xp_logs | Wedding - Amanda, Stefan// Amanda, Angelo

Scenes from a wedding celebration. Stefan decides his sister needs to join in with the dancing.

He was married. Well and truly married. Stefan blinked a few times before tottering to his feet. It had been some time since he had been this drunk but considering the circumstances -- he had just buried his mother and then married his darling Mirela -- he was well within his rights. He spotted a blur of blonde hair and grinned.

Ah, Amanda. Now if she would only stand still long enough...

"So, how's it feel to be an old married man?" came Amanda's cheerful voice as she appeared at Stefan's elbow, holding two large mugs of beer. She was grinning so broadly, it seemed the top of her head might fall off.

"I," Stefan said, as solemnly as he could as he reached for one of the beer mugs, "am not old. It is you who are simply very young." There. Logic. "And I hope this one was for me because you are not drinking two of these. At least, not at once."

"Spoilsport," Amanda mock-pouted at him, as she handed him the beer. "And you are too old. All the old grannies say so. Terribly old to be getting married, they said."

He tutted as he drank. "Ah, but just think. If I had married young, they would have said I was terribly too young to be getting married. If I had never married, they would have said it was quite the shame. Never satisfied and never, ever quiet." The drink had loosened his tongue but he felt no shame.

Mainly because it was the truth.

Amanda snorted, slipping her arm through his. "Here's to telling the old biddies to stuff 'emselves then!" she toasted, clinking her mug against his. "And here's to my big brother, finding himself a corker of a girl."

Stefan beamed at her, a silly grin that chased away some of the shadows that had gathered with Margali's sickness and death. "And here is to my little sister and to the paths she has yet to walk." With a flourish, he knocked his drink back and then turned to bow at Amanda. "I believe you owe me a dance...if you can stay on your feet, that is."

Amanda looked at where various couples were dancing around the fire to the music of violin and accordion. Definitely not a mosh pit. "It's not so much staying on my feet and staying off yours," she joked, a touch embarrassed. "I don't think Mirela would appreciate her husband getting his toes busted on his wedding night."

He huffed and tossed the empty beer mug to a passing friend. "Amanda, if you think it is my toes that Mirela is concerned about this night, then maybe I did not need to worry quite so much about Angelo before I talked to him." Before she could respond to that, he had lunged forward, scooping her up so he could toss her over his shoulder. "Older brother knows best, remember that."

"Hey!" Amanda flailed, mostly for show since she didn't really want to kick her brother in the head. "Put me down, you big... gorilla!" Her beer mug still had the dregs in it, and she paused only slightly before dumping them on his head. "Take that!"

Stefan stumbled for a second, trying to maintain his balance as he blinked beer out of his eyes. "Minx!" he replied, gripping her legs tightly before he started to spin them both in a circle. "See how you like it!"

The witch squealed, dropping the mug and grabbing his shoulders. "Stefan!" she cried out, torn between laughing and trying not to throw up on his head. "Let me down! Or I'll sic Kurt onto you!"

"Only if you promise that you'll dance with me." Stefan did stop but it was more for his benefit than hers and they tottered back and forth as he tried to make the world stop tilting. "Besides, Kurt's in the middle of something important. Hopefully, it involves beer or bre...a lovely girlish figure."

There was a snort from Amanda. "Or both. Kurt's the most tightly-wound bloke I've ever met, and that's saying something, considering some of the people at the school." Now there was no spinning, she was quite enjoying the being slung over Stefan's shoulder, even with the tottering. "And I'll dance with you, but only if you promise to tell me how much you terrified Ange with the big brother talk. Don't think I didn't get that little crack before about talking to him."

"There was only a little bit of terror," he promised her. "Besides, he seems a right enough man for an American. He certainly can't do better than you, little sister. But if he hurts you..." He almost shrugged but stopped when he realized it might cause Amanda to be sick down the back of his shirt. "Well, you know how it goes. So, I have held up my end of the deal, now it's your turn."

"Fine. But it's your toes," Amanda warned. Stefan couldn't see, but she was smiling in a rather silly fashion. "And you don't have to worry about Angelo. He'd rather set himself on fire than hurt me."

Gently, Stefan lowered Amanda to the ground, careful to make sure he rubbed the beer on his hair off on her side before he let go. He grinned, stepping back in to get ready to dance. "Oh, that is a little extreme on his part. Since I will have already done the honors. But at least he's dedicated."

"Dedication's his middle name. One of 'em, any way." She made a show of plucking her beery shirt away from her side. "Ew. Now we both smell like a brewery."

"Better than smelling like a whorehouse, I always say," Stefan said mildly, straight faced, as the music started to pick up again.

There was a choking noise, and then Amanda burst into laughter, swatting Stefan on the arm. "For that you definitely get a dance," she told him, taking his arm and pulling him towards the group.

"The whores get them every time."

Talk gets a little serious between Amanda and Angelo later on as it's revealed just how tough the last few weeks have been on him.

There was music, and food, and dancing. And laughter, lots of laughter - the change in the atmosphere of the camp since the last time Amanda had been here... Breathless and giggling after dancing with Stefan - the large man had simply picked her up and whirled her around the steps - she made her way back to where she could see Angelo sitting. Flopping down beside him, she pressed a kiss to his cheek. "Hey, you."

He was watching the dancers with a smile, which was quickly turned on her as he wrapped an arm around her in a hug. "Hey. All worn out from the dancin'?"

She rested her head briefly on his shoulder, snuggling up close. "A bit - 's a bit harder than the usual. How about you? Having fun?"

"I really am", he said, smile broadening to a grin. "Never been anywhere like this before."

