>> “This is our Jack, we’ve had him... a week maybe.”

The detective had to grin as he watched the dog that both Andrew and Verdigris seemed to have owned together. The dog was definitely a cute one and seemed pretty intelligent, as well as a ball of energy. He glanced down to Lizzie who had now moved onto her stomach and watched “Jack” curiously, sniffing and snorting Jack’s direction whenever she deemed it to give him her attention. Jorge could only chuckle as he patted his dog between her ears and stood up straight.

After Andrew had gone off and told the girl how they knew each other. Judging by the look on her face, this was not knowledge that she knew yet. Jorge was not too surprised. How do you really tell someone that you were once grabbed by the face by a man with massive hands and threatened to have your head squished into oblivion? It was not exactly a good topic to bring up in conversation. But as Jorge stood back and watched the exchange, he now began to wonder about the last time he saw Andrew. The kid had just killed a man in order to project him. Had he told anyone about that? Except for Gemma that is?

Jorge sighed inwardly at the comment. The kid was not the type to reveal information easily, but apparently Gemma had been able to get it out of him. He did not mean to sic his girlfriend on him, but the kid was going to need help and he doubted then that Andrew would say anything yet. Apparently his assumption was correct.

>> "And yeah, he's teaching me to box. When he's not getting beat by me that is."

>> “That sounds like fun... The boxing I mean.”

Jorge smirked at Andrew’s comment. He would make sure that the next time that the two of them had a match, he would turn up the heat just a tad more. To be honest though, the kid definitely was getting good. He was punching harder, dancing a bit more on his feet, but still, the “old man” could get a good punch in or two that could send the kid reeling.

He nodded. “Yeah, it actually is good exercise if you want to take it up, Verdigris. I can teach you too.” He smirked then and nodded in Andrew’s direction. “Will be good to have someone else there you can knock Andrew on his butt.”

Sure bragging would probably earn him a harder session with Jorge the next time they went boxing but it was worth it. Andrew needed the challenge in order to improve. He wasn't going to let himself stay weak. Being weak had no novelty for those who had always been that way. Having constant reminders of it had only made it worse. He directed a smile at Verdy.

"It is fun. I'll admit, I didn't think I'd enjoy it at first but it's actually very enjoyable."

At Jorge's suggestion that she join them Andrew looked askance at him. Sure it was a good idea but this was Verdy! Andrew wasn't entirely sure he'd be comfortable trying to hit her if Jorge put him in the ring with her. It was her choice in the end. If she decided to join them then Andrew would just have to learn to deal with it.

"Don't say that! I'd rather avoid being knocked on my butt entirely."

He feigned a terrified look for a few seconds before grinning.

The offer to teach her as well as Andrew was simultaneously generous and unexpected. Andrew’s reassurance that it was fun set her up in a frame of mind that it really mightn’t be so bad, but his glance at Jorge spoke volumes.

“I’d love to… but I wouldn’t want to intrude.”

To step on the toes of her new friend would be not only awkward, but quite rude, and she didn’t want to become an extra wheel, or a sore thumb, or whatever undesirable the particular saying made her. Jorge’s assurance that it would be good to have her, and Andrew’s joking terror swayed her back towards wanting to give it a try.

“It might be good, to get some real techniques on top of mutation, street scuffle experience and the ever reliable run-like-hell method.”

Besides which, it was about time she took up some kind of real exercise. Coming off the streets she had been awkwardly skinny, but her time at the mansion had fixed her up, and she had been startled to recently discover the beginnings of the fabled ‘pudge’ on her waistline. Boxing, in addition to the walks with Jack and the twenty sit-ups she was forcing herself into every night would help to keep her inside her jeans, and away from the dreaded ‘muffin-top’. She smiled at Andrew and jabbed him playfully.

“Then I guess I’ll have to be gentle, huh.”

It was all talk, of course. She had seen a little boxing on the television, but really knew nothing about it, and her interactions with undesirables on the street had mainly taught her to flee, rather than fight. Spontaneity seemed to run rampant where she and Andrew were involved, and this developement only increased the ratio in its favour.

