xp_logs | Nathan and Moira (Reply)

After a restful afternoon and evening, Nathan and Moira have a very calm, matter-of-fact conversation about how to ruin Gideon's life. Ahem.

Nathan opened his eyes, blinking at the bedside clock. He was not going to get used to this napping thing, ever, he thought wryly, sitting up and rubbing his eyes, then smoothing his hair as he got up. "You're married to an old man," he said lightly as he walked out into the living room and saw Moira working at the desk.

"Well, ye married an old woman," she returned, flipping another page thoughtfully. "Amazin' how either o' us can ever get out o' bed in th' mornin's wit' all the creakin' tha' goes on." Moira stopped and smiled at him as he got closer. "Ye could 'ave slept longer."

He bent over and kissed her, then went over and flopped down on the couch. "Don't nag," he told her, with the hint of a twinkle in his eyes. "I'm catching up on my sleep, slowly. You can't expect me to go from insomniac to... okay, clearly I'm not awake just yet because I know there's a word that means the opposite but I can't think of it. Argh."

"Doofus," was the amused and every loving reply. "An'I verra well can too expect tha'."

Nathan rubbed at his jaw. "Munchkin's asleep, I gather," he said, tilting his head in the direction of the nursery. "I'm spoiling her, you know. Spending all this time with her this week..."

"Actually, one o' her verra lovin' baby sitters came an' took her for a wee bit so I could get some work done." Moira swiveled around in her chair to face him better, leaning her chin against her arm. "She was fussin' a wee bit an' I couldnae take her for a walk like she wanted ta."

"She's... umm." Nathan looked vaguely alarmed. "I should have warned the babysitters about the squirrel issue." He'd told Moira about it after Rachel's first walk today. He hadn't thought warning the babysitters was a necessity just yet.

Moira looked faintly amused. "I think they're jus' wanderin' around th' Mansion, nay squirrels around jus' yet."

"That's probably a bad thing. The squirrel flinging." Nathan looked at her for a moment, eyes wide, and then laughed, for the first time in what felt like days. "Our daughter flings squirrels," he said, and laughed harder. "Our darling Rachel the squirrel-flinger..."

She laughed and shook her head. "We're 'orrible influences on 'er."

"Squirrel-flinger..." he croaked, then covered his eyes, still choking back laughter. "Ohhh," he finally said. "I needed that. Badly."

"We are nay lettin' anyone give 'er tha' as a baby code name," Moira warned sternly between her giggles. "Oh my God, our child is goin' ta grow up scarred." Making a decision, she pushed off the chair and settled herself half on Nathan and half on the couch with a small sigh. "We needed th' quiet."

Nathan put his arms around her, leaning his head against hers for a moment, breathing deeply. "We did. I can think again. Was starting to get worried about that, before that session with Jack..."

"Ta much stuff rollin' around up 'ere," she tapped him lightly in the head, "an' nay a chance ta release any o' it."

"Things have gotten clearer, with the time off," he said, smiling, but his eyes very serious as they met hers. "We need to talk."

"Wha' about?"

"What we do now. About Gideon."

Sitting up a little straighter, Moira got a little more comfortable. "Any thoughts?"

"A few. And not of the typical sort." He gave her a long, thoughtful look. "I'm not going after him. I promised GW."

"Good, because I'd kick yer arse if ye were." Moira slide out of his arms, ignorning his grump of protest, to head back to her desk. "Besides, there are other ways ta take a man down than blowin' him up or puttin' a bullet in his head. Though th' shoulder was fun." It took her a second to find the papers she was looking for. "I was thinkin' about certain things earlier today, tha' wha' I was pokin' through when ye woke up. Ye must be a mind reader or somethin'."

"Things," Nathan mused. "Thinking things. I mean, things that require thought. Oh, I need coffee. Fighting with the invisible weapons?" He stopped, and gave her his best puppy-dog 'Don't kill me, I'm too cute' look.

She rolled her eyes but went over to the kitchen. "Regular or some o' mine?" Moira asked, fussing around with the coffee pots and fondly petting the one that Forge had built her when he first arrived. It made the brewing process so much easier. "Nay invisible weapons, ye silly man, but some politicial clout might come inta play."

"Political clout," Nathan murmured. "Like what you have, my aristocratic and well-connected wife?"

