xp_logs | Callie and Angelo BACKDATED

While finishing working for the day, Callie and Angelo finally have a conversation they probably should have had a long time ago

Callie glanced down at her watch. Rush hour would hopefully be over, and she was at a good stopping point in her research for the day. Not that much had really been accomplished between her lack of concentration combined with the fact that Africa had really poor data, but it was what it was. As she waited for her computer to shut down,the Elpis intern gathered her papers and set out to let one of the overlords know she was leaving. Nathan would have been the preferred choice, but it appeared as if he was otherwise occupied, and instead she came across Angelo.

"Hey Angelo," she said poking her head in on his workspace. "I'm heading back now. Is there anything else you guys want for this week?"

He glanced up from his computer, then paused to think. "Hey, Callie. No, I think you're good, an' it's gettin' late."

Callie nodded and yawned. It wasn't that late really, she just hadn't been sleeping that well or much. "I think I'm going to make a coffee run so I don't do anything stupid while driving." She paused, this was the most she had said to him in recent weeks that didn't involve work. "Can I get you anything?"

"That place down the street's really good", he agreed, leaning back in his chair and stretching. "Wouldn't say no to an espresso, if you're goin'."

"Just an espresso," she asked. "Okay. I can do that. Give me like five minutes?"

"Good simple strong coffee." He grinned. "See you in five, then."

True to her word, Callie returned to the office approximately five minutes later, two paper small paper cups in hand. "Single for you," she said placing the cup on Angelo's desk. "And Doppio for me. Oh shoot," she wrinkled her nose. "I hope you didn't want cream or sugar or anything cause I kinda forgot."

"Nah, plain's fine." He wrapped his hands around the cup, but didn't drink yet. "Sit down, if you want. Enjoy your coffee before you go."

"Uh, thanks." An abandoned chair was pulled up and Callie settled in it, slowly sipping her coffee. She said nothing for a few moments, and while usually silence was fine by her, awkward silence wasn't. So to break the awkwardness of the situation, she said the first thing that came to her mind. "Did you hear about the guy who they thought was in a coma for 23 years?" Of course after she said it came the mental cringe and the cursing of her ability to retain and randomly pull up random knowledge.

Angelo blinked, then shook his head slowly. "Hadn't heard about that one. Sounds like quite a mistake to make."

So maybe awkward silence was a good thing Callie decided as she stared down at the lid of her cup. But now that it was out there she couldn't stop thinking about it. It was like a song she didn't know all the words too that kept getting stuck in her head on repeat. "You were there right," she said finally in a small voice, not looking up. "With him. When it happened?"

There was a short silence, as Angelo looked down at his desk. Finally, quietly, he said, "Yeah, I was there. Couldn't have happened without me."

That comment caused her to look up and give Angelo a confused look. "What do you mean? What happened," she asked. "When Julian told me he said he didn't know."

"He probably didn't." He sighed. "Look, you know Fred was havin' trouble with his powers, right? An' mine are kind of like his, so we thought if we got together with a telepath - Haller - maybe we could get things workin' again. It went wrong."

"I knew he was having pain..." Callie's voice trailed off as she remembered their fight. "Ugh. It's all my fault."

"What? How is it your fault?"

Now it was her turn to sigh, and to down the rest of her coffee. "I mean I knew he was having pain and he said it was powers related but I pushed him to get it looked at," she explained sadly. "I should have just ignored it."

"No - Callie, he an' I talked about doin' what we did months ago", he tried to reassure her. "He came to me an' asked, he'd been talkin' to Dr. Grey... an' you shouldn't ever ignore it if somebody you care about's in pain."

"But I pushed him to do it." It was hard for her not to accept the blame. Even if Fred and Angelo had been discussing it for months, she catalyzed it. "It's like the butterfly effect."

"You didn't know how it'd turn out. None of us did, but if... Haller told us he didn't have medical trainin'. I should've made sure it was Jean."

Callie mulled this over for a minute. "This sucks."

"Can't say truer than that." He took a gulp of coffee. "If he's gonna get better anywhere, though, Muir's the place."

"Yeah." She considered it a pretty big if though. "At least we know he's being well cared for."

"Not many in that field better than Moira." He smiled faintly. "Listen, I might call it a day. Give you a ride home an' back in the morning, if you're still tired."

"No I'm fine-" Callie yawned again. "Okay maybe I'm not. I think I'll take you up on that. Thanks."

"No problem." Angelo drained his cup, tossed it into the trash, and stood up. "Nate! We're goin'!"