Paige, Angelo and Angelo's Mother

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Paige has been wrapping gifts most of the morning, bits of paper and ribbon and tape, as well as mountains of bows making it very obvious that it’s been quite a bit of wrapping. She’s made herself quite comfortable on the floor, however, in a simple sweater and pair of jeans with the radio playing Christmas carols and her humming along.

Angelo sticks his head around the door, smiling when he sees her. "Hey", he calls. "You got a minute?"

Paige shrieks, and throws a bow at him. “Hey yourself! What if I’d been wrapping your gift, huh?” She laughs and beckons him in, eyeing the mess she has created.. “But I always have a minute for you. Come in. Or well, try to.”

Angelo picks his way over the mess on the floor, and sits down on her bed. "How are you doing?"

Turning a little wry, Paige snorts. “I’m okay. A little busy, but okay. At least I know I’m home, hm? Welcome home explosion and whatnot. How about you?”

Angelo's smile fades at the mention of the explosion. "I wish they'd let me see Alex..." he says quietly.

“They’re not letting anyone see him, chickpea, not just you, and I’m sure they’ll let you know as soon as he can have visitors. You wouldn’t want to do more harm then good, would you?” Paige isn’t speaking bellow her, just stating facts.

"No..." Angelo answers, still subdued, then remembers something and brightens. "But I didn't come here to talk about that. How much free time have you got?"

Paige smiles, pushing her hair out of her eyes. “As much as you need.”

Angelo grins and stands up, grabbing Paige's hand to pull her to her feet. "Come with me."

Laughing as she is quite unceremoniously yanked up, Paige brushes off the ribbon that clings to her clothes, righting herself. “Okay…”

Angelo doesn't let go of her hand as he almost drags her out of the room - clearly extremely keen to get wherever they're going.

Paige follows easily, still laughing quite hard. “Do I get to know where I’m going or no?”

Angelo stops sharply, looking sheepish. "Oh! Yeah. My mom wants to meet you."

This brings Paige also to a grinding halt, eyes going very, very wide. “What?! I… oh geez. This is where I lose my coherency.”

Angelo turns to look at her. "Paige, you're my best friend. I want you to meet her. She'll love you."

“Are you sure? I’m notorious for saying really stupid things.” Paige bites her lip, looking really quite stressed. Obviously, being liked by Angelo’s mother means quite a bit to her.

Angelo takes her hand again, looking at her seriously. "I'm sure."

Closing her eyes tight, Paige whimpers only once before taking a deep breath and then trying a smile. “Okay. If you’re sure. I’ll be brave.”

Angelo smiles at her reassuringly, then starts off towards the guest room again, tugging gently on her hand and hoping she's willing to follow.

Paige is behind him, if not a little less docilely then before. She’s reminding herself to take deep, even breaths and that Angelo’s mother will like her because she is a generally nice person and she should probably not mention horrible things like how her son takes forever to give back her clothes. Yep, she’s clearly just not going to talk and smile a lot. That will work.

Angelo glances at her over his shoulder as they arrive at the guest room, worried by her silence. "Are you okay?" he asks gently. "We're here..."

“I’m fine,” she says, smiling brightly, and it helps. She instantly feels better and squeezes his hand.

Angelo nods, relieved. "You ready?"

Paige laughs again, suddenly. “I’m ready, I’m ready! Stop stalling and lets go before I have a nervous breakdown.”

Angelo nods again, with a smile, and knocks on the door. As soon as he hears his mother's answer, he pushes it open and they go inside.

Paige stalls for a moment before offering a shy smile and stepping up beside Angelo, ignoring the implications of how tightly she clutched at his hand or how nervous she was. “Hi. I’m Paige. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you.”

Mrs Espinosa moves forward to take Paige's free hand. "Hello, Paige", she says warmly. "It's very nice to meet you too - Angelo's hardly stopped talking about you."

It’s at this that Paige blushes furiously, resisting ducking her head, as she shakes Angelo’s mothers hand. “Only good things I hope?”

She gets a smile in return. "Only good things." Standing near the door, Angelo ducks his head in something like embarrassment.

“Oh, I think we’ve embarrassed Angelo almost enough for the day,” Paige says, looking over at him and grinning. “He speaks famously of you as well. It’s so good to finally meet you. Even if I just seem to be repeating myself and rambling a lot.”

Mrs Espinosa laughs. "Don't worry about it. To tell you the truth, I was nervous too. But my son's taste in friends seems to have got a lot better lately."

“You have a very good son, ma’am. It’s only fitting that he have good friends,” she replies, resolving not to look in the mirror for a little while. She was pretty sure she was a very bright fuchsia colour at this point.

Mrs Espinosa smiles at her, obviously pleased. "Oh, don't call me ma'am", she requests. "It makes me feel old. My name is Juanita."

Paige pushes her hair back nervously, but still smiles. “I’m sorry. Southern born and bred makes the informal attitude at this school, and seemingly the entire world, very tough on me. Juanita.”

Mrs Espinosa gives her hand a quick squeeze before letting it go, with a reassuring smile. "I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable. If you prefer "ma'am", then call me that."

“No! No, learning is good. As is familiarity. I like it.” She nods, encouraging her. “I think your son is feeling left out, though.” Paige slides her gaze over to Angelo who seems to be attempting to lurk in the corner.

Angelo gets a deer-in-headlights expression, and says quickly, "No, no, you two seem to be getting on just fine, it's all good."

