Angel and Paul

[x-firestar.livejournal.com]

When Angel finally manages to stick a proper landing, she realizes she's got a bit of audience. Nearly back on his feet, Paul's come by to thank her for saving his life and he realizes she's got some issues with recognition. He's a little more stubborn than she is.



It had been at the tail-end of flight class that Mr. Guthrie had told Angel she had a visitor. And then told her she had to stick the landing at least once before she scampered off. She turned, passing the lake once more and frowned at the ground beneath her. Out of the entire thing with flying, landing had been the biggest problem. Lifting off, even turning, had come easier than landing but, oh, such a vital part.

Finally, she lowered herself, tilting so she was upright the closer she got to the ground. Mr. G's voice was solid in her mind as she replayed his advice. Like brakes, only the brakes in question was her power. Push on the air, use the microwaves to slow her descent...and for the love of God, keep her eyes open. She blinked and then her feet hit the ground...but she didn't burrow into the ground, she only stumbled but she stayed up.

A few feet from the back porch, she finally managed to stop. "...HAH!" Angel crowed, jumping. "Ahaha! I did it! Take that stupid landing and grass!"

Slow applause greeted her glee, coming from the man sitting on one of the benches, plastered leg sticking out awkwardly in front of him, crutches balanced against the bench at his side. "Nice landing, kid," Paul said, grinning at her expression as she realized she'd had an audience. "Much better than the last one. You've been practicing?"

Slowly, Angel's arms fell back to her side as she blushed a deep red. There was normally no one right there when she tried the whole landing thing and she certainly hadn't been expecting. "Um, maybe just a little," she admitted, coming over. She pointed up. "Flying class, you know?" Angel paused and eyed him, looking slightly horrified. "Why're you here? Oh God, I did get in trouble, didn't I? I mean, I blew out someone's window, of course I'm in trouble! Groundation totally just waited until I wasn't looking!"

"Woah, slow down, Angel, you're not in any trouble." Awkwardly, Paul climbed to his feet, using the crutches to balance himself. "You left your jacket at the scene, so we brought it back." He grinned. "Good thing you have a sensible Mom who writes your name on your clothes."

"...argh." She covered her face for a second. "I know that you were totally on the roof of the next building, so one of your coworkers had to find it." Angel grimaced. "On one hand, she was right. On the other, it's still embarrassing and I'm never letting her know. Thank you, though."

"We do get around - something about those pesky spot fires and making sure everyone's out." Paul grunted as he moved down the steps, trying not to jar the leg. Damn thing. The plaster was covered in brightly-coloured maker - names and jokes and little pictures from his co-workers, and, in pride of place on his thigh, several scrawls done by his children, although the youngest had more flailed in that direction with a red marker than anything else. "Actually, I'm glad you left it - we were looking for you. Chief's in with your Professor right now." He watched the panic bloom afresh, and added: "We needed a name to put on the award, you see."

Her mouth fell open, just a little bit. "Award?" Angel parroted and blinked. The expression on her face was as if she'd been hit upside the head. "Oh. Award...okay." She stared hard at the cast on his leg, trying not to look up at him, actually.

"I'm not allowed to pass on that, am I?" she suddenly blurted out very quietly, probably more embarrassed than when she'd realized he'd watched her land.

"Well, that kind of depends on why you would want to, Angel," Paul said, watching her intently. She'd been so fast to assume she'd done wrong... "Don't you think saving the lives of that woman and her daughter - and mine - deserves some kind of recognition?"

Finally, she looked back up at him. "I didn't tell many people about what happened, just my boyfriend, roommates and close friends," Angel admitted, tucking loose hair behind her ear. "And when some of them said 'hero'...I'm not a hero! I'm just...I'm just a kid! You guys are the heroes. I take pictures! I swim on a team--or used to anyway. What if it was a fluke? What if I'm not that person? What if...oh God, I'm totally running out of air."

One crutch landed on the grass with a soft thump as Paul reached for Angel's shoulder. "Hey, Angel, take it easy. Deep breaths," Paul said, squeezing her shoulder a little. "In through the nose and out through the mouth. No passing out on me here, okay?" He waited until she'd calmed down a bit before continuing. "What you did - running into a burning building, helping the people trapped in there escape - it's what we do every day. You don't have the training we have, but you do have a natural advantage, and yeah, maybe that's a fluke. But the fact you ran into that building, when you didn't have the training or any kind of backup... that's what makes you a hero. Not some funky twist on your genes that makes you sprout flames out of your ears."

