xp_logs | Alison and Nathan, Thursday night

Alison finds Nathan in his office trying to catch up on some of the classes-related work he missed while in the hospital. (He's a little obsessive about the whole missing-classes thing, in case you hadn't notice.) She updates him on the situation with Haroun, specifically the legal side of it, and then has an idea. Nathan offers to help her follow through on the idea, and accompany her in the morning to talk to her father.

Printouts and reference manuals in hand, Alison walked down the corridor steadily. People had been keeping an eye on her constantly, making sure she ate and slept - some from afar and some not, though all of them were thankfully calm about it, usually waiting until Alison herself was ready to admit she needed a break. It was, she reflected, likely a very wise tactic to be taking with her, these days. Particularly these days.

Still, she'd pushed things in her research as far as she could and it was time to admit it. And now that Nathan was back and at least well enough to work, if his entrenchment in his office was anything to go by, then it was time to confirm he'd done all he could as well before starting to look for other alternatives. Stopping in front of the door, she knocked firmly, three times.

Nathan, hunched in his chair as he tried to focus on a lecture outline, looked up, blinking a bit warily. Not a student, he thought hopefully, but didn't dare reach out. Projecting still hurt. "Come in?" he called a bit hoarsely, then relaxed as he saw that it was Alison. "Hey."

"Hey. You look like a truck ran you over." Which he did, though that didn't mean the truck hadn't fared the worse of things, really. "And you're hunching your shoulders." Blinking a bit, she surfaced from her own worries and fears long enough to look at him carefully, noting and comparing his state with everything that had been noted in his file since his encounter with Pete. "Hiding out, huh?" The stack of books piled at the corner of his desk between him and the door was the real clue, there.

"Shut the door," he murmured, and waited until she did. "Good posture hurts too much. Between the burns and my damned ribs..." He lifted the arm with the forearm cast on it, barely visible beneath the long-sleeved shirt he'd carefully chosen. "I ought to be wearing the sling, but it was pissing me off. How's Haroun?"

"He was the same as the last time I visited. Sometimes lucid, sometimes not. The treatments…" Alison sighed, then shook her head. Medical said there was improvement, but seeing Haroun rather than the data as they did, she wasn't seeing it at all. Which was normal, she supposed. "He'll be fine. I've been talking to Hawksmoor a lot and he and Forge and the others are working on things. He'll be just fine." She eyed him for a moment, then shrugged - she wasn't going to bug him about the sling. "And I'm through all the Jetstream Shaw data Cain and I retrieved. I think."

Nathan grimaced. "I got back to that earlier, while I was hiding in the suite," he said, his voice gravelly. "Not sure how well I'm focusing, but I got through more of it. You come up with anything useful?"

"No. If there's more than what we already came up with, I'm not seeing it." She looked down, then dumped the research she'd brought with her on the desk before slumping on the chair facing him. "I'm not seeing it. We're missing something - there has to be more, there has to be something there that'll cover any changes to the basic Shaw designs if we do them, that we can use to be in the clear later when the issue comes up." She sighed, chewing on her lower lip. "If only-"

"If only what?" Nathan leaned back carefully in his chair, trying not to wince. He was trying to cut down on the pain medication, simply because the kids would probably notice. "Come on, spill it," he urged her wearily. "If you've got something in mind..."

"If only my father and I were still on speaking terms, we could ask him for help." Alison finished the sentence without hesitation. She stared at the papers on the desk, wishing yet again she hadn't put off contacting her parents. And now…

"Suppose I could go anyway. Worse thing that can happen is getting kicked out on my butt for my troubles."

Nathan made a grating noise that might have been a laugh, if there'd been any force behind it at all. He was avoiding laughing, though, or anything else that would aggravate his ribs or start him coughing. "Not the person to ask, when it comes to fathers," he pointed out with a certain bleak irony. "But yours, in this situation... I could come? Be your lawyer." Amusing image.

"He'd probably just make some comment about how I couldn't even do that, so I had to bring a real lawyer with me…" Taking a slow, steadying breath, Alison nodded slowly - the decision had already been made, really. Whatever her father might say or do, the barest chance that he might help was enough for her to try. "The moral support would be nice, though. I'd like that." She paused, then winced a bit. "If you can get there that is… ?"

