Chapter Text
"Olivia finish this for your ma, it's raspberry. I hate raspberry. Also i need to borrow you for a minute."
"Sure ma."Olivia said, taking the donut from Gail as she took the lead and led Olivia out of the room.
As Gail lead Olivia away Lily looked on, curiosity welling in her mind. She then looked to Maria who looked like she was about to burst with glee.
"Hey Maria do you know what that's about?"
Maria leaned over to Lily and whispered "Not here, I'll tell you somewhere less crowded."
Lily was not willing to accept this as an answer.
"Why not?"
"It's personal." Maria said still whispering. Wanting to get Lily off the topic she decided to ask something based off of a casual observation "Hey, where's Alexis?"
Lily looked around her in a frenzy. She had been so caught up in Donut Roulette she hadn't even noticed Alexis had vanished.
"I don't know. I thought she was around." Lily's voice hasted and escalated in anxiety. "She didn't even take part in donut roulette." Lily started frantically looking around the room, hoping she missed her friend hiding behind one of the many stout frames in the room.
Maria Greene, known also as Shadow Witch, could not help but overhear Lily's frantic search for her friend. Luckily she had a clue where she might be found.
"Hey Lily, Lily." It took a second to catch Lily's attention but once she finally heard Shadow Witch's voice she paused from her search and turned around. "If you're looking for Alexis she was going in the opposite direction down the hallway when we came in."
"Thank you Maria!" Lily replied then immediately turned to her Maria "Shadow Witch just said she left the party awhile ago."
"She's probably just catching some air outside." Maria didn't seem overly concerned with the situation. "She probably didn't go home. There's not enough time to go home and come back for patrol to make it worthwhile."
"Something's wrong, I'm going to find her." Lily bolted out of the room. Maria decided to follow. She wasn't as worried as Lily but it sounded like Alexis had more than enough time to catch her breath by now. Besides, it would give her the opportunity to tell Lily about Olivia away from prying ears.
"So anyway, tomorrow I change my name to Alvarez." Maria told Lily as they walked down the hall once they had gone out of earshot from the party.
"Didn't they already call you Alvarez during your match?"
"Yeah, but I mean legally."
"What does this have to do with Olivia?"
"Olivia never got around to changing her name legally either. Olivia isn't her legal name."
"Then what is?"
"You'll have to ask her. And don't be mad if she doesn't want to answer. She's really touchy about it." As Lily nodded Maria continued. "Anyway, Ma decided it would be a great opportunity to make a day of it. The three of us going to City Hall and changing our names. And Ma wants Olivia to officially join the family and become an Alvarez."
Lily's eyes lit up with glee one would find in the eyes of somebody meeting a puppy. "Is she adopting Olivia?"
"Legally? I don't know if you can adopt adults. I mean she probably would if that's possible. All I know is the name thing."
By the time the conversation ended they were at the doors leading out of the convention center.
"Lexi, where are you?" Lily ran out and cried into the night.
"I'm behind you." A deadpan voice called out from next to the door. "What are you even freaking out about?"
"You vanished from the party without a trace." Lily's frenzy and exasperation barely subsided.
"Yeah...sorry about that I guess. I didn't really want to be at the party anymore."
"Why not? Why didn't you tell me you were ducking out?"
"I didn't want to draw attention to myself and I didn't really want to field a lot of questions about it." Alexis countered Lily's near-shouting by getting quieter.
"Why not?"
"Lily...please don't take this the wrong way but right now I still don't want to field questions about it. Well...I sorta do but I can't right now."
Maria heard the increasingly depressed tone of her friend and felt worried enough to interject.
"Alexis are you ok?"
In response Alexis began to roll away from the conversation onto the sidewalk.
"I don't know Maria. Just please don't worry about me right now. I will talk but I can't right now. I'm still sorting out my thoughts. I'm going for a roll. I need some more air. Please don't follow me or make a big deal out of it, it's just you two are kind of the opposite of air right now. We're cool and this isn't about me being mad at either of you at all; none of this has anything to do with either of you, ok." Lily started to go after her but Maria held her back, a quick shake of the head got the idea through to Lily. "I'll see you on patrol, usual spot. And Maria? Great job out there and happy birthday. Thanks for letting us be a small part of your dream tonight."
With that, Alexis rolled out into the night.