Sunday in the medlab: Moira and Nathan, and then Moira and Bridge over IM...

[x-cable.livejournal.com]

Sunday afternoon in the medlab, Nathan wakes up to another vision. With Moira's help and what Charles has been teaching him, he manages to handle this one a little better.


Something was trapping him, keeping him from moving. Sweating, shaking, Nathan struggled to free himself, the first stirrings of panic starting inside him. He might have done something drastic, except Moira was there suddenly, taking his hand, and it was enough to wake him up, and let him realize that he was tangled in the blankets, that was all.

He blinked up at her, still trembling slightly. "What... what t-time is it?" he stammered, for some reason unable to help a flinch as she gently started to untangle the blankets.

At the flinch, Moira paused. "A wee bit after ten," she murmured and then continued to unwrap the blankets. "Ye okay? Was it a nightmare?"

She'd been across the room when she'd felt the link flare up in uncertainty and panic, but beyond that not much else had leaked across.

"I'm not sure," he muttered, trying to help. But his hands were beginning to shake even harder than they had been a moment ago, and he didn't know why. "Just... felt like I was trapped, and--" The words that were supposed to follow that caught in his throat as lights started to flicker in his peripheral vision. "Shit," he said raggedly. "Not again, damn it..."

With a curse, she dropped the blankets and reached for his hands. "Nathan, focus on me," she said, quietly but strongly as she reached for the link. The timing was horrendous.

Moira fought down fear and focused on reaching the link in her mind. With his condition only starting to get better from the attack the other night, another bad one would not be healthy. Not at all.

She was squeezing his hands so tightly that it almost hurt, but he focused on that, on the absolute determination blazing down the link. He could do this, he told himself feverishly as the images started to coalesce in his mind, tugging at him. The soft murmuring of voices filled his mind, but he stared straight at Moira, almost desperately.

"Keep... keep talking to me," he gritted out, remembering that it had worked with Amanda.

"All right," Moira murmured and then concentrated. "Remember tha' list I joked about, th' one I made up 'bout why I put up wit' ye? Wasnae a joke. One o' th' thin's is...ye realize yer th' only person since I was a lass ta try an' protect me? Everyone lets me forge ahead, which is fine but ye'd fight through 'ell for me..." She took a deep breath and mentally reached for the link, wincing slightly at the chaos.

"I--people tell me off for that, you know," he said, trying not to gasp as plasma bolts tore into the ground around him in that other place - another desert, another damned desert. "Supposed--to let you fight your own battles--"

"Most o' th' time, aye. But I like it." She shrugged a little, slighty embarrassed but glad this seemed to be working. "Nay every time but 'tis nice 'avin' someone who'll 'elp ye fight those battles wit' ye." Embarrassing and yet rather appropriate for the time being.

Nathan focused on her, on her voice, and on doing what Charles had been trying to teach him. Don't fight the vision, but don't lose yourself in it either. He visualized himself in front of a mirror, watching it, and even as the battle raged in his head, his own heartrate started to return to something closer to normal, and he could breathe again.

"Wow," he muttered a little dizzily. The mirror was there in his mind, the battle on the other side of it, and even though it didn't touch him, the pull wasn't there anymore. He wasn't being sucked down into it.

"Need me ta keep talkin', love?" Moira asked, watching him with concern. It didn't seem to be getting worse, in fact, he looked slightly more stable. Which was good, another relapse and he'd be stuck in the MedLab for much longer than either of them wanted him to be.

"I think I'm okay," Nathan said, taking a deep, relieved breath and looking up at her. Something exploded right on the other side of the mirror and he couldn't help shuddering a little, but it went dark immediately afterwards. Death of his viewpoint persona, he supposed. "I can't believe that worked."

She relaxed, slightly, easing her grip on his hands. "Well, now there's somethin' ye can fight it wit'," she said, quietly. "It seemed ta work pretty damn well from where I was standin'."

