Manuel and Amanda - Love and Amulets, Part I

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Who: Manuel de la Rocha, Amanda Sefton, Frank the Lizard
Where: Amanda's Room
When: Monday evening
What Happens: Manuel receives a present, and his pricky sense of honor gets brushed up against.



Manuel, in a all-too-rare display of good humor, knocked on Amanda's door with the shave-and-a-haircut pattern. He couldn't keep the silly grin off his face, and his mind was awhirl with possibility. "Come on, open up!" he muttered to himself, too eager with excitement to wait for very long.

If the excitement and impatience coming down the link wasn't a dead giveaway, the knock was. Amanda opened the door with a grin, Manuel's feelings infectious. "I should do stuff like this more often," she said. "Yer like a little kid with a birthday present," she said.

Manuel let himself into her room once she opened the door, and wriggled past her with a truly evil grin. "Birthday presents?" he said with the slightest bit of a frown, but didn't let that override his good feelings. "This is far better than some dusty lecture on House responsibility and a bottle of alcohol. You have, in one move, managed to solve my remaining academic problem! Why shouldn't I be happy?"

"No reason at all," she replied, snagging a kiss as he moved past her. She was still smiling, but there were dark circles under her eyes, and she looked tired. "'M glad t'be able t' help, seein' you yer've been helpin' me so much."

Manuel's good mood didn't entirely remove his brain. "You look tired. Tell me you didn't relapse or wear yourself into the ground doing this for me." he said, all traces of humor suppressed in favor of a wash of concern.

"No relapsin'. I promise. An' 'm fine, just havin' trouble sleepin', is all. Nothin' t' do with you or yer amulet." It was mostly true - making the amulet had given her something to do when she couldn't sleep. Changing the subject, she held out her hands, both fists closed. "Pick," she said, grinning.

Manuel examined her outstretched hands, grinned at her, and picked her left. "You're left handed - even I remember that." he said with an amused smirk.

With a carefully innocent expression, Amanda opened her left hand to reveal... nothing. Then the right. Again, it was empty. An impish grin tugged at the corners of her mouth as she reached up and 'pulled' the amulet from behind his ear. "Abracadabra," she said, handing him the small ivory tablet. It had been threaded on a leather cord, and its surface was enscribed with Babylonian script. "One universal translator."

Manuel grinned, clearly amused by the whole goings-on. "Nice." he said, looking at the amulet. "Would you do the honors?" he said with a grin, handing the amulet back to her and turning around so that she could put it around his neck easily. "You _so_ deserve a little extra care and consideration." he said with a smile. "I owe you big."

"More than yer've done for me already?" she pointed out as she looped the cord around his neck and tied the end securely. "You don't owe me anythin', love. More like it's me payin' you back for takin' care of me when 'm bein' difficult." The amulet on, she gently turned him back around to face her. "But yer welcome."

Manuel smiled at Amanda, and then kissed her deeply. "I helped you because you needed help. You didn't need to do this, and you did it anyway. Let me do something nice for you." he said. "Besides, with all the stress and whatnot, you could use a little spoiling."

"I could use gettin' away from here, but that ain't happenin' for another couple of weeks," Amanda said with a small sigh, wrapping her arms around Manuel's waist and resting her head on his chest. His heartbeat thudded reassuringly steady under her ear. "When me groundin's finished, promise we'll do somethin'?"

"Absolutely. Whatever you want. I'll even put my earplugs in and do the punk scene again, if you want. Just name it." he said, returning the hug in earnest. "And what _do_ you like to have for breakfast?"

"Surprise me - yer good at that, an' I'm learnin' t' like surprises. Yers, any way." His arms felt good around her, strong and safe - without realising it, her whole posture relaxed slightly, the tension seeping out of her shoulders and back. "Breakfast... hmm. I've been eatin' a lot of fresh fruit lately - there's lots of strawberries in the fridge most mornin's." She smiled. "Pancakes with strawberries an' cream would be good."

Manuel hrmm-ed, then nodded. "I might be able to do that." he said. "Be pushing my admittedly pathetic stolen skills in the kitchen, but I might be able to do it." he mused. "And you'd love a nice breakfast in bed, so that's pretty much all the incentive I need." He grinned as his mind wandered over the possibilities. "Have to find a weekend when you don't have much planned."

"Ask Rahne to help, if you want to. She's good like that, an' she wouldn't hold you t' anythin' for doin' you a favour," Amanda suggested gently. "An' as for weekends... since I can't get off campus 'til October, yer've got a couple still to pick from. Sundays're better - Strange comes for me lessons Saturdays."

"Sunday it is. And Rahne - hrm. I don't know. Maybe. She might do it, she might not. You have a point on the debt issue, though - although this sort of thing is minor in the extreme." he said, thinking it through verbally. "But the point is not that I got someone else to cook it, and I delivered it. That's too easy. To be real, to be honest, I have to do it myself. Otherwise I could just order out or something."

"Do yer best," she said, reaching up to pull him down fo a kiss. "Tho' you realise yer reputation as a complete bastard's at risk if someone catches you at this whole thing?" she added with a mischievous grin. "They'll think yer've gone soft."

