Angelo and Nathan, Sunday afternoon

[x-skin.livejournal.com]

Angelo's keeping a still-recovering Nathan company in the boathouse when Nathan springs something of a surprise on him. It's not generally the sort of surprise that's his to spring, but trust the man with the law degree to argue himself into a special dispensation.



The stuffed animal hit the television with a soft thump, and Nathan, ensconced on the couch with everything one could desire when one was recovering from pneumonia within arm's reach - Moira had made sure of it before she'd headed in to the infirmary today - eyed his daughter suspiciously.

"Ray," he said warningly, his voice still far more gravelly than it should be. "I know Fox News is evil - and I promise Dad is just watching it for comparative purposes - but please don't break the TV." He gave Angelo a defensive look. "At some point she'll be able to throw more than stuffed animals, so breaking the habit is good." He spoke a little too quickly, triggering another brief fit of coughing. The coughing fits weren't at all like the ones he'd had during viral flare-ups. Really, pneumonia was easy by comparison.

Rachel was currently settled comfortably on Angelo's lap where he was slouched in one of the chairs. "She'll be older by then, though. An' she'll want the TV for herself."

Nathan raised an eyebrow as Rachel blew a raspberry at him. "Right back at you, light of my days." The subsequent cackling was a bit disturbing, and Nathan mock-glared at her before looking at Angelo. "Don't think for a second, by the way, that I'm unaware of the fact that the two of you are effectively my jailors here. Tell me, if I make a break for the office, do you tackle me or does she try to brain me with Mr. Bunny?"

To be honest, he wasn't all that keen on making a break for the office. His energy levels were still a little too low for that. Even the laptop had laid virtually untouched since yesterday when he'd logged on and seen the news about Kyle. He couldn't see himself tottering up to the mansion to visit anyone at the moment, and while he had the same urge as Scott clearly did to do something about Sabretooth, Nathan occasionally had a little common sense. The simple fact was that he needed to get better before he'd be any good to anyone on that score.

Angelo looked as innocent as he could manage. "What, our company isn't enough to keep you here? That's just crushin', isn't it, Ray?"

"Ange," she agreed.

Nathan snorted at them, coughing again. The antibiotics and his immune system had both kicked in; he was feeling markedly better than he had been even the day before, hence being allowed out of the infirmary. Which reminded him... "How are you sleeping?" he asked Angelo.

"Not too bad", Angelo said casually. "Better than last time. At least there was nothin' on fire this time round."

"Mmm. You heard from Samie, right?" Nathan made an oddly embarassed gesture. "You probably told me this already, but I've been kind of out of it the last few days." The antibiotics had made him feel very odd, even as they'd started to properly kick in.

Angelo nodded. "Emailed her as soon as I was awake enough, after we got back. She made me promise. So she'd know we got here safe, an' all. Same for her."

"That's good." Nathan watched the little redhead squirm down off Angelo's lap and make her way over to retrieve Mr. Bunny. She promptly sat down on the floor and started making faces at the Fox News anchor. "I think we possibly need to change the channel."

"If she doesn't like the Fox News guy, it's your fault", Angelo said with a grin. "She spends too much time watchin' you watch TV."

"Only the news," Nathan protested, exerting a flicker of telekinesis. The channel changed to one of the kid's networks, and Rachel squealed gleefully at the sight of Thomas the Tank Engine. "There we go."

"Yeah, but what's she heard you say about Fox?" Angelo asked pointedly, then turned to laugh at the little girl. "That's better, isn't it?"

Nathan shook his head slightly at the two of them, his gaze straying to the small black box on the end table. Scott, after some wheedling, had stopped in and dropped it off. Apparently he was honing in the team leader's fun, but... this was a special case.

Angelo didn't see him look at the box, and hadn't paid any special attention to it when he came in. He was focusing on Rachel, now, trying to get her to come back up to sit on his knees.

"So," Nathan said casually. "I've always been curious. When you get rid of 'Sancho', what are you going to pick for your actual code name?" He picked up his orange juice, taking a sip. "And you are getting rid of Sancho, right? The Don Quixote jokes are getting old."

Angelo looked up at him with a wicked grin. "Oh, I don't know. I've kind of got used to it."

"You are not keeping Sancho. Firstly because you spend enough time in remote hotels with me that I'd almost certainly find a way to smother you in your sleep if you did, and secondly - you are not my sidekick." Nathan took a deep breath, or as deep as he dared, and then set down the orange juice. "Hell, if Logan had been along in Moscow to see how you handled yourself, even he would have been disabused of that idea."

The last part got a frankly dubious look, but it quickly gave way to the grin again. "Okay, okay, I'll drop Sancho. Don't know yet what I'll go with to replace it. Marie calls me 'Skin', maybe that'll do."

"I approve. It's both descriptive and short. You should have a codename that your teammates should be able to yell in time to warn you before lunatic Chechens throw a bridge at you." Nathan paused. "That made more sense in my head. Anyway." He reached for the little black box and tossed it to Angelo, who caught it one-handed. "You may want to decide sooner rather than later."

He had always had a bad habit of being flippant in the profound moments.

"No more lunatic Chechens", Angelo said firmly. "Had enough of them to last me forever."

And then he flipped the box open and there was just staring.

"Scott still wants to talk to you. And you're supposed to see Charles, as well. But I asked him to let me give you that," Nathan said, watching Angelo's face. "I suppose I wanted to make a point. No matter how many jokes you get about being my sidekick, or mini-Nate... you're not. You're your own man. A really good man." All right, maybe he was done being flippant. "You've got all the courage you'll ever need, and all the common sense you need to temper it. You're Angelo Espinosa, and you're going to make the rest of us proud to be fighting beside you for a long time to come." Nathan paused. "I already am," he said more softly, "and I suppose that's why I wanted to be the one to give you that."

Angelo didn't answer for a long few moments, still looking down into the little box. Then, decisively, he took out the badge and pinned it to his shirt collar. His face was lit up with a grin when he looked up, finally. "...thanks", he said, sincerely. "I just... already? I only did one mission, an' it wasn't even supposed to be one."

"To quote Scott, you were cautious when you needed to be cautious, decisive when you needed to be decisive, and handled yourself as if you were already in black leathers. Add to that the fact that you're already of age, and I gather the consensus was that there was no need to wait any further. Although," Nathan said with a perfectly deadpan look, "I suggested to him that he might need to put you on a short leash around pretty women. Since you apparently attract them like flies even when you're in a strange city when you're just a dashing young humanitarian, you're going to have to be beating them off with sticks once you start prancing around in black leather and saving the world."

"Hey, Samie doesn't count", he objected, laughing. "It's not like it was the first time we met. Pure coincidence that she happened to be in the Vogue Cafe at the same time as me."

"I believe the point stands," Nathan said imperiously, his gray eyes dancing with outright mischief at this point.

There was a sudden noise from Rachel - not quite a squeal, not quite a coo, and wholly delighted. The two men looked over to see her levitating off the ground, her little face aglow with pure joy. Her thoughts brushed against theirs, the golden champagne-bubble effect very much in evidence.

Angelo peered at her, faintly bemused, and automatically held his arms out. "Hey, Ray. What's got you so happy suddenly?"

"I think she's just picking up on our moods," Nathan said, watching as Rachel floated over to Angelo's arms. "Don't let her steal your pin. She likes shiny things." And again with the flippant. But he was looking at Angelo now and remembering the boy he'd been, and while he'd certainly loved the boy, that wasn't going to stop him from seeing the man - and loving him, too. Maybe I have finally learned that you can let go of someone without losing them. Dom was so going to laugh at him.