grindinggears (grindinggears) wrote in the_colony, @ 2011-01-02 00:00:00 |
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Entry tags: | ^ week 24, bridget mackenzie, nathan theien, | bridget and nate |
week 24- Wednesday
Week 24 - Wednesday Afternoon
Characters Bridget Mackenzie and Nathan Theien
Location The Farmhouse library
Summary Nate and Bridget run into each other and talk about various things, mostly other people.
Rating PG
With Louisa May’s instructions to cut back her workload relayed to Tom, Bridget’s duties had been reduced back yet further. Now all she had on her plate besides being a living incubator was educating the younger generation. It was probably for the best as she was really starting to feel the fatigue over the last week or two, but it still rankled a bit.
The young woman carefully made her way downstairs to the library, feeling sociable after getting a short nap in and not wanting to spend the day cooped up in her room. Alice was busy with her own tasks at the moment and Bridget didn’t want the other woman thinking she was hovering over her like a mother hen, so that meant parking her increasingly substantial butt on the library couch and settling down to read for a while.
Nate was bored, he didn’t have a lot on his plate that day and found himself wandering the farm house in search of something to do. He briefly considered hunting Holly down to chat with him, but as they had been avoiding each other since Holly’s big announcement, he’d decided it probably wasn’t the best idea.
So, the library it was. Nate had never been much of a reader before the end of the world, he even teased his sister regularly about the way she devoured books. Now? Nate had a book in his hand fairly regularly, with no electronics and no television Nate found the fantasy worlds and the various people a pleasant way to pass the time.
Entering the room, Nate saw the pregnant lady and smiled at her. He’d never had a conversation with her personally, and that was his fault. He couldn’t help but think of his wife when he saw her, and the fact that she was pregnant when the outbreak happened, but with time, it was easier to put that out of his mind. He was pretty good with names, he was pretty sure someone had said her name was Bridget but he wasn’t positive. “Hey, how’s it going?”
“Oh!” Bridget looked up from her book to see Abby’s brother enter the room and smiled back at him out of instinctive politeness. The two of them hadn’t had any conversations as yet so she didn’t really know much about him aside from what his sister had told her.
“Oh you know how it goes, a little of this and a little of that.” She waved a hand around to indicate the library in general. “Trying to keep myself out of the way and my mind occupied. How about yourself?”
“Not a hell of a lot.” He said with a shrug. “Things are going a little bit slow today, so I thought I would come in and grab a book. Apparently its a popular idea.” he paused. “I’m Nate, by the way.” He had seen her in passing, but couldn’t remember ever introducing himself to her, except for the large dinner on the day the group had joined them.
“I remember,” Bridget assured him. “It didn’t hurt that your sister and I chatted a bit a few days ago, that helped reinforce it. I’m Bridget, in case you didn’t hear back on Christmas.”
She gestured at the bookcases. “The library was kind of my idea so I try to keep track of what’s where. Grab a book and have a seat,” she smiled over at him. “I promise I won’t bombard you with questions if all you want to do is read.”
“I think Holly mighta mentioned that, the librarian thing.” He said with a grin as he wander to glance at a few books on a shelf, still within range of talking to the woman on the couch. “I don’t mind questions actually. I’m more of a talker than my sister, and I wasn’t much of a reader up until the end of electricity. So, if you have any, feel free to ask.” He glanced up at her with a grin, as he took one of the books off the shelf for further investigating.
“Oh that’s right, I forgot you and Holly had gotten to know each other.” Bridget watched him for a moment. Poor Holly, always falling for guys he can’t have. “If you take something out of the library, just write it down on the sign-out sheet and put your name by it so I know who has what.”
“She--He’s a pretty cool guy.” He said slowly, reading the back of the book he was holding. He looked up, when she began talking about the sign-out sheet and nodded his head. “What no ‘Bridget Approved’ library card?” He smirked at her.
“Do I look like the type that can chase people down to get them to return books or pay fines?” Bridget smirked back. “Be thankful I don’t make everyone get retina scans before I allow them in here.”
“Listen, if you could get that sort of technology to work in this place, I’d probably bow before you.” He chuckled a little bit, “And don’t worry, you’ll get your book back, I learned the hard way not to piss off a pregnant woman, I don’t know about you but my wife was a bit psycho when she was carrying our son.” His smirk was turned down just a tad, but still present.
Bridget’s own smirk faltered a bit. “My sister was pregnant too, and her mood swings were stuff of legend. I’ve been fairly even keeled for the most part, though the others might disagree with me.” Nate chuckled a little bit, Heidi had her moments of utter insanity, but he’d heard stories of people that had had it ten times worse. Honestly, he was just glad that it didn’t seem like Bridget would snap his head off out of the blue.
Time to change the subject. “So, you think the three of you will stick around once spring is here or are you going to keep heading south?” She really didn’t know what they had planned, and had to admit she was curious.
“Hard to say. If you’d asked me when we got here? I probably would have said we were leaving as soon as it warms up, cause Abby and I didn’t exactly have the best luck with out previous shelters. Now? I actually kinda like it here. Its a lot better than what else is out there, so I’d say we’re likely to stay as long as we can.” He shrugged, “Ultimately though, if Abby and Greg decide they want to head out into the sunset, I’ll be right behind him. Dude has done a lot of stuff for us, and I wouldn’t just ditch my little sister.”
