Delalieu is fetching Alice for the Symposium.
He knocked and stepped inside.
Alice was sitting by her desk, a notebook in front of her.
"Jasper!", she said and stopped whatever she had been doing and stop up.
"Hi darling", he greeted as she gently ran into his arms.
Her eyes locked on his mouth for a moment, and she gained a crease between her eyebrows as she thought about something.
"Did you do something to your moustache?", she asked reaching a hand up to run her fingers along the bristly hairs.
"It's softer!", she exclaimed.
The lieutenant blushed a little and laughed as the movement tickled his upper lip.
"I-I've used a balm", he admitted.
He had also had his uniform pressed and medals polished for the occasion.
"It feels nice", she told him and continued to pet it.
"And looks nice", she added with a smirk.
"You'll be the handsomest one in the room", she told him, beaming at him in a way she had not done in weeks.
He chuckled; knowing that that would be a hard feat to pull off his his grandson in the room; and kissed her cheek.
"Thank you, dear. By the way you look lovely today, darling", he said gently tugging her out if the embrace to look at her outfit.
The tunic she was wearing, that looked more a dress that couldn't decide if it wanted to be long or short on Alice, was dark blue with an intricate design of white flowers and symbols along the neckline and sleeves. Surely stitched by hand.
She was wearing a pair of grey jeans he was sure he hadn't seen since Warner had ordered them. Which reminded him: He was fairly certain he hadn't seen this particular piece of clothing before.
"Where did you get this from?", he wondered as he inspected one of the tassels that decorated the collar.
"Lena lent it to me", she replied.
That explained why the sleeves were so long.
"We'll be going in just a few minutes to pe-prepare, so if you want to bring a book or something you better go fetch it now", he told her.
For a second she seemed confused. Then her eyebrows lifted as she realized what he was saying.
"Oh, I'm not going."
Delalieu blinked.
"W-what?"
"I'm not going", she repeated, stepping away from him.
He gaped.
"W-why not?", he asked.
"What's the matter?"
She glanced at him.
"I don't want to go."
"B-but, Alice, I've put a lot of work into this…", he tried. He tried to not sound whiny, but it was true. The event had consumed all of his free time; time that he could have spent with Alice. At the very least he wanted Alice to have the opportunity to have a nice time after so many weeks of being miserable and alone.
"There'll be velvet cake...", he tried when Alice still wasn't letting up.
"You can't make me go", she said.
"And I don't need a car to get there, anyway", she added as an afterthought and crossed her arms.
He sighed unhappily, but knew there wouldn't be a way to persuade her. When Alice set her mind to something, it could not be moved.
"Is you say so...", he said.
She was obviously pleased by his subjection to her will.
"I'll be sitting right at the end of the large table in the middle during the meal. There will be a seat for you", he told her.
"Okay", she nodded, looking like she would actually remember the information. Which was always a comfort, since it meant she was still open to the possibility of changing her mind.
"Hurry back", she told him, giving him another hug.
"I will."