fandomtownies | The Perk, Sunday evening, early

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The Perk, Sunday evening, early

"Finally." Parker stalked into the coffee shop, so relieved she could collapse, but still wanting to smack someone. Most likely, the someone playing with the packets of sugar and Equal at the front table. "I can't believe you did this to me." She looked at Jarod and asked, "Has he told you why he did this yet? At all?"

Better to find out how many explanations she had to make before she got into it.

[here for all your Perkly needs-- thread with Parker, Angelo and Jarod is locked to them, though]

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"Nope," Jarod said, apparently unconcerned. "But, being Angelo, I'm sure he had a good reason. You should get something to drink and sit down." He paused. "Maybe try something decaf?"

Parker bared her teeth at him, then turned to the person who she was really angry at. Okay, angry for. Angry about.

"Constable Fraiser still wants an explanation. And where are we going to send you after this weekend? You can't go back there." Not without Raines being dead first, if she had anything to say about it.

Not waiting for a response, she pointed at them both. "Don't move. I'm getting a mocha. I want an answer, *some* kind of answer, in five minutes, Angelo."

Angelo sat in his chair, rocking slightly. His face was blank, his eyes darting around until his name was mentioned. They fixated on Parker at that moment, and he let out a snigger before tearing open a sugar packet and pouring the contents in his mouth with a gleeful smile.

Parker stalked toward the counter before she could shake him silly.

Jarod hid the grin as he looked at Angelo out of the corner of his eyes.
"Whatever reason you're here, it's great to see you again, Angelo."

Angelo nodded twice, his right eye closing as his head moved.

"Good. . ." His eyes darted across the room, then fixed upon Jarod. "See you, too."

Parker came back slightly calmer, slid into the seat across from the two of them, and sipped her mocha. "I had to tapdance to a lot of people yesterday, Angelo. So I'd appreciate the truth, as weird as that
sounds." She sighed, and put her coffee down. "The DSA's. I watched them both." She looked at her hands and quietly asked, "Dr. Raines?"

Angelo's face went blank for a moment, then in a blink of an eye he was off his chair and underneath it, gripping the legs with his hands. The corner of his mouth twitched, and his eyes resumed their darting about, as if seeing and reading things hidden in the air.

"Parker," Jarod warned, crouching down under the table to coax Angelo out. "He's not here, Angelo. You're safe. What's happened?"

Angelo's eyes stopped again, lighting up as they focused on Jarod's face. He smiled for a second, before his face fell again. He scrambled back into the chair, pulling his knees up against his chest.

"Had to tell," he said. "Had to tell."

So he did understand what the first DSA meant. "I thought so, but then you rabbited on me, and i started to wonder." Parker let out a slow, long breath. She studied the face before her, and for the first time, really *saw* him again, separate from all her memories of childhood: blue eyes, just like hers. Dark hair, not so different. The face-- the face was too hard to judge, since the expressions were either blank or transformed into other people so often, but maybe, maybe Bridge was right. Maybe it was that simple.

Parker swallowed, bracing herself. "Mom?"

Angelo hugged his knees tighter. "Gone."

"Daddy?" Parker couldn't look at Jarod. He'd figure it out in a
minute, but she had to do this, had to know what Angelo knew.

Angelo merely rocked for a moment, then his head jerked away from both Parker and Jarod, casting his gaze on the ground. The corner of his mouth quirked into a sad grimace, but he said nothing.

Parker wanted to reach out to him, but he'd never reacted well to that. Neither of them did, come to think of it. Very hesitantly, she asked, "Twin?"

Angelo's head moved slowly back, to look up with wide eyes. "Parker," he said, with a quick nod.

So that answered that.

Parker put her head down on the table, forehead resting on the surface. "You can't go back there," she said, addressing the grain of the wood. "So. Give me a little time here. I have to think of something."

Jarod reached for Parker's hand, positive she was going to hurt herself with wishful thinking. "Parker? What are you saying, here? Angelo? Do you know what she means?"

