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,
and
Michael was the one who broke up with Maria.
****
Absence is to
love
What wind is to fire;
It
extinguishes the small,
It enkindles
the great
-
Roger De Bussy-Rabutin
****
Michael sat down on one of the empty stools at The Crashdown
counter. Liz pulled a pen that was
tucked behind her ear. “What can I get
for you Michael?” Liz chirped happily.
Michael shook his head.
“I’m good. I just need to find
Max. Have you seen him? I need to talk to him.”
Liz nodded.
“Yup! He was here earlier this
afternoon. I think he’s supposed to be
coming back soon after my shift,” she explained, looking at her watch. “Uh, which should be in like 10 minutes.”
Turning around on the stool, Michael leaned his elbows back
against the counter, staring at the glass door. “I’ll wait then,” Michael stated.
He’d headed to the Evans’ first. Michael knew that Max would want to know the situation with Jesse
and Isabel. After the short walk to The
Crashdown, Michael still hadn’t figured out Jesse’s motives for separating
Isabel from the rest of her family and friends. It hadn’t made any sense.
At first Michael had taken for granted, it was just what it had
seemed. Jesse was angry with Max and
Michael for keeping secrets. Then,
Michael thought it had been the thought of handling any kind of situation that
dealt with aliens. But all of these
scenarios, reasons for Jesse’s intense need to keep both of them away from
Isabel, just didn’t seem to hold water.
“Hey, Michael!” Max greeted, waving his hand as he held the
door for an exiting couple. “What are you
doing here?”
Michael tilted his head in acknowledgement, morose and
somber. He waited for Max to sit down
on the nearby stool. “We have to talk
about Jesse and Isabel,” Michael whispered.
Max looked questioningly at Michael. “What about?” asked Max.
“He’s slowly cutting us off from her Max. Can’t you see it? First he uses the excuse that she’s too weak from the injuries to
have visitors, and then, he makes up the excuse that he and Isabel need time to
adjust and work things out.”
Max shook his head and smirked. “What’s this all about Michael?
I mean, you weren’t this worked up about this a week ago when Jesse
explained this to us.”
Michael swallowed.
“That’s before he told me the truth Max. I was at Isabel’s this afternoon and Jesse came home. He was really angry and told me to get out.”
Max shrugged. “So?
Where was Isabel?”
“She was sleeping,” explained Michael. “Isabel came over to my place and then she
kind of got tired, so I drove her home.
I didn’t want to leave her by herself so I stayed.”
Max looked skeptically at Michael. “So you stayed? Since when do you worry over something
like that?” Max chuckled. “Not that I
don’t appreciate it.”
Michael rolled his eyes.
“Hey! I can be sensitive,” Michael said defensively.
“Since when Wonder boy?” Maria added, as she leaned over the
counter between Michael and Max.
Michael swung around and looked at Maria. “Hey, we were having a private conversation,
okay?”
Maria rolled her eyes.
“So? What’s so secret that I or
Liz or the rest of us alien slash human friends can’t know about?”
Michael sighed loudly and grabbed Max’s arm. He led Max to a corner booth so they could
discuss this further without interruption from Maria or anyone else. “Look Max, I know what I heard. Jesse has it out for us. He would probably have it out for Isabel if
he didn’t care for her so much, and I’m not even sure if that’s even a good
description for what he feels for her.”
Max seemed hesitant and disbelieving. “I don’t know Michael. Maybe we just need to give him a little more
time to calm down. I mean Isabel
wouldn’t let herself be cut off from either of us.”
Michael ran his hands through his hair. “I’m telling you Max, if we don’t talk to
Isabel soon, it could be too late!”
Max rubbed his face.
“Michael could you be overreacting just a little bit?” Max
smirked.
Michael shook his head and glared at Max. “If we don’t do anything soon, you’ll
see what overreacting is Maxwell because your sister will be gone. I don’t know how I know this, but she’s in
danger and I’m not willing to see her healed only to let her get hurt
again.” Michael stalked out of the
Crashdown, leaving in his wake, a disbelieving Max and a confused Liz and
Maria.
~~~
Jesse and Isabel had spent the evening cozying in front of
the fire. Isabel hadn’t felt happier
and more normal in her life. No more
secrets.
Jesse gently maneuvered Isabel into a sitting position. “Isabel?”
She smiled at her husband.
“What is it Jesse?” Isabel frowned.
Jesse tucked his left leg underneath him. “I have something I want to talk to you
about. I was going to mention it the
first time I saw you, but then all that Michael stuff happened and it didn’t
seem like the right time,” Jesse rambled.
