xp_logs | Nathan, Angelo and Domino, Friday afternoon

The prank war continues in the Elpis office, but it doesn't quite cover up the fact that there are some fairly unhappy people slinging paper this week.

"Son of a BITCH!" The yelp, coming from the direction of the kitchen, was definitely Nathan's; the feminine laughter that followed, just as obviously Domino's. "What the hell- how did you do THAT?"

"The magician never betrays her secrets."

"How the fuck do you put a bomb in a milk carton?"

In the office, Juliette gave Angelo a mildly alarmed look, and then shifted her chair slightly to the left, as if she wanted to get herself out of the direct line to the open doorway.

Angelo was keeping his amusement very carefully mute, but he shot Juliette an innocent grin. "It's good for her."

"I imagine," Juliette murmured under her breath. "I have to wonder how good it is for the rest of us, though."

The swearing audible from the kitchen seemed to be a mixture of Askani and Russian. Domino came through the door, moving quite agilely on her crutches; she'd pointed out to Angelo, when he'd asked, that she'd had plenty of practice while recovering from the bombing. "It wasn't a bomb," she informed them primly as she made her way over to the desk she'd commandeered. "It was - well, never mind. A girl must have her secrets."

"I know what it was", Angelo retorted, leaning back in his chair as his grin widened. "I heard you on the phone gettin' the stuff for it. Nice touch with the milk."

"Don't worry," Domino assured both of them, "I wouldn't boobytrap anything in the fridge in here. Or in the fridge in there, once Moira and Rachel get back. When are they coming back, anyway?" she asked almost plaintively. "Nate and I were supposed to be going there, this weekend..."

"Maybe next weekend," Nathan said gruffly, finally emerging. The bruising on his face was still quite spectacular, and probably would be for a few days. "Hopefully by then you'll have gotten this all out of your system."

"Nate", Angelo objected, glancing quickly at Domino then back to Nathan, "you know she wouldn't do anythin' destructive on Muir. Not even little stuff like milk bombs, right, Dom?"

"Quite possibly not," Nathan said, suddenly looking impressively grim, "but none of us are going to Muir right now. Work to do." He stomped over to his own desk and sat down, glowering at his inbox. "Juliette, where's that-"

"Left pile, green tab."

"Thank you."

"Nadia", Angelo said with a touch of steel in his voice, "is not workin', an' if you won't go to the island with her, I'll go get Clarice to take her right now."

"I can mope here as easily as I can on Muir, Angelo," Domino said easily enough. "I mostly just wanted to be Rachel's aunt for a little while." The little smile she gave them all was that tight, 'I'm being a bit ditzy because I don't want you to see I'm hurting' smile Nathan and Angelo at least knew far too well. "It's fun to spoil her. She could turn my cast into a work of art, too."

"Are you going to let her see the dirty limericks?" Nathan asked, his voice still gruff, but the bleakness gone from his expression. "Corrupting the child..."

"Nathan, she lives here half the time." Angelo did know the smile, but if Domino wanted to make the effort, he could play the game too, at least mostly convincingly. "You think she wasn't corrupted long ago?"

"There's a difference between everyday corruption and 'There once was a man from Nantucket'..."

"The one about the hooker named Sue is better..."

"Do I really have to start listin' off the people in the mansion she could have learnt stuff like that from without them even meanin' to teach her?"

Juliette was laughing soundlessly, even as she kept typing. Nathan shook his head at all of them. "She'll be there soon enough," he said. "Let's not hurry the process."

"But it's so much fun. Also, it's our job."