a little late

Who: Marian and Roy
Where: Sunny Shores Hotel
When: midday

Marian never got mail. To the point where when she showed up that morning mug of coffee in hand and sat down at her desk she doubled checked both the envelope to make sure it was addressed to the right person and the desk she was sitting at to ensure it was hers. She felt like a criminal opening it as if whatever was inside weren’t for her eyes, which ironically turned out to be the case.

She’d managed to control the gasp at what she was reading, names jumping out at her from writing copy on the living pages of the paper, gossip and some even from her time spent with Alec. In all honesty she could hardly believe any of it was true. The note with it was unsigned, which meant it could be nothing, but some of it was so specific that she wasn’t sure it was something that could be made up.

Not sure what to make of it she wound up shoving the entire package into her desk drawer, glancing at drawer every few moments as if she were in a Poe story, likely to start screaming rumors at the top of her lungs. As her colleagues left for lunch she grabbed the envelope, shoving it in her bag and taking it to the one person she knew who could help her decide what to do with it.

The motel was never much to look at, though Marian guessed Roy probably felt the same way about her boarding house. Nonetheless, she found his room, knocking on the door. She hadn’t seen her brother since the night at the gallery, where he’d shot people in front of her and yelled at her. That had shaken her enough that she’d not sought him out for any reason, though now she had reason. He might have done those things, he might have been a different person in those moments but deep down he was still Roy. Still her moral compass of sorts. Who else was she going to go to?

Roy had been up for a few hours, though he hadn't gone out yet. He didn't quite know what to do with himself these days, even if he knew he needed to come up with something. When the knock came on his door, he headed over and opened it up, a little shocked to see his sister. He shouldn't have been--eventually they'd need to see one another, he knew that, but he hadn't known what to say to her. She'd looked at him with that terror in her eyes, that horror that he couldn't quite wipe out of his mind's eye. He'd never wanted her to see him like that, never wanted her to even know that side of him existed.

So there was a moment or two when he opened the door where he just looked at her, sort of waiting for her to yell or scream or something. "...hey." he greeted belatedly.

Marian didn’t yell or say anything. She’d been strong about this right up until the door opened and she was looking at her feet. Facing him had made so much more sense before she actually wound up in front of him. “Hey...” she said, voice a little airy while she tried to collect her thoughts. After a long moment she had them then nodded to herself. “I need your help with something. Can I come in?”

The fact that she wasn't looking at him didn't help matters. His sinking feeling got all the worse, and it solidified into a cold pit in his stomach when she started out immediately with the fact that she was only there because she needed something from him. Right. That was what they were down to. He wouldn't turn her away, however, and he stood back, allowing her in. "Sure. What do you need?" he asked. Do you even know what happened with me? With my arrest? That I was questioned about the park? No. Probably not.

Marian walked into the room, taking a long moment to look around it. It made her frown a little, not seeing much of worth to the room. Her room at the boarding house had this beat in the end. At least it was slightly more personal. “Roy, don’t you think you should find somewhere else...” she started, but instinctively turned towards him and her words caught in her throat as her eyes met his. Was he still her brother? Was her brother capable of what she’d seen? He had to have been right?

Roy was realizing that Amelie, his rifle, was still propped against the wall by the door like it usually was, and he stood in front of it, trying to hide it from view. That was pretty much the last thing he needed her seeing. It wasn’t even as if he’d fired it since he’d left the war, but there was something that made him feel better about having her there, his rifle named after the girl he’d fallen for over there. “You didn’t come here to ask that.” he said. “What did you need?” he asked, because she’d had an agenda.

She might not have spotted the gun if he hadn’t moved but he did and her eyes darted to it before he could block it. It made her throat go dry and for a moment she struggled with a sinking feeling in her stomach that likely would have bee nausea if she had eaten anything recently. “I can still ask,” she countered, but it lacked any force behind it. Reaching into her purse she pulled out the envelope, offering it to him. “I got this at the office today. I have no idea what to do with it.”

He looked confused for a moment, but then reached out to take the envelope, glancing inside. "What is it?" he asked, pulling out a few pages, seeing hand written words, though it took him a second to pick out anything that made sense. He wasn't exactly up with high society these days, though he did pick the name 'Walker' out of the mix.

“I’m not entirely sure. It was on my desk waiting for me with my name on the outside. I don’t...I have no idea where it came from if it’s true, but some of it...well can you make that up?” Marian was babbling a little and forced herself to stop. “I don’t know what to do with it.”

