xp_logs | Casa Dulce Casa: Angelo, Nathan, Paige and assorted gang kids (Reply)

The confrontation. Which goes off somewhat better than it could have done. There's no violence, and some progress may even be made.

Back here again, and wearing his own face this time. Angelo was almost certain he wouldn't come back again, once the weekend's business was finished. He walked slowly down the street, flanked by Nathan and Paige, keeping an eye out for the people they were looking for.

Not liking this. At all. The buzz of hostile thoughts was pervasive, coming from all directions, and Nathan gritted his teeth, trying to filter through it all.

Paige had worn her one black sweater, today. She thought today needed a black sweater and motorcycle boots and the sunglasses were only because it was bright out today. Maybe. Then again, a little intimidation never hurt. Glancing at her wrist, Paige checked the time distractedly.

And there they were, up ahead. True to Angelo's hopes, they hadn't chosen to be hanging around in a certain place today - he wasn't sure he could have faced them there. He kept the same pace as they drew closer, resisting any urge to turn and run.

Nathan's eyes narrowed behind his sunglasses as he felt Angelo's attention shift and intensify, focusing on the group of young men up ahead. #Remember what I said,# he sent sharply. #This starts going too far south and we're out of here.#

Angelo glanced at him fleetingly before looking straight forward, and thought clearly, I remember. I promised the Professor, too - no unnecessary risks.

We need a theme song, Paige thought idly, in a vague attempt to clear some of the tension she could see spreading across her accompanists shoulders.

Angelo offered her a faint tense smile as they drew level with his former friends. He stopped and looked straight at them, trying to project confidence he didn't really feel. They stared back, disbelief on some of their faces, clear anger on a few . Finally, one of them stepped to the front. "Well, look who's back. Look who's alive."

Angelo nodded, face blank. "I'm hard to kill, Miguel. You should know that by now. An' I wouldn't go tryin' anythin' now - I didn't come back for a fight."

Miguel, obviously the gang's current leader and spokesman, raised an eyebrow. "No? What are you here for then, Espinosa?"

"We need to talk", came the grim answer. "Think you've got the wrong idea about a few things."

Miguel started to laugh, glancing around at the other boys to make it clear they were expected to join in, which they duly did. After a while, he stopped and looked at Angelo. "Okay then. Tell us. What did we get wrong?"

There were a lot of answers Angelo could have given to that. But he'd only come intending to explain one of them, so he stuck with that. "Whatever your reason is for gettin' in the way of the rebuildin'. Think I've got a pretty good guess of what that is."

Miguel looked at him levelly, having decided to give him a hearing for whatever reason - even if it was just for the amusement value. "An' again I say, tell us."

"It was me?" Angelo asked. "An' it used to be, remember. It was me, it'd've been because I figured what they were doin' wasn't meant to help anyone here. Just t'make money for the people doin' the work."

"An' I suppose you're goin' to tell us it's not?" Miguel snapped, slipping up enough to reveal that Angelo had been at least partially right.

Angelo shrugged. "Some of it, probably. But I've seen what they're doin', an' some of it really is meant to make this place better."

Miguel laughed again, but bitterly this time. "Oh, come on, Espinosa. You grew up here. You seriously think anyone cares about this place?"

"They do now", Angelo answered with steel in his voice. "If it helps you believe it, remember it's in their best interest to clean this place up for real. Makes the cops an' the mayor look good."

Whether it was because Nathan and Paige were hanging back or for some other reason, Miguel and the rest of the boys were currently ignoring them. Miguel's answer was short and sharp. "An' why would we wanna go helpin' them do that? Like they ever did anythin' for us."

"Oh," Nathan said in a low, dry voice, "there's a productive attitude. No one said you had to help them, boy. But stopping interfering might be a start."

Miguel turned to look at him slowly. "An' who the hell are you?"

"The annoying gringo trying to tell you what to do," Nathan said with a broad, friendly, more than slightly terrifying smile.

Miguel was very carefully not - visibly - intimidated. "So, Espinosa, you brought backup along? Smart move. Got yourself a bodyguard... so who's the girl?"

"None of your business", Angelo answered levelly, knowing more or less what Miguel would say if he was told the truth. "Call her more backup."

"I'm also bored. That's my current state of being, not my name," Paige replied, turning her gaze from where she had been watching a pair of sparrows back to the group. "Pleasure to meet you."