"Bridge said--" Parker clenched her fingers around Jarod's, keeping her voice very low and as calm as she could manage. "Our auras are the same. And our eyes. And it makes sense, with the second DSA file Angelo included." She raised her head a tiny bit, chin still resting on the surface of the table as she looked at Angelo. "So I guess I did get to grow up with my brother, after all."

Angelo smirked, and his fingers grabbed for a sugar packet. He let out a husky snicker, and quickly tore open the packet and downed its contents.

"Brat." Parker straightened slowly, resting her elbows on the table, unable to not smile. This was not... bad news. It was just really complicated and upsetting and frustrating and hey, that was typical of Angelo. Not exactly new. "I should *so* figure out a way to make you explain all this to Constable Fraser, but that would get me in even worse trouble."

Jarod watched the byplay. Then smiled slowly. Good for them. "You've got your work cut out for you, Angelo. She's a handful."

Parker stuck her tongue out at him, and said, "Right. I should only be the trouble he is on my best day." She tilted her head, studying her twin. "Where do you want to go?"

Angelo looked down at the table, his face fallen and blank.

"Can't stay," he said, simply.

"No, of course not. But we can find you somewhere, somewhere close--" A hospital, a sanitarium, but not... a real home, probably. Too hard to explain, too difficult for people to cope with him. "Someplace safe." She pushed the mocha aside. "We can figure this out. It'll just take a little time." And a lot of money.

"Can't stay," Angelo repeated. He pulled his knees tight against his chest. "Can't stay."

"No, Angelo, don't-- Look, don't get upset. This is a good thing, I swear it is." Parker looked at him helplessly. "Please?"

Angelo shook his head. "Back," he said, looking up at Parker. "Have to."

"It's not safe there. Not for you, not for anyone." Parker stared at him. "I can't believe you're even suggesting it."

"Safe," Angelo said pulling his thumb under his bottom lip. His eyes began to dart again. "Safer for everyone."

Parker put her head in her hands and muttered, "For once in your life, can you make some sense?"

Angelo seemed to pout for a moment, before going blank.

"Have to go. Have to." He started rocking. "Back."

Hands over her eyes, Parker said, "Any suggestions, Jarod? Because I'm tapped."

Jarod studied Angelo for a long few minutes, trying to grasp onto the mercury amoebas that made up Angelo's mind. He got a bead or two, but nothing that answered his questions. He rubbed between his eyebrows and sighed. "Angelo knows what is best for him right now, Parker. If he feels he needs to go back to the Centre, I think we have to let him make his own decisions."

Unfortunately, Jarod realized that he had been away from the Centre for long enough that he could no longer fully predict the environment there. And while they might be content, for the moment, to let Jarod stay out on his own, they wouldn't let Angelo go quite so easily--if for no other reason than Angelo was the Centre's best chance at recapturing him.

"You'll come to us when it's no longer safe, Angelo?"

Angelo gave a quick nod, a smile flickered across his lips.

Parker stared down at her hands for a long moment, then finally lifted her eyes to study her brother. "Timmy?" she asked in a very small voice.

Any resemblance of a smile quickly faded from Angelo's face, as he wretched away from both Parker and Jarod. His lower lip trembled for a moment, until he finally spoke.

"No Timmy. Only Angelo."

"Angelo's enough." Parker reached out and took his hand again. "I mean it. You don't have to be anyone else."

"You don't," Jarod agreed. "Angelo is quite enough for everyone. But you need to take care of yourself--we don't know what's going on, so we can't watch out for you. Do you promise?"

He held out his pinky in the appropriate pinky swear position.

Angelo's face remained blank a moment, then he smiled, big and wicked, and held out his little finger, shaking Jarod's. "Swear." He looked slyly at Parker. "Swear?"

"Dorks. You're both dorks." Parker rolled her eyes, and held out her finger too. "Swear." She shook Angelo's finger, and smiled at him. "As visits from home go? This one's been a trip. Next time, call ahead, Angelo."

Then she reached over and messed up his hair, snickering.

Angelo snickered back.

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The Perk, Sunday evening, early

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