If only Lex was watching the Underboss to catch that look of sympathy. Instead, her eyes are still fixed down at the tiles of the kitchen floor. It was already uncomfortably letting Gavin peek into her weaknesses, showing she’s hurt and alone. That’s when the predator strikes – when you’re separated from the pack. Killian Decker is her pack. It’s a small pack, but strong, nonetheless. Now they’re both alone and vulnerable.

Lex appreciates Gavin’s honesty, but it does nothing to quell her angst, only stoke the fire of her fears. She get visibly agitated at the thought of things going from bad to worse. She fidgets, pushing herself from the counter to turn back towards the oven and watch the second tick down towards zero.

Gavin is right, Killian is right, space is safest but it does nothing to smother the fear and the loss she feels. It only left her alone to spiral into her own dark thoughts, “I’m not sure how to deal with it,” she doesn’t have an outlet. Baking? That obviously wasn’t working, but she slips the oven mitts over her hands just before the timer chimes zero.

Cillian Quinn

He's unsure of what to say, and so for a long moment says nothing at all. Alexandra Briarwood tends to the oven, and Gavin crosses the kitchen to open the fridge, pushing aside a carton of lucky eggs to retrieve a bottle of water from the back.

He sips at it, wets his lips. At last, he speaks.

"What's the part that worries you the most?"

Gavin often found that tackling a problem was easier if it was split into smaller parts. He's not the best at giving advice, and thus approaches it from his usual standpoint of problem-solving.

It doesn’t take her long to figure out what it is that terrifies her the most. In fact, it’s been the obsession of her thoughts recently, and what she tries to escape from. These brownies, staying at the sub instead of home, throwing herself into meaningless missions – it’s all just a method of escape, a way to distract her from thinking about it. No matter how many scenarios she played in her head, they all turned out the same.

She speaks while she opens the oven and reaches in “I’m terrified of losing him,” to it, because of it, that didn’t matter. The results is the same: her, alone.

Cillian Quinn

Hadn't Emma once shared with him that very sentiment?

I don't want to lose you.

And she had, in the end, but not to Lugia. Not even to Theo. She had lost him because he'd never been the person she'd hoped him to be. These are his thoughts as he puzzles over what to say to Lex, turning the water bottle over in his hands.

"Are you afraid he'll die?" A pause, then, "Or are you more afraid that Deoxys will turn him into someone you don't recognize anymore?"

Alexandra Briarwood

Suddenly, the kitchen is bathed in the sweet smell of freshly baked brownies. It would no doubt attract the hungry passerby. She slides the baking pan onto the top of the oven to cool and tosses the mitts aside while Gavin contemplates her rather simple response.

“Does it matter?” she looks back at him, “Either way I lose him,” And she’ll be left alone.

Cillian Quinn

Death was so very final. He'd learned that, with the loss of Chu-e Choi. But he'd also learned how difficult it was to watch someone he'd once loved go about their life with the knowledge that his feelings weren't enough.

"They're different kinds of pain," he says, tone heavy.

He hopes that whatever happens, Lex and Killian Decker are able to work through it, together.

"The best you can do, right now, is to be there for him, but be careful. Perhaps if you can show Deoxys that Killian needs you, as much as it needs him..."

He trails off, wondering if she's grasping what he means.

Alexandra Briarwood

The little Eevee, no longer the center of Lex’s attention, moved back towards her bed and stretched her small arms out. A small yawn finalized her curling up to sleep.

Different kind of pain? Lex never considered that. She felt that losing him would hurt all the same. Afterall, all paths led to her being alone. Could she find comfort in him at least being alive? She would be selfish not to. She responds to the statement with a soft grunt, considering it.

With a heavy sigh, she leans against the counter. As much as she doesn’t want to admit it, Gavin is right. But now that he has Deoxys, does he really need her anymore? He’d never be alone, and she’d never understand the symbiont on the level he will. She’ll forever be a third wheel.

Perhaps she’s just being selfish. Some Killian is better than no Killian.

“Thanks Gavin, I hope it sees it that way,” instead of a threat, someone that Killian needs more than Deoxys.

Cillian Quinn