"Progress," he said, managing a weak smile. "Do I get a gold star or something?"

Laughing, Moira shook her head at him and smiled warmly. "Nay but I think I've got one better..."


Same day, Bridge messages Moira and they have one of those terribly thought-provoking conversations.


disavowed13: Moira?
DocMacTaggart: Bridge? (Just making sure after, well, the last IM conversation I had.)
disavowed13: Heh. I would ask how you guessed, but...
DocMacTaggart: Well, it helps to have Nathan mentioning something about this being your screenname and it was only a matter of time before you IMed me. Or called.
disavowed13: Yeah. He knows me too well.
disavowed13: I did get the latest email. He's doing better, then.
DocMacTaggart: Thankfully, yes. He's napping, now, actual sleep and not, well, coma. -.- Thank God.
disavowed13: Speaking of God, this is me swearing in His general direction that I'm going to break something over Nate's hard head for scaring me like this.
DocMacTaggart: Could you find another part of his body, please? I'm about to wrap his head in bubble wrap, I swear.
disavowed13: Okay. Not the head. Maybe I'll just yell at him.
DocMacTaggart: That'll work. The sad face doesn't work on you.
disavowed13: Oh, actually it does. Or at least, there's a variant of it that does. It's the 'I hate my life. Where's the tequila?' face. You have no idea how many times in the last six years that I've wished getting him laid was a viable option.
disavowed13: ...and I can't believe I just said that. *sheepish look* Can I plead sleep deprivation?
DocMacTaggart: *laughs* Yes you can. ;) Not that I didn't find that incredibly amusing.
disavowed13: I think Dom's coming to terms with... um, you and Nate, btw. At least she's stopped tormenting the boys... Garrison and Vasily were getting so wound up that I had to take her aside for a little chat. They're both too impressionable to survive her, I think.
DocMacTaggart: Is she? Oh good. I know we've kind of stopped trying to kill each other but I wasn't sure how she'd, you know, take this. Do I want to know what she was doing to the boys? Probably not.
disavowed13: Definitely not. Hell, Mina was getting huffy with her about it, so I had to step in. We sure as hell don't need the two of them fighting...
DocMacTaggart: Oh. My. How did she react to finding out about the link?
disavowed13: 'Oh my' indeed, Doc. Alpha females butting heads is not a pretty sight.
disavowed13: And... well, she was pretty quiet about it to start off with. Got her drunk the other night and she confessed to being "jealous. Just fucking jealous, G.W."
disavowed13: It's this damned crush, still, at the root of it. She's been fighting alongside him for years now, but there's part of her that still sees him as the angel that swooped down and took her out of the fighting pits.
DocMacTaggart: *sigh* Damn. I think I might have initially liked her had she not immediately started tossing out insults and then broke my coffee pot. Still, I know it's not going to be easy for her.
DocMacTaggart:...God help me when I tell Rory...
disavowed13: If it's any consolation, I still can't help grinning when I think about it. Umm... you and Nate, I mean. Not breaking the news to Rory, or Dom breaking your coffee pot.
DocMacTaggart: I was going to say, Bridge, you start laughing at the death of my coffee pot and I'll be after you next.
DocMacTaggart: *smiles* Nice to know that you're happy about this.
disavowed13: I should tell you that it got around through the rest of the Pack, too. Dom sort of spilled the beans...
disavowed13: Theo's still giggly about it. Hammer just raised an eyebrow. Mina and David smirk in the exact same way every time the subject comes up.
disavowed13: Lien feels the need to scowl, out of loyalty to Dom, I think. I don't think Garrison and Vasily actually thought Nate liked women.
DocMacTaggart: Theo's *giggling* about this? And why do I have this odd feeling that Mina's going to tease me until I'm old and gray?
DocMacTaggart: *pause* They didn't think he liked women? *raises an eyebrow and snickers a little*
disavowed13: Mina likes you. She won't tease.
