A/N: What? There's more to this appendix? Like… what's left?

Appendix E

Section E

Alex, Age 18

Parting the Fog

It took Alex and Jenna only an hour and a half to completely transform their room, mostly with Jenna's stuff (there was a lot of colorful painter's tape, several posters, a few inspirational quotes, and a multitude of fairy lights). And though the room was small and the decorating was limited, by the time they completed their task they were starving. So they went to have their first dinner together.

Jenna had calmed down considerably since their initial meeting, though her enthusiasm was still wildly evident. They gabbed endlessly throughout their meal, and learned a ridiculous amount about each other. Jenna was very good at coming up with questions, as well as talking about herself, and Alex rode out the rapids of the conversation with as much grace as she could.

After they ate, Alex headed to a short performance some student council group was giving regarding what to expect from their first few weeks of class. Alex had invited Jenna to join, but the young woman had cited being wiped out and headed back to their room, so Alex went on her own. Although it was definitely a little corny and arguably lame in places, the mini-play ended up being mildly entertaining and she enjoyed herself. She left feeling a little more oriented in what the next weeks would be like.

She returned to her room, ready to fall (or rather, climb, as she had taken the top bunk) into bed. As she shut the door behind her, she saw Jenna lying on top of her own sheets with her back to the room.

"Hey," Alex said pleasantly.

"Oh, hey," replied Jenna quietly.

Her roommate made a hasty motion as if wiping her face, then sat up on her bed with a sniff.

Alex was surprised at this sudden shift in the exuberant person she had come to know so well in the span of four hours.

"Are you okay?" she asked, walking over to sit on the clear space on Jenna's bed opposite the smaller woman.

"Oh yeah, I'm fine!" Jenna insisted, but it was clear her fire had finally petered out. "It's been a crazy day."

"Yeah, it's a lot," agreed Alex. "Are you sure that's all, though? Because you don't seem like yourself. From what I know of you, anyway."

Jenna gave a tiny giggle. "Yeah, it's just…." Jenna looked away, shaking her head. She seemed to be vacillating on whether to admit what she was thinking or not.

Alex let a thoughtful half smile slip onto her face, then tapped Jenna gently but pointedly on her leg. "Come on, tell me."

Jenna grinned and gave a small exhale of amusement. "It's just… I'm sorry, but I kinda overheard you saying goodbye to your family earlier in the parking lot."

Alex's expression turned to surprise. This was not what she was expecting. "And that made you… curl up in a ball and cry?"

"Well, don't say it like that!" Jenna scolded teasingly. "I wasn't that dramatic, come on."

They shared a brief laugh, and when they settled Jenna gave a shrug. "I don't know, I guess it's that … I didn't think I'd hear that kind of stuff… from them? And I don't mean to be, like, rude or make assumptions but… you all seem so tough. Like nothing could ever bother you. Any of you. Like you're made of steel and… feelings are gross?"

Alex grinned. "No chick flick moments?"

"Exactly," replied Jenna. "I just wasn't expecting to hear…. Like, your dad would drop everything and run to help you, and your uncle's always available to listen to you vent. It's kind of amazing."

"Yeah, well," Alex shrugged. "Last chance gas, I guess. It's been a while since we've been apart for this long; gotta get everything out before it's too late. And it's hard, you know—I'm sure you and your parents were a wreck today when they left you. They'd do the same stuff for you if you needed that kind of help."

"Oh, no," Jenna laughed. "No, my dad wants me to be super independent. He said, 'No living at home until you've got that degree or a fiancée! See you at Christmas!'"

Alex couldn't even hide her shock, and she watched her roommate with disbelief as Jenna giggled. "He was kidding, right?"

"I mean, he kinda is. It's like really dry humor. But it's not far from the truth either, really. He's not going to come get me every weekend or every break. They live just outside Chicago; it's like a whole two hours one way. Not like your uncle and dad. 'Cause you said you're from Lebanon? That's super close."

Alex raised her eyebrows. "It is?"

"Yeah, Lebanon here in Wisconsin. It's like an hour away."

