I Just Want To Be Normal

The door was open, the music was playing. Guests were welcome.

From:

The door was closed and locked while Isabel tried to sleep.

From:

Greg ran up the stairs as soon as he'd read his email.

"What'd he do to you?" he asked, walking in and looking around as though Bel might still be there.

From:

"What?" Isabel asked, confused for a moment. "Oh? You mean the Source?"

From:

"Parker sent an email telling us all that he is a danger and there was capslock and exclamation points and if this is a joke then Parker is even meaner than I thought," Greg babbled, looking her over.

From:

Sitting on the roof, drinking green drink, had given Jack a really good idea.

Well, an idea, anyway.

He made his careful way down the stairs, into his room, retrieved the lockpicks he hadn't used since summer, and headed back up the stairs to visit Isabel.

Crouched outside her door, he started working on the lock. Weiss had made it look easy, and it wasn't, but he closed his eyes and tried to forget it was a lock. He concentrated on the feel, breathing deep, movement in and out, finding the right amount of pressure, twist, slip, and everything clicked. Including the lock.

Jack blinked at it, once, twice, then silently pushed the door open. The room was dark, but he knew it as well as he knew his own, and Isabel was right over there.

From:

Isabel had been almost asleep when she heard the noise at the door. She didn't think it was Bel, no, the Source. Somehow he just didn't strike her as the type to be stealthy like that. Still, she clutched her hand around the hairstick she'd tucked under her pillow and waited to see what he was going to do.

From:

An eyebrow raised. "Umm...no. We don't fuck around about people possessing our friends," she said dryly.

From:

"Are you okay?" Greg asked, regaining his composure. There were no outward injuries, but the worst ones weren't usually visible.

From:

"I'm fine," Isabel assured him. "I'm worried that one of my friends is possessed and I'm pissed off that the son of bitch that possessed him whammied me with a spell so I couldn't communicate for a day. But since it could have been much, much worst, I'm really not complaining."

From:

Greg strode over and wrapped his arms around her. "Yes, yes, yes, that all sucks, but you're okay and that makes me very happy."

From:

If he'd been sober, and if he'd been paying more attention to Isabel and less attention to putting one foot in front of the other, he'd have heard her breathing change. But he wasn't, and he didn't, and he made his way closer to the bed, crouching down as he reached a hand towards her.

She'd be mad he'd woken her up, but he was pretty sure she'd forgive him.

From:

Isabel hugged him back and rested her head on his shoulder. "It was scary. I dreamwalked Bel Sunday night, trying to figure out what was up. Cause some things just weren't right. Poor Bel's trapped there. He can't break free. I was trying to help him and the next thing you know, the Source was here. Ready to kill me."

From:

She felt whoever it was reach out for her so Isabel swung out with the hairstick even as she tried to scramble off the bed. Of course the hairstick would have made more of a weapon if she'd taken it out of it's sheath.

From:

"And he didn't," he said, rubbing her back.

One-track mind? Greg? Nahh.

From:

"No, mostly because Parker fast talked him out of killing us both. This little thing about more bodies drawing more attention," she explained. "Instead he whammied us with some spell. We couldn't talk, couldn't write, type, couldn't do anything except try and play Charades. Thank god Cedric was able to break the spell last night."

From:

"I will give him a fruit basket," Greg decided.

From:

"Forget the fruit, he's got a huge sweet tooth," she laughed. "I think I need to buy out J,GoB for him."

From:

Jack reacted on instinct, grabbing for her wrist even as he pushed off the floor and tried to get an arm around her waist. "Isabel. Isabel, it's okay, it's me," he whispered.

From:

"Ooh, I'll fill his room with marshmallows," Greg declared.

From:

It took a moment for her to recognize Jack's voice and stop flailing with the hairstick. Isabel dropped the hairstick and thwapped him with her free hand. "You dumbass! Are you trying to get yourself killed?"

From:

"I'm not sure about marshmallows. I might have traumatized him with them a few weeks ago," Isabel admitted.

From:

Jack let go of her and backed off. She was absolutely right, he shouldn't have been sneaking around in her room, sneaking up on her. "Sorry, Isabel," he said quietly.

From:

"...cotton candy? Gumballs?"

From: