"Oh, that's..." Alexander started, and then cut himself off as he realised the change in circumstances since he had last spoken to Maryanne. "It's very kind of you, but I don't think it'll be necessary. I don't think Liberty would like it much," he added, with a bit of a guilty look. The only reason he'd rushed off without eating tonight was that he hadn't exactly told Liberty who he was meeting, or for what. It was a little underhand of him, even if it was something that had been organised before.
"Yeah, you know he did!" Alexander chuckled. He actually liked Darcy well enough, but the man gave as good as he got with the cheeky comments on the others' culture. Oh, they disagreed on almost every subject, but that was no reason he couldn't like someone.
"Sure," Alexander frowned a little, remembering when Maryanne had told him to go and look at the memorial wall. It was a funny old place, wasn't it? You couldn't grieve people as if they were dead but the loss was just a real. "Oh, shit..." he took a drink of water, and tried to shake the more concerned look from his face. Tequila was not a good plan.
"I don't mean to make you drag it all up, Maryanne, even if you don't mind taking the trip for me either," he told her. "Yeah, I was wondering about Bucky," he nodded, as she started to explain that story from her point of view. It was off-kilter from the version of events he'd received from one of the Buckys. He knew that there were two sides (actually, hundreds of sides) to any story, so any thoughts he had about that whole affair he kept to himself. It wasn't his family, it wasn't his place to comment.
He sighed a little, thinking about 19 year old Philip, 9 year old Philip, and the daughter he wouldn't get to meet for at least ten years, and Liberty's baby that wasn't his but felt like he had some part of. Families were strange things, they didn't always come in the shape you expected. And she didn't even know where he was.
"Umm... listen, thank you so much for the meal, but I don't think the alcohol is a good idea. And uh... whatever you've got under the coat.." he gave her a quick up and down and then shook his head. "As much as it pains me to say it, I'm gonna... say no. I'm sorry, I know you've gone to a lot of effort for me."