xp_logs | Amanda, Nate, Meggan

The witch came back - Amanda stops by to see Nate first of all. It's an uncomfortable sort of reunion.

Nathan rolled the wheelchair towards the desk, wincing a little as both arms protested. The bone-deep gashes on the one and the burns on the other shoulder were healing well, but that didn't mean it was anywhere near comfortable yet to be using them. He sighed and reached out for the bottle of pills, shaking a couple out into his hand before he picked up the bottle of water. Certainly got well over my painkiller-phobia, he thought with a sigh. Not that he'd had much of an option; it was fairly constant, even now, and he liked to be able to function.

Perhaps she should have brought Meggan with her for this first visit, Amanda wondered. She had no idea what frame of mind Nathan would be in, but if she'd been in his place, she'd be bloody furious at her. Still, she was going to have to talk to him at some point, and she hated dragging things out. Swallowing hard, she tapped gently on the door, hoping that perhaps he was asleep or something and wouldn't hear her.

"Come in," Nathan called, his voice rough with pain and weariness as he chased the pills down with a long sip of water. The door opened and he glanced sideways, managing a faint smile for the hesitant-looking witch in the door. "Hey," he said more quietly, taking another sip of water before he set the bottle down.

Well, he hadn't thrown anything at her... Amanda hesitated in the doorway, not sure of what to do next. It wasn't like she'd wanted to leave... but then again, she had. And she hadn't wanted to come back, at least not this soon. "You look better," she said at last.

The smile turned a little wry. "Well, I sure hope I do. Given where I was the last time you saw me." Nathan backed the wheelchair away from the desk, turning it a bit laboriously so that he was facing the rest of the room. "Are you going to come in, Amanda, or keep standing in the doorway?" he asked, deliberately keeping his voice light.

"Depends," she said, but she took a step or two inside. "Do I get anythin' thrown at me if I say I'm sorry for takin' off like that? Seems people're gettin' tired of me sayin' that word."

"You can say it if you feel you have to," Nathan said, trying to relax a little in the chair as she came in. Didn't quite work; the back brace made sure of that. "But, you know, I don't think you really mean it." She blinked at him, and he shrugged with the unhurt shoulder, that faint smile still playing on his lips. "That came out sounding wrong. But I don't think you're sorry that you left, just that you did it the way you did."

That was definitely a Nate sort of sentence. Closing the door behind her with a sigh, Amanda came in properly, not close enough to touch him just yet, but not obviously about to flee either. "I felt like such a bitch," she admitted. "You needed me there an' I ran away. But I had to, Nate, I really did. An' not just 'cause of Manuel an' his dad an' all that." She
smiled crookedly. "But then I already said all this in me email."

"Right," Nathan murmured with a certain amount of weary amusement. "The email." He raised an eyebrow at the distance she was so carefully keeping. "I was upset," he admitted quietly, candidly, after a moment. "But you've been gone for long enough that a few things did sink in. First and foremost, that I can regret not having been able to do anything to help you when this happened, without actually blaming myself for it."

"It's why I didn't tell you in person," she admitted, biting her lip a little. "You were in such a state, an' I couldn't look you in the face an' tell you I was goin'. Not after everythin' else - I couldn't add t' that." Without realising it she had taken another couple of steps closer - she wanted everything to go back to the way it had been, but things had changed. She'd changed. It was more than finding Meggan, although that was part of it.

"It would have been better," Nathan said after a moment. "Because I would have understood, you know... I do understand." His expression was very slightly pained as he gazed at her. This was harder than he'd expected. "But it wouldn't have been the better thing for you. You take too much on yourself as it is, Amanda. I think leaving the email..." He gave that half-shrug again. "Sometimes it's right to be selfish. You needed to go. You didn't need to be concerned about me."

"I know," she practically whispered. "I know I should've been able to talk t' you, but it all happened at once, an' it's felt like I've been tryin' t' do everythin', be everythin' for everyone. Pete was gone, an' you were so hurt, an' Moira stressin' over you so much... Even Remy was gone. When Manuel... when he reacted the way he did, it was the last straw, y'know?" It had felt like a betrayal, and she'd reacted the old way, how she always had. Run away and pushed away all those closest to her.

