xp_logs | House of Wind: Leap of Faith (Reply)

The 'Big Book of Stupid Cable Tricks' gets a new entry as Nathan slips out at three in the morning to go meet his father for Saul's suggested family 'summit'. Not having a deathwish, he wakes Moira up to tell her what he's doing before he leaves. She's not happy, but Nathan insists that he has a plan. Not much of a plan, and it's pretty vague in places, but still...

She was going to kill him.

Nathan sank down on the edge of the bed, smiling a bit wryly at his sleeping wife. Hell, it was entirely possible that when he woke her up and she saw that he was fully dressed at three in the morning that she might kill him preemptively, just on the basis that something was obviously going on. He laid a hand on her shoulder, wishing that he'd put on something clothes-wise that wasn't black. All the black was a dead giveaway too. She knew him too well.

"Moira," he called softly. "Moira, love... wake up."

It was entirely a bad sign that Moira knew something was going on when she first felt the hand on her shoulder. One of the rare nights she'd been in the mansion for the evening of late and here he was waking her up and there was no fussing Rachel in sight. Not even bothering to move her head off the pillow, she glared at him.

"I 'ave th' biggest feelin' yer about ta go be dumb."

He smiled a little, ruefully. "You know me too well, Lady Kinross," he said with a sigh as she stared up at him. "I've got a bag packed. I'm not precisely sneaking out, because firstly, I'm talking to you, and secondly, I'm not even going to try to circumvent the security system because that's an exercise in futility. But I am, I suppose, off to do something that most would consider monumentally dumb."

Sitting up, Moira pillowed the blankets around herself and half-laid back to glare again at Nathan. "How dumb are ye goin' ta be?" she asked, finally. "Dumb enough ta do wha' ever ye plan by yerself? Ye remember how well tha' went last time."

Oh, Nathan had been most displeased that she'd called for backup when he and Pete had run off like chickens with their heads cut off to rescue Domino.

Another ghost of a smile, and he looked away for a moment, as if gathering his thoughts. "You know how my precog changed, after it came back?" he asked after a moment. She made a noise that might have been affirmation. "I don't think it did. Not really. I think it's still locked on the Askani, I think the focus just shifted. From them, way down the line, to what--to who brought their future about, here and now." He looked back at her finally. "Gideon," he said, unnecessarily. "It's all about him. Think about it for a minute. When I haven't been psychotic on chocolate, or linked to Angie... what have I actually seen that couldn't be traced back to him or the Askani somehow? And lately, experimenting with those pills... it just brought everything into focus, when it recoiled on me."

Now that caused the frown to deepen even more. "Tha's one 'ell o' a chemical reaction," Moira said quietly, shifting to get more comfortable and to wake up her brain. From being a doctor, and Kevin's problems, she had become accustomed to being woken suddenly in the middle of the night and having to start thinking right away. It didn't mean she had to like it.

She huffed a bit. "Is anyone goin' wit' ye?"

"I wish there was." And he did, with a sudden vehemence that startled him, and probably slipped down the link, too. He didn't want this. He didn't want this, and he didn't want to do it alone, but he just didn't see any other way. And the sense of rightness, beneath the anxiety, was almost overwhelming. "This isn't going to make a whole lot of sense. But the stuff I've been seeing... it's all lead-up. Not what it's focused on. All I know is that it's just me, and him, and then it's done." He swallowed past a sudden tightness in his throat. "It stops. None of the images, none of the patterns, belong to the time after that." He didn't see anything past that. He was maybe going to gloss over that bit.

And oh, she did not look reassured at all. "I'm not going to pick a fight," Nathan said with a sigh. "I swear. I'm not heading off to kill him. I've known for a while now that I don't kill him. But I do, I think, bring around the circumstances that stop him." It was a fine distinction, maybe. But it meant everything to him, in the end.

"I dislike yer father but I dislike yer uncle more," Moira said, softly. "In th' end, he's th' more dangerous one an' I dinnae think they mesh as well as they would like sometime. I 'ope that'll be part o' their downfall." She gave him a sharp look. "Nothin' I can say will make ye change yer mind, will it?"

Nathan sighed again and reached out to take her hand, bringing it to his lips for a moment. "Give me twenty-four hours," he suggested quietly. "If I'm not in touch in twenty-four hours, you'll know there's a real problem. I've left a few time-delayed emails to people in that event, too." A faint little smile flickered on his lips, vanishing as soon as it had come. "A real problem that's not for Gideon, I mean. I don't know how this is going to go, Moira. Not really. I'm going with my gut here."

...and scared out of my wits. It slipped down the link before he could stop it, although maybe he wouldn't have wanted to, anyway. "It's the strangest thing," he said, even more quietly, "but I feel like there's a reason to have faith, somewhere here. I don't know in what or in who, but that's the only reason I'm doing this. It's going to work. I know it. I just have to take the leap of faith, and it'll be over." She and Rachel would be safe. Everyone he cared about would be safe.

"I'm still irritated at ye," Moira grumped as she slid over to him, the bedsheets bunching around her before she wrapped her arms around him. She sniffed in irritation just to prove a point. "Th' least ye could do is wait until proper daylight, ye daft man, but I'm assumin' yer afraid o' someone seein' ye an' demandin' ta go wit' ye. They'd be right, ye know."

Nathan hugged her tightly, kissing the top of her head. "Yeah," he said softly, holding onto her. "There'd be the indignation, and then the beatings and chaining to my desk... and possibly laminating." He wasn't sure why or how he was joking, right here at this moment, but then maybe that wasn't such a bad thing. "I love you," he murmured. "You and the munchkin. I'm doing this as much for the two of you as anyone or anything else." To keep them safe.

"Aye, an' most o' tha' would be from me." Moira sighed again and forced herself to relax as his warmth washed over her, chasing away the last remaining sleep. "I love ye ta, so does Rachel. Jus' remember tha' an' come 'ome safe?"

Just come home.

"I wouldn't dare do anything else." He drew back, but only far enough to frame her face with his hands and kiss her soundly. "You're not above discovering a scientific method of resurrection simply to be able to kill me again, if it came down to that."

He didn't want to let go. But he had to. He kissed her again and then rose. "Kissed the munchkin already," he muttered, struggling to keep his tone gruff. "She'd thrown Mr. Bunny out onto the floor again. I put him back."

"To quote some o' our students, damned skippy." Moira brushed another kiss on his cheek and gently pushed him away. "Go before I tie ye ta th' bed or somethin'." She followed him up out of bed, ignoring his look. "Wha'? Like I'll be able ta sleep? Curt's probably up, there are some issues we need ta work out."

Like always, she fought to have the last word. "Be safe or I'll 'urt ye meself, love."

As they headed out into the main room of the suite, Nathan bent to pick up his duffel bag, then opened the door, giving her a tiny, oddly desperate smile before he stepped out into the hall and the door closed softly behind him.

In the nursery, Rachel gave a low wail of protest.