a brother's point of view

Who: Marian and Roy
Where: Roy's place
When: midday

She'd packed a bigger purse than usual to work that morning. It was stuffed full with Alec's jacket though she imagined he probably wouldn't be by the diner this morning. No, he was more of a night owl and with her on the morning shift today to cover for someone else she'd miss him. For once, Marian was having trouble focusing at work, people's orders muddled with thoughts of his car, his hand holding hers, his jacket around her shoulders and that smell. The smell still lingered in the jacket, she'd noticed it when she picked it up to put it in her purse. Needless to say it was not her best day on the job, which just made her all the more nervous. She couldn't lose this job.

When her shift ended she dodged out as soon as she had her morning's tips in her hands. Tugging the purse, which was really more of an overnight bag if she admitted it, over her shoulder, she made a beeline for Roy's vault, praying he'd be there. She had absolutely no idea what to do about Alec, especially now that he was affecting work, but she had a good feeling her brother might know what to do. At the very least she had to ask. "Roy!" she called once she was inside the bank.

Roy had been up in the vault, adding the newest little piece to his odd collection, a picture frame that lacked a picture. When he heard his name echo up the stairwell, he walked over to the top of it. "Yeah?" he called down, peering over the side to see who might be calling for him. It had sounded like his sister, but sometimes one couldn't actually tell. So, he figured it was best to ask first, than assume and insult someone by accident.

Marian heard his voice, but she couldn't see him from where she was standing. "Roy?" she called again, moving about trying to see his face. "Are you home?" Well, that wasn't the brightest question she could have asked. He was answering wasn't he? This whole Alec nonsense had her so flustered she wasn't even thinking before she spoke. "You know what I mean!" she called belatedly.

Roy chuckled a little, the sound echoing down the stairwell. "Yes, I'm home, come on up!" he called down to her. It was good to see her, anyways. Or would be, when she came into view. He was always glad to see Marian, and it always helped clear his head. So seeing her now, when he wasn't even that bad off should work to make him even better. That he looked forward to.

Oh good, he was laughing at her. Rolling her eyes at herself, Marian took the stairs, two at a time even though she was tired, hurrying to her brother's vault. By the time she reached the top she was a little short on breath, cheeks tinged pink with the exertion. "I'm glad you're here," she huffed at him a little. "I need help."

He'd been leaning on the railing, watching her come up when he could see her, and he'd been smiling, but that dropped the second she said she needed help, and he straightened. "Are you okay? What's going on?" he asked, immediately concerned. He walked over, to walk with her to the vault, so they could sit down where it was warmer and all.

"I'm okay," she promised, reaching out for him once he was closer. "I think I am at least. Honestly I don't know." Marian pouted a little in frustration. "I'm not hurt or anything, but I'm at a complete loss for what to do." She wasn't making any sense, but that wasn't exactly registering with her at the moment.

It certainly registered for Roy. Marian was usually a lot more together. He was the one who fell apart all the time. He sat down once in the vault, and tugged the door shut, the lanturn in there already burning brightly. "Well what's going on?" he asked, encouraging her to sit down on the blankets, where it was a little more comfortable.

Marian dropped where he indicated with a loud sigh. She opened her mouth to explain, then thought better, instead pulling the jacket out of her bag and holding it up for him to see.

Roy looked quite confused for a moment, reaching out to take it. It was a man's coat. Which could have been some man's out there, or she could have gotten second hand. Though, as he looked at it, it didn't look second hand. Plus it looked expensive, really. "...you're going to need to help me out a little more, here, Marian." he said, looking up from it to her again.

"He gave it to me," she said blushing ferociously. "Because it was cold and raining last night and then I forgot to give it back and now I still have it." It didn't register again that she hadn't actually said who had given her the jacket, or explained anything much at all.

Roy just kind of stared at her for a few moments, shocked, for one. "...Marian. I have no idea who the hell you're even talking about. Please stop talking to me like I know the whole story when you haven't told me shit about some guy who gives away coats." he said, like he was speaking to a little kid, because she was just not at all helpful right now with her disjointed statements.

