Room 406, Late Afternoon, early evening

[izzyalienqueen]

Isabel's spent the afternoon in the common room kitchen handwavily cooking dinner. Now everything is carefully arranged on covered plates, ready to be reheated at the appropriate time. There's a blanket and candles set up picnic style on the floor. But for now, Isabel's playing solitare on the laptop while she waits for Greg to arrive.

When her email blinked, she smiled when she saw the message.


[Door's closed, but feel free to knock!]

Comments

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

"I promise," Isabel replied. "Once is fun, twice starts pushing the line towards stupid in situations like this." She took the phone and grinned. "Oh that's perfect! I knew in my head what it was going to look like but since we couldn't turn on the lights, I couldn't see it."

"How was the weekend otherwise?"

[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

"It was gorgeous. And you should have seen my father's face! Wait, let me--" Parker flipped through a couple pictures, then held up an image of her father, looking very, very peeved. "He hasn't been that mad since the stockmarket took a dive on one of the Centre projects last year. It was *wonderful*."

"The weekend, otherwise, was-- interesting. The junior execs were subdued and suppressed as effectively as if I'd put them in bags and sat on them." Parker smirked. "Mr. Valentin invited me to Moscow next year, to see the holdings there." She paused. "And I'm not speaking to my father right now."

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

Isabel tried hard not to smirk at the picture of Mr. Parker. "Oops?" she said mildly.

"I'm glad to hear your education in Fandom is being put to good use," she said. "Moscow would be interesting to see. It sounds like you made an impression." Isabel bit her lip before asking, "Why?"

[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

Parker took the phone back, and fiddled with the settings. "I get to stay here. I don't have to go to Rio." She looked up. "But I think it has less to do with how well I translated, or even how well the survival weekend went, than it does with guilt. I had to ask my father some questions before I left and he wasn't--" She paused. "I think I hurt him. I'm not sure. But I think he feels guilty, and is letting me stay, because of that."

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

"Yay for staying," Isabel said quietly. "What kind of questions? Or do you not feel like talking about it?"

[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

Parker looked at Isabel, wondering if it was a good idea to tell her or not. Hopefully it wouldn't freak her out too much. "Actually, by the standards of my family, this bit is pretty normal." She flipped the phone shut. "Angelo sent me a copy of my birth video last week. I had a twin, but he didn't make it." She sighed heavily. "Mom and Dad never told me."

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

"Parker, I'm sorry," Isabel said simply. "Maybe they didn't know how? I mean, you were only a little kid. And then your mom....How could your dad possibly explain that?" She blinked, surprised that she was trying to justify Mr. Parker's actions.

[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

"I don't know. But it's been seventeen years, and you'd think they'd have found *some* way, somehow, and it's just so familiar, Daddy avoiding things...." She shook her head. "He said it was a mistake not to tell me. I think that's the first time he's admitted to making one. Ever."

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

"I'm sure it's upsetting to him as well. And it was easier to just repress and deal with it on his own then tell you and have to deal with you being upset as well" she replied. "But he knows he was wrong. At least that's a start."

[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

Parker's lips quirked, then she shook her head. "Anyway. Yay, I'm not going to Rio. And the survival weekend is *over*, and Jarod's birthday is tomorrow, and Jack's alive, and you? Have candles." She surveyed the room. "Lots of them. No fear of a power shortage here."

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

"And again with the Yay!" Isabel cheered, just a little more enthusiastically. "I ordered my costume for the party. It got here earlier." She grinned wickedly. "Jack and I managed to exchange a few emails just before. I sent him a picture of the costume. He's...impressed. As for the candles? Random power loss is always a threat, didn't you know?"

[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

"Oh, reeeeally? What are you going as?" Parker grinned. "It didn't have to be fancy, I know this is awfully short notice." She looked at the candles, and snorted. "Isabel? Are you trying to light a cathedral, or a pagan rite? This is just--" She grinned. "Greggie would swoon. If he doesn't from exhaustion, anyway."

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

"Parker, be for real? How often do I actually get a chance to dress up as something completely different?" Isabel asked. "I was not passing up on this opportunity." She opened her laptop and hit a few buttons on her browser before showing Parker the screen. "What do you think of this?"

"Exhaustion?"

[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

Parker grinned. "Oooooooo. Perfect. And yeah, Greg ran afoul of Callisto. Something about a cheerleading uniform? So he was our 'prey' today during out last Wilderness Survival class."

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

"Ahh yes, the cheerleading uniform," Isabel said, shaking her head. "That was Monday night's insanity. Peter, Greg and John decided that they wanted to poke the unhappy blonde."

[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

"Then they deserve everything they get. No offense to your non-self-preservational boyfriend." Parker shook her head. "I spent last night talking sense into Daisy, who's a lot easier to deal with than Call. Those three, I *swear*. It's nice John has other crazy boys to play with, but cleaning up after them...."

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

"Oh totally," Isabel agreed. "As long as she returns them basically undamaged, she can dole out whatever punishment she thinks they deserve." Isabel laughed suddenly. "God, and you haven't even heard about the party crashers at the cheerleader slumber party. Johnina, Gregette and their friend Petra came to visit."

[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

Parker coughed, then chortled. "Oh, God, and I missed teasing them about it? SO not fair. Petra?" She rolled her eyes. "That one's new. How long did they manage to stay before they fled in fear?"

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

"They got threatened with manicures and makeovers before they fled," she laughed. "But they were there long enough to begin antagonizing Cal. That's where this insanity started."

[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

"Lord. She's been nuts for two months now, and they decide to flirt with disaster? Priceless." Parker shook her head, and stood up, tossing her cellphone in the air and catching it. "Have fun with your Dead Man Walking. I have some online shopping to do."

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

"Wait one second," Isabel said. "I have an idea! And a question."

[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

Parker stopped, looking intrigued. "Shoot."

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

"In the car Monday night, Jarod mentioned not having much experience with road trips," she said with a raised eyebrow. "I think his girlfriend and friends need to do something to fix that."

[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

Parker's smile widened. "I think you are completely right. Got a destination in mind?"

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

"I was trying to think of fun stuff to do that he would enjoy," Isabel said, not quite willing to admit how much time she'd spent researching online yesterday. "Given the beach class, it's pretty clear he likes the water. Do you think he'd like to go rafting?"