"You really don't need to justify it to me, Amanda," Nathan said, still in that carefully level voice. "It's not as if you ran off and vanished into New York or something. You left because you felt you had to leave, but you were responsible about where and how you went."

"Only 'cause Alison got t' me first," she admitted. "Tho' I still could've just taken off any way." She shrugged. "I s'pose 'm tryin' t' justify it to meself. People're always tellin' me they're here t' help, that I should let them do that, an' 'm still pushin' 'em away. The problem is... I've been doin' that, Nate. An' I'll keep doin' it - but I've been leanin' too much, too hard on people, an' then when they aren't there, it's like the ground's been yanked out from under me an' I don't know how t' cope any more. I can't keep it up."

Nathan shifted in the wheelchair, wincing visibly and unable to hide it as his back protested. "You need to figure it out," he said, his voice catching a little. "One extreme's as bad as another. Sometimes we will all be--" Useless to you? "--caught up in our own shit. But not always."

"You need somethin' for that?" Amanda crossed the remaining distance without thinking, laying her hand on his shoulder. "An' yeah, I'm workin' on it. Bein' with Margali helped - didn't have me people there, so I had t' pull meself together. An' Stefan was good t' talk to when I needed to." She smiled a little despite herself. "He's as balmy 'bout horses as I can be - sometimes it was more brushin' 'em down together than actual talkin'."

"Just took something before you came in. I'm a pill-popping machine these days," Nathan said wryly. "I'm glad it helped to be with your family. You know what they say about changes in scenery being as good as a rest..."

"Yeah, well, speakin' of changes..." She let her hand drop from his shoulder, giving him his space. "I've got someone t' meet you later, when you're up for it."

"Someone you brought ho--back with you, huh?" Nathan gazed up at her a bit wistfully, wishing... well, wishing something. "It's really good to see you, you know."

She caught the correction, and something unreadable crossed her face. "Yeah, adopted meself a little kid, same as Alison, really. Little shapeshifter girl - one of the other Rom clans had her in a cage, tryin' t' sell her off as part-demon. She's with Kurt right now - I wanted t' see you first, make sure..." She wasn't sure of what. "It's good t' see you out of that bloody bed, that's for sure."

Adopted...? Nathan managed to limit his reaction to a startled blink. But it was her reaction that caught his attention, the reaction she'd tried to stifle. "I just... don't want to push, Amanda," Nathan said, and even as the words came out of his mouth he caught himself reaching for her hand, almost hesitantly. "Don't want you to think... well, I don't want to be a burden. You've got enough pressure on you, still..."

"You're not..." Amanda made a frustrated noise. "You're not a burden, Nate. I should be able t' do this. Everyone else does. Moira's fuckin' pregnant, an' she's doin' all right with all this." She'd just let herself get too weak, too soft. "I've already lost Pete. Probably Manuel as well, if the shite down the link's any hint. I don't want this fuckin' mess, that bastard Alphonso t' take anythin' else away from me."

"No one's taking me away from you." He squeezed her hand gently. "I'm still here. I still... love you very much. Mi'caehla." His eyes stung a little, but he smiled up at her. "I just don't want you thinking that you have to... well, that you have to be something for me that you don't want to be, or don't have the strength to be. I love you no matter what state, or shape you're in."

"One of us has to, eh?" she said, trying to make a joke of it, but a hint of bitterness slipped through. She was so sick of being a mess half the time. "Y'know, I'd hug you, but I'm not sure I can without hurtin' you."

His smile grew, turned very slightly impish. "Don't touch the right shoulder," he said, "and don't squeeze too hard. We should be all right."

She smiled back, the expression smoothing the hard lines her face had settled in to, and she leaned over him. Her hug was tentative, really not sure how injured he still was. "'S good t' see you again," she murmured.

He relaxed a little at the murmured words, relieved, and carefully put the arm that hurt less to move around her shoulders for a moment. "Same here," he said softly. Maybe it was selfish to be so glad she was back, but he'd been doing an awful lot of thinking, like he'd told her, and sometimes selfishness wasn't such a bad thing. "I mean, I was hoping to be doing backflips or something by the time I saw you again, just to be able to show off..."

