[NYC] Birthday 911!

[agentsullivan]

Who: Andrew's Suprise Party!
Where: The Bondi, New York City
When: Saturday 29th August
Follows: All HERE______________________________________

Comments

Iz and Ali

[isabelowens]

Isabel felt strange being at a birthday party after everything that had happened over the past week, but it was Andrew's and Ali would expect her to be here. She also wanted James here, and Iz would be lying if she didn't admit it was hard not to be with James the whole time. She looked at him, and she just wanted to be in his arms. She still had no idea what he was thinking though, James keeping to himself since he left Aiden and Pat's house. At work their interactions had been minimal and polite, and strictly professional.

Even if Izzy wanted to drag him into the copy room and make it very unprofessional. He would always have that effect on her, she was sure of it.

She came up beside Ali at the bar, and gave her friend a kiss on the cheek as she took over the back rub. At least she was beginning to know how Ali felt. "This was some pretty devious planning on your part, Sullivan. Surprise party for your fiance. How'd you pull it off?"

Re: Iz and Ali

[agentsullivan]

Ali shot Izzy a look, but she did smile. "Yeah, I could have used a hand, you bitch," she returned with a snort. "Don't think I don't you were playing sink the sausage in Princeton together. I had to rely on Luke and Tab to help me out, and make them lie to Andrew too. He thought I forgot his birthday and sulked all Thursday night when all I wanted to do was fuck his brains out, but I couldn't because he thought I was too buggered to even go to dinner with him for his birthday."

He sipped her juice and then looked at Izzy with a small frown. "You really did, didn't you? You fucked Jimbo."

Re: Iz and Ali

[isabelowens]

"I'm sorry," was all Izzy could manage for a long moment. As Ali continued to look at her, she shifted her weight and started to feel just the tiniest bit of guilt over what had happened. "He's James." It was said like it could explain everything. "And I'm sure Andrew's forgiven you by now."

Re: Iz and Ali

[agentsullivan]

Ali rested her elbow on the bar, her hand coming to sit on her hand. "He's just as fucked up as the rest of us, if not more. How did you think this was going to fix things?" She looked over at James, who was sitting in one of the booths with Lachlan. She didn't even realise he knew Lachlan, but the six degrees of separation they had going in their group, it didn't surprise her all that much. Her shoulders slumped a little and she sighed. "Why couldn't you both just leave it be? What about Cameron? Harri?"

Re: Iz and Ali

[isabelowens]

"Because I was fooling myself into thinking I wasn't in love with him. Of course I was..." She sighed, and settled onto a stool, her hand still rubbing against Ali's back. "I thought it would be okay, and that it would feel like the end. One last time, and all that. Cameron was... he gave me permission. And Harri gave it to James."

Re: Iz and Ali

[agentsullivan]

Ali gave Izzy a light smack on the arm. "Don't be stupid. He makes you fucking stupid. Cameron didn't give you permission, he was testing you. No one gives permission to let someone they love fuck someone else, and if they do, they're deluded. They probably just didn't think you two would do it if push came to shove because you might have valued your actual relationship."

She growled softly, raking her fingers through the front of her hair. "What happened?" she asked. "All the gory details. I reserve right to swear and growl a lot when you get to the part abotu doing it when his brother was in hospital. How would you have felt if Mark decided to fuck your married sister when Jimbo was in that coma that time?"

Re: Iz and Ali

[isabelowens]

Iz frowned, but she didn't argue with the smack on the arm. Or that James made her stupid. She was well aware she had Campbell blindness. "Oh... fuck." She used her free hand to rub at her forehead. It had been a test, and she'd never clicked. How could she have never seen that? "I care about Cameron a lot... James was just... he's never really been out of my system. He was dead, and I thought it would be over. Then he came back, and... he was there

Re: Iz and Ali

[agentsullivan]

"It still would have felt crap if you were there wondering if Jim was going to be okay, and they were out getting their rocks off down the street together. And fuck. You're pregnant! Harri's pregnant!" Ali put her hand on her own stomach, her fingers reflexively and protectively searching out the bump there.

She sighed again, leaning against the bar. She dropped her head forward, her hair falling around her face. "I don't blame him for testing you. You were pregnant with his kid, sniffing around James. He must have been starting to wonder if he had a hope in hell. Maybe he was just getting too tired to let you maintain the facade? Iz.... fuck... when does it ever work well with you and James?"

