xp_logs | Nathan and Moira, Sunday morning

Moira wakes up on Sunday morning to find that her husband has spontaneously reappeared in bed. He reassures her that everyone who went to Africa came back in one piece. They have breakfast, and finally get the chance to talk a little bit about what happened the week before. Then Rachel decides Fun With Levitation is in order. Nothing like a telekinetic baby when you're looking to break the tension.

There was a different feel to the bed when Nathan wasn't there and it wasn't just from the lack of another body. The entire suite seemed different and it was hard to sleep because it felt...off. But something had changed, back to how it should be. Moira lifted her head and blinked, smiling a little to find her slightly snoring husband back where he belonged.

Someone was curling up against him, someone warm and very nice-smelling, and Nathan wrapped his arms around his wife, sighing a little as he resurfaced from thankfully dreamless sleep. "Mm. Morning. Or is it?"

"Does it matter?" she asked, voice muffled under blankets and thanks to her head being buried in his shoulder. "Ye in one piece from yer trip?"

"My loving father shot me with a tranquilizer dart so that I wouldn't kill my beloved uncle, but otherwise, yeah." When she would have sat up, he held onto her. "I'm fine. Mina kept a very close eye on me."

"Can I shoot him? Maybe nay wit' a tranquilizer dart." Moira gave a half hearted snarl before allowing herself to be drawn back into the warmth. She was too pleased he was home. "Everythin' turn out okay?"

"Dom's fine. Beat Pete up a little, but I gather there was a fair amount of kissing and making up, so they're good. Cain and Alison are fine. So's the Pack." He stroked her hair, just letting himself bask in her presence, the sunlight of her mind. It was soothing.

She giggled at the mention of Pete and Dom. "So glad it worked out," she murmured. "I'll need ta see her ta make sure she's okay but I think I'd be interruptin' somethin'..."

"Quite possibly. We all pretty much crashed when we got in, mind you." He let his hand shift downwards, tracing her spine. "Looked in on the munchkin. She sneezed at me, made a nasty face, and then went back to sleep."

"Mad tha' ye left without sayin' goodbye." Snuggling closer, she breathed in the scent of him and wrinkled her nose a little, laughing. "Ye crashed 'ard enough ta nay bother wit' a shower, aye?"

"That wasn't the first thing on my mind, no." Nathan hesitated. "You could always join me?" he asked, and smiled, really smiled, for the first time in what felt like weeks.

Moira's head came up at that and she grinned, a wicked look in her eye. "Keep an 'ear' on Rachel," she mused and then untangled herself from the sheets. "Last one in does th' dishes!"

"This is entirely not fair," Nathan said woefully, getting a bit more gingerly out of bed. He was tired, still, and swayed a little as he got to his feet.

"I never said I dinnae cheat!" Moira called out from the bathroom.

"On the other hand, I suppose I can cheat at the dishes, too. So we're good!"

"Shut up an' get in 'ere!"

---

"She's doing it again," Nathan pointed out, gazing very steadily through the open door of the nursery as he peeled his banana. "Not quite level with the top of the crib, but almost."

Moira leaned back in her chair and stared through the open door of the nursey. "Rachel," she called out in warning as she floated a little too high. A giggle and then they watched as she lowered herself slightly.

Nathan shook his head. "The lines of force are perfect," he said, watching his daughter in altered-vision. "Absolutely perfect, as if Askani-" He stopped, faltering, then went on. "As if she had been taught the perfect textbook way to levitate."

Reaching over, she squeezed his leg gently. "Still, she takes ta much enjoyment out o' givin' me a heart attack," she grumped good naturedly.

"Takes after her father, I suppose." He gave Moira an uncertain look, then turned his attention back to his banana. "Amanda's gone," he said abruptly. "I saw it in your mind, back in the shower."

"Aye, she is," Moira said softly, taking a bit of her own breakfast. "We've been avoidin' talkin' about her, I know."

"I didn't expect her to stay. Didn't expect her to be gone before we got back, but I figured she would go," Nathan said, and his voice was flat, odd, his internal eye lost in the vast emptiness inside his mind.

"I dinnae know wha' ta say," she said sadly, picking up her empty bowl and taking it to the sink. "I jus...I jus' dinnae."

"She's better off out of this life," Nathan said, slicing the banana into precise, thin pieces. "Although I wish I had told her the truth, now."

Curious, Moira glanced over her shoulder. "Th' truth?"

"All kinds of truth. What happened with Pete, rather than trying to protect her. What Askani was really doing that night." He kept slicing. Thin slices. Almost translucent.

