xp_logs | Angelo and Nathan, Friday morning

Nathan sneaks down to the office for coffee. Angelo catches him. Then another precognitive fit ensues.

He ought to be sleeping. He'd had all of three hours in the preceding forty-eight, and everyone else who'd been to Vladivostok was doing the sane thing. But he wanted coffee, Nathan thought wistfully, and there was no coffemaker in the house that made coffee like the one in his office. So he'd snuck downstairs, and thankfully, hadn't run into anyone who'd told him to go back to bed.

No one yet, anyway. Angelo happened to come into the office at that moment, stopping in the doorway to give Nathan a Look. "What are you doin' down here?"

Nathan jumped. "Coffee?" he said. "I wanted coffee. Don't look at me like that," he said defensively.

"An' you couldn't get coffee upstairs in your suite?"

"I wanted the good coffee," Nathan muttered, fully aware that he sounded like he was five. "And besides, I don't have bruises to nurse so I don't really need the downtime. All I did was stand on the roof in the snow and keep an eye on things."

"On the roof in the snow for how long, Nate?" Angelo asked patiently.

"Um. About five, six hours. Why?"

"In the snow for six hours. An' you don't think that's enough to deserve downtime?"

"I had a coat on, Mom," Nathan scoffed at him, reminding himself that he was the... that he was older, and presumably wiser.

Angelo eyed him. "Still."

"Who pays whose paycheck around here?" Nathan said repressively, part of him rather enjoying the snark. Angelo, oddly enough, reminded him almost overwhelmingly of GW at times. "I promise I'm not here to work. A little too keyed up... and yes, I know the caffeine won't help with that," he said as he finished pouring himself a cup.

"So why are you drinkin' it? Don't make me switch your supply to decaf."

Nathan gave Angelo a wholly put-upon innocent look. "Because decaf tastes like shit."

"...okay. so somethin' that isn't coffee at all. Just this once?"

"Mother hen," Nathan scolded him. "If I did that I'd have to go all the way down to the kitchen, and risk more people nagging at me. And really, I'm not-" He lurched forward, grabbing at the edge of his desk. The coffee cup fell to the floor, the contents splashed all over the hardwood, but Nathan didn't notice.

His mind was seething with images all at once. Sitting behind the wheel of a car, Saul in the passenger's seat, outside a brownstone. Looking up from the floor at a hole in the wall, trying not to pass out. Rocks and waves and the statue above Rio and a helicopter and pain exploding in his chest with the unmistakable feel of ribs breaking-

Angelo leapt forward, dropping the folder in his hand - not into the coffee, fortunately - and put a hand on Nathan's shoulder, ready to support him further if he needed it. "Nate?"

Nathan's jaw clenched and he focused on breathing for a moment, breathing and thinking his way through one of the steadying patterns. The flow of images slowed down, and Nathan watched through his own eyes as he walked across a room to where Gideon was standing, hand outstretched.

And took it.

Angelo gave up on trying to talk until the fit passed, and just stood ready. In case. In case of what, he wasn't sure.

It was a full two minutes before Nathan straightened, his breathing harsh and labored as he tried to ignore the phantom pain in his ribs. "I'm okay," he said raggedly to Angelo. "I just... need to sit down. Dizzy."

Angelo nodded and steered him to a chair. "Sit."

Nathan tried not to hunch over in the chair. "A lot clearer," he said after a long moment, his voice still hoarse. "In order, some of it, too. I think. Damn..."

"What'd you see?"

"Can you get me a glass of water?" When Angelo turned around to do that, Nathan closed his eyes for a moment, thinking. "I was definitely in Rio. We need to step up the investigation into precisely what Eris does there..."

Angelo picked up a notebook and pen from the desk, after handing Nathan the water. "Rio?"

"Rio. I keep seeing the statue on Corcovado. But we leave... I'm sure we leave. In a helicopter."

"You an' Gideon, you mean?"

Nathan opened his mouth, then closed it again. "Yes. Gideon," he said a bit distantly, then rubbed at his temples. The headache, right on cue. "My ribs hurt."

"...is that from somethin' in the vision, or did you hit the desk harder than I thought?" Angelo asked, worried.

"I-no, my ribs are fine," Nathan said, making himself straighten in the chair. Here and now was here and now. He sighed, rubbing at his eyes this time. "Confused again. Sorry. "

"Well, you only just came out of it", he pointed out. "You get to be confused."

"Maybe I should have gone to bed," Nathan said wryly, starting to feel a little more like himself as the disorientation passed. "Of course, then I would probably have dreamed about it..."

"Probably. If the vision was gonna hit, it would've done anyway."

Nathan leaned back into the chair, concentrating on slowing his breathing down even more. "I think I'm going to do something stupid, Angelo," he said, an edge of something close to despair in his voice. "What's worse is that I think it might be the only way."

Angelo tensed, watching him. "What kind of stupid, an' when?" An' how can I make you take me along?

"Soon. I'm not sure what'll bring it about, but soon." He rested his head in one hand for a minute with a weak laugh. "Why is it that I keep finding myself in these positions where the way to win is not to fight?"

"Maybe someone's tryin' to tell you somethin'", Angelo suggested with a dry chuckle.

"Oh, let's not get started thinking about where precog visions come from," Nathan said with another faint laugh. "They're brain-breaking enough as they are."

"Yeah, fair point. So what're you goin' to do?"

"Think some more. Do some more research... well, both of us are going to do that, if you don't mind." Nathan straightened in the chair, sighing. His eyes were reddened, and most of the color was still gone from his face. "Although maybe I should have a nap before we do anything."

"Probably a good idea." He didn't bring up the fact that neither of those things was particularly stupid.

Nathan drank the rest of the water down, and then noticed the coffee. "Aw, shit."

"I'll get it", Angelo said firmly. "You, sit."