Unusual, Yet Familiar. [Ian]

[Angel Simons]

Angel shook her head, now feeling bad for yelling. "Sorry, Abby," she said softly, feeling awful. "Would you like me to buy you something to say sorry?" She asked, only wanting to make it up to her. Angel's eyes widened and a small smile came over her face when Ian mentioned a boy. "Who is this boy?" She asked, a smile still on her face. "I know it's hard, but you have to let kids live their lives. They can make their own mistakes. We did and we're just fine, right?" She asked, knowing that Ian would be the sort to be protective over his children, especially daughters.

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[Ian Hunt]

I laugh, "It's fine Angel. She's used to it."
Abby's been saying hush for a very long time now. She's the quiet one in a house full of loud people, and with all of my relatives, and the considerably larger amount of Maddie's relatives, who are all also loud, she's pretty used to yelling anyway.
"All gone," Abby agrees happily, taking her hands away from her ears again.

"Well, she's not making that mistake," I mutter, shaking my head.
I paid for it very dearly when I befriended an Andrews, but I was six and I didn't know any better and I didn't know that the twins from next door would end up as one turning into a psychopath and killing the other.
Poppy does know better. She knows Logan, remembers him very clearly even though she was still very little when he was bothering us, and I think that it's a safe bet to just stay the hall away from his son.
"It's Finley Andrews," I mutter begrudgingly, "And she refuses to stay away from him."

[Angel Simons]

Angel smiled at Abby. "Abby, would you like a sweet?" She asked her, giggling at the cute little girl. "Ian, you know that yelling at Poppy isn't going to make a difference whether she sees him or not. You might as well just leave her be and let her get on with her life. I'm sure she's smarter than you think. She knows what she's doing and she knows how to stay safe! You can trust her more than you think you can... As you said, she knows better..." Angel said, knowing that it would make no difference anyway.

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[Ian Hunt]

"Sweetie," Abby puts her hand over her mouth to stifle her sudden fit of giggles at this.
And I shake my head once slowly at this strange behaviour, fighting back a grin, before I shake my head again at Angel, in reponse to what she's said.
"I'm not having her near that boy," My mind is set, but I don't know what I'm going to do about it.
I can hardly get Maddie to back me up on this one, because Finley is also her son...oh the joys of infidelity. And whereas I'm slightly reassured by this fact, genes are irrelevant. Finley's been with Logan all his life, and therefore he is as much of a threat and he won't be going anywhere near my daughter if I can help it.

[Angel Simons]

Angel raised an eyebrow at Abby, before just laughing and giggling it off. She could remember being like that when she was young. Angel pulled out a jelly baby from her pocket and gave it to Abby. "Muggle sweet, that is," she said softly, smiling a little. She then turned to Ian to finish her conversation with him. "I know that nothing I say will change your mind, so I'm not going to bother anymore," she said, giggling a little. There's no point in trying to argue, Angel. You know that he's so stubborn and he really does only want to protect her. You cannot stop a father from trying to protect his children...

[Ian Hunt]

"Muggle sweetie," Abby repeats unnecessarily, carefully taking it from her and squeezing it between her finger to see what happens before shoving it in her mouth, "Thankoo."
I hope she's not going to react to sugar as much as Poppy and Alex do. They rarely need sugar to be generally hyper, but I'm pretty sure it doesn't happen. Abby just seems to find it, along with everything else, amusing.
I grin slightly at Angel, inclining my head slightly, "Thank you. Good to see you've recognised when you're fighting a losing battle."

[Angel Simons]

Angel smiled at Abby. "No problem, sweety," she told her, still smiling a little. She had no idea whether that was a good idea or not. Angel could remember that when she was a child, she'd go insanely crazy after she'd had sugar, and she knew that muggle sweets had around four times the amount of sugar than wizarding sweets. "Was that a good idea?" She asked, choosing to ignore the comment about a losing battle. She knew that she could get into a right argument with him for that, so she chose to ignore it, as she wouldn't want to argue and she certainly didn't want to do it in front of Abby.

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[Ian Hunt]

I glance at Abby briefly before looking back at Angel with a wry shrug, "Well, I certainly hope so."

[Angel Simons]

Angel shrugged. "I suppose we'll soon see, huh? Hey, are you okay? You seem to be really quiet all of a sudden," she said, noticing his lack of enthusiasm in his last sentence. Angel was good with body language, and always knew if something was bothering someone. Of course, there was still room for error. She just didn't know if there was something wrong with him. Still, it didn't hurt to ask.