That was interesting, were Abby and Greg an item? Bridget wouldn’t have thought the redhead would be interested in a relationship with any man for years to come. She leaned forward a bit and focused on him. “You think they’re going to get together?”
Nate just blinked. “What? Abby and Greg?” He just shrugged, the wheels in his head spinning rather slowly. “Hadn’t thought about it, at all really. All I meant by the comment was that if Greg and Abby both wanted to leave, I wouldn’t stay here regardless of how much I liked it.”
He paused again. “I don’t like guys near my sister, but... I suppose I don’t mind Greg. I don’t think she’ll be in a relationship for a good long time though, so I aint worried about it.”
Bridget wasn’t sure to be relieved or disappointed at his response. “Oh. Guess I misunderstood you then. I thought the same thing, which is why I was surprised.” She shook her head ruefully. “I guess I’m starved for gossip about something good for a change or the hormones are making me go crazy.”
“Eh, at least gossip’s normal. I wouldn’t come lookin’ at me for that kinda information though, I’m usually the last to know. Especially if it involves Abby.” He smiled.
“Brothers usually are clueless.” Bridget agreed with a smile, thinking of her own brothers. Time was helping to slowly ease the heartache that came with thinking of family. “I had four of them myself.”
“Aint that the truth. I only had two younger sisters, Abby and Victoria. I swear they plotted against me all the time. I think my confusion amused them, sinister sisters they were. I would have like a brother or two, at least that way the grounds would have been even, though probably not my sisters were sharp.” He smiled.
“I had two older and two younger,” Bridget confided. “My twin sister and I would plot against our older brothers all the time, and occasionally we’d join forces with the younger ones if there was something big going on or we wanted to present a united front. It was fun growing up in a large family.” And that much more heartbreaking when she became the last of them.
Nate just grinned, “My family was pretty small, but it was good. We were all pretty close, when my sisters weren’t teaming up against me anyway. My wife, Heidi, she had a pretty big family. Maybe gatherings pretty interesting.” He shrugged, a tiny bit awkward when he realized he really had no idea what happened to most of his in-laws. “I always thought it would be much cooler to have more brothers.”
“I always wanted more sisters, but at least I got sisters-in-law from my older brothers’ wives.” Bridget said after a moment’s thought. “I guess it depends on which side you’re on doesn’t it?” It was kind of a depressing topic, but at least her twins would always have one brother or sister.
“I suppose it does. In the grand scheme of things though, my sisters were as good as they come. I really cant complain.” Nate said, slipping some of the books he’d been holding back onto the shelf he’d gotten them from.
“I couldn’t really either.” Bridget nodded, watching him browse the bookshelves. “Do you mind if I ask you something?” She asked after a moment. “Feel free to tell me to back off if you want, but it’s a question that’s been bugging me for a while now: how is that guys can’t spot that Holly is a guy right off? I mean, I wasn’t sure the first time I met him but it was pretty clear after spending a few minutes with him.”
“I...” Nate started to answer, and then it occurred to him that he had no idea how to answer it. “I don’t know. He looked like a girl, I guess I just never gave thought to the fact he might not be. Had the long hair, the clothing, the make up, all and all he looked pretty nice. The voice mighta given him away, I guess, if I had been payin a whole lot of attention, but maybe she’d had some sort of voice problem, yanno? They say you only see what you want too, right?”
Bridget managed to avoid rolling her eyes at the response. “I suppose so. I know Holly is skinny and not super masculine like some people, but it still seems weird to me that guys can’t figure out he’s in drag.” Guys really were that focused on appearance. She didn’t want to believe it, but it seemed there wasn’t any other explanation. Dabble a pretty bauble in front of them and they were hypnotized.
“Well, it’s not like he did anything to alter that image.” Nate said, “I’m not throwin’ Holly under the bus here, he’s a pretty cool guy, but you’d think after the first time I called him ‘she’ he would have said something, right? I mean, say I started calling you a ‘he’ you’d say something, and I’d just be like ‘Well, I was mistaken’ and move on. It’s not like a look for Adam’s Apples in the women I come across. I’m a pretty simple guy, you look like a girl and let me refer to you as such, I’m going to assume you are one. Yanno?”
She didn’t want to admit it, but he had a valid point. “That’s true, I’ve got to give you that.” Holly’s past was his to tell, not Bridget’s so she couldn’t go into an explanation as to why he might be used to being referred to as a woman. “Holly is a good person, he’s been through a lot though.” Bridget paused, then shrugged. “I guess we all have in the past year or two.”
“You can say that again.” Nate muttered, “And I like Holly. It’s not like I’m going to up and not talk to him ever again cause he’s a dude, granted the flirting is pretty much over. But, I’m not that kinda dude, it was just a bit of a shock.” There was a bit of a smirk on his face as he spoke. Of course, Nate had no idea how to just up and strike a conversation with Holly because they had last ended on such an awkward note, but he certainly didn’t have anything against the other guy.
“I can imagine.” Bridget had to smile at that admission. At least they hadn’t done anything more than flirting. “Holly could use a friend who’s a guy, someone who can help him figure things out about what to do in this new world we’re in. He’s pretty confused about that right now.”
Nate grinned, “Ha! Well, I promise nothing. I barely know what the hell I’m doing these days. Hell, I’m not entirely sure anyone knows what they’re doin’ anymore. I’ll be sure to let Holly know when I figure it out thought, yeah?” He chuckled just a little bit. “Maybe I’ll find a book on it.”
Bridget chuckled “Good luck with that.”