Laurie and Nathan log

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Nathan runs into Laurie as she's making up a batch of muffins for the school.



Laurie took the muffins out of the oven and placed them on a cooling tray, smiling at how well they'd turned out. One batch of blue berry muffins to be had with breakfast tomorrow, if they lasted that long.

She'd only been back at the mansion for a day but the main kitchen was a little easier to avoid people in at this time of night.

There'd be more then enough time tomorrow to chat with people, and explain why she'd been gone so long. It was just so awkward having to say 'I had cope failure but I'm fine now.' She'd already had to do that with her suitemates and she'd rather avoid doing it with the rest of the school till absolutely necessary.

She looked up as she heard the door open, smiling wryly. She should have known that the moment she even thought about not meeting anyone here at this time a day, someone would pop up.

"Mr Dayspring." she said, a brief smile lifting the corners of her mouth.

"Hi Laurie," Nathan said a bit distractedly, looking around the kitchen. "Um.... trays. Those extra-large cookie sheets, have you seen them?" He started moving from cupboad to cupboard, looking. "I just need to borrow them. I'm making granola."

"Bottom cupboard, at the end of the row." Laurie replied, surprise evident in her tone. "I didn't know you liked to cook."

Nathan blinked at her, then smiled wryly. "I'll have you know that in 2005, I actually taught the basic cooking class." He paused. "Well, until I broke my back and wound up in traction for six weeks and a wheelchair for nearly as long."

"How come you didn't take it up again? You know, other then the whole broken back thing." Laurie responded, picking up two muffin trays and sliding them into the oven once she'd opened the door. Another two trays after that should be enough to feed everyone. She'd made some orange poppyseed and lemon poppyseed ones for people who didn't like blueberries.

"Too busy," Nathan admitted - it was mostly honest, after all. "I try to fit thirty hours into the day - it doesn't always work." He crouched down in front of the cupboard, opening the door to look.

"I believe the term is 'insane overachiever'" Laurie replied, her grin belaying the harshness of the statement. "My Mom has the same problem. And I usually tell her the same thing, 'delegation is your friend'."

"I start to appreciate that much more as I get older." Ah-hah, there they were. Nathan pulled the trays out and rose, his eyes going back to Laurie. "What are you making?"

"Muffins!" Laurie replied, stepping back from the oven and leaning against one of the kitchen benches. "For breakfast in the morning."

"You look like you're making enough to feed an army," Nathan said with a smile, but hesitated, a touch of concern in his eyes as he looked from the muffins back to her. "How... are you doing?" he ventured, his tone not quite light.

Laurie's shoulders stiffened and she relaxed with a visible effort. "I'm coping, Jennie even suggested something that might help. I need to talk to Dr Grey and Mr Summers about it though. She told me about a doctor that used to work here, Dr Bartlett, that was allowed to go out with the team, without actually doing the whole 'attacking the bad guys' thing. I thought maybe it was something I could try as well. I've been thinking about doing some sort of medical training for awhile, anyhow."

Nathan nodded. "Maddie - Doctor Bartlett - was a lot of help, in a lot of difficult situations," he said quietly. "It's definitely a possibility worth looking into. You know, we could even give you her phone number, or email..."

"I'd like that. Jennie said she had some FBI training as well, so I'm pretty sure I'd have to do some defensive training at least but it would be nice to know how she handled it. I got told she wasn't a mutant?" Laurie replied, smiling as she relaxed a little.

It wasn't so bad, being back, talking like this. She wasn't sure if they'd be angry at her for doing what, when you came right down to it, had been running away.

"No. But like most women who know me, she very often wanted to shake me," Nathan said - and then blinked, wondering at how that had just... come right out of his mouth.

"I have a feeling that you often deserve the shaking?" Laurie responded, a teasing glint to her gaze.

She bent down to look through the glass of the oven door, making sure the muffins were rising as expected. She had stopped herself from sampling the last batch but only just. She pondered if 'testing quality' could be used as an excuse to eat one of the next batch.

"I have one of those faces," Nathan said dryly. "Women either want to scold me or hit me."

"I heard there were several head injuries for which you needed to be scolded as well." Laurie said, leaning back up against the bench and a now noticable grin.

"Lies. Vile lies and slander. Me, concussed?"

"Maybe a little concussion?" Laurie replied, unable to stop the giggle that escaped.