>> “It might be good, to get some real techniques on top of mutation, street scuffle experience and the ever reliable run-like-hell method.”

Jorge chuckled and nodded his head. He was always happy to teach anything he knew to whoever wanted to learn it, whether that be boxing, literature, or any other talent he knew he possessed. So he was only too happy to take on another student, especially one that was so close to Andrew. He was happy to see that the kid was handling what had happened so well. He knew he would knew as many friends as he could get around him. Hopefully having Verdigris there would help.

“Well, I’m only too happy to offer you some lessons” he said with his patented, warm smile. It was true, any reason he could offer to help people learn how to defend themselves, he was glad to help. “Just like I told Andrew, all you need is a pair of your own gloves.”

Jorge said nothing as he watched the two of them engage in a little battle of words. Andrew joking about Verdigris managing to best him, Verdigris giving him a playful punch on their arm. Aww, they indeed made such a cute ‘Um-but-we’re-only-friends-we’ve-done-nothing’ couple. He had heard such a think so many times before. It was funny, friends tended to have the best chances of participating in a successful relationships. He knew how that went, unfortunately it did not last enough for him to see any validity in the statement. The pester thought about his past fluttered by his mind, but he managed to wave it off before he stared into space for too long.

He came back just in time to see Verdigris teasing Andrew some more.

>> “Then I guess I’ll have to be gentle, huh.”

Jorge smirked and shook his head. “Ah don’t worry about Andrew. You could sucker punch him in the gut right now and he would be absolutely fine. Man’s got a stomach made of iron and steel.”

As Jorge watched them, a moment of sadness fell across his features. He suddenly felt a little worried for Andrew. He had heard rumblings back at the precinct. The kid’s case was beginning to gather steam. The thug that had tried to kill Jorge, his family wanted to press charges. They swear that their boy would never do such a thing, that he was sweet and just needed a helping, guiding hand, not a bullet to the side of the head. When he first heard this, Jorge wanted to strangle them (pun not intended). How could they be so disconnected from their own child to make that kind of misjudgment? Unfortunately though, after his moment of anger, Jorge overheard more. They wanted to nail Andrew to the wall for this. It would only be a matter of time before more the lawyers came sniffing around for the kid.

It was not fair. And the kid had to know. But he could not bring himself to say anything today. Not right now, and especially not in front of the young lady.

“Anyways,” he finally said with a smirk. “I don’t want to wear out my welcome and appear like the old guy here horning in on your private” he made air quotes as he said, “non-date.” He said as he gently patted Lizzie on her head to rouse her to wake up. Once she was on her feet he turned back to the pair. “So, I’m going to continue to my walk.” he stepped forward and held out his hand to shake the girl’s hand. “Verdigris, pleasure to see you again. I hope you’ll take me up on the offer.” He then turned back to his box protégé. “Andrew, call me later?” he said with a nod, as if sharing a private thing with Andrew. But he immediatpey broke the silence with a grin and stepped back. “And know, it has nothing to do with the fact that you called me ‘attractive’ once.” he chuckled as he quickly turned and began to head off, Lizzie barked and trotted along next to him.

Messing with kids was fun.

Verdy eventually seemed to come around to the idea of joining them at boxing. While Andrew was nervous about the prospect of it he imagined it might be fun to have two of his friends around while boxing. Yet there was one problem after Andrew thought about it for a minute. Verdy would see more of his temper. Andrew kept it bottled up to avoid showing his friends, or anyone really, how much his mutation and other things bothered him. Well, if Verdy got to know him well she'd probably find out eventually.

Jorge seemed amenable to her joining them so that was that Andrew supposed. The old man tossed out another joke about Andrew and Andrew just grinned about it. If Jorge wanted to play it that way then that was fine by Andrew. He thought of something to say in return and looked at Jorge to say it. Except the look on Jorge's face stopped him. It was only there for a second but the man seemed sad. What could be wrong? Shortly afterward Jorge began to excuse himself and mentioned as he turned to leave that Andrew should call him. He lightened up the statement by throwing out the fact that Andrew had called him attractive once. Andrew merely shrugged. It was true and he wasn't going to let that throw him off. Andrew glanced at Verdy.