"Yeah, apparently my family likes a good party when we're not being crazy." She nodded at Kurt and Wanda, dancing past. "It's good to see everyone enjoying themselves, 'specially after last month." Her hand moved to his knee, squeezed a little. "Thanks for coming, even with the whole family gauntlet."

"Ah, I'd've had to face it sooner or later anyway", he said easily. "Might as well be now, when everybody's happy. Even if some of those old women are scary."

"Fuck, tell me about it. Barely twenty and they're thinking I'm some old maid. Which is why they were all over you." She chuckled a little. "Making plans already for the next wedding, I'm guessing."

"Oh, probably." He grinned. "You'd probably even be back in the fold for everyone where you aren't already if you gave it to them."

She wrinkled her nose, playfully. "When I do it, it'll be for me, not my family." She blushed a little. "And for you."

"Should hope so too", he said cheerfully. "'s not like you even talk to most of these people the rest of the time."

"True enough. Tho' at least now I'm allowed to visit the ones I do talk to." She rested her head on his shoulder again, leaving it there this time. "You passed muster, by the way. Even Jimi said you were 'okay for a gadjo'."

"High praise", he said solemnly, arm tightening around her shoulders. "Should I be honoured?"

"Oh, definitely. It means she won't try and turn you into a frog for, oh, at least a couple of months." She was joking, obviously.

He laughed, looking down at her. "Is that what she said she'd do if I hurt you, or are you not there yet?"

"Not quite. I think it's just something she's doing as part of her whole new 'I'm a witch' thing." Amanda chuckled. "She's only a kid still, for all that. But I think you're safe, either way - you'd never hurt me any way."

"She's just like you, then. Don't think Jake's ever got over it." His grin softened a little. "An' no, not on purpose I wouldn't."

"I know you wouldn't." She turned her head slightly and kissed him on the corner of his mouth. "Same goes here."

He smiled again, looking up and out over the crowd. "We should probably get in some dancin', later."

"Dancing, huh? You are relaxing," she teased. "'S good to see - you've been a bit tense the last couple of weeks." She hadn't missed the altercation with Nathan on the journals, for instance.

Angelo shrugged slightly. "Hasn't been the easiest time. What with Angie an' all, even after she got better..."

She'd gotten good at picking when he was doing that stoic "nothing to talk about" thing. "Not to mention Nate going off and making himself target practice without out." Still with her head resting on his shoulder, she traced out idle patterns on his leg with her finger tip. "Waiting around when the people you care about are off in the front line... I remember what it was like."

He turned his head to look at what he could see of her face. "You remember, huh?" There was an odd note in his voice on the word 'remember', then he added casually, "I'm goin' to Burma with Domino. Soon as we can get it all set up."

"I worked in the medlab, love. There were a few times when I got called down there to help out, and most of that was waiting for them to come back. Saw Nate come back often enough in worse shape than he'd gone - I know it's not easy." Lifting her head from his shoulder, she gave him a curious look. "That the trip you two we're going on before?" Before the bombings - she didn't need to tell him that.

Angelo nodded. "Yeah, it is. Emailed her a couple weeks ago to get it all set up again." He grinned crookedly. "She's off the cane now, so I figured, might as well."

Her own grin was wry. "And this wouldn't have anything to do with the fact you've had to sit out the last few things that have gone on?" she asked, tone light. "Just be careful. No getting shot, it makes me cranky."

"Dom wouldn't let that happen", he said, oddly serious. "She... we talked about it, once. The first time we were plannin' to go. So yeah, I think I can pretty much promise. An'... yeah, it might. Never been too good at that part."

"Well, if anyone can keep you from getting shot, it's Dom..." Amanda turned slightly so she was half facing him, studying his face. "And it's been worse lately, hasn't it?" she asked softly. "The waiting, I mean. Between Nate and me, we've kept you worrying."

There was only one way they could really comfortably have this conversation face to face, the way it needed to be. He tugged her round until she was sitting sideways on his lap. "I could've handled one or the other, I think", he said with a sigh. "But Angie got shot an' we didn't know if she was gonna live, an' then you all went off not thinkin' you'd be back - an' don't tell me you didn't think so - an' then Nate didn't even tell me he was goin' somewhere he expected to get shot at, before he went..."

Amanda bit her lip, reaching over to run her fingertips along his face. "You know you can't come with me on a job," she reminded him quietly. "Just as I can't go on a mission with you. I promise, I'll always tell you as much as I can about what's going on, but as much as I wish I could have you there with me..." She paused, a considering look coming into her expression.

"I know I can't, an' I know you can't. But... Nate asked if it would really've helped, knowin' what he was gettin' into when I wasn't there. An' it wouldn't, but not knowin' doesn't help either... what?"

"If there was a way for you to know I was all right, even when I was out of touch... would that help? I know it'd help me, knowing that." Amanda was definitely looking thoughtful. "'Cause, there might be something, but I'd have to look into it a bit more."

"If there was a way... yeah." He offered a faint smile. "I think it would. Somethin' like a..." He caught himself before mentioning links, remembering a certain part of her history with Manuel.

"A link," she finished for him, even though her stomach clenched nervously at the thought. "Something like that, only not so..." She waved her hand near her temple, trying to indicate something less than a full link. "Like I said, I'll have to do some research. It isn't something I've thought about before."

Angelo nodded. "Well, it's not like it's somethin' we're gonna need tomorrow... right?" With their lives nothing was certain, of course, but... he thought tomorrow was fairly safe to say.

"I think tomorrow's all right." Looping her arms around his neck, she pulled herself closer to him. "I'll look into it when I get home, yeah?"

"Sounds like a plan." His arms went round her waist, in the familiar response to her doing that, and he leaned in for a kiss.

A kiss that was most enthusiastically returned, earning them not a few amused looks and cheers as around them, the clan continued to celebrate.