Isabel pressed her hand to Jesse’s lips. “What is it? You can tell me,” Isabel coaxed.
Jesse swallowed and smiled.
“Now this isn’t written in stone, and I haven’t finalized it yet, but
I’ve been offered a job in New York. I would be an associate to one of the
largest firms in Manhattan. I told them
I had to discuss it with you, but I really think this is a good thing.”
Isabel waited until there was a sizable pause in Jesse’s
proposal. “Manhattan?” Isabel
choked. “I didn’t even have a clue that
you were looking to get a job somewhere else?”
Her mind was a flurry of thoughts. Why now? Could she
leave Max and Michael? How could she
leave? She couldn’t go. Her life was here in Roswell. Would Jesse consider not taking the
position? Isabel was
speechless. This news seemed to come
out of nowhere.
“Isabel? Are you all
right?” Jesse asked, rubbing her knee.
“I think this would be a good opportunity for us Izzy. I mean, I know you’ve always wanted a normal
life, and we could have that there. You
could go to NYU, and I would be working towards a partnership that I never
thought I’d ever get. We could get a
big house in the suburbs and maybe even start a family there. What do you think?”
Isabel licked her lips as she rose from the couch. “Wow!” Isabel sputtered. “That’s definitely a surprise. I mean, I can’t…I can’t even tell you how I
am feeling about this right now. How
did this happen? I mean, you and my dad
have a great practice don’t you?”
She pressed her hands against the mantle and stared into the
fire, trying to make sense of the changes that would soon come with her
departure from Roswell. But that
hasn’t been decided yet. Your opinion
matters Isabel.
“Well, I guess it came from a long time desire to work
there. I mean, I had applied for a position
way back when, before I’d met your dad.
I guess they didn’t have an opening until now. Isabel, I feel like this is great timing for us,” Jesse
cooed, kissing her bare shoulder.
“After this stuff with aliens and people chasing you and wanting to kill
you and Max…well, let’s just say, it would be a good time for us to get away
from the weirdness of this town. I seem
to remember you once saying you wanted to leave Roswell. Well, now’s your chance. Who’d stop you?”
Isabel knew Jesse was right. She understood everything he was saying and knew it was
true. Isabel had wanted to
leave. She had wanted a normal
life. Isabel wanted a family. But Isabel knew there was a lot more to
moving than Jesse would have liked to think.
Since the madness and the un-interrupting chase for aliens and their
existence, Isabel had found a normalcy in Roswell. She had a life here.
“Jesse?” Isabel whispered.
Jesse smiled and pulled her into a warm embrace. “Yes?”
“What if I said no?
What if I told you my life was here?” Isabel sniffled. “What if I told
you I need to be near my family?”
Isabel felt the muscles in Jesse’s body tense and he put
distance between them. “But Isabel?
Think of all that we could do!
You’d be free from this morbid curse of being an alien!” Jesse
exclaimed. “You wouldn’t have to be
stuck worrying about every little thing.
You wouldn’t have to worry about being ‘found’ out.”
Isabel looked up at the ceiling; afraid her tears would
fall. “Jesse, I know. But my family’s here! I can’t leave them. And what about my dad? Have you talked to him about this?” Isabel
accused. “God Jesse, this is my life
you’re turning upside down.”
A dark cloud seemed to fill Jesse’s eyes and his mouth
pursed tightly together. “Your life!”
Jesse shouted. He looked at Isabel
incredulously. “Your life is going to
be turned upside down? What about
mine? I have to be carefully what I say
or do, just because some alien or bounty hunter or government spy might
overhear me? I have to be wary
of the friends I make because they may only want to use me to get
to you?”
Isabel took a few steps back, startled at the sudden rage
that filled her husband. “Jesse!”
Isabel cried. “I…”
Jesse interrupted.
“I only want a normal life Isabel? Is that too much to ask?
Michael and Max may still want to stay fixed into this psychotic world
of intrigue and murder and unexplainable occurrences; trying to figure out the
next mystery or danger, but I don’t! I
don’t want a life where my wife could be kidnapped, tortured, or killed in a
split second. I don’t want to know that
I may die in some tragic car accident, or even be healed by your magical
brother. Normal! Do you understand that?”
Dumbfounded, Isabel embraced her husband. How could she have been so stupid? In her heart Isabel knew her secret would
come out. In the end, Isabel knew that
normal wasn’t a part of the equation with her.
But Isabel had promised to love, honor, and cherish this man. Through sickness and in health… Isabel had to give him the life she
promised him.
Isabel would move to New York with Jesse.
~~~
It seemed like withdrawal.
