Disclaimer: Characters herein aren't mine. Except the cat. I'm not making any money, blah, blah, don't sue. This is part of TTaT, some loose understanding of the series would be good, but isn't strictly needed. It's just fluff, anyway.
Notes: This is part of the TTaT series (it's been an age, hasn't it?) Some loose understanding of the series would be good, but isn't strictly needed. It's just fluff, anyway. Set roughly six months after Neptune's Pull. Dedicated to Alicia and Lyssie, who wanted Clingy!Nate. It wasn't exactly a hard order to fill.
Only The Cat
By Timesprite
Morning had never been Nathan Summers' favorite time of day. He'd seen plenty of them, sure--wars tended not to wait patiently for the combatants to sleep in, and missions with the 'Pack had often stretched for days at a time without any of them seeing much in the way of rest. That didn't mean he'd ever learned to enjoy them. He especially didn't enjoy them when the T-O virus decided he'd gotten too complacent, and rectified the matter by acting up. His normal response to that was to sulk and take advantage of Dom's sympathy by curling up with her for a few extra hours. Unfortunately, Dom's side of the bed was vacant. It had been for more than a week, and as much as he hated to admit it, that was starting to bother him. Granted, she'd been working for Shield for nearly six months now, and he finally had his own law practice up and running to distract him, but they were still both home more often than they were apart. He was half-tempted to call G.W. and give him an earful for keeping his wife away from him. Only half tempted, however, because G.W. would laugh at him. And tell Domino. So instead of lingering happily in the arms of his partner, Nathan pushed himself wearily to his feet, and dragged himself to the bathroom where painkillers and a nice hot shower awaited him.
A short time later--clean, if not refreshed--he wandered out into the kitchen to start up the coffee maker. There was a loud 'meow' from the vicinity of the door, and with a sigh he wandered over to let Hazard in. The grey feline sauntered into the kitchen, shot him a disdainful look, and trotted out of the room, no doubt intent on finding Dom. "She's not here!" He yelled after him, then shook his head. "Oath, I'm talking to a cat. ...and now I'm talking to myself."
It was going to be a long weekend.
----
He'd consumed the entire pot of coffee while reading the newspaper, and had considered brewing another, but decided that spending the whole weekend wired wasn't likely to make him any less lonely. And he was lonely. It was probably silly--after all, he'd gone much longer without seeing Dom--years, in fact--but until she'd started the job with Shield, she'd been around on a daily basis, and he'd gotten far too comfortable with that arrangement. It wasn't that he resented the fact that she got called away frequently, leaving him to putter around the house. And it wasn't that he didn't like his own job--he'd always wanted to use his law degree for more than bailing out team members--it was just that he missed her when she was gone. Some particularly neurotic portion of his brain always worried that she wouldn't come back.
A quick flip through the television channels told him nothing worth watching was on, and his mind kept drifting back to the stack of work sitting on the desk in the living room, awaiting his attention. But something just seemed wrong about working on a Saturday, no matter how desperate he was.
----
"Sorry there ain't much more ta tell... it's been fairly quiet 'round here lately. Ah don't think anything's blown up in nearly a month. That's gotta be a record. So, Dom's still outta town?"
Cable eyed the phone, in lieu of giving his former student a dirty look. "Am I that obvious?"
"Well, the only time ya tend to call 'just to talk' is when she's been gone for at least three days or so."
"I'm getting predictable," he muttered.
"Well, hasn't she called or anythin'?"
"Not since Tuesday. She was headed out on a field assignment." He ran a hand back through his hair.
"Nothin' ta worry about then, right?"
"I suppose not."
There was the sound of something covering the mouthpiece, and muffled voices in the background before Sam spoke again. "Look, Ah gotta go. Tab made me promise ta go to lunch with her, an' she's gonna throw a fit if Ah don't get moving. Ah could call back tonight."
"No... that's fine, Sam. I have paperwork I should get done anyway."
"Alright, talk ta ya later then."
Cable set the phone back in its cradle, lingering momentarily at the kitchen windows before walking back into the living room. He glanced at the clock. It was only quarter to one. Muttering under his breath, he sat down at his heavy wood desk and began shuffling through the stack of work. Business had been good the last few months, and he had plenty to do, but it just didn't distract from the silence of the house. He toyed briefly with the idea of heading down to the office--he was used to the quiet there--but that required more effort than it was probably worth. He still felt vaguely run down, and the prospect of packing everything up just for a change of scenery just wasn't worth it.
Hunting around for his reading glasses--he really was getting old, he thought tiredly--he accidentally dislodged a medium sized purple teddy bear from its perch on the desk. Dom'd given it to him the first time he'd moped over her absence. He didn't know where she'd bought it--the idea of Dom wading through a toy store boggled his mind, despite the knowledge that she was the one who picked out his sister's Christmas and birthday presents. It was probably her idea of a good joke. He picked the stuffed bear, dusted it off a little, set it back atop a stack of legal reference books, and settled in to try and get some work done.
