xp_logs | Nathan and Sofia, a phone call

In a quiet moment outside the hospital, Nathan calls Sofia. They somehow manage to talk about Nathan's worries about his friends and giant man-eating Venus flytraps in the same conversation.

He'd needed some fresh air. Hospitals were still not his favorite place, even when he wasn't the one lying in the bed, and given that everyone had someone sitting with them right this second, he could afford to step out for a few minutes. Sitting down on an empty bench, Nathan took a deep breath and then let it out, his gaze slightly unfocused as he stared around him at the immense hospital complex. Even out here, the place was busy at this time of day.

Yet it seemed, paradoxically, too quiet. After a moment, he pulled the cell phone out of his pocket and hesitated for a moment before dialing. It would be midmorning in Westchester. She'd probably be working.

"Mantega-Barret," Sofia answered crisply after the third ring, balancing the phone in the dip of her shoulder. While normally she'd invite the distraction, even of telemarketers, this would be Pete's third call today, and as much as she could recognise the caged concern, getting yelled at was becoming tiring.

"You sound irritated," Nathan said, his own voice softer than it should be, a bit hoarse with fatigue. "Remy being a pain in the ass again? Assaulting your plants? I think you need a Venus flytrap of unusual size. I need to find a mad botanist and get you one for Christmas."

There was a short pause, as the door gently clicked close and Sofia leaned back in her chair, allowing a tired smile to touch her mouth. "Always. Not literally, of course, then he'd be dead, but I would really appreciate if next time you're going away to places that are planning on exploding you take him with you," she replied, the breeze doubling back to ruffle her hair over behind her ear. "Unless you can get a discount on the man eating plant. I hear they are pricy, but imagine the fun I would have."

"It gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling, imagining the fun you would have." His banter was definitely a little off. Ah, well. "And no, Sofia, you can keep the Cajun. I've got the Brit and trust me, you've got the better end of the deal this week. Pete's a little testy. Understandable, of course, but even Dom mustered up a woeful little comment about not being in any shape to help improve his mood."

There was a definite huff from the other end of the line. "Nathan, you don't understand. Every time he speaks, a little part of my soul, my well bred, fabulously educated soul, screams out in pain and dies." Sofia cringed in memory. "And he at least doesn't call seven times a day. Or when he does, I just hang up on him."

"Cruel woman. Thwarting his righteous commanding ways like that." Oh dear God was he exhausted. Nathan leaned the cell phone on his shoulder for a moment to cover coughing. "So," he said, his voice even a little more gravelly than it had been, "I'm got this serious food-related cognitive dissonance going on this week. Medusa showed up with a whole flock of royal clerks from Attilan that seem to be all gourmet cooks in their spare time. So at the house, I could eat like a king. Then there's the hospital food."

"Is it that bad?" she asked honestly, wondering how to bring up his obvious lack of sleep without sounding like she was too worried. "In television there is pudding. No one can make pudding bad, can they?"

"I was a little more disturbed by the glowing jello. I think it's radioactive. There was this whole purple glow going on." Nathan rested his chin on one hand. "I wish they'd feed it to Dom so she could complain. I'd feel so much better if she was complaining."

There was a silence on the other end, as Sofia let him listen to the low crackle of a long distance connection, her eyes falling to half closed. "You're worried about her. Is it that bad?"

Nathan swallowed. "She will be all right," he said, his voice a bit tight. "It's just going to take a considerable amount of time. It's not even as bad as it could have been, which is a little alarming when you're talking about multiple compound fractures and massive internal bleeding. Her powers probably kept her alive."

"You're allowed to worry," Sofia said, her low voice dropping further into the chest to form a soothing rumble. "Do not feel guilty for it."

"I'm worried about all of them," Nathan admitted after a moment, his voice heavy. "Not just the ones in hospital, either. My friends... they don't make good victims, Sofia, if that makes any sense. There's a lot of anger there, and they're not..." He smiled helplessly, almost despite himself. "They're not the most passive people in the world, my friends."

"You're... worried they might attempt to act out in revenge?" she asked. Sofia knew pieces of Nathan's backstory, but the fact that there were so many people around him all the time made it difficult to sort, on occasion, especially when she couldn't really take notes.

"Not so much," Nathan said, and despite the flippant words, there was something almost desperate in his voice. "I'm more worried that they'll turn... inward, in the bad way. It's my fellow former Mistra operatives I'm thinking of, here. To be stuck in a situation again where they're helpless, where someone hurts them and there's nothing that they can do to stop it... they're going to expect the other shoe to drop," he went on, the words spilling out a little too quickly, "expect it to happen again, and goddamn it, Sofia, two years isn't enough to break them of old habits. I see that old hollow look in their eyes, and-" He bit off the rest, closing his eyes and trying to slow down his breathing.

"You recognise it. It's difficult to forget the face in the mirror," Sofia finished for him, quiet. A breeze stirred around the curve of her waist, like a kitten soothing it's person, warm like the sigh she exhaled. "Except they have you. And that's enough."

"... I'm just going to have to make sure that it is." Nathan let his breath out on a sign, opening his eyes again. "The state Angelo's in, too... you know, if I had the opportunity I can't say that I'd turn down the opportunity to... well." He smiled a bit bitterly. "Wish fulfillment there, sorry."

'Yes, you would," she answered for him, swaying back and forth in her chair. "You're a good man. You believe in equal justice. You believe in the system, as a whole, even when things like this happen. You would do the right thing."

Nathan opened his mouth and closed it again, trying not to smile. "You're about the only woman I know who would say that to someone with my background." Although the damned thing was, she was right, and they both knew it.

There was a low chuckle, barely audible over the phone but there, and warm. "I'm very smart," Sofia answered.

"Yes, you are. And can read me like a book." And he was glad he'd called.