xp_logs | Amanda, Angelo - Monday morning

Angelo takes a small break from being fussed over. Amanda aids and abets and does her best not to do the same.

The tension was ebbing. People were still worried, still stressed, but the edge had gone off it with the knowledge Domino and the others were slowly recovering, would be released from the hospital. Soon the drive to find the bastards who'd done this would pick up, creating another sort of tension, but for now, Amanda was happy to take the chance to catch her breath. Well, figuratively, since what she actually was doing was having a cigarette on the back steps of the Pack's house. Not far from the beach, she could see the waves rolling in, hear the faint crash of the surf. Angelo was resting, or he ought to be, and if he wasn't, Juanita was seeing to it. She'd go back in and see if he wanted company later.

There was only so much rest a man could take, though, especially when there wasn't much actually physically wrong with him, and he'd managed to escape, appearing in the back door behind her. "Hey."

"Hey." She smiled at the slightly-furtive air about him. "Give your mum the slip, did you?"

"Her, Theo, Nathan..." He gestured vaguely back at the house. "Want to go for a walk or somethin', before they catch me?"

It was on the tip of her tongue to ask him if he was up for it, but she realised, looking at him, that he really was all right. Tired, a bit battered, but fine. And probably sick to death of being coddled. "Sure," she said instead, stubbing out her cigarette and getting up, brushing off the back of her jeans.

"Thanks", he said with a faint tired smile. "I know they mean well, but I just need t'get out for a bit now."

"Feeling a bit smothered?" she asked rhetorically, falling into step with him as he came down the steps and started heading for the track that led down to the beach.

"Just a little bit. Don't want to say anythin', but... yeah."

"I'll keep that in mind," she said with a small grin, stuffing her hands into the pockets of her jacket as they walked. "We're just worried. The whole thing gave us a hell of a scare."

"Yeah, hence why I'm not sayin' anythin' to them." His own hands had been in his pockets throughout. "That an' it's not them who gets to look after Domino yet."

"Oh, to be a fly on the wall when that starts, tho'," Amanda said, a hint of amusement in her voice. She couldn't help shooting him the occasional worried glance, tho' - he seemed so flat, so tired. To be expected, after nearly getting killed. "Dom hates being smothered more than you do." The wind was picking up as they approached the beach, somehow clean-feeling despite the February chill.

"I think she might put up with it", he said quietly. "For a while, anyway. Only so much anybody can take, but... for a while."

"True." She fell silent, looking down at her feet scuffing through the sand as the path gave way to beach. "Ange, I... If there's anything I can do, you'll let me know, yeah?" she suddenly said at last. "I don't want to join in the smothering, but I want to help, if you need me to." She looked up and gave him another of those wry grins. "Even if it's leaving you alone so you can think."

"Course I will", he promised, eyes dark. "Never said people bein' around didn't help, when it's not too much. An' when I have ever told you to leave me alone? Not countin' that one time when I was bein' stupid."

"Never. Sorry." She bit her lip, mentally cursing her stupid sense of humour. "I just... I get pushy sometimes, I know. I don't want to do that with you again. You're too... I don't want to be a pain, that's all." She wanted to reach out and touch his arm, but, well, with the not being too smothering.

He looked down at her, confusion showing on his face. "This again? I don't get... I never thought you were a pain."

"I never said you did. I just don't want to be, and I know I can be, to others. Too bloody pushy for my own good, making people do things because I think they ought to, feeling what I shouldn't and making things complicated..." She shut her mouth abruptly, realising she'd said too much, and this sure as hell wasn't the right time to dump this on him.

He blinked down at her, though he was finally starting to get a clue... "Feeling what you shouldn't?" he asked quietly.

Oh bloody buggering fuck... Too much, she'd said too much and this was Angelo, she was never good at lying to him, not any more, and he was looking at her with that understanding expression on his face... "I swear, I should bloody well duct tape my mouth shut," she replied with a nervous laugh. "Or get Betsy to put a block in my head that shuts me up when I should, because you don't need this now and I wasn't going to say anything until the right time, but the thing is, there never is a right time for this sort of thing. And I wanted to say something, because it's not fair on you and I didn't want to keep avoiding you like I have been, only you've made it pretty clear you don't think of me that way and it's such a fucking cliche, falling in love with your best friend and I didn't want to say anything that'd mean you didn't want me around any more, or made it awkward, especially since it's you and Sarah now..." It was like she'd unstopped a dam, and she couldn't stop babbling at him, everything spilling out... "It's just with this whole thing, I thought you were... and I'd never said and I know I was supposed to stop, back with that shite with Manuel at the school, and I thought I had, only there was the whole Hellfire thing and you never gave up on me and you came down to see me afterwards and I realised that it's you, it's always been you..."

He'd made a few attempts to break into the stream - "It's not 'me an' Sarah now'... you weren't supposed to... of course I..." - but in the end, when she didn't even seem to notice, there only really seemed to be one good way to get her attention.

So he kissed her.

The stream of words was effectively halted, and when he pulled back, hands still cupping her face, Amanda's expression was completely stunned. She reached up to touch her mouth, blinking at him. "Did you just..." she began, trailling off as her brain tried to assimilate the fact that yes, he definitely had.

He smiled at her a little hesitantly, but then it was the closest to an actual smile he'd managed since the explosion. "Me an' Sarah", he told her yet again, "are friends. That's all. An' there was a few seconds, after Dom pushed me into the stairwell, before I hit the wall... it's you I was thinkin' about."

"Oh, Ange..." She reached up to touch his face, feeling nothng but concern for him, at what he'd gone through. "I thought you didn't... and then you and Sarah..." Shaking her head, she laughed a little at herself. "But we've established I'm an utter plonker when it comes to this sort of stuff." She dropped her hand, let it rest lightly on his chest, a certain resolve coming into her expression. "I love you," she said, and whilst there was a certain terror at finally saying the words, there was a relief too. "I pretty much always have."

"Seems like I'm not much better", he pointed out ironically, not moving away from her. "Doug an' Angie were tryin' to set this up months ago, weren't they." It wasn't a question.

"The prom? Yeah, pretty much. Doug's never let me hear the end of it." She dropped her eyes, that one hand holding loosely onto his jacket. "So... what happens now?"

"I guess we need to figure that out", he said slowly. "But I just know... I'm yours, if you'll have me. Screwed-up as it's probably gonna be for a while..."

She smiled at that, looking up at him again. "Screwed-up's pretty much normal for us," she said. "We'll manage something." And with that she put her free arm around his neck and kissed him with all the pent-up feeling she'd been sitting on all these months.

Well, then. Only one valid response, really. And he wasn't too tired for that.

Current Mood: worried
Current Location: Tel Aviv