Room 238, Friday evening

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Aeryn has no idea what she's supposed to be packing. Normally she wouldn't even worry about this till tomorrow, right before they leave, but it will be early and she wants to make a good impression. Or at least a better impression than the last time. It's probably the only time you'll see her putting things in a bag, changing her mind, and staring at the closet for a while before grabbing something a little more... normal.

[For John.]

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[whitedeathpod.livejournal.com]

John spent a lot of time away from the room. He knew he couldn't stay away all night so, when he opened the door, he avoided eye contact with Aeryn and moved stonily into the kitchen.

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Aeryn hears him come in, but is still frowning at the bag when he goes to the kitchen. "Hey," she greets him.

[whitedeathpod.livejournal.com]

He doesn't answer right away, instead choosing to stare inside the fridge.

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She frowns a little, but comes to lean against the wall and look at him. "Hey," she says again.

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"Hey," he finally says.

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"You all right?"

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"Not really," he said and slammed the fridge door shut.

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"What's wrong?" she asks, still watching him carefully.

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"How long were you going to lie to me for?" John asked. "How long were you going to share things about my damn life without telling me?"

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She almost thought she knew what he meant. "What are you talking about?"

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"Anakin was Vader?" he spits. "And you knew. And you told him about my mother?"

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Yeah, she'd known this was coming. "Most anything I ever told him was to help the situation," she says, knowing that is going to go over badly.

[whitedeathpod.livejournal.com]

"What situation?" he says tightly. "The situation where John was repeatedly screwing up because he was in the dark? The one where I told you things, cried on you and you went and told Anakin about them while he was some helmeted freak?"

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"It wasn't like that," she says, surprisingly calm. "I tried to keep you out of those conversations as much as possible."

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"You told him about my mother!" He moves now, away from her and into the living room. "I was getting pushed away and you were going and talking to him!"

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She turns to face him, biting her lip momentarily. "I tried to keep you as informed as I could, but there were some things I couldn't tell you, just as there were things I couldn't- and wouldn't tell him," she says. "I tried not to push you away, but I couldn't tell you why."

[whitedeathpod.livejournal.com]

"You pushed me away," he said. "A lot. And I tried to help but you were always upset at something he did or something I said because I didn't know any better."

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"I wasn't," Aeryn tells him. "And you helped more than you think."

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"Goddammit, Aeryn, what if he'd hurt you?" John snapped. "What if he'd done something to hurt you? Would you still have kept quiet? Shut me out and watched me go insane with worry?"

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"I was serious when I told you he wouldn't hurt me," she says. "He wouldn't have. He could have, and he didn't, and he wouldn't have."

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"How much more about me did you tell him?" John asked. "How much crap does he know that I don't know about? The thing in my head?"

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"No. I told him about my mother, about what it was like when I left..." She's wincing even as she says it, but, "In the later days I told him I moved in."

[whitedeathpod.livejournal.com]

He stares at her in disbelief. "I barely know what it was like when you left. I barely know about your mother!"

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"No," she says quickly. "You know because you were there. He simply got condensed versions of what I learned from it. You helped me learn it."

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He's completely ready to go into full on yelling mode when she says that...and stops anything he'd wanted to say dead in it's tracks.

Instead, he just stares.