Nate, Amanda - Thursday afternoon
Jun. 3rd, 2004 01:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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xp_logsNate and Amanda meet in the kitchen and have a conversation that involves no angst whatsoever. Really. Summer plans are discussed and made, and Nate discovers Amanda is the last person to get wigged out about the idea of him and Moira having sex.
There were probably better places to be reading his latest candidate for an international relations textbook than the kitchen, but Nathan had promised Moira he'd be sure to eat lunch (only after she had promised the same, of course) and the kitchen was both well-stocked with food and quiet at this time of the day, so maybe it was as good a place as anywhere.
Working his way through a bowl of soup, Nathan hmmed thoughtfully at the book as he skimmed it. It was considerably better than the last one, for sure; it even had some fairly extensive selections of documents for the kids to read. Presented a good variety of views, too, which had been a problem with some of the others.
Feeling the tickle of a familiar presence approaching, Nathan looked up in time to see Amanda stride into the kitchen, her face smudged, bits of hay clinging to her clothes, but the broadest smile on her face that he'd seen there in weeks.
"Hey, trouble," he said with a chuckle as she beamed at him and made a beeline for the refrigerator. "I'd ask if you had a good time, but you know, telepath and all..."
"Hated every minute of it," she replied, teasing, pulling out enough ingredients for a very large sandwich and then remembering, belatedly, to wash her hands. "An' should I call the Guiness Book of Records, or somethin'? Yer eatin'."
"Moira and I made a deal," he said briskly. "We both eat, and then we get to explore various fun ways of wearing each other out enough to sleep." Amanda blinked at him with one of those 'I'm not sure I like where my mind just went' looks and Nathan grinned wickedly. "Hey, it's worked spectacularly the last couple of nights. Moira's had some very creative ideas as to how to get around the cast."
"Physical therapy then?" she replied, deadpan, but her eyes mischievous. "An' the telekinesis would be handy for all sorts of... all right, I'm stoppin' there. You got that look." She began construction of her lunch, which basically involved stacking as much food as was possible onto one slice of bread, adding a dollop of ketchup, and then squashing the whole mass down with the other slice of bread. "I probably stink, but I've been up an' working since five, an' you ain't the only one who hasn't been eatin' that much lately," she half-apologised, transferring her edifice to a plate
and bringing it over to the table. "What're you readin'?"
"Don't worry about the stink," Nathan said, waving a dismissive hand and then turning his attention back to his soup briefly. One spoonful at a time whether he felt hungry or not, that was the ticket. "And it's another potential textbook for that international relations course. Liking this one quite a bit better than the others."
She wrinkled her nose at the thick book, and rendered herself momentarily silent by taking a large bite of her sandwich. When she could speak again, she said, somewhat indistinctly: "Sounds interestin', but there's no way I could keep up. Still, there's those language courses of yers, right? 'Cept I think I might miss some of 'em with goin' home an' all."
"I built them to be flexible," Nathan said with a warm smile, setting down his spoon and picking up his glass of juice. "I knew that a lot of the people who'd be taking them would be dropping in and out to go on vacation and so forth, so there's lots of wiggle room. Hell, if you really wanted, you could work ahead. You're not at the stables all day, after all."
"Might have t' check with Strange - he seems t' think me head was in danger of explodin' or somethin', but it ain't magic, so I should be all right. An' layin' off these past few days has been good - even been sleepin' proper." She didn't add 'once me and Manuel are done', but the implication was obvious from her grin. "I like languages - it'll be good t' work on somethin' I'm good at. Tho' I didn't do so bad with finals - passed everythin' but Maths, but that was t' be expected."
"I don't think he'd have a problem," Nathan said with a fair amount of confidence. Learning another language could only be another kind of distraction from the magic, as far as he was concerned. "But I'm not saying you should launch into it right away, in any case. Talk to him, make sure that the stable-work's not going to wear you out too badly--" He stopped, grinning as she scoffed at him, and then went on. "Although I have to say up-front that it's not a totally open offer. Moira and I are plotting a bit of a brief escape ourselves, before classes officially start again."
