Part Five

Domino had spent the rest of the day keeping a wary eye on her partner. The nervous feeling in the pit of her stomach wouldn't go away... the more she'd contemplated it, the more she was convinced there was something very wrong with their link--there had been since she'd 'felt' the accident happen, and it hadn't gotten better. Nathan didn't even seem to notice it was there.
She rolled over, muttering under her breath as she beat on the pillow. She lay back down, yanking on the covers and closing her eyes. It was no use; no matter how hard she tried to sleep, the link kept buzzing agitatedly, keeping her awake. She heard Nathan murmur something under his breath and she cursed; waking him was the last thing she'd wanted to do.

He rolled over, eyeing her blearily. "Something wrong?"

"Can't sleep," she sighed.

"You've got a prescription to take care of that, you know."

"Yeah...but if I take it now I'll end up sleeping half the damned day."

"You have something important to do tomorrow?"

She sighed again. "You're right." She made a mental note to deal with the link problem tomorrow--one way or another--as she slid out of bed.

Nathan waited for her to come back, folding her into his arms. "Something wrong? You seemed... tense today."

"Nah. Just... I dunno. An off day, I guess," she lied. There was a wash of compassion over the link--meant to be comforting, she was sure, but it only served to emphasize whatever it was that had gone wrong with their psilink. It also proved he really didn't sense that there was something wrong. She swallowed hard and was suddenly glad she'd taken his suggestion--there was no way she'd be sleeping, otherwise.

----

It was quarter after twelve by the time she woke, and Nathan had left a note stuck to the coffee pot saying he was going to do some running around. He'd be back by four. She sighed, scrounging up a bowl of Cheerios for lunch because she didn't feel up to anything more complicated. The change in proximity, she noted, had not resolved the issue with the psilink. She finished eating and rinsed out her bowl before finally working up the nerve to pick up the phone. She had the number memorized--even if she hadn't, Nate had stuck it on speed dial. She waited through the first two rings, going over just what the hell she was going to say. On the fourth, someone picked up.

"Hello?"

"Summers... is your wife there?"

"Domino? What--"

"Nothing's wrong," she cut him off. "Not seriously anyway. I need to talk to Jean."

"Sure... hold on..." Shuffling noises ensued, then Jean picked up.

"Domino?"

"Jean. God, I feel stupid for calling like this, but it was either you or Xavier, and--"

"Hold on. Is something wrong?"

She sighed. "Maybe. I'm not sure."

"Okay...maybe we should start from the beginning here. What happened?"

Domino ran a hand back through her hair. "Nate knocked himself out the other day... and while that's hardly a rare occurrence, the link's been sort of...off ever since. I don't think he realizes it, though."

"Off? How?"

"Fuzzy--I don't know. I'm not a telepath here, that's why I'm calling. He didn't have a concussion--I know what that feels like. This is different."

"What was he doing at the time?"

"Don't know exactly, I wasn't here. Stacking crates in the basement, apparently. He said it 'slipped' and he somehow managed to hit his head on the wall. Must have been out for about fifteen minutes. The virus was stable, but I don't know if it was because I got to him right away... I know his telekinesis took a big hit after--" she shifted the phone. "Well, I managed to work it out of him, anyway. Think he thought if he didn't say anything I'd somehow fail to notice."

"He didn't tell you?"

Domino snorted. "Of course not. He's a lunkhead when it comes to things like that. I'm sure it was just stubborn pride on his part... but he doesn't seem interested in really discussing it, either, which is why I'm calling. I don't know what to do. I really don't think he realizes anything's wrong."

"That is a bit disconcerting," Jean replied. "He won't talk to you?"

"I tried bringing it up. But I am, apparently, over reacting. Which is possible, I guess. I'm not any good at dealing with this shit. Any ideas?"

"Nothing that's a quick fix. And I'd be inclined to trust your concerns... Do you think you could talk him into flying out here?"

"I can probably twist his arm into coming if you think he should."

"It might be a good idea, just to make sure. Henry can make sure it's nothing physical while we're at it."

"Yeah, okay. I'll see what I can do. Thanks, Jean." She ended the call and hung up the phone. Now all she had to do was wait for Nathan to come back.

----

"Why are we doing this again?"

"I believe you said it was because I'm 'paranoid.'"