Manuel shrugged. "It wasn't working for me." he admitted. "Samson helped me realize that. It was a smokescreen. You know who I really am, and that's enough for me. I can't worry about what other people think about me any more - that's a quick road to a breakdown for someone like me. All I really need to do is pick a time when Lorna can be expected to be elsewhere - I don't want to give her any more ammunition if I can possibly avoid it. And her smug self-centeredness really gets up my nose."

"She ain't so smug at the moment - she's a right mess over this thing with Alex..." There was a certain amount of sympathy in her voice, remembering how bad things had been when she and Manuel hadn't been talking. Or anything else. "An' yer right, 'bout not carin' 'bout what people think. Wish I could do that more meself."

Manuel kissed Amanda's brow. "I can help with that." he said quietly. "It's all emotional." He then paused to think. "No, if she's emotional over Alex then I really don't want to run into her. Although it might be fun to give her some stability to help atone for what I did to her." he mused.

"Not without askin' first - you go in without tellin' her, an' she'll freak, you know that," Amanda cautioned. This particular topic was fraught with too much danger, and she was too tired and stressed to do the dance of diplomacy today, so she changed the topic. "I heard from Red today, from the stables. He was wonderin' how I was, seein' how I sort of disappeared on 'em. He sounded disappointed when I told him school was back on so I couldn't work there any more." There was a hint of surprise in her voice - Red hadn't seemed the sort to form any kind of attachments to anyone who didn't have four legs, a mane and a tail.

Manuel felt the emotions that went with all of that, and then shrugged. "If you feel it's that bad of an idea, all you had to do was say so. I'll leave her to her misery." he grumped. "And perhaps you could set up something for winter break? Maybe make it a when-you're-not-taking-classes sort of a thing?" he suggested. "Regular employment might do us all some good."

"I did say so. Just didn't want t' argue 'bout it, is all." Amanda pulled away from him a little. "Every time we talk 'bout Lorna, it gets messy, an' I ain't up for it today." She certainly didn't look up for anything more complicated than small talk. "But 's a good idea, workin' at Stonewall durin' the hols. I like it, an' it gives me a break, not t' mention havin' a few quid of me own for a change."

Manuel nodded. "And, most importantly of all, it makes you feel good. Anything that makes you feel good that isn't ODing I'm all in favor of." he said with a leer.

"No arguments here." And speaking of things that made her feel good, she leaned upwards for another kiss. "I should go - I've got Arabic soon, an' Haroun takes it personal if yer late. Somethin' 'bout respectin' yer teacher."

Manuel returned the kiss with a grin, then swatted her butt as she passed him. "I'm done for the day - meet me here after class?" he asked her with a hopeful smile. "We can go get some dinner."

"Love to, kabaro, but 'm already booked - Nate wants me t' drop by an' watch movies with him an' Moira." She gave him an apologetic look. "But it means you get t' practice with yer new toy without distractin'. Tomorrow instead?"

Manuel smiled, but something deep inside him radiated mild disappointment. "Sure." he said, putting up a pleasant front. "No problem. I'll catch up with you tomorrow."

The front didn't fool Amanda one bit, even without the edge of disappointment on the link. "'M sorry, love, but I did promise, an' I've broken enough of those lately t' not want t' do it any more." She reached up and traced his jawline with her fingertips. "Want me t' sneak into yer room tonight instead?" she asked with a wicked grin. "Make up for it?"

Manuel shook his head - over the link, the very familiar coldness of de la Rocha honor being affronted came through loud and clear. "No, I don't think that will be necessary. Thank you for the pendant - this will help me a very great deal in getting through my studies. I
will leave you now. Enjoy your time with Nathan. Tomorrow, we will speak again."

So much for good moods and teasing. One day she'd remember he had no sense of humour, or at least not one that meshed with hers. And the de la Rocha sense of honour was beyond her sometimes. With a sigh she collected her Arabic text and notebook, and headed for the door. "Do me a favour? Take Frank outside for some sun? It'll get cold soon enough an' he needs all he can get."

Manuel nodded. "Sure. No problem." he said, moving deeper into her room to collect the lizard from where he basked in his cage. "Come on, you." he said to Frank as he took him out of the tank. "Let's go out for a walk."

The two of them were oddly cute, Amanda thought, smiling to herself. "Ta, love," she said, heading for the door. "I'll see you tomorrow. Let me know if the charm works all right?" She paused before closing the door behind her. "Love you," she told him, opening her end of the link as much as she was able so he could see for himself.

Manuel felt it, and then stopped and sighed. "I know." he said. "Go on, have a good time." He was struggling mightily internally to keep his irrational dislike of Nathan from coloring his mood, and for the most part he succeeded - at the expense of his own good mood. "Frank and I will talk, just us men, and bask in the warm sunshine."

"Arabic first, then fun," she reminded him, pulling a face. It was purely for show - she loved her language classes, and the fact she was among the top of the class didn't hurt either. "You an' Frank have a good time bein' manly." The last was said with a chuckle, and she blew him a kiss before closing the door behind her.

Manuel watched Amanda trot off to class, and then he looked at Frank. "Well, I screwed that up." he commented to the lizard. "Come on, you, Let's go find a sunbeam and feel warm feelings." he said to the lizard as he walked out of Amanda's suite.