Not answering right away, Roy moved to sit on the windowsill, since it had been clear she'd seen Amelie anyways. He looked over some of the pages, and blinked a bit at some of the details. "Seems like it would be weird to put all this together if it wasn't true." he said hesitantly, not quite sure he could see a motive there. But he felt slightly out of his depth, too. "Looks like someone's trying to smear the upper class?" he suggested, looking at her again to see if he had that right.

Marian wasn’t sure where to sit, but wound up perching at the edge of the bed so she was facing her brother. “Smear? Some of that could ruin the upper class.” Leaning forward she pointed to a name. “If that got out...people wouldn’t recover from it.” Marian didn’t like the weight the responsibility put on her shoulders and she slumped a little under it.

Roy was quiet a moment. "Should someone who might have raped several secretaries at their office recover from it?" he posed, since he was looking at a specific segment that said that in no uncertain terms. He found a smaller sheet that said things pretty well. Dirty laundry indeed.

Marian leaned forward to look at the page even if she knew that one. “Well no...but should I be the one dealing their fate?” She wrote obituaries. With this list of accusations or truths or whatever they were, she ran close to ensure that she’d stay in business.

He didn't know what to say. Then, he shook his head, deciding. "If not you, who? I know you want to move up there. This would do that." he said. "Hell, you break something like this, you'd be all anyone was talking about for a while. No one has to know you didn't chase down the stories yourself. Maybe it would change things in this town. Show the city that the rich and powerful don't get to do whatever and suffer no consequences for it."

Looking down at the pages in his hand, Marian reached for them, taking them back. “Is it right to make my name on others’ misery?” she asked. He was right, some of them deserved it, but at the same time it was still ruining people wasn’t it? That didn’t quite sit well with her for some reason.

"Fine. Let it go. Or give it to someone else." Roy said, shrugging, not quite looking at her in a clear statement that he had an opinion he wasn't sharing. He wasn't going to sit there and try to tell her what to do. He also wasn't going to have a discussion that involved cowardice. As a veteran, he had a little bit of a different perspective on taking the reins on something like that. If someone needed to be taken down, you stepped up and you did your duty. You didn't decide it wasn't up to you because then who was it up to? No one. Especially in this city. Otherwise most of that shit wouldn't be actual news.

“I can’t give it to someone else,” Marian protested, looking up to see that look on his face. She knew it well before he’d left for the army. “What aren’t you telling me?” she asked, not wanting to let him stew in whatever had him looking past her instead of at her.

Roy hesitated, and looked away for a long moment, before letting his gaze land on her and stay there. "Why wouldn't you do this?" he asked. "Apparently people have done bad shit that got swept under the rug. Someone needs to step up and do something. Why not you? Because you're squeamish? you don't think it's your responsibility, or you're going to shy back because of...what exactly? The track you want to take is sit back and do nothing, so you don't have to do anything at all? So you can feel better about not ruining people who deserve to be ruined? Where I come from, you don't do that. When there's someone out there who needs taking down, you go do that. But...whatever. You seem to want me to tell you not to do something. To just let it go, or ignore it. I don't know what's right or wrong in regards to you. I just know I'd feel it was a whole lot of wrong to do nothing."

Marian was quiet for a moment, holding Roy’s gaze while he spoke. She’d gotten better at this, taking this sort of criticism. It had come with the job at the Echo. When he was done, she let out a sigh, running her hand through her hair if even if it got tangled halfway. “I wasn’t asking you to tell me not to do something. I was asking for advice. For what you’d do. I trust you,” she said, words coming out before she could take them back. Did she trust him? In a way yes, that hadn’t changed, but she wasn’t sure she trusted all of him. Part of her was afraid of him. “This scares me. These aren’t...these aren’t you’re average people. This will be huge and it could have some serious blowback. I guess I was looking for someone to see something I missed, some angle that might have alluded me.”

"You didn't ask me what I would do." Roy said. She'd asked him if it was right to make her name on it, and if she should do it, but not what he would do. When she mentioned the bit about trusting him, he coudn't help but make a sort of light if derisive sound, shaking is head. Yeah, right. "There are a lot of scary things in the world. You step up or cower. Pick one, Marian. But if all you're going to do with your career at the paper is fluff on page eight, fine. If you actually want to do something else, this is your golden opportunity. It's literally fallen in your lap. If you're too scared, just hand it off to someone else. Or write it under a different name. I don't know. Whatever you want. It's not really up to me."

