xp_logs | Moira and Nathan, Monday night (Reply)

Backdated to Monday night. After his conversation with Manuel, Nathan and Moira talk about what happened, about Manuel's 'issues' with links, and what might be the best thing to do now.

It was becoming a usual occurrance around the mansion to see Moira either sprint up or down the stairs. This time she was grateful she didn't fall. Nathan was being *awfully* quiet on the other side of the link, instead of the usual low-level murmuring she usually got from him. This, coupled with his e-mail, had her worried. God, so soon after they had gotten back? She shook her head as she cleared the last step and sighed. The rest and relaxation had helped them while they were gone, but it wasn't doing much to hold it all together now that they had returned.

When she got to her door, she tried to swing it open but it shuddered to a jerking stone a few inches in. Moira paused and sighed once more. "Nathan..." She eyed the small space between door frame and door and groaned. It looked like he had pushed up the coffee table and the chairs for the bigger table. There was no way she'd be able to push past this.

#Nathan, can ye please let me in?# she sent, wearily.

Inside the room, Nathan's eyes opened. He had been half in a meditative state, half dozing, and he sat up, grimacing as he saw the furniture pushed up against the door. #Sorry,# he sent back with a mental wince, pulling it all back to its regular place with his telekinesis. He had been afraid he would wind up barricading himself when he tried to meditate; that was when his telekinesis tended to react to subconscious promptings more freely. "I did warn you," he said as meekly as he could when Moira opened the door and came in.

"Aye, ye did at tha'," she replied, quietly, shutting the door behind her firmly. "Wouldna lockin' it been easier?" Moira shrugged out of her lab coat on the way over to him and dropped it on one of the recently moved chairs. She stopped by the bed where he was sitting up and held out her arms, letting him make the first move. She had no idea what had happened and that worried her as well.

Nathan shrugged. "Didn't do it deliberately," he said, reaching out and taking her hands so that he could tug her down onto the bed with him. "I have this tendency to barricade myself without thinking," he said, wrapping his arms around her tightly. "Didn't I do it once the first time at Muir, while I was delirious?"

Moira snuggled up closer and grimaced. "I remember tha'...all me moveable equipment nearly out th' window." She shook her head in slight bemusement. The look on Rory's face had almost been worth the mess. She looked up at him. "'ey, wha' 'appened?"

He couldn't help a sigh. "Came across Manuel in the fencing hall when I left you in the infirmary," he said.

The ball of worry suddenly got heavier in her stomach and she hugged Nathan harder. "I take it th' meetin' dinnae go well?" she asked softly.

"More or less the same as the last time," he grumbled fitfully, stroking her hair. "I didn't know whether to give him a helping hand or kick him in the teeth. I suspect he gets that a lot."

"God, does 'e ever." She shook her head and sighed. "'e's so bloody exasperatin' an' yet so damned pathetic."

Nathan was silent for a long moment, mulling it over in his mind. "No one told me he'd been trained as a mindbreaker," he said more softly. "He sprung that on me, completely unaware of any reaction it might provoke. You'd think that after he knew I'd been empathically conditioned--"

Moira frozed and groaned. "Oh God, Nathan, I dinnae..." She thunked her head on his shoulder and cursed herself. She should have had the foresight to let Nathan know about that. "No wonder ye barred th' door th' way ye did."

He laughed quietly, a sound without much humor. "Overreaction on my part," he said. "It's not as if he can do anyone any harm at the moment." Except by being a thoughtless little son of a bitch, Nathan reflected, and sighed. "I used to have a thicker skin," he muttered.

Moira placed her hand on his chest and sighed. "So did we all. More we let in th' good thin's, th' 'arder 'tis ta keep th' bad out. I guess 'tis th' price ta be paid." She hrmphed slightly. "Let me guess, Manuel played up his Mr. Zero Tact?"

Nathan looked down at her for a moment, and then decided to go for broke. "Did he have a link with Amanda?"

"...aye, 'e did. I dinnae find out 'bout it until after Amanda...until 'twas almost ta late." White lines formed around her mouth, clearly showing her anger as much as she fought it down. Moira *liked* Amanda, liked her enough to have tried to bring her back from that abyss she'd nearly ended up in. She reminded her of herself when she was that age. And she wanted to make sure Amanda didn't have as rough of a time at it later on down the line.

Nathan's jaw tightened. "He wanted to talk about links," he said, his voice almost a growl. "He'd noticed ours, so he asked me about them. Apparently his and Amanda's broke."

Moira rubbed her forehead. She felt a headache coming on. "God. I think it broke durin' Amanda's rituals fer cleansin' an' th' like." Her eyes widened and she looked up at him, poking the link gently. It was still pretty quiet. Was that why he was so...the other link, with his wife...oh no...