"Bingo." At his not-unexpected and telepathically-expressed choice of coffee rang down the link, Moira grabbed two mugs. "Go after his company."

"It's funny. One of the things that occurred to me is that a number of the groups Eris deals with elsewhere in the world, according to that information I got in Philadelphia, is on the American terrorist watch list," Nathan said, his lips twitching. "Wouldn't hurt to pass that on to some of Charles' contacts, now, would it?"

"You may wish to speak to Jean about that," she mused, coming back over to the couch and settling next to him again. "But, aye, tha's a brilliant idea."

"I had slightly less above-board ideas," he said, taking the coffee mug she handed to him, and taking a sip before he went on. "Like telling Mac to go back to Africa, and make a mess."

"Why nay do bot'?"

Nathan blinked. "Why not..." He shook his head a little, focused on her again. "I suspect certain African governments would be very unhappy to hear that the intel that's allowing this mysterious group to take down those camps came from the people who helped set them up in the first place. Almost like backstabbing, isn't it?" He smiled very faintly. "And then there's the Pack."

"Way I see it, ye can do this wit' th' Pack, wit' th' governments, wit' Jean an' Charles an' wit' my clout in th' UK." She grinned a little at him. "Take him down by his businesses."

"Make a mess," Nathan echoed softly, his eyes flickering for a moment. "You know what else might be fun? Outing him as a mutant."

"Mmm, tha' would be interestin'."

Nathan's forehead creased as he thought. "The Pack's probably going to need an injection of operating funds if they're going to be working anywhere but Africa," he said, trying to think of how he could shuffle around some of the old Mistra slush fund.

"Well, 'ow much do ye think they'll need?"

Nathan blinked at her. Then laughed. "Oh, yes. I forgot, I'm married to Ms. Insane Amounts Of Disposable Income." He tilted his head again, considering. "Enough to buy a medium-sized island."

Moira snorted. "I can write a large check for a small island," she mused.

"The key, I've figured out," Nathan said, his throat a little tight suddenly, "is to forget how afraid I am. Or at least set it aside. I think if this week's given me nothing else, it's given me time to remember how good I am at doing that."

Leaning against him, she grabbed his hand. "We'll get 'im," Moira said with soft convication in her voice. "One way or another, we'll take him down."

"How can we not? It's not like I'm doing this alone." He squeezed her hand. "I'll go over to Muir this week sometime. Quick hop there and back, to set things up with Mac and David. By the way, you wouldn't consider putting a condition on that island-buying check?" She raised an eyebrow, and he went on. "That Mina stays on Muir."

She smirked. "I'll put it in writin', if I 'ave ta."

"Good. I know you've been concerned about her and all this stress." He raised Moira's hand to his lips, kissing the back of it. "David will back you up wholeheartedly, you know. I could see it in his eyes... him wanting to do something, but being torn because he knew she wanted the same."

"Well, I'll jus' recruit 'er for stuff I need done over there, for th' business stuff in th' UK. I know I cannae be over there all th' time an' she'll 'ave plenty o' time on her 'ands."

"I want to see that baby born happy and healthy," Nathan said very softly. "It's very important to me. It would have been very important to GW."

"Then 'tis done."

"No obsessions," Nathan said, his eyes straying away from hers. Back to the nursery door. "No single-minded crusades. Just doing what needs to be done, and remembering that we're not him."

"We're nay 'im, we're nay doin' wha' he's doin'." Moira shrugged. "Besides, we're better lookin' than he is."

Nathan looked back at her, smiling again, and then leaned forward and kissed her. #How long do you think Ray will be making whoever the lucky person is today chase her around the mansion?#

#Give it ten more minutes, tops.#

#Nuts.# He wrapped his arms around her, holding her close. #Raincheck, then,# he sent softly, kissing the top of her head. His eyes stung a little, but it wasn't a bad feeling. "I love you so much," he whispered.

#We can always get someone ta watch her durin' th' night,# Moira sent back with a grin before snuggling up closer. "I love ye ta."

"We're going to win this," he said, his eyes shifting to the bookcases, his vision blurring a little more as his gaze rested on one of the pictures from Christmas, of GW on the floor with Rachel. Moira had put in the frame a few days ago. He was glad. "We are."

"There's never been any doubt in my mind."