Marian looked a little shocked at that noise, the way he shook his head. Quiet for a moment she looked down at the notes in her hand again then up at him. He was right, something needed to be done and if she gave it to someone else she’d be a fool. It could make her career. That wasn’t what really was bothering her now. He’d essentially reassured her that she could use the notes, which was what she needed. Either him telling her that she could or him saying that it was ridiculous. “Do you not care anymore?” she asked, setting the papers aside and watching him instead. “About me? About what I do? Taking on these people could be dangerous right?” Not that it would really stop her, there were few things in her life right now that weren’t dangerous, and given the state of the city just getting up seemed to be dangerous. “What happened?” Something was wrong, and more than her fear of the side of him she’d seen. She felt like he was holding on to something, maybe waiting on her to ask about it, but she didn’t know what it was.

"Of course I care." he said, handing the pages he'd taken back over. "But the last time I tried to protect you you looked at me like I was a monster, and the only reason you're here right now is because you wanted something out of me." he said. "I could ask you the same thing. If you care about me or what's going on with me anymore." he posed, though oddly, that part wasn't pointed. It wasn't so much an accusation as an observation that he was hurt by. "Did you even know I wasn't in jail and sent up for murder before you got here? Did you even wonder?" he asked, sighing as he tugged his fingers through his hair. "Doesn't matter, I guess. If you did wonder, you sure as hell didn't bother to follow up on it. And I already told you. If you're scared, write it under a different name. Then they can't trace it back to you, period. You could almost have two careers. The stuff under your own name, and the sensationalized one that's just a printed word."

Marian made a small face, then looked down at her hands in her lap. “You scared me Roy. I’ve not...not seen that part of you. And I didn’t...I didn’t know what to do or what to say. I’m here because I needed you and being afraid of you sounded stupid when I needed your advice.” Only when she’d first seen him it hadn’t seemed that dumb. When he’d opened the door she’d only seen the scary version of him again, him from the gallery.

"Or, being afraid of me wasn't convenient when you wanted something." Roy said, looking away. "Whatever, Marian, I don't want to argue with you. If your affections and concern for me are directly related to whether or not I've got something you want, maybe just steer clear. Forget you have a brother. Seems you were already doing that anyways, and I don't really appreciate you showing up just to get something out of me. Not when you never even asked what happened after the cops showed that night and I got hauled off in handcuffs. So...go. My official advice is to do the story, just do it under a pen name. It should keep you incognito enough that until you establish that name well enough that people wouldn't take a shot at you for fear of repercussion, you should be okay." Because he did care that she was okay, and didn't want her to get hurt. He just also didn't want her to back off of doing the right thing because she was a coward, either.

“Stop that!” Marian brought a hand to her mouth when her voice came out louder than even she expected. That wasn’t like her at all but she didn’t want Roy doing this. “Stop that,” she said softer this time, reaching for his arm. “I’m sorry I didn’t ask, but I didn’t know what to say. You...you went away and I know things were different and hard and it was war, but you came home and I just let you slip most of the way back into being my brother. The guy you were before you left. But at the gallery...You scared me. I hadn’t wanted to admit that that side of you existed and it did.” She got up and moved so she was sitting next to him, one hand still on his arm. It was to be closer to him yes, but also to keep herself from looking at the gun in the corner. “Tell me what happened. I want to know.”

Roy immediately flinched back when she reached out for him, and when she sat by him, he very definitely flinched again and moved jerkily back hard enough so that he knocked his back against the wall in the process. It was an over reaction, for certain, she'd just got closer, but he really didn't want her near. "Well it's fucking unacceptable that you just do absolutely nothing just because you don't know what to say. Maybe that's okay with you? Maybe that's acceptable in your head, but it's the shittiest excuse in the book in mine. It actually makes everything all the worse that really, you just did nothing and checked nothing because you were fucking tongue tied. That...yeah. That makes it worse." he said, looking at the floor. "All that means to me is you decided being silent and absent was more important than anything else. So...yeah. I know where I stand now. I didn't mean to scare you. I get why I did. But I also can't help that. It's there. I don't like it any more than you do. But I also don't exactly have anyone to talk to about it either, especially since your entire response is to go hide in the face of anything you don't like.

He drew in a deep breath, and let it out slowly. "Marian, there's a saying. 'Too little, too late'. That's this. You don't get to come in here now, and play the supportive card when you've done all you can to abandon me entirely since the gallery. That's who you are. And I see that now. And if you want to think that the most important part of me is the scary side, then that's your decision as well. Wouldn't really blame you. But I'm serious. I think now's when you should leave, and forget I'm in town." Technically, if she wanted to, she could chase down what happened to him. Wouldn't take much, he knew she had some contacts, she'd said as much about the names from the park massacre. She could find out easily, if she wanted to. But he didn't think she would bother.

