[Of course Alex looked at the picture. She was a reporter, after all, and thus she was nosy as hell and wouldn't be able to stop herself. Seeing the redhead, Alex just shook her head a bit. She knew a lot of people in the Zone, but she didn't know everyone, at least not yet. He wasn't even familiar to her from the network, which made her wonder if he was new as well. All and all, it just made Alex think that she was going to need to end up getting out there more. But that was for later, and not for now.

More than that, as Alex looked at the picture, she was struck by how intimate it looked, really. Like a picture one would take of their partner, like several pictures that Alex herself happened to have on her phone of her own partner. To Alex, it honestly already seemed like that decision had been made for Skye already, even if she didn't know it herself yet.]

I don't know him, but he's definitely cute!

[There, some reassurance as Alex studied her friend for a moment, and then she spoke softly.]

I think that for however long you're here? It seems like it would be a really terrible thing to deal with without love and intimacy if it happens. Yeah, you could go home tomorrow, but you could also be at home and just get hit by a bus crossing the street. None of really have any sort of guarantees about relationships, even if we want to have them.

[Understatement of the year there, Alex.]

As for maybe screwing it up somehow? Look at it this way, maybe you won't! You honestly don't know until you try.