Moira, Anika and Mick

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Moira finds Anika and Mick being very puppy-pileish and stops and talks to them. They talk about the other woman in Nathan's life and then Moira offers Mick, and Anika, a safe haven and nearly makes Mick cry.



Tired but bolstered by both last night's sleep and the surprise of finding Henry back from his long departure, Moira headed down the hall, nose stuck in yet another reading from Alison. It was getting easier to get readings, seeing as not everything was melting and/or being shot at, at least for a few seconds. She stopped, though, at Mick's door. It was open a bit and she decided it was a good time to stick her head in and check on him.

She really wasn't expecting to discover Anika curled up on top of him, though, and she blinked a few times at the sight.

Anika raised her head from where it had been resting quite comfortably on Mick's chest and smiled at Moira. "Hey," she said quietly, shifting away as subtly as she could. Mick still woke up, of course, his eyes snapping open and his whole body tensing, and she reached out and patted his shoulder. "Just Moira," she reassured him, sitting up.

"Everythin' all right?" she asked, coming in fully. She hadn't had much interaction with Anika--emergencies did that--and she thought Mick was scared to death of her.

Mick sat up, blinking. "That's our line, isn't it?" he asked wearily, rubbing at his eyes. "How's Alison?"

"As far as we can tell, she's stable." Moira's shoulders slumped slightly at the thought. "'Tis 'ard until we can get ta 'er ta be able ta tell wha' exactly is goin' on. Th' laser's she's producin' seems ta be goin' down but 'tis still gettin' in our way o' takin' care o' 'er."

Mick shifted upwards to lean against the headboard of the bed, his arms crossed across his chest in an instinctively defensive gesture. Anika looked at him critically, then back at Moira, smiling a bit faintly.

"You're doing what you can. You just make sure you don't run yourself into the ground."

She blinked at the other woman for a second. "...Nathan's been complainin' 'bout me 'ours?" she guessed, leaning against the doorframe. No sense in making Mick more nervous than was necessary.

"Mm-hmm." Anika tilted her head, regarding the older woman with great interest. "You're not at all like her, you know."

"Ani!" Mick said, giving her an appalled look.

"Well, she's not. And that's a good thing, right? You wouldn't want to hear that you were like her, would you, Moira? That would be kind of creepy."

Moira stifled a smile and coughed softly. "Mick, 'tis okay," she offered, though he still looked appalled at Anika's abrupt sentence. "I dinnae mind 'earin' 'bout 'er. I never did get ta met 'er. An'...yer right, it would be rather creepy." She liked Anika--the straightforwardness was something she could appreciate.

"I didn't like her," Anika pronounced. Mick was still gazing at her as if he couldn't believe the words coming out of her mouth. "She was an instructor. The enemy, as far I was concerned--"

"You didn't know her very well," Mick said with a sigh, rubbing at his eyes again. "You barely knew her at all."

Now this was becoming interesting, she thought, wandering over to the guest chair and settling in. "Maybe ye can...enlighten me? Us? Nathan doesnae talk much 'bout 'er, obviously, an'...well, th' most I 'eard was from..." She stopped as scenes from her kidnapping filled her mind and she quickly banished them.

Mick was giving her a look that seemed half-worried, half-upset, but Anika leaped on the opportunity to answer. "Oh, I suppose she was nice enough. For an instructor. Certainly came across as if she wanted to be your friend--"

"That's because she did," Mick said with a sigh. "She made it easier on a lot of us, Ani. Just because she couldn't help you doesn't mean you have to hold a grudge."

"Was she a good instructor?"

"The only one I ever liked," Mick said, before Anika could say anything else. "She was so patient. Taught us headblind types how to keep telepaths out of our thoughts. She never sent anyone out for penal measures if they were struggling, either. Which was really sort of unique." Mick smiled that bitter little smile.

Moira smiled back at him, a soft, quiet sort of smile. There was something about Mick that made her like him, that lost sort of puppy-dog feel that Nathan had had for the longest time. "'ow 'bout outside?"

"Quiet," Mick said after a moment. "Very quiet. Very watchful. She'd always be sitting on the periphery of things..." He stopped, shaking his head. "I always wondered how she wound up working for Mistra," he said softly. "She really didn't seem the type."

"She was an iceberg," Anika said, and then scoffed as Mick gave her another harassed look. "I didn't mean it that way. In the nine tenths of her not being visible above the surface sort of way. So different from Nate."

