Nathan, Moira and family

[x-mactaggart.livejournal.com]

A grumpy Moira runs tests after Nathan's latest incident and they wind up trying to reassure each other. She tells him to take it easy, he agrees and then two more Scots are added to the mix.



The tests weren't quite as aggravating as the ones she'd put him through when he'd sprained his brain. There was no continuous lifting, and no machines that buzzed at him. But there were large numbers of different tests, this time, and despite knowing what was coming this evening he was starting to get somewhat bored and extremely frustrated.

"Moira, how many CAT scans do you need?" he asked, trying not to whine as she pushed him towards that particular machine. "What's this, the third?"

"As many as I bloody well want ta," came the grumpy reply as Moira bent over him to settle him in before starting the process all over again. "An' dinnae give me tha' look, Nathan, ye brought this on yerself. Again, I might add. Nay amount o' cute an' adorable poems will get ye out o' _this_." Snorting quietly to herself, she walked over to her table to flip through the other test results.

Nathan made a face. "You know, not that I'm trying to make you feel guilty or anything - " Because he really wasn't, and she'd sense that from the link. " - but you were the one who was pushing me to develop my TK on that level."

"Under. Super. Vision. Ye're still developin' tha' part, I mean really!" She waved the pad of papers at him in a manner that was supposed to be threatening but only came out as a ruffled hen.

"I... all right," he said quietly, lying still. "I'm sorry." He had been trying very hard not to let on that he was scared, but down here, with just the two of them, it was harder.

With the tests still running she couldn't go over to him like she suddenly wanted to do. "I know, love. I jus' wish ye'd think 'bout usin' yer powers sometimes. They've changed, evolved, an' yer still dealin' wit' them." Moira brushed against the link gently, letting him know most of her anger really stemmed from the worry and fear she had when he did this.

"It just got... so easy," Nathan said, staring up at the ceiling. "Like this whole new world... and it's so beautiful. I didn't think for a minute that it would wind up doing this to me." The idea of his vision failing... he'd never realized just how much the idea terrified him.

"Sometimes th' most terrifyin' thin's come so verra easily ta us. They make us feel good, right but in th' end, maybe because 'tis easy, it ends up 'urtin' us." Moira chewed on her lip for a second. "Maybe tha's why th' best thin's we 'ave, we work at gettin'."

"I thought Charles was going to beat me over the head with his paperweight," Nathan said with a faint smile.

"'e does 'ave some verra nice paperweights," she commented softly.

"He seemed... alarmed, almost. He and I have never talked all that much about my TK - it's generally been my telepathy we've worked on - and I think he was taken aback to hear some of the things I've been doing."

Moira nodded. "Aye, 'e would be. 'e gets th' occasional report from me but since yer nay a student, an' 'e trusts me, 'e leaves me ta ye."

Nathan fell silent, then, until the CAT scan had finished. "So do we have any kind of a verdict yet?" he asked as he sat up. "I mean, obviously you're still running tests..."

"Well. First o' all, take it th' bloody 'ell easy." Moira sighed and flipped through the results, frowning. "There's some swellin' around th' optic nerve--'ence th' take it th' bloody 'ell easy comment. An' yer guests in yer 'ead are screwin' up the EEG. Kindly tell them ta stop tha'?"

Nathan sighed and rubbed at the back of his neck. "I'm not sure they can," he said wryly, then shook his head. "Screwing up my EEG, screwing up my metabolism... do we know that they don't have anything to do with my TK 'evovling'?"

The frown deepened. "I dinnae know--might 'ave ta dicuss tha' wit' one o' them, really. They are inside there."

"One more thing to the list of unpleasant conversations I need to have," Nathan muttered. "Do you think it'd help if I stuck to manipulating visible stuff?"

"For right now? Aye. Until we can figure out wha's goin' on, tha' is."

"All right," Nathan said. "I suppose it comes down to the fact that I can't really afford to burn myself out, can I?" He mustered a dry, somewhat strained smile.

Moira looked up at him, worry making her eyes shadowed. "Nay, ye cannae really."

"Come here," he said. She got up, coming over, and he wrapped his arms around her tightly. "I'm sorry," he said softly as she laid her head on his shoulder with a sigh. "I'll be more careful, I promise."

She moved in closer, holding him tightly. "I jus' worry--a lot. An' when ye 'urt yerself like this--especially after I've told ye 'tis a good idea ta try--makes me worry even more. We've been through ta much lately, I jus' want it sane for a while."

"I know." He drew back a bit, kissed her on the cheek. "Going to try my best, okay?" he promised her. "Me teasing Paul aside, I do like to think I can learn from my mistakes. And I really, really don't like the idea of this messing with my vision." He wasn't quite able to keep the unsteadiness out of his voice.

Reaching up, Moira cupped his face and smiled at him. "Ye willnae, promise ye tha'. Jus' 'ave ta follow th' doctor's orders, aye?"

"To the letter. Really. I--" He stopped, blinking, and couldn't help the smile that broke over his face as he sensed the two familiar presences approaching. "Well," he said, turning that smile on Moira. "It's about time they got here."

"Wha'? Who got where?" Moira tried to nudge the link but found that Nathan was rather subtly blocking it. And then suddenly over Nathan's shoulder she spotted two very familiar figures grinning at her from the doorway. "...Anna?! Billie?!" she half shrieked and then suddenly found herself throwing herself at her uncle and cousin, holding on for dear life to them both.

Nathan grinned and slipped down off the table. "Well," he said to Moira, who was probably too busy hugging them to listen to him, "what did you think that riddle meant?"

She gave a muffled, if rude, reply, which made Billie rumble with laughter. He was still too thin for her taste, having lost a considerable amount of girth after his stroke, but his color looked better than it had when Moira had flown over there. And Anna simply looked radiant, if rather disoriented, as she babbled uncontrollably at her cousin.