Nathan and Jean Paul (backdated to Monday afternoon)

[x-cynosure.livejournal.com]

Nathan tracks down Jean-Paul with more good news about their Elpis project.



The tall figure that flagged him down from the flier's platform was smiling in an entirely too self-satisfied way. "Guess what?" Nathan asked once Jean-Paul was within earshot. "I have successfully arranged something of a work-related trip for us. Do you want to run away now, or hear me out?" He had to give him the option. Most people had heard about Elpis field work and what tended to happen.

Jean-Paul touched down beside Nathan, swiping the back of his wrist over his brow. "If it involves spiriting me away to someplace with less humidity, I do not care if it involves fighting Tundra, The Land That Walks to get there." He loosened the collar of his skinfit and went to crash on the rooftop couch. "What scheme have you concocted for us?"

"Moldova," Nathan said brightly, walking the edge of the platform step by step. They needed a labyrinth somewhere in the gardens, he thought suddenly. It would be a hell of a meditative tool. "They've been implementing some of what we talked about at those meetings already. Ahead of the curve. So they want someone from Elpis to come over, assess, and give them some additional advice if necessary."

Jean-Paul's brows rose in pleased surprise and he sat up. "So it went through. Excellent. When are we leaving and am I talking or standing next to you attempting to look respectable?"

"Saturday night?" Nathan grimaced slightly, turning back towards the center of the plaform and sitting down on the end of the couch. Now they got to the complications. "I didn't tell them who from Elpis was coming. Didn't book us anyplace to stay yet, either - I thought we could do that when we got there."

Jean-Paul nodded; he hadn't forgotten the attempted kidnapping in Morocco either. "We go in quick, smile and shake hands, be inspirational, then run like hell?"

Nathan laughed softly. "Well, not that much of an in-and-out. But yeah. To be safe, we'll make it a quiet trip." He shrugged slightly, looking sideways at Jean-Paul. "I'm good at staying under the radar. Especially in that part of the world. And I know you wanted to see the end result of all those meetings," he went on, relaxing and smiling a little.

"I do, but..." There was more than a touch of concern to Jean-Paul's expression. "Are you certain I should go if you are trying to remain unnoticed? I am hardly an A-lister, but I have already gotten one friend more attention than he wanted this month by virtue of past infamy."

Nathan was silent for a long moment, gazing out at the grounds. "I think the risk, if there is one, is more to you than to me," he said. "And I'd understand entirely if you wanted me to call Dom and ask her to be the one to go with you instead. You know that she was interested in this, too." She'd even been to a couple of the meetings on her last visit.

"I am tempted. The less time you spend in the line of fire, the happier I am. Still..." Jean-Paul propped up his head on one fist, his whole attention on Nate. "It is a very quiet trip out and going to ground until someone shows up to dig you out is not necessarily a better option."

"I'll be honest, I'm getting a little stir crazy." Nathan smiled humorlessly. "Great excuse for risk-taking, I know. But I keep telling myself that they aren't all-seeing. Especially since they need to stay hidden even more than I do, lest SHIELD come down on them like the wrath of God."

"So we will go, keep our heads down, and come back. Besides, you can read ill-intent and I can get us away from it quickly if need be."

"It'd be good to see mutant kids playing like they weren't any different than anyone else kicking the ball, or what have you," Nathan murmured, then sighed, the corner of his mouth tugging upwards. "I should be able to be perfectly content with doing this sort of work from an office, but I'm addicted to seeing it through."

"This is because we are cynical, suspicious old men." Jean-Paul seemed amused at the idea. "A thousand people can tell us the same thing, and we will not believe until we have seen it ourselves and perhaps poked it with a stick for good measure."

"So we'll go poke Moldova with sticks," Nathan said, more cheerfully. "Very quietly. And hey, we could always come back through Tel Aviv." In fact it made more sense to do so.

"Might as well, non? Jake has declined to be luggage, so no waiting on him."

"Yeah?" Nathan said, and if there was regret in his tone, it was for Jean-Paul's sake, not Gavin's. He had made the invitation mostly to be polite, after all. If he was going to be honest with himself, he hadn't particularly wanted to make it. But you were supposed to be accepting of your friends' relationships. "Well, the shivering and twitching anytime David or I looked at him would have gotten old after a while anyway."

"You know, I have been meaning to ask just what Jake has done that you seem to only put up with his continued existence for my sake and Dom's."

"Mm." Nathan's jaw was just the tiniest bit tighter than it had been a moment ago. "Would you accept the answer that he encouraged Dom's penchant for trouble at a time when GW and I were trying very hard to break her of the habit?"

"Not in and of itself. But I see this is not something you are happy discussing. Is that for its own sake, or because you are looking out for me?"

"2005 sucked in a lot of ways," Nathan said after a moment, his tone very deliberate. He really was not going to go into this. Four years later, it still wasn't a pleasant topic. "It sucked a little more because Gavin doesn't really think before he acts. Although to be fair, it was more or less just a case of letting himself be used. I can't want anyone dead just because they were stupid."

"Well...I suppose that is reassuring. I think."

"It's all right. Ancient history." Nathan looked almost amused for a moment. "You and Dom are worth putting up with all kinds of minor irritants, really. And I was trying to be good, inviting him to Tel Aviv. That'll teach me."

"It was very thoughtful of you. It is not your fault Jake finds you terrifying. Oh wait..." Jean-Paul grinned. "I will somehow manage to live without him for a few days."