xp_logs | Angelo and Amanda, in the library (Reply)

Amanda is worried about her big brother, hunts him down to the library, gets him to talk a bit about what's bothering him, then persuades him to sleep.

The library was seeing more than its share of people who didn't usually frequent it, Amanda reflected wryly as she closed and locked the door of her study behind her, looking around at the quiet room. Then she caught sight of one of those very people, and she grinned. Angelo had been scarce lately, between cramming and Paige's apparent descent into insanity, and she'd been worried about him, although too busy with Meggan to do much more than that. Still, she had time now, and she hated to neglect her friends, especially him. He'd been the first, after all.

He hadn't noticed her come out of the study, head bent over whatever book he was reading at that moment, and the sound of the door locking wasn't enough to make him look up. Not by itself, at least.

Grinning again, Amanda crept up softly behind him, and lay her hands over his eyes. "Guess who?" she said, not bothering to hide the accent.

He jumped, startled, then laughed, making rather more of an effort to hide the tiredness in his voice. "Hey, little sis. What's up?"

"Came down for a spot of study of the eye of newt stuff - 's too dangerous t' leave all that in the room with Meggan there, so I've got the whole lot locked up nice an' safe down here." She slid into the seat diagonally across from him, taking in the circles under his eyes and the tired slump of his posture. "Been sleepin'?" she asked, getting to the point straight away, as usual.

He should have known he couldn't hide anything from her. "Been workin'", he countered quietly. "Promised myself I'll graduate this year."

"Fair enough. Just don't work yerself into a frazzle - I know it's the fashionable thing at the moment, but someone needs t' be the stable one." Amanda's words were loaded with double meaning - she knew Angelo had to be worried sick about Paige, but she was a little uncomfortable bringing the topic up, considering she'd been a contributing factor there. She reached out and patted his forearm gently. "Sleep's a good thing, mate."

He almost laughed, at that. "When I'm the stable one, you know somethin' isn't right", he muttered mostly to himself. "I have been sleepin', as much as I can."

"I know, mate. Don't want t' put the pressure on. Just..." Amanda sighed. "There's a lot wrong. 'M worried."

"Yeah", he answered quietly, eyes dark. "Me too."

"She talk t' you at all?" Amanda asked, knowing the answer but hoping she was wrong. "'Bout any of it?"

"When does she ever?" came the dejected answer. "Even when she's so upset she can't even get out of bed, the most she's ever let me do is stay with her."

"I'm sorry, Ange." It was the one of the most heartfelt apologies she'd made. "I wish I knew how t' help her, but I don't." She slipped her arm around his shoulders, giving him an awkward hug. "People have noticed, Ange - the teachers'll be makin' sure she gets some sort of help, even if she won't ask for it."

He leaned into the hug wearily. "Took 'em long enough. But then, she always was good at hidin'."

"That's cause she doesn't admit to herself that she's havin' problems," Amanda said softly, rubbing his back soothingly. "If you're hidin' from yerself, it's easy enough t' hide from everyone else. An' if she won't admit there's a problem, or let people help her... there's not much even the teachers can do. Sure the Professor could put the mind-whammy on her, make her sort herself out, but that wouldn't be the right thing t' so, in the end. 'S gotta come from her, the wantin' t' fix things." She smiled ruefully. "Learned that one the hard way, meself."

"Don't know how much longer I can take this", he admitted quietly. "An' I feel like shit for sayin' it, but..."

"There're limits, Ange," Amanda murmured, wishing she wasn't saying the words. God knew it would look like she was trying to turn Angelo away from Paige. "You talkin' t' someone yerself? Samson maybe?"

He nodded tiredly. "Still seein' him once a month or more. I just... she did so much for me when I first got here an' I was fallin' apart, an' I hate - "

"No-one likes it, Ange. We're all watchin' her fall apart, an' there's not a fuckin' thing we can do 'bout it. But all her friends can do is hang in there an' help her when an' where you can, an' be there for her when she's ready." Her other arm wrapped around him so she was hugging him properly. "You're all in, big brother," she continued, seeing how tired he was. "You really need t' catch some decent sleep. Want me t' help?"

He hesitated for a moment, then nodded. "Sounds like it might be a good idea."

"I need t' get back t' Meggan - come back t' me room an' I'll make you a decent cup of tea an' you can crash on me bed for a couple of hours, yeah?" She brushed the hair back from his forehead in an almost maternal gesture - clearly looking after Meggan was rubbing off on her. "An' afterwards you can eat with us too, if you like - Meggan's been askin' after her uncle 'Anjlo'."

Another weary nod. "Sure. It'll be good to see the munchkin again."

"Come on then, big brother," Amanda encouraged, letting him go long enough to help him collect his books and stand. "Time out, yeah? Let someone else look after you for a bit."