Nathan and Jane, Thursday evening

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Jane sorts some things out with her very tired boss, whose mind may be playing a somewhat familiar trick on him.


Jane was thinking of getting Nate a wagon. A little red one, like the ones you saw in movies about the 1950s, that kids used to pull puppies and newspapers along behind them. Something he could put his things in, so he didn't always have to hold them.

She sighed softly as he went pacing back past the office door, MacInnis's urn tucked into the crook of his arm like a football, or a baby. She hadn't said anything about it because she knew Nate had taken the man's death hard, but a couple of days watching Nate carry his ashes everywhere had turned from 'sad' to 'sad and a little creepy'. He was even starting to freak out the Stepfords, who she'd seen lurking outside the backdoor when she'd arrived for work. Not that it was her place to tell him that.

"Nate? Could you come here? I need your help with something," she called, waving a file folder in the air to catch his attention. Oh well.

Nathan stopped, considered, and set the urn on the living room table before he walked into the office. He really needed to do something with it before he left for Wakanda. It was just that he couldn't decide what. The mantelpiece is not an option, Nathan. "What's up?" he asked, not quite gruffly.

Much to Jane's everlasting relief, he'd set the urn down somewhere. She handed him a sheaf of papers. "I think I've found another one of Rachel's refiles. There's pages from three different reports here, I think, and no title page at all. Any ideas?" He was really looking a little worse for the wear. Had done so ever since he'd gotten back. Maybe instead of a wagon, they should all chip in to send him somewhere quiet for a weekend.

Nathan took the pages from her, blinking at them. "Um... okay, Turkish stuff. What have we been doing in Turkey?" His eyes unfocused as he gazed past her. "... I can't remember. That's really sad."

"Ooooor..." she said, given the opening and determined to run into the next state with it, (not that Jersey was all that far away,) "you've been really, really busy lately, and this is your brain telling you that it might be time to take a small break." She beamed up at him, willing him to take the hint and maybe book a trip to Switzerland before he crumbled into itty bitty pieces.

He gave her a slight, pained smile. "Can't," he said, leafing through the pages. "Wakanda calls. It's more of a 'show' trip than a 'work' trip, though." He was actually kind of looking forward to it. Some looking in on a couple of projects, taking shameless advantage of T'Challa's hospitality... it all sounded very good right about now.

Jane's nose twitched. "It's still a work trip, though." Even if you are going to spend most of it trying to drive his highness nuts. "Maybe you could block off some of your calendar when you get back? Go fishing?"

"Jane, do I look like the type of person who fishes? Although, that's not entirely true. I have fished. Usually out of need. Once with grenades." Nathan went over and sat down behind his desk - only to jolt forward, eyes flickering back to the door into the living room as he remembered he'd left the urn on the table.

"No, I suppose not." Jane threw in the towel. If she kept pushing, Nate would probably threaten to use her as bait. "Did you get much fish when you used the grenades?" she asked, curious.

"Enough to not starve," Nathan said with a sigh, leaning back in his chair, head tilted backwards. He rubbed at the bridge of his nose, wondering if he dared blow off the rest of the evening and just... pretend to pack for Wakanda. Or something.

A too-familiar grating chuckle came from Jane's direction. But that was not Jane's voice. Nathan froze, eyes still closed. He straightened slowly, opening them. Jane was right there, wearing her 'I'd love to fuss but the appropriate methodology is escaping me' look. Slightly to her left, MacInnis was leaning against Juliette's desk, gazing around the office with that same old assessing look.

Shit. "It's not the preferred method," Nathan said. To Jane. "I was kind of desperate. And concussed."

"Well, no. It doesn't seem like it." Jane replied, glancing at Juliette's desk, confused. What was he looking at? "Plus, it's a waste of perfectly good grenades."

Nathan made himself look back at her, forcing a crooked, quizzical smile. "It seemed like a good idea at the time." MacInnis was just standing there, watching... no, now he was playing with a pack of cigarettes. Nathan took a deep, slightly shaky breath and let it out. "Okay, so, uh, those reports. Maybe the best thing is to leave them for Joel to take a look at, next time he's by? He's kind of got a special interest in Turkey. Whatever it was, he can probably identify it."

Oh, that was a weird looking smile. Jane smiled back, but it felt funny. "Sure thing. I've got a stack of stuff waiting for him anyhow." She motioned to a pile of boxes next to Juliette's chair. They really were building up. "So, can I get you anything? Coffee? Water?"

"I wouldn't mind some water." He could take it, and use it to take the anti-psychotics he so clearly needed. He focused on her rather resolutely, ignoring the movement in his peripheral vision. "So, I meant to ask you how much you wanted to work, over the summer. Whether you had any other plans, I mean."

"Coming up!" Jane scurried over to the watercooler and filled a mug. The way he was looking at her was starting to freak her out. I really shouldn't have nagged him about taking a vacation! Pasting a cheerful expression across her face, she carefully threaded her way back across the office. "I'm taking some time off, actually. Juliette's helping me work the schedule so I'm not missing too many hours, although I'm only here on like, Friday and Saturday and a couple evenings. I'm taking that Red X leadership training course that's being offered this summer. And this fall, too, but it's all spaced out and I'd rather take it all at once. If, y'know, that's okay."

"Losing you to RedX, am I?" Nathan shrugged, managing another faint smile. "Seriously, Jane, that's fine. I've heard through the grapevine that it's a pretty great opportunity - I'm glad you're taking advantage of it."

"Well, just for the summer, anyway," she shrugged. "I'm not sure what exactly I'm going to be able to do with it once I finish the course. The brochure was a little vague. 'Great opportunities!' "Help people!'" Jane punctuated the quotes with broad hand gestures. "None of them really say anything like 'Salaries start at $35,000 a year!' If nothing else, I think it'll help me help patch folks up when they get back from their various 'trips'. And if I do make something of it, so much the better. I do really want to help people. And no offense, Nathan, but your paperwork is not all that exciting. Most of the time."

"If you want to do more than paperwork... well, it's not all like Kyrgyzstan. Once you're through the RedX program, you could start going to some of the meetings or conferences, too..." He was floundering a bit.

"Really?" Jane's eyes lit up. "Because I'd really like that, I think."

"Well, Kyrgyzstan was supposed to be the start of that. I don't actually want to keep you all immured in the office, you know. Let's call it a false start and do better the next time?" MacInnis was walking slowly towards his desk. Ambling. Nathan shivered and rubbed at his eyes; thankfully, when he opened them again, the image was gone.

"We can definitely do that." Jane was more than happy to put that one behind her. It might not have hurt them this time, but she really, really didn't like using her powers to smother people. Or dogs. "Thanks, Nathan." She noticed his shiver and frowned. Maybe he was sick and that's why he was acting so weird. "You know, it looks like it's going to be a pretty quiet evening, so I think I could probably hold down the fort if you wanted to go pack for your trip and watch Guiding Light."

"I think I might go try and..." Something that didn't involve thinking, at least. Maybe he'd try and sleep; it wasn't like he'd had much in Tel Aviv. "Thanks, Jane," he said, pushing himself up out of his chair. "I promise. Soon as I'm home again we'll find you something interesting to do..."

"I'll hold you to it," she promised.