She chuckled. "No wonder Forge an' Kyle think you're a ninja," she teased, pulling back, but not before laying her hand briefly against his cheek.

"'Can you do backflips, Nate?'" Nathan asked, doing an uncanny Kyle-impression. "No, but then, I couldn't before." He grinned at her, the spark in his eyes daring her to laugh at the admittedly very bad joke.

She snorted, shaking her head at him. "Looks like yer sense of humour is as warped as it ever was," she told him, feeling a little awkward about standing over him like this - she'd always felt so small around Nathan. "So, you an' the X geezer been racin' each other down the halls yet?"

"Sadly, no. Haven't been able to talk him into that as of yet." He waved tentatively at the desk chair, which Moira had pulled aside, out of the way. "Sit down?" She looked like she wanted to sit down, or at least, like she didn't want to be standing in the middle of the room looking down at him.

Amanda did with another of those brief, wry grins. "He's a big spoilsport," she said, perching on the edge of the chair. Eye level was much better. She searched her mind for something more to say - she'd already told him about Meggan. And she sure as hell wasn't going to ask about Manuel. "How's Moira? An' the baby? I've got t' take Meggan down t' her later for the once-over." She wasn't sure how that was going to go down, actually...

"Doing well, both of them. Moira's glad to have me out of the medlab - wasn't liking sleeping alone. Not that I'm up for anything fun, if you know what I mean," Nathan joked lightly, then grew more serious. "Tell me about Meggan?"

"It'll be a while longer, with the baby an' all - by the time you're fit she'll be too bloody big," Amanda said with a grin, knowing what he was doing. He smile softened as she thought of the little orphan she'd acquired. "She's adorable, Nate, she really is. Seems t' be a shapeshifter of some sort - she's a little furry monkey-girl right now. Margali found
her. These bastards were sellin' her, an' t' break her out would have brought trouble down on the family, so I fronted the cash an' we bought her." She said it matter-of-factly, although there was no small amount of anger in her eyes at the thought of the Grgic brothers. "I'll bring her t' meet you, if you like."

"Of course I'd like," he said with a quick, reassuring smile, but his eyes widened a little as some of the implications started to sink in. "You've saved someone who was in a similar position to yours, from the sounds of it..."

Amanda simply nodded. "Pretty much, yeah." She didn't vocalise the thought that unlike Romany she was seeing the job through.

Nathan, being not unperceptive even when he was a little fuzzy-headed with pain, could see the implicit contrast without having picked up on the unvocalized thought. "A shapeshifter... you'll have to introduce her to Rahne and Catseye, too." He smiled a bit wistfully, realizing something. "She's why you came back this soon," he said. "To get her specialized help?"

"I could lie an' say no, but..." She gave him a slightly sad smile. "I can't do this on me own, an' I didn't want her t' settle with Margali an' then have me yank her away again. 'Sides, Margali can be a pushy bitch sometimes. Wondered where I got it from. An' there's more than the shapeshiftin', tho' I can't pin it down yet exactly - she needs teachin' everythin'. Those bastards trained her less than you would a dog."

Nathan winced at the images painted by her words. "I'm glad you brought her back here, then," he said simply. "Look at how Miles has flourished, coming from similar circumstances."

"Yeah, that was one of the things I was thinkin' of - Alison's done this before, an' she can help. An' you an' Moira..." She paused, not wanting to push any more than he had. "If you want to, that is. No obligation or nothin' - I just figured you two've done this sort of thing before, you'd be able t' answer any questions I might have."

"We didn't stay here because we liked the ambience, you know," Nathan said lightly. "Your Meggan sounds like she's going to need all the help she can get. If there's something still questionable about her mutation, you know Moira will be able to help you sort that out. And me... well, I can't offer a whole lot beyond a listening ear right now." His smile was a bit self-deprecating, and he stepped firmly on the tiredness, pushing it back deep below the surface where it belonged. "But once I can, I will."

"A listenin' ear is good right now - I've had Margali in me face for the past week tellin' me how t' do eveythin'." Amanda couldn't help rolling her eyes at that. "An' quiet's good - Meggan's... well skittish is probably puttin' it too lightly, but yeah, she's still learnin' people aren't bad." She smiled. "An' with the telepathy, you might be able t' talk t' her more than I can right now - she doesn't know a lot of words, tho' she's learnin' fast. Seems t' have that memory you an' Man... the memory psis have."

