xp_logs | Nathan and Marie, Friday morning

Marie comes down to visit Nathan after his post about being out of the infirmary. She brings cookies, and they have a rather nice talk about how he's feeling, school, Rachel, and throwing people in the lake.

Marie carried a tray with two glasses of milk and a package of unopened Oreo cookies as she made her way down the pathway to the boathouse. Somehow, she managed to make the trek and open the door without spilling the milk and she cheerfully announced her presence. "You are super special as Ah'm sharing my secret stash with you."

Nathan had moved down to the living room couch, knowing that she was coming - Julio hadn't been released from the infirmary just yet, so he didn't need the couch, and Nathan was getting a little bored of the bedroom anyway. "I feel loved, now," he said with a lopsided smile.

Beyond the partitions, the office was quiet - apparently his loyal minions were taking the tactical option of not doing any work where he could see it and invite himself to take part. Rachel had curled up on her blanket in front of the window and was napping in a pool of sunlight like a kitten. It was rather cute.

Setting her delivery on the coffee table, Marie sat in an armchair and smiled when her eyes passed over the redheaded infant. "She's gotta be just about the best medicine ever, huh?" she asked as she leaned over to rip open the cookie package.

"Oh, yes." Nathan's expression was unabashedly tender as he gazed down at his daughter for a moment before looking back up at Marie and smiled crookedly again. "And she's figured out that even if I can't talk back to her telepathically, she can still touch my mind. It was so strange, last night. She sat on my lap and kept patting my cheek, like she was trying to reassure me."

Marie arched an eyebrow at the older man. "Wouldn't surprise me one bit. Unlike finding out she has a thing for tossing squirrels." Her expression grew more serious as she dunked an Oreo into the glass of milk. "So…your powers. Any prediction on when they'll resurface?" she asked with false casualness.

Nathan shook his head fractionally. Anything more vehement and he might have bought himself another dizzy spell. They were still fairly frequent, between the concussion and what he'd had to do to burn out the virus. "Charles can't even give me an estimate. He reminded me that I strained them big-time even before the self-inflicted brain damage. My subconscious is probably keeping me from accessing them at this point. It's smarter than I am, you know."

Marie smiled wistfully. She wished her subconscious would keep her from accessing her powers instead of the opposite. Quickly shoving the cookie she was holding in her mouth to hide her immediate reaction, she nodded. "Gotta make you one of those 'It's been blank days since Ah broke my brain' signs."

"Oh, come on," Nathan said, half-amused, half-pained. "I'd gone... months. Six months? And the last time wasn't really my fault. Well... neither is this, I suppose," he said more quietly, reaching out for a cookie. "We do what we have to do when we have to do it."

Marie sighed and shook her head. "Now that won't do at all. Ah came to cheer ya up, not make you all solemn and serious." She racked her brain for interesting mansion gossip to share, but all that she had heard wasn't pleasant. Students seemed to be fleeing the mansion right and left and that was not what she wanted to talk about. "So has the little munchkin progressed from walking to runnin' yet? Or does she still prefer her flying trick?"

"She's moving around a lot faster. I'm not sure I'd call it running just yet," Nathan said, grateful for the subject change. No one had really given him a hard time about the brain-breaking, and he hoped it would stay that way. Some jokes had gotten very old a long time ago.

"So long as she doesn't have superspeed, Ah'm sure it'll be a piece of cake compared to stuff you've already dealt with." She crossed her legs and let her gaze drift around the room. "Probably best that y'all moved to the boathouse because for some reason, nothin' would surprise me with her."

"I'm really getting used to living out here, you know. Just that little bit of distance from the house... it's not that I didn't like living with all of you, but it's quieter-" Nathan stopped somewhat awkwardly. "Well. I guess that may not be a consideration for a while. But," he said, rallying, "I love the view."

It didn't take a rocket scientist to put 'quieter' together with 'people feel 2D' to figure out what had just crossed Nathan's mind. Instead of pushing the topic, she responded to the second thing he had said. "It is a beautiful view," she agreed. "You'll get a front row seat when Ah start dropping students in the lake."

"Oh?" Nathan's smile came back. "Picking up my old habits, are you?"

She grinned at him. "It's fun, what can Ah say?" She put on her most innocent looking face and held her hands up. "Ah mean, Ah am a wonderful, responsible young lady and would never do that. The students just trip and that's how they end up there."

"Trip in glorious arcs through the arc and splash very loudly?" Nathan chuckled softly and shifted his arm in its sling, wincing a bit. "Yes. Of course I buy that, Marie."