He sighed, shifting in his seat. "I'm not going to be forgiven for that, am I?"

"Haven't decided yet." Dom let her eyes drift around the plane's interior. "Given how grumpy you're being, maybe I'm justified."

"I hate commercial flights."

"Well, excuse me for not wanting to make a nine hour detour," she retorted.

Cable muttered under his breath and turned to stare out the small plane window at the runway. "I just don't think this is necessary."

"And I do. Since you keep insisting there's nothing wrong, either I am being paranoid, or you really managed to knock yourself for a loop. Look, If I'm wrong, you get gloating rights."

"Wonderful," he replied sardonically.

She smacked him on the arm. "Stop acting like a spoiled brat, okay? It's getting old. What's your problem today, anyway?"

He glanced over at her and shook his head. "Nothing."

"Well, that's just great," she grumbled, settling back in her seat as the plane finished boarding and the attendants began the pre-flight announcements. She closed her eyes and rested her head against the seat back as the plane took off. She'd gotten precious little sleep the night before--Nathan hadn't been exactly pleased with her, and the animosity hadn't helped with the disturbance on the link. If not for the timing, she would have been more inclined to believe it was all on her end--after all the shit that had gone down in the last year, it wouldn't have been surprising. And she still hadn't told Nate about G.W.'s offer... she was going to have to, eventually. Now wasn't the time, she told herself, and secretly wondered if there ever would be. She needed to get off the fence and just decide. She could tell G.W. no, and that would be the end of it... but she didn't want to. She sighed and snuck a glance over at Nate, who was obstinately staring out the window. Later. When she wasn't so tired. Sure, that'd work.

----

The plane landed without incident, and miraculously on time. Dom pulled their bags from the overhead bin and handed Nathan his as they made their way out of the plane and into the airport, swamped with a throng of people departing and arriving. Nate was cursing in Askani under his breath. At least, it certainly sounded like cursing--Dom never had managed to grasp much of the language. 'And he's the only one who'll ever know it now,' she thought, the realization catching her slightly off guard. The pang of sympathy didn't last long--he'd switched to swearing in English instead and was giving fellow travelers rather scathing looks. "Why is it," she asked, "when you decide we need to visit, I'm supposed to tag along without complaint--"

"You always complain."

"I'm going to ignore that remark. Why is it, the one time I say we need to go, you bitch up a storm?"

"Maybe it has something to do with being treated like a four year old," he replied dryly. "There's Scott."

"Oh, good. You can whine at someone else for awhile." She waded through the crowed, waving a hand to catch the X-Man's attention. "Thank god. Take charge of your son before I kill him."

To his credit, Scott didn't so much as bat an eye. Not that anyone could tell.

----

"Still mad at me?" She'd found Nathan hidden in the library, apparently in an effort to both avoid the rest of the house's occupants and plunder Xavier's collection of interesting browsing material. Given the way his memory worked, she occasionally wondered just how much information he'd managed to pack away over the years.

"I wasn't mad at you."

"Coulda fooled me."

He sighed. "Did you have to go behind my back?"

"Would you have ever come on your own?"

"Probably not," he admitted.

"Well, there you go, then. I've got a vested interest in keeping you around, you know." She rested a hand on his shoulder. "Anyway, you get the rest of today to hide. Tomorrow, we get to see if I really am a raving paranoid or not."

"I don't think you're paranoid. I just--"

"Don't believe me," she said wryly. "You've made that quite apparent."

He sighed. "I don't see anything wrong with the link. Maybe--"

"Maybe it's just me." She shook her head and stood. "Well, we'll certainly find out, won't we?"

----

"Nathan! How wonderful to see you walking in under your own power." The blue doctor bounded over as Nate and Dom entered the lab.

"Can we just get this over with?" Nate glowered, looking around with irritation stamped on his features.

"Nate! Stop being an asshole. Hank's just doing what Jean and I've asked him to."

"Dom, I had to stare at this ceiling for three months. After that long, you'd be irritable too."

"Well hell, after all that, ten more minutes'll be easy," she grinned.

"She's perverse," he said, turning to McCoy.

"So I've noticed," the blue-furred doctor replied. "I believe you know the drill?"

"Unfortunately all to well," Nate replied dryly as they made their way to the scan room.

