Madelyn, Angelo - Wednesday morning

[x-madelyn.livejournal.com]

Madelyn follows-up on what she said to Kurt about keeping an eye on people - using her L33t detective skills, she tracks down Angelo by the lake, and ends up giving him relationship and career advice. As well as a warning to beware of enthusiastic purple pixies.



It had taken a while to get some free time, but Madelyn had eventually escaped the medlab and was on an Angelo Hunt. Paige would follow, at some point, but for now she was going for the easier target. Easier being a subjective term. He hadn't been in any of the usual places, and there was a flying lesson going on, which meant the roof was out. But Madelyn hadn't forgotten her training, and dogs needed walking. Which meant that Angelo would probably be out on the grounds somewhere. She decided on the lakeside first - more space for a restless puppy to run, with less hassle with the leash getting tangled in things.

Right first time. He'd decided to let Joyita off the leash for a little while: she was half-grown now, and could be trusted not to go too far, and to come back frequently, if only in hopes that he'd get up and play with her. So for the moment, he was sitting on the ground by the lake, alone with his thoughts, keeping an eye on the dog just in case.

Madelyn caught sight of Joyita before Angelo - the dog came racing up to her, panting excitedly, bouncing around with a stick in her mouth in the hopes that someone would play with her. "Hey girl," she said, bending to pick up the stick as Joyita dropped it expectantly. She threw it a little way along the path, and as the dog took off after it, caught sight of Angelo sitting slightly further up by the lake, hunched into himself, looking definitely unhappy. As he would, considering that he'd had an argument with Paige, as well as the fact Jono was still in medlab.

"You're a hard man to find," she said, coming up to him, Joyita returning to her side, the stick in her mouth. She took it again, and threw it further this time. "I've been looking for you for a while."

He watched Joyita race off in pursuit of the stick before looking up at Madelyn, eyes guarded but not unfriendly. "Yeah? I've been around..."

"In a way that looks very much like lying low and avoiding people," she said with a slight smile. "Mind if I join you? I just wanted to check how you were doing. House call, as it were."

He nodded, shifting aside slightly as if to make space, though there was no shortage of it - it was a symbolic gesture more than anything. "Sure, sit down."

She nodded at the gesture, taking a seat beside him, but not too close. "I was wondering how you were holding up," she said gently. "It's been a stressful few days, and you mentioned something about an argument with Paige..."

He very carefully didn't flinch at Paige's name, and answered honestly, "Better. Amanda came after me... after... when I wasn't doin' so well, made sure I got some sleep, all that."

Amanda again. How many people was she taking care of? Madelyn winced internally. She'd been hugely unfair. "And how have you been sleeping since?" she asked, quietly. Deal with the physical stuff first - he'd be more upfront about that.

"Same as usual, mostly", he answered with a wry twist to his grin, knowing that Madelyn was aware of his frequent insomnia. "'s gettin' better, anyway."

"Well, you have a couple of places to go if you need help with that, you know that, don't you?" When he nodded, she smiled a little. "How about eating? I know you probably don't feel like it much, but you should be trying at least."

The puppy came galloping back at that point, leaping into Madelyn's lap - because hey, she saw Angelo all the time. New - or semi-new - people were much more interesting. Angelo watched her with some amusement for a moment before answering Madelyn. "Yeah, I've been eatin' okay. Mostly."

She gave him as stern a look as she could with a lapful of exuberant puppy. "Mostly isn't good enough - you're at an age where food's important," she told him, then threw the stick again for Joyita so she'd at least not get licked to death. "I'll be checking on Paige at some point," she said, seemingly casually. "Asking her pretty much the same thing."

If he tensed up at all at the mention of Paige, it was only fleetingly before he offered Madelyn a slight smile and said quietly, "Good. Someone needs to..."

Madelyn didn't miss the tension, and inwardly sighed. Oh, what a tangled web relationships were... "That someone should be the person closest to her," she pointed out quietly. "I don't know what happened, and it's not my business to know, but whatever the argument was about... I have no doubt she needs you."

He looked at her sideways for a moment, then his head dropped miserably onto his drawn-up knees, and he said, voice muffled, "If she does... doesn't mean she wants to see me right now. I left her a letter, if she's read it she knows she can always come to me if she does need me... Tryin' to give her space."

