xp_logs | Pete and Amanda, Thursday afternoon

Domino drags Amanda off, but it's not a New York bar they wind up in. One last drink in Chicago, before it all hits the fan...

Her heart was hammering in her chest as she walked into the nondescript bar. Domino was doing that tactful 'not really following' trick, keeping an eye on things for them and at the same time giving them some space. The bar itself was mostly empty, apart from the obligatory hard-core regulars propping up a corner of the bar, and a familiar rumpled figure sitting where he could see the front door in the large mirror. The same as he always did, Amanda realised with a pang. Pete never sat with his back to the door if he could help it. It seemed to clinch it then, that it was him, and it took all of her willpower not to make a scene and rush over to him then and there.

Instead she wandered over, taking a seat next to him. "Got any fags?" she asked, voice strained with the effort of sounding normal.

"Depends. You planning on saying sorry? 'Cause if you are, you don't get any cigarettes." Pete smilied slightly, and slid the pack down to her anyway.

Amanda laughed, a half-choked sort of sound, but a laugh nevertheless. "You look like hell," she said, taking a cigarette from the pack with fingers that only shook a little.

"Been a rough few days. Had a lot of stuff to take care of, didn't leave me a lot of time to sleep. Before you ask, I have been eating. And showering. How're you?"

"Fi..." Amanda caught Pete's eye and the automatic response faltered. "All right. Not brilliant, but I'm survivin'. Same as I always do." She gave him a crooked half-smile. "Been worried 'bout you. Remy... he told me what the score was."

Pete scowled. "Yeah, and I'm going to have words with him about that, one day." He expression softened again. "I'm sorry he told you. I didn't want you to know until this was all done."

She frowned down at the bartop. "I'm glad he told me. Better 'n sittin' 'round wonderin' what the fuck was goin' on. Or listenin' t' the X geezer tell me how you needed time t' sort yerself out, or some such bollocks." When she looked up at him, there was a glint in her eyes, something like angry determination. "Why didn't you tell me, Pete? Why let me go on like that? It's down t' me, all of this, so I had a bloody right t' know what was goin' on."

"Because if I know you, the first thing you did was blame yourself. And because I had to lay Summers out cold to get the information, then have it away on my toes. I didn't have time, and once I was gone, I couldn't afford to contact you in case one of them traced me. Because I didn't want you setting Dom or Nate on me, and risking the X-men landing on me. Of course, LeBeau went and spiked that one. Hoped he wouldn't sink that fucking low, but I'd've probably done the same."

Pete shrugged.

"But mostly because it ain't your fault. Not even a damn bit. You reached out to save Manny from becoming the kind of fuck I used to feel good about putting down. That's not something you should ever feel bad about."

He paused.

"If it hadn't been de la Rocha, it'd've been someone else. You think de la Rocha's the worst of the people Romany and I've pissed off over the years? He's just the first to let me know everyone thinks I've gone soft, that's all."

She was quiet for a long time, and then, surprisingly, she chuckled. "Fair enough. Got me pegged well and truly," she said with a wry grin, looking up at him with an expression on her face more vulnerable than any he'd ever seen. No masks, no fronts. "Pete... I know you have t' do this. Fuck, I want you to - this cunt's outlived his shelf life an' that's no mistake. But..." She hesitated, trying to think of the best way to say it. "Does it have t' be this way? Puttin' the school at risk of the Hellfire fucks attackin' right back?"

"Yeah." said Pete, flatly.

In a more normal tone, he added. "Look, two, three years ago, no-one would have gone near Dad. No-one. I wasn't the bogeyman LeBeau was, but I was good enough that people were scared. They stayed clear of Dad and Romany. I'm going to have to make sure they remember to be scared. That means I've got to do it this way, if I want to make sure you and Romany stay safe. Remind them that I haven't gone away."

"An' what if Remy's right? What if this starts some fuckin' war with the Hellfire people?" She had to push this, try anyway. "Or don't the people there matter?" The inner cynic, gone quiet over the last year, was informing her she knew the answer to that question.

"Everyone's been asking me that, as if the answer wasn't bleeding obvious. Like I hadn't thought about it." Pete lit a cigarette.

"I'd burn Xavier's down myself, if it'd keep the pair of you safe."