"Excuse me Verdy. I need to speak to the old man for a minute."

Andrew caught up to Jorge and grabbed his arm.

"What's up Jorge? Something is wrong and it involves me doesn't it?"

It was probably the shooting. There was no way the law would let that go so lightly.

So it was settled. She was going to learn how to box. Besides the fact she had no idea where to get a pair of boxing gloves she suspected she might need a towel and a water bottle too, maybe a change of clothes. She grinned and made a mental note to avoid Andrew’s stomach if she really wanted to make an impact, no pun intended.

Jorge’s facial expression was lost on Verdy, she didn’t catch sight of it before it flitted away and was replaced with the smirk and self dismissal. She was too busy blushing to try and stop him, to tell him that he was more than welcome to stay and that their “non-date” really was a non-date. His final parting shot after his request that Andrew call him really threw her.

Andrew was gay?

Well, that explained all the mixed signals and the continued ‘just friends’ status. She sat, a little stunned and merely nodded as he excused himself and went after the older man. Jack, sensing her discomfort (or perhaps just bored now his potential friend was leaving) laid his head in her lap and rolled his eyes at the tennis ball sitting on the bench. Smiling she picked it up and threw it off to the side for him to chase after and bring back.

The revelation didn’t upset her in its contents, more so the disappointment of losing something without ever having it. A potential loss. The ball made its way back and forth, matching her thoughts, and after a while she decided she didn’t mind. It was a shame, of course, but to think that was selfish. She wanted what was best for her friend. What would make him happy.

>> "What's up Jorge? Something is wrong and it involves me doesn't it?"

Jorge had wanted to get away from Andrew for the moment. Not because of what he was scared to have to tell him, but because he really did not want to ruin his day. It was such a nice day, he was out for a peaceful time with his friend (who happened to be a girl), playing with their dog. The last thing that the detective really wanted to do was ruin this time for him. He was going to be in for tough days as it was and he was sure that the last thing the kid wanted to hear was more madness about a what he had done to save his life.

But there he was, standing out of earshot of Verdigris, Andrew looking at him earnestly. Jorge was not one to lying unless it was completely and utterly necessary to save someone’s life. And while this seemed like the perfect moment for him to need to save his life, that was not Jorge’s decision to make.

The detective stood there, arms across his chest while Lizzie took the opportunity to lie back onto the ground and sniff a particularly interesting blade of grass. Jorge sighed deeply as he reached up and very gently began to rub his stubbly chin.

Andrew had a right to know. Jorge had only hoped that this could be something they could speak about in private, rather than when he was around his “girl”friend.

“Listen, kid,” Jorge said as he looked Andrew straight in the eye. “I don’t want to mess up your day. You seemed like you were simply out having a good time. The last thing that I want to do is put a dampener on it. You don’t deserve that.” Jorge said as he uncrossed his arms let them hang loosely at his sides. “But…you have a right to know. Listen, that…thug’s family, they want to press charges against you. They are pushing to take this to trial because they want your head on a platter. I’ve tried, I’ve delayed it as long as I could…but they’re going to be coming for you, kid. You’re going to have to lawyer up…and pretty darn soon. But I’m not going anywhere, you got that? I will help you.”

He should have expected it. Honestly he should have. However it was still something of a shock to hear that he'd have to get a lawyer and get ready for a trial. It didn't seem real until now. Like a recurring nightmare, which it frequently was, but no more real than that. Now it had substance and threat and Andrew had no clue what he'd do. Jorge promised he'd be there for him and Andrew appreciated that. He glanced over at Verdy. There was no way he was going to tell his other friends so having at least Jorge and Gemma to talk to about it if he wanted or needed to was a relief.

"Thanks for letting me know. I guess I'll start looking for lawyers then."