"Space is good, as long as it doesn't turn into a gulf," Madelyn told him, hesitating a little before touching his shoulder in a reassuring manner. "And we all know Paige is very good at pretending she's fine. If she doesn't let you know something by the end of the week, maybe it's time to move on from letters to actual words?"

He nodded, not raising his head but leaning into the hand on his shoulder. Joyita appeared from somewhere, fur matted with mud, and put her paws on his knees to lick at his face. He put out a hand to both hold her off and pet her. "Yeah. Just... don't know what to say right now."

"You will," she said, giving his shoulder a squeeze. "Look at it this way kiddo... This space, it goes both ways. Think about things, sort them out in your head. Then when you talk to her - and you will talk - say what you feel. Calmly, and honestly. If nothing else, she'll respect you for that. But I think it will be a lot more than just that."

He sighed. "I guess. There's... a lot of stuff we should probably talk about. 'Manda says I shouldn't be so scared of losin' her, an' she's right, but... it's not that easy."

"It never is, kiddo." This time she did put her arm around his shoulders, hoping he wouldn't mind the intrusion. He just seemed so lost. "But that doesn't mean it's impossible."

He didn't mind, not from her, and he leaned into the contact with a small sigh. "'m just scared we're goin' different places", he confessed quietly. "She's all about the teams, an' I'm... not. Don't know how long I'll end up stayin' here, after graduation. I want to stay, but not if I'm just freeloadin', not even a student."

"Does she know how you feel, that you're thinking about this?" Madelyn asked, firming up her hug once she knew it wasn't going to be shrugged off.

"Not yet. I didn't want to make it sound like... like I was tryin' to make her choose. Didn't want to put it across like a 'me or the teams' thing, 'cause... well, she'd hate me for that."

"That would be a bad thing, yes. But you need to talk about this, Angelo. What you want, what you need... it's just as important as her wants and needs." Madelyn shook her head slightly at herself. Relationship advice from the person who hadn't been in anything even vaguely resembling one for at least five years. And as far as successful ones went... "Take it from me, the clashes in directions, they do happen. And sometimes they mean people can't be together. But not always. But it takes a lot of communication, a lot of trust."

He grinned a little ruefully, straightening his legs to scoop Joyita into his lap. "'d probably help if I knew what I wanted. 'Cept for her, that is."

"Like I said to Jubilee, you have time. It's not like eighteen's this cut-off point for having your life organised, set in stone." Ruffling the puppy's head, she smiled at the muddy footprints she was leaving all over Angelo's jeans. "Although I foresee laundry and dog-washing in your immediate future."

He grinned slightly, running a hand over the puppy's back. "Yeah, but I'm gonna have to decide on somethin' pretty soon. Even if it's not a "set in stone" deal."

"Did you end up talking to Sean?" she asked. "FBI recruitment isn't until you're 24, so if you were set on that course I'd recommend some kind of criminology degree, or something similar, and then apply. If law enforcement's still on the cards, that is."

He nodded. "Yeah, him an' Pete both. 's definitely still a possibility - I'll look up what courses they have at the schools 'round here."

"See? That sounds like a young man with at least the bare bones of a plan to me." Madelyn checked her watch and sighed. "And I'm afraid that's my allocation of fresh air for the day. You'll remember to come down and get something if you need help sleeping? And work on the eating, or Clarice will end up tackling you and force-feeding you or something."

He laughed a little. "I'd like to see her try. But, yeah, I'll work on it. An' the sleepin' too."

"She can be very persistent when she wants to be," Madelyn said with a fond smile. "Just needs to work on her subtlety." Giving Joyita a last pat, she stood, knees creaking a little. "Brr, it's cold out here. Do me a favour and find somewhere warmer to think? Pneumonia isn't fun."

He mock-grumbled for a moment, then scooped up the puppy and stood to follow her. "Oh, okay. Aren't many places as quiet as this inside, though."

"Humour the crazy doctor, hmm?" she said with another grin. "And along the way, you can help me plot for ways to trick Paige into resting that don't actually involve drugging her..."