xp_logs | Madelyn and Nathan, Monday morning

In eluding Manuel's father, Nathan winds up in the staff room with Madelyn. The two of them talk donuts, movies, Moira, and why self-diagnosing without a medical degree is a bad idea.

Nathan dove for the door of the staff room, throwing it open and himself inside, then closing and locking it behind him. Breathing heavily, he stood there, trying not to grind his teeth as he sensed Alphonso de la Rocha sauntering down the hall outside. "Man enough to know why hiding's called for," he muttered under his breath, then let his breath out on a sigh and turned, mustering a faintly sheepish smile for the woman sitting at the table staring at him. "Uh. Morning, Madelyn."

"Nathan," Madelyn said with a nod, her face serious but a hint of an amused smile twitching at the corners of her mouth. It helped alleviate some of the tiredness in her face. "Let me guess... You've had one parent-teacher session too many?"

"Manuel's father," Nathan said, unable to help the frustration in his voice. He came over to the table, half-collapsing in the chair. "He got the better of me day before yesterday. Won't be letting myself back in for that again." He laughed a bit humorlessly. "Scott's orders, actually."

With a roll of her eyes, Madelyn picked up her coffee cup. "A strategic retreat was definitely called for, then. That man gives me what Jamie would call a wiggins." At the mention of the student's name, she sighed. "The sooner they come back, the better, and not just because we'll be free of Senor de la Rocha."

Nathan looked thoughtfully at the coffee, then peered at the donuts. Caffeine and sugar. Definitely sounded like a plan. And yet, if Moira caught him, he'd be in for it. She didn't put up with more than a token amount of 'do as I say and not as I do'. "I don't suppose any of these could be classed as even vaguely healthy?" he asked hopefully.

Madelyn pointed immediately at one. "That's just cinnamon and sugar. Shake enough of the sugar off and it classifies as a bread product," she said. Then she smiled. "Or at least, that's what I tell Moira. I won't tattle if you won't."

Nathan seized upon it and tried to brush off some of the sugar. "Never been big on donuts, but too many of the parents seem to congregate in the kitchen," he said. "Most of them are not as bad as de la Rocha, I have to say. Or are bad in different ways. Angie's mother thinks I'm a priest."

The doctor broke out in a coughing fit as the mouthful of coffee she was drinking went straight up her nose. "She _what_?" she managed, grabbing at a paper napkin to wipe up the mess. "The woman's delusional, has to be."

"I know. Do I look like I could be a priest? In any life?" He sighed, giving her an apologetic look. "And I shouldn't have said that while you were drinking. Sorry?"

"I think the expression 'not in a million years' applies here," Madelyn said, crumpling up the napkin and taking another sip of coffee. "And I'll forgive you this time, but only because you worry about Moira's health as much as Hank and I do, and it'll take all three of us to watch her. Did she tell you I got back her physical results?"

"Yes," Nathan said a bit grimly. "I'm not sure she was planning to, but she's not particularly good at secrets when they have to her, as opposed to someone else."

"And a good thing too - damn woman has denial down to a fine art." Madelyn pulled a face at Nathan's expression. "Hey, unlike my esteemed colleagues, the only damage I do to myself is a lack of sunlight and some really bad dietry choices," she said, a little defensively, even as she reached over and grabbed another donut. Mmm, sugar. Wonderful sugar. "Stomach ulcers are nothing to joke with - she's going to have to be careful with her diet and stress levels for quite a while."

"Suggestions? Beyond the obvious coffee issue," Nathan said with a sigh. "I'll do what I can about the stress levels, and make sure she sleeps..." And hope that the sources of stress that weren't within his control laid off at least a little.

"Plain food - no spices, or anything acidic. Drinking lots of water or milk. And cutting back on caffiene, although that one's definitely Mission: Impossible." Madelyn indicated the coffee mug in front of her with a wry gesture. "I think it's coffee runs in the viens of all doctors. We're a sub-species of mutant or something."

"I'll watch her like a hawk," Nathan said, grimly again. "She does not get to mess around with her health when I'm anywhere in the same hemisphere."

"'Do as I say, not as I do'?" Madelyn asked, raising her eyebrow. Then she gave him an apologetic shrug. "Sorry, cheap shot."

Nathan took a bite of his donut, chewed and swallowed, before he let himself answer. "You're still annoyed at me for walking out of the medlab," he said. It wasn't a question.

"Very astute of you to notice," Madelyn replied, her tone acerbic. Then she caught herself, and sighed. "Look, I know you've been in the business of getting seriously injured for a long time now, but it's hardly a good example to the kids to see you waltzing out of the medlab anytime you like, especially in the state you were in. You might have been perfectly physically capable, but would it have really hurt to at least tell one of us you were going? Hank nearly had a fit when he found your bed empty."

Nathan stared down at the table. She'd had to go for the trump card, hadn't she? "I wasn't thinking," he said quietly, and then shook his head before Madelyn could respond. "And I don't mean that in the throwaway, 'oh, here's my lame excuse' sort of way. I honestly was not thinking." He made a small, helpless gesture. "Had it in my head that there were things I had to do and I wasn't supposed to be in a hospital bed..."