"Right. Yeah. Super close," Alex lied. Poorly.

"You're not from Lebanon, Wisconsin." Jenna read Alex's behaviors precisely. "Which Lebanon?"

Alex paused, unwilling to say, but for some reason she didn't want to lie to Jenna, even if honesty meant hurting her feelings. "Kansas."

"Oh my God," said Jenna. "How long of a drive is that?"

Alex squeaked noncommittally, trying to downplay what she was about to say, "Like… nine, ten hours."

"Holy shit," Jenna's eyes were wide with disbelief.

Alex waved an anxious hand at her. "We're road-trippers. Nine hours is no big deal for us. We're all over the country all the time. Being in the car is like being at home. I practically grew up in the back of the Impala."

"'The Impala'?" Jenna scoffed slightly. "You three rough and tumblers in your leather jackets drive a mass-market mid-size sedan?" She laughed. Then her face morphed dramatically into pure awe. "Wait, that black thing you were standing by in the parking lot—I didn't even recognize it between the other cars—was that a '67 Impala?"

Alex's jaw dropped. "Did you just peg the model year of Dad's car from the memory of the rear bumper?"

"I mean, how do you miss a '67 Impala? Oh my God, how did I miss a '67 Impala?" Jenna looked absolutely furious with herself for being within a few feet of the vehicle without even realizing it.

"Jenna," Alex persisted. "Seriously, how did you figure out the Impala from the bumper?"

Jenna shook herself out of her reverie to explain. "Oh—yeah. My dad. He's a total gear head so I grew up hearing all about those kinds of cars. Plus he wanted boys and got my sister and me so he taught us stuff like how to take apart an engine." She laughed.

Alex managed to stifle her shock this time. Jenna looked like the least likely person to be digging under the hood of a vehicle, getting covered in motor oil and axle grease. And it sounded like the times she had weren't necessarily voluntary.

"Your dad made you work on cars because he wanted a boy?" Alex couldn't keep herself from asking.

"Well yeah," replied Jenna. "I mean, your dad's probably got a little bit of that, too, right? He's so macho, surely that's why you're such a tomboy."

Alex thought briefly. "I don't think so. He's raised me to be strong, yeah, but not because he wanted a boy, because he wanted me to be safe." Alex omitted the time she had asked her father if he wished she was a boy and he had denied it with an explanation so clear, simple, and unquestionably honest that she would never wonder again.

Without this tidbit, however, Jenna remained unconvinced. "Uh-huh," she said with a wry smile. "Well, anyway. That's my dad. What are you gonna do?" She threw up her hands nonchalantly.

"But you're guessing that, right?" Alex had to ask. "You're guessing he wanted boys. He wouldn't just… tell you and your sister something like that?"

"Oh, no, he did," said Jenna, completely unfazed by her own statement. "I mean, why lie to us? He was just being honest."

It was only their first day meeting, and they were about to spend nine months living together in tight quarters. But Alex was not one to shrink from doing the right thing, and it seemed to her that Jenna needed an outside perspective. "He kinda sounds like an asshole."

Jenna made a dismissive face, like what Alex had said was ridiculous and she was a little bit offended. But then she paused a moment and looked away at the wall. It seemed there was a battle going on in her head between Alex's words and everything she had taken as givens her whole life… and the truth in Alex's statement was putting up an admirable fight.

"I mean… I don't know, sometimes, I guess," she finally said. "He's not always like that." She didn't sound as if she had convinced herself.

Alex felt guilty at raising this dissonance in her brand new roommate. "I'm sorry, Jenna. I didn't mean to throw that at you."

"No, it's fine," Jenna said, shaking her confusion off and shrugging. "It is what it is."

"I bet your mother's a lot more supportive," said Alex, trying to find the silver lining and redirect the topic a touch.

"Oh, yeah!" said Jenna, grabbing onto the lifeline Alex was tossing her. "She's always giving me advice so I can make good decisions and have friends and keep out of trouble. Like when she left today, she said: 'Don't wear so much makeup or you'll look like a hooker. And don't go whoring around your first year. Can't have you dropping out because you got knocked up.'" She barked a laugh.

