Isabel couldn’t decide which was worse. Maria and Michael taking their relationship to another level or Max and Liz waiting forever to do so. Sigh, why couldn’t her boys just stay that way -- her boys. And Alex -- she wished he’d stop crowding her. When she’d asked Liz to invite him this afternoon, she’d told herself she didn’t want him to feel left out, considering his long history with Liz and that De Luca girl. Max had been in love with Liz Parker for as long as she could remember but what did Michael see in that kook Maria? She used too much lip gloss, had the weirdest sense of style and blathered far too much. Isabel was sure that was why he was now tugging his arm away from her to fall into step with Max.

But deep down she knew better. Michael had never been the long-suffering type like Max was; no baby steps for him. Michael fell into this like he fell into everything -- hard and fast. But he’d always depended on Max to bail him out of rough situations. Well, Max couldn’t help him now. Michael was in this Maria-thing on his own.

When Isabel found out he’d stayed over at Maria’s house the night he walked away from Hank, she couldn’t help but feel a little hurt. The three of them were supposed to stick together. But she also knew that that line grew less and less convincing with every day that passed, beginning with the moment her brother saved lived Liz Parker from that stray bullet at the Crashdown. The aftermath of that one act had hurtled the six of them from one wild encounter to the next, each one drawing them closer and closer into a tightly-knit circle. She would never admit it, but she was glad. She had girlfriends she could really talk to now, not just those airheads she usually surrounded herself with. Well, with Liz at least. She hadn’t been able to get Maria to slow down long enough to actually talk to her.