Devon’s grand plans for Haven involved grasping for as much positive PR as possible whenever possible. Over the year, this led to coordinating patrols and resources for rifters, helping the response efforts to wild fires, and hosting events that naturally went off the rails. The last one came with more stress once the bizarre mutant antics of Halloween (and the Halloweens preceding it) became a SUPER talking point.

Managing operations and handling literal and figurative fires was, put plainly, exhausting. Thanksgiving was now behind them, so had a very small break from organizing food drives, mutant shelters, and elaborate donor dinners until they had to repeat the effort for the Christmas season.

Keeping things running was draining, but at least it was a team effort. Devon was very hands on as always, but it was the addition of Sveta to the Inner Echelon that really made things more manageable. Devon was great, but he could get hyper-focused. He was “The Founder” after all, putting him slightly outside the IE proper. Sveta and Nate could relate to each other and share the burden. Sveta’s sense of humor made a long day shorter, so with their plates so full, she turned out to be a valuable friend.

Now that they had a moment to come up for air, they deserved a night of actual relaxation. With a fully stocked bar recently added to Nate’s apartment, he wanted to break it in with a night of friendly drinking.

Norah’s night drinking was of the warm milk variety, accompanied by a cookie to appease her and encourage her to sleep and let the adults have their time. Sitting on the couch in her PJs, Norah spoke through a chunk of cookie. ”Do I have to go to bed, daddy?”

Nate shook his head and smiled. ”You have to go to your room when Miss Sveta gets here. You can have an extra half hour on the tablet if you’re very good.” Norah’s access to her tablet was limited, but it came in useful when convincing a young child to get into bed, where she would inevitably fall asleep on her own.

There was a knock at the door just on time. ”And there she is now.” Nate walked to the entryway and opened the door. ”Hey, I hope you’re ready for a well-deserved drink for surviving Autumn somehow.”

The fall season had been quite a trip. As usual, in the most unusual ways. Being part of Haven's IE was a full time job. Sveta enjoyed most of it, but when it compiled with strange mutant attacks, forest fires, and paperwork, it tended to wear her down a little. It was apparently the same for others - or at least for Nate, who decided to invite her over for celebratory snacks and drinks, before things got Christmas-crazy. Since he practically lived down the hallway, and they hung out a lot anyway, Sveta arrived in comfortable clothing and a few bottles, hoping the kid was already in bed anyway.

>>”Hey, I hope you’re ready for a well-deserved drink for surviving Autumn somehow.”

"You bet I am" Sveta grinned as the door opened. For once, they were not getting together to mope, or plan, or deal with anyone's feelings. Good old fashioned celebratory drinks were just what Sveta needed. She walked in and looked around, once for the spider and once for the kid. "Offspring's already in bed?"

It was reassuring to see Sveta looking dressed-down and comfortable. They both spent too much time looking professional, so it was nice to have friend he could hang around with in his worn-in jeans and t-shirt. They were past going out of their way to impress each other, which was nice.

Nate looked over his shoulder. ”Almost. Norah, sweetheart?”

Norah lit up, scrambling to her feet to get to the entrance. ”Hi, Miss Sveta!” the little one beamed.

With his daughter at his side, Nate mussed Norah’s dark hair with his hand. ”You’re going to be a good girl and go to bed now, right?”

”Yes, daaaad.” A begrudging yes if he ever heard one, but Nate would take it.

In the corner of his eye, Nate spotted a skittering form climbing on the back of a couch. Ah, right. ”And because you’re such a good girl, you can take Parker with you.”

That was the pick-me-up his daughter needed. She loved the pet arachnid, and Parker in turn was protective of his affectionate mini-owner. ”Okay! Goodnight, Miss Sveta!” Norah offered a polite bow before running off to collect Parker and head to her room.

Nate grinned. ”I think I’m getting better at bribing her. Please, come in,” he welcomed, leading her into the apartment.

>>”Hi, Miss Sveta!”

"Hi Norah" Sveta smiled, tactfully hiding the bottles behind her back. It was still strange, to have a friend and a fellow vigilante who was also a dad to a little girl. Especially when one was coming over for drinks. Norah was all-around adorable, though, which mitigated the situation.

>>”You’re going to be a good girl and go to bed now, right?”

>>”Yes, daaaad.”

>>”And because you’re such a good girl, you can take Parker with you.”

"Sleep tight" Sveta smiled as she watched the girl go, before she deposited her bag on the kitchen table. Not like they were planning on getting too rowdy, but she hoped Norah was going to and sleep like a good kid.

>>”I think I’m getting better at bribing her.”

"Parents gotta parent" Sveta grinned "She'sgonna freak the hell out of some kids with that spider one day, you know that right?"

