xp_logs | Moira, Nathan, Domino, Bridge - A New York Minute, part 1 (Saturday morning to early afternoon)

Nathan wakes Moira up on Saturday morning shouting at the computer. They talk about having patience, regrets, and letting the kids make their own mistakes. Some of Nathan's Issues rear their ugly heads, but are put aside for now.

"Fuck! Fucking... FUCK!"

The sudden yell jerked Moira out of a deep sleep and she sat upright. "Wha' th' 'ell?" Her brain really wasn't awake yet and it was hard to comprehend what was going on. In the room and on the link. Nathan was pissed off that was for certain. She made a confused sound when she realized he wasn't in bed with her and looked around. He sat, fuming, at the computer. "Nathan?"

"I... I don't like children!" he burst out, swiveling around in the chair and giving her a distinctly unhappy-looking glare. "I really just... don't, you know?"

"Wha'?" The look she gave him could only be described as a not awake, highly confused one. Moira sat up a little straighter and attempted to rub the sleep from her eyes. "Wha's wron'?"

Nathan rubbed at his temples, reminding himself that the day was going to be much less fun if he started it off with a stroke. "Drinking," he growled. "God forbid we cut off their access to alcohol."

"'ell." With a sigh, she flopped back down on the bed and stared up at the ceiling. "Is tha' damned ruckus *still* goin' on? I 'ave thought it would 'ave all washed over by now. Most o' these tiffs normally do."

"It's not just that." He sighed, glancing back at the computer for a moment and then getting up, coming back to the bed and sprawling out beside her. "Damn it, I seriously could just... throttle several of them."

The link was all rumbly with irritation and Moira frowned over at him. "Wha' did I miss while asleep?" she asked, rolling over onto her side so she could toss an arm over him. "Whatever it 'tis 'as got ye all riled up."

"Just... following some of the ongoing 'conversations'," he muttered. "I was up last night... couldn't sleep. And then it was all still there in the morning. I was kind of hoping it was all some infuriating dream."

"Love, for us bein' linked, yer still nay makin' much sense," Moira pointed out, kissing him on the cheek lightly. "Are some o' th' kids still bein' all 'screw th' mansion'?"

"What the hell is wrong with them?" he asked a bit wildly, not really registering the kiss. "What do they want? Or is it that they don't know what they want and want someone else to tell them, so that they can then tell that someone to go fuck themselves for trying to tell them what to do?"

"Aye, t' bot'," Moira said firmly. "I'm nay condonin' wha' these kids are doin'. Unfortunately, I've done it an' got meself caught up on a pat' I couldnae get out o'. They're confused, on some level they want order. But they also want ta be able t' go tell order ta go fuck itself." The image of her father tossing her leather jacket into the fire, that stony gaze from both of them and her walking out and back to Joe sprang to mind. "They jus' dinnae know wha' they want."

Nathan gritted his teeth, still seething. "They have the choice," he said coldly. "They have the fucking choice, and I swear, some of them either don't know it or don't care."

"An' some o' them are so used ta fightin' tha' tis 'ard for them ta stop," she pointed out gently.

He gave a bark of laughter. "Yeah, I'm not being particularly sympathetic, am I? Must let the children be children, after all." He couldn't stop the bitter anger from flooding down the link, though, and heard Moira catch her breath.

Gritting her teeth, Moira pushed away and sat up. Her hand massaged her forehead as a headache suddenly pulsed behind her eyes. "Nay, ye must'nt let 'children be children'," she grated out. "But ye must let them make their own mistakes. We're 'ere t' guide them an' teach them but there are times we cannae do it an' they di' their own graves an' all we can do is watch!"

She winced at the thoughts bouncing around in her head, unsure if the irritation was hers, Nathan's or a joint irritation.