He caught the slip, but let it ago. "A shapeshifter and possibly a psi," he murmured, rubbing at his somewhat unshaven jaw. "It's an interesting combination. If she's a psi, the treatment you say she's had..." He stopped, sighing. "Jumping the gun here," he said as briskly as he could. "The eidetic memory doesn't have to mean psionic. But Charles is probably the best person to ask about that."

Her expression clouded at the mention of Charles. She still hadn't forgotten his way of dealing with Alphonso was to send X-Men to protect him. No matter what the logical, sensible reasons, it still felt like a betrayal. "I s'pose," she said, non-commitally. Then, as an obvious change of topic, she tilted her head at him inquiringly. "Wanna meet her? She's with Kurt right now, but she'll be frettin' for me if I stay away too long."

The weariness flooded back all at once at the brief change in her expression, and he kept it out of his voice and off his face by an act of will. There were things he could have said to her, about how coming back meant that she'd made certain choices already, about how taking on this responsibility was really kind of ironic given what had driven her away in the first place... but he held his tongue. He was selfish and too glad to have her back, whatever the circumstances. And he was exhausted and not in any sort of shape to be challenging her to examine her thinking, even if this had been the right time.

"A short first meeting," he temporized. "I do want to meet her, but after that I think I need to rest for a bit. I've got rehab in another couple of hours."

"It can wait, if you're too tired," she said at once, picking up his change of expression, just as he had hers - time with Meggan had made her sensitive to emotional shifts. Too much to expect everything to go back to the way it was - and she wasn't entirely sure she wanted it to. And now wasn't the time for long talks about things they had and hadn't done, and why. "Might be better - first thing in the mornin', fresh start an' all of that."

"I am tired," he said honestly, "but I would like to meet her right now, I think." The smile came back, tired but warm. "You know me. You wouldn't want to miss the sight of me going all puddly about... the new member of the family." He hadn't been going to use that term, he really hadn't, but he couldn't not. Not with Amanda standing right there, and the care and concern she had for this new little foundling so obvious on so many levels.

There was an almost imperceptible lightening of her expression, and her smile this time had lost that slightly cautious edge it had held all along. "I'll just go get her then," she said, getting up to do just that. But as she passed him, she bent and kissed his temple lightly. "She'll love you t' bits, same as I do."

Some more of the tightness eased in his chest. Maybe this 'holding on lightly' tactic of Jack's wasn't going to blow up in his face after all. "If all else fails," he said lightly, "I can use the secret blue weapon."

Amanda giggled at that. "Oh hell," she said. "Meggan'll adore her. An' probably end up turnin' blue or growin' feathers or somethin'. She does that, y'know."

It was one hell of an endearing image. Nathan chuckled, tired eyes lighting up. "You go fetch her, then, and I'll have a little talk with Feathers to make sure she behaves."

***

Amanda collects Meggan and introduces her to Nathan and Bella. It goes swimmingly. Be warned - high cute index here.

Meggan was holding onto Kurt's tail tightly as they waited in the strange new place for Manda to come back. She didn't like that Manda sometimes had to leave her for a little while, but at least she didn't get left by herself. And Kurt had given her some pieces of something he called 'apple'.

It was good.

She looked around when she heard the door open, and brightened, letting go of Kurt's tail and running over to grab onto Manda instead. "~Manda here!~" she said happily, relief clear on her small face. She still worried
That something would happen to stop Manda from coming back
to her. "Apuh," she added, holding up the remaining piece for Amanda, pushing the remains of the half-eaten piece into her mouth intact so she'd have her paws free. Manda gave her so much food, she should share this.

