xp_logs | Nathan and Moira, Friday night

After returning from the Hellfire Club, Nathan goes home.

Nathan walked through the door of the suite, peripherally aware of the fact that he was still wearing his leathers and probably should have taken them off before coming up out of the sub-basements, but he wasn't focusing too well just now. "Honey," he said in a weary, sing-song voice, registering Moira sitting there in the living room with the lights on. "I'm home."

He still had his psimitar, too. That he really should have left downstairs. Nathan blinked at it, then leaned it up against a corner, carefully. "I got to break Sebastian Shaw, and Pete's a good guy again, and Amanda killed all my ghosts..." he said, still not looking at Moira. He tilted his head, regarding the psimitar. "Don't fall over," he told it.

Lips pressed into a firm line, Moira quickly went to his side. "Are ye tellin' yerself tha' or yer weapon?" she asked, tugging him towards the couch. Or, hell, anything she could prop himself up on. "I...I knew somethin' 'ad 'appened, wit' th' Askani. Wanda's in th' MedLab, Charles thinks Askani did a brain dump on 'er. She'll wake up once her brain is nay so jumbled."

They didn't make it as far as the couch and she found herself being pulled to the floor when he slumped down. "Are ye 'urt?" They would have checked him for injuries but she still couldn't stop her hands from wandering, seeking to find signs of pain or blood.

Nathan was still staring straight ahead, or off into empty space. He couldn't have told her which, even if she'd asked. "Not hurt," he finally said. "Wholly and completely intact, me. Isn't that impressive." His voice sounded odd to his own ears. Hollow. Empty?

Another time the fact that she was straddling her husband would have brought other thoughts to her mind. Now all she wanted was to get a good look at his eyes. Glazed, hell. "Nathan?"

Moira MacTaggart was many things. A determined woman was one of them and if anyone knew her husband better than her they had best pony up the information. The Askani's 'death' must have been traumatic enough to put him into this state. A telepath learned to keep people outside of his or her shields but he had grown used to them on the other side, and the silence...

But the Askani weren't the only things that lived on the other side and she used that to her advantage, knowing she wouldn't get anything verbally out of him. So she pressed against the barrier he had put into place so she would not get anything through the link during what had happened. And she pressed hard.

Nathan shuddered, feeling something crack. "Don't," he said, somewhat disjointedly. "It's all strange in here... it made a mess of things and I have to figure out housecleaning. Broken knickknacks and patterns and things. My psionic feng shui is bad."

She stopped the pressure but didn't pull away. "I've been in yer 'ead at th' start," Moira reminded him. "Remember? What 'appened? Wha' went wron'?"

Nathan took a deep, gasping breath, then another, a bit steadier. He raised both his hands to his temples, as if to hold his skull together. "Alison was dying," he said in a perfectly calm, perfectly even voice. "Amanda was going to kill herself trying to heal her. Askani decided it was time to go. Why did a perfectly nice evening jaunt to the Hellfire Club turn into taking her away from me before I could say goodbye properly? That seems unfair, to me."

There were no words she could offer him even as she wished she could have said goodbye to the Askani, after all the two women had been tied together for a brief time. Instead, Moira took gentle control over Nathan's hands and pulled them around her waist, lacing her fingers through his. Still gentle, she bumped her forehead against his, resting.

Moira did not want to break that barrier but she dropped all of her own guards, completely, something that she didn't do very often, only with him. And, as she hovered mentally around the link, briefly sought out Rachel for a second...not long enough to stay but long enough to touch the barrier with her. She wanted the extra help but didn't want their baby drawn into this.

Nathan shivered, telling himself to focus. "I'll be all right," he said, his voice low and hoarse. "I will, too. Be all right now, I mean." No more worries about what the psionic overcharge was doing to him. The epilepsy wouldn't worsen. Might even diminish. "I suppose... I suppose I should be glad about that." It was increasingly hard to force the words out, and he clenched his jaw hard as it trembled.

"Th' worry is gone from my mind," Moira said softly, "but it should nay 'ave been in this way." What could she say? That the Askani gave freely? Which she had but that would bring very little comfort. "I still worry 'bout ye, though."

"Selene is gone. Pete's not... what I thought. Amanda's going to live. Alison's going to be all right." Tally up the 'wins'. Remind himself. "It shouldn't have happened," he said, instead of what the reassuring words he should have said. "Not like this. Not like this..."

At the crack in his voice, Moira pulled her hands out of his and wrapped her arms around his neck. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."

"Too many." His eyes were stinging with tears that he wouldn't let fall. No more. "Too many people that our daughter's never going to know, and should have..."

If they had stuck around that long, Moira thought to herself, keeping that far away from the link, she might not have known her father. "Tell me how ta help?"

"Just... stay for a while," Nathan said, his voice faltering. "I know... I know you'll have people you want to check on, but please..."

"I'm here," Moira replied, pulling back and standing up. She offered him her hands to help him stand as well. "Let's get these off, aye, an' get ye showered an' clean. Then bed."

He managed to get up without yanking her back down with him, although he swayed a little, once he was on his feet. Nathan made himself smile down at her, although it was probably a fairly wan-looking smile. "You should have seen the look on Shaw's face. I think he's going to have one of those month-long migraines..."

"I hope 'tis two months." Arm around his waist to steady him, she led them into the bedroom and towards the bathroom. "Ye'll 'ave ta share tha' lovely image wit' me when yer done yer 'ousecleanin', love."