The hand on her shoulder held to ground her and she followed his advice. Not one for panic attacks, Angel was a little bothered by the near miss. Maybe that's the reason she'd been avoiding telling everyone. "I just..." She looked up suddenly and choked. "Out my ears? Man, I need to try that sometime. I can do it out my nose, though." Laughter helped, too, which is probably why he said it. "I mean, I had help, right? And I can see you're totally not buying that. Oh man, I'm not winning this argument."

"Not a bit," he said, with a hint of a grin. "I know it's kind of overwhelming, Angel, but don't sell yourself short. Takes a special kind of person to do what you did, and I don't mean the powers." He gave her shoulder a brief pat. "I don't remember if I said it before, but thanks. Doesn't cover even the half of it, but there's not exactly a Hallmark range of cards for the situation." Then he chuckled. "Out your nose, huh? Do that when you're drinking milk and you could be your very own cappucino machine."

Angel gave him a wry grin. "Do you really, really want me to have more caffeine than I already do?" She giggled, feeling better about the situation. "And, um, you're welcome. Okay, I think I can go with this...it'll take a while, but...hero. I think I can deal with that." There was still a faint blush that wasn't going away any time soon but it was more from pleasure now than mortification. "Oh! How's your leg?"

"It's a pain in the ass, but the docs say it'll heal up fine." Paul shrugged. "Actually, there was something else I wanted to run past you, something a bit less scary than the whole award thing. That whole lack of training thing... would you be interested in getting some?"

Paul, Angel realized, reminded her of her uncles. This made her like him even more. Her brain squelched to a halt. "Training?" she asked, looking intrigued. The thing about the award had been a surprise but that was even odder.

"Well, it'd have to wait until you were sixteen, but if you're interested, you could intern with us down at the station." Paul spoke casually, but he was watching Angel carefully. This was a pretty big deal - this sort of thing was handed out to just anyone, and the Chief had spoken to Paul in depth about Angel's actions. "Provided your folks and your Professor agree, of course. Then when you're seventeen, you'd be old enough to join. Be a firefighter."

"A firefighter?" There was staring, a blink, and then staring some more. "I never...thought of that. It was always just, you know, grow up and be a photographer like my dad." But now Angel's brain was working over time, really thinking about it. When she stopped freaking out about the 'hero' thing, she realized it had felt really, really good to go in there and save the family and Paul. There'd been a rush under the fear and then the fact that she'd save people's lives..."That would be really cool, actually," she said finally, blinking a lot. "Aw, but that's like a year away." Because now that she thought about it, she realized it would be more than an awesome thing to do. But. So. Long.

"Not our fault you're a prodigy, kid," he said with an easy laugh, squeezing her shoulder again, before letting go and looking down at the crutch on the ground. "And it's a lot of work. Use that year to concentrate on your grades, hang out with your friends, see that boyfriend of yours." And here he paused to shake his head. "Boyfriend already? Man, you're making me feel old now." But it was said with a smile. "Any way. Take the time to enjoy yourself, because once that year's up? You'll be working your tail off. Besides, if you wanted to come down to the station and visit, talk to the crew, get a feel for things... you'd be welcome. You could fetch and carry for me while I'm off active duty with the leg." He winked at her.

She giggled. "Wouldn't your buddies make fun of you because you got rescued by a little girl?" Angel asked, repeating his words to him that he'd uttered on the stairs. "If it makes you feel any better, I've just discovered boys. Oh man, no matter what happens, I'm going to end up totally getting another regiment of uncles, aren't I? My dad's going to be thrilled because, no, really, we left the actual uncles in Seattle and he likes backup." She beamed. "But coming by is awesome, I'd like to see everything and meet everyone. ...can I slide down the pole?"

Paul chuckled at the flood of excited words. Angel's personality was like her fire, bright and flickering, and when you came down to it, she was still just a kid, powers or not. The year's wait would do her good. But she'd also be a breath of fresh air around the station. "Sure you can," he said, then nodded at his crutch. "Now do me a favour? Get that for me? Otherwise you'll be hauling my ass up the stairs again, and I don't think my pride could handle that."