xp_logs | Angelo and Marie, after her return

Angelo goes to see Marie to get some answers about Manuel, and comes to a slightly surprising conclusion.

Marie was back, and that meant she had to know what was going on with Manuel. It was partly that and partly wanting to check that Marie herself was okay that brought Angelo to her room, as soon as he knew she'd come back.

Answering the door, Marie was slightly surprised to find Angelo standing there, a rather tense look on his face. "Hey Skin, come on in," she said taking a step back. Running a gloved hand through her messy hair, she grinned sheepishly at him. "Ah'm a bit of a mess. Haven't gotten much sleep with all that's gone on." Her clothes were wrinkled and barely matched, a sign of how much she'd been burning the candle at both ends.

Angelo nodded, understanding. "Figured you would've been. I'd have given you some more time, but I didn't figure much would have changed in another few hours." His own right hand was at his side, three of the fingers splinted and bandaged.

She closed the door, her eyes finally moving to take in her friend's appearance. Frowning as she spotted the signs of obvious damage to himself, she laid a hand gently on his arm. "Angelo," she said, her tone clearly filled with concern.

"I'm okay", he reassured her quickly, if he sounded tired. "Just been tryin' to run the office with just me an' Bobby, after Rahne went off to play medic for you guys. An' I might have... punched the wall slightly."

"Something tells me it fared better than your hand," she said, raising an eyebrow. "What did the poor wall do to deserve such treatment anyways?

"It was there", he said with a slightly guilty shrug. "An' I fixed it after." The wall and his hand.

"Did you hurt yourself in any other way?" she asked, looking with concern at his arms.

He knew perfectly well what she was getting at, and shook his head. "No. Nothin' like that, I promise."

She breathed a sigh of relief. "Then why...?" she said and gestured at his hand.

He shrugged. "'Cause I was angry an' I didn't have time to go take it out on the punchbag. Had an e-mail to answer an' an office to run."

"Sometimes you still just need to take a break and get out then. Officework isn't as important as your sanity. Do you want to talk about what triggered you?" She moved over to sit on the couch, patting the cushion next to her.

He sat willingly, with another slight shrug. "Wasn't like that. Just... an' yeah, I do. Manuel. Didn't know much about what was goin' on then, an' when Angie e-mailed me..."

"Oh," she said. "Manny." Everyone was probably blaming him and yet he was the one in a coma. He had looked so small, hooked up to all the machines.

"Marie, this was... the day you all left", he pointed out. "Nobody knew anythin' 'cept that Marius an' Jennie were actin' out of character an' he was involved somehow. See where the conclusion went?"

"Everyone always expected Manny to mess up...it's what we call a self-fulfilling prophecy. Sure, his being involved was odd, but there was nothin' to indicate anything more except people's own personal issues with him."

"Except where we didn't have any other explanation", he said quietly. "An' I guess we wanted one."

"It's always easier to blame someone else," she said softly. "And Manny was always the convienient scapegoat."

"So tell me, Marie... what did happen? I just want t'know."

"Manny got hit by a truck saving Jennie. Landed him in the hospital. The rest...well, I can't say much beyond what's up on the team list and in the mission reports." She wrapped her arms around herself, shuddering slightly. "All Ah'll say is that it was a mess."

Angelo looked sideways at her, worried. "I can read all that now, so I guess I'll go look. But... is he gonna be okay?" Surprisingly... or not... he found he actually did care.

"I don't know. They don't know. He's in critical condition. They don't even know if he'll get better, he's barely hanging on. And if he does recover? Who knows what kinda condition he'll be in? He's got the physical injuries, probably brain damage...and then the emotional trauma?" She swallowed hard to keep the tears from coming.

"If he's survived this long, Marie", Angelo said gently, "he's gotta have at least a good chance. Don't they say it's the first night that's the most important?"

Emotion flooded her voice. "But he hasn't stabilized, he's touch and go all the time. He crashed twice while I was with him. I thought he was gonna die...and I still felt bad when I left. There's no one with him and that's just plum wrong!"

"He doesn't have any family", Angelo acknowledged quietly. "An' not all that many friends. Which hospital's he in?"

"He's at Centre Hospitalier Princesse Grace, in Monaco still." She began twisting the material of her gloves. "It's not exactly an easy place to get to, y' know?"

"Not for anyone. But we've got the Clarice Express, when she isn't doin' anythin' else." He looked at her thoughtfully. "I could go with you, next time. If you want."

She blinked at him. "Really? Ah...Ah'd like that. An' Ah bet he would too."

That got a crooked smile. "Not so sure about that. But... we're not kids anymore. If we're not gonna be friends, an' I don't think it's likely... maybe it's time we quit bein' enemies."

Marie wrapped her arms around Angelo, leaning her head on his shoulder. "Ah know that's not easy for you to say." She sighed.

"Easier than it would've been once", he said quietly, looking down at her. "Things change."

The only response from Marie was a soft sigh, as she shifted slightly, snuggling against Angelo. Her breathing had grown even and regular as the past several days events finally caught up with her. Her face finally relaxed, the lines from stress smoothing out.

He didn't move for a long few moments, looking at her. Then, slowly and carefully, he stood and lifted her, moving over to the bed. It took a little manoeuvring - and a little sleepy protest - to get her to let go of him long enough to tuck her in, but then it was done.