Moira and Nathan, backdated to Friday during the day...

[x-cable.livejournal.com]

A couple of snapshots/conversations from Moira's 'confinement' to bed on Friday.



Moira stirred reluctantly. Something was shaking her awake. She didn't want to wake up. She growled at whatever it was and swatted at it with one hand before burrowing further under the pillow and blankets in an attempt to get away from it. "Mmmph," she muttered at it, hoping that it would go away.

A weight settled on the bed beside her. "Try and wake up for a bit," Nathan's voice said softly. "I brought you some food."

She raised her head head slightly and blinked at him. "Wha' time is it?" she asked, yawning. She rolled over onto her back, still curled up in the blanket and not fully awake just yet. But...food...

"Eleven, eleven-thirty-ish," Nathan said, arranging the pillows behind her so that she could sit up. "Here," he said, setting a plate with toast and jam, a few pieces of cheese, and a small container of yogurt in front of her. "We'll skip the coffee for now," he said, "because I'm hoping you'll go back to sleep for a while."

She pouted at him. "Nay coffee? It takes a few cups ta make me jittery enough nay ta sleep..."

"Coffee later," he said firmly. "You eat. I'm going to shower."

"Coffee later," she mimicked, shooing him off with a piece of toast. She glanced over at his laptop curiously. When he had vanished into the bathroom, she held onto the toast with her teeth and grabbed for it. In a few seconds, she was logged on and started to catch up on everything that had happened between when she had left the mansion and now.

She very nearly snorted toast through her nose when she stumbled onto Nate's post.

Nathan was fully aware of the moment when she found his post from the previous night. Her sudden mental yelp was loud enough that a headblind man would surely have heard it. Sighing, he stepped under the water, turning it as cold as it would go. *Yeah, I was waiting for that--* The only thing that amazed him was that she actually let him take his shower, get dressed again, and leave the bathroom without saying anything. He came back out into the bedroom to see her still sitting, nibbling quietly at her breakfast with the laptop open on the bed beside her.

"Well," he said a bit heavily. "Have at it, then."

She ignored him for a moment and finished reading the responses. "Nathan...wha' th' 'ell was tha'?" She was irritated with him but hadn't reached angry yet.

"That was me trying not to blow up the mansion," he said bluntly, his chest tightening at the way her eyes widened. "If someone had come looking for you with anything else but loving concern on their minds, I don't think I could have--" He stopped, swallowed, and met her eyes as levelly as he could. "That was me trying to make sure that didn't happen. I know I went too far, Moira." He inclined his head at the picture of Kevin in its frame, sitting on the nightstand. "I saw that when I came back." The memory of Shinobi giving it to her had been at the top of her mind, easy enough to see. "I've already apologized, and I'll speak to the two of them personally. But I don't regret the sentiment behind the original post for a moment."

Moira sighed and rubbed her eyes. "I've jus' ne'er seen ye quite like -tha'-," she said softly. "I know 'twas really, really bad last night...jus' ye've never been -tha'-, well, overprotective." She looked at him curiously, slowly finishing the toast. Her stomach wasn't the steadiest thing this morning.

He gave a strained laugh, leaning back against the wall and folding his arms across his chest. His knees felt a little shaky - the cold shower hadn't done much to refresh him, or drive back the fatigue - but he wasn't sure she wanted him to come over and sit down beside her. "I was as protective as I needed to be," he said, the words coming out soft and rough. "I have never seen you quite like you were last night."

She curled her arms around herself and sighed. "Silly o' me ta say this after last night, but...jus' worried 'bout ye." Her irritation was quickly fading, much to her own surprise. "I jus' didna want ta see ye get in trouble because o' me." She shook her head. "Nay wort' tha'," she said, a little gruffly.

"Don't say that," he snapped, more pain in his voice than heat.

"But 'tis true. If'n I'm th' reason ye get trouble..." She stopped and took a deep breath.

"You let me worry about that," he muttered. "Eat your breakfast."

She scowled and threw the last piece of toast at his head. Moira didn't wake up easily and Nathan being grumpy only added to that.

The toast froze in the air, and returned to the plate. "That wasn't nice," he pointed out, a flash of amusement in his gray eyes.

She grumped. "Didna say I was nice."

Slowly, more than a little hesitant, he came over and sat down on the edge of the bed. "What do you want me to do?" he asked quietly, resigning himself to doing something further to mend fences. The last thing he wanted was to have her fretting about it. *Should have thought about that beforehand, idiot.*

"Nay get inta any trouble?" She suggested and then leaned over to touch his hand. "I appreciate it, I really do. Dinnae think I didna. I worry 'bout ye. An'...I could tell tha' somethin' jus' clicked las' night. Ye sounded verra close ta really lashin' out. Jus' keep in mind tha' when ye're talkin' ta them, they're kids, really."

He forced himself to smile. "Are you implying that I'm inadequately socialized?"

"I'm implyin' yer grumpy, large an' seem *really* protective o' me lately." Moira was really, really curious now. "I'm nay complainin'..."

