[He bites his lip at the reaction. While he only gets angry rarely, Nathan has noticed that he tends to get very bitter and incisive when he does. He'd torn into Tony rather viciously when the doppelgangers had first arrived on the scene and there'd been confusion about a highly triggering issue for him. Had made nasty implications about his intelligence, knowing it was a sore spot.

[As soon as he'd calmed down, he'd felt absolutely dreadful about the whole thing. On that, Nathan hadn't had a leg to stand on. He was the one who had been out of line. But he'd apologized and they'd been able to move on.

[Here, though he is justified, he thinks, the anger melts much more quickly. This isn't as deeply seated as some of his other issues. A heavy breath drains out some of the tension.]

Why he left is . . . complicated, I'm sure. I don't have an answer for that. [He and Tony have spoken more than once since he left, but they never really addressed that. And he can't say whether Tony is different from then or not. That had been before his time as a Numbered . . . or perhaps around the time it had started. Nathan had hidden himself then, after looking over the network and finding out about the leak to the mafia. Too dangerous to reveal himself. Hide. Just hide.]

I understand that this came from a good place. I do. And the apology is accepted. I appreciate the concern, but it needs to be kept within reason.