[For Alexis]

[halfscarlet]

With Teddy finally around, life seemed to have taken an obvious turn toward good for Billy. He still missed Kate, but if he was going to be honest, he no longer felt as lonely as he had for months. Spending as much time with Teddy as he could wasn't something he could be blamed for, he thought, but it still wreaked havoc on what structure he'd had when it came to classes.

Suddenly, what studying took up his time seemed like too much, like every hour could be better spent making sure Teddy was still okay, that he was still around and wouldn't disappear the way Kate did. Eventually, Billy's worries faded, but he still had class, still had homework. That much wasn't going to change for yet another month.

One end of a table in the rec room had become his regular study spot, and it was strewn with books and paper. Anthropology and Physics were especially trying, and it was the physics he was tackling, having decided to spend the entire afternoon on the one subject. Though Billy was smart, it was still a little hard to grasp, especially with someone as rambly as The Doctor for a teacher.

He looked up from where he'd been writing in his notebook, eyes scanning the wall for a clock. He'd been at this for two hours already. Pulling both arms over his head, Billy leaned back into the chair as he stretched, letting out a pleased sigh when his back popped a few times. Yeah, a break was probably the best thing to do right now.

Comments

[halfscarlet]

"Interesting's one word for it," Billy agreed, though he would have gone more along the lines of awesome or confusing. Learning physics from a nine hundred year old time traveling alien when he hadn't even finished high school yet proved to have its difficulties. "But yeah, school's actually kinda fun around here."

[turnedoutfine]

Alexis didn't think it was likely she could have disliked the school on the island, at least not much, but Billy's comments made her look forward to it all the more. "So hey, how long have you been here?" she asked.

[halfscarlet]

Billy sat back, taking a moment to count. "Just about seven months, I think?" He shook his head, wondering where the hell the time had gone. It was the same way when he'd been back home, time flying by - it just seemed like here, all time could really do was crawl. "It feels like way longer."

[turnedoutfine]

"It's been something like a month and a half, for me," said Alexis. Even longer for her dad, which was weird to think about considering she'd seen him literally a second before showing up on the island. "Time does seem to move slower here, somehow. Do you have anyone here from home?"

[halfscarlet]

"Yeah," Billy said with a smile. "Uh, my boyfriend. He's even newer than you are, actually. Before that, another friend of mine was here, but she's gone now."

[turnedoutfine]

"Oh, I'm sorry about your friend," Alexis said. She hadn't experienced losing anyone yet, probably because she hadn't been on the island long enough. For Alexis, it was best not thought about since the idea of losing her dad was probably enough to give her some kind of panic attack.

"But that's great that your boyfriend's here now," she continued, smiling. "I bet you were glad to see him. When did he get here?"

[halfscarlet]

"He's barely been here a week," Billy said, sitting up and unable to keep from being a little more animated, which was inevitable when it came to talking about Teddy. "It's been kind of amazing, actually. What about you, do you have someone from home?"

[turnedoutfine]

She nodded, her smile deepening into something undeniably pleased and fond. "Yeah, two people, actually," she said. "My dad, which is great. And the detective he'd been working with back home as inspiration for his latest series. Kate Beckett."

[halfscarlet]

"Hey, that's great," Billy said, and he even managed to be sincere about it. He missed his own parents, miserable as they might have been away from their Brooklyn apartment and professions. "So your dad's...an author? TV writer?"

[turnedoutfine]

"He's a best-selling author," Alexis explained proudly. "He writes mystery novels. He had a successful series, but then he killed off his main character, so now he's working on this new series with Detective Beckett as inspiration for the main character, Nikki Heat."