Liberty's thoughts were troubled. Philip's arrival had unsettled her, quite profoundly. The little boy she'd grown attached to was suddenly the same age as her, and not only was it impossible for her to write it off as the station doing things, as if steel and plastics had formed some sort of capricious deity, she couldn't shake the sense that he knew things he ought not to. Liberty Becket believed in self-determination. It was one of the core values of the Charter. She held also to the existentialist notion that there was always a choice, no matter what the situation.
That was why she hadn't asked Philip for the details of her future. She'd have been utterly determined to prove him wrong, as a matter of principle, and that wasn't a sound basis from which to make decisions. That meant it was better not to ask. Not to know. Of course, Alexander didn't have that luxury, and that was why she worried for him too. Not because of the drinking, which was harmless in itself. She could have gone with them. Her pregnancy had been an all-too-convenient excuse. Philip himself was wonderful – not at all how she had envisioned him, grown to adulthood, but wonderful nonetheless – but what he represented was something Liberty wasn't ready to confront.
For Alexander, though? He was more troubled than she was. He'd said it might help if she were there, and she hadn't hesitated. She was good at not making everything about her own feelings, these days. She'd certainly buried her feelings for him deep enough, recognising that he was in contract – and that it wasn't merely some legalistic obstacle which she was too fundamentally Rican to attempt to evade; he loved Eliza. And if Liberty loved him? It didn't matter. Another woman had gotten there first. She would have his friendship, and that would be enough.
True to her word, she'd gone straight to his house after their communication. As they'd predicted, Liberty's pregnancy was now too far along to be disguised with strategic frills, and already she was finding anything overly tight or clingy to be a discomfort. She'd taken to wearing loose, layered dresses. They wouldn't have been out of place on Rica, and the station – Liberty reasoned that nothing was out of place on the station, a glance around the hall during the last meeting was enough to tell her that.
'Alexander!' There was her usual warm smile at the sight of him, along with a rather more calculated mental appraisal. He looked tired, a little the worse for wear after the previous night, but not so bad as she'd imagined. 'It's good to see you. I brought you some pills for your head,' she added sympathetically.