"Off for a dirty weekend? Or however long it is. 'S positively scandalous." Amanda snickered, somehow managing to not choke herself on her rapidly-disappearing sandwich. "An' all these impressionable kids about. Where're you off to?"
Nathan rolled his eyes at her, but his grin didn't fade, only turned into a softer, more wistful smile as he answered her question. "Santorini... it's in the Greek islands. Beautiful place. Moira keeps looking at pictures of the water and making this cooing noise." He had stopped eating his soup, his conscience reminded him, so he applied himself diligently to it. "We're headed out on Friday. Going to be there for about a week, then stop at Muir on the way back. It'll let her look after some things she didn't get the chance to do the last time."
Amanda raised an eyebrow at him. "Not t' ruin the moment with somethin' serious, but you up for that? The last time you were there, well... I know yer probably used t' gettin' shot at by now, but still..." She gestured vaguely with the hand that wasn't occupied with sandwich. "Can't be easy."
Nathan laid his spoon back down and took a sip of his juice, pondering the question. "Muir is... I don't really know how to explain," he said softly. "For seven years, it's been the one place where I feel like I can breathe." His eyes went distant as he was drawn back into the memories. "I can remember nights where I just laid on the floor in front of the fireplace in Moira's study and listened to her work at her desk. We'd sit up on the roof almost every night and watch the stars. Some days we would leave the castle and walk and walk, for hours at a time. I've been over every inch of that island with her." He stopped, pulling him back to the here and now and smiling at Amanda. "That's our place," he said firmly. "Hers and mine. Whatever happened the other week doesn't change that."
Her answering smile was a little wistful. "Brighton's like that for me," she said. "Even tho' I was livin' rough an' all, it was... I dunno. The first place where I didn't have anyone wantin' me t' be anythin' else than what I was. Mutant, witch... no-one really cared. I'd like t' go back this summer, if Manny's up
for it after visitin' Rom." She shrugged and finished off her sandwich. "Muir sounds nice," she managed, somewhat muffled by the last mouthful.
"We should try and coordinate," Nathan suggested, on a whim. "If you're going to be in the British Isles anyway... you'd like Muir, and it might be good for Manuel." He stopped, tilting his head at her thoughtfully. "It's such a... real place, Amanda. I don't know how to describe it any better than that."
"If you an' Moira don't mind sharin' yer love nest," Amanda teased, but she looked pleased at the offer, and the way Nate spoke about the place was... touching. She hadn't seen that expression on his face for a while. "An' if you don't mind havin' Manny around... fuck knows yer gunna be sick of each other by the time this teachin' thing is done."
"I do think it would be good for him, too," Nathan said quietly, but nodded with a trace of a wry smile to acknowledge Amanda's point. "If he's strongly against it, though, don't worry. This is hardly your only chance to see Muir, and the dates may not work out anyway." He reached out and closed the book, then peered thoughtfully at his soup. There was only a little left in the bottom, and he smiled. "I think I've conquered the soup," he said, levitating the bowl over to the sink.
"Today soup, tomorrow the world," she chuckled, leaning her elbows on the table and resting her chin on her hands. "An' I'll talk t' Manny 'bout Muir, see if there's time. We're doin' the whole 'meet the parents' thing I'm told couples do. Apparently the Rom in me head told him she wants t' meet him, an' he wants t' see his father, for a little while at least." With a roll of her eyes, she added. "'M not sure which will be worse, Manny an' Rom, or me an' his dad."
"You and Manuel's father," Nathan said promptly. "I have a whole lot more faith in Romany's people skills." He gave her a sympathetic look. "It'll be all right," he reassured her. "With Romany, and with Manuel's father. In the end this isn't about them, it's about you and Manuel. Just remember that?"
"As long as Rom don't make Manny think he's a chicken or 'port him t' Timbuktu or somethin' if he says the wrong thing. Tho' that'd take some doin', offendin' her. An' I can look after meself, as I've already told Manny a hundred times, just don't want t' make things worse with him an' his dad." Amanda shrugged. "An' with that whole dream business, it gets hard t' remember it's 'bout us. Seems like it's him, me, an' the future of civilisation as we know it." She snorted at that. "It'll be all right, an' if it ain't, we'll deal. 'Sides, we can always just go off an' do our own thing if things go badly with his dad. Or Rom, for that matter, tho' I doubt it will."
