InsaneJournal

Who: Nate and Scott
What: Clearing the air. Mostly
When: Last week?
Where: Tres Summers
Status: Complete
Rating: PG-13



Nate had been not sure of himself lately, not sure of where he stood, and he sighed as he went looking for his dad. He knew, even without talking to Elaine, or his mom, or Lorna, that it was the right thing to do. He sighed to himself. Right things were hard.

When he found his dad, he smiled, however, because every time he saw Scott, he found himself smiling widely. His dad. He had his dad again. Why had he resisted being the one to talk?

He was an idiot.

“Hey dad?”

Scott smiled at him. There was a tenseness in his face and his shoulders, but it had ebbed greatly as the distance between him and the events with Cerberus increased. Lorna had helped a great deal, too. “Hey.”

“How are you doing? Got a moment or two to talk?” He tried to keep it light, not wanting this to be any more bad than it could be. It was odd enough looking his dad in the eyes and knowing if he aged up again, he would have to look down to do the same.

“Always for you.” Scott took a seat, looking at his son with curiosity. He would give anything to give Nate the choice to be a kid again.

“Thanks.” Nate flopped in a seat, and then face his dad, full of energy as usual., And then… “Stop that.” He sighed. “You’re giving me that look again. I;’m not a kid, I have never been a real kid like other kids, and I never had a chance of being one. You need to deal with that.” He grumbled the words out./

“I love you, but seriously. Stop it.”

“I’ll deal with it. Eventually. When you’re eighty,” Scott retorted, lightly. “What do you need?”

“Just wondering if I can be involved in more of the things going on around here. Lately, it seems like a lot is happening and frankly, I’m feeling a little left out.”

Scott shook his head. “I opted to leave you out of the last one for a couple of reasons. One, I really do want you to try to have a more normal life, sixty year old in your head not withstanding. That, and you’re kind of a one man wrecking crew. I needed more of an infiltration team.”

Nate snorted at that. “One, I will never have a normal life. I’m a genius and have been so since I was born. I will never, ever, either have, or want, a normal life. And you trying to impose one on me by excluding me is insulting. Two, my dream self, is like a one man wrecking crew. I happen to be smarter, faster, and different than him him. Unlike most of the people in this county, I have not elected to become my dream self. Take some of his knowledge and skills, yes, but I am not Cable. In fact., I’m even going to be using a new code name when i start working on my own ideas. Bridge. It fits me better, anyway.”

He let the words flow out and then stopped, breathing heavier, before he nodded.

“Also, I wanted to let you know I’ll be taking Greymalkin offline and working on it, and possibly eventually moving it it an Earthbound location.”

Scott raised his eyebrows, and then nodded his head. “I’d feel better having you on an earthbound location, anyway. Leave space to Shepard and Kirk.”

Nate facepalmed. “Seriously?” Then he sighed. “Nevermind. Think we could work on my car this weekend? The transmission is acting up.”

“Nate, right now is the least good time to talk about anything involving code-names and everything that revolves around them. I’m praying for a few weeks of just having normal crises. Working on a car is exactly what I need.” Scott could step up to the plate when he needed to, but even he needed a break every once in awhile.

“Talking is sometimes good, whether or not the time is right, but okay. And good. The car can use some more experienced eyes. The tech I can handle, but the more normal components I am still learning my way around.”

Nate smiled a little.

“The mechanical components? Transmissions are always the worst.” Scott shook his head. Talking is good, but certain things could wait a bit.

Nate nodded, “Exactly.” He grinned at his father. “How’s the ranch going?”

“The ranch is actually a joy to work at lately. Even with some minor problems.” Scott scratched the back of his head. “The usual problems you have with teenagers.”

:Yeah? Cool. Sounds like a good thing. Teenagers can be crazy, but it can be fun, too, raising them, teaching them.” As they both knew.

“Yeah. It’s something I enjoy. Teaching them and training them.” It felt like a chance to give to people what he wished he could have given to Rachel or Nate.

Nate knew that want. and he nodded. “Good. Hopefully, the ranch will escape the madness for awhile.”

Scott somehow doubted that it would escape, but he hoped. And sometimes, you had to have hope. Maybe he was starting to feel that again. “Hopefully.”

Nate would do his best to keep the ranch safe. As well as he could anyway.

He smiled, then. “Want to get some lunch?”

“As long as it’s something patently unhealthy,” he joked in response.

" How about chicken fried steak and loaded baked potatoes?"

Scott smiled, and nodded his head. “Perfect.”