xp_logs | Angelo and Amanda; Angelo and Nathan (Reply)

Angelo goes to see Amanda with the intention of fixing where he went wrong, and they make a start on it at least. Some time later, he's walking Joyita and finds a tipsy Nathan in the gazebo (after Nathan and Shinobi's pool night). He is highly amused.

Angelo was sitting with his back against the wall opposite Amanda's room, waiting for her to come back. If Manuel showed up, he planned to claim he was there to see Kitty or one of the others.

It wasn't far from Manuel's suite to her room, but he'd have a fit if he knew she'd walked it on her own. Amanda made sure to keep the effort of walking off the link - she was still tired and weak from almost a day of vomiting - but she was determined to do something for herself after three days of being spoiled. Besides, she really wanted her toothbrush. And a change of underwear would be nice...

Angelo looked up at her as she approached, not quite daring to smile until he knew how she'd react to him being there, and waited for her to draw level.

She'd been so intent on _getting_ there that she didn't even realise Angelo was sitting outside the room until she practically stepped on him. She paused, unsure. "Um, you after Frenchie or Rahne or one of the little ones?" she asked, confused. "'Cause I think they're all out gettin' dinner."

Well, she wasn't yelling at him... probably a good sign. Angelo shook his head. "No, I was waitin' for you, actually. Think I need to talk to you."

There might be someone coming your way with his hat in his hand... Suddenly Nate's email made actual sense. Well, if Nate wanted her to, she'd give him a hearing, at least. "Best come in," she said, turning away from him to open the door, leaning on the knob heavily. "'S probably not a good idea for Manny t' see us together."

Angelo nodded, eyeing her in open concern while she wasn't looking. "Yeah, you're right." He followed her into the room and sat down, trying to phrase what he needed to say next.

It was all she could do not to collapse on the bed, but she wouldn't do that in front of Angelo. "How 'bout you start at the beginnin'?" she asked, leaning back against the wall. "Since this talk ain't my idea, you should go first."

Another nod, followed by a lengthy pause as he struggled with the words. "The beginnin' would be the e-mail. I tried to explain then why I was writin' it, an' I really thought then it was the best thing I could do for you. But I've come t'think I was wrong."

"What made you change yer mind?" Amanda asked, her tone neutral and controlled. "'Cause it really would've been nice t' avoid all this in the first place, y'know."

He bent his head. "Yeah, I know. What made me change my mind? Well, Nathan pointin' out a few things I didn't know, mostly. But only because I trust him to get it right."

"Like what? That I'd lost me best mate an' didn't know what t' do 'bout it? That I ended up usin' again 'cause it felt like no-one could help?" Amanda tried hard to keep the bitterness out of her voice, but it slipped through ay way. "Fuck it, Ange, if yer'd only given me the chance t' talk, t' explain t' you.. You didn't give me the chance t' get me head back together enough t' make sense, and by the time I could, you were hidin' from me."

Angelo didn't look up at her. "I thought you wouldn't want to see me. Thought it'd be easier for you to settle things with Manuel without me in the picture."

"Yeah, well, yer a plonker." There was no real malice to the insult, though. "D'you really think I'm so stupid I can't make up me own mind?"

"I never thought you were stupid", Angelo countered quietly. "That choice isn't a fair one to ask anybody to make - but it seemed to me like you already had. Guess I was wrong there, too."

"Christ, Ange, I was half out of me head after that - an' you know me, the first thing I do when I'm upset is go somewhere private until I can pull meself together. That's all I needed." Amanda sighed. "'Sides, I thought yer'd hate me after what Manny showed you - I was too ashamed t' look you in the face."

"I tried to tell you", he reminded her. "I would've done out on the porch, if you'd only stuck around long enough. Guess we both took stuff worse than we needed to..."

"I couldn't stick around, I couldn't _think_," Amanda retorted with some heat, and then paled as the dizziness kicked back in. Fuck, she didn't have the energy for this; she filtered the worst of the feelings through the link as best she could, hoping Manuel would stay busy with whatever errand he'd made.

Angelo nodded, watching her warily. "Yeah. Amanda... you do know if I hadn't thought I was doin' the best thing, I'd've been back at your door long ago, right? 'Specially with all that's goin' on... I have missed you, like crazy."

"You have?" It was meant to come out as a challenge, but became more of a plea - her voice cracked on the last syllable. She grabbed handfuls of the bed quilt to stop herself from digging her nails into her palms.

He nodded again, eyes serious. "I have. The number of times I almost went "fuck it" an' came to see you anyway... 'cause I needed someone t'talk to. Needed t'talk to you. Wish I had gone back on it before, now. But then, I thought that'd be the wrong thing."

"Yer a complete dope, you know that, right?" Amanda was shaking her head at him, with exasperated affection. "You wantin' t' talk t' me, me wantin' t' talk t' you, an' both of us bein' too bloody stupid t' do it."

Angelo grinned wryly, slumping with relief. "We really were, weren't we?"

"Apparently it's part of the teenage condition, accordin' t' Alison," Amanda told him. "'M still mad at you for not lettin' me decide things, but right now? I missed me mate."

Angelo smiled tentatively. "So did I. There's stuff I've wanted t'talk to you about, so bad... but that can wait. C'mere?" he offered, holding out his arms for a hug but leaving the decision up to her.

She paused only fractionally, and that was more because she was still a bit wobbly on her feet. Getting off the bed, she crossed to Angelo and wrapped her arms around his waist. "Plonker," she said, indistinctly, ignoring the tears that were soaking into his t-shirt.

Angelo let out a near-silent sigh of relief, hugging her back happily and blinking back a few tears of his own. "I know, I know."

