xp_logs | Nathan and Angelo, Tuesday night

Wherein we learn that Nathan is terminally stubborn (as if we didn't know that already) and has a very strange and idiosyncratic way of 'learning from his mistakes'. Or in other words, Angelo is not impressed to learn that Nathan's been to see a certain visiting professor.

Nathan pulled the keys out of the ignition and sighed, leaning forward and letting his head rest on the steering wheel for a long moment. The mansion's garage was dark and quiet around him. Very calming. Entirely unlike how he'd spent the last couple of hours. He just wished he had sufficient functioning braincells to appreciate it a little more. But this evening's conversation had sapped all of his mental energy.

It wasn't dark and quiet for very long - Nathan hadn't been the only one out and about, and headlights suddenly flooded the room as Angelo's car pulled down the ramp and into a parking space.

Nathan gazed warily at the red Mustang - and stayed very still. Don't notice me, he thought silently, just get out of the car and go inside... Rather alarmingly, he was strongly tempted to back up the wishful thinking with a telepathic suggestion, but ethics kicked back in just in time. Besides, if he stayed quiet, maybe Angelo wouldn't notice him...

Angelo got out of the car, but something seemed to catch his attention as he glanced casually around. He took a step closer to Nathan's car, frowning.

Nathan sighed, raising his head just slightly - so that he could let it fall against the steering wheel with a little more force. Of course he noticed me. Duh. Because my life is just like that.

That sound was audible, as close as the two cars were parked, and Angelo had no smile of greeting as he appeared in the driver's window. "Hey."

His only answer for a long moment was a wave. The driver's side door finally open and Nathan got out, sighing as he pushed it shut. "Hey. Out breaking in the car some more?"

"Yeah", he confirmed with a nod. "Tried her out in the city today. We're gettin' to know each other."

"Well, you should be making the most of convertible weather while we have it," Nathan said, heading for the door. His tone wasn't quite brusque, and there was nothing particularly evasive about his expression, but he was moving towards the door a little more quickly than he might have, under normal circumstances. "Before you know it, it'll be snowing."

"It's August", Angelo retorted. "Even in New York, it doesn't start snowin' that early. Why're you runnin'?" An exaggeration, but he had his reasons.

Nathan immediately slowed down. "I'm not running," he said somewhat crossly. "I'm tired. And my bird is probably lonely, I've been gone all evening."

"You've been gone a lot longer than that before, if Bella was gonna get lonely. What's goin' on?"

The boy was trailing along after him with that determined look. Would probably follow him out to the boathouse, too, unless he coughed up the details. When had Angelo gotten this persistent? "I was at Columbia talking to Trask." There!

He had learned from the best. That got a stunned stare, though, for a few moments before he got the words together. "You went to talk to the woman who invaded your head for however long an' you didn't take any back-up?"

"Charles taught me how to shield her out." They reached the door, and Nathan grudgingly held it for Angelo. Letting it close in his face might have suggested that he didn't want to continue this conversation, but it would also be rude. And probably not work, anyway. "She's no threat to me. And I needed to understand, properly, what's going on with her."

Angelo stepped inside, holding onto the door without closing it yet, and looked directly up at Nathan. "Why?"

"Because she's dangerous. She knows what she shouldn't, and who the hell knows what she's going to do with it." Nathan's expression tightened as he remembered a few of her vague comments about 'living Her ideals in the here and now'. "I'm not going to stick my fingers in my figurative ears and hope that she doesn't come back to bite me." He really, really wished that there was nothing literal about that comment. "Avoidance is not an option. I tried that with my father, and look how well that went."

"An' you think you can... what?" Angelo demanded, keeping pace with him. "Talk her out of whatever you think she's gonna do?"

"If she thinks I'm not hostile, she's more likely to share what she's doing," Nathan said grimly. "I'm not going to be friendly, Angelo, don't worry. We won't be having weekly lunches." The thought was profoundly disturbing. As if he would be able to eat with Trask sitting there staring at him. "She's not in her right mind, Angelo, I'm not denying that. But someone needs to keep an eye on her."

"But why does it have to be you?" was the frustrated answer. "After what she tried, if somethin' happens to your shields, or she figures out a new trick... why can't the Professor watch her?"

Nathan actually stopped, turning towards him. "Because I am the flonqing Askani'son," he said through clenched teeth. "I may not know what the hell my mother got up to with Askani, but I do know that Askani chose to talk to me. To me, not to Trask. Trask is an eavesdropper, and making sure she doesn't dishonor Askani's memory is my responsibility." He stopped, straightening slightly, and a wintry little smile flickered across his features. "Besides. She wants me to listen. She's been wanting to talk to me for years, Angelo. All I'm doing is giving her the opportunity." And if she had a semi-regular opportunity to bend his ear, she was less likely to try sneaking into his head. As Angelo had pointed out, his shields did take a battering at times.

Angelo looked at him for a long moment, then away. "An' you're gonna take it on all by yourself, aren't you. Just like everythin' else you won't let me help with."

Oh, that wasn't fair, and Nathan ignored it determinedly. "Angelo, I haven't told Moira that I'm talking to Trask." Because that would be bad. Very, very bad. Nathan had a sudden, worrying thought, and gave Angelo a hard look. "There's a reason for that. You don't need to feel free to enlighten her."

Angelo caught the look and returned it full-scale. "Would that reason be she'd hit you in the head or go after Trask with her shotgun?"

Nathan just stared. Balefully. "Rachel would prefer her mother not in prison, yes."

"An' what d'you think she'll do if she finds out some other way? Quit lookin' at me like that, it's not like I want Moira in jail."

"I don't want her to find out that way or any other way," Nathan said, the baleful look slipping and leaving only weariness behind. "I scared the crap out of her. I do that enough. What she doesn't know isn't going to hurt her."

"I won't tell her", Angelo said quietly. "But you'd better be real damn sure she isn't ever gonna find out you're doin' this without tellin' her."

Nathan's smile was humorless. "I like not being dead, Angelo. Don't worry."