xp_logs | Nathan, Angelo, and Juliette, Thursday afternoon (Reply)

Angelo makes it back down to the boathouse for the first time since going into space. He finds out that Elpis is in the process of launching a new project that might come with some complications, and Juliette spoils the surprise of Domino's imminent arrival.

Nathan grimaced and saved the email to the appropriate folder, still flinching inwardly at the pictures that had been attached. You're going to have to see a lot more of that, if you keep going with this, a voice in the back of his mind reminded him, but he shut it out resolutely. "Years of therapy," he muttered under his breath, too quietly for Juliette at her desk to hear him. He'd handle it just fine.

Would the others? Oh, he knew that voice. It was his conscience.

The trouble with not being able to walk unassisted, someone outside was rapidly discovering, was doors. Namely, he didn't have a hand free to open them, and if he tried to take a hand off the crutch on his good side, it kept threatening to fall over until he grabbed it again.

Nathan looked up sharply, his eyes narrowing. The door swung open, and he raised an eyebrow at Angelo. "Could have let me know you were out there," he said, in a tone that as much as implied Angelo's stubbornness.

"I could have", he said airily. "But I wanted to see if I could get it for myself. Thanks for the help, though."

Nathan snorted, his eyes dropping back to his computer screen. At her desk, Juliette shook his head at him and rose, smiling at Angelo. "Coffee?" she asked. "Tea, water, aspirin?" She actually winked at Angelo.

He gave her his best smile in return. "Coffee an' aspirin sounds good... if you're allowed to have them together. I think you are, right?"

"You are indeed. I'm good with these details."

Nathan hid a slight smile as Juliette bustled around and Angelo made his way to a seat. Starting to feel more like the office, all of a sudden...

Once the crutches were propped against his desk - and now they were staying where he put them, of course - Angelo leaned back and looked around. "Been survivin' without me?"

"It's been a stretch," Nathan said candidly. "But we're into the research phase rather than the meeting phase, so it's not like I've been trying to pretend I can be three places at once this week..."

"...you know, just 'cause I can't drive, doesn't mean I can't go to meetings. Now I'm off the heavy painkillers, anyway."

"There's no rush. Seriously, you'll have as much to do here as you can handle once you're back to your usual schedule," Nathan said, looking away and at a pile of file folders on his desk. "Lots of reading," he muttered.

Nathan wasn't looking at him. That wasn't right. But he couldn't say anything without figuring out more of why. "John been fallin' down on the job?" he asked instead, lightly.

"No. It's just pretty grim stuff, and I wouldn't want to make his temperament any worse." Nathan actually cracked a smile, if half-heartedly. "And if I gave it to Rahne, she'd look sad and wrathful."

"...but you're gonna give it to me?" That was meant to be a joke.

"Not if you don't want it. There's other stuff to be done - we've got to get that second shelter in Managua going," Nathan said. "And there are a couple of other potential options you could look into. You keep telling me you want to run a project startup yourself."

"It'd be good", Angelo admitted. "Got anythin' in mind? What's the readin' about, anyway?"

"Well, we've been talking about setting up a medical support team for the Sudan for a while now. I've looked into some potential candidates Moira suggested, although the security issues are a problem." Nathan's eyes strayed back to the folders. "Stuff from the Coalition To Stop The Use of Child Soldiers," he said, answering the second question. "Background material."

"....right, give me that", he said, half-levering himself out of his chair and groping for his crutches. "At least some of it."

"Sit down," Nathan said irritably. A portion of the files levitated upwards and over to Angelo's desk. "I just need summaries and the like. Can't do anything without a comprehensive survey of what's been done."

Angelo nodded, settling back down. "Then summaries you'll get. You could've brought it up to me at the house."

"You were supposed to be recuperating, not working," Nathan said dryly. "Amanda would have snuck in and stabbed me in my sleep."

"She knows how bored I got, this last few days", Angelo countered. "Even let me have my textbooks back."

"I don't think your textbooks are depressing reading, are they?" Nathan's reply was droll.

"You'd be surprised. Case histories, an' all that..."

Nathan caught himself rubbing at his wrist again, and stopped. "Yeah, I guess so," he said. "Well, at least those should be more interesting."

"Wrist still actin' up?" Angelo demanded suddenly. Possibly the U-turns in conversation were about getting honesty through surprise.

"What?" Nathan blinked, then shrugged. "Still sore on and off, yeah. Moira keep telling me to wrap it, but that's a pain in the ass." He cracked another slight smile. "As opposed to a pain in my wrist. I know, the logic fails..." He looked back at the pile of file folders, then levitated another couple of folders over to Angelo's desk. "You could do those too. Psychological stuff." I really don't want to read them.

"...yeah, okay", Angelo said slowly, watching him more than the folders. "Moira does know best, y'know. An' if it's still hurtin' after a week an' a half..."

Nathan grunted and rose. "Maybe I'll go find that bandage," he said, and vanished through the door into the living quarters of the boathouse.

Juliette came over with Angelo's coffee and aspirin. "I don't know that this is particularly good for him," she said, quietly enough that Nathan wouldn't hear her from the other side of the house. "I mentioned that to Uncle Joel."

"Oh, really." He looked up at her, serious. "You mean the child soldiers project, or bein' back to work already?"

"The former. I think his head would have blown up if he'd stayed off work for much longer. But he's been kind of bleak the last few days, since all that landed on his desk."

Angelo nodded, wrapping his hands around the coffee. "Yeah, I'm... not surprised. What'd Joel have to say about it?"

"To keep an eye on things. He will, too." Juliette gave him a very serious look. "Uncle Joel knows about his background - and the background of most of the people in the Tel Aviv office. He understands why they're so keen on this, but still."

"You tried talkin' to Domino about it?" he asked. "Not that she'd probably be able to do much more than Joel, once he gets like this, but..."

"I'll do it once she gets here," Juliette said, nodding to herself. "I mean, it's a worthy cause, it's just... I don't like the way he's been looking."

"I'll do what I can too", Angelo promised. "Now I'm back at work an' all.... wait, what d'you mean, when she gets here?"

Juliette slapped a hand over her mouth and turned red. There was a snort from the direction of the door into the living quarters. "Juliette, 'Oh crap, I ruined the surprise' can only mean one thing. You told him, didn't you?"

"She didn't mean to!" Angelo called in the direction of the door, faintly bemused. "We were just talkin'."

"Well, she's coming in tonight. I think she was planning to see if Pete would put her up for the evening-" Nathan paused to roll his eyes, "unlikely as that would be, and then head over here in the morning to surprise everyone who wasn't me and Ms. Blabbermouth."

Angelo snorted. "Yeah, she'd really need her power for that one. Well, now she can just surprise everybody else."