Nathan and Madelyn, Thursday afternoon

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Madelyn stops in to see Nathan. She brings him a Very Tacky Gift, and they talk wedding plans.


There was something positively gleeful in Madelyn's expression as she knocked on the door of Nathan and Moira's suite, a plastic bag in hand. She knew Amanda was back, with a small furry orphan, so hopefully Nathan's mood had already improved from the last time she'd seen him. But if not, she had the perfect gift that would help.

"Come in, Maddie," Nathan called from inside, where he had parked the wheelchair over by the window and shifted himself gingerly to the armchair. A little care and a little TK had managed it nicely, although he'd had a nervous moment there. He would be glad when he could shake this odd feeling of fragility, the nagging sensation that his body couldn't quite manage to carry its own weight.

"Remind me to never organise a surpise party for your birthday," Madelyn mock-complained as she came in. "Hey, look at you, all upright and everything. How're you feeling?"

Nathan smiled. "Not too bad," he said easily. "Good day today." He'd only had to take the evil little blue pills once so far. That would probably change after rehab, of course. "You, on the other hand, look fabulous. All tanned and stuff. Vacation was good?"

She nodded, grinning broadly. "Worth the wait," she said, taking a seat on the couch near his armchair. "Although a distinct lack of cabana boys, but somehow I managed to survive." Her expression changed to one of mock-woe, before the glee broke through again. "I brought you back something," she half-chanted, holding up the bag. "Wanna see?"

He mustered an appropriately suspicious look. "I'm not sure. I don't trust that look." She pouted at him, and he laughed wryly. "On the other hand, I have this weakness for pouting redheads. What is it?"

"The tackiest thing I could find," was the disarmingly honest reply as Madelyn handed over the bag. "Since I threatened to and everything. Who's going to take me seriously if I don't back up my threats with the occasional dose of eye-searing tackiness?" She shuffled forward so she was perching on the edge of the couch, watching him pull a soft cotton shirt out of the bag. It was blue - well, two shades of blue, the lighter background colour highlighting the Bella-blue parrots all over it.

Nathan smiled again, shaking his head at the shirt. "It's hideous. Moira's going to laugh herself sick." He held the shirt up against himself. "Although she's always saying that blue brings out my eyes. What do you think?"

"It does," she agreed, snickering. "In the whole sense of you wanting to remove them so you can't see the shirt any more. I found it in this little tourist trap of a beach resort and couldn't resist. I just hope Bella doesn't get jealous."

"She's off with Miles right now," Nathan said. "I can always introduce her to the shirt. Make sure the two of them get along..." He looked up at Madelyn, a spark of mischief in his gray eyes. "Practice my questionable diplomatic skills. Thank you, by the way."

"You never know, it might be love at first sight," Madelyn teased, that spark in his eyes all the thanks she needed. "It's good to be home," she continued, sitting back on the couch again and making herself comfortable. The white t-shirt she was wearing with her jeans was accentuating the tan nicely, and her hair had definite blond streaks - she was looking a lot like Carlie. "Although the break was desperately needed. How have things been here? Did you and Moira sneak off and elope at last?"

"Oh, just the usual dramatics. Nothing blew up," Nathan said, rather delicately stepping around the whole issue that had resulted in Dom's flying visit. She'd left a few hours ago, promising that she or GW would get in touch once the Pack was settled someplace new. "As for eloping... no, although there are numerous Plans that are coming along nicely. I find it a good distraction from rehab," he added wryly. "Or incentive. One or the other."

"A bit of both, perhaps?" Madelyn gave him a wry look. "You could always wait and have the wedding and the christening in one, you know."

Nathan rolled his eyes at her. "And I could also die a horrible death in my sleep at some point," he said in amusement. "Plans. Developing. Good plans. We'll have a wedding put together before you know it. I do want to live to see the end of the year, after all." He tilted his head at her, grinning crookedly. "Although eloping is really sounding kind of good. If for no other reason that we could get to the honeymoon part of the process more quickly... and no, not for the obvious reasons, Maddie. Moira and I could just use a vacation ourselves, I think."

"Contrary to what most people think, I don't have an entirely depraved mind," she told him, making a face at him. "And I've been telling Moira for months it's her turn for that vacation. With Jean back, it'll be a simple matter of the three of us other doctors taking things on." She grinned impishly. "Hank could carry her out bodily, if you like. Could be fun to watch."

Nathan hesitated, then decided that secrets were more fun when they were shared. "I've been plotting the honeymoon," he confessed. "I've got it narrowed down to a few different places... want to guess where?" That mischievous look was back in his eyes. It felt too good to focus on the frivolous, it really did...

Ooh, secrets. Of the nice sort. Madelyn leaned forward expectantly. "Hmm, let me think... that island you went to last time? When your leg was broken?"

"Santorini would be one of the places on the list, yes," Nathan confirmed happily. One of his favorites, too. "I'll give you a hint for the second: Diane Lane and a white dress."

Madelyn furrowed her brow. "I know this one..." she muttered. Chick flick, with a notable lack of people hitting each other in entertaining or gravity-defying ways... Moira had put it on the medlab system one night shift. "Ooh, Tuscany!" she exclaimed, clasping her hands in front of her. "I'm torn for choice, now. Then again, you could always do both, make it a proper honeymoon..." She sighed dramatically. "I need a fabulously wealthy and romantic boyfriend to whisk me away to exotic locations."

"What, you think I only had two choices on the list?" Nathan mocked gently. "I like the looks of Bora-Bora, too. Although it might be a little warm for Moira's tastes."

"Okay, now there's the envy." Madelyn pouted at him. "Although I think you might be right about Bora-Bora being too warm. Although, hey, there'd be the big floppy hat. That's always a plus."

"Tuscany's probably the best choice. Closest to civilization, although I hope to hell that the baby doesn't decide to arrive that early," Nathan said wryly. "Further incentive to get plans done and have this wedding before too much time passes."

"Um, yeah, just a bit." Madelyn snickered. "Unless you want to take along a personal physician?" She winked at him mock-hopefully.

"You just had a vacation, Madelyn," Nathan said mock-severely. "And if you want to hit someone up to take you somewhere romantic, surely you have better options than playing third wheel with us?"

"Spoilsport," she told him cheerfully. "As for my options..." She shrugged a little. "If I have them, they're being very quiet about it." Which was a change from the usual protestations of no options at all.

"Hrm," was the disapproving reply. "Silly options." Nathan let his breath out on a sigh and tried to relax back into the armchair. Damned back brace. "She and I are going to make a great pair on our honeymoon, at this rate. I somehow doubt that lots of exercise is going to be part of the plan."

"Those sorts of vacations can still be fun," Madelyn pointed out. "I wasn't exactly up for tennis and water-skiing myself - at least the bruises had cleared up enough to wear a swimsuit. And you'd be amazed at how much attention you can get lavished on you when you're obviously hurt. Between the two of you, you'll have people waiting on you hand and foot if you're that way inclined."

He smiled a bit faintly. "Might be nice. For both of us, I mean. Go to Tuscany, be totally self-indulgent for a week or so..." He folded the shirt carefully, making a mental note to model it for Moira. She would definitely get a kick out of it. "I find I have absolutely no guilt about the idea of vanishing for that long."

"Good for you," came Madelyn's surprising reply. "About time both of you learned to do that. Both of you." She grinned. "It's terribly liberating."

"We deserve the break. Both of us," Nathan said, then stopped, pondering that for a moment. "We deserve the break," he repeated more quietly, a touch of defiance in his voice.

"That you do," Madelyn agreed, vehemently.