“We *are* getting along fine and we’d continue getting along fine if you came over here,” Paige teases.

Angelo nods, and walks over to join the two women. His mother immediately pulls him into a half-hug, smiling proudly.

“Well. This is a very happy holidays,” Paige says warmly, watching the two of them.

Angelo smiles happily. "It really is. I'll have to get a *really* good present for Em, to pay her back for this."

Paige smiles, wrapping her arms around herself. “If I know Em any, seeing the two of you together is probably one of the best gifts she could receive.”

Angelo, still smiling, reaches for her hand and holds it tightly, his mother's arm still around him. "You're probably right."

“I know I am, chickpea.” Paige grins, swinging their hands playfully. “It’s me after all and I have a reputation to keep.”

Angelo grins. "Yeah, I know, you're always right. Haven't we had this talk before?" His mother watches the two of them banter, looking amused.

“Many, many times. And yet, you still insist on not believing me. Therefore, we have to have the talk again.” Paige grins, tilting her head at him playfully.

"We can have the talk as many times as you want", Angelo counters, squeezing her hand for a moment

It’s at this that Paige realizes that Angelo’s mother is watching the two of them quite intently, and while she doesn’t look upset in the slightest, the dawning that they’re not the only two people in the room comes as a bit of a shock to her. “So! Yes. Um.”

Mrs Espinosa laughs, but shoots Angelo a brief pointed look, clearly mother's shorthand for "there's something you haven't told me and I want to know what, later". Taking pity on Paige, she intervenes to ask, "So, how long have you been at the school?"

Paige resists a little sigh of relief. “A couple of months. I started in the summer. June actually.” She pauses, doing the quick math in her head and looks surprised. “Wow, seven months. It always felt like I’d been here forever, but I didn’t know I was actually wracking up that much time.”

"Sounds like you're enjoying it", Mrs Espinosa says softly. "And from what I've seen, it's a good place. I'm glad Angelo found his way here."

“Me too. We all are,” Paige adds quickly, although it completely truthful. “I’m glad you’re here as well. That you… that you know.”

Angelo ducked his head suddenly, frowning. His mother glanced over at him, but simply echoed, "Me too.”

Paige runs her thumb along Angelo’s knuckles in subtle reassurance. “Who have you met already?”

Mrs Espinosa still looks a little worried, but turns her attention to Paige to answer. "Oh, too many people. I haven't quite learned everybody’s names yet. Marie, of course, and Professor Xavier. And now you."

“Oh, I understand. When I came there were probably only half as many people and it was still overwhelming.” She tries to laugh a little, be encouraging. “I hope you got the big ‘Everyone’s Okay’ speech from the Professor. He’s very good at it now.”

Mrs Espinosa laughs. "He gets a lot of practice, then?"

“Mhm! We get quite a few newbies these days. We just have to hope that he doesn’t take Bobby’s advice about adding a little song and dance number to it.” Paige makes a little bit of a face. “I think it involved me and one of those sequined outfits with the top hat? Therefore, no.”

This brings laughter from both Angelo and his mother, before Angelo speaks up for the first time in a while, pretending disappointment with, perhaps, undue success. "Awwww. Bobby never told me about that, or I'd have talked you into it."

“That’s because I threatened him with sharp, pointy, metallic me. To which he replied that would be even more… attractive. With different, more teenaged wording, but you understand.” Paige laughs and shakes her head. “Boys.”

Angelo does a silent pantomime of being wounded, much to the amusement of his mother, who ruffles his hair and mouths at Paige behind his back, "Quite right." Angelo pulls away, grinning, and smoothes his hair back down.

Paige can’t help but giggle, covering it with a hand. “Wow, you guys are unbearably adorable. This is a wonderful gift for everyone.”

It seems that her laughter is infectious, as Angelo laughs too, looking at her affectionately. "...Thanks?"

“Yes, thanks and then you’re welcome and then large amounts of thanks on my part to you. You make the lack of my own family bearable.” Paige smiles and rests her hand on Angelo’s shoulder comfortably.

Angelo puts his own hand up to rest on hers, suddenly worried by the note of loneliness in her words. "But... you're okay, right? I mean, Sam's here and everything..."

Paige smiles at him, so very brightly and yet not bright at all. She gives him her profile to look at to ease the obviousness of it. “I’m wonderful, Angelo. Stop fretting, you’ll give yourself ulcers.”

Angelo is not taken in, not least because he knows what it means when Paige won't look straight at him. But he doesn't want to go into it here, not until they can talk privately. "Okay."

Licking her lips, Paige forces the smile to stay. “Well. I’ll let you guys do some more bonding of fun, I should probably go finish up my Christmas wrapping.”

Angelo shoots her a look and says pointedly, "If you have to. I'll see you later." His mother smiles, aware that there is subtext but not sure what it is, and replies, "Nice to meet you, Paige. Come by again soon."

“Yes, of course. It was wonderful meeting you too. Perhaps we can eat dinner together?” Paige rubs a comforting figure eight into Angelo’s shoulder with her fingers, still looking at Mrs. Espinosa.

Mrs Espinosa smiles again, warmly. "I'd like that. I'd like to get to know you better, since you seem so important to my son." Angelo's hand drops to his side and he twines his fingers through Paige's free hand.

Paige looks very pleased, if not still a little embarrassed. “Good. I’d like that too. You are very important to Angelo, and he is very important to me.” She gives Angelo’s hand a final squeeze and draws back, exiting the room.