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[Ian Hunt]

"No, I'm fine," I shake my head, grinning slightly again.
I don't know, I suppose I must have spaced out for a few seconds there or something.
I can't really think of anything that might be wrong.

[Angel Simons]

Angel laughed, nodding her head in understanding. She often spaced out. Quite a lot of the time she was talking to Ian, she was in a world of her own, and her mouth was only working a little, not really registering what she was saying. "Glad you're okay," she said, however she was getting slightly worried about Poppy. "Can you think of anywhere she may be?" Angel asked him, wondering if there was anywhere she may be where they hadn't looked yet. "And how old is she?"

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[Ian Hunt]

"She's thirteen," I nod absently, "And she's perfectly capable of looking after herself."
I'm a little bit worried, but not too much. I know my daughter very well, and she can take care of herself. She's been able to for a very long time, and I put in the sudden and overbearing protective gestures every now and again and she mostly laughs slightly and ignores me, carrying on in her own way.
"But no...I imagine she's just hiding...probably laughing and possibly plotting..." I shrug slightly.

[Angel Simons]

Angel nodded, realising that he had a point. "So what sort of things do you do nowadays? Whereabouts do you work and such?" Angel asked him, smiling a little to herself. She remembered the time they had sat in the Room of Requirement and made the ceiling pretty colours by adding splats of paint of various colours. That was a fun day for Angel. That was how they used to spend their time. Well, that and obviously trying to get away from the war or fight it, as the case may be. Nowadays Angel didn't really do a lot. She just walked around aimlessly in various places she used to know.

She realised that she really didn't know Ian as well as she used to, and intended to get to know him like before. However, she realised that he probably had his own friends now and really didn't need someone like her butting her nose into his business like before, so she just kept the conversation short and sweet, only asking the basic and general questions. They had both changed, both for the better. It was time she grew up and realised that she wasn't around for people enough and they had moved on without her.

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[Ian Hunt]

"I don't work," I shake my head wryly, "Stay at home parent."
Now that is one thing that sounds highly ridiculous and I never ever intended to have to say that at any single point in my life. I never intended to be a parent at all.
But now that's what I am.

I suppose that's just how things are. Maddie works and she enjoys her job. I can't get a job as I can't really do anything now that the war is over.
The only thing I was ever any good at was...killing, I suppose. And there aren't many career opportunities based around that.

"How about you?"
I know nothing about her now. As little as she knows about me. I can't shake the image and the misconception that she's exactly how I remember her.
Now I think about it, she looks pretty much the same, barely any older at all. And it's as if no time at all has passed in that sense, as I can pretty much see her opening her mouth to threaten me with smurfs or something of similar calibre.
But it's not the same. It's been over a decade so of course things aren't the same. I half-wish that they were, but I half-don't.
I built a life, or let a life be built around me anyway, and it hasn't included her, so I don't know how I'm supposed to just slip her back in.

[Angel Simons]

Angel shrugged. "Don't work. Don't need to. Not married. No children. I'm just me, to be honest," she said, sighing a little. "I've grown up, I suppose. No longer wish for the dream wedding to Mr Perfect. I've realised that things like that don't happen for some people. You're a lucky man, Hunt. You truly are," she said, smiling. "Whereabouts do you live now?" She asked, just trying to keep the conversation as basic as possible. It wasn't as if they were even friends nowadays. Things had changed. Now, they were acquaintances, if that. This disappointed Angel in a way, but in others she was glad that they had both lived their lives and were happy with what they had done with their time. If Angel had her way, she wouldn't change anything at all.

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[Ian Hunt]

"That's a good thing," I reply firmly.
It is good that she is still just her. I know it's been a very long time since we've been anything that even vaguely resembles friends, but it's not as if there's nothing to salvage, surely?
"Things like that do happen. It's not as if your life is over just because we're a little older now. We're still young, Angel."
I don't think she should be so quick to discount any of those things happening to her. We are still young...there's still plenty of time before we're even halfway old...I think anyway.
Then I shrug slightly, "London, still. Barely left the bloody city in over ten years," I smile wryly.
There are times when I get dragged away, but I'm really quite happy there. And of course there was the two years where Logan and I left, but that's distant history now. It doesn't matter anymore.

[Angel Simons]

"No where quite like it, is there?" She asked, smiling a little and looking around the place. That's why she had returned. Of course, she was eager to see all of her friends and see what had become of them, but Angel had also wanted to come back just because she missed the place. She missed the places she used to go as a child. That was another reason Angel came back. She wanted to see if the places had changed and see how many memories they held for her. It was a nice place for Angel to be, even if it did bring back a few bad memories or so.

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