Amanda laughed and accepted the piece of apple. "Thank you," she said, before repeating the words in Romany. "~I'm sorry to be so long, love. Want to come and meet the person I was talking to? He'd like to meet you, and he's very nice.~"

"~Yes,~" Meggan agreed, climbing up into Manda's arms and snuggling happily. If Manda wanted her to meet a new Person, that was okay with her. The People here were nice to Monsters, not cruel like her owners had been. "~Now?~"

"~Now,~" Amanda agreed, hefting Meggan up into her arms more securely as she began heading down the hall after a word of thanks to Kurt. Meggan was beginning to gain weight, she noted with satisfaction. "~Now, you'll have to be careful if you touch him - he's been hurt and he can't walk at the moment, so he's in a chair with wheels and he's a bit sore.~"

Meggan snuggled happily, resting her head on Manda's shoulder. As long as she was with Manda, everything was right with her world. "~Sore,~" she agreed, sniffing Amanda's hair. It always smelled interesting. "~Meggan careful.~" Careful was a new word for her... as near as she could work out, it meant only touching things or people lightly, and not bumping them in case they broke.

"~Good girl,~" Amanda said, unable to stifle her chuckle at the way Meggan was sniffing her hair. Nathan and Moira's suite was far, and she tapped gently on the door. "Nate? We're back."

Nathan eyed the bird perched on the arm of the couch. "Behave," he murmured, and then smiled as the door opened to reveal Amanda and... "Hello there," he said very gently, extending a wordless telepathic tendril of welcome to the little girl in Amanda's arms.

"Hello," Bella echoed, if more softly than she might have at another time. "Hello, hello. 'Manda, hello!"

Meggan clung to Amanda, peeping a little shyly at the new Person. She could sense his pain and weariness, but no anger or cruelty or anything that would make her wary.... and then he sort of pushed a welcoming feeling into her mind, and she made a surprised little noise. She'd never felt anyone do
THAT before.

Then the large, pretty-coloured flying-feathery-animal spoke, and her eyes went wide. "~Talks!~" she said, looking up at Amanda for an explanation.
"~Fly-animal talks?~"

"~Bird,~" Amanda explained with a smile. "~Bella is a very clever bird, and Nate taught her how to talk.~" She gave Nathan an apologetic sort of look. "She doesn't know any English yet, sorry. We're workin' on more 'n fifty words in German an' Rom together."

Rom he couldn't do, but German... well, if they were only up to fifty words between the two languages, perhaps he'd better stick to the telepathy for now. "I'm very glad to meet you,
Meggan," he said soothingly, projecting the telepathic equivalent of the words and a trickle of comforting, welcoming images.

"~Bird,~" Meggan repeated. "~Colours pretty bird!~"
She smiled a tentative smile at Nathan, showing pointed little teeth. He seemed nice... and even though she didn't understand the words he was saying, he seemed to be able to push what he wanted to say into her mind. Experimentally, she tried to push a thought back at him... her curiosity as to where he fit into Manda's collection of people. Did he look after her the way Manda took care
of Meggan, or was he more like Kurt, who liked Manda but didn't have to feed her or anything?

Nathan pondered that for a moment, then projected a series of images. Him and Amanda out on the boat, on the lake. In New Mexico. At the photography exhibit. In a classroom. Sitting across from each other at a chessboard, and half a dozen other images, trying to give Meggan some idea of the answer to her question. Almost as an afterthought, he included Amanda in the projection.

Damn, there went her chest getting all tight again - Amanda pressed her face into the soft fur on Meggan's neck so Nathan wouldn't see her getting all teary. But it wasn't a bad ache. "~Do you want to go a bit closer, love?~" she asked Meggan. She could see the outright curiosity on the girl's face, between Bella and Nathan's projections.

Meggan nodded, giving Manda a hug and then wriggling out of her arms. "~Closer,~" she agreed, in German this time, tucking a tiny paw into Manda's hand and tugging her over to the interesting Person whose mind was all talkative. She reached out with her free paw, touching his cheek very gently. It was easier to sense what he was feeling, when she touched him... he and Manda were really happy to see each other, she thought, even though there were lingering bits of bad things too. "~Hello,~" she said, a little shyly, trying to push the greeting-feeling at him.

Nathan smiled at her, unable to help a certain amount of wonderment. #She is more than just a shapeshifter,# he sent to Amanda alone. Moving very slowly, careful to keep his body language as open and unthreatening as he could, he reached up and took her... hand? paw? very gently.

Meggan beamed, curling her thin, leathery fingers around his. He was nice. And he liked her, she could tell. "~Nate good.~" she decided, leaning against Amanda and smiling at both of them. "~My Manda,~" she added, making a picture in her mind of her and Manda snuggling and sharing food. She could tell that Manda and the Nate-person were close, but he was going to have to share now.