Michael hadn’t seen Isabel in two weeks now. And his plan to enlist Max into his cause hadn’t worked. Maxwell had been too busy trying to
re-establish a stronger relationship with Liz, his apparent soul
mate. Hmmph! Michael never believed those two would make
it as a couple.
Although Michael and Max were distinctly different and they
hardly ever agreed on anything, they agreed on this one thing. Destiny would never happen. Not if they had their way. It was something they had silently
understood about each other. Michael
and Max had led their lives according to what they believed was true and they
believed in true love and fate, but when Tess had shown up and triggered
something within each of the 3 pseudo-aliens, both Michael and Max had been
shaken.
Michael, at that time, had been ‘in love’ with Maria. So Michael couldn’t let himself believe in
the destiny between him and Isabel. But
slowly, Michael had been gaining insight into their world and their lives and
an odd revelation occurred to Michael the night of Isabel’s birthday
party. He wanted her. As Isabel had so aptly said, “No. I belong with you. But I don’t
think either one of us wants to think about that too much”’
Michael had never wanted to face that part of him. His destiny. He did believe in true love, and the fact
that ‘there is one chosen for you’, although you could deny it all you
wanted. And believe it, Michael had
done that, but clarity had begun settling on Michael these past several weeks,
and as much as he hated the fact that the powers above had engineered
himself and Max, Isabel, and Tess, Michael no longer denied who his
destiny was. It was Isabel.
It was
amazing what clarity comes from days of absence and longing desire for the one
you couldn’t have. Michael missed
Isabel. She’d always been there. And as much as Maria replaced that need for
Isabel, in the end, Michael could have no other. No one could replace the fiery blonde, who challenged him, put up
with him, and yet loved him and supported him his whole life. After all the time he’d spent investing in a
relationship with Maria, Michael was left dealing with unanswered questions and
desires for the life before, the life on Antar. But he was different and so was Isabel. They were not Vilandra and Rath; Isabel was married to Jesse and
Michael, well, he was alone.
~~~
Michael
trudged into his apartment. His day at
work hadn’t been too labor intensive, but he’d had to sit through Monk and
Fly’s inane conversation tonight and wasn’t ready to head back tomorrow for the
sequel.
Riiing.
Michael
rubbed his neck and picked up the cordless phone sitting on the kitchen
counter. “Hello?” Michael grunted.
“Michael?”
Isabel greeted.
“Isabel!” Michael was surprised at this call. He hadn’t expected to hear from her for a
while, since Jesse’s loving isolation.
“What are you calling for? Does
Jesse know you’re talking to me?
Michael
smirked at the thought. Told you
Ramirez, she’ll always come home to us.
We’re her family.
He heard
her scoff on the phone. “Michael, get
real,” she chided. “I do not
need my husband’s permission to talk to you, or Max for that matter!”
Michael
rolled his eyes. “Really?”
“Yes really. Now if you’d stop interrupting me, I’d like
to invite you over for dinner Friday night,” Isabel sighed.
This
stunned Michael. Dinner? Michael walked over to the couch and sat
down, fidgeting with a near by pen.
“Dinner?” he asked curtly. “Now
why would Jesse want me over for dinner?”
Michael
could hear Isabel’s frustration over the phone, and something else. “Isabel?
Is something wrong?”
There was
silence over the receiver. Finally
Michael heard Isabel take a deep breath and exhale. “Michael, I invited everyone.
Mom and Dad are coming. Max and
Liz. You could invite Maria to come
with you…” Isabel’s voice trailed off.
Now Michael
definitely knew something was up.
“Maria? Why would I invite
Maria?” Michael asked accusingly.
“Well,”
Isabel hesitated. “Because I know you
care about her. And well, we’re not best
friends you know, and I think it’s appropriate for you to ask, rather than
me.”
Michael
frowned. He couldn’t get this sinking
feeling that Isabel was hiding something from him. Michael bit his lip and took a deep breath. “Fine,” he sighed. “I’ll come. What time?”
“How’s six o’clock?” Isabel chirped.
Michael could tell she was relieved that he’d stopped
questioning her about it.
“Or are you working that evening?” Isabel asked worriedly.
Michael walked over to his fridge. He’d stuck his time schedule on the freezer door. “Uh, no,” Michael informed. He’d be working evening shifts Wednesday and
Thursday. “I’m working the early shift
that day. I should be off.”
“Great!” Isabel said cheerfully. “Then six o’clock it is.”
“Yeah, great!” Michael huffed and said goodbye before he hit
the ‘end’ button.
It was a positive and negative pull. Michael wanted to see Isabel, but part of
him dreaded it.
Something was about to happen, and Michael knew that neither
he, nor anyone else was going to like it.