Marian stared at Roy in disbelief when he pulled away like that, jerking back hard enough to hit the wall. “Forget you’re in town? What?” They’d stuck together, she’d written him letters for the entire time he was gone and now he was just deciding he was done with her. “Is that what you want? To just never see me again?” Her eyes were wide in disbelief. He was right, she’d screwed up, but now he just wanted to get rid of her, that simple?

"Got a good reason why I shouldn't?" Roy asked, though it wasn't snide, or pointed. If she had one, he'd hear it. He just held certain beliefs. Which, actually, as he thought that over he figured he might as well share. "Marian, what counts in this world is what people do when things aren't fine. It's what people do when the going gets rough. It's who you can or can't count on, when you need them the most. I can't even tell you how much it hurts that you just...didn't even call. You've done nothing to even see if I haven't been thrown in jail. I had the girls from the gallery who both showed up to try and get me out of jail, and Shannah was even doing a little crazy talk about going up against the system to make sure I didn't go down for something I didn't do. I...they're not even family, Mar. You are. And your entire excuse was 'I didn't know what to say'." he said, shaking his head, that true, deeply wounded feeling that evoked shining through, no anger to any of his words.

Marian moved away from him this time, reaching for her papers again and sitting back on the bed. “So you throw out years of being your sister because I messed up once? Of being the one who wrote to you while you were there? That’s it?” She didn’t know what else to say, but she could tell he was hurt. That she’d hurt him and that hurt her in turn, biting down on her lip. “I would have known if you were in jail Roy, I knew you weren’t. You forget where I work.” There was a long pause where she sat there, trying to remember how to breath before she got up. “I’ll go though, if you don’t want me around anymore.” That hurt her, enough that it showed in her stature, sounded in her voice. He was all she had, especially now with Alec keeping her at arm’s length for her own safety, and he was telling her to get out. That was like a slap in the face.

"No. It's not that you messed up once. It's that you abandoned me when I might've needed you the most then didn't even bother to try and figure out what was up. That's...it's not like you forgot my birthday, Marian. It's not a minor thing. What do you expect here?" he asked. "I mean, do you see it as just some little tiny thing that I should just overlook? That my own sister just...bailed on me? And yeah, actually, I was in jail. They kept me overnight, then decided to start accusing me of things like having done the attack on the park. I have a detective breathing down my throat, trying to pin anything on me, as far as I can tell." He moved to the opposite side of the tiny room from the door. "You writing to me was something I needed. And I appreciate that you did. But the second things got rough here, right here when I'm with you, and you drop me like a stone. How am I supposed to react to that? If I did it to you, what would you do? What is it you want me to do?"

Marian still looked like she’d been slapped, moving a little closer the door but not leaving. “What about when you left me to join the war! I was the only one left.” She caved in a little on herself, not having dealt with that time of her life at all. It wasn’t until the tear hit her lips that she realized she’d even shed one. It was just the one though and she wiped it away hastily and forced herself to pull the mask back on. “I’m sorry all of that happened, I’m sorry I wasn’t there. I’m not sure what else I can say.”

"What else was I supposed to do? I had to do something, I sent money home. If I'd have stayed here, I'd just have been another mouth to feed, and wouldn't have been able to get anything like a good job." Roy said. As far as he could tell, she seemed un-moved by what he did tell her had happened, and that to him said it all. He didn't really realize she was deliberately trying to mask things, and that it had been put on at the worst of times. The apology didn't seem genuine to him, and he considered the tear she shed to be one for herself, because she wasn't getting what she wanted, he wasn't telling her what she wanted to hear. He looked at the floor, and exhaled. "I don't know what else you can say either. I wish things were different. But I can't really just forget this, like you seem to want me to. I'm no good at pretending. Never really was. I'm upset. I'm hurt. I feel abandoned and I just...I don't know. I still think the only reason you're here is because you wanted something, and you were going to entirely skip over everything else that happened, and you're only upset because I'm not pretending that's okay."

