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xp_logs2006-10-12 06:37 pm
x-cable.livejournal.com) wrote in xp_logs2006-10-12 06:37 pm
Nathan and Ororo, Thursday night
Ororo retreats to her office to worry about Kurt as the Professor searches for him with Cerebro. Nathan takes it upon himself to bring her dinner.
"Do you and Scott share a brain?" The question came from the doorway of Ororo's office as it swung open to reveal Nathan, dinner tray in hand and a reproving expression on his face. "You both retreat to your office when under stress. And forget to eat." Without waiting for an invitation, he came in, setting the tray down on the desk. "Just call me an honorary kitchen-henchman for the night. God knows people have had to come feed me often enough."
"I did not forget," Ororo muttered, shaking her head and giving the tray of food a dubious look. "It is not even that late. I was going to get something to eat soon." Somehow she knew the usual protests wouldn't fly with Nathan, and not just because he was a telepath. "But thank you," she added grudgingly.
"So are you actually doing any work," Nathan asked, sinking down in the chair opposite the desk and leaning forward to steal a carrot, "or just staring off into space worrying?"
"Whereas Scott would be burying himself in work, I am staring into space worrying," Ororo said, as if to reinforce the differences between her and her best friend. She unfolded the napkin and set it in her lap, smoothing her hands over it for a moment. "I just cannot keep from envisioning the worst..."
"I know." Nathan was silent for a long moment. "I keep telling myself I should have talked to him more, that night. I just didn't expect him to slip out before morning like that..." He grimaced, rubbing at his jaw. "This has been building for a while. I think about how he reacted to Marius's accident..." And it went back farther than that, didn't it? Youra. So many things that attacked the foundation of what Kurt saw as his life.
"I did try to talk to him... but I could not find the right words to say." Ororo sighed, knowing that this, even more than the situation with Jennie and Marius, was her fault. "I should have known better. He was unhappy, and yet I continued to send him into the situations that would make it worse."
"He had a choice," Nathan pointed out. "He could have taken a break at any point in the last few months. He didn't. Admittedly, that probably had as much to do with his sense of duty as anything else, but the point remains."
The point remains that as a commanding officer, I have a terrible record, Ororo thought dully, poking at her dinner. It wouldn't do any good to speak those words out loud, not that everyone wasn't thinking it already. "I should have known better," she repeated. "He was my own XO and he would rather flee than stay here and be ordered into another mission that would test his beliefs and his faith."
"Ordered into another mission?" Nathan gave her a look that mingled equal parts exasperation and fondness. "Ororo, this isn't the military. This isn't even really a paramilitary outfit, and trust me, I speak as someone who knows. He had a choice." Nathan shook his head, slouching in his chair. "I hope to hell Charles finds him soon, and I really, really hope that when he does, we can go and get him and bring him back to get some help. But if you don't stop kicking yourself, I'm going to throw you in the lake."
Ororo started to protest, and then stopped - maybe his words had a grain of truth to them. And besides, she didn't particularly want to be thrown into the lake that evening. "I could not very well eat my dinner if I was in the lake. You are not a very good kitchen-henchman," she said, trying to lighten her tone.
"Then eat and don't self-flagellate. We'll both be happy then." Nathan rubbed at his temples, sighing. "It doesn't ever really stop, does it? Just one thing after the other..."
The look Ororo gave him then could only be described as a mixture of incredulity - 'You only just noticed this?' - and sympathy - 'Don't even get me started' - with a slight manic widening of her eyes just for kicks. "So it goes when you choose to put yourself in the path of every madman and injustice in the world with no regard as to whether they choose to stomp right over you," she finally said.
Nathan's smile was crooked. "Don't go getting delusions of grandeur on us... that's my job."
"Do you and Scott share a brain?" The question came from the doorway of Ororo's office as it swung open to reveal Nathan, dinner tray in hand and a reproving expression on his face. "You both retreat to your office when under stress. And forget to eat." Without waiting for an invitation, he came in, setting the tray down on the desk. "Just call me an honorary kitchen-henchman for the night. God knows people have had to come feed me often enough."
"I did not forget," Ororo muttered, shaking her head and giving the tray of food a dubious look. "It is not even that late. I was going to get something to eat soon." Somehow she knew the usual protests wouldn't fly with Nathan, and not just because he was a telepath. "But thank you," she added grudgingly.
"So are you actually doing any work," Nathan asked, sinking down in the chair opposite the desk and leaning forward to steal a carrot, "or just staring off into space worrying?"
"Whereas Scott would be burying himself in work, I am staring into space worrying," Ororo said, as if to reinforce the differences between her and her best friend. She unfolded the napkin and set it in her lap, smoothing her hands over it for a moment. "I just cannot keep from envisioning the worst..."
"I know." Nathan was silent for a long moment. "I keep telling myself I should have talked to him more, that night. I just didn't expect him to slip out before morning like that..." He grimaced, rubbing at his jaw. "This has been building for a while. I think about how he reacted to Marius's accident..." And it went back farther than that, didn't it? Youra. So many things that attacked the foundation of what Kurt saw as his life.
"I did try to talk to him... but I could not find the right words to say." Ororo sighed, knowing that this, even more than the situation with Jennie and Marius, was her fault. "I should have known better. He was unhappy, and yet I continued to send him into the situations that would make it worse."
"He had a choice," Nathan pointed out. "He could have taken a break at any point in the last few months. He didn't. Admittedly, that probably had as much to do with his sense of duty as anything else, but the point remains."
The point remains that as a commanding officer, I have a terrible record, Ororo thought dully, poking at her dinner. It wouldn't do any good to speak those words out loud, not that everyone wasn't thinking it already. "I should have known better," she repeated. "He was my own XO and he would rather flee than stay here and be ordered into another mission that would test his beliefs and his faith."
"Ordered into another mission?" Nathan gave her a look that mingled equal parts exasperation and fondness. "Ororo, this isn't the military. This isn't even really a paramilitary outfit, and trust me, I speak as someone who knows. He had a choice." Nathan shook his head, slouching in his chair. "I hope to hell Charles finds him soon, and I really, really hope that when he does, we can go and get him and bring him back to get some help. But if you don't stop kicking yourself, I'm going to throw you in the lake."
Ororo started to protest, and then stopped - maybe his words had a grain of truth to them. And besides, she didn't particularly want to be thrown into the lake that evening. "I could not very well eat my dinner if I was in the lake. You are not a very good kitchen-henchman," she said, trying to lighten her tone.
"Then eat and don't self-flagellate. We'll both be happy then." Nathan rubbed at his temples, sighing. "It doesn't ever really stop, does it? Just one thing after the other..."
The look Ororo gave him then could only be described as a mixture of incredulity - 'You only just noticed this?' - and sympathy - 'Don't even get me started' - with a slight manic widening of her eyes just for kicks. "So it goes when you choose to put yourself in the path of every madman and injustice in the world with no regard as to whether they choose to stomp right over you," she finally said.
Nathan's smile was crooked. "Don't go getting delusions of grandeur on us... that's my job."