She frowned at his wince, but kept her voice light. "Ah thought you would. Now if Scott and 'Ro buy it, Ah'm golden." She grabbed another cookie, twisted it open and licked the cream out of the middle. "So far Ah haven't had to help anyone trip 'cept Skin and he deserved it," she said, grinning again.

"Nothing wrong with a good dunking," Nathan agreed more cheerfully. "Moira's thrown me in a time or two."

"Now that Ah'd like to see." The mention of Moira caused Marie's thoughts to go somewhere she had been carefully avoiding. "How is she doing? Its been a…busy week in the infirmary, huh?"

"I scared the crap out of her," Nathan said quite candidly, after a moment's pause. "Not that I meant to do it, but, well..." He grimaced a bit, staring down at the cookie in his hand.

"Well, Ah don't think we ever mean to, y'know? Must be somewhere in the job description," Marie said wryly. She pulled her knees up to her chest. "Sometimes we scare the crap out of ourselves."

Nathan studied her for a moment, then blinked, realizing something. "Um... that's a dramatic new hairdo," he said, "and if I wasn't concussed, I probably would have commented on it earlier."

"Ah'm still getting used to it myself," she said running her hand through her hair. "My hair…well, Ah got set on fire in San Diego. Apparently, my hair isn't quite as invulnerable as the rest of me."

"It's cute," Nathan said, tilting his head a little and smiling at her. "Makes you look a little younger, though..." Truth and teasing at the same time. Lots of fun.

"Cute. That's what everyone says. Was it not cute before?" she teased back at him. "An' lookin' younger isn't so bad. Ah got carded before anyways, so what'll it change?" She winked at him. "Maybe Ah won't look so outta place at college now."

"I don't think you were going to look out of place before," Nathan said in amusement, a warm look in his eyes. "In case I hadn't mentioned... I'm so glad that everything's worked out and you're taking classes."

"Well, Ah am an old lady by college standards. 'Course, that means Ah'll probably get hit up all the time to by beer." A genuine smile had appeared on Marie's face and she perked up. "Ah'm really excited. Just ordered all my textbooks…it's pretty sad that Ah can't wait to read 'em, isn't it?"

"No, not at all. Remember, you're talking to the man who, when he was your age, was asked by Mistra what he wanted as a reward for good behavior and said 'University'."

"Ah just hope Ah haven't forgotten how to study. It's been awhile, y'know?" Marie reached out to snag another cookie, thoroughly drenching it in milk before munching thoughtfully. "So strange when Ah think about where Ah was at the last time Ah was preparing to go to college. Almost seems like another lifetime."

"It's like riding a bike-" Nathan paused, eyeing Rachel as the baby turned over, making a disgrunted noise before pulling Mr. Bunny in closer. "You never really forget how," Nathan continued, smiling.

"That's comforting." Truth be told, she hadn't had too much time to actually spend worrying about school starting in the fall. "Ah just hope September is a calm month 'round here."

Nathan shook his head at her. "Don't say that," he said, not quite facetiously. "Or at least knock on wood, right now."

Marie nodded and solemnly knocked on the coffee table before grinning back at him. "Superstitious old man," she teased.

"You bet. You need to be careful about those things around here," Nathan said sententiously.

"That's true," she agreed. "After all, where else can you say 'when pigs fly' and worry that somehow it'll actually happen." She surprised herself by not cracking up until after she finished speaking.

Rachel made a meeping noise and sat up, rubbing sleepily at her eyes. "Oooh!" she proclaimed, seeing Marie. "Oooh!" Floating up off the floor, she came right at Marie.

Happily extending her arms, she pulled Rachel into her lap. "Imp," she cooed at the redheaded infant. Rachel reached up towards the face of the woman holding her and Marie deftly caught the curious hand and pushed it down. "Careful," she warned. "Skin touch is bad." Rachel cocked her head to peer quizzically at Marie, then said "Mahbah" quite seriously before reaching out to grab onto her shirt, twisting it in her tiny fist. Marie stared at the child in her lap before looking up at Nathan. "Um…that's just a coincidence right?"

Nathan raised an eyebrow. "Um, possibly not. She's grasping English lots better these days, I've noticed..."

"Ah see…we gotta start watching what we say around you, huh lil' bit?" Marie kept her eyes on Rachel, watching for any sign of recognition. Rachel just grinned up at her and waved one hand in the air. Smiling back, Marie began bouncing the baby on her knee.

Nathan watched the two of them indulgently. "Before you know it, she'll be talking back. And won't that be a trip."

"Heeheehee!"

"Now Ah think it's your turn to knock on wood," Marie kidded. She began tickling Rachel. "You aren't gonna be any trouble for your daddy at all, are you? No siree, you are just gonna be sweet as can be."

Rachel blinked at Marie. And then laughed in her face.