Andrew tried to sound a lot calmer than he was. This wasn't the time for him to freak out. Verdy was still nearby. The less he had to lie to her the better.

"Feel free to stick around though old man. Not like you were intruding on anything. We just wanted to give Jack a day at the park."

The change of subject was likely a little absurd but something like that wasn't something Andrew felt comfortable discussing in public. The old man might worry about him or something but if he was going to do that then he'd do that anyway.

"I'm gonna get back to Verdy."

Andrew turned and headed back to the bench where he'd left Verdy. He schooled his facial features into something as closely resembling a moderately happy face as possible. If he returned to Verdy looking stunned and worried then the whole afternoon would be blown. Once he got back to the bench he sat down and smiled at her.

"Sorry about that. Just had to discuss something really quick."

Whatever it was that Andrew had chased down the detective about, it looked serious, from what she could tell from the glances she threw that direction in between throwing the ball for Jack and waiting for him to retrieve it. The body language spoke volumes far greater than the words lost in the breeze and the sounds of the park, children laughing, trees rustling, dogs barking at each other, the usual.

Fetch.

The change in body language happened while she was looking at Jack, when she glanced back Andrew was turning away from her, and Jorge’s hands were hanging by his sides. Whatever tension filled issue had needed sorting, hopefully now it was over. She thought she caught her name, but it might have been a trick of the wind, or a cry from across the park, carried by a fickle breeze.

Fetch.

His return was a little stiff, but more of an awkward trying to avoid an embarrassing topic, than anything to seriously worry about. The fact that he was an actor once again had slipped her mind. She smiled back at him and accepted the slobbery ball to toss again for Jack.

“Not a problem. He really wasn’t intruding or anything.”

She hesitated on asking him if he was alright, but decided against it. It could have been guy stuff. It could have been gay-guy stuff. If it was anything that she needed to know, or could in anyway be a help with, he was sure to let her know. They were friends, right?

>> "Thanks for letting me know. I guess I'll start looking for lawyers then…Feel free to stick around though old man. Not like you were intruding on anything. We just wanted to give Jack a day at the park."

Jorge had learned to know that look on Andrew’s face. He was handling the news well, but a little too well. There was obviously something on the kid’s mind but he did not want to discuss it right now. Jorge knew that much, and most of all, he knew that he could not make him. That would not be fair for Andrew. He was going to have to regal everyone with this story a lot more in the coming days to a lot of officials. And while Jorge wanted to be there to help him, there was little else he could do except extract whatever fears Andrew was still having by force. But Jorge would not do that. Andrew could come to him when he was ready.

The detective stood still as he laid eyes on both Verdigris and Andrew. The kids definitely looked like they were having a good time. So much so that he felt even worse for telling Andrew what was going on. The kid would try to hide it, especially from the girl, but women could pick up on those things. Whether or not she would call him on it, Jorge did not know. He knew the girl, but he did not know her. She would either pester him or let it drop for Andrew to come to her.

Finally, after a second or two, he glanced down to his dog and saw that Lizzie was looking up at him with the sweetest eyes. She had started wake up, having taken the time to rest while he and Andrew conversed. Now she was looking about, tongue hanging out as she sought out her next adventure. Jorge had to chuckle at the sight as he glanced over and saw that Lizzie had focused her attention on Andrew and Verdigris’ dog Jack. Apparently she was not done making friends.

Jorge smirked and nodded over to Jack. “Not done saying ‘hi’ I take it?” Jorge asked Lizzie who responded with a quick bark and stood up. “Alright, but be nice this time.”

Slowly Jorge made his way back to the duo. He did not want to seem too rude for having just run off and vanished like that. As he approached as smiled again in “hello” to the kids as Lizzie panted happily and wandered over to Jack, at least as close and Jorge’s leash on her would allow.

“Well, if you two don’t mind the company of Methuselah here,” he said with a small chuckle and pointed to himself, “I’ve got some spare time before I have to go meet Gemma for our date. I could spend the time getting to know by two favorite students. Granted you’re my only students right now, but you’re at the top of the list.”

