Jake and Nathan in the hallway

[x-courier.livejournal.com]

Jake´s taking a break from the files of doom, when he runs into Nate who´s out wheeling. They chat, and Jake gets Nate to help him with Pete´s files.



This was, perverse as it might sound, entirely too much fun. Although
Moira would probably kill him if she caught him out wheeling around
the halls again, Nathan thought, looking around surreptitiously for
someone who might tattle on him as he rolled down the corridor. He
could almost hear her now, chastising him about how being out of the
medlab didn't mean that he wasn't supposed to be resting. Ah, well.
He'd take the lecture later - and pay the penalty later, because this
was wearing him out big-time. Neither arm particularly liked all the
sudden physical activity.

On his way back to his room for a break from the Intel
stuff, Jake was walking down the corridor, face in a
white folder. Wanda might have made him take frequent
breaks by tacking a sign up on the inside of the
office door reading "IF YOU´RE LOOKING AT THIS, YOU
NEED A BREAK." But that didn´t mean he could be torn
away from the fascinating facts of what Baron
Kaldstein did in his spare time.

Nathan sensed the approaching person before he saw him. The new
re-arrival... He cleared his throat as the young man approached.
"Try not to trip over the helpless cripple in the wheelchair," he
said, rather cheerfully.

"Yeah, as a rule, I do like to avoid that," Jake replied, lowering his
file. He gave Cable a look-over. Hurt, but healing, he concluded. Of
course, he´d already got as much from the journal system, but he liked
to confirm things first hand. "You look like you´re having way too
much fun."

"I've been flat on my back unable to do more than twitch for the last
three weeks," Nathan pointed out. "Just being able to move around is
kind of exhilarating." Exhausting, but exhilarating. "Sunlight, solid
food... if I wake up back down there in the cage that masquerades as a
bed and find out this was all a dream I might just have to blow up the
medlab." He gave Jake his second-best innocent look.

Jake snorted. "I´ve come to the conclusion that the
medlab is blow up proof. It´s the only thing that
makes any sense. That, or it´s a mutant masquerading
as a medlab, and that´s kind of farfetched."

"Mmm." Nathan managed to get the wheelchair turned around, with a
little telekinetic nudge since his one arm really wasn't working
properly still, and followed Jake down the hall. "So. You're working
with Remy, I gather."

"Yeah. At the moment mostly as a glorified secretary,
but he wants me in the field eventually." Jake made a
face. "Can you picture me in the field? ...Yes, I see
you can." He wasn´t sure why Cable was following him,
but assumed he just wanted to know what was going on.
It would certainly have been Jake´s first impulse.

"Mmm. The field is fun, don't knock it." If anyone had asked Nathan,
he would have had to admit that he was following Jake just to be
perverse. He wanted to know, damn it. Everything. Things he
should and things he shouldn't. He hadn't realized just how isolated
he had been feeling down in the medlab for all this time.

Jake glanced at him. "It makes me a player on a
different scale. On a new game board, too, now that I
think about it."

"You'll get used to it. Imagine how I felt running around wearing
X-Men leathers." Ahem. There was that dratted past tense again. He
really needed to get some things sorted out. Nathan frowned a little,
putting a bit more force into his wheeling of the chair than he really
should have, and wound up pulling ahead of Jake.

Jake trailed after him. This was interesting. And
counted as a break, surely? He wasn´t reading files,
after all. "How you _felt_? I didn´t know this thing
was permanent."

"The chair? Oh, it's not. How well I heal up is still kind of up in
the air, though and even if--when I'm back to 100%..." He
shrugged with the non-burned shoulder. "I don't know if you've had the
chance to read the Mistra files. Probably hasn't been a priority,
given that it's over and done with."

"No, haven´t read those yet. Still busy attempting to decrypt Pete´s
handwriting." Jake gave him a considering glance. "I heard rumours
through the Infonet network, thought. The word ka-booom came up
frequently."

"There was much ka-booming, yes," Nathan said restlessly. "I'm a bit
tired of the ka-booms and am half-heartedly contemplating an active
strategy of avoidance. Seriously doubt I'll actually follow through
with it, though. This is almost certainly the broken spine talking."

