Nathan and Moira, Sunday afternoon

[x-cable.livejournal.com]

After the Blackbird returns from Chad, Nathan does the smart thing and lets Jean check him over, and then heads upstairs to see Moira - who got tipped off about some of what went on during the mission, and isn't entirely pleased with him. Nathan tries to distract her, but to no avail. It is concluded that he's not spending nearly enough time working on telekinetic finesse.


The shower had helped. A little. His head was still aching, and the dizziness hadn't quite gone away, but Jean had reassured him that he hadn't taken any serious harm from his self-asphyxiation trick. Which had kind of grated, because it hadn't just been him. Gideon had been the one who'd kept the air away. Grumbling under his breath, Nathan climbed the stairs, slowly and steadily, deliberately smoothing out his thoughts. He'd go down and check on Dom later; apparently she'd sleep for a good long while.

Moira, when he reached the suite, was comfortably arranged on the couch, watching the news. The... crap. What was left of the hotel in N'Djamena was right there. Well, at least there hadn't been a news crew there at the time. That was some small comfort.

"Uhh... hi, love..."

Moira's eyes flickered towards Nathan before returning to the screen. While appearing quite calm, inside she was doing what she could to calm the inner rage. She'd been briefed as much as they had known a little while ago. While most of what had taken place hadn't been what caught her ire, a few other things did.

She glanced at him again, the lines around her mouth deepening as the frown got worse.

"Okay." Nathan came over, gingerly sitting down at the end of the couch. "Do you want to tell me, calmly, what pissed you off? Since we're both trying to be very calm right now. I might even have a logical explanation."

There was a flash in her eyes before she answered, her tone quite calm. She was pleased with herself. "I got briefed while ye were on yer way back," she said, slowly, still watching the news. Something on the inside winced as part of the hotel crumpled and hit the ground but she managed to stop it from leaking out.

Nathan's eyes flickered to the TV, and then back to her. "Recon went bad," he said vaguely, but the look in her eyes suggested she wasn't going to be satisfied with vague. "It was Gideon Faraday - the one from Philadelphia?"

"Aye. So I'm assumin' he got control o' yer powers?"

Who precisely had briefed her, and with how much detail? Nathan wondered a bit distractedly. But then, he had told her about Philadelphia. She knew that much - it wasn't a leap. "Uhh... yeah. I didn't sense him coming. Again. He must have synched to my telepathy while I was still out of sight and used it to shield himself."

The anger, she knew, wasn't at him for almost nearly getting himself killed.

...

Okay, yes it was. But Moira knew that it went beyond "You stupid husband!" and settled firmly into the realm of something else. "How long 'ave I been workin' wit' ye on yer telekinesis?" she suddenly asked, her fingers curling tighter around her arms.

Nathan took a deep breath, closing his eyes for a moment. "Almost nine years," he murmured. Well, closer to eight and a half, but he didn't think she'd object to him stressing just how long it was she had been working with him.

"Nine years. Lon' time, wouldnae ye say, ta be workin' ta be able ta minutely control a power such as yers? Despite certain 'urdles, such as th' virus?"

"Yes..." he said cautiously, looking at her. "And... um... a lot of effort on your part. Have I mentioned how much I appreciate that?"

Moira's eyebrow quirked as she moved her hand to drum softly on her stomach. "Mmm, a few times. Lots o' effort on both o' our parts. Lots o' trainin', lots o' time an' energy." She stopped and gritted her teeth. "And technique."

Nathan bit his lip, hard. "I know," he said. Meekly. "But... fire. Okay, super-agitated air molecules. Inside my shields. I didn't have any time to react, I had to drop the shields and get rid of the fire at the same time..."

"Ye've got th' bloody power, nay ta mention th' discipline ta do tha'!" Moira finally snapped, turning her head to glare at him. This wasn't his wife and mother of his unborn child speaking. This was his powers trainer of nearly 9 years speaking. There was a bit of the old Moira shining through in pieces. "I dinnae know how tha' man's powers work but I doubt he cannae upsurp 9 years o' experience! "

Nathan took a deep breath. "You know how I stumbled on that whole 'lighting the air on fire' trick by accident? And can't control it?" He swallowed. "He heard Askani telling me to do it to him, and he produced the same effect, inside my shields. Just inside my shields. Casually."

Her look didn't soften any. "Five years ago an' ye couldnae do half o' what yer capable o' today," she pointed out, reaching out to poke him in the chest sharply. "Accident or nay for yer discovery, ye've th' ability ta do it."

Nathan flinched away from the poke, and a sigh slipped out. "I panicked," he said finally, more quietly. "I panicked, and then he kept the air away. I'm not sure what happened when he touched me... I think it heightened the connection, however he synchs to people's abilities." He was silent for a long moment. "With Tim, it was different. Brute-strength stuff. I don't know how to fight someone with my level of power and that much finesse."

She stressed the next couple of words so much her accent nearly disappeared. "Yes. You. Do."

Nathan looked up at her a bit uncertainly. "He's why the Askani are here," he said finally.

The words died on her lips and she stared at him for a few minutes. "He's wha'?" she asked, turning slightly to face him better. This was new and she could take him for task for giving up so easily on his powers once this was done.

"He's why the Askani are here," Nathan repeated. He had told her how they had reacted after Philadelphia, that some of them were missing now. "He's a Social Darwinist, Moira, and what he's doing lays the groundwork for their future. He's like a foundation stone."

Leaning against the back cushion, she rubbed her eyes. "Tha's bloody...well, nay impossible but...nay wonder th' Askani freaked out."

"He was testing me," Nathan said very quietly. "Seeing how I'd react, what I'd do. Fits, with it all..." He shrugged a little, relaxing back against the cushions as well. "My head hurts," he said with a sigh. "Did they tell you Dom's downstairs?"

"Nay, they forgot tha' part seein' as I kind o' got a wee bit irritated when I found out."

"She's not hurt, but she's in awful shape, Moira. She looks like she hasn't been sleeping, and she sure as hell hasn't been eating. Jean was scowling." He sighed again, rubbing his eyes. "She tried to walk away from the 'Bird when we landed in Niger and walk back to Chad. Across the Sahara Desert."

"She tried ta do WHAT?!"

"Apparently she was going to hike across the Bilma Erg - which is only about fve hundred kilometres - and catch a ferry across Lake Chad back to N'Djamena." Nathan gave a limp wave with one hand. "I hit her. Then I carried her back onto the 'Bird, strapped her in, and sedated her."

"GOOD! Wha' th' hell was she thinkin'?" Moira scowled darkly at him.

"She wanted to get back to Darfur. I think I'll check with Charles and make sure it's all right for her to stay for a couple of weeks. She'd just be turning around to come back when the baby's born anyway. Besides, she's lost at least twenty pounds and Jean was kind of worried. I'd prefer her here until we know she's okay." He gave a soft, humorless laugh. "Maybe I can get her to talk to Charles."

"Probably nay. But I'll go downstairs later when she's done restin' an' see what I can do." She glanced at him and sighed. "Dinner think yer off th' hook, mister. This incident has reminded me tha' we've bot' been slack wit' that particular part o' yer trainin'."

Nathan blinked. "More training is a good thing," he said finally. "And I've been focusing so much on my telepathy lately... I have been letting the TK slide. At least on the finesse side of things."

"Nay, really?"

Nathan straightened, leaning over to kiss her before she could scowl at him. He laid a hand over her stomach, sighing. "Daddy's a doofus, Rachel," he confessed to his daughter. "You'd better get used to that."

"God knows I did." Moira sighed and leaned her forehead against Nathan's. "Yer a doofus, but yer our doofus."