Marian blinked a few times, mouth open in reaction to Roy's tone. Taking the coat back from him she set it in her lap neatly but her hands were clutching the fabric. Forcing herself to take a deep breath or two she started where she should have started in the first place, the beginning. "His name is Alec Ravenwood. He comes into the diner a lot, like late at night and always sits in my section. Or well he always sits in the same place which is always my section. He's usually really polite and he leaves good tips and such. The other girls, they think he's wildly handsome and they get all excited when he comes in and such. A few nights ago he waited around until my shift was over and walked me home. And once we got there he gave me his card." Reaching into her own coat pocket, Marian produced the card handing it out to Roy so he could see. The ink was a little smeared from her holding on to it so much. "Then last night he comes in again as I'm leaving and decides to walk me home again, but it started raining. He grabbed my hand and pulled me under the bus stop, gave me his coat, then called his driver to come pick us up. A driver Roy. In this fancy car. Then when I got home I still had the jacket." She'd rambled through the whole explanation, barely breathing until she got to the end of it.

Roy looked at the card, not that it did him a lot of good, with not being able to read so well. He did notice that the ink was smeared though, and wondered why, even if he didn't ask. As he listened, he frowned, not looking all that overjoyed. He also didn't say anything for a few long moments. He knew his sister well, and knew that since things had happened with her a long time ago, she just didn't get close to people. Men, especially. He knew that, knew it well, because of what had happened to her. And as far as he'd known, she'd never really gotten over anything. And now there was some random guy? Who was just polite, from the diner? And apparently a rich one, at that. Distrust was the first reaction he had, wondering what the hell he'd done to fluster Marian, and what his game was. Rich men didn't pick up diner waitresses. Not without some ulterior motive. And most people with money Roy had ever known? Well, they didn't get that way by being good people. In the end he didn't say anything, he just had a clear look of not at all being okay with the situation she described.

He didn't need to say anything to her for Marian to understand, his face was enough. The tears she'd held back the night before were back, bubbling up through her happy exterior and glinting at the corners of her eyes. "I got myself into a terrible mess didn't I, Roy? I wasn't trying, he was just being nice and I didn't want to seem rude. He tips well, and sometimes..." Marian didn't need to say that seeing Alec in her section was a relief most weeks. It meant she might have enough to make ends meet before she got paid again. The hot tears spilled over, tracing little tracks down her cheeks. "I didn't know what to do," she sniffed, dropping her gaze from his.

To Roy, hearing her give the justification of 'he tips well' just made him angry. He didn't say anything right then, but his feeling on the matter was that that sounded a hell of a lot like a man trying to get somewhere with her, and making her feel like she owed him up front. He tipped well, so clearly he already paid for it, right? He could see it. And her saying she didn't know what to do didn't help that sort of suspicion, either. "What do you mean you didn't know what to do?" he asked, wanting her to clarify that. He needed to know it wasn't something more specific than a general 'the whole situation' thing.

"I still have his jacket," she pointed out drawing an outline around the specific moment. "But I don't know what to do about the rest of it either. I don't want to be rude or mean, because he is nice to me. And...and I guess..." Marian paused, not sure if she wanted to say what she was thinking. After a moment or two she decided it was best to tell Roy the truth. "It wasn't all terrible, being around him. Sometimes it's almost nice." Plus there was that dream, that he could come and fix everything, especially everything about her, make her better and not afraid anymore. Marian liked that idea, the idea of someone else fixing her because she had no idea how to do it herself.

"I'm sure a lot of people are nice to you, Marian, that doesn't mean you owe them anything." Roy said first. "You're a nice girl. People smile and call you 'honey' and everything at the diner all the time. He's hardly the first guy to come along and have a kind word for you." he pointed out. Roy sometimes paid better attention than people gave him credit for, and because Marian was so important to him, he knew a lot about how her life went even when he wasn't in it so much. Like when she was avoiding him. He looked away when she said being around the guy was 'almost nice'. That didn't sound good to him either. He wanted her to be around someone who she could solidly say it was nice to be around. Someone who swept her off her feet or something, and not some shady rich guy who was probably just slumming it and found himself a very pretty girl to do that with. "The words 'wasn't all terrible' and 'almost nice' don't exactly instill confidence, Marian." he added. "That sounds to me like you're just dealing with a bad situation, and finding the better parts of it to look at. It's...it's not good." he said. "I'd leave the jacket at the diner, and just tell people to give it to him when he's in next." he added, to address the issue of the coat.

That surprised her, the way it sounded like Roy knew instead of just assumed how things went at the diner. It never occurred to her for a moment that her brother might be keeping tabs on her. "He doesn't talk to me the way the others do," she pointed out, surprised to hear herself defending Alec, but not able to stop. "He talks to me like he cares about what I'm going to say." Sighing a little she wiped at the tears on her cheeks. It didn't matter how many times she tried to justify it, Roy was probably right it wasn't good. "I know it's not good, I just don't know how much of it is me and how much of it is him." Because that was what she did, she pushed people back. She looked defeated. "I'll do that, with the jacket." Carefully she tucked it into her bag again, still not able to meet Roy's eyes.

