Logs - [Alison & Moira], [Alison, Nathan & Moira]

[x-dazzler.livejournal.com]

Thursday afternoon. Alison goes to talk to Moira about a little something in her will...

I sorta have a pretty important favor to ask of you...

She had planned to talk to the both of them at the same time all along, yet for some reason she found herself in front of Moira's office first instead, having decided to approach her first after all. She knew enough about Moira's past to have no doubts as to the fact that what she was going to ask of the couple would stir strong emotions, for differing reasons for both. And while she had the steadfast conviction Nathan would accept regardless, she wanted to be sure that it wouldn't be too much for Moira... which meant asking them separately at first.

"Ye know I can see yer shadow through th' glass window pane, aye?" Moira called over her shoulder. She wasn't sure who was staring a hole through her door but she figured it must be important. Wiping her hands off on her lab coat, she turned and waiting, grinning a little bit. "Ye can come in now."

With a low grumble Alison opened the door - you weren't even allowed to skulk outside anymore, these days. Sticking her head inside she gave Moira a long look, trying to get an idea of the woman's general mood. Well, she was smiling, that was something. If Alison made her cry, she'd never forgive herself. "Um. I wanted to ask you and Nathan a favor, but I thought I should talk to you about it first. Got a while?"

The e-mail, she remembered, thinking for a second. "For ye? Always." Moira gestured her inside and bustled about, readying the kettle to make some tea. She was still on a strict coffee diet so she had taken to drinking tea during her 'work' hours. "Everythin' okay, Ali? Nothin' 'orrendously wron'?"

"Well... no wrong. Just kinda big?" Smiling crookedly Alison availed herself of a nearby chair, dragging it closer so she could lean on the desk while talking to Moira. "I sorta have a pretty important favor to ask of you, but I know it might - no, will," she corrected herself, "touch something pretty sensitive for you."

Something tightened in her gut just slightly and she blinked at Alison over her shoulder as the kettle started humming along. "Well, tha' leaves a few possibilities," she joked softly, waiting until the water was ready and the tea was made before settling into a nearby chair.

"Yeah, it does." There was no other way than to do this quickly, really - and preferably before the water was hot and Moira finished the coffee from Hell, because there was no way Alison was bringing that up after that. "So. Favor. Need to ask - of you and Nathan." She held her breath, and than blurted out the words rapidly. "I need to find a third possible to take up custody of Miles if anything happens to me and I'd like to ask you and Nathan to be it?"

For a second, Moira could have sworn she passed out. In reality, she was simply staring in complete shock at Alison. "Ye want us...Nathan an' I...Miles?" she managed, gripping her arm rest as hard as she could. That feeling again, that stirring feeling she had when she had watched Miles, stirred up again.

"Yes." On no, Moira was going to cry. Alison scrambled up and around the desk, reaching for her. "I didn't want to bring up bad memories," she explained, "but I couldn't think of anyone else I would want to ask after Charles and Cain and please don't cry?"

"Nay bad--sorry, cryin'!" Sniffling, she found herself with her head buried in Alison's shoulder as the tears came. "Nay bad. We, Nathan an' I talked. About kids, Alison. An' I know--th' amount o' trust ye must 'ave in us..." Another round of tears came suddenly and she found it very hard to force the words out.

"Oh. It's good crying?" Alison asked in hopeful confirmation, because damn, if Moira kept it up, she was going to cry too. "Good crying is good." Oh yes, so articulate of her. "So it's good and you don't mind and are you and Nathan having kids?" she asked curiously, finally catching up with what Moira was saying.

"Verra good cryin'. I know 'ow 'ard it 'tis ta let go, even thinkin' 'bout it." She pulled away for a second to wipe her eyes on her sleeve. "I adore Miles an' I would be 'appy--verra touched, Ali, tha' ye trust me tha' much." Moira took a deep breath. "An' nay right now--we talked 'bout th' possibility. Miles stired up a good deal o' th' want in me again."

Sleeves. Oh! Alison looked around the room, spotting the box of Kleenexes, and fetched it for Moira. "Here. Miles uses his sleeves too, actually." She grinned a bit, relaxing now - said and done and it looked like it was going to be okay. "Of course I trust you," she answered, although it was also intrinsically tied into Nathan being part of that as well, she knew. "So - it's ok and I can spring this on Nathan now too?"

Sniffling, she gratefully used the tissues. "Oh, aye. Cannae wait ta 'ere 'is reaction." Moira grinned at Alison before reaching up and enveloping her in a huge hug.

Hugging back, Alison sighed in relief. "Oh, I'll let you know. Promise. Although if I can catch you both together at the same time, you can always have a front row seat?"

Snickering slightly into her friend's shoulder, Moira nodded. "God, I'd love tha'. Jus' ta see th' expression on 'is face."

~*~

Thursday, a bit after the talk with Moira. It's Nathan's turn to find out what's going on.

Trying to get all the blood back to your head so you'll start thinking a bit more, mmm?

Moira had helped her figure out where Nathan was and had elected to wait on the porch, just out of sight, while Alison spoke to him. It was odd to tackle this separately, yet at the same time it felt right - there were different reasons why speaking to them individually made sense. Squaring her shoulders, Alison walked down the steps and headed towards the man mediating outside. Floating upside down in the air, no less.

Nathan, his mind lost in the patterns, didn't sense her approaching until Askani whispered in his ear. He opened his eyes, blinking as he realized he was upside down again. Crap... Righting himself, he floated back down to the grass, grinning a bit crookedly at Alison. "Hi."

