went on more briskly, "here we are." Finally. "I'd have been just as happy to have our honeymoon here," he confessed, his lips twitching. "I love Muir. But I knew damned well that if I didn't get her away from the clinic, she'd find excuses to work, honeymoon or no honeymoon."
"And I highly doubt I would have been much of a deterrent in the way of getting her out of the labs," Curt responded truthfully. "On top of the fact that my family and I live here and, really, for your honeymoon you should get away from it all. Including two hyperactive children with a tendency for ambush style games at 3 in the morning."
"They're great kids, by the way, in case I didn't mention that when they ambushed me yesterday," Nathan said with a chuckle. "We'll have to make sure to introduce them to the newcomer when the newcomer arrives." Which really wasn't going to be too long, Nathan reflected. "Strange, how nine months can seem like such a long time but then go by so quickly," he mused.
"Thank you." Curt suddenly looked very, very sympathic. "Ah, how I know that feeling well. It stretches forever but before you know it--fatherhood. Scary, wonderful fatherhood. I expect Moira and you will be over here with the bundle of joy soon enough." He cast a quick glance around. "After all, eventually this will all be his or her's one day."
"Marrying into nobility. Heck of a stretch for someone from my background - and I suspect Moira's grandmother will remind me of that periodically until the day she dies." Nathan smiled wryly.
"Which will not be soon enough. Whoops, was that out loud?"
"I see you've met the... dear old lady," Nathan said with a perfectly straight face, then raised his glass of punch. "To the Kinross women?" he suggested whimsically.
Chuckling, Curt raised his glass. "To the Kinross women. May they never lose the sharp tongue that keeps them alive forever."
Alison and Nathan get a few minutes to talk. Alison muses, and reveals a little more than she maybe intended to. Nathan is tickled, and makes a mental note to plot. Then Alison makes a very good suggestion for an ex-Mistra bonding activity.
Oh, it's good to sit down... Nathan picked up his water glass, gulping at it quite unashamedly. It was warm in here, and had gotten markedly more so once everyone had started dancing. He very definitely needed a bit of a break from that; he was holding up fairly well, he thought, but he definitely needed to pace himself. Although it's somewhat embarassed when your six-months-pregnant wife is dancing up a storm...
Wife. His eyes lit up with glee. He liked the way that sounded, even in his head.
"You look like a kid in a candy store," Alison remarked cheerfully, sitting down next to him after handing him a glass of punch. Headache medication had been fetched for Haroun, who was resting a bit before she wandered off to bring him back to the main room for a dance or ten, and this meant hunting down and finding the newly married folk to extend her good wishes. "Moira's in the middle of that somewhere, isn't she?"
"Yes indeed." Nathan gazed at Alison, smiling. "You look beautiful, by the way." He traded the water for the punch, looking thoughtfully at her. "Where's your date? I haven't seen Haroun since the dancing started."
"Thank you. And he has a wee headache," Alison said calmly, smoothing the prim (by her standards) dress down as she claimed a chair next to his, the Scottish lilt to her voice unnoticed by her after the entire evening's singing. "We found him some aspirin and I'l going to go get him in a bit to see how he feels. And possibly see if I can charm him into many dances with me." After a moment, she gave Nathan a solemn look. "I don't think it'll be very hard."
"I suspect not," Nathan said, leaning back in the chair and letting his breath out on a long sigh. It was a weary-sounding sigh, but more contented than anything else. "The evening will be winding down before we know it," he said thoughtfully. "I can't believe it's gone by this fast. Next thing I know, we'll be on the plane for Tuscany..." He brightened considerably at the thought.
"That's an absolutely gorgeous place you two picked for the honeymoon." Shaking her head, a hint of wistfulness to her voice, Alison chuckled and continued. "Making me want to hunt up a few places for potential vacations sometimes this summer. You know, other than the Mexico spot, I haven't gone anywhere in a while..." Alison took a sip of her drink and then changed the subject. "I see your mercernary friends are behaving and not, what's the expression again... packing heat."