"It'll be fine," he told her more firmly. "Unless, of course, you drive yourself crazy with what-if scenarios beforehand, in which case you'll be a bundle of nerves when this is all happening." He grinned wryly at her. "And that's when you start creating your own problems."
"An' fuck knows the last thing I need is any more problems." Amanda stretched, and got up to take her plate over to the sink to wash. "Dom said she might be in the area 'round then. Somethin' 'bout meetin' up in Amsterdam." She grinned wickedly. "Me, Dom an' Manny in Amsterdam. Think of that an' shudder."
Nathan raised a challenging eyebrow. "I'm not that easy to scare, you know," he said dryly. "Besides, I'm still firmly of the opinion that Manuel can only benefit from more time spent around Dom." He stopped, grinning suddenly. "You know, you might get to meet some of the others if you hook up with Dom in Amsterdam. She very often takes Lien along when she's off partying, sometimes the boys... Mina and David might tag along if they're not off on a job, too."
"Sounds like I should lock the two of 'em in a room an' let have at it," said Amanda with a chuckle. Then she brightened. "The Pack? That'd be wicked - I didn't get t' see a lot of Bridge an' Theo when they were here, more's the pity, but we got on all right. An' Dom's told me plenty of stories of what they get up to on their downtime."
"I miss them," Nathan murmured a bit wistfully. "And the downtime. Dom knows precisely where to have the most fun humanly possible in Amsterdam, too..."
"There'll be other chances, when you ain't hobblin' 'round with a cast on," Amanda told him, coming backfrom the sink to pat him on the shoulder. "An' in the meantime, take Moira t' this Santorini place, be as sappy as you like, an' come back relaxed an' with a great tan." She grinned. "Fuck knows you two need a holiday as much as anyone."
Nathan smiled at her warmly. "Remind me to make sure you have a decent camera before you go with Manuel," he said. "I want pictures. Of the tourist-y variety," he corrected instantly at the evil little sparkle in her eyes.
"Spoilsport," she told him, grinning.
There were probably better places to be reading his latest candidate for an international relations textbook than the kitchen, but Nathan had promised Moira he'd be sure to eat lunch (only after she had promised the same, of course) and the kitchen was both well-stocked with food and quiet at this time of the day, so maybe it was as good a place as anywhere.
Working his way through a bowl of soup, Nathan hmmed thoughtfully at the book as he skimmed it. It was considerably better than the last one, for sure; it even had some fairly extensive selections of documents for the kids to read. Presented a good variety of views, too, which had been a problem with some of the others.
Feeling the tickle of a familiar presence approaching, Nathan looked up in time to see Amanda stride into the kitchen, her face smudged, bits of hay clinging to her clothes, but the broadest smile on her face that he'd seen there in weeks.
"Hey, trouble," he said with a chuckle as she beamed at him and made a beeline for the refrigerator. "I'd ask if you had a good time, but you know, telepath and all..."
"Hated every minute of it," she replied, teasing, pulling out enough ingredients for a very large sandwich and then remembering, belatedly, to wash her hands. "An' should I call the Guiness Book of Records, or somethin'? Yer eatin'."
"Moira and I made a deal," he said briskly. "We both eat, and then we get to explore various fun ways of wearing each other out enough to sleep." Amanda blinked at him with one of those 'I'm not sure I like where my mind just went' looks and Nathan grinned wickedly. "Hey, it's worked spectacularly the last couple of nights. Moira's had some very creative ideas as to how to get around the cast."
"Physical therapy then?" she replied, deadpan, but her eyes mischievous. "An' the telekinesis would be handy for all sorts of... all right, I'm stoppin' there. You got that look." She began construction of her lunch, which basically involved stacking as much food as was possible onto one slice of bread, adding a dollop of ketchup, and then squashing the whole mass down with the other slice of bread. "I probably stink, but I've been up an' working since five, an' you ain't the only one who hasn't been eatin' that much lately," she half-apologised, transferring her edifice to a plate
and bringing it over to the table. "What're you readin'?"
