Moira and Cain

[x-mactaggart.livejournal.com]

Moira heads out to invade Cain's fridge, again, and finds out what's been bugging him this past week. She also finds out something else, and ends up breaking down on him because she can't break down on Nathan just yet. *sniffles*



With Ororo being in an exceptional good mood, Moira didn't have to worry that much about bundling up against March's oft times chilly weather. Stomach rumbling, she headed out to Cain's as threatened, figuring there'd be something to eat that she hadn't tried yet. He was big, though smaller than before, and had to have a fully stocked fridge.

On her way there, a small group of kids tagged along and she chattered at them. One in particular, an Australian student, kept headbutting her in the legs and attempting to burrow in the flower beds. Luckily she was able to distract him from that particular destructive habit by feeding him a couple of chocolate cookies she had in her pocket. He trundled off after a while as the rest of the kids decided to play elsewhere. Reaching the door, she knocked and poked her head in.

"Cain?"

Cain looked up from where he was sitting in the empty room. Extending it off of the living room and out over the formerly-damaged patio had been a week's worth of work. Time he could spend not thinking about squeezing Cameron Hodge's neck until his head popped like a tomato.

"Mac?" he called back. "In here."

Deciding to attack his fridge after saying hello, because that was the nice thing to do, she trotted out back. "Hey..." She blinked and looked around. "This new or am I jus' gettin' old?"

"Well," he began, "since the whole back end here got shot up, figured I was tired of sleeping in the living room, and didn' want to fight Remy for the upstairs. Wouldn't be fair." He grinned. "You here to ransack my fridge again? I figured it was you when the beef jerky and chocolate sauce were all gone."

Moira didn't look sheepish in the least at that and settled herself down. "Aye, ye sometimes 'ave better food than we do right now," she said, cheerfully. "At least I'm stoppin' by ta say 'ello this time, last time I probably would 'ave attempted to eat yer arm if I 'adnae eaten first."

Cain reached out and playfully shook Moira's shoulder lightly. "To the moon, Alice!" he joked. "Nah, consider it yours. And his. Hers. Whatever."

Snickering, she reached up and punched Cain in the shoulder in response. It probably had no affect but it was more for show than anything else. "Thank ye, 'elps knowin' there's another cache o' food I can nab from. An' the wee one willnae let me forget ta eat, so there's nay worry there." Pausing, she took in his appearance. "Cain, is everythin' okay?"

Sighing, Cain leaned back against the rolled-up sleeping bag he'd used as a bed while building the room. "Hodge embezzled everything I had in my investments," he admitted. "I already talked to three lawyers, the bastard did it all by the book, above board. I trusted the fucker, and he walked away with nearly everything." Cain held up two fingers. "I still got my normal bank account, which ain't small, and Remy gave me the idea to make a separate account for the interest off my investments. So I ain't broke. But..." He punched one hand into the other. "he fucked me but good."

"What?!" Moira sat up straight at that, staring at him. She invested a great deal of her money and understood the risks that came with it. But being able to embezzle it legally? "How th' bloody 'ell did he do it by th' books? I dinnae think tha' was possible? Is there anythin' ye can do ta get 'im back or somethin'?"

"When I was out," Cain explained, referring to his convalescence, "I signed over power of attorney to him, so he could handle my accounts. And he liquidated all of 'em to cash back in January and fucked off out of sight. I signed the papers that let him do it."

"...bloody fuckin' 'ell." Leaning back in her chair, she was still obviously in shock. "An' o' course he's buggered off ta God knows where. How much did he get away wit'?" Mentally, she made a note to _never_, ever do that. Not with the amount of money she had in various stocks and bonds. In fact, she was still dealing with slowly withdrawing her stocks from Shaw's businesses.

Cain mumbled into his hand embarassedly. The words "hundred" and "million" were used in there somewhere, among others. "Ain't the money makes a difference to me," Cain explained. "I can live off what I got, and I still got this place, right? But... I trusted the bastard. Only person outside of this place I thought I'd ever say that about."

Pushing herself out of the chair, Moira plopped herself down next to Cain and gave him an awkward hug due to the angle. "Aye, I understand 'ow tha' would feel. Ye do 'ave ta put a lot o' trust inta someone in tha' kind o' position. I inherited my advisor from me da, so I knew goin' in 'e would treat me fairly. But...argh, I still cannae believe he got away wit' it. Any idea o' wha' yer goin' ta do?"

"Kill him," Cain said matter-of-factly. "But that's neither here nor there. I ain't in dire straits or nothing, so I figure just going about things like I have been is a good idea. Brand new start in a lot of ways, you know?"

He paused, not sure of what Nathan had shared with his fiancee, then shrugged and said it. "And I'm goin' with Nathan and his friends when they take down Mistra."

She looked slightly startled but then thought about that. "Well, I can see why, ye'd be rather useful. Are ye physically up for it, though?" She scowled slightly at him. "I'll 'ave ta set up tests before ye go--dinnae give me tha' look, Cain, I'm nay 'bout ta let ye go without makin' sure I willnae 'ave ta massage yer heart again." A slightly pained look crossed her face at that last one.

"You get me in that lab of yours and tell me, Doc," he replied, "This is something I gotta do. It's... well, someone's gotta make sure Nate comes home to you. And Ali to Miles. And so on."

She was not going to cry, she was not going to cry, she was not going to cry.

Hell.

Cain wrapped his arms gingerly around Moira. "Hey there," he murmured, "he's gotta do this, you know? Get this off his back, put these bastards in the ground. They took one family from him already, and I'll be god-damned if I'll see that happen to him again."

Whatever Moira said the first time was lost due to Cain's shirt and the tears. The second time, she managed to succeed despite the tears. "...this is it, Cain. Th' end an' he'll give it 'is all an' I know it'll be enough ta take them out but will it be enough ta brin' 'im 'ome? An' it means a lot tha' yer willin' ta watch out for 'im an'..." The end was just as lost as the beginning as she clung to Cain, sobbing, because she couldn't do this to Nathan. She couldn't fall apart on him, not now, not with this.

Cain lifted her chin up with one finger, looking down and smiling. "I'll bring him home, Moira. Promise. He saved my life and what's more, he's my friend. Ain't much clearer than that, if you ask me."

Moira stared up at him, tears slowing but not quite stopped, and hiccupped slightly. "Promise?" Not caring, at all, ever, that she sounded like she was four because sometimes even a rock needed support.

Chuckling, Cain let her lean into him. "Promise."

Whatever was needed in the fridge could wait, he decided.