"Oh my God," Alex hunched over and buried her face in her hands.

"What?" Jenna asked innocently.

"Jenna," Alex brought her head up to stare down her roommate, "these are awful things to say! No one should hear that crap from anyone, let alone their parents!"

"Well," Jenna protested, "they just want me to be the best I can be. It's tough love."

"Really? Because it just sounds mean," said Alex.

They sat and stared at each other for an uncomfortably long time. Jenna was clearly upset but not to the point of looking outright angry. Once again, she seemed to be wrestling with what Alex had said and didn't like the contrast to her previous perception.

At last Alex sighed, displeased with her outburst. "I'm sorry, again; I shouldn't be butting in like this—,"

"No, it's fine," Jenna replied, shaking her head.

"Don't say it's fine if it's not fine," said Alex. "You can tell me if I'm over the line."

"No, really," Jenna insisted. "It is, it's fine. It's… I mean you're right."

Then Jenna surprised Alex and started to giggle quietly.

"My… my mom told me not to be a prostitute twice in two sentences, and my dad won't let me come home until I'm legally some man's property." Jenna's giggle became squeaky with mirth and she held her fingertips up to her mouth. "Jesus Christ! No wonder I'm going into psychology! How else am I supposed to make sense of that?"

Slowly, painfully, the two dissolved into laughter, the kind of raucous, vibrant laughter that two new college roommates should be sharing their first night on campus, even though the cause was not necessarily as carefree as was common.

"God," Alex finally said as their bitter humor abated, "of course you were upset from hearing me say goodbye to Dad and Uncle Sam. You were…."

"I was jealous," Jenna nodded, finally admitting where all her feelings had come from, to Alex and to herself.

"I can't imagine what it was like growing up with them," said Alex.

"I mean, it wasn't so bad," said Jenna, but she looked sad. "I made it through no problem….

"…I guess I do… kinda wish they would have said some nicer things sometimes… like your dad and uncle do…."

Alex watched her roommate as Jenna's eyes became watery.

"I am so sorry," Alex said gently.

Jenna nodded acknowledgement and her tears fell. Then the two embraced.

"I can't believe we met, like, four hours ago, and I'm already crying on your shoulder," Jenna tittered as they released each other, wiping the wetness from her face.

"Well," Alex said, "big day. Everybody's a little overwhelmed leaving home for the first time. It's a lot of change."

"Yeah, for sure," Jenna agreed with a sniff.

She added; "So your dad never forced you to learn how to fix cars?"

"Oh, no, he did," said Alex. "I mean, between the Impala crisscrossing the country all the time and my little junker back home, I had to know how to do some repair work."

"What do you have back home?" Jenna asked, a suspicious grin creeping onto her face.

"An '85 Cavalier."

Jenna burst out cackling and fell back on her pillows. When she gained enough composure to speak, she said, "That is the opposite of a '67 Impala!"

Alex had to laugh, too. "Yeah, Chevy really has a range. But my little Cavvy just keeps going and going… just not very fast."

Jenna's laughter redoubled. Then she finally sighed. "If you and me ever go on a road trip, we will never be stranded on the side of the highway."

Alex chuckled. "Yeah, we could probably jerry rig something and limp it to the nearest mechanic long before the tow truck showed up."

"Unless the engine blows up," commented Jenna.

"Oh, for sure," Alex agreed. "Or the brakes go out completely."

"Mm-hm, mm-hm." Jenna nodded. "Although… what part of the brakes are we talking about? Pads, drums, or lines? 'Cause if you get me a bendy straw and some electrical tape…."

They spent the rest of their evening thinking of various vehicular breakdowns and deciding on what exactly they could and couldn't MacGyver roadside.

A/N: Sorry for the little blatant reference in there—I couldn't help myself. Of course, it's FanFiction; that stuff is why we're here, and the show itself has a habit of being super meta and on the nose at times, so I figured that one gets a pass. ;)