xp_logs | Saturday afternoon: Angelo and Terry

Terry stops by to talk wedding plans with Angelo. Because it's Terry, she has ulterior motives.

He was getting a little better about leaving the suite - he'd taken Nathan's advice as far as he could bring himself to, and there had been a cinema trip - but he was still only really leaving when he had a specific reason to. That said, he was spending more time in the common area as opposed to in his room. Small steps.

Terry had been trying to figure out a way to sound Angelo out for a few days now. She knew he was going through a rough time and that Bobby didn't want to upset him further and she'd told Bobby that she wasn't going to interfere, so she couldn't just go poke at Angelo to see how he was. Which meant being clever about it. When in doubt, lie. "Angelo, do you have a minute? It's Terry," she called as she rapped on his door.

Angelo blinked, hearing her voice. It wasn't that he and Terry didn't get on... but they'd never exactly been the best of friends. He got up to open the door, though. "Hey. Come in."

She smiled up at him, "Sorry to bother you, I had a couple things to ask you. I'll be quick." Tucked under her arm was the wedding planning book--it paid to be resourceful.
He glanced curiously at the book, stepping back into the room and closing the door behind her. "Sure. What's up?"

"A few details to cover, nothing urgent," she kept smiling, "Is this a good time? It's only some little things." She didn't know Angelo all that well so she hoped that her instincts were on. Downplay her need and he'd rise to the occasion.

"Yeah, 's as good a time as any," he told her. It would be a welcome distraction - something to think about that had nothing whatever to do with Tel Aviv or the Preservers.

"Great!" Terry tossed her hair over her shoulder and glanced around the room before heading to the couch. "Come sit, you'll need to see the plans for the questions to make sense. Has Bobby talked to you at all about colours and fittings?" The answer, of course, was no. Bobby tended to pretend the wedding didn't exist.

Angelo blinked, not sure if she really expected the answer to be 'yes'. "...not so much, no." He wandered over to sit next to her.

"Aye, I didn't think so." Then, like it wasn't unusual at all and this was any other day in any other month, "So how are you?"

"Gettin' by", was the honest yet stock answer, as he offered a crooked smile. "You?"

Honesty made lies stronger. "Nervous. Worried. Busy. About like you'd expect, I guess," Terry looked down and opened the folder to the page on the groomsmen. "The dresses are teal...Oasis, actually but it's a pretty blue-green and teal works just as well as any word."

"Okay." He glanced at the page. "An' the guys are just in the usual, right? Black tuxes?"

"Black tuxes, black vests, but the ties will match the dresses. The boutonnières will be white." She spread her hand over the page, "I was hoping...Bobby's terrible about fittings and things and he has his own tux. Can you coordinate the guys?"

"I'll try", he semi-promised, with a nod. "Who all am I tryin' to coordinate?"

Terry snuck a peek at him, "Well, Paige for one. And...honestly, he still hasn't picked a third. It's driving me crazy."

Angelo went still at that revelation, just for a moment, before forcing himself to relax. It wasn't that he didn't want to talk to Paige... it was just going to be even more awkward than it had already been, now. "Paige, huh?" was the eventual neutral comment. "Okay, I'll talk to her, an' I'll try to get a third name out of Bobby."

"That would make my life a hundred times easier. I...is this really okay? I know you're busy and I sort of feel silly talking about this when there's so much else going on that needs attention. You'd tell me if I was imposing right?" Terry had been pushing it with the Paige thing but she hoped it would work in her favour.

"Sure", he said with a weak smile. "Best man's gotta have some part in helpin' with the weddin' except just turnin' up, I guess."

Terry shrugged, "Aye, I suppose but... I know we're not close and this is a lot to ask from you especially considering. I'm asking because it needs to be done but I can do it myself if I have to."

"You've got a lot of other stuff to do", he acknowledged with a shrug. "I'll do it."

"We all have a lot of stuff to do. I've got school, I've got this. I've got watching Bobby to make sure he's not overworking." She looked very young suddenly but serene. "I'm asking if you have enough space left for this."

"I'm..." He hesitated. "I'm not workin' at the moment. In either job. I've got time, an' even when I go back... yeah."

"That's not what I meant."

"It's important", he answered slowly, with more hesitation. "To Bobby an' you. An' thinkin' about this... keeps my mind off other stuff."

"Something to do instead of sleeping?" she suggested.

"Pretty much". he agreed, continuing with the weak joke, "An' hey, the less time I spend sleepin' right now..."

"The less nightmares," she finished. "I used to write letters. After Stryker's men came through. I used to wake up terrified that I was going to be shot again so I'd just stay up instead and write letters to my uncle."

He nodded, aware that she understood. "It gets better, after a while. With meds an' therapy, anyway, for me."

"I just stayed up for about three months straight. That's not the best way to deal with it by the way. Therapy and meds are better." Terry turned the page in her book again, "Are you going to throw Bobby a bachelor party?"

"It's traditional", he said with a sideways glance, not sure of the protocol of discussing this with the bride. "So, probably."

"Let me know. Get a stripper," she smiled slyly, "I was thinking something a little old fashioned. Burlesque maybe. I wish I could go but I think that's not really allowed, is it?"

"Not so much. I might be able to arrange a videotape", he offered. "An' I'll see what I can do about the burlesque." This conversation was really bizarre.

Of course it was, not only was that a reflection of Terry's brain but it also did a pretty good job of keeping this from getting too intense on any one subject. Plus, she really was curious about the bachelor party, "Okay, well, I'll leave it in your hands then. That one I really can't do myself. We're moving the wedding by the way. Don't know if Bobby mentioned it--probably didn't given the way he tries to pretend that we're not actually planning a wedding--but what with one thing and another and the way Father Henry has stopped returning my phone calls, we're thinking summer."

"Summer", he said with a nod. "D'you know closer to exactly when?"

"July, probably. August if I give into the idea that our one year anniversary is the proper time to have a church wedding," Terry giggled a bit, tired, "Or never if things keep going in this same way."

"Hey, it'll happen", Angelo tried to reassure her. "An' if it doesn't... you're still legally married, right?"

"Legally, aye. But...you're Catholic, you understand why it's important to me, right? Why I...can't just accept legally?" She wasn't at all sure that Bobby did.

"Yeah, I do. 's why I say it'll happen."

Terry nodded, "Yeah. Eventually. Anyway, thanks for helping me out with this, Angelo. I know things aren't good for you now. If I can help at all."

"You're givin' me stuff to do", he told her. "Stuff that doesn't... anyway. That helps as much as most things."

"Beats writing letters you'll never send." Terry smiled and closed her book, "If there's anything else, though? If Bobby or I can help at all, we're here."

Angelo nodded. "I'll let you know. Promise."