"Hey, Bree!" Alex called across the room.

Bree turned and looked for who was called her. When her eye caught Alex, she smiled.

"Yes?"

"I would like to talk with you." Alex said it flatly with a slight edge to her tone Bree hadn't heard before.

"Alright," Bree said, trying to remain herself.

Alex led her to another room in the Fairy Palace. She opened the door and let Bree enter first. Bree entered the room and surveyed it quietly.

The room had no ceiling, like every other room in the Fairy Palace. It held three chairs that sat on top of a purple carpet. The carpet matched the flowers that grew in their hanging baskets in each corner of the room.

Alex took a seat in the red chair and motioned for Bree to take a seat as well. Bree chose the blue chair and sat down. She tried to make herself as comfortable as possible while running over the possibilities of what Alex would want to talk about.

But before Bree could question it, Alex got straight to her point.

"I'd like to talk to you about dating my brother." she said matter-of-factually.

Bree tried hard not to let her expression falter. She had thought this might be coming. She knew Conner had interrogated Arthur, and she only assumed that Alex would do the same for her.

"Alright," Bree said as calmly as she could manage. Which was pretty calm. She took a few breaths, silently of course, and found that she was worrying over nothing. All would be fine. But this was Alex we were talking about. She could be very serious. "What about it?"

Alex looked caught off guard by Bree's easiness about the whole thing. She knew Conner was not this way when Arthur interrogated him. Alex shook it off and proceeded as planned.

"Why do you like my brother?" she deadpanned. Alex could see this took Bree by surprise.

"Why do I like Conner?" Bree repeated and thought for a moment. "I like Conner because he's Conner. He's funny and shy and cute, and doesn't mind voicing his opinions. He doesn't pressure anything in our relationship, and always asks me for what I want. He's caring and understanding."

Alex was stunned by her words. She knew Bree was a bit hardcore, but she hadn't expected this soft side. She even noticed a dreamy look in Bree's eyes as she spoke of Conner.

"Plus," Bree said. "We've been through a lot together. You just can't walk away from someone you've almost died with a few dozen times with a 'Bye, it was nice knowing you.'"

Alex failed at trying to stifle a laugh. That was more like the Bree she remembered.

"I guess that's true," Alex said, trying to hide her smile.

"Like you and Arthur," Bree said, surprising Alex with the mention of Arthur. "He met you when you were desperate to do something life-saving, helped you complete that, and here you are. He helped save your future twice, and you helped him save his destiny. you can't just walk away from that."

Bree's words hit Alex differently. She had never thought about her and Arthur's relationship like that, but now that Bree put it so plainly and bluntly, it dawned on her that that was true. Her and Arthur fit well because they had been through important life things together. A lot of important life things.

"So, if another of your questions was 'Why do I want to date Conner?'" Bree continued. "Then I think you have your answer."

Alex knew from Conner that Bree was into mysteries and psychology, but she had never thought about it. She hadn't thought of it when she had planned to talk with Bree. She hadn't thought that Bree would guess her next questions. But, remembering that Conner talked about her love for crime novels 24/7, she honestly had to tell herself she wasn't surprised.

"Conner told me you were smart." Alex said, defeated.

Bree's cheeks went slightly up in temperature. She pressed her smile right back down her throat were it had come from.

"I'm surprised he talks about me," Bree said, meaning it.

"Oh, he talks ab0ut you a lot," Alex said, not able to stifle a laugh. "I think he's obsessed." she whispered, even though they were the only people in the room.

Alex and Bree laughed. Alex had to think about when she had gotten that comfortable with Bree. She didn't know. Bree was just so nice and funny and easy to talk to. Alex saw why her brother liked her.

"I don't mean to be the protective sister," Alex began after the laughter had subsided. "It's just I don't want my brother to be hurt."

Bree was shocked. Not because Alex's words had hurt her, and for a moment Alex thought they had.

"Your worried for him?" Bree asked. "He's worried about you! It won't stop talking about you relationship and you getting hurt like Rook." Bree paused. She hadn't thought about her words before she had said them. Rook was always a sore spot for Alex. She still hadn't forgiven herself for his death.

Alex's look didn't darken, though.

"I know that," Alex said. "He interrogated Arthur about our relationship, so Arthur encouraged me to do the same with you."

Bree laughed. "I know he did," she said. "Why interrogate my, though? Do you not like our relationship?"

"No!" Alex said. "My brother's always been a weird one, and his choice in girls surprised me more than ever. No hard feelings or anything, it's just I never really imagined my brother dating someone like, well, you."

Bree found it a little hard not to take offense to that. Alex sensed that.

"No, no! It's not that I don't like you and him together, on the contrary, I ship it so hard. It's just, the way you met and everything." Alex trailed off. She had no idea how to put to words what she was trying to convey.

She took in a breath as Bree's expression turned edgy.

"Look, when we were kids, Conner was always the one was a large personality and funny jokes, and he just expressed himself that way." Alex said, deciding that starting at the beginning was better. "He was kind of flirty when we were younger and I always expected him to grow up that way. When he turned out shy, still funny, but shy, it surprised me. He's not always shy, but way more than when we were younger. I think the dozens of life-or-death situations calmed him down."

Alex took another breath. It was very therapeutic to talk about her feelings.

"It just surprises me that he would end up with someone of your personality, given his earlier personality in life. But you two compliment each other in a very good way. It's an odd match, I can't deny that, but it works."

By Bree's look, Alex could tell those weren't the right words to say.

"It more than works, it's perfect." Alex amended. "I think you two are perfect for each other."

Bree had been waiting for Alex to tie it all together. She knew what Alex really thought the relationship, that it was a good match, it just was nice to hear it. Especially after the interrogation.

"Thank you, Alex," Bree said. "I really appreciate that."

"Your welcome,"

Even though Alex had previously thought Bree was easy to get along with, she knew that Bree could have an edge. And Alex knew she had kind of pushed a little too much.

"Look, Bree," Alex said, stopping Bree from leaving. "I don't dislike you. And I don't mean anything unkind or mean towards you. I really do like to have you around."

"Thank you, Alex," Bree said patiently without a hint of malice.

That was really all she wanted. And so the interrogation was done. Alex looked at Bree, waiting for her to get up, but she stayed planted.

"Do you want to talk about anything else?" Bree asked.

"Um, no," Alex said, thinking she was all done. But Bree had reminded her that she in fact did have something else to talk about.

Bree moved for the door.

"Well, actually there was one thing," Alex said.

Bree turned around and came back to her seat. She sat down and directed her attention to Alex.

"Yeah?"

"It's about Arthur," Alex started.

And so the bond started. The two talked for a while, having a real girl talk about important stuff. Alex grew comfortable with Bree, and Bree eased into being light-hearted. The two had a good time.

(Divider)

~ tlos_geek2