Nathan shifted a bit uneasily, looking away from her. "You're running yourself into the ground and yet can ask me that? I thought you and I had agreed you weren't going to do that anymore."

She rolled her eyes at him and flopped back against the pillows. "I thought we'd promised ta stay in t..." She clamped her mouth shut and looked away. Moira had been actually rather hurt by the lack of communication from Nathan the past year, even with the knowledge she had know. "But I made tha' promise ta ye...wha', 4 years ago? 'Tis a regular state o' bein' for me."

Nate looked back at her, guilty. Not just for not having stayed in touch, but for the rest of it, too. If he had gone back to Muir more often, maybe she wouldn't have gotten back into the habit of doing this to herself. "I--" He trailed off, feeling oddly miserable all of a sudden. "Screw excuses," he said dully. "I'm a bastard, I know that."

Moira sat up quickly and smacked Nate upside the head before he could react. "Ye are *nay*," she snapped, angry now. "I was -worried- about ye an' it turns out I was right. Anyone who comes ta me rescue, verbal or otherwise, knowin' tha' I'll yell at them but still does it because they *care* isna a bastard." She glared at him.

He rubbed at his head, giving her a bit of a baleful look, but couldn't think of much to say to that. "Do you want me to apologize?" he asked finally. "To the school at large, I mean."

"Aye, if ye would," she admitted, laying back down but curled up on her side this time. She was feeling rather guilty about the whole thing. Nate had apparently nearly lost control because of her. She closed her eyes and kicked herself mentally. 'Damn...'

"All right," he muttered, picking up the laptop. "I'll do it. You finish your toast. And stop flagellating yourself."

***

Moira was really, really bored. She was still tired but boredom was playing a heavy factor right now. She eyed the room. Nathan was gone, somewhere, she had been half asleep when he had left a little while ago. Perhaps...she had some, meaning quite a lot, of work in her room. Which was only across the hall. She could sneak out and be back by the time Nathan arrived.

She flung back the covers and pushed herself off the bed. With it having been formally Cain's, it was a trifle large and required a good deal of effort to get in and out. She started towards the door, suddenly wishing she had more than this t-shirt and silk boxer shorts on. Nathan -had- grabbed the first things he could find last night.

Nathan opened the door to see Moira stop a few steps away with a little yelp. She went crimson as he glared at her. "What are you doing?" he growled, holding onto the doorframe to steady himself. He almost hadn't made it up the stairs this time. "Get back in bed."

She started to answer and had a double take. "Nate, wha's wron'?" She came forward, not knowing if she should help. He looked like he was going to collapse any minute. 'Vision?' she thought, worried about him.

"Nothing's wrong," he snapped, and took a step forward, only to have his knees try and buckle under him. He staggered, but swore as Moira immediately rushed to his side. "I'm fine!" he said a bit breathlessly, trying to bat her hands away. "It's not--a damned vision, all right?"

"Well, it certainly is somethin'!" she snapped back, shoving his hands out the way as she slid her arms around his waist. "Ye can let me 'elp ye or ye can collapse on th' floor an' crawl by yer bloody eyelids t' yer bed wit' me mockin' ye th' entire way!"

"Crawl by my what?" he protested weakly as she half-dragged him over to the bed. His legs gave out on him, but he managed to sit down on the bed, rather than hit the floor, mostly because Moira was pushing him in that direction.

She quickly went back and shut the door, visions of escaping completely gone. "If it's nay th'..." She paused. "How much sleep did ye get last night?" Moira walked over and peered into his eyes, trying to see if they were dilated.

"Sleep?" he asked a bit confusedly.

"Aye, sleep, ye know tha' thin' ye've been makin' -me- do all day?" She glared at him. "Ye watched over me all night, didna ye?" Moira felt irritation sweep over her but she couldn't help a bizarre warm feeling that came with it.

"I needed to make sure you slept--"

"Isna tha' th' story of our lives right now?" Moira reached over and pushed on Nate's shoulders. "Lay down, rest...I'll go get some work or somethin', let ye get some sleep in." Maybe a bit of escape, even if it was bringing work back, might happen.

He didn't resist, but caught her wrist, not letting her pull back. "No," he said with a sigh. "I'll rest, but only if you stay. I don't--I want to make sure you're resting too."

She gave him a fond look but tugged gently again only to find Nate tugging back. Moira let out a surprised noise as she found herself off balance. With the pull from his hand, she was sent stumbling into him and not the bed like he had probably planned. Tired and battered, they found themselves both falling back onto the bed, Nathan oufing as Moira bounced against his chest.

"Ow," he said weakly, trying to catch his breath. It was a very faraway, quiet little instinct that shrieked at him to push her off. The problem was, he could hardly raise his arms. "What'd you do that for?"

"I didna," she protested, struggling to get up. "Ye pulled -me-." Moira was trying rather hard to get back onto her feet, afraid Nathan would shove her off and with her emotional state the way it was, it would be too much of a blow.

Nathan let his head sag back against the pillows. "Sorry," he murmured. "Don't go away, okay?"

