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[x-mactaggart.livejournal.com]

Moira goes to check on Nathan and winds up falling asleep next to him. When he wakes up later, she rouses and they end remembering parts of his first visit to Muir and then they try to drown each other in the sap.



Moira gently set her books down on the table and headed into the bedroom to check on Nathan. She blinked, surprised to find him asleep but without the tremendous amounts of snoring he usually generated. Quietly, she nudged her shoes off and then slipped onto the bed next to him. Nathan was paler than she would have liked but some of his coloring was coming back, thankfully. His face was relaxed while he slept, which meant the pain medication was still working and that he wasn't having any nightmares.

She pillowed her head on her arm and smiled tiredly. Though Moira had slept like the dead last night, she had gone a while before that without sleeping properly. And dealing with the nearly-free students today had driven her further into the ground.

She stifled a yawn and wasn't able to stop her head from burying into the pillows. A part of her mind yelled at her, reminding her about finals, papers, and research. The other part firmly kicked it and insisted she nap. A minute, two, no more, she thought, snuggling closer to Nathan. The familiar sound of his breathing helped lull her the rest of the way into a deep sleep.

The first thing he realized as he drifted back towards something approximating wakefulness was that Moira was back, right beside him where she belonged. Even before he opened his eyes, Nathan was smiling to himself, feeling the warm vibration of the link in the back of his mind. His concussion definitely had to be getting better, he told himself, blinking up at the ceiling as he tried to focus his eyes. The link hadn't been this clear since before he'd gotten shot.

Turning his head slowly on the pillow, Nathan studied Moira's sleeping face, his smile lingering. She had to have been there for a while, given how deeply asleep she seemed to be. It was so good to see her resting properly, he thought a little hazily. Now, if he could just make sure he stopped with the getting shot and similar shit like that, he could go back to bullying her into sleeping and eating and getting out of her lab and all those other good things she tended to forget when he wasn't there to remind her...

There were rumbly thoughts on the link. Moira made a small noise and blinked. "Wha'?" she murmured, raising her head a little off the pillow, confused. "Wha's wron'? All 'ectic..."

"Things to do list," Nathan murmured, staring at her and smiling, fully aware of the fact that he probably had a thoroughly goofy look on his face. "Big long list."

She raised a hand to move the hair out of her face and tried to wake up. "Wha' kinds o' thin's?" Moira asked, blinking at the grin before smiling back.

"Hovering... looming... making a nuisance of myself."

"I take it over me, ye mean," she teased, snuggling a little closer. "I can take care o' meself...but I'll be glad when yer back on yer feet again." Moira firmly ignored the mental checklist of things she hadn't done this past week. Sleeping and eating were among the top ten.

"Doesn't mean you don't need extra attention," Nathan said a bit mischievously. "You're very high-maintenance."

"I am nay!" she protested, sticking her tongue out at him.

The logical response to that would have been to take her in his arms and kiss the pout away, but, well... "This is very awkward, you know," Nathan observed, frowning a bit as he tried to shift around. He could only lean on his one side, and if he did, he couldn't really use his good hand.

Chuckling a little, Moira propped herself up and snuggled closer before reaching up to kiss him. The link pulsed slightly, all happy and content thoughts now, and she pulled away, grinning. "Nay so 'ard when there's two o' us," she said, cheerfully, stroking his chin. "An' ye'll be better in nay time."

"Between you and Amanda... don't doubt it for a moment." Nathan chuckled softly. "Going to be... a bitch to get back into shape, though. Not looking forward to it. It's been so long since I was this badly shot up..."

"We did it once before, remember?" Getting him back into working order after the virus had taken hold had been hell, she remembered. On top of getting him to push his powers and body to the limit, he hadn't exactly been the easiest patient she had ever had to deal with.

"Promise not to call you names this time," Nathan said solemnly, stroking her hair. "Will confine my profanities to... handy inanimate objects."

Moira leaned into the touch. "Good. Ye were right down nasty...thankfully, this is me, so I wasnae a saint either. An' I promise nay ta randomly wake ye up wit' ba'pipes an' a 'orn section on th' radio."

"I was so angry back then..." Nathan murmured, losing himself in the memories for a moment. "Killed a couple of my escort on the plane over... did I ever tell you that? Just... lost it with my telekinesis, I hated them all so much... That's why I was so heavily sedated when they brought me in."

Moira frowned and reached up to link her hand in his. "Nay, ye never did. I'd always wondered...th' virus was bad but nay so bad tha' ye 'ad ta 'ave been like tha'. I knew somethin' 'ad 'appened, I 'ad ta 'elp Rory patch a few o' them up for their wounds. Cold bastards, th' lot o' them." When they had landed, she hadn't been drinking, yet, and had understood enough to have realized everything the lead man had told her, there was a threat twisted on those words. Had she been thinking properly, she would been more afraid. But instead, she had ignored his warnings of "Keep this man alive, he's one of our best" and retorted with "I'll bloody well keep 'im alive because 'e's 'uman, ye bastard" and stalked off.

"I wonder sometimes what would have happened if they'd brought me somewhere else," Nathan said very softly. "Not a happy thought."

"Nay it's not," she replied, mouth tight. "I'm nay sure 'ow they 'eard o' me or me Center, but I'm glad they did. They even made me sign somethin' sayin' I'd be yer primary physician, nay Rory, an' th' only one wit' acces ta yer files, despite me only 'avin' wha' amounts ta a Nurse Practioner's License. Bloody good thin' I'm so brilliant in other areas..."

"Brilliant in all areas," Nathan said loyally, pushing away all the dark thoughts and darker memories. "Just call me your loving minion."

"Awww!" Moira giggled and snuggled closer, careful of his injuries. She nuzzled under his chin and sighed, grinning. "Me lovin' minion, 'uh? I like th' sound o' tha'. Wha' does 'avin' a minion get me?"

"Well... what do you want?" he murmured, his lips twitching. "The moon on a plate? Because I could do that."

"'mmm...nay, tha's nay somethin' I'd really enjoy." Moira smiled into his neck. "T' be completely sappy alon' wit' ye, I'd say I already 'ave wha' I want..."

"One slightly used mercenary," Nathan said softly. "Yours in perpetuity."

"Mmm, better be, took me 'ow lon' ta break ye in?" she teased, kissing his cheek and giggling at him as she poked the link playfully.

"I am so whipped," Nathan said happily.