Andrew gave a nod and let the rest of the awkwardness slip away. It was still on his mind and would stay there for the rest of the day. However he had to look convincing for Verdy. She mentioned that he wasn't really intruding and Andrew gave a shrug.

"Yeah I know."

There wasn't much else to say. Andrew liked Jorge and felt that they were friends of a sort. He looked up to the older man in an odd way. Of course he'd die before he admitted that to his face. Better to joke around about him being attracted to him than that. Of course moments later Jorge wandered back over to stick around for a little while. Andrew gave a smirk.

"Don't insult Methuselah. Of course we don't mind you hanging around, old man." Andrew chuckled a little, "So you've got a date with Gemma today huh? Don't stay out too late. You wouldn't want to be cranky in the morning 'cus you stayed up too late."

At this point Andrew relieved Verdy of the slobbery ball that Jack had been fetching and tossed it for the dog. Jack went racing after it and brought it back quickly. He then turned his attention to Jorge's dog Lizzie and ignored the ball completely. Andrew just laughed.

Methuselah? Wasn’t the detective’s name Jorge?

She assumed from the sentence around the name that it was someone very old, at a guess probably biblical, but she let it slide in preference of the next joking remark. She smiled, whatever awkwardness from the little back and forth of Jorge seemed to have dissipated. It was none of her business, and so it was not worth thinking on.

“By extension then, are we also your most hated students, the banes of your existence?”

Andrew threw the ball for Jack, but after one run the dog’s attention turned to something decidedly more living. Tail wagging furiously he approached the smaller bitch, waited to make sure she wasn’t going to snap and snarl at him again, then proceeded to sniff her all over, making happy growly noises in his doggy throat. Friends were fun.

Asking about the date with the unknown ‘Gemma’ seemed a little forward, so she opted instead for something she did know about the detective, namely his detective-ness.

“So, how’s the police force of NYC treating you?”

She wasn’t certain, but she suspected the mutants of the city would be keeping him nice and busy. That was why there was the mutant-thingy unit he was a part of in the first place, it made sense that things were a little colourful in his line of work. Then again, if he couldn’t talk about it, that was fair enough too. Who knew what kind of a shady character she truly was, and who she could pass the information onto. The thought made her smirk a little. Yeah, right.

>> “By extension then, are we also your most hated students, the banes of your existence?”

“By extension, yes, that would apply to you both.” he said with a chuckle and then nodded to Andrew. “Especially you, if you don’t stop with the old jokes.”

>> "So you've got a date with Gemma today huh? Don't stay out too late. You wouldn't want to be cranky in the morning 'cus you stayed up too late."

He would pay Andrew back for that comment later. But for now, at the moment he merely shook his head and cracked a grin.

“I’m a very responsible adult, Andrew.” he said with a chuckle before his face turned serious. “With handcuffs and ability to arrest who I please.”

With that he pointed to his two eyes and then pointed his fingers to Andrew. It was the universal notion that said “I’m-Watching-You”. It was only a joke, obviously, but he could not let Andrew have all the fun in this little battle of wit. Obviously his comment was not entirely true, but it would serve its purpose for the joke right now. He then noted the blank look on Verdigris’ face and clarified for her.

“Sorry, Gemma is my girlfriend.” he said with a nod. “She’s a counselor at the Mansion.”

Jorge then chuckled as he watched Andrew toss the slobbered on ball into the grass for their dog Jack to run after. He smirked when he looked down and noticed that Lizzie had absolutely no interesting in chasing it. There really was no surprise in that. Lizzie was not one to going running off to chase something unless there was the prospect of food in the act of doing so. And it was obvious that he carried no treats on him to reward her with for running off to chase an already slobbered on ball. But as Jack returned, this immediately seemed to renew Lizzie’s interest in meeting a new friend.

She jump and sniffed with the best of them as she apparently wanted to frolic with Jack. Jorge nodded his head as he kneeled down and unhooked her leash. “Alright, alright, don’t run off too far.”