Looking thoughtful, she turned back to washing her dishes though slowly as she thought things through. "In th' end, would it 'ave helped?" she wondered. "I dinnae know. There are so many places we could 'ave gone--all o' us--but I'm nay sure if any o' these were better."

"Askani didn't care, you know. She knew that Amanda would blame herself for 'killing' her, that she would take it as something to feel guilty about. But she didn't care. All that mattered to her was saving the two of them, Amanda and Alison..." And all he'd had to do was be quiet, be complicit in the lie, and let her do it. Amanda wouldn't have acted to save her own life that night. So she'd had to think that she was saving his. "It's what she believed, you know," Nathan went on, his voice deceptively even. "Life is what matters. Everything else can be negotiated. It's one of the things we always agreed upon."

The tone, or lack thereof, caught Moira's attention. Wiping her hands dry on a towel she turned around and eyed him with some worry. "Are ye okay? Stupid question, I know, but I still need ta ask."

Nathan looked up from the banana, then shook his head. "No," he said briefly. "Not at all. All the good news in Africa notwithstanding." He'd shared his mother's letter with her while they'd gotten dressed. Nathan shrugged, and the banana reassembled itself. From the nursery, Rachel gave a squeal. "But," he went on steadily, "I think I will be. Eventually. It's just going to take a lot of getting used to. Everything's different now. Except," he amended, a slight smile tugging at his lips, "for you and Ray. You both still make sense to me. Some patterns didn't break."

"Too bloody stubborn ta break," she said, coming around the table to encircle his neck with her arms and leaned against his back. "Yer right, though, ye'll get back on yer feet in time. Different, stronger, wiser...all th' stuff I thought was nonsense when me Da told me tha' over tea when things got rough."

Nathan closed his eyes, just letting himself... rest, just for a moment, in her presence inside his mind. "Once term's over, let's go to Muir," he said quietly. "Invite the Pack, and Cain if he'll come. I'm sure even if Dom drags Pete somewhere warm, she can get his ass to Scotland for Christmas."

"Wha' a marvelous idea," Moira beamed, kissing his cheek. "I knew I married ye for a reason. Cain'll come, I'll jus' 'ave ta threaten him for a wee bit, ye'll see."

"And Rachel can be the center of attention..."

"EEEEEE!"

Nathan's eyes flew open and he half-turned in his chair, looking past Moira to where Rachel was now levitating several inches above the top of her crib. "Well, damn."

"Rachel Kinross!" Moira yelped, hurrying over to the crib. "Stop tha' this instant!"

Rachel waved her arms at her mouth, giggling. "Eeee! Eeee!" she proclaimed, bobbing lightly in the air. Nathan was only a few steps behind Moira, raising an eyebrow as Rachel drifted slightly back and out of reach as Moira reached out to her.

"Dinna 'eee' at me, youn' lady!" she said, stretching over the crib in an effort to snag her gleefully evil daughter. "Come down before ye give yer mum a blo--blasted 'eart attack."

"We're not going to survive her toddler years. You realize this." Nathan's eyes narrowed a little and he projected just a little bit of telekinesis, enough to wind around the lines of force keeping Rachel aloft and tug her downwards to Moira's waiting arms.

"AAAH!" the baby sputtered, obviously indignant. "AAAAH!"

"Tha's why they make drugs, dear...for us, anyway." Moira winced as Rachel howled, tightening her grip slightly when the baby tried to float away again. "Rachel," she warned, sending a warning gently down the link to her daughter.

Rachel stared at her through teary eyes before letting out a mournful "Waaaaah".

"The Voice of God spoke, did she?" Nathan asked, leaning over and kissing the top of Rachel's head. "It's a good thing Mom's such a good disciplinarian, because I think I already suck. Although I might be convinced to take you for a walk down to see Uncle Charles this morning, so that he can check the circuit-breaker in your pretty little head."

"Nay, ye dinnae suck but ye are wrapped completely around 'er finger." Grinning, Moira bounced their daughter on her hip, earning a happy squeal. "An' tis completely, utterly adorable. Aye, seein' Uncle Charles would be a good thin'."

"He probably would like to see me, too. Just to make sure everything's where it should be in my much less pretty head. So, we'll kill two birds with one stone." Rachel reached out to her father almost imploringly, and Nathan took her from Moira. "You probably do want to check on Dom. He kept her drugged for at least part of the time that he had her, and Mina was fussing at her, too."

Moira scowled at that. "Good idea, I'll go see how she's doin' once I shower an' get dressed." Leaning over she kissed Nathan and then Rachel. "Alright me two trouble makers, go see how much tea Charles can give ye. He cannae wait for th' day he can give th' tea ta Ray."