Disclaimer: These characters do not belong to me, but to
the writers and producers of Roswell
Spoilers: After Chant Down Babylon, changes happening where
Max is successfully rescued
****
For we lose
not only by death,
But also by leaving and being left,
By changing and letting go and moving on.
-
Judith Viorst
****
A shiver ran down his spine as Michael had been standing in
front of the refrigerator for like ten minutes. I’ll probably catch a cold from doing this.
But still, Michael didn’t feel right leaving Isabel alone so
he began unloading the groceries from the car.
A lot of the items needed refrigeration so he’d been stocking the fridge
and freezer with meats, fruits and vegetables.
Michael had been so wrapped up in following the labels in the fridge, he
didn’t hear Jesse come home.
“Michael what are you doing here?” Jesse growled.
Michael peered up over the refrigerator door, somewhat
startled. “Oh hi!” Michael grinned
sheepishly. “Uh, stocking your
fridge. You know it’s pretty empty!”
The joke obviously didn’t go over very well by the creases
in Jesse’s forehead. “Is something
wrong with Isabel?” Jesse asked as he peered into the bedroom.
Michael closed the fridge.
“No. Well, she just got a little
tired. She tends to overexert
herself. And since she got sick, I
think Isabel wanted to prove that she was fine,” Michael explained loudly.
Jesse came back out into the kitchen. “Don’t tell me how my wife tends to
be. I know.”
From the daggers shooting from Jesse’s eyes, Michael
realized he still hadn’t gotten over Michael’s comments about Isabel being his.
The thought about that night’s
conversation haunted Michael. He
realized Isabel was Jesse’s wife.
Michael had been ‘happy’ for her. Or so he thought.
Ever since he and Maria had broken up and then Isabel almost
dying, Michael had been questioning a lot of things. Like did he believe in destiny? Did he really belong with Maria?
Was it the right thing to do, breaking up with her? His possessive nature towards Isabel
frightened him.
“Sorry,” Michael mumbled.
“Don’t be sorry, just leave,” Jesse retorted, grabbing a
glass from the cupboard. “Just because
Isabel’s an alien and I love her, doesn’t mean I have to take you and your lies
along with her.”
Michael felt his fingers clench into a fist. “Look, you’d better get used to
seeing us around. We’re her family.”
Where did he get off cutting Isabel off from Michael and
Max?
The insinuations were made during their last conversation,
after Isabel was recovering. Max had
finally gotten through to the jerk that Isabel had wanted to tell him,
but that Max and Michael had quashed her plans. Michael and Max assumed Jesse would calm down and realize the
extenuating circumstances.
“I’m her family now.
She doesn’t need you now that I’m here to protect her. I’m sure she’ll be safer now that Isabel
won’t be linked to fugitives and hot headed guys who might be aliens,” Jesse
accused. “The further from you Isabel
is from you and Max, the less the Feds and any government snoops will link her
to aliens. It’s probably best for you
and Max as well.”
It took everything in Michael to restrain himself from
pounding Jesse’s face in. He couldn’t
believe what Jesse was proposing. Max
and Michael were all the family Isabel had ever known, other than the
Evans’. Jesse planned on keeping her
from them? Or vise versa?
“I don’t think you know Isabel very well,” Michael growled
loudly. “Family’s very important
to Isabel.”
Jesse took off his pressed suit jacket. “Oh, she’ll still see Mr. And Mrs. Evans,
but I don’t think she’ll be dropping by to see you guys very often
anymore. Besides, Max isn’t living with
the Evans’ anyhow, so it shouldn’t be too much of a problem. I could stomach a conversation or two.”
The more Jesse talked, the more Michael felt this
uncontrollable surge of energy and anger throughout his body. “No, you don’t understand
Jesse,” Michael said through clenched teeth.
“Isabel will never agree to this!”
Michael slammed a can of salmon that happened to be sitting
near by, on the kitchen table. “Never!”
Michael raised his voice and suddenly the can exploded; it’s contents strewn
within a 3 meter diameter.
~~~
“Michael!” Isabel’s bewildered voice shouted out.
She stood in the doorway of the kitchen. Pieces of salmon were stuck on the clean
walls and floor. Isabel had awakened to
muffled voices talking intensely. When
she had finally walked into the kitchen, Isabel arrived in time for the fish
fireworks. “What the hell is going on?”