Lizzie, upon reaching her new freedom immediately ran off after Jack, nipped at his heels to get his attention than ran off in another direction. The chase/game had begun and Jorge could only shake his head with a laugh. As he made a spot for himself on a bench that was directly next to theirs, Jorge slowly rolled up his leash and watched as Lizzie ran about, looking much more spry than he was used to. He hoped she would not hurt herself.

It was then that Verdigris started up the casual conversation. Maybe he was no breaking up anything important…at least right now. After all, what decent person goes at it in the middle of the day in a park? He knew the type, he had to arrest a couple of those before.

“So, how’s the police force of NYC treating you?”

“Fine, no real complaints,” he said with a smile, but course that was a lie too. Things were actually pretty difficult, but he still loved his job. “I met some interesting people, made a friend or two, arrested a lot of bad criminals.” he had to chuckle as he thought back. “There was this one guy on one of my first beats out here, a mutant who had become a giant bumblebee. I chased him down to the docks where I found his hive,” Jorge said. He then got a little animated and graphic as he spoke about the hive he found, the giant honeycomb clusters with live giant bee larvae in them and the sticky secretions everywhere. He laughed when he got to the end of his story which resulted in a successful arrest. “Needless to say, he won’t be stinging anyone for a long time.”

He chuckled as he shook his head at the end of the story. He noted their looks and was not sure if his overly done description about the were-bee’s living honeycomb was a little too gross for them. He then cleared his throat and switched topics.

“So, how did you two meet anyway? Andrew trip and bump into you or something?” he said jokingly as he addressed Verdigris.

Andrew spent most of the ensuing conversation either smirking or laughing. Jorge and Verdy talked some, with Jorge responding to Andrew's barbs now and then. The dogs were let to run free and they seemed to get along fairly well. Lizzie and Jack played well together, amusingly enough. Once Verdy asked after Jorge's job, Jorge regaled them with one of the stories from his early career. It was a little disgusting but pretty interesting and had a happy ending so it was good.

Then Jorge asked Verdy how they met. He jokingly asked if Andrew had tripped and bumped into her. Sadly it was very nearly completely true. Andrew grimaced at the thought of how much Jorge was going to laugh when Verdy told the story. Oh well, not much he could do. Verdy would tell it, Jorge would laugh, Andrew would be embarrassed for a little bit and they would move on.

This was the norm for an interaction with Jorge. Apparently adding Verdy in only added more possibilities for embarrassment. Lord if she told him about the trip to the store...well they be back to teasing about he and Verdy dating. Of course Andrew figured she'd know better than to tell that story. After all, she'd seemed just as embarrassed by Jorge's initial accusation as he had been.

Verdy gave a surprised nod. Had she told Detective Cervantes that the mansion was where she lived? She was fairly certain she hadn’t, and put it down to the fact that he was a mutant-related cop, talking to mutants, it was to be expected that they knew what he was talking about. On that note, she knew she had told him of her own mutation, but would he know of Andrew’s? Possibly, but better not to mention it, just in case.

The dogs seemed more than happy to become friends, streaking around after each other in an overly complicated doggy version of ‘tag’, no rules, she couldn’t understand it, but they were happy, and that she understood. It was good for Jack, to get out and make some friends.

The story of the bumble-bee mutant was a little gross, but she found herself more intrigued, than disgusted. The different ways that the X-gene manifested itself were endlessly curious and often unusual. She idly wondered if they had to use smoke, to subdue the bee-mutant. It seemed appropriate.

Jorge asked about their meeting and she raised her eyebrows. Close… very close…

“Almost. He tried to rescue me when I tripped, actually, but I was just a little too quick for him. We got talking and things just happened.”

Things like rampaging through a shopping centre having mock battles, and deciding to adopt a dog, and stealing kisses, and actually adoptinga dog. But the grizzled detective didn’t need to know that. Any of it. Except perhaps the bits about Jack. The others were sure to get them more knowing looks from the detective.

“Then since we got Jack we’ve been seeing a little more of each other while we get to know him.”

There really was quite a lot of personality bundled up in that pile of fur and ever-wagging-tail.