xp_logs | Meggan, Angelo, Sunday noon

Meggan and Amanda go to visit Angelo for Sunday lunch. Meggan tries to tell Angelo that she missed him and not to go away again, with her limited vocabulary... and although she gets frustrated at how hard it is, she manages to get her point across.

Meggan was shooed through the door, clutching her teddy, and beamed as she
spotted Angelo. She'd missed him... and he'd been sad when he went away. He
still felt sad now. So she trotted over to him, as he sat staring out of the
small window, and tugged on his arm. "Hi! Up?" She held up her arms
hopefully. Angelo gave GOOD hugs, and he seemed like he could use some hugs
back, too

He glanced round, blinking, having not heard her coming, then mustered
a smile and swung her up into his lap. "Sure thing, Megs. How're
you?"

"Angelo GONE," she said, snuggling up and tucking her teddy down between
them so it could get snuggled too. "Sad." She kissed his stubbled cheek
gently.

He was only too happy to snuggle her and the bear. "Not gone long -
I'll be back in the house on Monday, chiquita."

"Good." Meggan patted his cheek gently. "Angelo STAY Meggan," she told him
seriously. Angelo was one of her very favourite people - after Manda, of
course. He played with her, and he and Manda were friends, and when they
were all together there were lots of happy feelings.

He looked at her, and his smile grew stronger. "I'm not goin'
anywhere", he promised her. "I'll always be either in the house or in
New York, an' if I go further, I'll come back."

"Good," she said again, pleased that he was going to be reasonable. She
rubbed her nose gently against his cheek. "Angelo gone... Meggan sad. Manda
sad." She gave him a serious look. "Bad. Angelo STAY."

"I had to go", he tells her quietly. "It was hurtin' Dani to have everybody
in the house upset."

Meggan nodded. Manda had tried to explain this, but Meggan hadn't really
understood. Sure, it wasn't nice to feel upset people around you, but it
wasn't THAT bad... and it hadn't made her want them to go away. She'd just
had to try to work out how to sit on twenty laps at once to try to comfort
everyone. Which she was still working on, but she'd think of something.
"Weird," she said dejectedly. She'd learned that word from Doug, and
understood it to mean Inexplicable Things People Did. "Angelo sad. Still
want Angelo."

He sighed, and tried to explain. "I know you do, chiquita. But
Dani... she's scared that somethin' bad'll happen to her baby if she
feels too bad."

Oh. Well, that didn't make any sense to Meggan, but a lot of things didn't.
If Dani thought it would hurt the baby, maybe it would. "Weird," she said
again, patting his cheek. "Angelo good," she added, just to be sure he knew.
"GoodGOOD."

He smiled and hugged her again. "Thanks, Meggan."

There. He was definitely starting to feel better. Meggan snuggled up,
tucking her head under his chin. "Stinky," she added, wrinkling her nose.
He'd been smoking again... she didn't move, though. Snuggles were more
important. "Cig'retts stinky. Cookies good."

"Cigarettes are good too, in their way", he said solemnly. "But not
for little girls."

"Bad," she said firmly. There was no way those horrible things could be
good. "Badstinky." She scowled... it was getting increasingly difficult to
communicate what she wanted to say. Or maybe she was just wanting to say
more things.

He paused for a moment, then nodded. "You keep thinkin' like that.
Like I said, they're not for little girls."

There were an awful lot of things in the world that apparently weren't for
little girls. Meggan sighed, and then brightened, pointing at the dog on her
t-shirt, which she'd worn especially for going to see Angelo. "Joy'ta," she
told him. The dog didn't look EXACTLY like Joyita, but it was the right
brown.

He looked at the T-shirt and laughed, amused and pleased. "So it is!
Did you wear that for me?"

"Yes!" She beamed at him. "For Angelo." She wrapped thin arms around his
neck, hugging gently. "Love Angelo," she added seriously. It was the first
time she'd said that to anyone except Manda, but she could feel that Angelo
was lonely and sad, and wanted him to know that he didn't have only Manda to
love him.

He hugged her back, unhesitatingly and tightly, touched. "Love you
too, Meggan. Love you too."

There was an odd sort of noise, like someone trying
hard not to sniffle, and the pair looked up to see
Amanda and Angelo's mother in the doorway, wearing
identical expressions of happiness mixed with
sentiment. And perhaps a little triumph - Meggan had
been the secret weapon against Angelo's brittle
veneer. "We were in the neighbourhood, thought we'd
drop by," Amanda offered at last, with a smile. "An'
Meggan was demandin' t' see you."

"Angelo mine people," Meggan announced, still hanging on tightly. She'd
heard Amanda talking about 'her' people, and claiming the people you liked
sounded like a good idea to Meg. It wasn't as if you actually owned them, or
anything nasty... it just seemed to mean that they were people you
especially liked, and wanted to have with you.

He stood up, lifting her with him with practised ease. "Sure I am,
chiquita. You wanna go have lunch?"

"Lunch!" Meggan agreed enthusiastically. She was always in favour of food.
And the kitchen had smelled GOOD.