Jerking awake, Isabel realized three important facts, despite her half-asleep state. First, her mother was coming upstairs to make sure she was up. Second, Alex was in her bed. And last but definitely not least, neither of them were wearing any clothes.

She swore under her breath, "I'm up Mom! I'm...getting changed. Hold on a second." Impressed with her ingenuity on only about 3 hours of sleep, Isabel scrambled out of bed. She hit Alex on the stomach, and again when he didn't wake up.

"Wake up!" she whispered hoarsely, shaking him. She saw his eyelids flicker, but he didn't move. Realizing what was going on, she leaned down and brushed her lips against his. His eyes opened and he smiled innocently, as if he hadn't really been awake the whole time.

"Hey, Snow White, gather up your seven dwarves and get in the closet! Now!"

She half pushed, half pulled him to the closet, grabbing his clothes and bag as she went. She gave him a little shove, tossing his stuff in after him, and shut the door.

"Coming Mom," she said, hopping into her jeans and pulling a t-shirt over her head. She opened the door a little, trying to give her mother as little view of the room as possible, in case there was any remaining evidence of Alex's presence. Her mother was standing there with an armful of laundry, looking harassed.

"Isabel! You are going to be late! Didn't you set your alarm? Here," she said, pushing some of the clothes into Isabel's arms, "put those away before you go to school. And come eat something! What is the matter with everyone today? I am going to start waking everyone in this house up myself," she added under her breath as she walked away, shaking her head.

Isabel smiled. Her mother was always threatening that, usually to her father, who never got up on time, though what would be so bad about it Isabel had never been able to figure out. Something of what her mother had said was tickling the back of her mind, but when she tried to focus on it, she lost the thought all together. Oh well, she sighed, I'll remember if it was important.

She attempted to kick the door shut with her hands full of laundry, and vaguely succeeded. Not noticing the partially open door, she dumped the clothes onto her chair, walked over to the closet and opened the door.

"Alex?" she whispered, peering confusedly around the small walk in closet. Where could he have gone? she wondered, stepping inside.

"Are you...looking for someone?" Isabel jumped as the voice spoke, startled, and spun around to face Alex. "An extremely handsome and buff, yet surprisingly sensitive and gentle, all around great guy? I might be able to help you find one," he finished, smiling suggestively.

"How could you help me find a guy like that, Alex?" Isabel replied sweetly. "Have you seen one?"

"Hey," Alex said, giving Isabel a wounded look and taking her into his arms, "you are talking to the genuine, original article here." He leaned down and lightly brushed his lips against her, and Isabel wrapped her arms around his neck. Spinning around suddenly, Alex swung her around and dipped her, and she kicked one leg into the air, tango-style.

"Ahem," a voice coughed from the doorway, and Isabel turned to the half open doorway with horror, expecting the worst. Max stood in the doorway, holding up a pair of boxers. He had a peculiar look on his face, one Isabel had never seen before. He looked like he was struggling between hysterical laughter and very serious anger. This could really suck, thought Isabel. Max hopping mad is not a pretty sight.

"I, uh, found these, uh, these, uh, well I found them lying in the doorway," said Max, almost as uncomfortable with the situation as Isabel, but still enjoying her discomfort. She thought she saw a hint of a smile on his face. "Thought I better pick them up before Mom yells at me for leaving my clothes lying around. I can't understand it though. I really can't remember buying these. Huh." Now Isabel was sure he was smiling. He shrugged. "Everyone seems to be losing clothing today."

"Max I...well, I mean, Max we... um, I...um...." She trailed off helplessly. He had not asked for an explanation, yet everything about him demanded one, despite his mocking smile. Finally she took a deep breath. No matter how much he wanted to know, he wouldn't ask, and she wasn't going to tell him until she was good and ready. And she had worked out exactly what to say. "Max, Alex needs a ride to school. We will meet you down stairs in 5 min, ok? Oh, and thank you," she added, giving him a sickly sweet smile as grabbed the boxer shorts out of his hand. Giving him a shove, she shut the door and leaned against it with a sigh.