Jake thought about this for a moment, then laughed out
loud. "So now we have me out in the field and you
playing the standing by card. Lovely." This really
appealed to his sense of humour. "Yes, I can just
picture it now. I don´t even think I can carry that
much hardware. And I know none of my suits would fit
you."

Nathan caught himself grinning, and was a little surprised. "Don't get
too used to the irony," he advised. "Like I said. Probably won't last.
Then watch, you and I will wind up somewhere in the field
together." He raised an eyebrow. "Wouldn't that be fun."

Jake stopped laughing. "You know, I bet this very
moment is the reason Remy didn´t tell about the field
thing until I was here," he said seriously. "He knew
I´d run screaming in the direction of away otherwise.
He´s smarter than I give him credit for."

"Oh, come on," Nathan said dryly. "I managed not to get any of the
Pack killed for years... don't look so terrified at the idea.
Besides," he said more briskly, turning the corner. "Doubt it would be
anything more the occasional thing. I wouldn't turn Remy down if he
needed me for something, but..." He paused, blinking. "But I'm an
X-Man," he said, more quietly.

"Yes, and isn´t that quite the mind-boggler?" Jake
flicked Baron Kaldstein´s folder absently against his
thigh. "Amanda and She of the Sentient Coffee seems to
like you, though, so obviously you´re a Good Person."
His dad always gave him exasperated looks when he
capitalized random words, but no one here seemed to
pay any attention to it.

"She of the Sentient Coffee had better like me. Have you seen her
since you got back?" Nathan couldn't help another grin. "She's
glowing. It's cute."

"Not literally glowing, right?" It was always good to double-check
these things.

"No, just the pregnant type of glowing," Nathan said cheerfully.
"Although she claims she isn't. At least she's stopped hitting me when
I say it. There are some benefits to having been folded, spindled, and
mutilated."

"Well, obviously there had to be some benefits
to it. Otherwise, where´s the fun?" Jake asked
reasonably. "When is she due?" He paused and gave
Cable a narrowed eyed look. "You´re not really
supposed to be out here, are you? When she finds you,
please make it clear to her that I in no way aided and
abetted your escape? I don´t want to get on the bad
side of a pregnant woman. I might find myself without
food entirely."

"Moira knows better than to blame anyone else for me misbehaving,"
Nathan said flippantly. "As she so often says, I am occasionally three
and she puts nothing past me." He gave Jake a thoughtful sideways
look. "Amanda was glad to see you back," he said, his voice a bit
clipped.

"Yeah, I know. She said," Jake nodded. They hadn´t had
the time for much before she left, but there
had been time for cookies. He thought maybe
he´d made her feel better about the mansion´s
capabilities of fighting off a Hellfire Club attack as
well. Huh. Cable looked very unimpressed. Jake blinked
in puzzlement. "What?"

"Nothing," Nathan said curtly. "Nothing to do with you, at least." His
chipper mood was quickly evaporating, as if now that he'd given
himself the excuse to register anything but glee at being out and
about, everything else was hitting home.

"All right, then." Jake was still a little puzzled by how quickly the
mood had turned from relatively cheery to slightly icy, but perhaps it
had something to do with the man´s injuries. Things like that was a
closed book to Jake. He could get hurt, sure, but it didn´t last. He
never had to spend three weeks locked up in the medlab, something that
seemed quite nightmare-ish in a dull and boredom inducing sort of way.

They were heading towards where he needed to take a right turn to get
back to the suite, and Nathan suspected that might be a good idea. "If
you're still having trouble with Pete's handwriting, I might be able
to help," he offered a bit tentatively, telling himself that ending
the conversation on a grumpy note really wasn't all that polite. "I'm
cleared for a good number of things around here, and I did know quite
a bit about some of what Pete was working on before he... left."

"Yes, I am, and that would be great!" Jake grinned, and promoted Cable
to New Best Friend. "Just send me an email or call when you feel up to
it, and I´ll bring you the box of the stuff I haven´t decrypted yet."