Nathan, with a chuckle, added himself to the image - sitting close but leaving something of a distance, smiling broadly at them. Watching over them... although he wasn't sure whether or not Meggan would pick up on that particular undertone.

"Now you see why I couldn't leave her?" Amanda asked softly, still holding Meggan's other hand and watching the unfolding scene with an indescribable feeling.

"I don't think that was ever in the cards," Nathan
murmured, his eyes still locked on Meggan. "~Welcome home, little one,~" he said in Askani, and the images he projected this time were a careful mixture, all edged with warmth and safety and freedom and love. What she could expect, here. What they'd do anything to give her.

Meggan made a delighted noise. He made NICE pictures, and nice feelings. She leaned over to nose his cheek very gently, in the way that always made Manda feel warm and squishy inside when Meggan did it to her. "~Good,~" she said approvingly, smiling at him and then at Amanda. "~Stay?~"

"~If you like, until Nate gets tired, any way,~" Amanda told her with a pleased smile. She looked up at Nathan. "She's asking if she can stay. I told her until you need your rest - can't have her wearin' you out."

Nathan smiled and glanced over at Bella, who ruffled her wings and then hopped down to the floor, scuttling over to
Amanda's feet. "Manda! MandaMandaManda!" the bird demanded, bouncing up and down.

"Meggan," Nathan said firmly.

"Manda! Meggan!"

"Uff, come here, you demandin' thing," Amanda said with a snicker, bending and extending one arm to let Bella hop onto her sleeve. " Play nice, now," she warned, stroking the feathers under Bella's beak. "Say hello t' Meggan properly."

Meggan stared in awe at the pretty-coloured bird-thing, which talked just as well as she did. Tentatively, she reached out to touch the pretty feathers very gently, the way Manda was doing, but lower down, on the bird's chest. "~Bird,~" she repeated, reminding herself of the word.

Bella's trill turned into a coo. "Hello, Meggan, hello!" She bobbed her head in obvious approval as Meggan continued to stroke her feathers.

Nathan, almost idly, projected an image of Meggan and Bella romping around on the floor, then another of them outside in
the sunlight with Bella doing the chicken dance. "It's a cliched thing to say, but I think this is the start of a beautiful friendship."

Meggan chuckled a little at the mental image, still patting the feathers very gently. The fur on the backs of her arms shifted from its normal brown, hints appearing here and there of deep blue. "~Bird fun,~" she agreed, liking the thought of playing with the bird... carefully, of course. "~Bird name?~" Manda gave names to everything... surely something as pretty as the bird would have one.

"Bella," Amanda told her, and Bella cooed in agreement. Yes, that was her name. "~Would you like to play with her? She likes that.~" As Meggan nodded a little hesitantly - 'play' was a new concept they were slowly getting the hang of - Amanda bent and set Bella down on the floor again, nodding at Meggan that it was all right to join her. As the little girl cautiously approached Bella on all fours, Amanda took a seat on the couch, watching them with a smile. "Hard t' believe 's only been a week."

"Time doesn't matter," Nathan murmured, watching them. "These things happen in a moment and then feel like they've always been that way." He shifted in the wheelchair, wincing a little; the painkillers had kicked in, but they weren't doing much. Today was just a bad day, he supposed.

Meggan approached Bella-the-Bird cautiously, reaching out to pat her soft, feathery back lightly. "Be-la," she repeated, trying out the word. "Bella ~bird~." Bella was making friendly noises, so she shifted a little closer, leaning down to sniff cautiously. Bella smelled different from any of the other new smells so far - she'd had no idea there were so many smells! - but in a good way. She probably shouldn't try to taste the long, leaf-shaped blue things that covered the bird, though.

"Yeah, that's 'bout it. Can't imagine not havin' her around." Seeing his grimace, Amanda reached out and touched the back of his hand with her fingertips, using just enough of the healing spell to dull the pain. "Tho' I wouldn't mind the odd bit of privacy - she's pretty much been attached t' me since I got her out of the cage. Not that I blame her - I know what it's like t' be waitin' for everythin' t' vanish."