"You might not of thought of that, but what about the fact I'm a fuckin' student there, Pete?" Amanda's voice rose a little, and she fought to get herself under control before she attracted too much attention. "You bring down the Hellfire Club on the scool, where do I go?" Remy had been right, she was realising with a growing cold feeling. This wasn't about her at all - she
was just the excuse.

"If you think I won't do everything I can to make sure that Shaw stays away from Xavier's once this is done, then you're off your chump. But this is the only way I can think of to make sure you and Romany can walk down the street without getting your heads in someone's fucking crosshairs."

He paused, and looked straight at her.

"D'you understand? I can't make all the problems of the world go away, and I can't promise you'll get a nice life where everything is fair and you get what you want. All I can do is me best to make sure you and Romany stay alive, despite the number of monsters the three of us have mananged to piss off. Everything else is up to you."

Amanda stared back at him for a long, silent moment, and then nodded. "Yeah, understand," she said at last. "When you do this... you can't come back, can you?" It had changed from 'if' to 'when' without her noticing. "There's a good chance I won't see you again?"

Pete sighed. "No, I can't. But I already told you: you're stuck with me. You probably won't see much of me for a while, but that doesn't mean you'll never see me, unless you decide you're never leaving Xavier's grounds again. Family's family, even if we don't see much of each other."

Personally she doubted there'd be much chance of seeing him at all, given they were going to be watching her like a hawk from now on. Trying to get at Pete. But she nodded. "Just..." She stopped, not sure what it was she wanted to say. Be careful? Don't do it? Go? "I miss you," she said at last, stubbing out the mostly untouched cigarette. "Don't let 'em catch you, yeah?" She meant the X-Men more than Alphonso's people - she didn't want to see anyone get hurt, least of all the bondage brigade.

"I'll do me damn best." Pete took a long drag on his cigarette, his expression distant.

"It was a bloody good year, last year." He smiled. "That's mostly your fault, you know. You, and Nate and the others."

She could have said 'What? Demons an' Rack an' all?', but she knew better than that. Not with Pete, not any more. And it wasn't the whole truth. "Same here," she replied with an answering smile. "I've never said... but at the airport, when I first got here? I was scared out of me mind. An' then I saw you were there, an' I sort of knew I'd be all right, if you were there." She swallowed heavily, not wanting to burst into tears on him. Not here, not now. "I've got somethin' for you," she continued, pulling a small metallic something out of her jacket pocket. She lay it in his hand as he held it out, and it turned out to be one of her protection amulets. "I figure Rom'll be keepin' an eye on you any way, an' it's not like you'll need it, but... I'd feel better if you had it. Like I was sort of with you, yeah?" The blush redded her face up to the ears, and she ducked her head, embarrassed at how soft that sounded.

Pete looked at the charm for a second, then slipped it on, and pulled her into a quick hug.

"Thanks. I..." He let her go and looked at her.

"I dunno, I used to like doing this on me own. But these last few weeks've been shit, y'know? Like Dad didn't matter, like no-one gave much've a fuck about our family. Like because he was old and mad, or because Romany and I've done a lot of horrible shit, he didn't matter as much as if it'd been someone like Ramsey's family."

He paused, touched a hand to the charm.

"This helps. I'm not just running off on me own again."

Amanda held onto the hug as long as it lasted, and when he let her go, her eyes were bright. "Yeah, well, someone keeps tellin' me that family means you're stuck with me," she said with a small, brave smile. "So neither of us is on our own any more."

There was a flicker of movement in the mirror, and Domino caught their eyes. "Looks like time's up," she said regretfully.

"Yeah." Pete sighed. "Look, I'm going to have to vanish for a while once I get this done, so don't worry if no-one hears anything for a bit. But as soon as everything calms down, I'll let Dom and Romany know what I'm doing. So you look after yourself, OK? I don't want to get all this done and then find out you've gone and run off with a gang of bikers, or something..."

"Bugger, there goes that idea." Amanda slid off the stool and wrapped her arms around his neck, hugging him fiercely. "Be careful," she murmured, pressing a brief kiss to his unshaven cheek. "That fucker doesn't get any more of us." Releasing him, she stepped back, shoving her hands into her jacket pockets and squaring her shoulders. She hated goodbyes, but at least she'd had the chance to say them this time. "I'll see you 'round eventually, yeah?"

"I'm sure Romany will decide that we could both benefit from her meddling in our lives at some point." Pete grinned at her. "And even if she doesn't, you can count on it anyway."