Nathan and Jennie - Monday Afternoon

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Jennie catches Nathan skulking in the bushes by the lake. And somehow manages not to lecture him. Mostly.



It was a beautiful day, the relentless heat of summer had yet to start blanketing New York state, and so many of the mansion's residents were taking full advantage of it. One such particular resident was down by the lake, near a rocky outcropping to avoid the worst of the reeds. She had a small pile of flat stones by her bare feet, and every so often she would bend and retrieve one, making it glow red or white before skipping it across the lake. The breeze plucked at the black sundress she was wearing as she tossed a stone up and down in her hand, considering.

"You know, I can totally hear you stomping around back there," Jennie called. "Just so you know."

Nathan froze, his eyes darting down the path to the boathouse and relative safety before he glanced back at Jennie, trying not to grimace. Next time, start walking around projecting a 'Don't notice me, I'm not here' suggestion if you really want to be invisible, Dayspring. He looked back at Jennie, then at the house.

"I didn't realize I was stomping," he said, slowly and reluctantly, and changed direction. Pride, it was just pride. He might be avoiding certain people, but that didn't mean he was going to bolt if he was noticed.

"I've heard drunken zoo animals move quieter than you," Jennie said, making the stone in her hand glow red before arcing it towards the lake. Improbably, the stone shattered upon impact. "Huh, that's a new one."

She looked over at where he was skulking in the bushes, sunglasses hiding the most of her expression. "So, you going to quit avoiding us or what? No offense, but seeing a grown man quickly and unobtrusively exit stage left every time I get near is starting to get a little sad."

"No offense, but I was pretty sure that you at least wanted some space," Nathan said, no edge to the words as he came up beside her. He knew he hadn't been precisely discreet about departing a couple of times, but it was hard when you'd already been in a room talking to someone else.

"Space, yes, having people flee, no." Jennie picked up another stone, tossing it casually from hand to hand. Her eyes flicked to Nathan's face, before looking back at the stone in her hands. "Fortunately the twitchiness seems to have finally been flushed out, as I demonstrated to Laurie after I draped myself over her shoulder this morning and asked where the tea was." She pushed her sunglasses up to her head, revealing blue eyes.

Nathan gazed down at her for a moment, the corners of his mouth finally lifting in a brief, faint smile. "I much prefer the blue," he said quietly.

"Me too." Jennie said. She looked at the scratches on his face, and her mouth twitched. She turned back to the lake, fingers glowing red before she flung the stone at the water. It hit with a resounding plop. It was nice to just be mindless with her powers for a while. Nothing being broken or nobody being hurt for once.

"Sorry about the face," she said distantly.

"Hardly your fault. And it'll heal." Nathan managed another slight smile. "Although I may not survive Moira if I keep trying to scratch. She's been threatening to beat me." The instant the words were out of his mouth, he wished he could take them back. He hadn't wanted to bring up Moira. For all he knew, Rory had told them why he was doing what he'd done to them.

Jennie ducked her head so her sunglasses fell into place. "How is she doing, by the way? It couldn't have been a fun week for her. Not everyday your creepy stalker resurfaces." She pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose. The last time she'd seen Moira, it was right after she'd first woken up in the infirmary. She'd begged the woman to take the i.v. out of her arm before she ripped it out herself.

"She's... well, she's been better since the three of you have been improving." She still wanted to do various unspeakable things to Rory, but that urge wasn't going to fade anytime soon, Nathan suspected.

"And you?" Jennie added.

"Me? Fine. Itchy, but fine."

Jennie rolled her eyes. She was so tired of people lying to her about that. If he was fine he wouldn't be running away everytime she came near. "If someone else claims they're 'fine' I swear I'll freaking scream. I'm not fine. None of us are fine. To go through something like that and come out 'fine' you'd either have to be a sadist or a masochist. Or both." She flipped a stone up in the air before skipping it. "Denial is so last year."

"Jennie, I'm not making any judgements as to what's going on in your head," Nathan said softly, watching the stone hit the water. "Please pay me the same courtesy. I wasn't the one being genetically altered and conditioned." He was very proud of himself, that his voice stayed totally even on that word. "Yes, the rescue was... stressful, from the team's perspective. But in the last year, I could point to a number of missions that have been as bad or worse."

"Right, if you wanna do that, be my guest. Just don't emo on our behalf, okay?" Jennie skipped another stone. Mr. Dayspring was a grown man, he wasn't likely going to change his habits just because of what she said. "I don't want anyone to feel 'guilty'" she used her fingers as quotation marks, "'cause of what happened. You brought us back, that's all that matters." And maybe it was selfish, but Jennie felt only she, Marius and Kyle had a right to feel horrid. No one else had been kidnapped, and everyone else had done the heroics.

It should have helped. It didn't. Maybe she knew about Moira's connection to Rory, but as she hadn't mentioned it, he doubted she'd made the rest of the connection. Still. He was a much better actor than people gave him credit for being. "I'm glad we got you three back," Nathan said, almost conversationally. "I wish it had been sooner, but we worked as quickly as we could."

"You got there, we were saved. Time didn't exactly have a lot of meaning." Jennie wiped her hands on her skirt. What with either being sedated or lobotomised for most of it. "I told the guy you were going to come fuck him up." How ironic that in the end, it was his three pets who had torn them to pieces.

"Ororo scared ten years off the life of the broker who put Campbell in touch with those mercenaries," Nathan said after a moment. "Under other circumstances it would have been kind of entertaining, but I was busy scanning his mind at the time." He paused. "Has anyone told you that one of the mercenaries actually helped? Told Pete where we could find you, and information about the defenses of the place..."

"That's nice," Jennie said. "Perhaps he could have done that a little sooner before he beat the shit out of all of us." The rock didn't even make it to the lake before it shattered. "I knew Ms. Munroe was hardcore, though." She smiled fondly.

Nathan smiled a bit himself. "She is. You know, if you'd asked me five years ago whether I'd be able to see myself taking orders from two people who were still using training wheels when I started my field work, I'd have laughed. But I don't regret being in that position now - I trust both of them. I mean, one's told me 'Catch that tsunami, please', and the other sent me to take down a telekinetic with a nuclear bomb, so sometimes I wonder about my sanity..."

"I think it's the rest of the world that's crazy," Jennie said. The stone in her fist glowed white, and as she skipped it, it made an arc, returning to her like a boomerang. She caught it deftly. "We're just trying to keep up." She handed the stone to Nathan.

He took it from her, rubbing a thumb over a quartz streak in the stone. "No, I don't think it's that," he said quietly. The ache in his chest wasn't anything like the gnawing horror that had been haunting him ever since he'd recognized the handwriting on those notes. It was the difference between the reaction to a nightmare and what you felt facing reality, he supposed. It wasn't a whole lot easier, but it felt healthier, oddly enough. "I think the world is chaos, and we're just stubborn enough to want at least a little order."

"Dude, talking to a probability manipulator here. I think I know these things." She plucked the stone from his fingers. It was like speaking to a brick wall. "At least let me have my youthful optimism before it gets beaten out of me." She flipped the stone before skipping it again, without the use of her powers. "World isn't all suck." For some people, at least.

"Talking to a father here," Nathan said, with another slight smile. "I think I know these things, too." He looked out at the lake for a long moment, then back at Jennie. "You're probably scaring the fish."

"I'm trying to wake up the giant squid." Jennie deadpanned.

"I wouldn't carry that metaphor too far. It leads to scary places," Nathan advised, scratching absently at his cheek.