Room 406, afternoon.

[izzyalienqueen]

After meeting Max at the Meet & Greet, Isabel led him up to her room.

"Xander's gone," she said as she led him into the room. "And I've been lucky enough that I haven't gotten another roommate. Well unless you count Annie." Hearing her name the small kitten poked her head up out of her basket.

[Locked to emo_alien_king.]

Comments

[emo_alien_king]

"Is that her?" Max stuck his hands in his pockets, and slowly approached the kitten, looking around Isabel's room as he did so. "She's really cute."

[izzyalienqueen]

"Isn't she? I had no intention of getting a pet when we went," Isabel said, shutting the door and taking a seat on the bed. "But she was so cute I couldn't resist. You can pick her up, she's very friendly."

[emo_alien_king]

Carefully, Max scooped her up, and she immediately wriggled and started to purr against his hand. "Who's we? And, uh. How are things going?" He winced. No, not awkward at all.

[izzyalienqueen]

"Jack, Parker, Sam," she said. "Jack wanted to get a fish for Cedric, Parker had the car and Sam and I went along for the ride." Isabel shrugged, "It's good. I'm happy. I like it here." Of course she couldn't explain exactly why she liked it here.

[emo_alien_king]

"Yeah? That's good." He put Annie down on the bed, then sighed, pushing a hand through his hair. "I owe you an apology for some stuff."

[izzyalienqueen]

"Oh?" she said carefully. "Ya think?" She really couldn't help that sarcasm.

[emo_alien_king]

Max glared at her a moment, then glanced away, looking around the room. "I guess-- I get you wanting to be normal more, now. I still think you're kidding yourself, Isabel." He looked back at her, and tried to keep any criticism out of his voice. "But I get it. And I get--" He stood up to look out the window, too uncomfortable to say the next part of his apology aloud yet.

[izzyalienqueen]

Isabel glared back. "Everything this summer? That wasn't about being normal. It was about trust. If we could tell Mom and Dad...It just would make things easier. They'd understand. I know they would."

"As for me? Around here? I am normal. And I like it."

[emo_alien_king]

"Can you guarantee it? Seriously?" Max looked away, shaking his head. Keeping his voice low, he said, "And what if they don't understand, Isabel? Or what if they understand, but it puts them in more danger? Can you tell me what's going to happen then? Because if you can't, we don't have the right to screw up their lives like that. Now more than ever." He shook his head, gritting his teeth. "And of course you like being normal. You think I wouldn't like it? You're lucky you have the option," he said, trying to keep the bitterness out of his voice. "But someone has to deal with everything while you hide out."

[izzyalienqueen]

"Max they love us. Finding out the truth is going to change that!" she insisted. "And how can they be in anymore danger then they already are? We love them. They're our parents. That's more then enough to make them a target." Disturbed by the tension Annie curled up in Isabel's lap. "And don't you dare say I'm hiding out. I would have stayed. But we all agreed that I should come back and see what I could find out," Isabel hissed.

[emo_alien_king]

"Okay, okay, that was a cheap shot." Max held up his hands, then folded them across his chest, hugging himself. "I'm a little jealous that it's easier for you." He looked away, trying to figure out where he'd screwed up this conversation. "I don't want them more involved than they are. We tell them, they start looking for ways to help, or ways to get us out of it, and it just-- it's too much. It's just one more thing. It *is* simpler if they don't know." He grimaced. "Langly proved that to me."

[izzyalienqueen]

"It was. And it's not easier," she said. "There's things I'd want to say, or do to help and I can't." Isabel felt mildly guilty for lying to him about people not knowing the truth. But she was being honest about how it wasn't easier, it's just that that stopped being an issue seven months ago. "But you are right, they would want to help us, and I do understand why that could be too much." She rubbed Annie's belly, smiling as she purred. "Langley? The shapeshifter? What exactly happened? Maria wasn't sure of the details."

[emo_alien_king]

"I screwed up," he said softly, staring at the floor. "I was so focused on getting back to Antar, I didn't think..." Max shook his head. "We found a ship that could take us back. It was on a government base. But to get to it, the shapeshifter had to blow his cover. And now his life here is over, basically. He has to start over, and I-- I didn't think it would matter to him, I figured he'd adjust, but-- he said I was selfish, putting him in that position." He shrugged his shoulders, not looking at her. "He was right. And I thought, maybe that's what I've been doing to Isabel."

[izzyalienqueen]

"Not always," Isabel said quietly. "Most of the time you were trying to look out for all of us, trying to do the right thing."

[emo_alien_king]

Max look up, his voice intense, and said, "I was. I swear I was, Isabel. I wasn't doing it to be a dick." He quirked a smile at her. "I don't want to let anyone down. Not again. Not Antar, or Michael, or Liz. Or you. Sometimes it seems like there's no way not to disappoint someone, though."

[izzyalienqueen]

"I know that Max," Isabel said, quirking a smile. "There's probably not a way to keep everyone happy. You're right. But if you're honest, and listen to what we're worried about, and trust what we have to say...that helps at least."