"All the more reason to let us be the judges of whether you're fit or not." Madelyn's tone softened a little, but there was still a certain amount of determination there. "We're not such unreasonable people, despite how the kids and some of the staff like to portray us. And it's difficult enough to keep kids like Amanda or Angelo to stay put, without their mentor bitching, when he's not cutting and running altogether."

Nathan took a deep breath, mustering a faint smile. "Point taken," he said. "I'll try to avoid a repeat performance. Well, I'll try and avoid the medlab in general, but you know what I mean."

"I do. God knows we've seen enough of you for a lifetime - the last thing I want is to see you back again." Madelyn realised what she'd said, and shrugged again. "You know what I mean."

"I do." Nathan took another bite of his donut. "Bad few months," he said more quietly once his mouth was no longer full. "Even by my standards. And trust me, while I like you and Hank, I'd prefer to be at the opposite end of the house from your domain as much as possible."

"And people wonder why they don't know us very well," Madelyn said mock-mournfully. Then she grinned. "Well, it's an excuse for us to poke our noses out occasionally - it's good to see a few different faces every so often."

"Natural light is not evil, either," Nathan said solemnly. "In fact, you won't even melt."

"There goes a perfect excuse for my Wicked Witch of the West impersonation," she sighed. "All my beautiful evil.."

Nathan grinned, suddenly and warmly. "Madelyn," he said, meeting her eyes. "You and her, your friendship... I don't think I've ever told you how glad I am to see it." He shrugged a bit sheepishly. "She's been so lonely for so many years."

Madelyn blinked, a little startled by the sudden change of tone. "She's a good person," she said simply. "More than a brilliant scientist, or a dedicated teacher, she's a wonderful person. And I count myself lucky to be her friend. And since we're on this warm and fuzzy topic, all gripes about absconding from medlab aside, I'm glad you're here for her now. You've made a hell of a difference - she looks at you, and she.... well, she _glows_." Madelyn looked a little embarassed at the attack of girlishness. "Forgive the hyperbole. You make her happy, Nathan. And that's a good thing, in my books."

Nathan's grin turned a bit uncertain, despite his attempt to stifle the inevitable reaction. "I try," he said. "Scottish temper aside, she has the patience of a saint, which helps."

Madelyn resisted the urge to roll her eyes at the Foolish Man. "'There is no try, only do'," she quoted with another of those slightly-wicked grins.

Nathan laughed suddenly. "Movie buff?" He grinned, much more naturally this time. "Moira and I haven't indulged that mutual passion of ours nearly enough lately. You and I and she should..." He stopped suddenly, the grin fading as he remembered that wandering blithely out to a movie theatre wasn't really in the cards for him. "Uh, make use of the DVD player and the large-screen TV?" he said, before the silence could drag on for more than a moment. "Homemade popcorn is always better anyway."

"There's a surprising amount of downtime working in a hospital, even as an intern. Like the two hours between three and five AM. And when I was with the Bureau, well, I'm fast at paperwork. Usually." She gestured at the pile of files she'd been reading. "Iceland put me behind on our new arrivals and I nearly made an idiot of myself with Jean-Paul." She realised she'd wandered from the original point and dragged herself back ontopic. "And yes, we should. There's talk that the staff spend too much time stressed and hiding, so maybe we should do our best to provide a good example to our colleagues."

"What sort of movies do you prefer?" Nathan asked, determined to stay on topic. This conversation, in general, was too enjoyable to sacrifice to brooding. "Moira and I have a particular thing for historical pieces..."

With a slight shrug, Madelyn picked a chunk off the donut she'd forgotten she was holding. Sacriledge. "Not so much my thing, but I'll watch them if there's enough going on. Two people sitting around in period costume whittering about their feelings tends to bore me." She gave him an almost-guilty smile. "I have a weakness for Hong Kong martial arts movies. The plots are terrible, but the action scenes are very pretty, especially to an ordinary person like me. I suppose they give you the cold horrors."

"Not particularly," Nathan said cheerfully. "They are pretty. And I'm not much of a martial artist, so I don't feel the need to carp." He took another bite of his donut, eyeing the others in the book. "That green one is almost fluorescent."

"I don't touch those - there are limits to what the human body can stand, and that shade of green is one of them. I think Hank uses them to feed his experiments." Madelyn poked at the offending donut cautiously, as if expecting it to attack her. "How do you feel about Jet Li? There's a new movie of his out that looks rather good, and it has Maggie Cheung in it to. 'Hero', it's called - I ordered it online last week, it should arrive soon."

"I'm game," he said easily. "I've seen a few things of his and enjoyed them." He finished off the donut. "We'll have a spot on the couch just for Moira," he said firmly, "whether she likes Jet Li or not."

"Of course," Madelyn agreed firmly. "Doctor's orders."