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With everything going on, they nearly forgot what day it was, it was their self appointed Birthday. But none of them felt a want to celebrate it. Isobel checked herself into a mental hospital, for the week, with a few mind games played on the doctors so they think they’re doing all the medical things on her but really they are just coming into her room and doing nothing. Michael was avoiding everyone more than normally and stuck to his trailer and only came outside to go to the Wild Pony, not like Max sees him but Maria Deluca has to call him because Michael started a fight again. It was safe to say none of them were handling things well. Liz had a chat with Isobel which lead her to do her decision to go to the hospital. And Liz was still avoiding Max and Max could tell she told Kyle because every time he sees Max he just glared at him, but doesn’t say anything, which was good Max guess because it means Liz hasn’t decided to do anything about what she has learned.
Max was now on his way to Michael’s trailer. He didn’t know why he was going, he and Michael haven’t been close since high school but even then they still celebrated their birthdays together, usually Isobel’s doing, this year it was Michael’s turn to pick what to do. Though all Max wanted to do was to see Isobel, she hasn’t let either of them come see her since she checked herself in, but it was their birthday even she can’t ignore that.
Surprisingly Michael was already outside his trailer sitting on a lawn chair watching Max drive in He smiled at that a bit, even with everything going on they still knew what each other was thinking, Isobel was definitely expecting them. Michael didn’t say anything as he got into Max’s truck and he didn’t tell Max where he needed to go because Max just knew. But he did tell Max to stop by Isobel’s favorite bakery. Usually each year, one of them gets to pick the activity, the food, and the place, but this year Michael didn’t seem to mind getting Isobel’s favourite foods or her favorite movies, though Max was the one who packed the movies. By the time they got to the hospital they had bags of food, spicy and sweet alike, plus the double chocolate cake, and 4 movies. They must look wild bringing all this stuff in a mental hospital but Max did call ahead telling them the situation.
Isobel’s room was on the third floor so they had to climb up since this was a prewar building, meaning no elevators. Isobel was waiting for them, the closer they get to each other the stronger the feeling they get was. She was still in a hospital gown but she wore her grey silk robe and put a bit of makeup on, she’d never let them see her “incomplete” her words not theirs. They drop the stuff on her bed, Max is the first to hug her, she buries her head in his neck and she tightens her grip on him.
Michael never lacked affection for the both of them, though he and Michael didn’t hug much anymore or show much affection, that was never the case for Izzy and Michael. After Max let go of her Michael hugged her straight away, slightly lifting her up. Max could her him ask her why she did this, but she just pushes it away.
“Michael it’s your year, why did you pick my stuff?”
“You need it more, besides, I couldn’t think of anything to do.”
Isobel is teary up and she gives a teary laugh. Max knows what she’s about to say, since this is the first time they’ve all been together since the reveal, but he stops her.
“Not today Iz. Today we are just us, celebrating our birthday like we do every year.”
Michael looks at her and nods, “but if it’s any consolation we would have done it again. We protect each other and we don’t regret doing it to protect you.”
She was crying now, she took their hands and squeezed it. “I’m going to find out what causes these blackouts I promise.” Max kisses her forehead as Michael kisses her hand. Telling her that they know she’ll be okay, they’ll see to it.
“Okay enough with the serious things Christmas in Summer isn’t going to start itself.” Isobar loves anything Christmas, especially cheesy Christmas films so Michael pop in ELF in the DVD player as Isobel sat next to Max on the bed, they turned it so it was facing the tv and they could all comfortable sit on it without blocking each other.
Their lives may have been falling apart at the seams but moments like these remind them that it could be worse. They still had their traditions, like their birthday, to keep things together even when it isn’t.