Nathan and Angelo, Thursday night

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Angelo comes down for that talk. It isn't really about what he thinks it is.


Angelo was getting entirely too big for his britches, Nathan thought rather vengefully, chopping a tomato with a little more force than was strictly necessary. 'You and I are going to have a talk'... bah!

The feel of Angelo's mind as he approached the boathouse might or might not have changed Nathan's opinion - tightly controlled anger and something like determination, helping with the control... and under it all, fear.

As the door opened, Nathan directed a glare over his shoulder. "I wasn't aware that I needed a bodyguard," he snapped at Angelo. "Someone rewrite the rules and not tell me?"

"Well, hell, if you're goin' to go into places you know you'll get shot at, then maybe you do", Angelo retorted, just as sharply. "One lucky shot, or a psi-damper..."

"Half-trained militia," was Nathan's sharp reply. Which was maybe a little too diffident, but by his standards, they were. "Whoop-de-shit. Yes, they're trigger-happy, but it's not like they're particularly good at hitting anything that isn't unarmed and begging for mercy."

"An' you can stop bullets", Angelo flashed back. "I've heard it before, Nate. That's why I said a lucky shot. An' say what you want about David outrunnin' a bullet, he hasn't always managed it, has he?"

"What is your problem?" Nathan growled, setting the knife down and turning around. "We go where the need is. Sometimes it's not a nice vacation spot. David and I could get in and out on our own a lot faster and easier."

"You know what my problem is." His voice was flatter, now. "You knew what you were gettin' into, you went without me an' you didn't tell me."

"It was a last-minute trip!" Nathan said in exasperation, throwing up his hands. "And you, my boy, were busy. Weren't you?"

"Not so busy I wouldn't have wanted to know I might be sittin' next to another person with a bullet wound in a couple of days!"

"There's a difference between a sniper's bullet that comes out of nowhere and someone trying to shoot you to prove he's the bigger man. In the latter case you tend to see it coming," Nathan said, and deliberately did not think of the bullet hole in his duffel.

"An' sometimes it hits you all the same. Could you be sure they wouldn't put a sniper on you?" he demanded, and was horrified to hear his voice shake.

"NGO personnel tend to be targets of opportunity. You know that as well as I do. Either that or we're kidnapped, and neither David nor I make an easy hostage." Nathan's tone was a bit more moderate, hearing the unsteadiness in Angelo's voice. Not soothing, though. Irrationally, he didn't want to soothe. Being in Sudan with David, just the two of them, looking into something worthwhile - even if it hadn't panned out this time - had felt natural in a way he'd almost forgotten. And now Angelo was going to paint it as some sort of act of recklessness on his part?

"Except they did it to David last year", Angelo reminded him again, more quietly as he tried to get himself back under control.

"Because he crossed paths with an opium shipment," Nathan growled, irritated again. "Out of the blue, when he was stuck in a car and a sitting duck, by his standards. Whereas we went into that camp with a clear purpose in mind and no less than three exit strategies."

Angelo, visibly, went through at least three possible responses before he shrugged, back stiff, and turned away. "You're never gonna see my problem here. So, fine."

"Well, I'm having a hell of a time seeing it. Because I went in there with the toughest person in the Tel Aviv office watching my back and one of GW's old friends facilitating things with his local contacts. If you're trying to suggest that I didn't take sufficient precautions, I kind of have to wonder what standards you're applying to the question."

"I'm tryin' to suggest that you went out there an' got sh-shot at an' then you came back an' talked about it where the kids could see like it was some kind of fun. So fuck you, Nathan, if you don't see my problem the week after one of my best friends nearly died." He had his hand on the door, now, ready to just turn and run.

Nathan flushed a little, but his eyes narrowed as he stared after Angelo. "And how many of them actually knew what happened to Angie? Are you sure you meant where the kids could see, or where you could see?" He didn't give Angelo a chance to answer. "Because if your problem is that I was an insensitive bastard, fine, I'm an insensitive bastard. If your problem is that I went into a Janjaweed camp looking for mutant child soldiers, I don't really know what to say to you."

