Snakebite heart

Flashback: December, 2024

Alex had been at the Walker family holiday cabin before, but never at Christmas; never like this. She had spent time with his family before, of course, but being here with Lexa while they made gingerbread houses and homemade ornaments was enough to bring her close to tears. Her own family Christmases had been perfectly fine, but they came with an edge of parental disappointment and certainly weren't as personalised. When she thought about the future that she wanted for her daughter, it looked a lot like this; full of love, and care, and no obligations to be anything other than yourself.

"No, dad, I know. There's no way that you lose out on the Fitzherbert account, not after last week. Yes, I can put in the extra hours-," Logan opened the door for Alex and sweet Lexa, still speaking with his dad on his hands-free. "I know, I'll see what I can do. Move the De Luca meeting to 3 on Wednesday, and I'll handle it." Logan wasn't exactly dressed for looking after Lexa. No one needed to wear a three piece, tweed, suit with their hair slicked back so securely a hurricane couldn't move it, to watch Peppa Pig. He turned to Alex apologetically. "I am so sorry I was late. I'll get you a key cut, okay? That way you don't have to wait anymore. I- Hi, baby-," Logan said softly, waving at Lexa, "Do you want me to take her?" he offered, holding out his arms.

Alex was about to knock again when the door opened, but Logan wasn't speaking to her. Was he on a handsfree call? Was he wearing tweed? She remained in the doorway a moment longer than could be considered normal–free hand still raised and mouth slightly agape–before finally stepping inside. Listening to the words of their call, an uncomfortable feeling washed over Alex as she tried to figure out what kind of Twilight Zone she had walked into. "Okay..." She responded, brow furrowed. Alex passed Lexa over to them when he offered, but she was still looking at him like they were a stranger. "What's going on? Are you still able to watch her today?"

Text ➜ Alex

"That's not fair, Alex. She is family to me," he said, still utterly confused as to where all this was coming from and what she meant. Jesse had spent just as much time with Lexa as anyone, she can't have thought that he wasn't family, right? It was the same for Isobel. Ceren, Jess. Their support system was strong, full of family and friends. People who loved them and loved Lexa. Why did anything else matter?

"I don't care." And in that moment, she really didn't. Alex didn't care if Isobel was like family to Logan, didn't care that they loved her. She didn't need to forgive her for the things she had done and she certainly didn't need to be okay with her being near her baby. Maybe everything would have been better if no one had ever found out who the father was... Somewhere, in the back of her mind, she knew it wasn't fair to put this on Logan, but she did. not. care.

"Is...," Logan breathed, reaching out to the space that Isobel had since swiftly exited. She was only in the other room, but it might as well have been another continent. There was something in the air between them that set his teeth on edge. When he turned back to Alex, it was clear that she wasn't happy. That she was angry? What could they have possibly missed in the last ten minutes? It didn't take that long to get from the shower to the living room. Confusion was written over Logan's face as they wrestled with her tone of voice. Accusatory. She was accusing him of... something.

"But she's not family, is she? No. No, she's–..." Alex bit her tongue, not sure how much she could really get away with saying. Isobel Prescott was too many things–a liar, a manipulator; a cold-hearted bitch who broke her brother's heart, stole her own best friend's boyfriend, and then ruined said boyfriend's reputation–she wasn't a woman she wanted influencing her daughter.

This was Sophia's all time low. Nostalgic reruns of the New York version of Real Housewives was what it took to make Sophia ready to face the swing of the city again. If Luann could hop back into the saddle after losing her Upper East Side home in her divorce from the Count, why couldn't Sophia do the same -- metaphorically speaking, that was. Because she hadn't the guts or decency to finalize anything, leaving Jesse deeper in the mud than she. While 'Hiding in the Hamptons' would make a great autobiography title, Sophia didn't need to live it out any longer.

So here's the thing about having a baby... almost everything you consume can end up in your child's bloodstream through breastfeeding, so even after giving birth and controlling your caffeine cravings for nine whole months, you still can't intake anywhere near the amount of coffee that your body was previously accustomed to. Alex had been limiting herself to one normal coffee a day since Lexa was born, which meant that unless she wanted it to be shit, she had to travel to the best coffee shops to make that one cup worth it.

As Logan pulled on his sweatpants and white t-shirt, hair still damp from the shower, he had no idea what was waiting for them. Logan thought that they'd fallen into a great rhythm now. Logan and Alex had worked out their co-parenting schedules with ease, their families had blended perfectly, and most of all, baby Lexa was beloved. Isobel had been beyond supportive of Logan, held their hand through every fear and spell of anxiety. She had been his rock, like always. They were really settling into becoming a family. It was everything Logan could have hoped for from a situation none of them had planned for. On top of all that, Valentine's Day was right around the corner and the theme for Logan's bash was perfect.

"Yes. It's called having manners." She snapped, slamming a stuffed bear on to the countertop as Logan entered the room. Isobel's teeth were clenched as she glared daggers at the other woman, only turning her attention to Logan when he spoke of his 'three favourite women'. They seemed so happy with a bright smile on his face, but she couldn't shake her fury at Alex, nor her irritation at even being in the same category as her. "Everything's fine." She managed to force out, releasing her death grip on the bear, before passing by them to remove herself from this room and this situation.

When Isobel snapped at her, Alex's eyes flashed with rage, and she was about to respond when Logan appeared, all smiles. Watching her leave the room, she noticeably relaxed, but it was clear that she was still on edge. The relationship between them had always baffled her–Logan was one of the loveliest people in the Upper East Side, but Isobel was demonic enough to rival William Huntzberger; they shouldn't work–but she had ignored it for the most part. It shouldn't have been something that mattered to her, but now? The idea that she would have any kind of influence over her daughter was terrifying, to say the least.

So this wasn't good. On a normal day–in a normal situation–Isobel wouldn't have let Alex even look at her like that, never mind everything else that followed, but damn it, she was trying not to mess this up for Logan. Isobel had promised herself that she wouldn't get in the way, that she wouldn't get involved or even offer up opinions on matters that should stay between Logan and Alex, but somehow she felt like she had done something wrong here–despite Alex being the rude one.

"You're offering me a drink?" Had Isobel actually done anything wrong in recent days? No. Did it even seem like she was trying right now? Yes. Was Alex being incredibly unreasonable and maybe a little unhinged? Absolutely. But she could see it now. There was a future out there, where Logan and Isobel stay together and suddenly she she's in a co-parenting thruple with the woman she despises. Isobel Prescott would be her daughter's step-mother–a literal evil step-mother–and Alex wasn't sure she could handle that. "Can you stop? Can you just go let Logan know I'm here?"

Not even a year had passed since Alex had given birth to Logan's baby, and Isobel could honestly say that she had never expected to find herself in the situation she was in now. Logan had stepped away for a mere ten minutes to have a shower, and they had left her alone with Lexa. A few months ago, this would have had her panicking, but now she was bouncing the little girl around like it was the most natural thing in the world; she had even become accustomed to Alex always being around and, you know, it hadn't been as horrifying as initially thought.

Alex hadn't intended on picking up Lexa this early, but there had been a mix up with the time of her check up and instead of 2pm, it was now scheduled for 11am, so here she was. Taking turns with their little girl had become the norm for them, easily managing to split her time equally between the two of them with very few issues. The door hadn't even fully opened before Alex started speaking, "Sorry, I know I'm early, but the doct–..." The rest of the sentence faded to nothing when she came face to face with Isobel Prescott. An Isobel Prescott that was currently holding her child. "Isobel. Hi."