Amanda and Nathan, Saturday night

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Backdated to Saturday night. Amanda stops by Nathan and Moira's suite to see if Nathan needs the sleep potion and to meet Bella. Their conversation wanders, as theirs tend to do.



After the conversations with Domino and Angelo, Amanda had given herself a stern talking-to, locked the Whiny Inner Child up in a mental cupboard, and had gone up to the third floor to see if Nate was still wanting her sleep potions, or whether he'd decided to go with the little green pills. Besides, she'd been hearing about the new resident of Moira and Nate's suite, and she was curious to meet this rather clever bird with the extensive impolite vocabulary.

Moira had vanished down to the lab - an experiment to check on, apparently - and Nathan had settled down to try and do some reading, all too aware that it was getting closer and closer to the time when he'd have to decide precisely how he was going to sleep tonight. He should have been trying to clear his mind of any thought of the nightmares, maybe meditating or something, but he was too unsettled.

Bella sat on the arm of his chair, cooing softly to him, and he couldn't help a smile at the bird. "You're almost singing, aren't you?" he asked, and then looked up at a knock on the door. "Come in, Amanda," he called out.

"I don't think I'll ever get used t' you knowin' who it is without lookin'," Amanda said with a grin as she came in. "I mean, Rom does the same trick, but it's still a bit odd." She caught sight of Bella - it was hard to miss a large, blue macaw - and let out an appreciative whistle. "She's a beauty, ain't she?"

Bella looked up, tilting her head at Amanda and mimicking her whistle. "Pretty?"

Nathan laid his book aside, smiling at Amanda's startled look. "She likes compliments," he said, reaching out and stroking the top of Bella's head. "Say hello to Amanda, Bella."

"Hello! 'Manda, hello!"

Amanda giggled. "Brains as well as looks, I see. Hello yerself, Bella." She looked inquiringly at Nathan. "Will she take a piece out of me if I pet her? I came prepared with bribery - that always works on horses." With a grin she pulled a few sticks of carrot out of her front jeans pocket. The other pocket bulged with a familiar-looking paper bag - the sleeping potion ingredients.

"She won't bite you," Nathan assured her. "Especially not if you feed her." He watched Amanda offer a carrot to Bella, who took it delicately in one claw and started to nibble. "Good girl," he murmured, smiling as Amanda reached out and stroked her head gently. "So," he said, "You and Dom would be having some sort of terribly disturbing sleepover-type thing tonight."

"She got a better offer - Pete an' a lot of booze," Amanda said, chuckling. "An' since it's local, they couldn't take me - looks bad, teachers gettin' their students drunk when they're underage." She scritched Bella gently as the bird angled her head towards her for the good spots. "I made her promise t' tell me the gossip later, tho'. Need some decent blackmail material for Pete next time I get myself into trouble." Bella made a cooing noise, and she grinned. "~Yes, you're lovely. And don't you know it,~" she told the bird in Romany. She figured it worked on horses well enough...

"I was supposed to meet them, actually," Nathan said, glancing at the clock. When had it gotten this late? "Didn't figure I'd better have any alcohol, though, given that I'm probably going to be indulging in Moira's evil little green pills tonight again." He didn't quite manage the dry tone he'd been aiming for, and Amanda looked at him, concerned. He shrugged, trying to smile. "Nightmares, still."

"'S the reason I came up here tonight - well, not that I need a reason, but you know what I mean. Was gunna ask if you still wanted the potion, or if you were goin' with modern medicine tonight." Amanda gave Bella the last piece of carrot and a final scritch before taking a seat in the other armchair opposite him. "An' I ain't gunna ask if you want t' talk 'bout it - probably not a good idea if you want t' sleep at all tonight."

"I think I'd better try the pills again," Nathan said quietly. "They've managed to keep me asleep the last couple of nights... of course, I'm not really sure that's preferable." He smiled again, a bit wanly. "As for not talking about it... doesn't seem to make a difference. Had a hell of a session with Jack this morning so I think I'm doomed to a miserable night one way or the other." Bella crawled over onto his lap, leaning her head against his chest and making what was probably supposed to be a comforting noise.

Amanda nodded, a bit unhappily. "Figured yer'd go that way," she said, firmly squelching the Whiny Inner Child some more as she popped up to complain about not being needed. "If there's anythin' I can do... That is, if you _want_ t' talk 'bout it. Or anythin' else..." She shrugged a little helplessly. "I'd like t' help, if I can."

"Trust me, I'd prefer the potion," Nathan said with a sigh, looking up at her as he stroked Bella. "Or nothing at all. I'll have to start doing my run at nights, see if I can wear myself out." He sensed what she wasn't saying and shook his head, trying to figure out what he could say to reassure her, make her feel like she was doing something to help. Because she was, just by being here, although he didn't think she would buy that. "I told Jack about Megan," he said quietly. "The girl I told you about... the one in the dream."

Amanda nodded, pulling one knee up and resting her chin on it. "How long did you know her?" she asked. "Before..."

"Just a few weeks," Nathan said. "She was there before I was. Talked to me through the vent the first night I was there." He continued to stroke Bella, almost absently. "I never did see her face. The back of her head, once, and her body when they took it out..."

The almost matter-of-fact words spoke volumes, and Amanda felt a surge of hatred for these faceless government bastards who would take children and twist them into weapons. Or tools - there were a lot of Racks out there, she was beginning to realise, and it saddened and enraged her. "An' you were how old?" she asked gently, not really sure if it was a good thing to ask, but not knowing what else to say. And she did want to know - it was something they shared, that most of the others could never understand, being used for their powers.

