xp_logs | Hank, Amanda, Monday noonish

Amanda stops by with lunch for Hank, and he tries to apologize again for his uncharacteristic laying down of the law when he wasn't well. He winds up putting his foot in it in a whole new way, despite his good intentions.

Okay, any more meal deliveries and she'd need a little golf cart just to carry everything around... Amanda half-snickered at the thought. 'Meals on Wheels eat yer heart out,' she thought to herself as she knocked on Hank's office door, the traditional tray replaced by a basket. She'd already fed Moira, and she'd yet to get to Remy, but McCoy probably was burying himself in work to catch up...

"Come in, and bask in my erudite chatter!" Hank called cheerfully... then he saw who it was, and was very glad that she couldn't tell that he was blushing. She really did have every reason to be cross with him. "Amanda, it's good to see you."

"Hey," she said, non-committally. She gestured with the basket. "Thought I'd bring you down some food while I was feedin' Moira an' all..." she began, but then her eye fell on the plates on his desk, obviously freshly finished with. "But I s'pose Dani's beaten me to it, yeah? Doesn't matter, I can take this back."

"No, please... I have plenty of room left." He eyed the basket hopefully. "My body was making a lot of changes and doing a lot of work, while I was asleep. I've been starving ever since I woke up yesterday." He gave her a sheepish little smile. "And I have been wanting to talk to you." In a 'I don't want to but I know I must' kinda way.

Amanda didn't look exactly thrilled by the prospect of another talk about Jay and the summoning spell, but came in properly, closing the door behind her. "Hope you ain't sick of venison yet, since 's the only fresh meat we've got - deer burgers this time, made of the bits you can't make steak out of all minced up." With that rather unappetising advertising, she pulled out a foil-wrapped plate and set it before him. "An' there's baked potatoes as well, done on the barbeque."

"Thank you very much." Hank eyed the plate appreciatively, and then dragged his attention away. "And... well. I just wanted to say that I'm sorry, for so clumsily and ill-advisedly interfering in your life. I overreacted badly, and I am truly sorry for it. I know it upset you, and rightly so."

"Go on an' eat," Amanda told him, putting the basket on the floor and taking a seat opposite him. Might as well be comfortable if they were going to be doing this. "There's those Twinkie things t' follow - Lorna can't bake 'til there's a stove, an' you can't make cakes in a mircowave." She waited deliberately until he'd peeled the foil off the plate before even considering the rest of what he'd said. "We went through all that already - I explained, you apologised a whole lot, an' I agreed t' talk t' someone before doin' a major spell again. Ain't yer fault you put it the wrong way - wasn't like you were a hundred percent, even then."

"Not even fifty percent, judgement wise. I just wanted to say it again, now that I *am* as close to one hundred percent as I ever am. And promise that it will never happen again." He smiled ruefully. "Had I been thinking clearly, I would have referred the problem to Moira immediately, for a start, since you're much closer to her. But.... well, Moira had asked me to keep an eye on everything while she was away. Really, I think she meant Nathan, who was getting himself pulverised in the Danger Room at the time, but you were here, and she wasn't, and I suppose I decided in my fuzzy mind that it was my job to look after you as well."

Something in her expression closed off a little. "I appreciate it, but I've got people t' look after me, an' generally they do an' all right job," she said, perhaps a bit stiffly. "But like I said, we sorted it, an' I know you didn't mean t' do it that way, an' there's no hard feelin's, really."

"I know. I just... Moira is one of your people, and you're one of hers, and she asked me to look after her people, and... well, it made sense when I wasn't well." He smiled ruefully. "As dearly as I love Moira, I think I'll..." He trailed off. That wasn't a good expression on her face, he was pretty sure.

"What d'you mean, you love her dearly?" Amnada asked bluntly. "She's with Nate. Got the ring an' everythin'." Her tone promised a hair loss curse if a certain blue furry doctor decided to move in on that particular territory. "Not t' mention the bun in the oven."

Hank blinked, and then he grinned. "Oh. I see. I do adore Moira, but not in the romantic sense, I assure you. We've known each other for a very long time, and we're very close. But strictly as friends." He paused, and grinned reminiscently. "Although I did have a dreadful crush on her when I was eighteen."

Amanda folded her arms over her chest, still giving him a dirty look. "Not helpin' yer cause here, McCoy," she told him flatly.

"Moira very kindly pretended not to know, until it went away." Hank shook his head, smiling. "Does it help to tell you that she's already planning to teach the baby to refer to me as 'Uncle Hank'? She and I are... family, in a way. I love her dearly, but decidedly NOT in that way."

The girl looked a little mollified by the assurances. "Well, I s'pose Nate'd know the second you had the wrong sort of idea about Moira an' he's much scarier than I am," she said, the warning clear. Don't mess with the finacee of the telepathic ex-mercenary with the ability to juggle tanks. Although the idea of Hank being part of Moira's family wasn't a pleasant one. She didn't dislike him exactly, but she didn't want to have him interfering in her life constantly out of a warped sense of family duty. Bad enough when Kurt tried it, which he hadn't done after the last time she'd growled at him.

"No wrong ideas, I promise you. My interest lies in another quarter entirely." He shook his head. "And... I suggest a truce, if you are amenable to that idea. I promise that I will not interfere again in your life in any way - stitching, bandaging, setting of bones and other medical matters aside, of course - and you will refrain from dying me orange while I sleep." He grinned a little, holding out a large hand. "Deal?"

"I was thinkin' of worse 'n that, but all right, deal." Amanda shook the offered hand, perhaps being a bit less graceful than she could have done, but it had been a bad week. She was tired of people treating her like a child, or an idiot - she knew damn well for certain people had known about Pete since the day he vanished. At least Remy had come completey clean for her.

Well, he'd done his best. He wished he got along better with the girl, for Moira's sake, but... well. Maybe she'd relent a bit if he proved that he would keep his word and leave her alone. "Thank you. And thank you again for the food." He smiled ruefully at her. "I know you really have no reason to trust my judgement or my intentions, at the moment, but I'll do my best to demonstrate that both can be good when I try."

"Not a problem," she said with another of those shrugs, bending down to scoop up the basket again. "I should go - still need t' make sure Remy's eatin' yet. He's workin' that hard, he forgets. Just like..." She stopped herself there - saying Pete's name tended to choke her up, and she wasn't going to cry on McCoy of all people. "'S good t' see you up an' aroun again. People were worried."

"So was I." Hank nodded. He wanted to say something helpful, something comforting... but even if he could think of something, she would't want to hear it from him. "Thank you. And... well. Take care."

"Tryin' to," was all she said as she left.