Nathan grimaced suddenly, sitting up. "I'm sorry," he said, taking her face between his hands and reaching across the link, soothing away the headache. "I am." Moira sighed softly, and he could almost feel himself deflating. "I know this is only partly about any of them," he muttered, letting his hands fall to his lap. "I do. I just..." He hesitated, shaking his head helplessly. "I see this place, I see all the opportunities they have, and yet... damn it. I know it's human nature, and damn it, I know they're kids, but it makes me so angry."

The touch to the back of his hand was gentle. "'Tis 'ard, I know," Moira murmured, reaching towards the link with a gentle touch. She blinked in sudden understanding at some of the feelings and fragments of thoughts. But she'd stay away from *that* until he was ready to bring it up himself. "Ye never know wha' ye 'ave until 'tis gone. An' then ye realize jus' 'ow stupid ye were an' ye wish ye could change it. But ye 'ave ta accept an' move on."

Another image of her father crossed her mind. The night he passed away he had insisted on being in his study, in front of the fire. She remembered sitting at his feet, head on his knee just like she had done when she was younger. The regret was sharp and tangy, she hadn't had enough time after she'd gotten out of the rebellion stage to show him how sorry she had been. "Sometimes our mistakes our th' only thin's tha' we 'ave tha' our ours."

Nathan's mouth twisted a little. He couldn't help but respond to the wistful regret on the link, yet he wasn't quite ready to let go of his anger, either. "You're very good at knowing precisely what needs to be said, you know," he said, mustering a tight, somewhat embarassed smile. "Even if I'm not so good at hearing it."

"Ye'll learn," she retorted, grinning a little bit. But it went away when she noticed the grumbling still going on from the other end of the link. "Nathan, wha's wron'? This really isnae towards th' kids or so it feels like."

"I--don't know," he said after a moment, and it was more or less the truth. She raised an eyebrow at him, and he managed a snort. "Okay, so I have the whole craving to blow things up going on, but I'll be damned if I can figure out precisely why. I just..." He shrugged. "Frustrated. Angry. Nervous about today. Plus I didn't sleep well last night, which probably isn't helping." His memory of the vision, of the young mother screaming as the soldiers kicked her baby back and forth between themselves, slipped down the link before he could stop it.

It was like she could feel the warmth leave her skin and Moira shivered, closing her eyes tightly against a rising wave of nausae. Just a memory, she repeated, scrambling in her mind to get away from it. She dropped the touch on Nathan's hand and raised it back to her head again. "God, nay wonder..." Deep breath in, wait to four, let it again. Rinse, wash, repeat. She was hoping it would work.

"It just..." Nathan took a deep breath of his own, struggling to clear his mind, to at least keep what he was thinking off the link. "All of this business with the kids and whether or not they can drink, Moira, it seemed so petty... so stupid. I wanted to track down the ones that were whining and just... push that into their minds." The young woman's - a girl, really, she hadn't been much more than a girl - face, the laughing soldiers, the sounds the baby had made before he had stopped making any noise at all.

A whimper escaped her mouth and she pressed the palms of her hands into her eyes. Whether he knew it or not, he was projecting rather loudly down the path of the link and she felt her stomach heave. "I...nay such a good idea," she managed to get out around tight lips. With a grimace, she hunched over and tried those damned breathing exercises again.

Stop it, Nathan told himself harshly, and deliberately closed off the link. Moira looked up at him sharply, still clearly shaken, and he reached out with an unsteady hand, touching the side of her face. "I'm sorry," he said again, throwing everything he had into pushing all of that tangled, bitter anger down, down to where it belonged and wouldn't leak out. "I'm not... handling this well. But shaking it off now, I promise."

"We're supposed t' 'andle this stuff together," she said, weakly. "Wasnae expectin' tha', I'm sorry." She was worried, repressing stuff always had a nasty effect later on down the road. Moira really decided she needed to learn a way not to freak out like that, to be able to help better.

Nathan reached out and took both of her hands in his. "Let's just... try and concentrate on today. For now?" he asked wearily, then couldn't help a faint smile. "I should be over the moon this morning, not wanting to break things. Besides, we're getting out of here in an hour or so, away from all of this. Probably for the best."

