Alex is good about listening, and not interrupting, but she can't keep the smile from her face when he mentions that he was remarkably handsome and brilliant. Alex actually agrees, but she doesn't need to say it; it's all there on her face. That's the good thing about being so expressive sometimes. Then she frowned quickly, because Alex has a pretty decent gaydar, and she knows that as soon as someone mentions genes and married and children, it's never going to amount to a good thing in a homophobic society.

There's no small desire to shake his father in this point, because how the hell do you do that to your brilliant son like that? She doesn't know, and honestly, she doesn't want to know because there's really not a single excuse for it that could be good enough for that. She wants to reach out and put her hand on his again, but she knows Dorian, so instead she just refills his drink and tops her own off as well.

"I don't think you're being dramatic at all, Dorian! I mean, your family wanted you to deny a piece of you and then you got here and you thought that you were going to be able to have something that makes you happy, and then now you're experiencing a loss. It's bad enough to have the loss of a relationship, but to have the loss of a relationship and have the person not know you or about it? That sounds terrible."