Moira and Nathan, very late Wednesday night/early Thursday morning

[x-cable.livejournal.com]

Nathan's insomnia is getting to be a habit. Moira is bothered by this, especially when she wakes up and finds him having a Weird Moment. Little green (sleeping) pills are discussed, and deemed not-so-evil after all.



Late. Nathan glanced thoughtfully at the bedside clock. No, not late; early. Just after three in the morning. He was sitting in bed, leaning back against the headboard, with Moira curled up sleeping beside him. She was why he hadn't gotten out of bed and gone for a walk or something - he really didn't want to disturb her, she was still short entirely too much sleep. But it took an effort to stay here, to ignore his restlessness.

Inside his mind, the Askani felt like... a second pulse, almost, except that he could still feel them whispering, to each other as well as to him, in the quiet moments. Or were they? he wondered, not for the first time this week. Maybe he was just hearing conversations out of memory, imagining that some of them were directed at him. It wasn't clear, he couldn't tell without sinking himself into the memories, and he felt just... frayed enough that he didn't want to do that just now.

Moira made an irritated noise in the back of her throat and turned, still asleep, onto her back. She frowned in her sleep as some of Nathan's restlessness seeped across the link and settled in her dreams. Another noise, one of protest, as she slowly started to wake up. Still more asleep than awake, Moira turned her head as if to look at him and cracked open an eye.

"Nathan?" she murmured, disgruntled and confused as the link pulsed in her mind.

"It's all right, Moira," he murmured, not looking at her. "Go back to sleep."

"Nay all right," she insisted, struggling to keep her eyes open. "Somethin's wron'. Wha's wron'?"

Nathan closed his eyes for a moment, then turned his head to look down at her, smiling slightly. "Nothing's wrong," he said in that same low, calm voice. "Just a bit of insomnia. You don't have to share it - I can shield the link." He should have thought to do that in the first place, but... well, he hadn't. Things were slipping his mind at a distressing rate, these last couple of days.

The noise she made was part small distress and part concern. Moira started to sit up slowly, blinking to get the sleep out of her eyes. "I've...felt when ye've 'ad insomnia before, Nathan, this is different." She squinted up at him. "I'm up, or gettin' there as slow as it might be...wha's up?"

Nathan grimaced faintly. "They're loud," he said softly, touching his temple with one hand, lightly. "Loud and restless. I think... they're not quite sure what's happened. They're not upset, just... curious." At least, that was what it felt like. As much as he might want to dismiss them being aware of him as not possible, their existence in the first place, inside a single mind, wasn't all that plausible in the first place, was it?

Slowly, Moira turned her head to look at him fully, eyes wide. "Wait, ye think...I thought ye said it was like jus', I dinnae know, gettin' th' 'istory downloaded. Ye think they're 'alive' in yer mind?" Sluggishly, her brain tried to keep up, tried to remember if he had mentioned something about this before.

"I'm not sure," Nathan whispered, feeling the strange impulse to keep this conversation very quiet. It seemed a little rude, if they were aware, to be discussing them like this. "When I was sending all those emails to Manuel this afternoon? I think they were putting in their two cents' worth."

Really, it was rather very hard to stop staring in muted horror. "Dumb question, 'tis nay like possession, is it? Because I really dinnae like th' idea o' bein' girlfriend t' ye an', well, 'alf a billion people. I like ye bein' ye nay jus'..." Moira stopped and shook her head. Exhaustion was eating her brain, she decided tiredly.

"Only two and a half million, Moira, don't exaggerate," Nathan said absently. Her eyes, if anything, widened, and he reached out and patted her arm. "They're passengers," he said, fairly confident in that. "Whatever they are. Not drivers. I just think... it's going to take a little more adjusting than I thought, that's all." He managed another tiny smile for her. "You should go back to sleep," he suggested. "I'll shield the link."

"I'm bloody well wide awake now," she snapped half hearted, pulling herself up so she could sit comfortably. "Ye've been avoidin' th' subject wit' me for a while now, it seems, an' ye keep tellin' me 'tis fine an' then ye go an' shield th' link. Ye only ever shield th' link when there's problems, o' course I'm concerned!"

"What do you want me to say?" he asked, a bit bemused at why she was snarling at him. "I don't think they're going anywhere, Moira..."

"It jus' seemed like ye dinnae want ta talk 'bout it," Moira grumbled, rubbing at her eyes in irritation.

"It's not that I don't," he said, after thinking about it for a moment. "It's just..." His brow creased slightly. Maybe he didn't. He had enjoyed reliving that memory of Winternight with Alison, but then he had hardly slept at all that night, even after he and Moira had... well. There wasn't the panic as there had been with the visions, he wasn't afraid of getting lost in them. It was just very... odd. "Odd," he repeated aloud. "It's just very odd."

"Wha' is?" she asked, sitting up a little straighter.

"The way it feels," he muttered, and shifted so that he could lay down. She leaned over him, frowning slightly, and he couldn't help a smile as he reached up and brushed his fingers across her cheek. "It's all right," he told her softly. "I really think it is, Moira. It'll sort itself out."

Reaching up, she captured his hand in hers and leaned her cheek against it. Moira sighed. "I dinnae know if'n ye've noticed, but yer sleepin' an' eatin' 'abits...ye've always been nearly as bad as I 'ave been, love, but 'tis gettin' worse. Is tha' goin' ta get better, as well?"

Nathan made a bit of a face, but didn't pull his hand away. "Was hoping you hadn't noticed that," he said with a faint chuckle. She gazed down at him, not breaking eye contact, and he shrugged slightly. "I think I may have to make a concerted effort," he admitted calmly. "I doubt that what's going on in my head is actually changing my physiology any - it's probably the fact that my concentration just isn't there at the moment, making me think I'm not hungry or tired - and I'm not keen on the idea of collapsing a few days down the road. Any suggestions?"

"I'm a doctor, o' course I 'ave suggestions," Moira pointed out wryly. She smiled down at him. "For food, I can remind ye ta eat rather easily these days." Mentally, she reached out and caressed the link. "Tha' makes tha' easy. An' I remember food if I'm nay rememberin' for meself. Ye probably willnae like me suggestion for th' sleepin' solution, though."

"Evil little pink pills?" he asked with a flash of real humor.

A tired giggle escaped. "Green this time, but aye, ye catch th' drift. Ye really do need ta rest, Nathan, and I think those pills would do ye a world o' good."

Nathan stared up at her for a long moment, and then gave a smile of surrender. "All right," he said. "But I stop taking them again as soon as possible, right?"

"O' course." Moira looked down at him and sighed. "D' ye think I *like* 'avin' ye all doped up on me?"

He reached out and tickled the link. "Occasionally," he said with a warmer smile. "When I'm being particularly difficult."

She squeaked and batted at him, nose wrinkled at the odd sensation on the link. "Nay, I jus' want ta toss ye in a lake. Seemed ta work last time."

"You are a deeply evil woman. I love that about you."