"Look Isabel I'm really sor-"

"Don't say you're sorry, Alex. None of this is your fault." She reached a hand to his face and smiled reassuringly. She couldn't let him start taking responsibility for things he had no control over again. "Now why don't you get dressed, and then we can decide what to tell Max." She was definitely not looking forward to the prospect. No matter what they told him, he would read into the situation. But the focus had to be sparing Alex. If he didn't want to say anything about his dad, she wasn't going to force him to. She watched him get dressed, and felt a tug inside of her. She shook her head, startled. After all they had done last night she still felt turned on by simply watching him get dressed.

"Alex, we don't need to tell him, if you don't want to," she said when he had finished. "I mean, if you don't feel comfortable telling Max about your father, that is totally fine. He would never ask, and we could just let him go on thinking what he does now."

"Isabel, I love you for trying to protect me, but there is no reason to put you through that. I mean," he amended, "not that Max is so far wrong in what he is thinking, but I don't think you would really enjoy the situation if he went on thinking that. Besides," he sighed, tying his shoe and looking up at her, "they all have to find out at some point." He looked resigned at the prospect.

"Why, Alex? You don't have to tell anyone if you don't want to." "Because I am not going back there. I can't. I have to face facts. My father hit me, and threw me out of the house, and it really hasn't been a barrel of laughs living there for quite some time now. For a while, I thought, hey, he is just trying to adjust, cut him some slack. But now I have to deal with the situation as it is, and move on. If he ever apologizes, and gets help, than maybe I can go back, but not before. And I have to tell everyone because I have to ask Michael if I can stay with him."

"I am really glad you decided not to go back, Alex, but are you sure Michael's is the best place to go?"

"Well, I certainly can't live here, now can I?" he asked wryly.

"You could, well, I mean, you could talk to my parents, and I bet they would-'' "Is, I really appreciate what you are trying to do, but there is nothing wrong with Michael's apartment, and there I could at least pitch in with rent and stuff. No," he said as she opened her mouth to object, "I've made my decision. We can tell Max with the others, because I really don't want to tell the story multiple times. Although I probably should talk to Michael first. Hmm..." he trailed of thoughtfully. He shook his head to clear it and continued. "But it's settled. No if's, and's or but's about it." He pulled her to her feet and grabbed his bag. "I guess I'll be living out of a suitcase for a little while, until I can get back home and get some more stuff, so I might as well take this with me. Are you sure your mom won't notice me walking through your house? Oh well, too late now. Hey, are you coming?" he added, realizing he had left her behind as he walked out into the hallway.

Isabel shrugged and laughed softly to herself. Well, she had wanted him to stop being apologetic, to think of himself as a good person, and take charge of the situation. Be careful what you wish for, she thought, though she didn't really mind the change. Shouldering her backpack, she followed him out into the hall and down the stairs. As they entered the family room, Alex stopped short, and Isabel almost ran into him. Peering around him, she saw her mother folding yet more laundry, but facing the other way. If they could just go back through the kitchen, she thought, tugging at Alex's shirt and backing up. They were almost through the door when her mother turned around.

"Isabel, hurry up you'll-Alex? What are you doing here?"

"Hi Mrs. Evans. I came to get a ride to school. Don't you remember letting me in? I just got here a minute ago."

Isabel's mother looked perplexed, but half shrugged. "Uh, yeah I just forgot for a second. Sorry about that." She looked embarrassed to have forgotten. Isabel couldn't believe Alex had convinced her so thoroughly that she had convinced herself.

"Bye Mom," she said, pulling Alex with her across the room. She did not want to give her mother any more time than necessary to think about it. She hurried Alex out the door. Max was leaning against the jeep with a bemused expression on his face. Isabel, wanting to prevent conversation, tossed her and Alex's bags in the back quickly and then climbed in, turning the radio up as loud as possible. Max gave her another wry smile but left the volume up. Max is finding far too many things funny this morning, she thought.

Isabel heaved a sigh of relief as they entered the school parking lot without incident. As soon as the engine died, she jumped out and grabbed her bag.