"Aye, gettin' out will do us a world o' good." Nodding, Moira smiled at him. It was a little wobbly but it stayed this time. "I need ta get in th' shower an' get dressed," she mused, pushing the bad memories and feelings aside for now.

Nathan and Moira meet Bridge and Domino at their hotel. There is a remarkable lack of hostility and a lot of hugging.

It was an upper mid-range hotel, anonymous but comfortable. Nathan knew its 'type' well, had stayed in similar places with the Pack before. He couldn't remember ever been quite this nervous walking into a place like this before. Moira reached out and laid a hand on his arm, sending reassurance up the link as she inclined her head in the direction of the couches over on the other side of the lobby.

And there they were. Nathan started forward hesitantly, a smile tugging at his lips. Domino saw him first, and all but vaulted over the back of the couch, running at him with a squeal he reminded himself to tease her for later. He braced himself, so that she didn't knock him over, and dimly realized that he was grinning like an idiot, even as she hugged him so tightly that his air supply was going to be in doubt in another few seconds.

"Asshole," she said fiercely, finally pulling back and giving him a searching look. G.W. was coming over at a more sedate sort of pace, but he was smiling too, the predominant emotion in his eyes relief. "You absolute asshole," Domino said again, as if pronouncing divine truth. "Pain, Dayspring. A whole lot of pain. You just wait."

"Be nice, Dom," G.W. said, reaching them. Domino glanced sideways at him for a moment, then took a somewhat-hesitant step backwards. Nathan blinked, but G.W. was deliberately and steadily projecting what he was planning to do, so the hug from him, much more tentative than one from Dom, didn't come as a surprise. "Hey, partner," he muttered in Nathan's ear, a bit awkwardly. "You look better."

Moira stood back from the reunion and smiled to herself. The hug between Bridge and Nathan was very touching, yet manly at the same time. The nerves were starting to come back a little bit. She hadn't seen the other two in quite some time and the times she had seen Domino hadn't been very pleasant. A lot of things had happened in that time span, most of them to Nathan and, by proxy, to her.

Her eyes widened slightly when Bridge pulled back from Nathan and came out her, a grin on his face. "Bri--yipe!" A yelp was squeezed out of her as she found herself being pulled up into a giant bear hug. A second passed before she got over her shock of being off the floor and then she laughed and hugged him back.

"That was from Theo," Bridge said happily, putting her back on the floor. She grinned up at him, and he found himself reflecting, not for the first time, that Nathan had really good taste. "He was thoroughly disgusted with us for not letting him come. I kept trying to explain to him that we had to be inconspicuous, but he just wasn't getting it."

"Hi, Moira," Domino said, coming over with Nathan. She raised a hand in a little wave, managing a smile that wasn't too defensive. She had promised to behave and she would. No more letting MacTaggart make her feel inadequate. "He managed to drive you insane yet?" she asked, looking sideways and upwards at Nathan, raising an eyebrow as she did.

"Not for lack of trying," Nathan said with a wry look.

"'ello, Dom." With a wry shake of her head, Moira mock-glared at Nathan. "'e's been tryin' fer years, 'asnae worked yet." She coughed. "Note tha' I said *yet*." She stuffed her hands in her pockets and found herself relaxing. The hug, from both Bridge and Theo absent as he was, had worked wonders on calming her nerves down.

"Well," Bridge said amiably, looking back and forth between the three of them. Dom was clearly still a little tense, as was Moira, but they were neither giving each other nasty looks nor totally ignoring each other's presence. Definitely progress. "This is nice. What are we doing now?"

"Depends on you two," Nathan said just as cheerfully. Moira took a step closer him, sliding her arm through his, and he didn't need to be a telepath to notice the little flicker of amusement in Dom's violet eyes. "We've got the rest of the day to kill. Had lunch yet?"

