xp_logs | Nathan and Amanda, Tuesday late morning

Nathan shows up in the greenhouse to retrieve his bird and check on Amanda, who's in a bit of a funk, between the events of the previous night and her worries about Pete. Nate manages to shake her out of it, mostly with the clever application of unpredictable tactics.

The greenhouse had been a good idea, Amanda decided. It was warm and green and most of all quiet, and quiet was good. For both of them. Slicing another piece of apple off with the Swiss Army knife Domino had given her, she held it out enticingly to the parrot who was investigating some of the shrubbery. "Bella? Want some fruit?"

Bella made an odd squeaking noise and scuttled over, reaching out delicately to take the fruit. "Apple," she chirped, then nibbled on it, watching Amanda.

"That's a good girl," Amanda told her with a smile, leaning back on the bench and slicing another piece for herself, since Bella was more inclined to eat if she did. A good thing she kept a stash of apples in the suite fridge. "So, still cranky at Nate, or have you forgiven the world at large for nasty men who come burstin' in in the middle of the night?"

"Nate baaaaad."

"I think that's a no," came Nathan's voice, sounding amused, from the direction of the stairs. He climbed the last couple of steps, smiling a bit tiredly as he headed over to the bench. "Hey, you," he said to Amanda, flopping down beside her after a quick ruffle of her hair.

"Well, she's not tryin' t' eat yer pillow any more, so it's an improvement," Amanda chuckled, shifting over slightly so he had room for flopping. "Been busy?"

"The TK's helpful for the cleanup," Nathan pointed out, "and I don't tend to sleep well after something like this even when I'm not having trouble sleeping anyway, so yeah, I was finding lots of busywork." He looked around the greenhouse with a faint smile. "I think you had the better idea, though."

"Well, the medlab was pretty much sorted when I got down there with Moira's brekkie, an' I was gettin' in the way more than anythin', so yeah, figured I'd do the thing that got me out of the way. 'Sides, needed the quiet - Manuel's been great for keepin' me calm, but soldiers invadin' the place? Not exactly bringin' back fond memories here." She rolled her eyes slightly. "At least I didn't end up in the medlab with me face smashed in this time."

"Yeah," he said softly, his gaze lingering on her as he reassured himself, again, that yes, she was all right. Just like Moira was all right. "Believe me, I'm glad that history doesn't always repeat itself."

"I'm fine," she told him, catching the look. "Went down to the shelter like a good little girl, didn't go lookin' for trouble an' for once it didn't come lookin' for me. Gunna need a new nickname for me at this rate." Bella made a disgruntled noise in Nathan's direction and she snickered. "C'mon, pretty bird. If you make nice with the nasty Nate, I might have some more fruit stashed in me jacket for you."

"Baaaad," Bella said disapprovingly, but came over to Nate's feet and planted herself there determinedly. "Bad Nate. My head! Mine!"

Nathan stared down at the bird, raising an eyebrow. "Well, I tried to tell you to be quiet," he said very reasonably. "You told me to fuck off."

"Bah! Bah!"

Amanda giggled. "An' you wouldn't want the bad men t' turn you into a feather duster, would you, Bella?" she pointed out, leaning down with another apple slice.

Bella stretched out her neck and grabbed the apple slice. Nathan smiled down at her for a moment, before turning his attention back to Amanda. "It was the only thing I could think of to do in the couple of seconds I had," he confessed with a little shrug. "Just hit her with a sleep-suggestion and she fell right off her perch."

"She'll forgive you. Might take a bit longer than it did with me, but she wasn't tearin' the room up at the time," Amanda teased, holding out another apple slice for him. "Still havin' trouble sleepin' yerself? I could do you up a potion - no magic involved, I promise."

Nathan took the apple slice and smiled a little ruefully. "I had a bit of a nap this morning," he murmured. "Woke up in a cold sweat from dreams you don't really want to hear about. Half-afraid to try it again, if you know what I mean..."

She nodded. "Benefits of havin' a workin' empath for a boyfriend - he kept the dreams away, at least for a while. We'll see what happens when I try an' sleep on me own." Looking down at her boots, she fell silent, thoughts turning as they always did to Pete. Especially given the similarity between the two invasions. "'M glad no-one got hurt this time," she said pensively. "An' that it wasn't anyone's fault."

Nathan took a deep breath. "We hadn't really talked about this," he said quietly, after a moment, "but I really don't know where he went off to, Amanda." He picked his words a bit carefully as he went on. "I've gotten the sense that he's been wanting to leave me room to deal with Mistra."

"Brain turned up too loud again, is it?" Amanda asked wryly, making an effort on her shields. Nate didn't need her thoughts blaring at him. "I know you'd tell me, if you knew," she went on. "'S just... it's not like him t' not email me at least. 'Specially now." With a sigh, she tried to think of something else to talk about, but wasn't having much luck.

Nathan reached out and put an arm around her shoulders. At his feet, Bella cooed. "What a week," he said, then snorted. "Actually, what a month. The one just past, I mean. You suppose March will be less eventful?"

"Probably not," she said with a shrug. "But we'll get through it any way."