"Don't worry about the stink," Nathan said, waving a dismissive hand and then turning his attention back to his soup briefly. One spoonful at a time whether he felt hungry or not, that was the ticket. "And it's another potential textbook for that international relations course. Liking this one quite a bit better than the others."
She wrinkled her nose at the thick book, and rendered herself momentarily silent by taking a large bite of her sandwich. When she could speak again, she said, somewhat indistinctly: "Sounds interestin', but there's no way I could keep up. Still, there's those language courses of yers, right? 'Cept I think I might miss some of 'em with goin' home an' all."
"I built them to be flexible," Nathan said with a warm smile, setting down his spoon and picking up his glass of juice. "I knew that a lot of the people who'd be taking them would be dropping in and out to go on vacation and so forth, so there's lots of wiggle room. Hell, if you really wanted, you could work ahead. You're not at the stables all day, after all."
"Might have t' check with Strange - he seems t' think me head was in danger of explodin' or somethin', but it ain't magic, so I should be all right. An' layin' off these past few days has been good - even been sleepin' proper." She didn't add 'once me and Manuel are done', but the implication was obvious from her grin. "I like languages - it'll be good t' work on somethin' I'm good at. Tho' I didn't do so bad with finals - passed everythin' but Maths, but that was t' be expected."
"I don't think he'd have a problem," Nathan said with a fair amount of confidence. Learning another language could only be another kind of distraction from the magic, as far as he was concerned. "But I'm not saying you should launch into it right away, in any case. Talk to him, make sure that the stable-work's not going to wear you out too badly--" He stopped, grinning as she scoffed at him, and then went on. "Although I have to say up-front that it's not a totally open offer. Moira and I are plotting a bit of a brief escape ourselves, before classes officially start again."
"Off for a dirty weekend? Or however long it is. 'S positively scandalous." Amanda snickered, somehow managing to not choke herself on her rapidly-disappearing sandwich. "An' all these impressionable kids about. Where're you off to?"
Nathan rolled his eyes at her, but his grin didn't fade, only turned into a softer, more wistful smile as he answered her question. "Santorini... it's in the Greek islands. Beautiful place. Moira keeps looking at pictures of the water and making this cooing noise." He had stopped eating his soup, his conscience reminded him, so he applied himself diligently to it. "We're headed out on Friday. Going to be there for about a week, then stop at Muir on the way back. It'll let her look after some things she didn't get the chance to do the last time."
Amanda raised an eyebrow at him. "Not t' ruin the moment with somethin' serious, but you up for that? The last time you were there, well... I know yer probably used t' gettin' shot at by now, but still..." She gestured vaguely with the hand that wasn't occupied with sandwich. "Can't be easy."
Nathan laid his spoon back down and took a sip of his juice, pondering the question. "Muir is... I don't really know how to explain," he said softly. "For seven years, it's been the one place where I feel like I can breathe." His eyes went distant as he was drawn back into the memories. "I can remember nights where I just laid on the floor in front of the fireplace in Moira's study and listened to her work at her desk. We'd sit up on the roof almost every night and watch the stars. Some days we would leave the castle and walk and walk, for hours at a time. I've been over every inch of that island with her." He stopped, pulling him back to the here and now and smiling at Amanda. "That's our place," he said firmly. "Hers and mine. Whatever happened the other week doesn't change that."
Her answering smile was a little wistful. "Brighton's like that for me," she said. "Even tho' I was livin' rough an' all, it was... I dunno. The first place where I didn't have anyone wantin' me t' be anythin' else than what I was. Mutant, witch... no-one really cared. I'd like t' go back this summer, if Manny's up
for it after visitin' Rom." She shrugged and finished off her sandwich. "Muir sounds nice," she managed, somewhat muffled by the last mouthful.
"We should try and coordinate," Nathan suggested, on a whim. "If you're going to be in the British Isles anyway... you'd like Muir, and it might be good for Manuel." He stopped, tilting his head at her thoughtfully. "It's such a... real place, Amanda. I don't know how to describe it any better than that."