"Just breakfast," Domino said brightly, deliberately beaming at Moira. The little 'mine, bitch!' move hadn't gone unnoticed, but she was Being Good, and Good she would be. She reached out and poked Bridge in the ribs, just to hear him grunt. "Cheapskate here moaned and groaned about the price of the breakfast buffet, but I wanted my fucking Belgian waffles."

Moira blinked and then nodded. "Breakfast is probably a bloody good idea." The look Nathan gave her suddenly was one of irritation and she rolled her eyes. "I ate...yesterday, sometime. Dinnae look at me in tha' tone o' voice." The room had started to tilt slightly and though she had noted Domino's look of amusement at her putting her arm through his, it was mainly to steady herself.

Really.

"Brunch it is," Bridge said swiftly, and went over to the main desk to confer quickly with the concierge.

The terrible foursome have brunch. Catching up and gossiping is done, and the fate of Dom's first boyfriend is revealed.

Moira found herself sitting in between Bridge and Nathan and across from Domino. Not that she minded, it had actually been fairly pleasant so far. Though she wasn't really sure how Dom was reacting to the situation. Saying she had a poker face was putting it mildly to say the least. But her mind had other things to think about...food, first and foremost. She was getting too old to keep skipping meals like she was used to, she mused as she ordered.

The coffee was okay, tolerable but not what she really needed. "Think I'll be puttin' me coffee pot on start when we get 'ome," she muttered, looking for all the world like the coffee in the cup in front of her had insulted her parentage.

Nathan patted her arm. "It has a timer, remember? I got it all ready to go before we went out." Bridge snorted, and Nathan made a face at him. "Shut up, you heathen tea-drinker."

Domino leaned back in her chair, eyeing the two of them with veiled amusement before she looked back at Moira. "I think they think they're funny," she confided, as if the two men weren't at the table. "It's really quite sad."

"Isnae though?" she agreed, eyeing the two men with humor. "'Tis verra entertainin' ta watch though. Better than TV at times."

Bridge choked on his tea. They're being nice to each other, he thought at Nathan. I'm scared. Nathan's only response was a momentary eye-roll, and Bridge grinned cheerfully at the two women. "Dom, are you actually ordering more food?" he asked, seeing that she was still eyeing her menu. "After those waffles? Damn, woman, you're going to get fat--"

Domino gave him the finger, much to the horror of the hovering waiter. "I'll have the smoked salmon sandwich," she said briskly. "Hold the onions."

Nathan briefly considered hiding behind his menu. "The french toast," he said, smiling apologetically at the waiter instead. "And more coffee."

Moira's eyes widened at the menu. She hadn't seen they catered to the British tastes as well. "Bangers an' mash, please," she said, cheerfully, much to the horrified look on Nathan's face. Well, maybe they got a little mixed up. That was normally not a morning type food but she was starving. "An' more coffee. A lot, please."

Turning back to the table, she took another sip of the coffee and made a face. "Bloody 'ell. Dinnae Americans believe in stron' coffee?"

"Our tastebuds are less robust," Bridge said, winking at her. He was maybe overdoing the gallant act just a little, but he was determined that Moira wasn't going to feel uncomfortable. It would be too easy for him and Nate and Dom to fall into their usual patterns and wind up excluding her.

With a snort, she sat the coffee to the side. "I'll say. Ye mentioned Theo...'ow is 'e doin'? An' th' rest?" She was determined that as soon as Muir was clear, she'd send an invitation to them all. Theo was such a sweetheart.

"Theo's good," Bridge said cheerfully as the waiter fled. "Pouted about not being able to come, like I said, but I'm sure he'll have forgiven us by the time we get back." Nathan snorted, and Bridge went on, ignoring him. "Mina and David are still cooing at each other any time you look at them. Garrison, Vasily, and Lien are all doing well--they were headed off to Amsterdam this weekend for various forms of debauchery. Hammer..."

