xp_logs | Moira and Nathan, Thursday around lunch

Moira catches Nathan at the end of this email conversation with Manuel and distracts him. In the fun way. Oh, and they maybe touch on a couple of serious topics, too.

Moira nudged the door shut quietly behind her and headed into the still not quite finished study. Currently, it held two computers, a few pieces of furniture and a lot of crabs. Nathan was typing away furiously at the computer, the link pulsing irritably between them. Concerned, she went over and wrapped her arms around his neck, reading over his shoulder. He never seemed to mind.

Nathan tried not to twitch guiltily as she came into the room. Or hit the send button too quickly. Didn't want her to think that he had anything to hide, after all...

She frowned at the e-mails. "Nathan, maybe 'tis time ta take a break?" she asked softly into his ear.

"But... just this last one. I don't want him thinking I was threatening to break his jaw," Nathan said grumpily, and hit send.

"Deep down, 'e knows ye wouldnae," Moira said, nuzzling against him. He was so tense. "'e jus' pushes yer buttons verra, verra well."

"I just can't believe he's equating--" Nathan stopped, closed his eyes for a moment. "What am I doing?" he asked with a slightly forced laugh, leaning back against her with a sigh. "I don't know when to quit, do I? But he just got me so angry..."

"Remember wha' I jus' said?" she asked, arching an eyebrow. Shifting, she moved her hands to his shoulders and started to rub gently, trying to work out all the knots. "Lord, 'e did get ye riled up."

"Apparently I crippled myself voluntarily.... ohhh, that feels good."

"Nathan? Stop thinkin' 'bout it. Let it go." One hand kept working on his shoulders while the other one started in on his neck. "Think about other thin's, anythin' else. I dinnae want ye stressin' yerself so soon after wha' 'appened."

"Other things," Nathan murmured, closing his eyes. "Other things..." Something occurred to him. "What are you doing this weekend?"

"'uh?" She blinked, thinking. "Nothin' planned this weekend, besides seein' th' relatives off tomorrow evenin'. Why?"

"We should do something," Nathan said firmly. "Jump in the car, go spend Saturday night someplace else..."

"Hmm, sounds like an idea..." Leaning over, she kissed the back of his neck.

Nathan smiled, and half-turned in the chair to look up at her as she straightened. "Then we should try to do that," he said firmly. Her hand, the one with the ring, was still resting on his shoulder, and he reached up and took her hand in his, raising it to his lips for a moment. "Billie's idea, actually. He and I had a little talk on Wednesday, after I was out of the medlab."

Moira blinked down at him. "A talk? Wha' kind o' talk?" She was curious and slightly afraid. Laughing slightly, she let herself be tugged down into his lap and she settled in, wrapping her arm around his neck.

"He was sort of cranky, actually," Nathan said slowly, putting his arm around her waist. "If I understood him correctly, he's not sure he likes the school. As someplace for you - or me, actually, which was kind of touching - to be."

"Really? Why?" Moira frowned. Billie hadn't said a word about that to her, not even when they had been alone just a few hours ago. A touch of anger flared at that. Why on earth would he think such a thing?

Nathan shook his head. "I'm not sure it's something he really thinks, or whether it was just a reaction to what happened on Tuesday," he told her. "I mean, I was lying down there in the medlab unable to see and you were so worried..."

"Remind me ta talk wit' 'im," she grumbled softly, shaking her head. "I think 'tis good for us, 'ere. Dinnae ye?" They were still floating on air from the engagement, and would be for a while, but they hadn't really talked about what was to come. Not yet, anyway.

"I think it is," Nathan said, more seriously. "For both of us - Manuel notwithstanding, for me." He played idly with her hair. "It's funny to think of how anxious I was at being back in the States when you first brought me here."

"Hmm, I 'ad ta drug ye, if'n ye remember," she murmured, leaning her head on his shoulder. "A lot. An' ye were growly wit' me."

"There could still be problems," Nathan said after a moment. "Even with my conditioning gone. I'm assuming that if the FBI was going to do anything about me being in-country they'd have done it already. Since the government does know I'm here."

Moira nodded, thinking. "I...think Charles 'as smoothed over as much as 'e could, especially wit' th' President. Who, thankfully, is willin' ta listen ta reason. An' whatever else comes up--we'll deal wit' it. Bot' o' us."

"Still," Nathan said dryly, "I did check - had Pete do it, actually - and I'm not wanted in the UK. I didn't think so. I mean, the British government's hired the Pack on the sly often enough..."

"_But_ tha' means when th' date finally comes, it'll be legal. Well an' truely legal." In truth, Moira didn't need it to be legal. She would have been content to live her life with him without the ring, without the ceremony. But...they both wanted it.

"Also means something else," Nathan said quietly. "Assuming I don't do anything stupid between now and then, if we want, if or when we decide on where we go after here, we can go back to Muir and not have to worry."

A flash of memory hit Moira, a flash from the grenade, and she shuddered. It may not have been what he meant, exactly, but she couldn't help but think of that. "I'm nay sure where we would be th' 'appiest," she murmured, closing her eyes.

"You'd like Berlin," he said playfully.

She snickered softly against his neck. "Never been there."

"One of my favorite cities. Which is why the Pack's based there." He pondered for a moment and then shifted his grip on her, lifting her into his arms as he stood. "Or, you know, we could always herd goats on Santorini," he said as he walked out of the study, carrying her. "That has a certain appeal..."

Moira squeaked, caught by complete surprise, and clung tightly to his neck. "I like goats. I think, anyway, when they're nay eatin' 'ats."

"Only good-mannered goats, then," Nathan said, glancing at the clock on the wall as he headed into the bedroom. Yeah. Plenty of time left before their afternoon classes.