xp_logs | Angelo and Scott in the medlab

Scott sat on one of the more comfortable chairs that the one of the students had brought down at some point, laptop propped on the arm of the chair. He was browsing the journals, reading the commentary on the Betsy situation, and keeping an eye on her room.

He was still there when Angelo walked down to take his turn watching over Amanda. He still wasn't completely happy with her, but felt a certain amount of responsibility in the circumstances. Seeing Scott in the armchair, he stopped. "Hey."

Looking up, Scott saw Angelo, in the medlab area, but not one of its patients. It was a rare sight. "Hey," he said back, softly. "Amanda?" he asked, no further clarification needed.

Angelo nodded simply. "Yeah. 's my shift", he explained.

"How is she?" Scott hadn't had a chance to get to know the young witch, which he regretted. He regretted that he didn't get to know every new person that had shown up since last May.

Angelo shrugged. "Gettin' better, I think. Slowly."

"Addictions take time to recover from. But she'll make it. She's...scrappy." He closed the laptop. "Like someone else I know." He smiled up at Angelo.

Angelo grinned back, taking the point. "Yeah, I'm sure she will. Somethin' tipped her over the edge Tuesday, though..."

"What do you know about it?" Scott asked, gesturing to the other chair. "If you have the time...?"

Angelo nodded, sitting down. "Sure. The doctors are around, so I got time." He shrugged. "Don't really know that much, t'be honest. She ran into me in the hallway, an' she was upset, an' then she ran away so I followed her. To the roof. All I know is she said somethin' about Lorna, an' about Manuel..."

Scott nodded. "Everything seems to be linking back to Manuel these days." He looked over at Angelo, assessing. "What do you think?"

Angelo sighed, and prepared to tell Scott what he knew. "I think the addiction got worse than she told anyone, an' for some reason she couldn't get what she needed anymore. So she was withdrawin' and tryin' to keep it a secret. An' whatever Lorna said the other night, for whatever reason, was the last straw."

"Do you think she was afraid to ask for help, and that no one would want to help her because of the potion incident?" Scott frowned. "Or just afraid/unwilling to ask?"

Angelo shrugged again. "Probably a bit of both. She made me promise not to tell. She said she'd get it under control..."

Scott wanted to growl at Angelo. Wanted to glare at him, wanted to rail at him. He didn't. "And did you believe her? Have you ever seen anyone kick an addiction on their own, Angelo?"

Angelo looked miserable, knowing he'd done wrong. "I didn't know how bad she'd got. If I'd known, I'd've dragged her down to see the doctor if need be..."

"Some people hide it very well." He asked again. "How bad it was aside...have you seen anyone addicted kick it without help?" He wasn't angry. He was curious. How much the street kid had seen, or hadn't.

Angelo nodded reluctantly. "Once. Guy from the neighborhood - one o' the strongest people I ever met. It wasn't pretty. But she made me swear..."

He held up a placating hand. "I know. She obviously knew that you would do what was ..." He stopped himself and changed tacks. "...what she didn't want you to do, without making you swear. And she knew you wouldn't break your word. She knew what it meant to you. It's okay. She'll get better now, on her own /and/ with help." He rested a hand on the laptop. "We've all made mistakes lately, but we're alive, and we'll keep going on. And keep making mistakes. It's why we're not any better than the non-mutants. It's what keeps us /human/."

Angelo nodded, with a wry grin. "When you're right, you're right."

"It's not often, so I try to treasure it when I can." Scott grinned over at Angelo. "I'm sorry for storming out on you."

Angelo shrugged easily. "No problem. We were all pretty stressed out around then."

"To say the least." He paused, wondering what Cain would say about it, then decided that he'd had enough of agreeing with the man today. "How about when you get back from the trip, you, me, and Marie go to the local range?"

Angelo glanced up sharply, eyes filled with disbelief. "For real?" He smiled, suddenly and brightly, knowing Scott wouldn't have said it unless he meant it. "That'd be great."

"It's a deal. Now, go take over watch duty." He glanced at Betsy's room, then back at the laptop. Picking it up, he headed upstairs. "And stay safe over there, Angelo."