Note to self. Ensure she and Haroun take a vacation at some point this summer. Nathan smiled, sipping at his punch. "I'm pleasantly surprised... well, not really. Those I invited are generally of the same caliber as the Pack when it comes to discipline and experience... they know better." His gaze went a little distant as he stared out at the dancers. "It's good to see them all again," he murmured. "I've missed them."
"Weddings are meant to be happy occasions and about getting one's family gathered together in one place to celebrate things, aren't they?" There was no wistfulness this time, though the shrug that followed had a definite awkwardness to it. "Well, as cliched and cute as it sounds, still looks like that's what it's about to me right now." She skipped merrily on ahead, trying to get away from the quicksand like topic that marriage was. "You know, Muir makes me want to get a place of my own one day. Not like the apartment in town, but... just somewhere away from everything, you know?"
Nathan tilted his head, unable to help a slightly speculative look as he went on. "You should. Maybe in the Adironacks? Moira and I saw some beautiful places up around Lake George when we were there last year. I think you'd like the mountains." He grinned. "Although you might have to invest in extra blankets and so forth for your sun-loving boyfriend. Gets awfully cold up there."
Laughter greeted that, Alison relaxing without her even realized she'd been tensing up. "I was thinking somewhere warm, actually. I like the hotter temperatures. Although going skiing up in the mountains might make for a fun trip. Wonder if Haroun knows how to ski..." It had, simply put, never come up as a topic of discussion before.
"It could be one of those all-too-entertaining couples experiences that the two of you can laugh about years down the line," Nathan suggested, immensely entertained by the image of Haroun on skis. "And yeah, warm might suit the two of you well. I don't mind warm myself, but Moira doesn't deal with heat well..."
"Miles likes the snow but he likes being outside so much and being stuck inside gets to him at times. And Haroun would like the heat better, for sure." Alison would as well, she knew that without a doubt. "I've started writing again." The change of subject was perhaps abrupt, but made sense to Alison. "Music I mean," she clarified for Nathan's sake. "Songs."
"Mmm," Nathan said, smiling at her in quiet approval. "Another reason why a little retreat of your own might be a good idea. I can't imagine there's much in the way of quiet conducive to the creative process around the mansion most of the time." It was so nice to be sitting here like this, he thought contentedly, talking about life, not just work, or the team, or the past or the future...
"The mansion has so many people there, it's kinda normal that. But yeah..." A retreat. Alison pondered that concept over in her mind, liking the sound of it. A lot. What had been a nameless urge was slowly solidifying into something nice and quiet and... maybe even normal. She stared down at her drink without ever seeing it, a small smile curving her lips at the thought. "Quiet little place. It'd be nice."
Nathan bit his lip. Hard. Oh-ho. I see what's going on now. Not that he was going to say it aloud. No provoking panic... "You should," he said again, quite firmly. "It'd only give you more help balancing things. You have no idea how good it is to know that Moira and I can always head over here if we feel like we need to."
"Well, we always have the apartment..." But it was in New York. And somehow, New York didn't translate to 'hidden place far away from everything and anything' just right then. Not when one had been exposed to Muir Island in all of it's glory. "Mmm. No rush, but we could start looking into it. I don't think we're ever going back to Mexico," she added calmly. "But there's so many places to choose from. Italy or Spain, maybe..."
"Well, I'll be able to give you a first-hand account of Tuscany in a week or two," Nathan pointed out with a chuckle. "As for Spain... Galicia is rather nice." His expression went wistful as Nash and Matsuda danced into view for a moment, Gavin holding the much smaller Isabel as delicately as if he were holding a flower.
She followed his gaze and chuckled. "He was telling me something about wanting to teach, earlier. Go back to a normal life. I didn't tell him yet, but when I was in the one room apartment phase of my life, there was this one community center always looking for a baseball coach for the kids... They kept going through them so quickly it got to the point no one wanted to try anymore." Alison smiled pensively. "I thought I'd call them up to ask if they were still looking now." If they were, it'd be entirely up to Nash to pursue matters. "Isabel seemed to think it would be a good idea."