He couldn’t pretend, not like she could. He left when it got bad and she kept pretending. Even now she was pretending, forcing herself to be okay with Roy throwing her out of his life after all of it. “I don’t want you to forget it, I want you to forgive me.” For a moment the composure she was trying to hold on to cracked again and a small sob caught in her throat. Her own brother, all she had left, didn’t want her anymore. She’d tried so hard to be a good sister and all she’d done was fail miserably at it in the end. When it mattered. “I’m upset because you’re throwing your own sister out of your life. Like I’m just some friend who wronged you. Like we haven’t lost enough family already.” Her voice was trembling now and she was a little as well, wrapping her arms around herself to hide it.

"I'll forgive you if you work at it. Just a cursory 'sorry' after totally blowing off everything isn't really good enough, Marian." Roy said. "If you want to make up for it, then make up for it. Don't just sit there and cry because things aren't going your way. Don't expect everything to get swept under the rug because you don't want to deal with it. You did wrong by me. If you want to have me in your life, you'll have to do better than just shedding some tears. Sometimes people need to atone for their mistakes. So, if you want to, do that. Put in more effort. Try." he said, knowing that even if he really would want to cut ties, he wouldn't be able to fully do that. Not in the long run. Eventually he'd crack and have to check on her, even if he didn't speak to her directly. He'd have to know she was okay. Right now he was pretty sure he didn't like her as a person, or what person she was turning out to be, but she was still his sister and he loved her.

Even if he wasn’t being pointed Marian still felt like he was attacking her a little and she caught herself wrapping her arms around herself. “What would you like me to do then? What’s going to help?” Because nothing she’d come up with on her own was working and he still seemed set on getting rid of her. “You’re all I have Roy. I can’t lose you too.”

"I don't know, I don't have a check list." Roy said honestly. "Be around? Ask what's going on? Don't only come by when you want something?" he suggested. "Normal things people do that show they care?" He didn't actually require a whole lot. He didn't know why she couldn't come up with things on he own, but whatever. Maybe she was that out of touch. And he'd thought he was. But maybe she was the one who didn't have a great view of human interaction.

Marian made a little bit of a face. She’d been hoping for more. What Roy suggested was standard, which made sense, but at the same time didn’t seem to be enough. She wound up nodding, moving back towards him, sitting back down on the bed again. “Talk to me then. Tell me what’s going on. What’s all this about the police?”

He didn't know if he wanted to get in to it, but would also find it stunningly unfair to have called bullshit then not tell her anything when she asked. So, he sighed. "This detective. I mean...I stuck around after the incident at the gallery. I thought to myself that the last thing the cops needed at this point was conflicting stories, and wondering what the fuck happened. So I didn't make them chase me down to question me, or think that maybe someone else was shooting, or whatever. I went quietly. I cooperated. And this detective, he starts questioning me, asking if I showed up to kill people. If that's what I do for fun." he said, tone indicating just how sick he found that. "...it was like he was taking the side of the bastards who came in and started beating people. And all I can figure is that he was on their side. Like maybe his buddies were there, and I downed one or two, so he wanted to blame everything on me to avenge them or something. I mean, what cop takes the side of the attackers that came in and were terrorizing people? And I know they killed some of the patrons. I just...don't get it. And he decided I was in on the park, too. Asked me about that, even when I said that I was there, and helped. It was just...I keep waiting for them to show up and haul me in, pinning whatever they want on me, just because."

Marian listened but hardly believed her ears. "You think he was on the side of the guys who attacked us?" she asked, voice raising in pitch a little. There were rumors of dirty cops, but no one really ever caught one or at least not really. The rumor had been that Brett Trent was a dirty cop and that all turned out to be a cover story. "Were they trying to pin something on you? Is there something in your file from the war that would make them? You don't really think they're...Roy do you think they just want you in jail?" Had her brother upset the wrong someone? She didn't think so but sometimes people made mistakes.

"I don't see any other reason why he wanted to throw the word 'murderer' at me, like it wasn't self fucking defense." Roy said. "I tried explaining that, too, and it was like he'd never heard of the concept. Or like he just didn't want to hear it. Like it didn’t matter to him in the slightest, that I didn’t just walk in and start shooting up the place. That was pretty much the scenario he kept hounding me with. Like...like the guys who attacked the gallery weren’t even there, like he was just trying to make it seem like I showed up with the intention of killing folks, and the party goers, not the attackers at that." Shrugging, he shook his head again. "I don't know if there even is a file from the war. That'd be military personnel only, I'd think. I don't even know if they'd have one yet, with the war still being on. I don't know why they'd have something like that. As for if they just want me in jail, that was sure as hell what it seemed like when I was being manhandled and accused of mass murder. It didn’t make even a little sense, Mar."