"You know that'd never be my problem, if you're gonna put it that simply." He was standing with his hand still on the doorknob, not looking at Nathan. "But it's not that simple. You went in with just the two of you, no backup, an' you didn't know how indoctrinated they might've got those mutant child soldiers. An' then you come back here, to this place where half the kids at the school end up X-Men anyway, an' you talk like it's fun to get shot at. An' now you're missin' the point completely. So maybe I've just got nothin' to say to you right now."

He didn't feel like explaining to Angelo that they hadn't been planning to throw any of these hypothetical kids over their shoulders and make a run for it. If Angelo didn't want to give him any credit at all for subtlety, to hell with him. "And maybe it's understandable, given the events of the week, but you've totally lost your capacity to pick up on sarcasm. How many times have I been shot, Angelo? In the time that you've known me alone?" Nathan shook his head and tossed the knife in the sink. He'd lost his appetite. "If anyone who read that is actually deluded enough to think that getting shot at is fun, I am certainly not responsible for their warped view of the world."

Angelo stared at him for a long minute or two, in silence. Finally, pulling the door open, his only response was, "I can't do this anymore", before he slipped out. There was an odd heaviness to the words... as if he didn't only mean the conversation.

Nathan didn't even hesitate before he followed him. "Do what?" he demanded, as the door closed behind him, leaving the two of them on the dock.

He hadn't really expected to be followed, after that scene. He was standing still on the edge of the wooden platform, fumbling for his cigarettes. "I... I don't... I get left behind, you know that? Angie got shot an' they left me an' Illyana to look after her, make sure nobody finished the job, while they all went off to die in New Orleans, an' yeah, they all came back, but I know they didn't think they would. An' here's you an' your trip to Khartoum an' you didn't even call me an' say "hey, boy, David an' I are goin' to see the Janjaweed, be back soon"..."

Nathan, absurdly, cracked a very slight smile. "Precisely how often do I leave you behind?" he said, walking over to join him at the edge of the dock. "I seem to recall Kashmir, and Kazakhstan, and Prague, and Wakanda... okay, so there was also Derbent, but that was supposed to be a nice quiet trip."

"You said it yourself. You didn't think any of those were goin' to be really dangerous."

"Well, I had my doubts about Prague." Nathan shook his head, staring out at the lake. "Sudan... it was dangerous, but it was a sort of danger David and I could handle. It's not like we haven't been there before... long story, don't ask." He sighed, rubbing at the back of his neck. "And you were busy. Everything worked out, and Angie's miraculously back on her feet, but did you really need anything more to fret about?"

Angelo lapsed into silence, occupying himself with lighting his cigarette, while he tried to sort out his own thoughts enough to answer that.

"Maybe it was a little reckless, on both our parts, but it was just investigatory. Just the start of something, maybe..." Nathan fell pensively silent for a moment, himself. "If trouble's going to follow Elpis wherever it goes, why mess around anymore? He and I talked about that, on the flight... why not just go for what we want most, what we really think needs doing? The risks are going to come no matter what, if we judge by 2007."

He looked around at Angelo, finally. "I told you we went in to talk to the trigger-happy. Not to fight them. That's the key difference here. Yes, we expected to get shot at, but that's only because we're a pair of pessimists. Do you really think I would have been all that desolate had it gone swimmingly?"

"Course not. But I know you, Nate, you can't tell me you didn't enjoy the action. What d'you mean, the start of somethin'?" His voice was warier than might have been expected, but it wasn't the action he was afraid of.

He'd given it away already, of course, but he didn't think Angelo was really focusing on the peripheral details of the conversation. "Something bigger." Something we left unfinished. "We need a clear view of the problem, across the continent. Sudan's notorious, so it made sense to start there."

"So're a lot of places."

"Yes, but for a specific something." Nathan took a deep breath and then let it out. "Want dinner? I'll explain."

Angelo glanced back at the mansion, then nodded. "Sure, dinner sounds good."