"Is still an asshole," Domino put in with a slight smile. "Just like the sun still rose in the east this morning. It's almost comforting in a way."

She gave Bridge a "I told you so look". "Right, ye thought th' boys were goin' ta grow up, did ye? 'ah!" Curiously, Moira touched the link gently and smiled at how quiet it was. It was a good change from this morning, that was for sure.

Nathan smiled slightly as he felt the light caress. "So long as Gar and Vasily aren't debauching Lien," he said, and frowned as Domino burst out laughing. "What?"

"Li's decided that boys are stinky," Domino told him, an evil sparkle in her eyes. "I can't really blame her."

Blinking, Moira snickered slightly. "Do I want t' know why she's decided they're stinky?" she asked, tilting her head slightly.

Domino shrugged extravagantly. "It's one of the few tried-and-true coping methods for women in our line of work," she said, unable to help giving Bridge a dirty look as he shifted in his chair, obviously uncomfortable with the subject. "Since men tend to disrespect you if you sleep with them, no matter how good you are, sleeping with women is often easier."

A few seconds went by and then Moira nodded slowly. "Ye know, tha' actually makes a lot o' sense." She snorted and reached for her coffee cup again. No matter how bad it was starting to taste she still needed the coffee hit. "God only knows that sometimes transcends work," Moira muttered darkly, thoughts traveling back to Pym briefly.

"Yeah," Domino said dryly. "Men are generally pigs." She glanced at Nathan from over the rim of her coffee cup, quite pointedly, and was pleased to see his lips tighten. "By the way, Moira, I understand you have a stalker? Bridge was saying something about making a side trip to shoot someone."

"Aye. A nondangerous stalker...I think...who believes 'is way ta me 'eart is ta insult Nathan, boast over IM an' send me stupid gifts an' make th' security folks at th' Mansion paranoid because they thought 'is gift tha' smelled like cologne was dangerous." She sighed. "Gotta 'ate someone who willnae take 'Nay, I'm seein' someone, 'e's big an' likes ta 'it thin's'."

Domino frowned, rather startled by how sympathetic she suddenly felt towards Moira. "And you haven't killed him yet?" she asked Nathan quizzically. Nathan sighed, shaking his head, and Domino reminded herself that he probably had to behave himself, given that he was living under someone else's roof. "You're slipping, old man," she scolded, and then couldn't help a real grin at Moira. "Did he ever tell you what he did to my first boyfriend?"

"Naaaaay. Do tell, I'd like forewarnin' if'n 'e ever runs int' Pym."

"Marco was such a nice boy," Domino said mock-regretfully. "I'm sure he's very happy in that monastery."

Nathan coughed, setting his coffee back down. "We didn't do anything to him," he said patiently at the look Moira gave him. "He just... um..."

"Decided to dedicate his life to God," Bridge said, holding back laughter by sheer force of will. "Admirable decision, really."

Moira covered her mouth with her hand for a second and tried to stifle the giggles that came out of it. She looked at Nathan and raised an eyebrow. #Th' link is smu', love,# she sent, teasing. She shook her head. "Good Lord, th' thin's I learn, I swear..."

"Oh, yeah," Bridge said, grinning. "I was going to make with the embarassing stories, wasn't I?"

Nathan blinked at him in horror. "You most certainly are not," he said indignantly.

"I promised."

"I don't care!"

Domino leaned forward again. She was actually beginning to enjoy herself, she reflected with some surprise. "If he won't, I will," she told Moira cheerfully.

"An' even if 'e does, I'll still take ye up on tha'," she replied, just as cheerful. "*Years* o' 'im gettin' embarrassin' stories out o' me uncle an' cousin dearest. I think 'tis time I got me payback." The look Nathan gave her was horrified and spoke of revenge. Grinning, she looked at the other two nearly gleefully. "I think we're startin' ta frighten 'im."

"Then my day is complete," Domino said, and beamed at the approaching waiter, who visibly cowered.