xp_logs | Nathan and Moira, Monday evening

Moira comes back to the room to find him in a fairly good mood. They talk for a while, about hunches, regrets, and the not-so-good old days, but finally decide that they have better things to be doing with their evening.

He was spending rather a lot of time sitting by Moira's window, but today, at least, he was content. Between the visits from Amanda and Marie-Ange and all the good news via-email, he'd been having quite a good day.

There was a tickle on the link and he grinned, his eyes still scanning down the lines of the email he was composing to Dom. #I felt that,# he sent back mischievously, focusing on Moira's presence as he felt her reach the top of the stairs and come down the hall.

The link had been almost bouncing and she smirked, slightly. Moira had been trying to see if she could prod along the link without him really noticing, trying to get a feel for what was going on. #Wha', innocent me?# she sent back, opening and then closing the door behind her. Before heading over to where Nathan was, she stopped and shrugged out of her labcoat, careful not to accidently dump the pockets.

It had been a long, yet good day. The kids were an enjoyable handful, she realized, rubbing the back of her neck to ease away tension spots. "Ye look pleased," she remarked, finally heading over to the window.

"I am," he confessed with a smile, adding a couple of quick sentences to the email and then hitting send "This has definitely been a better day than I've had in a while." He watched her settle into the chair opposite his, noting the look of happy weariness she was wearing. "Well, once I finished waking up from Amanda's potion, I mean. I'm not sure what's in that stuff but it ought to be a controlled substance."

Snickering a little, she tucked her legs under her and settled into a comfortable position. "I'll see wha' I can do 'bout tha'," she replied, eyes closing slightly. It wasn't that she was sleepy, Moira merely enjoyed sitting down for a moment. The day had been filled with motion, blurring around the classroom, in her office, even when she'd been sitting in the chair.

"Wha' I miss?" she asked.

"Email from G.W.," Nathan said promptly, grinning. "You should have a copy in your inbox. They're coming this weekend."

The smile that flitted across her face was bright. "O' good, finally. Was wonderin' when they'd try ta get 'ere. 'ope they'll be okay."

"They're taking precautions," Nathan said. "Coming in on different flights under different names, that sort of thing... it should be fine." He sighed happily, closing the laptop and setting it aside. "It's going to be so good to see them," he said. Admitting on the journals that he was a little anxious seemed to have gone quite a ways towards diminishing that anxiety.

"I'm glad they're comin'," she said, softly. "Ye need this." They were a part of his life that she couldn't be a part of and it felt like he needed to make sure of some things and catch up.

Nathan tilted his head at her, reading the thought on the link. "I think I do," he said lightly, but he felt faintly sad, too, and he wasn't sure why.

He looked sad and Moira straightened slightly with a frown. "Nathan, wha's wron'?"

"Nothing's wrong," he said after a moment, touching the link in reassurance and smiling faintly at her. "It's just... I feel like there are probably going to be consequences from this weekend. Not... bad, but permanent." She was giving him an odd look, now, and he shrugged a bit sheepishly. "It's just a hunch. Hey, maybe my precognition's branching out a bit."

"Dinnae make me come over there," Moira replied dryly. "Permanent as in wha'? Ye think they're goin' ta react badly ta somethin'?"

"No," Nathan said thoughtfully, a bit frustrated by his inability to put it into words. "I just... feel as though some things are going to be resolved, but not in the way I expected."

"Are ye bein' cryptic by accident or jus' because ye know it annoys me?" she mused, trying to get more comfortable in the chair. "Everythin's goin' ta be fine, Nathan. I really need ta teach ye 'ow ta relax." Oh, like she was on to talk. Running oneself ragged should not be a favorite past time.

As for the weekend, she was slightly nervous as well. The olive branch had been extended to Domino but who knows what could happen? At least she had it on good authority that at least one of the pair visiting had already accepted a good deal of what was going on.

"I'm not being cryptic," he said, and stuck his tongue out at her. "Just inarticulate." She giggled, and he let it go for now, smiling at her. "It'll be fine," he said patiently, sensing her uncertainty. "Hell, it might even work out well. You and Dom will get a chance to talk..."

"Without tryin' ta kill each other, ye mean?" she pointed out, laughing. "I know, I'm lookin' forward to it as well. Feelin' a wee bit uncertain in terms o' Dom but tha's normal. It'll be good seein' Bridge." The slightly smug grin that emerged was hard to put back. She'd been promised stories about Nathan and after all the embarrassing things he'd gotten out of her uncle over the years...

"Oh dear," he said dryly. "I don't think I like that look..."

"Wha' look?" She switched it for the totally innocent look.

"That one's even worse." He decided to change the subject, figuring that he probably didn't want to know. Something she was cooking up with Bridge, from the sounds of it. "I got a letter from Ani today, by the way," he said. "She wasn't able to find out anything about what's going on at Muir."

A look of slight irritation crossed her face. "Damn it. Somethin's nay right, Nathan. I think th' Parliment's talkin' wit' th' U.S. diplomats an' whoever else on wha' ta do next. I dinnae think they're likin' wha' they're findin' out."

"It's too closely held, whatever it is," Nathan said, frowning. "If none of my sources can dig up anything about it..." He shook his head, determined not to let his good mood go. "Ani's doing well, at least," he said.

With some effort, Moira managed to drag herself away from irritated thoughts about what was going on at Muir. She made a mental note to get a hold of Rory soon, it had been too long since she'd talk to him. "Oh?" She turned and tilted her head at him, smiling a little. "Wish I could meet 'er one o' these days..."