Bella climbed up his leg and from there to Amanda's lap, doing her best impression of a purr. Nathan smiled at the bird as Amanda immediately reached out to stroke her head. Perfect timing, Bella...

"Moira attempted to bite my head off this morning," he said casually. Distraction.

"What for this time? You didn't get hurt." She looked up from where she was smoothing the feathers of Bella's head to give him a look that was both anxious and resigned. "Did you?"

He paused, then stuck out his tongue at her, quite deliberately. "No, not so much as a bruise, although I suppose I've given you good reason to expect that whenever there's gunfire I'm going to be right in the middle of it." He grinned. "No, Moira got growly because I took her up for a nap and then snuck away and cleaned up her medlab for her."

"Sorry." She smiled at him faintly. "That'd explain the Scottish swearwords this mornin' when I came down with food. Well, I'm guessin' they were swearwords - 's hard t' tell what she's sayin' when she gets into that."

He patted her shoulder and then let his arm fall, straightening. "Didn't actually intend to not nap with her, but like I said... bad dreams. I figured I was better off cleaning up some of the mess so that she didn't have to do it when she woke up." He snorted softly. "I'm allowed to try and make things easier for her, whether or not she believes it."

"Sounds like someone else I know," Amanda said innocently, apparently intent on fussing over Bella in her lap. "Actually, a lot of someones. Still, I'm glad you did it, since it meant she could get back t' workin' on whatever's wrong with McCoy."

Nathan nodded slowly. "That's what I figured. The less time she and Maddie spent with a broom, or whatever... and telekinesis is useful for that sort of thing, like I said." He rubbed at his eyes, then jumped as the irrigation system in the greenhouse came on with a hiss, water misting over the plants.

"'S handy when it's the right sort, any way..." Him jumping startled her, and there was the very briefest flare of light around her, gone as soon as she realised what she was doing. "Think we're all a bit jumpy, eh?" she said, trying to laugh off the slip. "You really look all in, Nate. I know you don't want the dreams, but the potions at least let you wake up from them, right?"

He took a deep breath, letting the momentary surge of adrenalin drain away. He hadn't missed the flash of the shielding spell. "I'll see how the rest of the day goes," he told her. "If nothing else I should be able to find some way to wear myself out." He chuckled softly. "Still plenty of cleaning up to do. I'm too focused at the moment, if that makes any sense... eh, don't pay any attention to me," he amended, with a dismissive wave. "Ask Dom sometime. I get weird after action."

"All wound up an' nowhere t' put it?" she suggested, soothing the disgruntled Bella who had squawked and flapped her wings briefly at all the jumping going on. "Sounds like me after a big spell, least the ones that don't knock me out. All this energy an' nowhere t' put it."

"Mmm. I have to wonder - I didn't do an awful lot of fighting last night, really." He laughed suddenly. "I was all sneaky and subtle instead. Had to use my brain in the creative way, rather than just the blowing-up-shit way."

Amanda chuckled. "Could explain the twitchiness. An' the lack of fallin' over. Should try it more often."

"Oh," he said abruptly, remembering. "Assuming we don't have any more problems this week, Mick and Ani will be here on Thursday night." He smiled. "Ani said something about you being her supplier of strawberry ice cream?"

"I know where they hide the good stuff," Amanda agreed, visibly brightening, although she couldn't help feeling this boded ill. "On their way t' Spain, right?"

Nathan blinked, then reminded himself that his little witch was far from unperceptive. "Yeah," he said after a moment, smiling a little. "They are. You wouldn't believe how much better Mick's doing... well, I guess you might get the chance to see for yourself."

"It'd be good t' see him," Amanda said frankly. "We sort of got on, when I was in Berlin. So him doin' better, that'd be good t' see."

Nathan smiled wickedly. "Did Dom tell you that Ani and Mick were..." He trailed off suggestively.

"Yeah, she did." Amanda snickered wickedly. "Told me all about the pouncin' on him. No wonder he's doin' better. Nothin' like gettin' some t' improve yer attitude on life."

"As we can both attest to from personal experience, huh?" Nathan said with a broad grin.

Incredibly, she blushed a little - Nathan usually avoided the whole topic of her having a sex life, and it was odd, having the tables turned. "Yeah. 'Cept when a bunch of soldier-types decides t' barge in right in the middle of... stuff," she admitted, the blush creeping up to her ears.

Nathan's grin only grew. "Shameful timing. Really shameful. Is that why you wound up in the wrong pants?"

Amanda nodded, still blushing. "An' we were just at the good bit too," she said a little mournfully.

"Well, did you get him to give you a raincheck?" Nathan was hit by a sudden, dizzying, oddly gleeful memory of the first time he'd tried this with Dom. She'd always tried to shock him with news about her sex life - much more so than Amanda had ever done - and he would always treasure the memory of the look on her face the day he'd stopped biting.

"Well, if the bunker hadn't had some of the others in it, we might have found other ways of keepin' warm..." This was just too bizarre, Amanda decided. And he was taking all the fun out of teasing him this way. "'Sides, with Manuel, 'm pretty sure we'll make up for lost time."

"The Hormone That Walks Like A Man," Nathan said sagely. "Good to know that some things don't change."