Las Vegas, very very very late Friday night

[izzyalienqueen]

As if coordinating a reception for several hundred people wasn't difficult enough, tonight there had been parrots, lots and lots of extremely loud parrots. Since Isabel's new position as assistant to the assistant to the assistant to the assistant of the head banquet manager (or as she thought of herself, head gopher) was at the bottom of the totem pole, she wound up being responsible for helping clean-up the birds' rather frequent messes.

She consoled herself with the thought that at least the job paid enough to cover the summer rent on her new apartment until her roommate moved in for the fall semester.

After a long shower, Isabel was still too awake to sleep so she flipped on the TV and curled up on the couch. Except she wound up thinking more about the events of the other day then the documentary on the Discovery Channel.

Comments

[blessed_twice]

New apartment meant not having to deal with signing in as a guest at the dorm lobby and then waiting to be escorted up to Isabel's room. So Wyatt took this as permission to orb freely, and so he appeared in the living room in a shimmer of white and blue lights. "Hey gorgeous," he grinned.

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

"Hey," Isabel smiled. "That's perfect timing. I only got back just a little while ago. There were parrots! It was nuts."

[blessed_twice]

"Parrots?" Wyatt repeated, settling on the couch beside Isabel. "Like Izzy wanna cracker? parrots?"

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

"Forget the crackers. These things could reduce a chicken bone to splinters in two bites," she said, snuggling into Wyatt's side. "They were gorgeous. But loud and messy. Three guesses who got clean up duty. And the first two don't count."

[blessed_twice]

"Want me to go vanquish them?" Wyatt offered, wrapping his arm around Isabel's shoulders. "They could be demonic parrots."

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

Remembering the rather large macaw that tried to take a bite out of her, Isabel actually thought about it for a brief second. "It's a tempting offer but then there'd be several hundred pissed off parrot lovers to deal with. I'll cope. Hopefully the podiatrists next week will be a little less messy."

[blessed_twice]

"As long as they keep their shoes on," Wyatt teased.

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

"Now I'm going to worry about that all week," Isabel shuddered. "Thanks."

But that was in the future. She'd rather concentrate on the present. And for a little while, the past. "Have I mentioned how much I appreciated the trip to China?"

[blessed_twice]

"No problem," Wyatt said. "Everything OK with Parker?"

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

"Not really." Isabel sighed, feeling frustrated that there wasn't more that she could do. "In the three years I've know her, I can count on one hand the number of times that I've seen her that freaked out. And I'd probably still have at least three fingers left over."

[blessed_twice]

"Do we need to go over there and kick someone's ass or just knock some sense into her?" Wyatt asked, quite serious about doing just that.

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

"No she's being sensible and is going to get out of there next week," she replied. "Lyle on the other hand...If it wouldn't cause serious amounts of trouble? I'd love to see you leave him in the Underworld as demon chow. But only after I bounced him off the walls for a few hours."

[blessed_twice]

"Tempting, tempting," Wyatt said. "How about we strand him on the Northwestern in January and let them deal with him? We'd get the bonus of it being filmed for our amusement."

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

"As amusing as watching him toss his cookies over the railing would be," she answered, amused by the metal image. "We really don't want to draw the Centre's attention to us. They're not good people. Parker thinks she can fix it. But I don't know."

[blessed_twice]

"She knows if she needs help, we're there, right?" Wyatt said. "She's not going to get stubborn and do this alone and get in over her head, is she?"

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

"She knows. But that's the thing. Parker was trying to get the girl who died out," Isabel explained quietly. "She missed the call and Che died. I'm afraid that one day that could be me who misses the call."

[blessed_twice]

And again Wyatt was feeling jealous that Chris had a charge, and he didn't. "I wonder if there's a way to make someone a whitelighter's charge without going through the Elders," Wyatt said. "Then I'd know if she was in trouble." And of course he'd do the same to Isabel, he just wasn't mentioning that at the moment.

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

Remembering what Parker had told her, and what she'd seen about how Catherine Parker had died when she'd dreamwalked Parker so long ago, Isabel wasn't so sure it would help. A few well placed bullets and it wouldn't matter what Wyatt felt, she'd be dead by the time he got there.

"I wish you could. But unfortunately I think this is something she's going to have to handle on her own as much as we don't like it. I wish I could convince her to just walk away," she admitted. "But I get why she feels like she has to do it. So I can only support her however I can."

[blessed_twice]

Wyatt nodded. "Hopefully she'll be able to deal with it fast and easy," he said. It was probably wishful thinking, though.

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

"Doubt it. Which means we need to get used to worrying."

Because Isabel didn't worry enough as it was.

But they'd done what they could. Now it was up to Parker.

"So," Isabel asked, setting worrying aside for the moment and concentrating on the present. "How was your evening? How's Chris?"

[blessed_twice]

"He's okay," Wyatt said with a small shrug. "Settling into the manor again. The Book's back up in the attic where we both can use it."

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

A closet. She was going to lock them both into a closet until they got over whatever issues they had. And if they tried to orb out, she'd just toss them back in. Without opening the door.

"Hopefully you won't have to use it too often. Maybe just knowing you're both back will be enough to convince the demon population to behave."

[blessed_twice]

Issues? What issues? No, no issues here.

"They've been pretty quiet lately," Wyatt smirked. "They know better than to mess with me."

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

"Cocky much?" Isabel teased. "Except that I really don't mind. It gives me time to mess with you."

[blessed_twice]

"Maybe just a little bit," Wyatt grinned. "But I like it better when you mess with me than when demons do."

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

"Because there's less chance of bruising and winding up covered in slime?"

[blessed_twice]

"Unless Anders and Bridge are around and jello is involved," Wyatt said.

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

"See now," Isabel replied, tipping her head up and nibbling lightly on Wyatt's jaw. "I enjoyed the jello. But not with Anders and Bridge around."

[blessed_twice]

"They're not invited," Wyatt agreed, leaning back on the couch and pulling Isabel with him.

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

"We don't," she murmured in between kisses, "have to worry about anyone walking in on us."

At least until mid-August.

[blessed_twice]

"Then we should take advantage of that," Wyatt said, his hands already finding their way under her top.

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

Isabel smiled and moved to straddle Wyatt's lap. "It's tempting. But so's that queen sized bed in the bedroom. No more tiny dorm bed."

[blessed_twice]

"Ooh, good point," Wyatt said. "We're not going to know what to do with that much space. But I'm sure we can figure it out real quick."

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

"I've got a few ideas," she grinned as she attempted to tug his shirt over his head. Just ignore the rocking of her hips. Isabel was only trying to find a comfortable position. Really!!!

[blessed_twice]

Wyatt reluctantly released Isabel long enough to lift his arms over his head so Isabel could take off his shirt. In doing so, he had to lift his hips up and press against her. You know, so that she could tug the shirt free.

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

Yup, just so she could get his shirt free. That was all.

Honestly.

Now there was all that warm skin to lightly scratch her nails over as she searched for the sensitive parts.

"You know," Isabel mused, "I was all tired and emo before you got here. I'm not sure where this energy came from."