Miguel nodded to her casually, eyes sharp, then turned his attention back to Angelo. "So is that all you came to tell us, Espinosa?"

"Almost. There's one more thing you seem to've missed along the way, with all this talk about helpin' - or not helpin' - the cops look good."

Miguel shot him a sardonic look. "More things we got wrong? Might as well share, then."

Angelo looked straight at him, then at each of them in turn, hoping to break through to at least one of the group. "If they clean this place up, it's your chance. Unless you want to finish up dead or in jail like the others did, of course."

Miguel's eyes hardened. "Easy for you to say. You got out. An' I'd guess you'll be goin' back to wherever you've been this last year, when you're done."

Angelo bit back the impulse to say I got out after you nearly killed me, and censored it to, "Yeah. I got out. But that doesn't change that things here could get better if you'd let them. You keep this up, they'll decide it's not worth it."

Miguel didn't blink, but he did pause very slightly before answering, and a little of the brashness was gone. "Said your piece now? All done?"

Angelo nodded, not looking away. "All done."

"Then it's time for you to go."

Angelo hesitated, then nodded again. "Fair enough. Just don't forget what I said." He had chosen those words carefully - asking for his advice to be remembered was different than insisting it be acted on. Without waiting for an answer, he turned away.

Nathan lingered, letting Paige and Angelo get a little ways away. Time for a rearguard and all. He eyed Miguel in particular, almost speculatively. Something had penetrated, something Angelo had said. Maybe that was all they could hope for. "Afternoon," he said amiably, turning to follow Paige and Angelo.

Angelo was heading for the local cemetery, as he'd told Nathan he wanted to, the night before. When they reached it, he left Paige and Nathan at the gates and walked slowly to the first of the two graves he wanted to visit. Crouching by the headstone, he began a monologue in muted Spanish.

"Hey, Dad. Guess it's been awhile, huh... and I'm not sure I'll be back. Mom an' I are doin' well - it's been a long hard road, an' a strange one, but I think it's better from here on in. Got a girl who loves me, an' people who're as good as family, an' a good place to live. An' best of all, I got a thousand miles away from the bad parts of livin' here. From here to there... like I said, it hasn't been easy, but I found myself a future now. Might even end up bein' a cop, if you can believe it. Don't know for sure what I'll end up doin', an' sometimes the amount of choice I've got scares me to death... but it's a hell of a lot better than anythin' I had here. One way or another, I'm gonna make somethin' of myself... just wanted to tell you, in case I never come back. I won't forget, though. This place, everythin' that happened here... I won't forget. Ever. Rest in peace, Dad, an' know we're safe."

Standing up, he moved to another grave, some little distance away, with a framed photograph of a young boy propped against the stone, weathered by time. He bent down to pluck away the few weeds that had started to grow since it had last been visited, although it obviously hadn't been long, and started to speak, again in Spanish.

"Jorgito. I'm sorry it's been so long since I last came by - I guess you know what's been goin' on, wherever you are - and I wanted to visit one last time, because I don't think I'll be here again. I've been workin' on fixin' things, Jorgito... I came back to do what little I can to make sure what happened to you an' me doesn't happen to any other kids, or not from here an' not for the same reasons. It's not much, but it's all I can do for now. Maybe someday I'll get into work that lets me do more, but until then... I've done what I can. I wanted you to know that.

"I got out, you know? I survived, an' I got out, an' I've got a good life now. A good life... family, an' a better home than I ever had before, an' I'm in love with a girl who loves me back. But for all that, I won't ever forget where I came from, I want you to know that. I'll remember this place, an' everythin' that happened here, for the rest of my life. An' I will never, ever stop doin' everythin' in my power to make things better for kids like we were, when I have any power to do it."

He reached out to run a hand over the glass of the photograph, in an affectionately sad gesture, then stood up decisively, wiping away the tears that had come unnoticed to his eyes as he spoke. One hand went into his pocket and produced the crucifix he'd habitually worn before it had been replaced by Shinobi's gift. He hung it carefully over the gravestone, then stepped back for a last long look.

"Adios, Jorgito. Rest in peace."

And with that, he turned and walked away to where Nathan and Paige were waiting.

"I'm done here now. It's time to go home."