The machine looked like something out of any decently equipped hospital despite its decidedly alien origin, Domino noted. Well, it was designed for use on humanoids, anyway. Maybe that accounted for the similarity. She watched Nate lay down on the machine's bed with a weary sense of familiarity. "Poor guy," she commented as Beast started up the equipment. "Guess I never bothered to consider how sick he probably is of being poked and prodded and crap."

"Quite possible. He was a less than... agreeable patient."

"I bet." She fell quiet as the machine continued to hum quietly. "He was pretty banged up... after the whole deal in Akkaba? He never really said much."

Henry glanced over at her. "He was in a coma for nearly three weeks. Actually, I think I preferred him that way. Much easier to deal with," he grinned, looking up from the display. The hum ended abruptly. "And we are done."

Nathan walked over and leaned in the doorway. "Do we have a verdict?"

"You have a hard head," Dom quipped.

"Cute." He shot back. "McCoy?"

The doctor adjusted his glasses as he focused on the screen. "Everything seems to be perfectly normal--or at least corresponds to the previous scans on file. Though I would recommend avoiding further blows to the head if at all possible."

"I'll make him wear a crash helmet from now on," Dom joked, slipping her arm through Nate's. "Thanks."

"Any time," he replied absently, already absorbed in other work.

"Well, that's one point for you," Dom commented as they headed back up to the main level. "Although, don't get me wrong, I'm extremely grateful you didn't give yourself brain damage."

"You always say the most touching things, Dom," he smirked.

"Oh... shut up."

----

"Well, this is cozy. Wish it were for more pleasant circumstances." Jean commented, settling into a wingback chair facing Cable and Domino. They'd agreed upon using the library for Jean's examination of the link--it was out of the way, and that made for a lesser chance of interruptions. "I really need to look at the whole link. The problem could be at either end." She glanced at Domino. "I know you're not comfortable with this, but I promise I'm going to be concentrating on the link. Nothing else."

"Yeah, okay." She sighed and cast a nervous look at Nathan. 'Well, this was my idea,' she thought wryly.

"Okay. Well, get comfortable. This might take a bit. Nathan, I'd like to start with your end... we'll save Domino the apprehension, if possible."

He nodded, and Dom watched as the two telepaths closed their eyes. She never knew what to do in situations like this--despite all the time she'd spent around Nathan and, to a lesser extent, other telepaths, the whole thing seemed foreign to her. After a few minutes, the creepy feeling that neither of them were really 'there' at all started to get to her, and she shut her eyes, willing herself to relax as best she could, given the circumstances.

#Domino?# The telepathic voice nearly made her jump free of her skin. The room had been so silent that her mind had started wandering from the task at hand. #Sorry about that.#

'It's okay,' she sent back meekly. 'No luck, huh?'

#I'm afraid not.# Jean sounded genuinely sympathetic, causing Dom to wonder just how badly she was letting her anxiety leak through. #I'll try to be quick about it,# the telepath promised. #It'll go faster if you just try and relax. All right?#

'Sure, no problem,' she responded wryly.

Stepping delicately into Domino's mind, Jean focused directly on the link with Nathan, and frowned. There must have been a sort of 'blind' spot on Nathan's end--from Domino's end of the link the interference was clear as day. Cautiously, she reached out to touch it, trying to get a better grasp on just what it might be. As she did so, it reacted, pulling away from her touch. #What on earth--# She tried again to snare it, but this time, it recoiled, shrinking in on itself before vanishing completely.

Domino's eyes flew open as she caught herself on the arm of the chair. "What the hell was that?" Across the room, Nathan was giving both of them a worried look.

"I don't know," Jean admitted, still reeling slightly from the contact. "It's gone now, whatever it was."

"It was on my end, then?"

"No." Jean shifted to look at Nate. "You didn't feel any of that, did you?"

"No."

Jean felt silent for a moment. "There was some sort of blind spot keeping you from seeing it. I couldn't even detect, but it was definitely on your end."

"So what was it?" Domino asked again.

"I'm not sure. It didn't seem dangerous. It--I'm not even sure it wasn't just a misalignment--a snarl of some kind that I untangled. It was gone before I could really get a good feel for it. At any rate, unless it reoccurs, or some other problem presents itself, I wouldn't worry too much."

