Room 406, afternoon.

[izzyalienqueen]

After meeting Max at the Meet & Greet, Isabel led him up to her room.

"Xander's gone," she said as she led him into the room. "And I've been lucky enough that I haven't gotten another roommate. Well unless you count Annie." Hearing her name the small kitten poked her head up out of her basket.

[Locked to emo_alien_king.]

Comments

[emo-alien-king.livejournal.com]

"Okay, okay, that was a cheap shot." Max held up his hands, then folded them across his chest, hugging himself. "I'm a little jealous that it's easier for you." He looked away, trying to figure out where he'd screwed up this conversation. "I don't want them more involved than they are. We tell them, they start looking for ways to help, or ways to get us out of it, and it just-- it's too much. It's just one more thing. It *is* simpler if they don't know." He grimaced. "Langly proved that to me."

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

"It was. And it's not easier," she said. "There's things I'd want to say, or do to help and I can't." Isabel felt mildly guilty for lying to him about people not knowing the truth. But she was being honest about how it wasn't easier, it's just that that stopped being an issue seven months ago. "But you are right, they would want to help us, and I do understand why that could be too much." She rubbed Annie's belly, smiling as she purred. "Langley? The shapeshifter? What exactly happened? Maria wasn't sure of the details."

[emo-alien-king.livejournal.com]

"I screwed up," he said softly, staring at the floor. "I was so focused on getting back to Antar, I didn't think..." Max shook his head. "We found a ship that could take us back. It was on a government base. But to get to it, the shapeshifter had to blow his cover. And now his life here is over, basically. He has to start over, and I-- I didn't think it would matter to him, I figured he'd adjust, but-- he said I was selfish, putting him in that position." He shrugged his shoulders, not looking at her. "He was right. And I thought, maybe that's what I've been doing to Isabel."

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

"Not always," Isabel said quietly. "Most of the time you were trying to look out for all of us, trying to do the right thing."

[emo-alien-king.livejournal.com]

Max look up, his voice intense, and said, "I was. I swear I was, Isabel. I wasn't doing it to be a dick." He quirked a smile at her. "I don't want to let anyone down. Not again. Not Antar, or Michael, or Liz. Or you. Sometimes it seems like there's no way not to disappoint someone, though."

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

"I know that Max," Isabel said, quirking a smile. "There's probably not a way to keep everyone happy. You're right. But if you're honest, and listen to what we're worried about, and trust what we have to say...that helps at least."

[emo-alien-king.livejournal.com]

Max winced, thinking of the mess with the baby and Tess. "Yeah. It's not easy, but-- yeah." He studied her a moment, then tentatively asked, "So are we good? Right now?"

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

"We're good," she smiled, quashing the guilty feeling that tried to creep in over everything Fandom related she wasn't telling him.