"What do you mean you don't know how much of it is you or him?" Roy asked, not understanding quite what she meant, and feeling like it was important that he did. He wanted to know the whole situation, so that needed to be clarified. He understood what she meant about being listened to and the like, but he also knew that anyone could play a 'I'm really listening' card. all it required was someone shutting up long enough to hear what someone else had to say, and sadly, the majority of the population in the world was terrible at it. Roy still wasn't sold on the idea that this guy was anything but a predator after his sister. And until that got proven otherwise, he was going to be suspicous as hell, and protective, too.

Marian shrugged lightly, looking anywhere but at Roy. "You know how I get around people. Especially when they try to be more than just there. I kind of reached a point where I couldn't tell if it was hard because of what he was doing or saying or hard because of what I was thinking. Because of what's wrong with me." Still looking embarrassed, hating that he knew her reasons behind being close to people, but the same time being relieved, Marian raised her eyes to Roy's just the slightest bit.

"There's nothing wrong with you." Roy told her first, very firm on that. "Okay? Stop thinking like that." He really hated the idea that she thought that, even if he'd told her before there was nothing wrong with her, and she still believed it, and maybe there were things wrong, he knew that, but he didn't like thinking about them in that specific light. "If they're hard at all, then maybe you shouldn't be putting yourself into that situation." he added. "Things...they shouldn't be hard for you like that, Marian." he told her, tone gentle, there.

Marian bit her lip and nodded, hair bouncing around a little. Roy was right, it shouldn't be hard, but she hadn't found anyone yet that it wasn't hard around. Reaching out she took her brother's hand, needing to feel some sort of comfort, a need that was written clearly across her features.

Squeezing her hand, Roy moved so he could give her a hug, arm around her shoulders. "Someday you'll meet someone and it won't be hard like that." he told her. And he believed that, too. That maybe there was someone out there for her, someone who would get through to her on a level that made things easy, that was natural. Maybe it was a fairytale dream, but he still had some belief in him that certain people deserved better, and they'd get it. He believed in Marian. It was part of why he'd got her the typewriter. He thought she could do great things, if she had enough help in the right direction.

Needing the hug, Marian fell into it, closing her eyes against another round of stinging tears and settling in close against her brother. "I hope so," she agreed in a quiet whisper. She wanted it to work out, to have someone she could be close to, but not ashamed to be around like she was with Roy sometimes. It would be nice to not be alone.

He put both arms around her and held her, glad she'd come around about things, because he knew she didn't always do that. So, he was glad that he was allowed to be there for her this time, and he planned to give her as much attention and support as she needed. He had the time, and even if he should be doing a few other things, he was putting it all off to the side to cater to her in stead. "Don't worry, it'll happen." he told her, a note of conviction in his voice.

She loved that about her brother, how he was was able to say something and make her believe it. Especially when everything else in her didn't believe it, just hearing it from Roy made it true. Marian was glad she'd asked him about everything. She'd been hoping he'd say she shouldn't worry, that Alec was just a nice guy, but she was glad Roy had told her the truth, that he knew there was a way out of her situation. "Thanks," she mumbled against him.

"You're welcome." he told her. He smiled a little. "You want to stick around for a while? I could go get us food." he offered. He had a little money he could do that with. Sure, it wouldn't be all that awesome a meal, but they could have a little more time together, so that would be good, and she wouldn't have to pay for it, so maybe that would make her feel better too.

"I'd like that, sticking around." Leaning back a little so she could look at him, she couldn't help but smile back some before she moved back to where she was. Safe and protected. "I have some money, from work this morning," she told him wanting to help. She had little, but most of the time Roy had even less.

"Nope, I said I'd get it." he told her, flashing a rare but bright smile at her. Then he stood up. "I'll be back in a bit, I'll be fast, promise." he told her. "If you get cold, go ahead and spark up the heater." he said, digging in his pocket for matches, which he handed to her. "I'll be back." he promised. "Just wait." And he would be fast, too, because he didn't want to come back and find her gone. He always held onto the time he had with Marian as much as he could, because sometimes he just didn't get to see her. But he worked with what he had. It was all he could do.