Phone call to Fandom, Tuesday night

[notstakedyet.livejournal.com]

Angel wasn't looking forward to this, but he needed information. If that meant being yelled at by Parker, so be it.

Angel dialed his Blackberry and braced himself for the worst.

[ooc: for Parker]

Comments

[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

"First off? I'm not your mother." Parker spun and stalked, stalked, stalked. "But I gotta ask, with regard to Logan: what were you thinking?"

[notstakedyet.livejournal.com]

Amazing how Angel didn't have to see the stalking to know she was doing it. He tensed as though expecting a shoe. "He wasn't ready to tell people."

[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

"Ahhh, well then. If we're putting Logan's delicate sensibilities over his safety, why don't we just forget telling anyone, anywhere, that you're having sex with someone you're in love with?"

Parker kicked off her shoes. No reason.

[notstakedyet.livejournal.com]

"I never said I was in love with him!"

[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

"You never had to! You said you had a crush! You were willing to let him stay to prove himself! You lied to protect him! Do not get into semantics with me," Parker growled. "Yes or no: in love? Or not?"

[notstakedyet.livejournal.com]

"I'd be willing to let you stay," Angel said. "Doesn't mean I'm in love with you."

[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

"Don't avoid again. It's so sad and tired at this point." Parker sighed, and sat down on her windowseat, playing with a shoe. She glared in the direction of California, even if it was in the wrong dimension. "Did you even think how this would hit all Cal's friends? That they'd think she'd gone over the edge imagining things?"

[notstakedyet.livejournal.com]

"No," Angel admitted.

[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

Parker ground her teeth, and said, "Did you think of a back-up plan, in case, God forbid, you did have one moment of true happiness with Logan? Or were you counting on Cal to be your back-up there?"

[notstakedyet.livejournal.com]

"I would never hurt Logan," Angel said. "I would never let him touch Logan again."

[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

"You wouldn't be here to stop anything. You would be at the Happy Hunting Ground. Tell me how you'd prevent it. Seriously. And keep in mind how much you've been lying lately. And how little credit you've got to trade on with me."

[notstakedyet.livejournal.com]

"Then really no point in saying anything, is there, Parker?" Angel replied.

[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

"If you've got an answer? Yes." Parker went quiet, fingers tight on the phone. "Do you want to know how much I'd like to believe you had a plan? That it really *was* all okay? That I'm worrying for nothing?"

[notstakedyet.livejournal.com]

"You trust me or you don't," Angel said. "And for the record there is always a plan if I turn again. Because that is always a danger. Being with Logan changed nothing about that."

[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

"I want to trust you." Parker rubbed her temples. "But you lied to me. And your judgment with Cal sucked." She looked out the window, and said, "Am I not allowed to question you, given that? When for all I know, we could have all shown up at the hotel and Angelus would have greeted us?"

[notstakedyet.livejournal.com]

"You act like Angelus is ever forgotten for me," Angel said. "I am him, Parker. There isn't a single second of my unlife when I forget about him. If anybody else takes time to breathe and calm down about him, great. But I don't."

[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

"Then I don't get this," Parker said in frustration. "And I don't forget him! I don't get how you can be so calm about the possibility. Is this risk worth it? You kept saying 'no one, never, I have to be alone' and then I find out you're with Logan, and you've kept it secret...." She closed her eyes, and picked up the shoe, twirling it in her hand.

[notstakedyet.livejournal.com]

"Because he asked, Parker," Angel said. "And it's not like Logan's got a laissez-faire attitude about my evil side."

[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

"What?" Parker stared at the phone a moment, then spluttered and put it back to her ear. "You trust Logan's judgment? You think if he's willing to change his gender preference for you, to have sex with you, that he's the person to count on if you go evil?"

[notstakedyet.livejournal.com]

"One thing at a god damn time, Parker," Angel said. "Logan asked for privacy. He has a right to that. I did not say he was my go-to plan if I turned evil."

[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

"Gaaahhhh." Parker finally threw that shoe, then knocked her head backwards against the wall. "Don't scare me like that!" She took a few breaths, then said, "Privacy, okay, fine, whatever, sure. How long were you going to keep being private though? And who *is* your back-up plan?"

[notstakedyet.livejournal.com]

"As long as Logan needed," Angel said. "And I've got people here. People I trust to kill me if I go bad."

[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

"You do? You swear?" Parker closed her eyes in relief and pain. "I just-- you know I hate getting sandbagged. I had this vision, of Angelus coming to Fandom and having to kill him, and...." She sighed. "I would, you know. I wouldn't let you down."

[notstakedyet.livejournal.com]

"I know, Parker," Angel said, his voice more gentle now. "But Fandom's a long way away. I can't count on anyone there to be the first line of defense."

[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

"Good. Good." She just breathed a couple seconds, then had to say, "So. You and Logan."