"Who is easier ta read than some children's books."

"Who is, oddly enough, not actually uncomplicated, even so," Mick said, and the smile seemed a little less bitter this time.

Anika sighed and settled into a cross-legged position. "Look, I know speaking ill of the dead is bad and all, but I just didn't like her. She was there when they were talking about whether or not to terminate me in training and okay, so I do hold a grudge."

Moira winced slightly at that and wondered if Nathan--no, that was not something she wanted to think about. "I regret nay bein' able ta meet 'er th' first time Nathan was on Muir." She glanced down at the ring and smiled slightly. "Thought tha' might 'ave made thin's a wee bit more difficult but I cannae say. Stupid 'indsight."

"I remember those weeks," Mick volunteered suddenly, his eyes very bleak. "When he was on Muir and they wouldn't let her go to see him. We knew the rest of his team was dead by then, too. She was trying to keep it all together, but I found her crying on Tim the one night..."

They had loved each other very much, she knew. But all she could remember was Nathan's last memories of her, of her yelling at him, cursing his name...Moira shook that off as well, irritated at where her thoughts were going to take her. "They could 'ave let 'er come," she said, softly.

"I bet they wished they had," Anika said, her voice very low and yet oddly savage. "She could have fixed his conditioning."

"...really?"

"Yep." Anika's smile was very brittle. "Don't know why she didn't. She would've seen it when he got back..."

"Maybe she didn't want to," Mick said softly.

"Or maybe she dinnae want ta see it," Moira responded, just as softly.

Anika made a skeptical noise, then shook herself, like a cat who'd gotten something on its fur that it didn't like. "Did Nate tell you we're leaving on Thursday?" she asked abruptly.

"Nay, 'e dinnae. Though I suppose I 'avenae been around all tha' often an' when I 'ave, we've been asleep."

Mick nodded slowly. "Bridge is coming," he said quietly. "To take us back to Berlin."

"To the Pack," Anika chirped, her mood rapidly shifting back towards sunny. "We're going to join up and all! Well, I am." She cast a softer look at Mick. "Someone else, not just yet."

"Take some time an' get adjusted," Moira offered. "Ye bot' know tha' ye can go ta Muir if somethin' 'appens, aye? Mick, if ye need ta travel some an' get yer 'ead on straight--ye'll find a 'ome there. Rory'll nay say a peep ta ye an' th' place is big enough ta be alone at."

Mick, abruptly, looked like he wanted to cry. Anika immediately shifted closer to him, her hand on his shoulder. The smile she gave Moira was quick, but dazzling. "You, I like," she said approvingly.

"T-Thanks," Mick said hoarsely, rubbing at his eyes again and blinking rapidly. "I really... thank y-you. Nate's t-told me about it..."

Standing, she went and stood by his bed, offering her hand to him. "Ye'd love it. Even when th' rains an' storms come, 'tis a gorgeous place ta be. Gorgeous night skys, as well. Good place ta put yer 'ead back together. Did wonders for Nathan." Moira glanced over at Anika and shared the smile. "Offer's for ye ta, jus' remember tha'."

Mick reached out hesitantly and took her hand, staring hard at the ring for a moment. "I would have w-walked you out of that warehouse that d-day," he said, almost inaudibly. "I m-meant that."

Squeezing his hand gently, the smile on her face didn't leave. "I know ye would 'ave. I believed ye then an' I believe ye now."

His face crumpled, and Anika abruptly wrapped her arms around him, leaning her chin on his shoulder. "It's okay," she whispered, her voice almost a purr. "She's okay. Nathan's okay. And you didn't have a choice about what you did that day..."

He looked so young and vulnerable. So very, very young. Moira suddenly blinked and tore her gaze from Mick to Anika. It was very subtle but she felt her own mood--lighten a little bit. Her worries were still there but a little bit off and more managable now. Interesting. "She's right, lad, ye 'ad nay choice in th' matter. Ye 'ave ta learn nay ta blame yerself."

"Dom and GW will tell you the same thing," Anika murmured softly. "Just like they told me. And Dom's really, really persistent."

"Scarily so, even."

Mick gave a laugh that sounded more than a little like a sob. "One pack to another, huh?" he asked, his voice shaking.

"Exactly," Anika said firmly. "Exactly like that."

"An' a better pack than th' last bunch. An' ye better take care o' yerself because we expect ye ta be at th' weddin'."