fandomhigh | Library is open, 2/8

Parker caught a glimpse of this, realized how she souned, and rolled her eyes at herself. "Jesus...."

After she was done fighting with Zero, she came over, her expression tired. "I didn't mean it like that."

"How did you mean it?" Angela says immediately, then shuts her mouth tightly, before anything else can escape.

Parker closed her eyes and cracked her neck. "I would've taken you guys along. I wouldn't have stopped you, if you were that set on going. But in a fight, yes, I'd pick Zero for my team first." She braced herself and looked up, ready for another ugly chat.

Angela considers this, eyes hurt.

"All right," is all she says.

Then she goes back to shelving books, hoping to calm herself. Almost abstractly, she notices that her hands are shaking.

Parker sighs. Damnit. "I'm sorry. But you, you can barely stand it that I'm tormenting Marty. And Rory's never thrown a punch in her life. Zero goes after people with her mallet without Library influence, and she bit Angelus when she was a cat, and-- There's nothing I can say here, is there?"

Angela bangs her way through a shelf of the C's -- Cather, Chabon, Chandler -- before turning to face Parker.

"I can't stand what you're doing to Marty because I love you both and you're acting like morons, and you both really, really need to learn to let things go before he starts killing people again or you have a heart attack to match your ulcer. Just my humble opinion."

Angela takes a deep breath. "Going after someone who's trying to kill my friends is complety different, but -- you know what? Can we just not do this and let it go? It's fine. I don't even care anymore."

She continues shoving the books into order. Chopin, Clancy, Cooper...

Parker sighed. "I... okay." She looked away, and scuffed her foot on the floor. "He sent me flowers. To apologize. I didn't expect that." She swallowed. "I just get the impression he's apologizing so I quit bugging him, not because he's sorry, not because he really screwed up my friendship with Jarod for a week, and I just-- I'm still mad that he humiliated me."

"And... I'm sorry if my opinion hurts your feelings. You guys were important. Callisto might be dead, and Angel might be a lot worse off, just for starters, without you."

Angela shook her head and talked as she continued the shelving, placing each book with a thump. Cope, Corelli, Cunningham, Defoe... Murakami? Ack. She puts it to the side for reshelving.

"I can't talk about you and Marty. I just don't want to get into this one, okay? I've said what I wanted to say. Please, let it go." Her voice is almost desperate, pleading.

But there was none of that weakness left when she turned to face Parker, arms folded. "And without me, Angelus would be here. So I think I've earned my right to be in on it when you guys decide to hunt vampires. And Rory -- not to be all dramatic, but she literally paid in blood."

Parker lets the subject of Marty go -- she has one more thing planned for him, and she's not willing to give it up-- and then she folds her arms, imitating Angela's pose, and thinks.

"I can't argue about Angelus, because that's fair. But did you guys really want to go along last Friday? Seriously? I thought you were relieved not to be going."

"We're talking about two different things, Parker," Angela said, tone a little lighter. "I figure we deserve to know what's going on. Not necessarily try to stake stuff, but to know, and do the support stuff. I think that would've probably made Zero happy, too."

Parker sighed. "Oh." She pushed her hair out of her face, and said, "Okay, you want the truth? I kept expecting to be booted at any second, because I didn't have powers. I was a little-- obsessed, about getting out there. I just didn't want to fight Wings and Aeryn, if they said I couldn't go. I don't think I was really thinking about how the teams effected anyone else for a while."

She looked at Angela. "What you guys did took just as much guts, and smarts, and endurance. And...." She sighed. "If I had to do it again? I'd just call in I-Club, like Professor Tick said, and let whoever wanted in, in. Because I still think willingness to fight counts for more than how good you are at it, or where your skills lie."

Angela rubbed her forehead. "I think you might be right. Mostly? I hope there isn't a next time, so this is all just in theory."

She gave a rueful smile. "Maybe the other me was the smart one, to leave after zombie weekend. I'm not good at-" her arms flailed wildly- "any of this, really."

"There'll be a next time. But I think it'll have to be easier, now that those two don't have fifteen idiot vampires backing them up." Parker shook her head. "And no one's born good at this--" she waved her arm "--stuff. I've had six years of martial arts and gun training. And I'm always around guys who make Marty look like a pussycat. If you want to get better at this, you can, you know."

Angela looked ill. "Fifteen? I knew there were some, but I hadn't heard a number before."

She picked up the misplaced Murakami.

"I'll think about it. I've been wanting to try Alanna's self-defense sessions anyhow, so that's a start, right?"

"And a good one. Not everyone loves it, but you'll learn a lot of useful stuff there." Parker smiled, then looked over at Zero and sighed. "I just wish there were other straightforward solutions out there."

"Yeah, well..." Angela lets her voice trail off, following the glance to Zero. "Maybe some day there will be."

She offered a wan smile. "I should get to government. Leter, Parker. Call nme if you break through to Zero." she waves as she leaves the library.

Library is open, 2/8

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