I Just Want To Be Normal

After hearing Isabel's message yesterday, Peter figured it might be a good idea to check up on her and see how the trip to LA went. He knocked on the door as he peeked his head in. "Hey, Isabel. How was your trip?"

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"Honestly? It sucked," Isabel said, sending the balls over to land on her desk. Scooting back towards the head of the bed she motioned for Peter to take a seat.

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Peter came in and noted that Isabel looked terrible. "What happened?" he asked, sitting down.

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"The demon was scarier and tougher to kill then I thought it would be," she explained. "That's why I was there so long. It didn't finally end until late, late Friday night."

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"Ugh," Peter said. "But you did get the demon? That's an upside, at least."

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"We did. It just took too long." Isabel paused, biting her lip and gathering her thoughts. "Did you ever have to make a choice about who you saved?" she asked finally.

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Peter thought he could see where this was going. "Not quite. But I've been in situations where I haven't been able to save someone. And more than a few where a decision I made directly lead to someone dying. And that sucks. And it hurts. But one thing you learn quickly when you dedicate yourself to doing this kind of work is that you can't save everyone, no matter how hard you try."

"So, with that disclaimer out of the way, what happened?"

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Anakin was out stretching his legs.

He was in no way avoiding thinking about what would be happening in the next few weeks.

Really.

He smiled at the floating balls. "You've been practicing," he said.

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"Hey stranger! Long time no see on the fourth floor!" Isabel said with a genuine smile. "I have. It's fun."

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"I'm glad to hear it," Anakin said, leaning against the doorjamb. "Living on the first floor is too quiet."

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"You can come in you know," she said. "There's no need to lurk in the doorway. I can't imagine living on the first floor. I like having people wander by the door."

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"I'm normally good with quiet, but it's a little too much," Anakin said, coming into the room and sprawling out on the floor. "How are you?"

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"A group of kids read a spell and summoned a demon. He was killing them in their dreams. Except whatever happened in their dreams, carried over into real life," Isabel explained. "Angel needed me out there to get him and Logan into the dreams so they could fight the demon. The first night we waited until everyone went to sleep. That night he attacked a girl named Claire. She was only fourteen." Abruptly Isabel got up and went to the mini-fridge and pulled out two bottles of water. Returning to her seat she offered one to Peter.

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"I've had better weeks," Isabel admitted. "I just got back from spending a week helping Angel in LA."

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Anakin sat up straighter. "It didn't go well?"

It wasn't really a question.

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She shrugged. "The demon died eventually. So that's all that matters."

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"Thanks," Peter said. "Are you okay with continuing? You don't have to."

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anextimeagent.livejournal.com

Jack'd been asleep all day, and when he'd woken, Sam and Cedric had finally let him leave. He suspected it was because they thought Isabel would yell at him.

As he tapped quietly on the wall, he really hoped she wasn't going to.

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"Not necessarily," Anakin said. "How are you?"

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"I need to. I told Greg some of what happened, but I don't think he really gets it," Isabel said quietly. "It's not his fault. It's just, his life has been pretty normal before here."

She opened her bottle of water and took a drink. "So we went in and immediately were attacked by this rat-like thing. Except it was pretty damn big. That kept Angel and Logan occupied. I thought it was the demon itself. But it wasn't. It was just something he created based on Claire's fears. Then he waited until I was distracted watching Angel and Logan and he came after her."

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"I'll be okay," Isabel promised. "I just need to get some sleep. I didn't get much when I was out there. It's hard to sleep when you're worried about a demon coming into your dreams and killing you."

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soldtoarmenians

Xander, only realizing just long it had been since he'd been up here as he was knocking on the doorframe, peered in. "Hey, Roomie. Heard you were back."

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"Hey," Isabel said with a small smile before sending the balls over to hit him in the chest. Waving her hand slightly, she sent them back to the desk. "That's for making us worry."

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