Dom nodded silently. It certainly felt better--the absence of that buzz was like the sudden relief from a migraine. "If you're not concerned, I guess I can handle that." She glanced over at Nathan again, and despite the relief she felt, she couldn't shake off all her lingering doubts.

----

Domino took long strides across the leaf strewn lawn of the estate, muttering under her breath. Her partner had never been an easy person to keep up with. "Y'know, it wouldn't kill you to admit, for once, that you were wrong." Nate gave her an exasperated look over his shoulder and kept walking. "Nathan!"

"What?" He stopped, turning to look at her. "Fine, you were right. Can we go home now?"

She snorted, yanking her jacket shut against the chill November air. "No. Nice try though. Nate... I'm really not trying to nag you or anything here. But... geez. You scared the living shit out of me, okay? That whole frantic drive back, I thought I was going to get home and--" She broke off, glancing away. "I was afraid, okay? And I don't ever want to feel that way again. We both know this is the right thing to do. Jean thinks she can help you, and I see no reason not to try. Granted, I know I'm not the one doing all the work..."

His expression softened and he reached out to take her hand. "It's okay. And you're right." He gave her a wry look. "I don't like admitting I'm back to square one here."

"There's nothing wrong with that, Nate. Christ, from what I heard, you just about turned Apocalypse into strawberry jelly. I mean, it's not exactly surprising that your powers aren't as good as they used to be."

"It's just the TK," he admitted. "That's the maddening part."

"Figures," she replied dryly. "Well, considering the alternative..."

"Yeah." He slid an arm around her waist. "Small price to pay."

----

Nathan sat on the couch in the den, sorting through reports he'd gotten from Scott, after offering to 'look over' the information. There were still no leads on the biotech bombings that had begun earlier in the year, and for once, the X-Men were as in the dark as the other authorities. He had to admit, looking over the material, he wasn't seeing a whole lot of connection himself. Domino had flipped on the late news, though he somewhat doubted her interest in anything it had to report. He saw her stifle a yawn out of the corner of his eye and looked up. "If you're tired, why don't you go sleep?"

"Don't want to," she shrugged. "It's not that late."

"You didn't sleep last night, either," he pointed out.

"So?"

"Oath, do you have any idea how hypocritical you're being?"

"Hey, I had a legitimate concern. Me not sleeping is nothing new."

"It's also not normal."

She crossed her arms, glaring at him. "So I don't feel like drugging myself. I spent four years of my life doing that, if you'll recall. I don't really want to get back in the habit."

He sighed, setting aside his work on the nearby end table. "If you don't want to be alone, just say so."

"I didn't say that."

"You were thinking it," he replied. "Rather loudly, in fact."

"Damnit..." She muttered. "I wish you'd stop that."

"Then don't project so much." She stuck her tongue out at him and he shook his head in mock irritation. "C'mon. Jean's going to want to start training tomorrow, so I might as well go too." She continued to glower at him, and with a sigh, he reached over and grabbed her around the waist. "Bed."

She swore inventively under her breath. "I just had to fall for someone capable of manhandling me, didn't I? Put me down, Nate."

"You don't want to be held? I'm hurt." He looked down at her, smirking. She pursed her lips and glared at him some more, but didn't say anything. Her silence didn't go unnoticed, however, and he found himself wondering why she was suddenly so desperate for the proximity of another human being. It was hard to tell with her--she was always battling between the urge to shove everyone away, and the need to know she was wanted. Two conflicting fears warring with one another.

"You're gonna wake half the house," she grumbled. "Your voice carries, y'know."

"I won't. It's not that late, remember?" His arms tightened around her a little more as he started up the stairs.

"I should really be annoyed at you for hauling me around like a little kid."

"But you're not going to be, are you?"

"Nah." Her head rested against his arm. "You're kind of cute when you get possessive, you know that?"

"I'm not being possessive." He telekinetically popped the door to their room open. "You were tired and being stubborn."

Domino snorted. "Oh, come off it. I could practically hear the mental 'mine!' coming from you Nate."

He gave her a sheepish look as he set her on the bed. "Oops?"

She stretched and went to retrieve her pajamas. "Oh, don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining." She pulled a tee-shirt over her head. "You're right, I guess. Really don't wanna be alone tonight." She flipped back the covers as Nate changed, and slipped into bed. "Besides, this place is drafty as hell. I need my human bed warmer."