"Fourteen," Nathan said absently, lost in the memory. "There were quite a few of us at first. Most didn't survive the conditioning, though. What happened to Megan was common."

"Such a fuckin' waste," Amanda said softly, but with heat. "What's the bloody point of wastin' all those lives?"

"You can't make an omelette without breaking some eggs." Nathan smiled humorlessly. "We weren't anything to them at that point, Amanda. Just raw material that might turn out to be useful if we survived the process."

"Guess I should have been grateful I was too valuable for Rack t' risk, least 'til he got greedy." Amanda shook her head. "Fourteen an' bein' trained t' kill. There's some serious fucked up shite in the world."

"That's why it was so hard to--" Nathan stopped, not quite able to believe that he'd been about to bring up the Email Incident of his own accord. So much for avoidance. Bella nibbled at his fingers as he stopped stroking her, and he immediately resumed. "Well, pardon me," he said to the bird, a strained little smile playing on his lips.

Amanda was itching to ask what he'd been about to say, but it was another of those cut off sentences that usually meant the other person felt she couldn't deal with what they'd been about to say. "Seems all the females in yer life are a bit demandin'," she said, instead, smiling. "'Cept the Doc, of course."

"Oh, Moira's demanding. Just in a very different way. Did I tell you she had me telekinetically manipulating algae this week?" Nathan managed a slightly more convincing smile. "She's making me play with red blood cells tomorrow."

"Looks like us kids ain't the only ones gettin' powers trainin' - she met up with Strange this week, an' they're workin' out a trainin' program for me." Amanda looked pleased - and relieved. "So what's with the algae an' the blood cells? Fine tunin' yer TK?"

Nathan nodded. "I know I've told you about the virus," he said, "but I don't think I explained that my control at that level is mostly unconscious. I've got the visualization in my head, but the actual telekinetic work is instinctive. Moira wants me to be able to do it consciously. So she's having me manipulate smaller and smaller things." He gave a quiet laugh. "Well, actually I think she wants me to be able to use my telekinesis at a subatomic level, in the end, but I suspect Charles would probably frown on nuclear explosions in the house."

"Just a bit." Amanda laughed. "The last thing this place needs is its own walkin' H-bomb."

"Yeah," Nathan said, rubbing Bella's head. "But getting to that level of control wouldn't be a bad thing in and of itself, I suppose." He snorted. "And I know Moira wants me to take it as far as I can, so that controlling the virus is as easy as possible. For some inexplicable reason, she'd prefer not to see me kick the bucket early."

"Strange, that," said Amanda with a roll of her eyes and a snicker. "But control's good. Or so they tell me." She gave Nathan and Bella a look. "You two are just insanely cute, y' know."

"'Manda!" Bella chirped, tilting her head to regard Amanda. "Pretty 'Manda!"

Nathan chuckled. "I think my bird is hitting on you," he said in amusement. "She's a terrible flirt."

"Seems I'm irresistable t' animals in general," replied Amanda, smiling at Bella. "She's really smart, that one. I don't know much 'bout birds - not enough hooves an' manes - but she's one in a million, that's for sure."

"You know, she's got a distinct telepathic presence?" Nathan asked as Bella turned her attention back to him. "They say that some of the larger parrots can be as smart as a five year old child. She's definitely on the upper end of the scale... aren't you, Bella?"

"Nate!" Bella agreed.

"I can believe that." They really were adorable together, Amanda thought, not caring Nate could probably 'hear' her. It was true, any way. "Dom sure knows how t' give someone a good surprise."

Nathan looked up, smiling. "Did you like the book?" he asked hopefully.

"Nah, I've only spent all afternoon tryin' t' translate the first section 'cause I'm that bored." She grinned at him. "Loved the book."

"Good," Nathan said happily. "I remembered reading about it, thought it sounded like something that would fascinate you. Dom did all the hard work tracking down a copy, though."

"Yeah, well, the both of you are sneaky schemin' people who know exactly what I like an' I lo... I'm really thankful to you for it." Amanda's ears turned a little pink. "An' it's a real challenge, translatin' the Arabic. But it's worth the work."

"Funny thing about the good stuff," Nathan said. "You always have to work for it."

"Bullshit!" Bella piped up.

Amanda laughed out loud at that. "Manny would so agree with that one, I think, Bella," she said.

"Mannee?" Bella asked, giving Nathan something close to an inquiring look.

"Uh-uh, beautiful. You get to meet Manuel for yourself. I'm not going to be accusing of prejudicing you."

"Fuck, I'd like t' be in that room when that meetin' happens," giggled Amanda. "Manny gets on well with animals, with his power an' all, but Bella's got quite the personality of her own."

"He'd better not mess with my bird," Nathan muttered a bit grimly, running a hand down Bella's back.

"He won't. You should see him with Frank - say what you like 'bout Manny, I don't think he'd hurt an animal. He likes 'em." Amanda surprised herself by yawning. "An' I think that's my cue t' leave you t' yer little green pills. I've got Stonewall in the mornin', muckin' out stables. Lots of good, unstressful work an' a break from this place for a bit."

"Lucky," Nathan said a bit wistfully, still stroking Bella. "The regular breaks, I mean..." He smiled at her gratefully. "Thanks for stopping by," he said. "I'll see you in class tomorrow afternoon."

"Well, we've both got Saturday appointments in New York - one of these days we'll have t' go do somethin' fun afterwards." Amanda gave his shoudler a squeeze as she passed him, and Bella got another scritch. "An' I'll be droppin' in regularly, even if you ain't takin' the potion. Have t' teach Bella t' swear in Sumerian, for a start."