Ideally, Norah would have stayed the night at a friend’s house, but with a winter bug passing around her grade, her friend’s mom called to let Nate know her daughter was sick in bed. Nate considered rescheduling with Sveta when Norah visited her mother over the holidays, but who knew if they would have any time to themselves by then? He trusted Norah to behave, and the adults did not have crazy plans for the night.

”She’ll be genuinely surprised when they have a problem with him, too.” Nate grabbed some bottles from the liquor cabinet, joining Sveta at the kitchen table. ”I should probably give warnings to parents before she brings friends home, though, just in case.”

Grabbing two glasses from a cabinet, Nate slid one across the table to Sveta. ”Come to think of it, I should probably be warning anyone about Parker. In hindsight, it’s shocking he hasn’t been more detrimental to my love life than he has been.” Of the women Nate had been involved with, only Natalie never warmed up to the affectionate arachnid.

Looking over the options, Nate picked up one of the bottles and smirked. ”Alright, pick your poison.”

>>”She’ll be genuinely surprised when they have a problem with him, too. I should probably give warnings to parents before she brings friends home, though, just in case.”

Sveta chuckled, imagining the reactions the giant spider might get, from kids and parents alike. She could imagine some of the little ones getting quite excited, to the genuine horror of the adults.

"Honestly, warn the parents. I think most kids will find him awesome."

>>”Come to think of it, I should probably be warning anyone about Parker. In hindsight, it’s shocking he hasn’t been more detrimental to my love life than he has been.”

Sveta made a surprised face.

"Nate. Don't tell me you've brought women home without telling them you had a giant *ss spider for a pet."

Geez. Men.

>>”Alright, pick your poison.”

Sveta got to work on a bottle of wine. No reason to go straight to hard liquor, at least not until they could make sure Norah was asleep, happily cuddling her arachnid.

Nate was unsure of how Norah compared to "most kids," particularly when it came to her love of giant pet spiders, so Nate wanted to take precautions to ensure his daughter did not become "the weird spider girl" at her school. Keeping Parker in his own room was a strategy that worked so far, but the spider was mischievous and prone to sneaking out of rooms, along the outside of the Haven building, and anywhere he could cause trouble. Nate would take the time soon to work out a rational prepared speech of warning for parents of friends and base the effectiveness on the volume of screaming or swearing he got in return.

As for the women Nate dated... well, maybe a prepared speech would be smart there as well. Then again... "So I have maybe forgotten to give advance warning to Quin. Or Sarah. Or Nat. But I had valid reasons why that slipped my mind all three times that we definitely don't need to expound upon or analyze on such a merry night of drinking."

Watching Sveta open a bottle of wine, Nate proactively grabbed appropriate glasses. "You've gotta remember, I only started this whole 'telling the truth' thing like six years ago, and that may be generous. I'm still breaking the habit of hiding things and being mysterious all the time. I think that warrants a little slack, don't you?" Nate raised his glass once it was full and smirked. "Cheers."

Nate might have forgotten to warn his dates about the megaspider lurking in his apartment. No wonder he was not in a relationship (but close to a miracle that no one has gotten a heart attack at Haven yet). Sveta rolled her eyes.

>> "So I have maybe forgotten to give advance warning to Quin. Or Sarah. Or Nat. But I had valid reasons why that slipped my mind all three times that we definitely don't need to expound upon or analyze on such a merry night of drinking."

"Practice safe sex, Nate. Warn your partners about the giant spider."

The wine was opened, and not a moment too soon.

>>"You've gotta remember, I only started this whole 'telling the truth' thing like six years ago, and that may be generous. I'm still breaking the habit of hiding things and being mysterious all the time. I think that warrants a little slack, don't you? Cheers."

"Cheers" Sveta smirked, raising her glass "Hey, who am I to judge? I have half a dozen alter-egos, and no boyfriends that stick around. Then again... no spider either." she grinned "You're doing just fine."

Nate deserved the ribbing Sveta gave him for his track record when it came to Parker, so he would not defend himself on that front. "Okay, fair enough. All I'll point out is I have had a surprising amount of luck with men and women for someone who has a thirty pound spider hanging around." One day he would find out the limits to his southern charm, but until then, he was going to ride that blessing out.

Many people could not understand the life Nate used to lead, with all the deception and double-life juggling. It was refreshing to know at least one person who had her own checkered past and would not judge him harshly for his own. "For the record, all those guys were quitters and fools." Yes, Sveta was a mutant nuke in a worst case scenario, but she was also witty and gorgeous, and that warranted that kind of risk.

"So did you ever give your aliases backstories?" he asked, between sips of his wine. "That was basically required in my line of work, but I don't know how other people faking their identity handle things. Any fun made-up background? Maybe a silly name? I won a poker game drunk as Jimmy Buffet once, so I promise not to judge." It was a good rule of thumb as a conman never to use a famous name, but in Nate's defense, it was just poker and he was drunk.

>> "Okay, fair enough. All I'll point out is I have had a surprising amount of luck with men and women for someone who has a thirty pound spider hanging around."

