xp_logs | Angelo and Amanda, Monday evening

Angelo and Amanda have that Talk.

Angelo looked quite cheerful as he walked into the coffee shop and glanced around, nodding to a face or two he recognised behind the counter before heading for a particular table.

"Hey, you."

"Hey." Amanda returned the smile a little wistfully, a mug of tea cupped between her hands. She looked tired, but none the worse for wear, so obviously this job hadn't been as rough as some. "Thanks for coming."

"Any time." He dropped into the chair opposite her, looking her over as he always did when she was just back. "How'd it go?"

"Pretty uncomplicated. One less mutant weaponisation project in the world." There was a degree of quiet pride in her voice at that accomplishment. "How've things been with you?"

He nodded in satisfaction at her words. "One less can't be anythin' but good. Things are okay here. We're movin' up... Nate's found us a bigger office in the city."

Amanda nearly choked on her tea. "You're moving offices to New York?" she asked. Suddenly, things got a lot more tricky.

"Joel says the boathouse doesn't give us the right image anymore", he said with a wry grin. "An' he's probably right. So Nate's moved the office an' himself out."

"Huh. So you'll be in New York a lot more then?" she asked, watching his face intently. His expression would tell her how much damage she was about to inflict.

"Most likely", he agreed easily. "For work, definitely. An' John an' I were talkin' about gettin' an apartment."

Bugger. He had 'cheerfully oblivious' face on. Amanda sipped at her tea again and then set down the mug, hands still wrapped around it. "Ange," she began, and bit her lip. "I've got something to tell you, 'bout the job. You won't like it."

...she'd never said that before. And the way she'd said it meant personal. His smile wavered slightly. "Somethin' happened, huh? Go ahead."

"In Symkaria, Morgan and me, we had to get some access codes. Target was sealed up tight as a drum, and the only way we could get in was to pose as a bit of totty for the boss." Her eyes were fixed firmly on the table, not because she was ashamed, but because if she looked him in the face, she'd never get this out and she had to, or it would fester. "Morgan took on the body of the lackey doing the picking up, I was the totty. Only, to make sure they didn't change the codes on us after they were grabbed, we had to make sure nothing odd happened. Which meant I..." She stopped, swallowed, and then met Angelo's eyes. "I slept with the boss while Morgan went through his office."

He looked steadily back at her, studying her face. "It was part of the job. To make sure it went smooth. You didn't want to." For all the statement tone of his words, they were a question.

"I did what had to be done. And I'll probably do it again." There was no apology in her voice or face, only a certain regret. "It's not something I'd do at the drop of a hat, but if it meant the difference between the job getting done or not, then yeah, that's what I'll do."

"It was a job that needed doin'", he said quietly. "But I guess now we've got some talkin' to do about what it means."

A brief, wry smile crossed her face. "'S why I asked to meet, yeah." The moment of humour was fleeting, however, in the face of the bombshell she'd had to drop. "I needed to tell you, I didn't want to have it sitting between us. And we promised a while ago, no secrets." She met his eyes again. "Tell me what you're thinking?"

"We promised that more than once", Angelo agreed, then looked at her squarely. "I'm tryin' to figure out what I'm thinkin'. But the first thing, I guess, is... maybe it's a wake-up call."

She nodded. "I s'pose it is. What we do.. we aren't the same people we were when we got together. And that's not necessarily a bad thing, you know? We're more, I don't know. Together? And that's doing something to us. The relationship thing, I mean."

"We are both more together. An' the thing is... our work's important, both kinds of it. To us an' in general. Never doubted that... but how much time did we actually get for us in the last month?"

"Not a lot. Even the 'work dates' didn't really happen that much, did they?" She knew where this was going, they both did. "You know I care about you, yeah? But maybe... maybe it's time. We've... well 'not grown apart' since you're still the person I think of first when I have something to share, but we're not really working as a couple any more, are we?" Which was odd, since her last experience of not working as a couple had involved ripping out an empathic link and leaving Manuel lying bleeding on the floor.

"Not so much." It was less an admission than a confirmation. "Still good friends, yeah? I wouldn't want it any other way. But I think we're just goin' different roads."

"Definitely still good friends. Fuck, I'd have to hunt you down if you thought you were getting rid of me that easy." The hardest part over, she unwrapped her death grip on her mug and reached out to touch the back of his hand. "I never wanted to hurt you," she said, more softly. "I think that's why I had to tell you. Before things got even further in. But you're right - we're not on the same path any more, haven't been for a while, really."

"I don't think I'll ever leave New York", he told her, turning his hand upward to squeeze her fingers. "Except for trips. So no huntin' down required... same goes for you, though. An' yeah, it probably would've hurt more if you hadn't told me straight off."

"Your mum will appreciate having you closer to home, at least?" she suggested with a sad smile, threading her fingers through his own. "Being with you... it did me more good than you'll ever know. Having someone with me for me... it made a lot of difference."

"I'm just waitin' for her to throw a party when I tell her", he said with a moment of levity, then sobered. "You'll have it again, too. Someone that can be with you even more than I can now, even. An' you'll have my blessin'."

"Ditto here." She squeezed his fingers again and let go. "So, I don't know about you, but I could use a drink and a smoke. Pub?"

"Finish your tea", he said, laughing. "Then pub."