Halfway through, he'd lost interest--he'd done most of the pressing work, the rest would wait. Instead he'd tossed in laundry to be washed, and taken care of the week's worth of dishes he'd left stacked in the sink. With the dishwasher running, and laundry waiting to go into the dryer, he paused to grab a beer out of the fridge. Unfortunately, he failed to notice the cat crouched on top of said appliance until it leapt down onto his back and onto the floor. Claws pierced the thin material of his tee-shirt, and he straightened with a startled yelp, then cursed as he smacked his head on the inside of the fridge. Rubbing his head, he slammed the door shut, and stared balefully at Hazard, who sat watching a few feet away. He'd been sorely tempted on more than one occasion to just telekinetically dump the animal out a window, but Dom'd kill him if she ever found out.
Beer in hand, still muttering under his breath, he headed for the den, flopping down on the couch. Hazard followed him, sitting expectantly in the middle of the floor. He glared at the cat. "What do you want?" The cat just stared calmly at him. He glowered a moment longer before turning his attention to one of the couch pillows, beating on it more than was probably necessary before settling back on it. Hazard took the motion as an invitation to hop up on his chest and make himself at home. Nathan glared. The cat cracked one green eye open, gave him what he swore was an amused look, and closed it again, pointedly ignoring the annoyance of his chosen perch.
With an aggrieved sigh, he popped open the beer and flipped on the television. What he really needed, he thought, was a nap.
----
When he woke a few hours later, the house was still empty--much to his disappointment--and there was no message waiting for him on the machine. He'd been somewhat grouchy before, and the nap hadn't really improved his mood much. He was also hungry now, and feeling too sorry for himself to actually go out and get anything for dinner. He resorted to rummaging around until he found a frozen dinner instead, heated it up, and went to catch the evening news. If anyone had told him ten years ago that this is how he would end up, he would have laughed in their face. He still had to remind himself daily that Apocalypse was really dead, and that the only thing that stood between him and the realization of all his dreams were a few outbreaks of political unrest, and a few issues he and Dom didn't see eye to eye on. It was okay. He could compromise, after all, and he wasn't the sort to ever try to push her. And there was always the chance for change. For now, he was content to take it one day at a time. For the longest time, he'd been all but welcoming death. Now he was deathly afraid that it would all end too soon. There didn't seem enough time in the world for him, now. He'd always want one more day.
He set the plastic dinner tray on the floor for Hazard, who'd been eyeing him expectantly the entire time he'd been eating. Technically, the cat wasn't supposed to get table scraps. But if Dom could buy him annoying toys, he could teach him a few bad manners in retaliation. He wasn't against having a pet--it was just that Hazard followed the age-old adage that people don't have cats, cats have people. And he certainly wasn't one of the tabby's people. He had the sneaking suspicion that the feline would love to do away with him, just so he could have Dom's attention to himself. Nathan'd half heartedly brought up the idea of getting a dog, but Dom hadn't been enthused by the idea. Compromise, again. He could do that, he supposed. Even if he probably wouldn't have been half as lonely with a dog around. Dogs were good. Dogs were loyal and listened when you gave them orders. Dogs didn't have haughty attitudes that reminded him, disturbingly, of Stryfe.
Maybe he'd just have to talk with Dom about it a little more. That, or arrange to steal his little sister for visits. Dom might not mind that so much--though she seemed to get a bit twitchy whenever he was around small children. Which seemed odd, since, in general, Dom was pretty fond of Rachel. Maybe she thought it'd give him ideas. Sometimes, it did. But he didn't mention it, and she was okay with that, so he supposed it worked out in the end. Picking up the now-spotless tray, he went to deposit it in the trash and go back to the work he'd started earlier in the day.
----
It had been a long week.
A really long week. Had she not liked her job so much, Domino might have been tempted to quit. As it was, she planned on having a word with Fury on how he ran his organization. Shield's hiring guidelines needed improvement. She tried telling herself that she was just biased--that the agents she was in charge of were still green, that she'd been comparing them unfairly to X-Force--but frankly, she couldn't convince herself of it. There'd been one too many careless mistakes, even if they'd managed to get what they wanted done accomplished, and with minimal injuries. Not that she hadn't wanted to inflict a few on her team. The entire mission just left her feeling vaguely unsatisfied, and she kept having to tell herself that they just needed time to round off all the rough edges. She certainly hoped that was all they needed. But she didn't want to think of that right now. All she wanted to do was concentrate on getting home so she could take a nice long bath in her own tub, and then catch up on her sleep. The fact that Nathan was waiting for her was an added bonus. Hopefully he hadn't driven himself too insane alone by himself for a week. She didn't think she was up to dealing with that, even if she had missed him to an alarming degree. It had never been a problem before--and while the psilink kept at least a lingering trace of his presence with her at all times, she'd still been feeling the distance rather more than she'd expected. Probably due to the sheer amount of time they'd spent together in the last year. This was a change--not a bad one, but one she still hadn't gotten used to.