Moira paused and looked down at Nathan's face. "...really?"

Sighing, Nathan closed his eyes. "Told you--can't rest unless I know you are, too."

Moira hesitated and then attempted to roll off of him. She managed to land on her side next to him, still slightly tangled. "Lord, most uncoordinated person alive," she muttered, trying to shift away. "I'm sorry, I'll keep movin' over."

"It's okay," he said tiredly. The bed was so soft. Much better than the chair, really. He cracked his eyes open, turning his head to watch her as she settled down beside him. "You look better," he admitted, then wished he could take it back. She did, but he didn't want to encourage her to jump right back into things and wear herself out again.

She tentatively curled up next to his side, pillowing her head on his shoulder. This was nice but she was still slightly tense. She'd move over quickly if he wanted. "Aye...still nay feelin' one hundred percent yet," she admitted, yawning again. "Jus' cannae seem ta wake up. Dinnae know wha's wron' wit' me."

"You have a lot of sleep to catch up on," Nathan said hazily, aware this was very much the pot calling the kettle black. "Your body knows better than you do."

"Like ye 'ave any room ta talk," she said as she poked him in the ribs. Moira snuggled closer. "Yer comfy," she remarked, confused at how quickly she was falling back asleep.

"Glad I'm good for something," Nathan murmured. He didn't mind this. That was odd, but he wasn't complaining.

She swatted at his chest but decided that since she was so tired to just leave her hand where it landed. "Stop tha'. Dinnae know wha' I'd 'ave done...*yawn*...wit'out ye this week..."

He felt a strange, not entirely unpleasant tightness in his chest at her words. "I--um. Glad I'm here, then."

Moira muttered something, feeling her limbs get heavy. Once she stopped actively fighting it, she was asleep within minutes.

Then, there was screaming. Horrifying, pain-filled screaming. Moira's eyes shot open and she nearly screamed herself. She was huddled against the face of a rock in the middle of a horrendous battle. She clasped her hands to her ears, trying to get the sound of battle and death out of them. Something landed in front of her and this time she did scream. A half-crisped body lay there, twitching.

Moira prided herself on being tough, unbreakable. But there are some things that were too horrific to deal with. She tried to bolt, away from the violence in front of her, but came to a screeching halt when someone spun in her direction and fired, bolts of blue plasma fire flying at her.

It wasn't due to luck, or chance or anything simple and sane that saved her. An explosion hit seconds before and she was tossed out of the way, hitting her head as she bounced. A scream tore itself loose when she saw what had become of her would-be-attacker, now a quivering mound dying far too slowly.

She scrambled backwards on her knees until she bumped into the wall again. Nowhere to go, nowhere to run, the battle was closing in all around her. It was hard to breathe, hard to think, hard to do anything but panic.

When she screamed again, she managed to get one word out.

Nathan's name.

Somewhere, looking out from behind the eyes of a general raging inside as he watched his troops cut to pieces, surrounded on all sides, Nathan heard her. The canyon shattered to pieces around him, and he struggled to open his eyes, to make his muscles obey him as he heard Moira moan beside him. "Moira," he rasped out, fighting to pull himself back from that other world. But he could still smell the burning flesh and plasma, still hear the screams. He could feel the blood dripping down the side of his face--*no, it's not there, it was him, not me--* "W-Wake up!"

She was fighting to get back from whereever *there* had been but it was hard. She could *hear* Nathan but she didn't want to open her eyes, didn't want to see the carnage again. Moira felt something touch her and she jerked away, moaning with fear.

Feeling her pull away, Nathan, still unable to do more than twitch, gave in to desperation. #MOIRA!# he shouted at her, 'pulling' her back telepathically.

Moira gasped and her eyes finally snapped open. 'Room, jus' a room...Nathan, where...' She whimpered when she saw him, safe, in one piece and -not- on that body-strewn field. "Oh God. Nate?" She was finding it hard to form sentances and she shivered, sweat falling off her bangs.

"I'm sorry," Nathan whispered, closing his eyes and trying to ignore the trickling of tears down his cheek. "Maybe--maybe you s-shouldn't be around me--"

She reached a shaking hand over and wiped the tears away. "G-god, no," she gasps out. "Nay after tha'...oh, sweetie, I'm so sorry."

He tried to force himself to relax. It's over, she's all right. Just another episode. "I didn't mean to do that," he said raggedly, managing to sit up. "It--you know I wouldn't pull you into my mind like that. Not deliberately." His voice cracked. "I swear I wouldn't, Moira--I wouldn't force that on any one--"

"I know." Moira calmed her breathing and then held her hand out. She gave him a shaky smile. "We'll talk tomorrow, aye...jus'...I jus' need..." She took a deep breath and plunged into the question. "'old me?" It was more pathetic than she had intended. She was still shaken badly from the nightmare--vision--whatever had happened.

Nathan took a shaky breath and laid back down, wrapping his arms around her. For the first time in almost two decades, a gesture like this didn't take any effort at all.