Room 406, morning

[izzyalienqueen]

Happy that she didn't have Friday classes, Isabel had her radio turned up loud as she packed for the wedding trip. She was glad that work had been quiet yesterday, and other then a quick trip to the Perk she'd been able to relax and nap recover from the night before.

For now though, she was looking forward to the wedding and the chance to catch up with friends.

There might have been dancing. And possibly some singing.

The door was open.

Comments

[cantgetnorelief.livejournal.com]

Anders came by and knocked on the door, a be-garmented hanger in each hand and a perplexed expression on his face.

"Help?"

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

Caught in the midst of deciding exactly what she was packing to sleep in, Isabel shoved both her usual pajamas and something that might have been a bit more slinky into her bag before turning around.

"What can I do for you?" she grinned.

[cantgetnorelief.livejournal.com]

"Tux?" asked Anders, holding up the left-hand hanger. Then, holding up the right-hand one, "Or suit?"

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

Isabel boggled. "You own both? Damn, I'm impressed."

[cantgetnorelief.livejournal.com]

"Well, the suit's mine," Anders amended. "I sort of rented the tux last night just in case. I have no idea how I'm supposed to do these things, I mean, holy frak, I wasn't planning on ever having to deal with my friends getting married for, like . . . well, a few years at least!"

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

"You're not in the wedding party so you'll be fine with a suit," she promised. "And I know exactly what you mean. But Aeryn and John make sense."

[cantgetnorelief.livejournal.com]

Anders sagged. "Oh, thank frak. I guess I'll run the tux back to the store before we leave, then. They're a pain in the ass, especially the waist thing with the dirty name." He ran a fingertip absently over his silver bracelet. "Makes sense, yeah. Still just kind of . . . are we really getting that close to growing up?"

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

"The waist thing with a dirty name?" Isabel snickered as she reached for Anders' hand to look at the bracelet. "I'm going to laugh every time I see the guys in their tuxes tomorrow and it'll be all your fault. What's this?"

[cantgetnorelief.livejournal.com]

"Oh, you know me, I live to serve." Anders grinned and slipped the bracelet off his wrist, holding it out to Isabel so she could read the inscription.

"Present from Bel at Homecoming. After the memory loss thing, I guess he thought it was a good idea."

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

Isabel couldn't help herself, she had to giggle. "The sad thing is? I can see that being useful around here."

[cantgetnorelief.livejournal.com]

"Which would be why he got it, I guess," Anders agreed as he put the bracelet back on. "I think it's damn cute, though. You know how he gets when he wants to say something but thinks it's something a big bad demon shouldn't say outright."

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

"Oh yeah," she agreed, knowing exactly what Anders was talking about. "He doesn't let it show often, but he's got a squishy side. It's always nice when it makes an appearance. I made him blush once. It was cute."

[cantgetnorelief.livejournal.com]

"I made him --" Anders stopped abruptly. "No, TMI, I don't want you to hit me. It's frakking adorable when he gets like that."

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

"Smart guy," Isabel replied dryly. "I love you all dearly. And I'm glad you have fun. But I don't want to know about it."

A beat...

"No matter how pretty it is to picture."

[cantgetnorelief.livejournal.com]

Cue flailing, possibly made even more comical by the rustling of the protective plastic over the hangers Anders was holding..

"Big sis, no! You can't seriously -- that is so wrong."

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

Amused and possibly slightly smug, Isabel blew on her nails and buffed them against her shirt. "You are just so much fun to tease. It's awesome."

[cantgetnorelief.livejournal.com]

Anders gave her the full-fledged puppy-faced pout. "I'm just going to interpret this as your way of showing you love me."

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

"Absolutely," Isabel said instantly. "Elder sisters teasing their little brothers is a time honored tradition. And there are no rules about what the topic of teasing is. So...you're doomed."

[cantgetnorelief.livejournal.com]

Anders groaned, but his eyes were twinkling with amusement. "I guess now is too late for me to decide I want to be the guy who bucks tradition?"

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

She laughed and went to hug him. "Pretty much. You're stuck with me."

[cantgetnorelief.livejournal.com]

"Poor me," intoned Anders melodramatically, happy to return the hug. "Whatever am I going to do, being stuck with the best big sister ever?"

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

"Suffer. And plan for the day you can get revenge," Isabel replied, ruffling his hair. "Somehow I picture it involving lots of sugar and small, hyper people who love their Uncle Anders."

[cantgetnorelief.livejournal.com]

Anders's eyes went very, very wide.

"Somehow that's about fifty times more scarring than a simple TMI."

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

"Oh come on," she grinned. "You'd love it. A little girl that worshiped the ground you walked on and said you were her favoritest person in the world?" Not that Isabel was thinking of anyone specific. Nope, not at all.

[cantgetnorelief.livejournal.com]

Anders softened a bit. "Well, yeah," he conceded with a wistful smile.

Then, abruptly, and seemingly unprompted, he added, "It . . . would've been Pandora's first birthday next month."

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

"Really? Wow," Isabel said softly. "There's still a chance though. I mean you guys are still together. It'll just be a different time. But I bet you'd still be happy."

[cantgetnorelief.livejournal.com]

"Well," Anders amended, "she would've been born this December, actually. And part of me is really sorry that's not going to happen. And for two people who were talking about we weren't expecting to start growing up so soon, this is kind of a funny change of subject."

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

"It is," she agreed. "I blame Fandom. And the fact that if we didn't get our memory back? I would have been the one getting married last month."

[cantgetnorelief.livejournal.com]

Anders smirked slightly. "Yeah, well . . . close enough."

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

Isabel stuck her tongue out at him. "Oh shush. It was just a joke."

[cantgetnorelief.livejournal.com]

"Uh huh," Anders said, because it was a little brother's time-honored duty to be a pain. "Suuuuuuuuuuuure it was."

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

"I wasn't even dating him at the time!" she pointed out. "We were just goofing! Honestly!"

[cantgetnorelief.livejournal.com]

"Uh huh," Anders said again, with the same slightly infuriating grin.

He took his little brother duties seriously.

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

"I'm never going to win am I?" Isabel sighed. "Unless..."

Tilting her head, she studied Anders thoughtfully. "Oh yeah, just a little bit of glitter. That would be perfect."

[cantgetnorelief.livejournal.com]

"Oh, uh uh," Anders objected. "No glittering me! And no getting Ronan to do it either!"

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

"Fine," she pouted. "Take all my fun away."

[cantgetnorelief.livejournal.com]

"I already have a boyfriend to kiss," Anders informed her with mock dignity. "Isn't that enough for you?"

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

"Well technically," Isabel pointed out. "Your boyfriend was right there in my little mental image. The glitter was just to highlight certain, um, attributes."

[cantgetnorelief.livejournal.com]

. . .

. . .

"Oh my gods, please tell me you're kidding."

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

"I'm not telling," she teased. "This is way more fun."

[cantgetnorelief.livejournal.com]

"Oh, I swear," Anders sputtered. "No PDA in front of you ever again."

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

Isabel just looked smug.