disavowed13: And yeah, Theo's giggling. He's seven and a half feet of utter marshmallow, we all know this. As for Gar and Vasily... well, it's not as if Nate's had anything resembling a normal sex life for as long as they've known him.
DocMacTaggart: I know she likes me, that's why I'm afraid she'll tease. ...God only knows I would in her position.
DocMacTaggart: *grins* Theo...yeah, he is. Hard to say any man at that height is adorable but he manages it. And...well, true, but still...I guess guys will be guys.
disavowed13: I won't lie to you, though, Moira... they're worried we're going to lose him. Not to these visions... well, actually, they're all still pretty worried about that, too, but as a teammate.
DocMacTaggart:....*sigh*
disavowed13: ... that's a possibility, isn't it?
DocMacTaggart: ...I'm thinking kind of high on the list of possibilites, yes...*fidgets*
disavowed13: Don't fret, Doc. To be honest, I'm not surprised.
DocMacTaggart: Really? *curious*
disavowed13: He's burned out, Moira. People don't stay in our line of work forever, and Nate didn't even have the luxury of a normal childhood to compensate for all the shit later.
disavowed13: He hasn't been happy for a while. Not that I think he's actually been really happy for as long as I've known him, but he wasn't even having those... moments anymore.
DocMacTaggart: I knew he'd been having problems but I didn't realize he was becoming really unhappy with everything. *sighs* It's like making rocks bleed to get him to talk about those things with me.
disavowed13: The others would string me up by my toenails if they heard me saying this, but... it's probably for the best. He needs something else, Moira. I'm not sure what.
disavowed13: You know how much I care about the stubborn bastard. I'd have been dead beside that road in Cambodia seven years ago if he hadn't decided I was worth saving, for some reason of his own. But I think it's time for him to leave the Pack.
disavowed13: I wouldn't be surprised if Dom felt the same way, too.
DocMacTaggart: That makes it a little easier, hearing you say that. I worry that he's going to miss it or not be content with...well, whatever it is we have. Besides worrying about grumpy WildPack members because Nathan's leaving...
disavowed13: Can't say that he won't be missed. On the business side of things, too. He was the 'big name' right from the beginning, with us. I mean, the Pack's got a name of its own now, but he's still a big attraction for potential employers.
disavowed13: He's still just about the best, you know. When he's not trying to lose his mind.
DocMacTaggart: It's that whole nearly losing his mind thing...you know, I never really knew that. That he was a big name in the business.
DocMacTaggart:: It makes sense, though but it's still odd, not knowing.
disavowed13: I worry a little that I can't fill his shoes. I mean, I'm good, but I'm just an ex-CIA baseline human.
DocMacTaggart: I'm sure you'll be fine. More than fine. While, yes, as Nathan's threatened at the school, he can juggle tanks...you'll do fine.
disavowed13: ::chuckles:: Still telling that story, is he? I wasn't there for that one, obviously. I've seen him knock fighter jets out of the sky, though.
DocMacTaggart:...oh dear...the things I learn about my boyfriend. Especially things he'd rather not have me know. *grumbles*
disavowed13: I promise to wallow in nostalgia somewhere in your vicinity, when we get to New York. I know all kinds of cool and alarming Nathan-stories.
DocMacTaggart: *big grin* Oh, I can't *wait*. God only knows he's gotten enough stories out of my uncle about me, I think it's time for a little payback in that department.
disavowed13: That I can help you with.
disavowed13: Anyway, it's getting to be dinner-time over here, and the boys are in the next room moaning about the general lack of beer. I'm going to be so glad when they grow up a little.
DocMacTaggart: Wait, you think they're going to grow up?
disavowed13: ...good Lord, woman, are you trying to scare me? *grins*
DocMacTaggart: *laughs* Bridge, would I do a thing like that? Go on, go feed the rabble before they start eating the furniture and turning into three year olds.
disavowed13: Take care of Nate, and yourself. I'll let you know when we're flying in.
disavowed13: Bye, Moira.