"Well," Nathan said dryly, "I will probably need you to drive. And Moira to drug me up good beforehand. But I think I can manage to fake it well. I've been doing well so far..." Although some of the kids had looked fairly dubious at his details-lacking explanation of a car accident.

"Are you sure?" She worried, suddenly, that it would be too much for him after all. No matter how much she could do with the back-up… it wasn't worth his condition worsening, never that. "Don't even know if he'll let me in his office, much less someone else that had the misfortune to show up with me…"

"Alison." Maybe it was how tired she was, because he certainly wasn't attempting to read her, not wanting a migraine for the effort, but her worries were written all over her face. "I got beaten up. I've been beaten up before. I've done scarier things than facing down your father in worse shape than this, and I'm the most logical person to go with you given the circumstances." He smiled humorlessly. "Although I think they probably cut the remains of the good suit off me in the emergency room."

"The good suit would be wasted on him anyway." Alison smiled bitterly "He'd just dismiss as an attempt to impress or look serious, when obviously the last thing I could be is serious." She paused, then winced a bit at that. "Right. A bit bitter still. It doesn't matter, though. Not anymore. All that matters is solving this issue and getting things locked down so there's no trouble later. Anything else…" She shrugged, not caring about her pride or anything else for that matter - whatever her father might say, the slimmest chance that it might help Haroun was all she would focus on.

"I can practice my intimidating face?" Nathan sighed a little. "I'm not trying to be flippant," he told her. "I just... suspect that if we go in sounding desperate, he'll smell blood in the water. Which won't help things."

"It doesn't matter." Staring ahead at the wall, not really seeing Nathan, Alison remained silent for a while, before speaking up again. "It doesn't matter. I'm there to ask him for something. And I am desperate. There's nothing to lose and everything to gain. It's that simple," she finished, with quiet resolve.

"No, it's not," Nathan said after a moment. "Alison, look at me." He waited until she did. "I may never have been a practicing lawyer, but I understand the legal mind. Put it into an emotional context, and it's about the worst damned thing in the world, for a whole lot of reasons I'm not going to get into right now. I don't know your father," he went on, "or even of him, beyond what you've told me, but being there to ask for something doesn't mean we put all the cards on the table if he shows any signs of making this about you and him." He held her gaze as levelly as he could. "There are other sources of legal advice we can go to if we have to."

"He's the best." There was a hint of pride to her voice as she spoke, smiling just a bit. "He's scary good at what he does, Nathan. There are other sources, yes. But when it comes to business law? My dad kicked ass as a lawyer. And he'll have kept up to date on everything, even as a judge. Point of pride." Nodding to herself, she retrieved the papers, holding them close. "And besides. I promised Haroun I'd try to speak to him, before. So..." They could find others after if need be. But the quickest option they had just now, was right there -she couldn't not use it. "And I can get an appointment to see him early tomorrow morning."

Oh, he was so going. Even if moving had... well, hurt considerably more than it did, not that it was anywhere close to comfortable right now, he still would be going. Too many things pulling at her right now, and maybe he was jumping to conclusions based on second-hand information, but he didn't trust her father not to take advantage. Or maybe you're just a little touchy on the subject of fathers right now.

Nathan smiled faintly, instead of voicing any of it. "Need to make sure you rouse me a couple of hours in advance so I can get the dressings changed and get myself put together in time."

"Oh, I think I can do that." It wasn't insomnia, exactly, that was tailing her so stubbornly - just the ever present worry that going to sleep meant something horrible would happen the exact moment she closed her eyes. It was, she knew, an entirely unreasonable way to feel. She'd check with Moira just to be sure it was all right, though she had no doubt Nathan would tell her himself as well. "I'll let you know the appointment time soon as I can, 'kay?"

Nathan nodded slowly. "Okay. And I was just being a wiseass," he said tiredly, "I do have a couple of other suits. I can at least manage to look semi-respectable, even if it's a beaten-up semi-respectable."

"I know." Smiling wanly, Alison got up to her feet and snagged the folders she'd been holding earlier. "I'll go make the call now and get things moving. You rest up, huh?"