"If you an' Moira don't mind sharin' yer love nest," Amanda teased, but she looked pleased at the offer, and the way Nate spoke about the place was... touching. She hadn't seen that expression on his face for a while. "An' if you don't mind havin' Manny around... fuck knows yer gunna be sick of each other by the time this teachin' thing is done."
"I do think it would be good for him, too," Nathan said quietly, but nodded with a trace of a wry smile to acknowledge Amanda's point. "If he's strongly against it, though, don't worry. This is hardly your only chance to see Muir, and the dates may not work out anyway." He reached out and closed the book, then peered thoughtfully at his soup. There was only a little left in the bottom, and he smiled. "I think I've conquered the soup," he said, levitating the bowl over to the sink.
"Today soup, tomorrow the world," she chuckled, leaning her elbows on the table and resting her chin on her hands. "An' I'll talk t' Manny 'bout Muir, see if there's time. We're doin' the whole 'meet the parents' thing I'm told couples do. Apparently the Rom in me head told him she wants t' meet him, an' he wants t' see his father, for a little while at least." With a roll of her eyes, she added. "'M not sure which will be worse, Manny an' Rom, or me an' his dad."
"You and Manuel's father," Nathan said promptly. "I have a whole lot more faith in Romany's people skills." He gave her a sympathetic look. "It'll be all right," he reassured her. "With Romany, and with Manuel's father. In the end this isn't about them, it's about you and Manuel. Just remember that?"
"As long as Rom don't make Manny think he's a chicken or 'port him t' Timbuktu or somethin' if he says the wrong thing. Tho' that'd take some doin', offendin' her. An' I can look after meself, as I've already told Manny a hundred times, just don't want t' make things worse with him an' his dad." Amanda shrugged. "An' with that whole dream business, it gets hard t' remember it's 'bout us. Seems like it's him, me, an' the future of civilisation as we know it." She snorted at that. "It'll be all right, an' if it ain't, we'll deal. 'Sides, we can always just go off an' do our own thing if things go badly with his dad. Or Rom, for that matter, tho' I doubt it will."
"It'll be fine," he told her more firmly. "Unless, of course, you drive yourself crazy with what-if scenarios beforehand, in which case you'll be a bundle of nerves when this is all happening." He grinned wryly at her. "And that's when you start creating your own problems."
"An' fuck knows the last thing I need is any more problems." Amanda stretched, and got up to take her plate over to the sink to wash. "Dom said she might be in the area 'round then. Somethin' 'bout meetin' up in Amsterdam." She grinned wickedly. "Me, Dom an' Manny in Amsterdam. Think of that an' shudder."
Nathan raised a challenging eyebrow. "I'm not that easy to scare, you know," he said dryly. "Besides, I'm still firmly of the opinion that Manuel can only benefit from more time spent around Dom." He stopped, grinning suddenly. "You know, you might get to meet some of the others if you hook up with Dom in Amsterdam. She very often takes Lien along when she's off partying, sometimes the boys... Mina and David might tag along if they're not off on a job, too."
"Sounds like I should lock the two of 'em in a room an' let have at it," said Amanda with a chuckle. Then she brightened. "The Pack? That'd be wicked - I didn't get t' see a lot of Bridge an' Theo when they were here, more's the pity, but we got on all right. An' Dom's told me plenty of stories of what they get up to on their downtime."
"I miss them," Nathan murmured a bit wistfully. "And the downtime. Dom knows precisely where to have the most fun humanly possible in Amsterdam, too..."
"There'll be other chances, when you ain't hobblin' 'round with a cast on," Amanda told him, coming backfrom the sink to pat him on the shoulder. "An' in the meantime, take Moira t' this Santorini place, be as sappy as you like, an' come back relaxed an' with a great tan." She grinned. "Fuck knows you two need a holiday as much as anyone."
Nathan smiled at her warmly. "Remind me to make sure you have a decent camera before you go with Manuel," he said. "I want pictures. Of the tourist-y variety," he corrected instantly at the evil little sparkle in her eyes.
"Spoilsport," she told him, grinning.
