MCA #0. Tuesday Night.

[needsaparrot]

Xander was expecting to have to deal with all kinds of fallout from this weekend; he knew minor property damage was likely to be the least of his worries. What he wasn't expecting was that it would somehow end up being his broken door he was currently fixing. Diligently. With every tool in his travel case, now moved out of his former room at the Arms, spread across the floor in front of the glass doors, just in case he might need them.

Trying to occupy himself so he didn't leave yet another voice-mail message, or start thinking too hard about why he hadn't had a response to any of them? Or thinking too hard about anything, really?

Why no.
___
[OOC: For do we really need to say? Why no.]

Comments

[needsaparrot]

"Callisto left this for me, about a week before I got back. I called her cell and got Logan before everything went wacky...er this weekend, and she's safe right now, but..."

He hit Play Message, and Callisto's voice started in.

"Tell Bridge I'm sorry.

"I mean, I don't know if you're ever even going to get this, or be able to talk to him, but if you do, just tell him that I'm sorry, that I didn't mean to hurt him, that it wasn't his fault, none of it, that at least it's me doing this, and I wouldn't have been if it wasn't for him, that he gave me that.

"Tell him I won't hate him if he wants to kick Angel's ass over this, and I'll understand if he wants to hate me.

"Just...if nothing else, just tell him I'm sorry."

"Goodbye, Xander."

[bridge-carson.livejournal.com]

"She tried to *kill* herself?" Bridge says, horrified. "But you said she's all- well, not all right, I guess, because how all right can someone be if they- but she's alive? Promise?" He asks in a small voice.

[needsaparrot]

"She's alive." Xander nodded, then stood up and walked over to sit on the couch beside Bridge. "Logan said she tried to kill him, and then herself. She's in the hospital now."

[bridge-carson.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, the killing Logan part I can understand," Bridge snorts, trying really, really hard to resist the urge to lean against Xander. "I want to see her," he decides.

[needsaparrot]

"Yeah, me too. I thought I should talk to you first, though." Xander ran a hand through his hair. "Haven't told anybody else yet. I should talk to Parker, since I'm pretty sure we'd know if she knew. Pretty sure Cleveland would be able to hear her yelling."

Xander frowned. "Why would Cal want to kill Logan? He wasn't exactly real clear on that, just said something about her thinking he 'stole' Angel somehow."

[bridge-carson.livejournal.com]

"He gave her a pendant with some sort of spell on it," Bridge explains. "It erased her memory. I was there for New Year's Eve, and I told her to break it. She did, and everything came back, all at once. It *hurt*."

[needsaparrot]

"...Dumbass." Xander sighed. "I say as somebody who's done something exactly that stupid, down to the necklace part." Then he studied Bridge's face, factored it in with the tone of his voice. "You don't just mean it hurt her."

[bridge-carson.livejournal.com]

"I kind of got caught in a feedback loop of sorts," Bridge explains. "It wasn't fun. But whatever I felt, it was so much worse for her."

[needsaparrot]

Hells of varying specialness were one thing; this was another. Xander leaned over and put a tentative arm around him. "It sucks, and I kinda wish I didn't say that from experience."

[bridge-carson.livejournal.com]

Well, okay, since there's an arm around him Bridge decides he can go ahead with the leaning, and does just that. "I wish there was something I could *do*."

[needsaparrot]

"We should go see her. Find out--" If there is anything we can do... "--well, find out. Maybe there's something."

Xander decided that 'at least she's not trying to destroy the world yet' wouldn't actually be a comforting thing to say.

[bridge-carson.livejournal.com]

"Would she even want to see me?" Bridge worries. "I mean, she left the message with *you*."

[needsaparrot]

"For you." Xander pursed his lips and gestured with his free hand. "Want...maybe not. Need might be another story. She left it with me on purpose because she knew I wasn't around to get it to you. Makes me think she knew that if she did talk to you..."

[bridge-carson.livejournal.com]

"I'd try and stop her?" Bridge says quietly.

[needsaparrot]

"Well I'm hoping it was more like she knew you'd succeed."

[bridge-carson.livejournal.com]

"I'd do *anything*," Bridge says seriously.

[needsaparrot]

He'd had one recording to listen to for years, and he'd heard the others when he got here, but Xander had still managed to forget that tone of utter hopeful sincerity, somehow. Or... not forget, but store somewhere in the back of his head where he didn't drive himself crazy thinking every day about how it used to apply to him.

So he had to swallow and blink for just a second, before he said, "You're a good friend."

[bridge-carson.livejournal.com]

"Maybe I should bring Cam-Mollusc, if- *when* we go," Bridge musees.

[needsaparrot]

Xander laughed, in spite of the seriousness of the situation, when he remembered Cam-Mollusc. "You want to carry a squid in a ball around in LA?"

[bridge-carson.livejournal.com]

"I'm sure he'd want to see her!" Bridge protests, smiling just a little. "Which reminds me. I kept my promise."

[needsaparrot]

"...Narrow that down for me a little? You tend to keep most of them."

[bridge-carson.livejournal.com]

"The one about the frogsitting," Bridge clarifies.

[needsaparrot]

".....Jeremiah."

And yes, he had honestly - despite everybody's age, despite knowing it had only been months since he left them, despite talking about Callisto's pet - not realized what that meant until just now.

"I guess I had it in my head for a long time that... Well, frogs don't live all that long."

[bridge-carson.livejournal.com]

"Yeah," Bridge says. "I've still got him. And he's still purple, in case you were wondering."

[needsaparrot]

"Wow."

He started to admit that he still had the other frog, then realized what else he still had. Xander paused longer than he really ought to have before saying, "Which reminds me, I, ah, guess I should give you--"

Then he stopped entirely, staring at Bridge, because he hadn't noticed until now.