xp_logs | Amanda, Angelo - Wednesday night (8pm PST)

Amanda arrives in San Diego with the other RedX volunteers from New York. Angelo is there waiting. They have a moment.

It was chaos at the airfield, but organised chaos. Amanda let herself be ushered off the plane with the rest of the New York city volunteers, already trying to think of ways she could help. Blood donation was out, being English and in the country for mad cow, but she had her training in the medlab to fall back on...

Angelo, having bypassed any need to spend hours on a plane, was already waiting. He'd been sent with orders to meet the new arrivals and get them registered and so on - which was as much so he'd sit down for a while as anything. He got up as he saw Amanda disembark, though, taking a tired step or two towards the plane.

It should have been impossible to spot one person among so many, but he wasn't wearing his inducer. Must've been in too much of a hurry to grab it... she thought, even as she was in motion, pushing gently past a couple of her fellow volunteers. He looked so tired, so worried... Amanda didn't even think, she just flung her arms around him, hugging him tightly.

He staggered back a step, even having seen her coming, then returned the hug fiercely. "He's okay", he told her quietly. "Arm's broken, concussion an' I think he broke his brain again, but... he's alive."

"I saw the news, that wave, I thought..." Amanda leaned her forehead against his shoulder, eyes squeezed tight. She needed to hold it together, for Angelo, for Nathan, for the job ahead. "He'll be okay. They'll take care of him back at the mansion and he'll be okay."

"I saw the same thing. Right up 'til the cameras died. That's when I went to find Illyana. Had to be here, if there was still time, if..." His voice cracked a little, and he shook his head. "He'll be okay."

"I figured you must have been thinking like that, to go to her..." She rubbed her hands over his back, instinctively trying to soothe him even if there was no soothing to be had here.

"It was the only way", he said helplessly, leaning into the hug. "Couldn't find Clarice, an' waitin' for the plane could've wasted too much time."

"Hey, it's okay, he's okay, it'll work out." If she kept repeating it, maybe she'd believe it too. "And in the meantime... we do what we can to try and help, yeah?" He was shaking almost imperceptibly, body thrumming with tension, and she held onto him as tightly as she could.

"Yeah." He nodded quickly. "Can't just sit with him, not when there's so much needs doin' out here. He'd yell at me for it, if he was awake."

"And you'd have to share spots with Moira and I don't think she's going to be in the mood for sharing." It was a lame joke, but she had to try. Loosening her grip a little, she looked up at him. "We'll get each other through this. You need to, you lean on me."

He managed some kind of laugh, though it was forced and short-lived. "Always did make a good team, you an' me. Time for one of our deals?"

She nodded. "Too bloody right we do." She smiled crookedly at him. "I'll lean on you if you lean on me, yeah?"

"Yeah." He smiled back down at her, giving her a final quick hug before stepping back. "An' now... there's work to be done."

She held onto his forearms for a brief second longer, squeezing briefly before letting go. "Yeah, there is."

Current Mood: anxious
Current Location: san diego, california