Amanda and Angelo - backdated

[xp_daytripper]

Amanda drops by to check on Angelo following their text exchange and they talk about Africa and Angelo's love life.



"So," Amanda said without preamble as Angelo opened his door. "Pick one." She held up two large shopping bags, one in each hand. "We've got Therapy and Venting in this one..." She waggled the left one. "And Distraction and Gossip in the other. Which do you need more?"

"Uh..." He looked from one bag to the other, trying to make out what she actually had in them and failing because they were opaque. "Maybe a little bit of both? People keep telling me bottling is bad."

She grinned. "Cheater," she told him good-naturedly as she came in, pausing to press a kiss to his cheek as she came past him. "But you're right, bottling is bad, so we'll start off with Therapy and move on to Distraction." She knew his apartment as well as her own and as she talked, she headed for the living room.

"Agreed." He followed her with only a pause long enough to close the front door. The television was on, but he snagged the remote and switched it off before sitting down. "So what's in the Therapy bag?"

"Comfy?" At his nod, she fished in the bag and pulled out a small paper bag, marked as coming from the specialty tea store Amanda had discovered in New York and tended to frequent for, as she put it "the good stuff". "This is my very special stress blend," she told him, seriously, although mischief danced in her eyes. She lay the packet down on the coffee table and continued. "And while I put the kettle on and find clean mugs, you get something to cuddle." She reached in and pulled out a cushion, which she tossed over to him. It smelled of herbs, lavender mainly, but there were other things in there. "I talked to Homily and she swears by the mix inside there to help you sleep."

He caught the cushion and gave it an experimental squeeze, then lifted it to his nose as the scent emerged. "Doesn't smell like a Homily potion, this mix is a lot better. There's clean mugs in the cupboard."

"Did John buy more to avoid the washing up again?" Amanda asked teasingly, as she filled the kettle and plugged it in. "And yeah, I might have mentioned that myself when Homily gave me the recipe. Of course, it means the next time I see her, I'm getting the works with her health tonics. She's got no sense of humour, that woman."

"John knows if he leaves the washing up, I'll wind up doing it", he answered wryly. "He takes advantage 'cause I'm a neat freak. Did you tell her you're a lot healthier these days?"

"Grrmph," was Amanda's less-than-impressed noise at Angelo's response about being taken advantage of. He let that happen far too often. "Homily dosing me isn't about whether I'm healthy or not - she just likes watching me make faces."

"Yeah, that sounds like her", Angelo agreed, ignoring the grumbling noise. "And punishing you for saying they smell bad and taste worse. Even if she must know they do."

"Oh, I'm sure she does - she just comes from the school of 'if it tastes bad, it must be doing some good'." The kettle boiled and Amanda poured hot water into two mugs, along with the tea bags. The steam that came from the mugs smelled sweet and soothing, just as she'd promised.

"Good to see you don't go with that school", was the appreciative response as he craned back to look at her. "Smells really good."

Carrying the mugs back to the living area, she grinned. "Well, I'm not as scary as Homily, so I have to go with honey instead of vinegar," she said, setting his down on the coffee table. "Careful, 's hot."

He wrapped purposely thickened hands around his mug and lifted it, inhaling the scent without drinking any for a little while. "So I guess now it's time for the venting?"

"If you want to." Amanda settled herself in the other chair, her own tea balanced on her jeans-clad knee so she didn't hurt her hands. "You mentioned nearly getting set on fire?"

"Africa was a set-up", he said flatly, staring into the mug. "This guy, Malcolm Ord, he asked for me, claimed mutant kids were disappearing. Turns out they were just fine except for being brainwashed into a cult... and so was he. The leader was a woman called Aghanne, thought I was going to break the world."

Amanda frowned. "Pre-cog?" she asked, part of her brain making notes of the names even as she was there to help her old friend. "Or just balmy?"

"Hard to say." He shrugged slightly. "Maybe both, or she saw something real and misinterpreted. Or, hell, maybe she did see a future where I wind up making that happen whatever I plan on now. She said I was going to make the world burn if they didn't stop it, so they'd burn me first."

"What happened? You got away, obviously, but what about this woman and her people?"

"She lost control of the kids when the others busted in to get me", Angelo told her. "They didn't really know what was going on, we saw they got back home. Ord, last I heard, was in Scotland in a mental hospital. Aghanne skipped out while everyone was busy."

"Yeah", he confirmed with a humourless smile. "Most of them were teenagers, not little kids, but... yeah. Not one over sixteen bar Ord and this one other guy, I guess it was easier to get her claws into the young ones."

"How are the kids now?" Amanda sipped her tea. "X-Corps see to making sure they had somewhere to go and someone to take care of them?"

Angelo nodded. "Most of them were refugees. Some had parents still with them, some... didn't, but they'd all at least had somebody watching out for them before they met Aghanne."

"So something good came of it," she pointed out with a smile. "If you hadn't been there, those kids would still be tied up with her."

"'s true", he allowed, brightening slightly at that thought. "Guess the mission wasn't a total loss, then, even if it started on a lie."

She grinned back, pleased to see him cheer up. "It's better to focus on the good coming out of things, sometimes," she acknowledged. Especially given their lives. "And by the sound of your text, there was something else good coming out of it too."

"Ah, yeah." He grinned crookedly. "That... actually started after Minnesota. And it's kind of a thing we haven't put a name on yet, it just is."

"And who is we?" Amanda reached over to the other bag, still sitting by her chair, and pulled out a bottle of vodka and poured a shot into her tea before gesturing for Angelo's mug. "And yes, this is the segue into "Distraction". Booze and gossip, works like a charm."

He held his mug out obediently for her to top off, nodding. "Works for me. And we is, uh... Jean-Phillipe."

Her eyebrows shot up. "I... would not have guessed that. Then again, you do have a weak spot for snarky." She chuckled. "Marie-Ange know yet?"

"That I do. Usually small and snarky, but he's got five inches on me so I guess I broke that streak..." He shook his head. "Not unless JP's told her. It's not a secret, just one of those things you don't get around to mentioning, you know?"

Amanda nodded. "Fair enough. We're all in each other's business too much sometimes any way." She cupped her hands around her mug and took a longer sip. "The important thing is... you happy with how things are?"

"With him?" He considered that, drinking from his own cup, and nodded. "Yeah. I mean, Alejandra leaving, we agreed the distance thing wasn't gonna work since I'd never get time to go over there to see her and she wouldn't want to leave Miguel too often, but you know it knocked me back a little bit. Can't be certain this isn't still rebound, but we're keeping it not serious. After Minnesota, he came over, I was... medicated... for the wrist, I might have hit on him kind of blatantly and one thing led to another. And he's been trying to take care of me since Africa."

"'M glad. You have this tendency to not look after yourself, so having someone keeping an eye out for you is good," she teased, although there was a hint of something that might have been envy, or regret. "I'm sorry about Alejandra, by the way."

Angelo looked at her sideways, not missing that small edge, and nodded. "No shortage of people looking out for me now. Mom, Jean-Phillipe, Sooraya worries, and you came 'cause I needed you, and John..." His mouth twisted into a wryly sad smile. "John thinks I haven't noticed he stopped playing with his lighter around me. I didn't want to tell him to, and he did it anyway. And thanks."

"John's a sweetheart. Just don't tell him I said that or his head will swell even more than it is," she replied with a chuckle.