"What are you doing here?" Erik asked, emerging from the body shop, cleaning grease from his hands, to find Charles leaning against his car. "I'm going to assume it's not to get the tie rod fixed on that deathtrap of an antique car like I keep telling you to do?"

"The car's fine," he insisted, though he was in desperate need of Erik's help repairing the antique auto. "Moira's going out of town, Lexi is headed off to DC for her student government trip," he listed. "Need I go on?"

Erik crossed his arms over his chest, laughing a little, somewhere between surprised and impressed, "Are you trying to schedule a booty call?"

"No, don't be ridiculous – but ultimately, yes, that is what I'm trying to do." A beat. "I'm hoping you still find my neurotic tendencies charming..."

He chuckled. "And what about my daughter? Or am I sneaking over in the dead of night like some forbidden teenaged fling?" he inquired dryly. "She has always had the unfortunate ability to notice things she shouldn't know about."

"Maybe she'll think you're coming over for Moira," Charles joked.

Erik shot him a glare. "Now, why would you put that image in my head?"

Charles smirked. "Why don't you just tell her? I highly doubt she'd care, given her own proclivities..." Erik seemed to be surprised by this information. "Don't tell me you hadn't realized?" Charles said. "She isn't exactly hiding it."

Rather than explore that issue further, though, Erik said, "I'm not telling a teenager a secret that could cost you primary custody of your daughter."

"Does that mean you won't be coming over tonight?"

His eyes twinkling with mischief, Erik replied, "Trust me, I'll be there."

Erik came with a gutteral cry, spilling into Charles, then rolled off of him. He settled against the headboard and reached into the bedside table for the pack of cigarettes he'd stashed there. He didn't speak until he'd lit the cigarette and taken a long inhale from it, at which point he said, "I was thinking about something you said and I'm loathe to admit it, but I think you might be right..."

"You'll have to be more specific, Old Friend, I'm right about so very many things," Charles replied cheekily. He took the cigarette from Erik's lips and took a drag before returning it.

Barking out a laugh, Erik chastized, "Smug prick." He exhaled smoke into the night air spilling in through the open patio doors. "I meant what you said about your daughter being fond of Emily. We should try to set them up."

It was Charles' turn to bark out a laugh. "Ah, but you're forgetting that Lexi has a boyfriend. She seems to really be in love with him."

"Please. You and I both know you hate that kid," Erik replied. "You haven't shut up about how much you dislike him since they first started dating. You don't think he's good enough for her – granted, I'm pretty sure you feel that way about anyone who's trying to take your little darling away from you, but that's neither here nor there."

Charles frowned. "Yes, well, be that as it may..."

"Don't tell me you haven't seen the way Emily looks at Alex."

He shook his head. "Perhaps she's attracted to Lexi, but I have no reason to believe Lexi is attracted to her," he said.

Erik hummed a pointed note. "You're not the only one who notices things, Charles," he remarked almost airily.

Alex set her suitcase on the bed in the hotel room and immediately hung up her specially selected professional outfit for tomorrow's student government seminars. She was, perhaps, a little obsessive-compulsive in her desire to be picture perfect at all times, but at least Tara had long since gotten used to it and wasn't about to tease her endlessly for said tendencies.

Rather than hang up her outfit, Tara flopped back on the other bed. "This room is like ten thousand degrees," she complained.

"So, turn on the AC," Alex replied, smoothing the wrinkles out of her blouse on the hanger. She stood up and moved back to her suitcase, sweat making her shirt stick to her skin. In spite of Tara's efforts, the room only seemed to be getting hotter. "Are you launching a rocket over there? Because I'm pretty sure all you have to do is push the ON button," she teased, wiping sweat off her neck with her wrist.

Tara turned around with a smart aleck remark poised on her tongue, but what came out instead was a gasped, "Alex! You have a hickey!" All thoughts of the sweltering room immediately were forgotten in favour of this new and especially juicy gossip.

Alex winced, hand instantly flying up to cover the bruise. "Oh, no! That's..."

Tara's expression said don't bullshit me.

With a weary sigh, Alex admitted defeat and said to Tara with grave seriousness, "You cannot repeat any of this to anyone!"

Tara mimed zipping her lips.

"I, umm... I kind of lost my virginity?" she confessed. "Well, sort of? I kind of went to third base with that new girl..."

She crowed with laughter. "Nice."

The response did not impress Alex. "This isn't funny, Tara!" She crossed her arms firmly over her chest and did her best to be intimidating as she stared down her best friend.

"Okay..." Tara said slowly. "Did you know you're into girls before you hooked up?"

"Well, technically, yes..." she said, "But..."

Tara interrupted her to ask, "Well, did you like it?" Alex felt her cheeks blush bright red, but she nodded anyway, even loathe as she was to admit exactly how much she'd enjoyed it. "So, then what's the problem?" she asked, like she truly didn't understand why Alex was so flustered.

"The problem is that I can't leave the closet until I leave for Berkeley," Alex said firmly. She really wasn't in the mood to get into this discussion yet again. "Please, just let it go, okay?"

Tara held up her hands in self-defence. "Sheesh. You'd think someone who just got some wouldn't be so tightly wound.