"Dat is statistically true" Sveta nodded. She could not argue with numbers. The fact that Nate was getting laid at all proved a strong point.

>>"For the record, all those guys were quitters and fools."

Sveta sighed, and drank more wine. It was easy to judge all of them, from Iron Mouth to Matt, but she had to admit that most of the cases were a lot more complicated than simply men being a**holes. As much as she would have loved to believe that.

>>"So did you ever give your aliases backstories? That was basically required in my line of work, but I don't know how other people faking their identity handle things. Any fun made-up background? Maybe a silly name? I won a poker game drunk as Jimmy Buffet once, so I promise not to judge."

"Only for the first one" Sveta admitted, after laughing at his admission "The mail order bride thing had to look better on paper than I did... after dat, I mostly recycled Effie a couple of times. And the Red Russian did not need a backstory, that was horribly as it was already."

She did not name her vigilante persona, but it sure did hit a glaring stereotype...

Nate drank deeply from his glass. He drank wine for social events, but he had to keep his wits about him during Haven affairs. It was refreshing to knock a drink back without potentially causing a political incident.

Of the many paths life could take someone, mail-order bride was one Nate had only heard once. Knowing Sveta started there only made it more impressive how far she had come. Of course, some of her endeavors since then were equally interesting, like her stint as a vigilante with a name Nate could not help but chuckle at. "Okay, of all the names I've ever had, even I have to admit, I've never had anything quite as bad as the Red Russian. That sounds straight out of a seventies comic book, before they knew better."

Nate swirled the wine in his glass, musing on that particular career path. "For half a minute, I thought I might try the vigilante thing. Quin would have had none of it when we were together, but after all that, I was working at the Mansion. I was either going to end up a vigilante or finding a conscience and turning myself in. Clearly I couldn't turn down the fun of a multi-year prison sentence." That felt so long ago now. Sometimes Nate felt like those four years came at some other man's expense, like another disposable identity.

>> "Okay, of all the names I've ever had, even I have to admit, I've never had anything quite as bad as the Red Russian. That sounds straight out of a seventies comic book, before they knew better."

"I didn't ask for it. I just had a red mask and a Russian accent." Sveta grinned. He was absolutely right with that assessment.

>>"For half a minute, I thought I might try the vigilante thing. Quin would have had none of it when we were together, but after all that, I was working at the Mansion. I was either going to end up a vigilante or finding a conscience and turning myself in. Clearly I couldn't turn down the fun of a multi-year prison sentence."

"I did after I found out at the Mansion that I am a very bad team player" Sveta admitted, taking her glass and taking a seat on the couch "By dat time I was too well trained not to do anything when people were in trouble... but also I was trained to fight in ways the X-men can't allow themselves to do on camera..."

Nate nodded, understanding the implication. The X-Men had their benefits and he was friendly with several of the members of their team. Even as Haven, they all recognized the convenience of having the X-Men out there, as acquaintances, but more so as resources.

Of course, the X-Men way of handling things could only go so far. "And that's why you fit in with us. Smiling and waving for the camera is important, but sometimes you have to know what needs to be done behind the scenes when no one is watching."

Nate followed Sveta to the couch, bringing along the wine bottle in case they wanted a refill. "I personally think you're a great team player. Provided your team is on the same page." With Norah in his life, now more than ever, Nate valued the Haven mission and the people he could trust to hold true to it. He never doubted whether Sveta fell in that camp.

>>"And that's why you fit in with us. Smiling and waving for the camera is important, but sometimes you have to know what needs to be done behind the scenes when no one is watching."

Sveta had to admit that when Nate said it like that, it sounded pretty nice. Said in another context, it would have sounded insidious. The X-men generally did things for the right reasons, but they were also limited by fighting bigotry simultaneously, and doing everything by a book that was not meant to include mutant powers. Context mattered a lot.

>>"I personally think you're a great team player. Provided your team is on the same page."

"Provided dat none of them accidentally touch me" Sveta smirked, sipping wine "Or participate in a Halloween party with me when a telepath is present..."

Nate sipped his own wine, nodding along. Yes, Sveta's powers involved everyone being more careful around her, but just like any mutant, it was impossible to prepare for or prevent every possible complication. No one predicts the Halloween telepath or the exploding teenager dealing with midterms. Mutants lived more complicated lives and should not be faulted for it. "Does put a damper on the celebratory team high five, but I'm sure we will find a way to overcome."

Swirling what was left of his drink, noting how quickly one glass of wine could disappear, Nate mused aloud. "Regardless, when the s**t starts going down, I'm happy to know you'll have my back."

The glass of wine was set down for the moment so Nate could assess Sveta, picturing something in his head until he could not help but laugh. "Though when hat day comes, please tell me you still have the mask." He should talk, considering his in-the-field outfit involved a full bodysuit.