xp_logs | Angel and Angelo, backdated

Angel finally plucks up the courage to apologize in person.

Angel shifted uncertainly as she stood outside Angelo's office door. She'd been putting this off and she knew it - partly because she was busy and partly because she just didn't want to face her friend. But with spring break she didn't have the excuse of being busy, and anyways she'd put this off long enough.

She sighed deeply as she knocked on the door, carefully nudging it open. "Angelo? You in?"

"Almost always", he called back, then looked up with a smile, seeming surprisingly relaxed and cheerful. "Hey, Angel."

The redhead put on a half-smile of her own as she leaned against the doorframe. Well, he didn't seem angry to see her, so that was probably something. "Heya. How's it going?" Small talk. Small talk was good.

"Not so bad. Work, work, work, but that's how I like it, and I try to remember the breaks... how about you?"

"Yes, remember breaks. Breaks are good." Angel shrugged, twirling a finger around a strand of hair. "I'm good...good. It's spring break, so even better." She pressed her lips together for a moment before finally throwing caution to the winds. "Um...listen, Angelo, I'm...and I definitely should have said this sooner, so first of all I'm sorry about that, but um...I'm sorry about, um...telling Sooraya about you and Jean-Phillipe. I should've realized she didn't know."

"Ah." He set down his pen, looking at her more seriously. "C'mon in, sit down. First, you did say it sooner, the day it happened, and second, it's not your fault. I should have told her myself before anyone else saw anything."

Angel slid further into the office, collapsing into the chair on the other side of his desk. "I just figured I could better then 'sorry, sorry, sorry' in a text fifty-thousand times. I just...I really did think she knew. That's not an excuse, though. I shoulda kept my mouth shut."

"Coulda, shoulda, woulda, you didn't know", he said firmly. "I know you didn't do it meaning any harm - for one, you wouldn't be this upset about it. So take this as forgiveness."

"Okay..." Which didn't make her feel any less bad, of course. But that was completely beside the point. "Have you...talked to her about it since all that? I mean, I don't need details or anything, but she hasn't really said anything to me about it...I just want to make sure she's okay, you know?"

"I talked to her", Angelo confirmed. "I'm... not sure how okay she really is about the whole thing, but we did talk, and she knows I'm here if she wants to talk about it more."

"Yeah, she was...pretty...put off by it all when I mentioned it," Angel admitted miserably. "I hope she's not trying to sort it out all her own. She worries me sometimes."

"I think it might be the kind of thing she has to sort out for herself, in the end, in her own time. Not that she shouldn't talk about it to people, I even suggested maybe that study and discussion group she's in, but she's the only one that can decide how she feels."

"Oh, no, I know," Angel said quickly. "I just...I think sometimes it helps to have someone to bounce your thoughts of of, you know? Instead of just letting them chase themselves around in your head or whatever."

"Yeah, you're right there", Angelo agreed. "If you want to go offer to be that for her, I think you should. You already know, after all, she might be a bit hesitant to talk about it to anyone that knows us, so she doesn't end up surprising them with it."

"I tried. Which won't stop me from trying again, because I know how stubborn she is, and I'm not about to let her get wrapped up in her head - again - but...she's stubborn." It was one of the things she loved and hated about her best friend.

"When did you try? That same day?" He nodded. "Maybe she'll be a bit less shocked about it now, with a couple of weeks' thinking space gone by."

"That night, I waited a bit...I talked to her this weekend - not about this, just sort of in general - and she seemed...I dunno, a bit better. Maybe having some space from it is helping. I hope so."

"Please try and bring it up again", Angelo requested. "Carefully, maybe, just start with my name and see how it goes or something? I want her to be okay, whatever she decides."

"I will." She'd been planning on it. She wanted Sooraya to be okay too. And she wanted Angelo to be okay. She just wanted everyone to be okay.

"I'm fine, you know", he said after a moment of silently observing her. "Except for this one thing, everything's coming up roses."

"Well...good." Between Genosha and what had happened on X-Corps first mission, it was about time something went right. "After a moment Angel smiled - a real, genuine, Angel smile. "By the way, you and Jean-Phillipe are totally cute together."

Angelo blinked, then offered a slow but equally real smile in return. "Well, thank you. I think."

"It's a compliment, don't worry." Angel laughed.

"Then I'll tell him you said so." He glanced at the door. "You want a coffee or something? Or is giving you coffee a bad idea?"

"Sweet." Angel was grinning by now. Back to usual. "Of course giving me coffee is a bad idea, but now that you've offered you really have no choice but to deliver." She hopped up, buzzing with energy now. "Besides, I'm sure it's time for one of those break things you need to take."

"...I'm so going to regret this", Angelo said with a kind of resigned amusement. "But come on, then, Firefly, let's go release your caffeinated self on the mansion."