Re: Iz and Ali

[isabelowens]

"I know," Izzy hissed. "I don't need a reminder. I feel like shit, but he's James! I know it's not nice, and I know it's stupid, and I fucking know." She pulled her hand away from Ali, and put both hands on the bar as she cleared her throat. "Imagine if it had been Andrew. Now. Imagine if Andrew was suddenly dead, and you had to work on moving on, then he just came back like nothing had happened."

Iz looked at her. "How would you deal with it? And it's... kids. I'm having twins, Al. Two of them. I know I fucked him over, I really do. And it sucks. I never wanted to hurt Cameron. He was helping put me back together, but seeing James again shattered me. I was never going to be whole. Not until I tried again. If it doesn't work out, then that's it, isn't it? I'll know. But how was I supposed to know before? We got married, and he fucking ran away and had his death faked."

Re: Iz and Ali

[agentsullivan]

"Yes. Yes, you do need a reminder. A daily reminder. Because you're going to be picking up the shit pieces for a very long time, if not for the whole of your kids' lives. James is going to be a Dad in, like, three months. Then you next year. You are never going to escape this because your kids have parents to different people, people you just both fucked over. And I know it's hard to fathom, but the minute you become a mother, it's your world. You live and breathe for them. You would die for them." Ali suddenly welled up and tears spilled over. She hastily grabbed for some napkins to get rid of them before Andrew saw. "You're both going to get so hurt, I just know it

Re: Iz and Ali

[isabelowens]

Izzy just shrugged at the barman, and gave him a look like he should agree in case Ali murdered him. She wouldn't be surprised to find Ali had a gun hidden on her somewhere. If she could pull one on James, she could pull one on a barman.

"Yes, I realise. He's made it clear he hates me. I fucked up royally, and I know it. James can't leave it as a one-night stand. I don't know if he's talked to Harri. He's not even talking to me at the moment. He sounded like he wanted to be with me, but he needs to get his head straight." Izzy could feel a ball of emotion get lodged in her throat, and tried to swallow it down. "I'm sorry, okay? But I can't let him go yet. I still love him, and I would die for him just as much as my unborn kids."

Re: Iz and Ali

[agentsullivan]

Ali was tempted to pour the vodka into her orange juice, but she resisted tempation and instead just held the glass to her nose with a frustrated moan. "He looks hungover, to be honest. Or like he's been smoking something. Probably both."

She shook her head. "You don't know how powerful those kids are going to be when they're born. Everything changes. You change." She put the glass down and tugged at her dress to stop it riding up over her bump. She also wanted to try and tug her knickers out of her butt, but she didn't think that was the image she should be projecting at Andrew's party, even if the wedgie was uncomfortable. She might look sexy, but she was still pregnant and uncomfortable. "What if he can't get his head straight, Iz? What if he's just not the James you know anymore, or can't be that James consistently anymore? He was completely fucked up when he first came back. He didn't know who the hell he was."

Re: Iz and Ali

[isabelowens]

Iz bit down on the tip of her index finger, and shrugged. "I don't know. I don't know, okay? I just need to find out for myself. Hours, and days, and weeks, and months, and then years of wondering about the 'what ifs' would have killed anything with Cameron just as much as right now. In fact it would have hurt more if we were married, and whatever else."

Re: Iz and Ali

[agentsullivan]

Ali looked over at James again, nursing the vodka again like it was a security blanket. "Jamie said her first word last night," she murmured. It wasn't a change of subject. She knew they would get back to the crux of the crap, but it was something she had been excited to share with her best friends, it just got overshadowed. Maybe there just needed to be a bit of happy for a few minutes.

Re: Iz and Ali

[isabelowens]

Iz shrugged off the sudden sadness engulfing her, and broke into a smile as she looked at Ali. Her happiness was genuine, her green eyes lighting up at the news. "She did? Fuck, that's great. Wow, I can't get over how big she's getting. What was it?"

Re: Iz and Ali

[agentsullivan]

Ali was smiling again. She couldn't help it. She was a proud mummy and her daughter just awed her. "Daddy. Though it more came out just like 'Da-da'. But she was reaching for him. Spat the pacifier out for the production and everything. It was just like it made everything click into place, you know? Especially considering I'm going to be meeting with Mark this week. She's my baby girl. They're my both my family. I actually have a family all of my own. Me, a mother and a wife..." She shook her head, still not quite believing how far things had come.