Manuel and Nathan, Tuesday afternoon

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Nathan is outside reading when Manuel takes Frank for a walk. They talk about Nathan's missing weekend, and Nathan is presented with a Quandary. Fortunately, he does the Right Thing. They wind things up with a little sniping about each other's sex lives. Much fun.



Frederick Schuman's International Politics was about as dull as he remembered, Nathan reflected, resting the book on the arm of the bench as he skimmed through it. Definitely a classic of the genre, but probably not something he wanted to be forcing the kids to read. There had to be something more accessible, he thought with a grimace, picking up his mug from the bench beside him and sipping at his rapidly cooling coffee. Time to browse the internet again for some suggestions. It was a marvelous distraction from his troubles, at the very least.

A presence impinged on his awareness, and he looked up, blinking at the sight of Manuel striding across the lawn. Walking an iguana.

Manuel was really more dragging a recalcitrant iguana across the lawn. "Goddammit, Frank, work with me here, OK? You're a fat lizard, and Amanda told me to make sure you got some exercise. And since there are no girl-lizards, and you can't copulate with Lee, that leaves only a walk. So stop fighting me, dammit!" He hasn't even noticed Nathan, so intent is he on the lizard.

Nathan raised an eyebrow, smiling a bit quizzically. It was strangely cute, really. Especially the fact that Manuel was talking to the lizard. "I don't think he's liking all the fresh air and sunlight," he called out, loudly enough for Manuel to hear him. "A little cold out here for him, isn't it?"

Manuel whirled around, saw Nathan, and sighed heavily. "Go ahead, laugh it up already." he called over to the mercenary, at the same time trying to drag Frank further away from the house's shadow and into the light. "Stupid lizard." he hissed at Frank, who merely blinked at him in response.

"I think he's winning," Nathan said, telling himself that he really shouldn't be making fun. Manuel was obviously making an effort to take care of Amanda's pet, and that was really very nice of him. A comment about matching wits with a lizard and coming up short was really not in order. At all.

Manuel finally decided to jettison the sole remaining shards of his dignity, and scooped up Frank in his arms to set him on his shoulder. Frank sat there, nonplussed, while Manuel walked back out into the more direct sunshine. "Oh, I get it now. You just wanted to be carried! Well done, lizard." he said to Frank.

"Very devious," Nathan complimented Frank, who stared at him flatly for a moment, then turned his attention elsewhere. "I think he likes you," he said to Manuel. "Otherwise he wouldn't be giving you such a hard time."

"I doubt that. If everyone who gave me a hard time liked me, I'd be everyone's friend." he snorted. "I hear you had quite the weekend." he smirked.

Nathan raised an eyebrow. "Don't know who've you been talking to," he said calmly, "but from my perspective I didn't actually have a weekend. Which, yes, suggests that I had quite the weekend, but unfortunately I don't have any salacious details to share."

Manuel quirked his head and stared at Nathan. "Judging by this, I'd say several someones had quite the weekend at your expense." he mused. "Either that, or someone had themself a real beauty of an emotional mindfuck."

Nathan's jaw clenched. "I figured that was probably the case," he said tightly. "With that many drugs in my system and that sort of a memory gap... can you tell me what you see?"

"I can." he said with a smirk. "And drugs too? What _will_ the children think? Did you at least get the good stuff, or did you get all fucked up on the common street trash?"

Hitting the boy is not appropriate. Nathan smiled thinly at him instead. "Look, I'm not really in the mood for the verbal sparring at the moment. Are you going to tell me what you see, or are you having too much fun holding it over my head?"

Manuel shrugged. "It is fun, but I think I'll tell you anyway. Because Amanda likes you, for some Godforsaken reason that I try very hard not to think about too much. Looks like ... yeah, somebody went in there and just shoehorned all sorts of crap into there. Can't tell you more, it's too fuzzy."

Nathan, all of a sudden, could hear his heart pounding in his ears. "Yeah... about what I figured," he managed in a reasonable semblance of his normal voice. "They went to all this trouble, so there had to be something there."

"I can't really see too much more, not with the filter on. Unlock me, and I'll tell you exactly what they did, where, and how badly." he said, holding out his right wrist with his new dampener on it. On his shoulder, Frank hissed agreeably.

Nathan stared at him for a long moment, regaining a little of his composure. "I realize you don't like me," he said, "but do I look like an idiot? You didn't understand how my conditioning functioned when we first met - have you had some revelation on the subject since then?"

Manuel kept his be-dampener'ed wrist outstretched. "I'm not going to go in and make any changes, dummy. I just can't see with the thing fogging my vision. When it's all said and done, I get my look, you get to know, then you can shackle me again and enjoy it. A fair trade, I think."

Nathan stared at the dampener for a moment, wrestling with conflicting impulses. They had taken it off him for the fire, hadn't they? This wasn't any less of a beneficial purpose... or was that just his selfishness speaking? Manuel had the dampener on for a reason. He didn't have the right to interfere just to satisfy his own curiosity. Even if the matter he was curious about was moderately pressing.

"I'm seeing Charles in a little while," he said slowly, raising his eyes to Manuel's face. "I think I'll leave it to him. But I... appreciate the offer."

Manuel let his hand fall, and shrugged. "Your choice. Charles should be able to tell you what you want to know."

Nathan nodded, his eyes still locked on Manuel's face. "I'm curious," he said after a moment, in almost a conversational tone. "If Dom had taken that off you when you asked her, would you have done what you promised for her?"

Manuel grinned up at Nathan. "A de la Rocha keeps his promises - but is the promise that was spoken the promise that is heard?" is all he said. "It's the small things that keep us civilized when we're far from home."

Nathan shook his head slowly. "I'm sure you have some redeeming qualities," he said dryly, "but they keep escaping me. I'll have to work on that."

"I have many. Ask Amanda about them sometime." Then he laughed, as if that thought amused him unspeakably. "Or perhaps not."

Nathan raised an eyebrow. "My lack of interest in yours and Amanda's sex life has nothing to do with prudery, trust me," he said evenly. "I can be fond of her and question her taste at the same time. I used to do it all the time with Dom."

Manuel smirked again at Nathan. "Uh-huh." he said with a smirk. "I am continually reminded that old people can have sex lives, too. Healthy ones, too, from what I feel."

"Doesn't that just beat all," Nathan said, closing the book and picking up both it and his coffee. He stood, wincing a little as his side protested. "Might as well show Frank a little more of the sights while you've got him out here," he said, turning back towards the mansion.

Manuel looked at Nathan. "No use in getting bent out of shape on my account." he called after the mercenary's retreating back. "Just because it's an unpleasant truth doesn't make it any less true!"

Nathan laughed, but didn't look back over his shoulder. #Not much of an empath if you think the sex we old people are having are unpleasant, are you?# he projected.

Manuel scrunched up his face at that_thought. "I've done old people. EW!" he called back physically, not trusting his poor grasp on the mind-rules to project a thought out that far.