Amanda and Nathan, Friday evening

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Amanda decides to Nate-sit to give Moira a chance to get something to eat. While she's there, he wakes up and the two of them talk briefly. Amanda also gets the chance to prove to herself that her magic can do good.



Moira wasn't there. The realization brought him back to something approaching real consciousness, pulling him out of the shifting morass of memories that weren't his. Nathan opened his eyes, blinking as the room went in and out of focus. There was someone sitting over in the armchair, reading. He stared at the blurry shape for a moment, trying to listen to what his telepathy was telling him rather than the murmuring of other voices in the back of his mind.

"Amanda?" he asked finally, or tried to. His voice cracked, and what came out wasn't particularly recognizable as her name.

At the croak, Amanda looked up, closing the rather large leather-bound volume she'd had balanced on her lap. "Hey," she said softly. "I got some water here - think you can sit up so you don't drown yerself?"

Nathan thought about it for a moment and then mustered his strength and pushed himself up to a sitting position. The room spun wildly around him, and he leaned back against the headboard of the bed, shaking. Amanda got up and came over, moving slowly, as if she was approaching a wild animal, and he tried to smile as he took the glass of water, to reassure her. Judging by her expression, it hadn't been a particularly convincing attempt.

He took a small sip of the water, managing not to drop the glass. "Hey," he said, his voice still weak but clearer.

Deciding to sit on the edge of the bed, rather than returning to the chair, Amanda watched his shaking hands and reached out to support the glass. "Doc's gettin' some food. I told her I'd keep an eye on you," she said simply. She was tempted to use what Romany had taught her and take a look at his aura, but something warned her away from that. "How's the head?"

"Strange," he said vaguely, after a long moment. "Full of... them." He took another sip of the water, then stared at her, trying to concentrate. The world around him felt a little more solid than it had earlier, but that wasn't saying much. "Is Moira okay?" he asked slowly.

"Pretty much. Worried 'bout you, but that goes without sayin'. Had t' practically force her t' go an' eat. We had a girl's night in planned, but I figured after what happened, she wouldn't be leavin' you any time soon." Amanda grinned, wryly. "An' it's actually pretty peaceful, watchin' you snore, so I get me break any way."

Nathan let his head sag back against the wall. "I was snoring?" he asked dimly. "Guess I was asleep, then." You knew things were bad when you couldn't tell the difference between being asleep and feeling like you were losing your mind. "What day is it?" he asked after another moment.

"Friday. 'Bout sevenish." Amanda took the glass out of Nate's hands and put it on the nightstand next to the bed. "Guess the holiday's over, then? Anythin' I can do t' help?"

"No," he murmured, staring blankly at the opposite wall. "Don't think there's anything anyone can do. I thought they went away but I guess not." Despair broke through the haze and he took a deep, shaky breath. "Fuck," he whispered miserably.

After only a momentary hesitation, Amanda reached over and squeezed one of his. "Homily says it helps, havin' someone t' ground you," she said. "An' I ain't goin' nowhere right now."

He could feel her more clearly, with the physical contact. Her presence was steady and radiant, amazingly strong for someone her age. Nathan took another couple of deep breaths, trying to push the despondency back down where it belonged. "I ought to read those books," he said faintly. "Looks like I'm going to need them." He raised his free hand, rubbing at his eyes. "I don't get why the break. Seven whole days, and then..." Unless it had been his 'tantrum'. If that had broken the connection...

"Either yer mystery woman decided t' give you a break 'fore you went completely mental on her, or you managed t' scare her off with yer dramatics," Amanda said, unconsiously echoing his last thought. "'M almost sorry it weren't me in the kitchen that day - would have given her what for."

Nathan shuddered. "Don't... don't be sorry about that," he said raggedly. "What she almost did to Shinobi... and with my telekinesis..." He stopped, his free hand clenching white-knuckled on the comforter. "Not letting her try that again," he muttered almost savagely. "Whatever I have to do."