She pulled the jeep into the drive and dug her bag out of the back seat, catching a glimpse of a suspiciously familiar shadow in the kitchen window. Of course, Nathan would have been able to tell she was getting closer. She could have phoned, or given a mental yell, but that seemed too desperate somehow, so she'd just gotten off the plane and into the car and started driving, knowing he'd know. And she knew he'd pretend he hadn't been watching for her. True to form, he was sitting at the kitchen table with papers spread out in front of him, sipping coffee when she walked in. He stood when he saw her, and she dropped the bag next to the door, accepting the embrace he gave her happily.
"How was work?"
"Mph." She rested her head on his shoulder briefly, eyes closed.
"That bad?"
She pulled away and sank into a chair, sighing. "They were rookies. That's all, really. But I think I've become spoiled. You would have lost your temper with them."
"They're just kids."
"I do keep telling myself that." She slipped off her jacket, and reached down to Hazard as he rubbed up against her ankles and meowed loudly. "What'd you do, starve the poor cat?"
Nathan grumbled under his breath. "I fed him. He's just sucking up. You eat?"
Dom frowned. "Yeah, at..." She glanced at her watch. "Well, I guess that was about seven hours ago now."
He rubbed her shoulders and she sighed appreciatively. "Want a sandwich or something?"
She cracked an eye open and looked up at him. "And a glass of milk?"
"Sure."
She leaned forward on her elbow as he went to rummage through the fridge. "So, I take it your week was uneventful?"
He glanced over his shoulder. "Very." He set all the sandwich supplies out on the counter, along with the gallon of milk, and started putting it all together. "Talked to Sam earlier today."
"Oh? Problems?"
"Not really," he shrugged. "He couldn't talk long. I think Tabitha was threatening to maim him."
"Wonderful." Dom sighed again, tracing idle patterns on the table with her finger. "What are we going to do about them?"
"We?" Nate arched an eyebrow at her as he handed her the food. "It's not our business."
She stuck her tongue out at him. "You know what I mean." She took a bite of the sandwich.
He sat down across from her. "Honestly? They need to sort it out themselves."
"Oh, like we did?"
"Well, hopefully it won't take them twenty years."
"Hmm." She nodded, concentrating on her meal. She finished, got up to put the dishes in the sink. "Did some straightening up, did you?"
"Hm?"
"There's not a week's worth of dishes piled in here."
"It was a slow day."
She leaned over and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. "Well I appreciate it. And I think I'm going to bed now."
He tried to suppress a small noise of disappointment, and failed. Dom arched an eyebrow at him as she collected her bag from the floor. "Well, I am tired." She frowned. "You alright?"
He shrugged. "I'm fine. I'll just come with you." He got up, and slipped an arm around her waist, hugging her again briefly.
Dom laughed. "Y'know, I should leave you alone more often. You're much more appreciative when I come back."
"I'm always appreciative," he murmured. "I just don't like sharing."
"You're horrible."
"I missed you."
"So I see." She tossed her bag on the bedroom floor and dug around in the dresser for pajamas.
Nathan lounged against the headboard. "Sure you're tired?"
"Yes, you lout," she smirked. "Why?"
"That's not much of a nightgown."
"You're just a lecherous old man," she snorted, flipping back the covers.
"So?"
"So, save it for morning."
"Okay," he chuckled, settling in next to her. She melted effortlessly into his side, and he slid an arm around her waist, closing his eyes contentedly. "Glad you're home," he murmured.
She snuggled in closer, letting all of the tension and aggravation of the previous week melt away. "Yeah, me too."
Nathan allowed himself a small smile of satisfaction as Dom settled into his arms. This was better. This, he could do forever. Just lay there, basking in her nearness, letting her make the world something he could live in again, instead of being apart from. Filling in the places in him that had been void for far too long.
There was the slight sensation of something dropping lightly onto the mattress behind him. A moment later, a paw stepped lightly onto his leg, as if gauging the footing. With a smirk, he reached out with his TK, and hoisted the cat off the bed. #I don't think so.# He doubted the cat really understood English, but that hardly mattered. He let the animal go, and with a 'thunk' Hazard hit the floor. Nate could hear the sound of paws skittering off across the wood floor.
"Nate?" Dom murmured sleepily. "What was that?"
"Nothing." He tightened his grip on her ever so slightly and kissed the crown of her head. "Go back to sleep."
-Fin-