She grinned back innocently. "Trying to get all the blood back to your head so you'll start thinking a bit more, mmm?" she teased lightly, sitting down on the grass near him. It was chilly out, but not unpleasantly so, the sun bright enough to warm anyone standing in its light. "Sorry to bother you while you were meditating," she offered, although she suspected that might have been why he'd not reacted to Moira earlier.

"I'm not sure what the upside-down trick is all about," Nathan confessed easily, stretching out his legs. "Seems to be happening spontaneously, but I'm having a lot of luck with those templates Charles gave me in the meantime, so I'm not complaining."

"Templates? Oh. Those breakers you were talking about?" She leaned forward curiously, elbows on her knees. At least he wasn't outright trying to sprain his brain this week, though the marks from his 'sparring' session with Haroun where still more than obvious.

"No, the breaker's something else," he said with a smile. "The templates are... well, patterns of how my mind maybe should look, and doesn't."

And he was using them to compare and match, she figured. It made sense, in a surprisingly uncomplicated way. "I already interrupted our meditation," she began, unwilling to let herself dawdle too long before getting to the heart of the matter. "So..." She sighed and straightened up, hands on her knees. "~I have a matter dear to my heart to discuss with you, brother. Would you listen?~"

The switch to Askani, and formal Askani on top of that, made him blink. "~Of course,~" he responded. "~My attention is yours.~"

Yes, this was the way to do it, she knew. There was a serene, almost joyful air about her as she explained. "~One has had to make decisions, of late, regarding family and home. Your lady is already aware of this matter, and now I speak to you.~" She paused, satisfied - ritual and form observed, so far. "~Others have been chosen but there still remains one last guard to select. Should they be able fulfill their oath to me. I ask you to take up this charge." It was hard, suddenly, to continue, but she forged ahead nonetheless. "In the advent of my death, clansib, will you and yours raise my son as your own?"

Nathan stared at her for a long moment, part of him stunned, part of him not all that surprised. "~Yes.~" The answer slipped out of his mouth automatically, with very little in the way of thought behind it. But there didn't need to be. She was asking him... this, and he couldn't say no to her. Even if he'd wanted to.

She bowed her head for a moment in silent thanks, a soft sigh escaping her. There, it was done. All three chosen and having accepted and she was going to cry now. "~Thank you.~" Relief and joy mingled with an overwhelming grief at the mere thought of perhaps not being able to see Miles grow up. "Thank you, Nathan."

"~In your place and in your honor,~" Nathan said, but then reached out, laying a hand on her knee. "Although it's not going to be necessary," he said firmly. "For any of us."

"I don't plan on it," she answered immediately, looking up, eyes a touch over-bright. "Believe me I don't. But Jean wasn't either." And the talk with Cain had only made so very clear again, that the choice wouldn't be hers in the end. Now wasn't the time to be afraid, though. Not now of all moments. The smile was much easier to find and she relaxed a little bit now that she wasn't being so Askani formal anymore.

"You talked to Moira already, I assume?" Nathan asked with a slight, amused smile. His telepathy was very... crisp, as it always was when he'd been meditating, and Alison was projecting quite loudly.

"Mmm," she ducked her head, actually blushing a bit. "I knew you'd say yes." It had been a rock steady certainty, in fact. "But I wanted to talk to Moira first. Just in case." She didn't say Kevin's name, although that had been the sole reason why.

"I care a lot about Miles," he said quietly. "I hope you know that. If it ever became necessary..." His smile was a bit sad. "I flatter myself that I was a pretty good parent, when I had the opportunity."

"I picked Charles and then Cain first - but I think you'll understand why," she murmured, glancing in the direction of the boathouse. She was tying them all together intrinsically she knew, which was maybe not the right thing to do, no matter how right it actually felt. "And I think some of the children here would agree with you in that," she added, looking at him once more. "In the present tense."

Charles, Cain, then him and Moira. Yes, that made sense. And if it ever came to pass, he knew that all of them would do what needed doing. "Are you calling me a father-figure?" he asked with a wry chuckle. "That's alarming..."

"I call it like I see it," she answered with perfect aplomb. "If I were one of the kids here, I'd be looking up to you that way. You commit to people entirely, with everything you have." Something flickered in the back of her mind, but even though she paused to reach for the notion it faded instantly.

Nathan hesitated, then smiled a bit tentatively. "It's worth doing," he said softly. "You're all worth holding on to."

Instead of her trademark brilliant grins, he received a small smile instead, full of warmth and caring. "You're worth holding onto as well." The little boy lost in the snow wasn't so lost anymore, she thought.

"Ye know, I'm tryin' really 'ard nay ta cry again," came a not-so-distant voice as Moira started walking over to the pair, hands in her pockets. She grinned sheepishly. "Got enough o' tha' done th' first time around, thank ye verra much."

Nathan raised an eyebrow at her, surprised maybe that she'd been listening, and she settled herself next to them both, shrugging at him. "Like I could miss seein' th' expression on yer face when she asked ye, love."

"You're all right with this?" he asked quietly, reaching out to take her hand. Alison had said she was, but he wanted to hear her say it and feel the reaction on the link. Just to make sure.

"I am, aye. I cried, though, a lot." She smiled a bit wryly at Alison. "But I'm verra all right wit' this. 'elped tha' we 'ad tha' talk th' other day, I'll let ye know tha' now."

"Thank you again. Both of you." There had been a number of pragmatic reasons, in why Alison had chosen Charles and Cain in that particular order - just as there was one very simple reason, among so many others, why Nathan and Moira had been picked as well. Alison smiled back at Moira and Nathan, feeling something ease within.