"She'll get less clingy as she gets more comfortable, I think," Nathan said. "She wants to be... open, I think. We just need to show her that she's safe here, with us." He straightened, his breathing evening out a little as the pain eased back. "Thanks," he said more quietly, watching the little girl and the bird making friends on the floor.

Meggan giggled as the pretty bird tasted HER, running a little piece of her hair through its beak gently. She returned the favour, licking one feather lightly. It tasted funny and tickled her tongue, and she giggled again. "~Bird good,~" she said approvingly, petting the soft feathers gently, reaching out with her other hand to take hold of the leg of Manda's jeans, just in case she wandered away while Meg was occupied.

"Although that," Nathan said, softly but dryly, "is not particularly hygenic." He shook his head, remembering. "Tyler would never stop putting things into his mouth. His favorite way of experimenting, too..."

Amanda rolled her eyes slightly. "I can't stop her - an' by now, I figure if the germs were gunna get her, they'd have done in the cage when she was livin' in her own filth. I just try an' keep the really gross stuff out of reach." She snorted briefly. "You should have seen Angie's face when she found Meg lickin' her red shoes. I think she thought they were edible or somethin'." She reached down and patted the paw holding onto her leg reassuringly. "~Still here, love. And don't lick the bird, she'll get all soggy.~"

Meggan glanced up at Manda, smiling happily at the affectionate tone in Manda's voice... and then Bella walked away, flapping a little, and glancing over her shoulder at Meggan. It only took a moment for Meggan to work out that she was supposed to follow, and soon girl and bird were chuckling and cooing their way under, over, and around every piece of furniture in the room, excluding only Nate's wheelchair... Meggan glancing back often to make sure Manda was still there.

"I ought to rent out my bird, you know," Nathan murmured dryly. "She's as good for improving the mood as anything pharmaceutical." It was a little easier to sit up straighter; the healing spell had definitely helped. "You can bring her up to see Bella, or Bella down to see her, anytime you'd like," he said.

"Somehow I can't see Meg arguin' with that," Amanda said, as Meggan giggled and flapped her arms in imitation of Bella. There were definite blue tints to the fur on her arms now. "How long do the docs say you're in the chair for?"

"Another couple of weeks, probably. I have been walking... a few steps at a time, during the rehab sessions, but they don't want me overdoing it just yet." Not that he had any plans to overdo it at all. Maybe that meant he wasn't being aggressive enough about his recovery, but he didn't think there was anything wrong with taking things slowly. Nathan blinked, watching the fur on Meggan's arm change color with a certain amount of fascination. "She really will sprout feathers, you think?"

Meggan flapped a couple more times then sighed, sitting down on the floor. She was tired, now... moving around so much was very tiring. She patted Bella, then went back to Manda, climbing up onto her lap and snuggling down. "~Tired,~" she announced, yawning a little.

"Looks like you're not the only one getting tired quickly," Amanda told Nathan wryly, smoothing back Meggan's hair and cuddling her close. Bella made a couple of disappointed noises at losing her playmate but came hopping back, clambering up the couch and perching on the arm, cooing softly at Meggan. "Not enough food or excerise, Margali says - she gets worn out pretty quick. I should go put her t' bed, let you get yer rest too."

Nathan smiled at Meggan. "Come back and see us soon, all right?" he asked softly, projecting an image of the open door and himself and Bella inside, looking delighted to see Meggan come through it.

Meggan nodded, reaching out to touch his cheek again. "~Nate good. Bella good.~" She smiled drowsily at him. She patted Bella, too, with her other hand. She liked the bird-creature.

"~Yes, very good. And we'll come back soon,~" Amanda murmured, shifting her arms underneath Meggan's legs in preparation of lifting her. "Come on, squirt, naptime," she continued in English. "I think you'll have yerself a regular little visitor once she starts runnin' around on her own," she told Nathan with a smile, standing with a small noise of effort and shifting Meggan around in her arms a little more comfortably.

Nathan watched the two of them, still smiling. "I can cope with that," he said very quietly, but firmly, and waved at Meggan.

Meggan waved back, cuddling up to Manda and resting a weary head on her shoulder. She LIKED Nate and Bella. She hoped that Manda brought her to visit them again soon.