"I think it would be good for him," Nathan said with a nod. "Gavin's got the qualities you'd need for something like that." He smiled a bit wryly. "One of the reasons he was never made a field commander, actually." He shook his head, watching him and Isabel. "I'm glad they came. Just sorry Chris couldn't."
Pondering that for all of two seconds, Alison shrugged then slipped a very slim phone from the small purse that matched her dress, and handed it to him. "So call, then. It's even got video streaming. Next best thing?"
Nathan gazed at her for a moment, then smiled and cast out a questioning thought at four specific minds in the crowd. Gavin and Isabel paused in their dance, looking in his direction, and Nathan could sense Ani and Ian reacting from somewhere out of sight. He glanced back up at Alison. "I think," he said quietly, "that's a heck of an idea."
Nathan and his fellow ex-operatives follow through on Alison's suggestion, and then have a toast.
Nathan hit the disconnect button on the phone and leaned back in his chair, smiling a little. Cole had been obviously touched to hear from them, and he was very glad that Alison had made the suggestion. Seated around him, Gavin, Isabel, Ani and Ian were all smiling as well, if a bit wistfully.
It still felt so right to be here with them, Nathan thought. Natural. Even with all the missing faces and empty chairs. Conditioning or no conditioning, too, here they were mimicking each other's body language as if they were back at Mistra and no time at all had passed. Strange how some things lingered.
"Well," Ani said brightly, when no one else broke the silence. "I think that was a very good thing to do. Poor Chris. Izzy, you should take him back some cake. The cake's really good." Isabel just smiled at her, almost indulgently.
"Mmm. I agree. There was one layer that was strawberry," Ian said appreciatively, and actually licked his lips. "Strawberry and something alcoholic."
"What is it with ferals and strawberry-flavored food?" Gavin asked curiously, rubbing absently at the scars on his face. Isabel reached up and took his hand, giving him a reproving look, and he rolled his eyes a little at her before he went on. "I never did get that. It seems like a pretty odd sort of food... fetish... thing."
Anika laughed. "It's good!"
"Better than good," Ian amended. "And so few of us can actually eat chocolate, remember. We need to satisfy our sweet tooth somehow."
He could have sat here and listened to the banter all night, Nathan thought. At another time, he would have. But there were other demands on his time tonight, other people he needed to see, or talk to, or in some cases, dance with. He had to do his duty as the groom, be social and all.
He wasn't ready to leave them just yet, though. Nathan flagged down a waiter, murmuring to him, then smiled at the other four as they turned their attention to him. "I had a thought," he explained. The waiter was back, quickly, with one of the bottles of wine and a tray with five glasses. Nathan nodded at him, then took both and filled the glasses himself. "This is the only alcohol I've had all night, by the way," he said, "and I think I'd better limit myself to a sip or two. No tolerance anymore."
"Are we drinking to something?" Gavin asked as the glasses floated through the air, distributing themselves. They were in an isolated enough corner that Nathan didn't think anyone was liable to spot the display of telekinesis.
"That was the thought." Nathan was suddenly almost overwhelmed by the memory of standing out on the porch at the mansion, doing this with Ani and Mick and Tim. Judging by the sudden, suspicious shine in Anika's eyes, she remembered as well.
Gavin sighed softly, picking up on the undercurrent between them. "Absent friends?"
"New lives," Isabel added quietly. "Let's not forget that."
"Or the strawberry cake," Ian said flippantly. Gavin scoffed at him, and he grinned unrepentantly. "What? Just trying to lighten the mood."
"To the bride and groom," Ani said very softly, almost in a whisper. "May the saddest day of your future be no worse than the happiest day of your past."
Nathan gazed across at her for a long moment, blinking a bit rapidly, then raised his glass. "To pack," he murmured. "Wherever we may roam. To family."