Nathan looked down at her, managing a tiny smile. "He is a tactless little shit, yes. Yet another reminder to be a little more careful about who I share personal information with around here."

"I'm sorry, Nathan," Moira murmured, leaning her head back against him. "Is tha' why ye've been clampin' down on th' link?"

"No, actually, I just thought that you didn't particularly need to share the irrational fear," Nathan said as dryly as he could.

Moira slapped his stomach in slight irritation. "Tha's wha' made me worried *more*," she pointed out. "Nay any idea wha' 'ad 'appened ta ye."

That was definitely irritation, seething along the link. Nathan kissed the top of her head. "I'm sorry," he said, sending back contrite thoughts. "I should have thought it all through more clearly, but I was back to just reacting again... guess a weekend away wasn't quite enough to undo certain old habits."

"I know, I know." She grumbled. "I was jus'...'opeful, I guess."

"I have issues with backsliding," he quipped, tilting her face upwards and kissing her lips this time. "I'm worried, though," he said, when he finally drew back. "Not just about Amanda. Marie-Ange... she had a strange reaction to something I said to Amanda on her journal about links. I think something happened there."

Moira cursed and sighed. "Damn it...'ow could I miss somethin' like tha'? Obviously, Manuel but..." The night was getting better and better, she thought dryly.

"I'm going to talk to both of them tomorrow," Nathan said, trying to send as much reassurance as he could across the link. "If the link with Amanda broke while she was in England... well, I trust Romany to have noted any side effects. She may be headblind but she's perceptive. Angie concerns me, though. I get the sense that she didn't tell Xavier or Frost about this..."

"Jus' kept it all inside. Damn it." Moira frowned. She'd search out Angie as well soon enough. She had another gift for the young precog and she wanted to check up on her to make sure she was doing okay. It *had* been a while since their sessions. Moira also hadn't seen Amanda yet and wanted to. She made a note to go and find her as well, if the girl didn't come to find her first. Moira grimaced, fighting back the overwhelming desire to beat her head against a wall.

"No, you don't be doing that," Nathan said sternly, rubbing her back. "I like you non-concussed, thank you very much."

Moira tried to grumble but couldn't help but relax as Nathan eased some of the new tension out of her back. "Dinnae much like it meself," she mused, remembering back to her tumble from the cliffs when she was younger. "Won't be goin' ta find any walls ta try me 'ard 'ead on, promise."

"Good. Because I've had enough concussions for the both of us. Well, okay," he amended, "for about a dozen people." He smiled as she tucked her head beneath his chin. Just her presence was making him feel better. "It makes me sad," he murmured aloud. "A link... it's not something that should be a cause of pain."

"Nay, it tisn't." In her mind, she reached out and gently stroked their link and sighed peacefully. "Nay at all. I feel so bad...fer 'im an' Amanda. An' whatever 'appened to Angie."

"Feeling less bad for him at the moment, I have to confess," Nathan muttered.

"I think all o' us are." She closed her eyes. "'Tis a 'ard line ta walk, sometimes. I've got ta put me feelin's aside as a doctor an' yet 'e can see past that. Makes thin's a wee bit 'arder than normal."

"He wants my help." Nathan bit his lip, pushing the anxiety the thought provoked to one side. "About the link... the one with Amanda, I mean. I ought to just send him to Frost or Xavier..."

Moira shifted, sitting up a little higher. "Ye should. Fer now," she said, gently. The look she gave him was full of worry.

"But maybe I shouldn't," Nathan said slowly. "Or at least, maybe I should be trying to help him as well as pointing him to Xavier." He rushed to explain as she stared up at him. "I mean, he's not a danger right now, not with that dampener. I can probably help him. The link I had with Aliya... by all rights, I shouldn't have walked away from it sane. A link between two telepaths, there for ten years?"

"Guess ye wanted t' live," she said, eyes softening a little. Moira sighed. "I'm jus' worried. I dinnae think 'e'll do anythin' on purpose but..." Nathan hadn't handled today well and she didn't want to think about what would happen if he purposely sought out Manuel.

"Maybe this is something I should do, though," he pointed out. "Part of sorting out my baggage. Manuel's got a chance to be something other than a sadistic shit like every other empath I've known." He snorted softly. "If I don't help him, I'm still living in the past, aren't I? Letting all those other empaths who conditioned me dictate my actions."

"Stop makin' sense, please." Moira massaged her head, suddenly at war with herself. She was split...one part of her doctor self told her it was healthy for him. The other was worried about future repercussions. And, well, the woman that was in love with him wasn't exactly thrilled at the idea but...she sighed. "Aye, I suppose tha' would be fer th' best."

"Now, I just have to convince myself of that," Nathan said with a sigh.