Both Jesse and Michael seemed tense and unwilling to
explain. Isabel combed her hair with
her fingers. “Tell me,” Isabel
demanded.
Jesse was the first to approach her. He kissed her hand and led her to a
chair. “We were just talking Isabel,”
Jesse explained calmly. “Michael was
telling me why he was here.”
Isabel frowned. “How
did we get her?” Isabel asked Michael.
Michael stuffed his hands into his jeans. “I drove you hear remember?”
Isabel thought a moment and nodded. “Oh yeah.
I remember now. Did you stay?”
Isabel asked.
Michael nodded. “I
didn’t want to leave you by yourself.”
Isabel smiled.
“Thank you Michael.”
Her oldest friend just shrugged and sighed.
“Okay,” Isabel sighed.
“He was telling you why he was here Jesse, and?”
“And what?” Jesse grunted.
“And why were you arguing? And why did Michael make a mess of my kitchen with a can of …”
Isabel picked up a fragment of the fish and tasted it. “Salmon?”
Both men stared at each other grudgingly. Isabel rubbed her temples. “Someone?”
Jesse again jumped in.
“Well I was just explaining to Michael how I felt that we needed to have
some alone time. We need to get through
this…this issue.”
Isabel felt relief when Jesse mentioned talking through all
of this mess. “Oh, and?” Isabel looked
up at her wonderful husband.
“And Michael disagreed with my methods. He felt that what I was proposing to get our
marriage back on track was wrong.
Michael thought I was taking you out of their lives. And I was trying to explain to him that
since I was your fam…”
Suddenly Michael interrupted, unable to listen to anymore of
Jesse’s twisted lies. “He’s lying! Isabel, he hates that we’re aliens. He hates me and Max. He’s planning on cutting us out of your
life. Jesse doesn’t want to acknowledge
that you are an alien. He wants to forget
it. He said that if you were away from
us that you’d be better off!”
Isabel looked at her husband
questioningly. “Is that true?”
Jesse glared at Michael and then
plastered a smile on his face. “Of course not
dear!” Jesse chuckled seemingly at the absurdity of it all. “I mean, I know you’re an alien and that it’s a
part of you. But it’s a part of you I
have to get used to and I think time to ourselves would allow me to get to know
that side of you. And about the
accusation of trying to protect you, I admit it. I think that the stories that Max has told me about aliens and
humans hunting you down, that it would be wiser not to be seen so much
together. I mean the incidents would be
less frequent. Like accidentally being
seen using your powers.”
Isabel pulled out a kitchen stool
and sat down. She’d never thought that
Jesse would bring up the idea of not seeing Max and Michael so much. She
understood, but part of her felt some kind of loss at the mention.
“I mean, from the little I’ve
heard from you, Max, and Michael, that might be the best option.”
Isabel studied Michael’s ashen
face. “Michael?”
“Whatever!” Michael scoffed. “Are you going to believe him?”
Isabel bit her lip. Jesse seemed on edge, but Isabel didn’t know
what to make of it. How could she not believe him? He was her husband. She was the one who had lied in the
relationship, not the other way around.
She was the one in the relationship not to be trusted.
“Well Jesse’s just trying to protect me,”
Isabel implored. “Michael, please
understand. He loves me. Jesse wouldn’t hurt me.”
Isabel felt Jesse’s strong hands
on her shoulders. “That’s right. I love
her.
And she loves me. I’m her family now.”
Michael looked at Isabel and then
Jesse. “We’re family Isabel,” Michael stated. “We’re more than family, and you know it!”
Without another word, Michael
grabbed his denim jacket and stormed out.
Isabel closed her eyes and swallowed hard. She had gotten a shiver when Michael mentioned being ‘more than family’. Isabel didn’t know what to make of it. She rubbed Jesse’s comforting hand as he kissed her on the nape of her neck.
And while this had been the
closest she’d felt to Jesse in weeks, Isabel couldn’t help but feel such a
burden of loss weighing down on her shoulders.
Had she made the right
choice?
What did
Isabel know? Just because of some book,
because some alien science, Isabel remained connected to Michael. And no matter how hard she tried to have a
life, Michael always seemed to remind her of that. She, Isabel, belonged to Michael.