"I wish you could, too," Nathan said with a sigh. "But it's safer if she and I don't meet too often."

"I know. One o' these days, though." The touch on the link was gentle and warm, sending comforting thoughts down to him. Maybe one day everything will be normal, she thought and then gently chided herself. One day at a time or else she'd give herself an ulcer.

Nathan let his head rest against the back of the chair as his mind lingered on Ani. "She's still having some trouble adapting, I think," he said distantly. "I'm not surprised. I keep thinking back to my first year out... she's doing far better than I did."

With a sigh, Moira grabbed the small pillow next to her and threw it lazily at Nathan. "Yer far t' 'ard on yerself," she said firmly. "Ye really need ta stop, Nathan."

The pillow froze in mid-air and flew back to land in her lap. "It's just the truth," he pointed out. "She's holding down a job, going to school... what did I do my first year out of Mistra? Other than the month or two I was on Muir, it was not well-spent."

"An' 'ow much more stuff did ye 'ave ta try an' work through," she argued. This...this was something she was going to beat out of him even if it killed her, Moira decided, setting her jaw. It might take her years but, by God, she'd do it. "Ye bot' 'ad one 'ell o' a time, but it was *different* an' so's th' recovery rate. Ye should know tha' by now."

"I guess she had help, too," he said softly. "Getting out, I mean." He vividly remembered just how shocked he had been to get that first email, that call for help. Anika had been seeing another member of her field team, a relationship they had been keeping successfully secret for months. When her lover had died on a mission, that had been enough to break Ani's conditioning. He wasn't sure how she had known how to find him, but she had been very clear about why she had come to him. You're the only one who's gotten out and stayed alive, that first email had read. Help me, please. I can't take it here anymore. They threw Sybil's life away... none of what they taught us means anything if they can do something like that.

Moira played with the pillow and thought. "Somethin's go full circle," she murmured. "Most thin's, I've been noticin' lately. I 'ope at least yer admittin' tha' ye did good there."

"Mmm," he said, but felt oddly discontented. "I may have done good there, Moira, but that doesn't really make up for all these years of being--selfish when it comes to that part of my past."

"Given th' circumstances, I think ye can be excused. Ye werenae th' only one bein' selfish when dealin' wit' yer problems, remember?" The image of Nathan throwing the bottle of whiskey, damned good whiskey at that, into the lake, flashed through her mind. Followed by the missed, sloppy attempt at a punch and then a quick heave into the lake. She winced.

He laughed softly. "We made quite a pair, didn't we?" But he needed to let this go too, he told himself, at least for now. Resolving his feelings about what he had or hadn't done when it came to his former employers wasn't something that was going to happen in the space of a conversation. "I probably could have been more subtle, you know. I was just... not in a particularly patient mood."

"I did try t' punch ye," she reminded him, shaking her head at the memory. "God, I was at least four sheets ta th' wind th' night ye came back. Nay me best days."

Nathan closed his eyes for a moment, remembering the surge of absolute fury that had been behind his decision to toss her into the lake. "Then you swore a blue streak at me and called me a bully," he murmured, a faint smile tugging at his lips. "You shouldn't have given me ideas." Because he had proceeded to bully her shamelessly, in a way that really should have embarassed him to look back upon, but it had worked.

"Ye were! Absolutely ruthless." The smile on her face was part sadness, part wistful. "But it worked. Better than it 'ad any right ta. 'ad ye been anyone else, Nathan, I'd thrown ye off me island first chance I got." The screaming matches had been horrendous to the point of Rory heading off island to get away from them. Looking back, they had been rather frightening. But effective.

"Focusing on you helped get me out of my own head, you know," he admitted quietly. "Just call it a productive form of avoidance."

"We do make quite th' pair," Moira replied, a smile in her voice. "God only knows I did th' same wit' ye, many times."

Nathan laughed aloud. "Are we codependent or what?" he said, getting up and moving across to crouch in front of her chair. He reached out and took her hands in his. "So what are we doing this evening?" he asked casually.

Moira blinked down at him, a little surprised. Her hands were a little chilly from being in the lab and she enjoyed the warmth of his over hers. "Dinnae know, wha' do ye want ta do?"

"I want to not leave the room," he said, his eyes twinkling. "Except maybe to raid the kitchen. We do have so much we could be doing here..."

It took a second but then understanding clicked and she felt a nice flush spread as he continued to look at her intently. "Aye, we do..." she murmured, but she couldn't help a small worry. The same worry that she'd been thinking about since he'd gotten out of the MedLab. Moira swallowed and looked down at their hands. "Ye...sure we want...?"

He blinked at her, bemused, and then his eyes widened as he realized the problem. "You're worried I'm going to... oh, crap, Moira." For some stupid reason he couldn't stop grinning. "Look," he said, rising to his feet and pulling her with him. "The only way you stop my heart is in the metaphorical sense."

"Ye laughin' at me," she muttered, trying not to pout. Moira still slid her arms around his waist even as she grumbled at him.

"Yes, I am. And I also have this overwhelming urge to live in the moment here," he murmured, bending to kiss her. #So shall we 'carpe diem'?# he sent mischievously.

Laughter filtered over the link and she leaned into the kiss. #Oh aye, we shall. Believe there shall be quite a bit o' 'carpe diem'...#

#And 'carpe' of other things, I hope--#