Marian’s eyes were wide with surprise. While she’d been scared of what her brother did at the gallery, she’d never doubted for a second that he wasn’t right in his action. “Roy, I don’t know what to say. That’s just wrong that they’d think you were there to hurt people. We both know better than that. Look at you, what about you screams mass murderer?” She reached for him, trying to draw him closer to her. She should have asked about this earlier, shouldn’t have been so scared to be around him after he yelled at her like he had at the gallery. “Can I help? Is there anything at all I can do?”

"I don't know. Like I said, none of it made any sense. Like...like the guy was deliberately just trying to ignore all the reality of things, and make me into a monster. So like I said. The only thing I can think of is he's on the take, and I killed some buddies of his or something." Roy looked at the floor, not really seeing much in front of him. He didn't really go towards her, but didn't back off, either. "I don't think there's anything you can do. Unless it's staying away just so someone doesn't decide that because you were there and you're my sister, that you were involved too."

That he didn’t move towards her was hard, but what he said, about her staying away had her crossing the space between them, arms around his neck. “I’m not leaving you,” she promised in a low whisper. She wasn’t now, not ever. “We’ll figure this out. I won’t let them take you away.” Maybe it was still too little, too late, but she wasn’t giving up.

He gave her a little hug, the motion awkward for him, but he wasn't really all that used to hugs these days. It had nothing to do with her. "If they do, there won't be much you can do, I don't think. Not without putting yourself in a lot of danger. I mean, if they fix me up for the fall, they'd have no problem doing the same thing to you."

Marian eventually pulled away but didn’t move too far from him, one hand still on his arm. “I’d write the expose of the century Roy. You don’t deserve to be behind bars for anything. Even if they tried to bring me down with you.” That scared her a little, both of them being brought down, but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t find a way to fight it.

"Guess I couldn't stop you from prison." he said, knowing that was the truth. If she wanted to do something, she was going to do it. In this case, he thought she'd not take the coward's way. Of course, when he wished she would. But he didn't have control over things. So he'd have to accept whatever came to pass.

“Nope,” Marian said shaking her head. “I could talk to Alec too. He might know something.” He’d want to know about the situation too, that would be something that would interest the possible mayoral candidate. Bravery was different to Marian when it came to her brother’s freedom. Someone else’s future she might be hesitant about, but Roy was a different story all together. “They wouldn’t get away with it.”

"Can't say I believe that, but I'm glad you do." Roy said. He was usually more optimistic than this, but after his encounter with the detective, it had really struck a blow to his internal sense of balance. Something like that could really shake a person's faith in the system and everyone in it.

That Roy said that had Marian squeezing his arm gently. “We will make them listen Roy,” she promised. It wasn’t much but it was how she felt. She might have more faith than he did but she’d seen what kind of damage the press could do. She’d used it in her favor this time around if she needed to.

He nodded, though wasn't sure what would happen. Maybe nothing. Hell, maybe the cops would find someone else to pin things on, and that would be that. He didn't know. He wasn't used to this kind of uncertainty. Even when he'd been overseas, in the middle of a battle, he hadn't really felt uncertain. But maybe that knowledge that he could die at any given moment was something different than the idea that he could be thrown in prison and have the keys thrown away for no reason, where he'd just rot forever.

Marian nodded as well, sure in her convictions now even if she’d only gotten a silent assent from her brother. “Is there anything else?” she asked, not letting go of him, but waiting patiently. She was going to be late getting back to the office, but she’d screwed up big time here and she didn’t want Roy to think for an instant that anything came before him.

"No, that's about it." Roy said. Since then he'd been laying pretty damn low. So really there wasn't anything else to report. Just...that life altering sort of thing. "You have to get going?" he asked.

Marian frowned but wound up nodding. “I should yes,” she said about going back. There was a long moment where she continued to hold on to his arm, trying to find the right words to say. Giving up on words she leaned up kissing Roy’s cheek lightly before taking a step back. “Call me if anything at all changes alright?” As she passed the bed she gathered her things and used one arm to hold the door lightly propped once she was close enough. “Anything at all, you let me know alright?”

"Okay." Roy said, though he was pretty sure he wouldn't. "Same to you." he added. "I'll talk to you soon. Take care." he said, meaning that. Even if he was still not exactly fine with things with her, he didn't wish her ill and never would. He walked her to the door and saw her out, before he went to sit on the bed, sighing. He should probably start at least leaving the motel room. Maybe it really was time to find a place to live.