Angelo was out walking Joyita one last time for the day. As usual, she was straining at the leash, eager to go bouncing off into the bushes, but it was after dark and he didn't especially want to go chasing after her. Glancing up, he realized they were drawing close to the gazebo.

It had been too nice a night to go back inside once he and Shinobi had arrived home, so Nathan had gone for a walk. He'd had all of two beers at the pool hall, but again, he was feeling more like he'd downed six or seven. This no-alcohol-tolerance crap was really aggravating, he thought with a rueful grin, staring up at the roof of the gazebo. He was sprawled on his back on one of the benches, arms folded behind his head and feet propped up on the railing. Quite comfortable, really.

Joyita saw him there before Angelo did, yipping joyfully and all but yanking the leash out of Angelo's hand in her rush to go and say hello. Confused, Angelo tried to see what she was aiming at, and grinned when he saw Nathan. Drawing a little closer, he called out a greeting.

"Oof," Nathan managed as the puppy landed on him. "Hey there, you," he said with a grin, pushing himself up to a sitting position and keeping Joyita from leaping at his face. "Don't lick." She ignored him completely, of course, and Nathan snorted at Angelo as he climbed the stairs into the gazebo. "Two words, kid. Obedience training."

Angelo nodded, watching them with amusement as he sat down on one of the other gazebo seats. "She's only a baby yet. She'll learn."

"Never too early to start." She really was a sweet little thing, though, Nathan thought, smiling as she wriggled around in his lap. "What is it with all the animals around here and liking me? Even Oscar liked me. Which is funny, given that Sarah doesn't."

Angelo grinned. "Puppies like everybody. And I don't think Sarah dislikes you as much as all that. You know she came upstairs when you were first... back, 'cause she knows her shieldin' isn't all it could be?" He left unspoken the reminder that coming upstairs was a bigger deal for Sarah than for most.

Nathan hesitated. "No, I didn't know that," he said slowly. "Good of her - I was really in bad shape that night."

Angelo nodded. "So you see. She snarks at everyone - I don't think it's more personal with you than with anyone else."

"Well, I've done a fair amount of snarking right back at her." Joyita grabbed his hand, not biting, just playing, and he gave her a stern look. "Wouldn't blame her if it was."

Angelo shrugged. "Sarah's not one to hold that kind of thing against you. Or she wouldn't be talkin' to me now", he finished wryly.

Joyita abruptly lost interest and tumbled back down onto the floor, where she promptly started running in circles. "You may have to carry her back to the house at this rate," Nathan said, amused. "She'll crash anytime now."

Angelo whistled to her and patted his lap, which she completely ignored in favour of sniffing every corner of the gazebo. "Oh well, she's still little enough that I don't mind. Hope she grows out of it when she gets bigger, though."

"Otherwise it could be awkward," Nathan agreed, mock-seriously as he leaned back against the railing. "So. Are you taking any of my classes this fall?"

Angelo gave that some thought. "I haven't decided yet", he finally answered with a shrug. "They all sound pretty interestin', but so do so many of the others."

"You still have some time," Nathan said with a shrug of his own. "To decide, I mean. I know that most of what I'm offering this year is a little esoteric."

Angelo nodded. "Which of them d'you think would be good for me?" he asked idly.

Nathan paused, thinking about it. "You might like the international relations course," he said finally. "That's what my master's degree is in, actually. Gave me a lot of insight into how the world worked."

Angelo nodded again, thoughtfully. "Sounds pretty good. An' I'll be keepin' on with the Askani class, of course."

"I'm starting that up again next week, I think," Nathan said thoughtfully. "About time I did..."

That brought a grin. "If you're ready, that'd be great. I always liked the Askani classes."

"Suspect I'll stick to the old schedule. Although I might move it to Thursday nights, just so that I'm not interfering with anyone's social life."

Angelo chuckled. "Very obligin' of you." At that moment, as Nathan had predicted, Joyita stopped running around insanely, curled up on the gazebo floor, and went to sleep very fast.

Nathan could sympathize. He yawned widely, then shook his head with a wry smile. "I would really love it if I could stop being tired 90% of the time. Especially when the other 10% of the time I'm running around like a maniac and startling people."

Angelo bent down to scoop the puppy up into his lap, without her waking more than a slight twitch. "Time we went back inside?" he asked, eyebrow raised.

"I suppose," Nathan said without much enthusiasm, getting to his feet. "I'll go fish Moira out of the lab, maybe," he said, letting Angelo precede him down the steps.

Angelo set a purposely relaxed pace, carrying the puppy. "She's still down there at this hour?"

"Well, I hope not, but you can never tell." He laughed a little wearily. "She and I share bad habits."

Angelo glanced back, wryly amused. "The insomnia thing? Or overworkin' yourselves?"

"The overworking. Although I think she does it for different reasons than I do, at least. Healthier ones, if that's not too ridiculous-sounding a thing to say." He stuck his hands in his pockets as they headed back through the gardens.

Angelo nodded. "It kinda makes sense. I think." He fell silent, then, considering what to say next, and apparently didn't come up with anything.

Nathan eyed him, smiling a little. "You and I ought to make a date for the gym again sometime soon," he said easily.

Angelo glanced back again. "I'm up for it if you are", he countered lightly.

"We should do it soon," Nathan said, the smile turning into a grin. "While I still have no TK, so you know I won't cheat."

Angelo grinned back at him wickedly. "Sounds good to me."

"It might take me a whole five minutes to kick your butt, this way."

Angelo laughed, taking that in the spirit it was meant. "Hey, no fair. Even without the TK, you're bigger than me."

"Excuses, excuses," Nathan said with a chuckle.