Cammie & Nate: Babies: Avoided, Visit: Attained

[x-scorpion.livejournal.com]

Cammie stops by and visits Nathan. Able to avoid the babies she firmly tells him she thinks he's crazy.

She felt like she was casing out a bank for robbery when she snuck down to the medlab. The place was still crawling with way too many babies for her taste. Of course, to Cammie, anything over one was way too many babies. But she was not going to take the risk of getting trapped with baby duty.

She felt that she was able to make it through the pre-toddler gauntlet. After that, Nate was easy to find.

"Well, you look slightly better than Jean-Paul did. Slightly is the keyword there," Cammie said by way of greeting.

Nathan just raised an eyebrow at her. He knew how he looked - seeing himself through Moira's eyes had been a bit of a shock - and Jean-Paul hadn't looked this bad even during the time that no one had been seeing him. "Uh... okay."

"What? I can't lie to you horribly and give you a compliment, fine. You look like you were hit by a truck, but you're alive. So you got that going for you," she said, grabbing a seat. "Anyway, Dr. Grey says people are allowed to bother you now and I had to walk through babies to get here. Babies."

"They'll be off to Muir soon." Nathan eyed her for a moment, wondering what had drawn her down here. Just to visit the boss?

It was in part that, and in part to make sure he was actually going to recover no matter how bad he looked, and just to see for herself. "All these interesting things seem to happen when I'm not around and people I know keep coming back looking like this," she said, not responding to the baby remark, since the only thing she could think of for that, was 'not a moment too soon.' "You people really need to stop getting beat up."

This was going to be a repeating theme with people, Nathan suspected. "We get beat up in a good cause," he said. "Most of the time. This time, yes."

"Well, as long as it's worth all your tubes and stitches," she said, poking at one of them, "I've never gotten beaten up this bad."

"Be glad. I've had worse." He smiled a bit feebly. "Gets harder and harder to bounce back afterwards."

"Yeah, I'm not looking to get my ass kicked that bad," Cammie said honestly, "So I have to say I think you're kinda crazy."

"Really." Nathan gazed at her patiently, his expression a silent invitation to elaborate.

"Look, I'm not saying it's a bad crazy," Cammie said, by way of explanation, "It just takes a special kind of crazy to be able to do that. And at least the babies will end up somewhere better."

"It's not crazy at all, you know," Nathan said. "It's just a choice. To take risks, for good reasons..." Cammie needed to understand the people she was living with a little better, he thought. "Someone has to. You can't accomplish things like getting those babies somewhere better by sitting back and thinking good thoughts."

"Yeah, I get it. It still takes a special type of crazy. That means not everyone would do it. And if you die, you're not going to be doing any good at all, unless it's from beyond the grave," she said.

He gazed at her for a moment. "I nearly did this time," he said, not quite lightly.

"Yeah. That. That's the part I don't like. Be as dumb as you want, just don't let it kill you," Cammie returned.

He nearly laughed, except it would probably hurt like hell. "Your word choice," he said, to explain the amused look he was undoubtedly wearing. "What would you say if I claimed to have not been dumb at all?"

"Then you're just crazy. I'm not sure which is worse," Cammie said, shaking her head, "You even said it yourself when I met you. You're brain damaged. All the blows to the head, you claimed."

"I never denied being brain damaged. I just... wasn't dumb, this time." He frowned down at the end of the bed. "Just... threw the dice out the window without realizing it, I suppose."

"Only gamble if you've cheated. And cheated horribly," Cammie said. "Not to get sentimental or anything, but I am glad you're not dead. You sign one of my paychecks," she said the last lightly.

"Glad not to be dead myself." He eyed her. "Don't be taking advantage of my absence. No verbally abusing bureaucrats on the phone. Only I'm allowed to do that."

"Damnit. You take all the fun out of work," Cammie said, rolling her eyes melodramatically, "I suppose it's okay. You're better at that then I am anyway; Pretty scary."

"And no tormenting the boys. They're fragile."

"Yeah, boys break easily," Cammie said with a nod, "So I guess, just this once, just 'cause you're asking I'll be nice to the boys."

"Good girl. Nice fat Christmas bonus for you this year."