"She didn't manage it. You stopped her, remember?" Amanda patted his shoulder with her free hand, unconsciously projecting calm at him. The time she'd spent in Manuel's company had actually done some good as well as all the damage - she'd gotten much better at reading emotional states and controlling her own. It was kind of necessary when you spent any amount of time with an empathic mirror. "We'll find out how to tell her t' sod off. The doc's workin' on it, an' no-one's a match for that woman when she's determined t' get somethin' done."

"Except maybe a telepath strong enough to reach back over two thousand years," Nathan pointed out wearily, then tried again to smile at her, a little more successfully. "Guess you're not the only one who ought to be asking Xavier or Frost to go poking around. I sure as hell can't hold her off myself."

"That's what the place is for, helpin' when you can't do it yerself. Sometimes whether you admit it or not," Amanda said with a wry face.

Nathan sighed, letting his eyes close for a moment. A bad idea, he discovered immediately as the images flickering through his mind grew suddenly more vivid, and he opened his eyes again, shuddering. He focused on the far wall, on the pattern of the wallpaper. "I really need to read those books," he muttered, telling himself to hold it together. Losing it in front of Amanda would not be good.

"'M not sure how much help they'll be, but it can't hurt, right?" Amanda frowned a little. "The magic community ain't exactly that up on mutant powers - they're a bit old fashioned that way. Which is stupid, 'cause there's a lot of overlap. 'M hopin' this bloke I'm seein' tomorrow sees it that way. Rom picked him, so he ain't gunna be _that_ traditional." She pondered him a moment. "Would you mind if I tried a helain' spell? I know you ain't hurt, but sometimes they're good for the non-physical stuff too."

"If it's all right for you to be doing something like that," Nathan said slowly, his curiosity piqued.

"Oh yeah. Healin's all about the good intentions, so I won't be riskin' me karma or anythin'. I won't be able t' do one of the big spells - Rom's gadget is makin' sure I don't have the power for those - but I can do this." Amanda pulled a face at the pendant, which looked rather out of place against her Ramones tour t-shirt. The she grinned. "'Sides, you ain't see me actually usin' me powers yet, have you? 'M feelin' the need t' show off."

"Well, turnabout is fair play," Nathan said, remembering that she had seen him working with the rocks in the quarry. "Feel free to dazzle me, then. Should I do anything?"

"Just sit still. An' give me yer other hand." Amanda twisted around some more so she could hold both his hands loosely in hers, and closed her eyes. The spell was the same one she'd used on Angelo, on Lorna, and on herself, that night in the public toilets... she shoved that last memory away, trying to clear her mind. As she murmured the words - they were in Latin, which Amanda's accent mangled horribly, making Nate wince - the crystal around her neck started glowing as she drew on the power it contained for the spell. That wasn't the only thing glowing, though - a warm golden light filled their joined hands, coming from Amanda, and slowly spread up his arms, tingling slightly.

Feeling dizzy, Nathan struggled not to listen to the way his instincts were screaming at him to pull away. The light flowed upwards, and Nathan drew in a surprised breath as the tension started to drain from his muscles. The voices in the back of his head died to a whisper, and his eyes were suddenly trying to close, drowsiness descending on him as if a curtain had suddenly been dropped. "Wow," he managed. "That's... really something."

Amanda smiled tiredly. Something had been pushing_against her spell, and she had an inkling what. Or who. But she wasn't about to go and undo the good she'd done by saying so to Nate, not just yet. "Glad it done some good," she said, reluctantly beginning to break the grip on Nate's hands.

Nathan tried to tell her it had, to thank her, but he was sinking back against the pillows, his mind drifting away in a much more soothing sort of direction. The voices were barely audible, and breathing out on a sigh, he let go. His last conscious thought was that Amanda was worried about something, but even that faded.

Watching the peacefulness in his face as he drifted off, Amanda felt a small glow of pleasure. Magic _could_ be useful, and not everything she did with it turned out bad. She gave his hands a small squeeze before letting go and pulling the blanket up higher and moving back to her chair to resume her vigil until Moira came back, stifling a yawn of her own.