Roswell Fanatics

Ok, everyone, I know it's been a good while but I'm back with a new part and a fairly long one at that. I told everyone before that if you didn't like Jesse and Isabel together, you might not like this fic. You find out why in this part. I hope you guys are still around and interested. Let me know what you think!

Beth

Part 21

Isabel sat down at the table out on the patio of the café and nervously waited for Jesse to say something. Her hair, which was blond again and had already grown to shoulder length, blew gently in the breeze. She knew that her friends and brothers were waiting inside the café to know what happened between them but all of that was background noise compared to the pounding of her heart in her ears. Jesse sat down and gave Isabel a small smile. He seemed as nervous as she felt.

“So how did your trip go?” she asked, trying to break the tension.

Relief and gratefulness flooded his features and he sat back, relaxing a little but not completely. “Good. We won the case and didn’t end up having to go to court,” he answered.

She smiled. “That’s great.”

“Yeah, your father was pretty happy about it,” he told her. Then he decided to just dive in. “Isabel, I’ve been offered a position in Boston at a pretty great firm. The benefits and everything look good and they’re even willing to pay half of the moving expenses.”

Isabel collapsed back into the chair, her smile quickly fading. “Boston? Wow! That’s…that’s great, I guess. So when do they want you out there?” she asked. Inside she was dying to know why he was bringing this up. Did he want to go? Did he want to take her with him? Was he planning on letting her make the decision?

“They really want me there by the first of next month,” Jesse answered.

“Wow! So soon,” she responded absently. Her eyes dropped down to her hands folded in her lap. She couldn’t ask him what she so desperately wanted to know. It was his voice calling her name that forced her to look back up into his face.

“Isabel, look at me,” he told her. When he had her eyes, he took a deep breath and continued. “I accepted the job.”

“Oh,” was all she could think to say. He had made up his mind without her. Her only hope was that he wanted her to go with him. She couldn’t look at him anymore. The suspense and fear was just too great.

“I want a divorce, Isabel,” he said quietly.

Her head shot up and her eyes quickly filled with tears. “Jesse, please let’s talk about this. We can work through this.”

Jesse was already shaking his head. “Isabel, no…we can’t.”

But she wasn’t listening. Leaning forward to emphasize her words, Isabel grabbed his hand in hers and squeezed it tightly. “Yes, we can, Jesse. We can go to Boston together and start over…get to know each other again and…” she babbled on, ignoring the tears that flowed freely down her cheeks.

Pulling his hand out of her grasp, he finally got her to stop. “Isabel, listen to me!” he said forcefully.

Sniffling, Isabel tried to pull herself together. “Please don’t leave me because I’m different,” she whispered.

Sighing and closing his eyes briefly, Jesse leaned forward in his seat again. “Isabel, the fact that you…are what you are has nothing to do with my wanting a divorce. You and I met and had that great passion and chemistry at the beginning, and I think that we took that for love…you took it for love. When we started dating, you were such a refreshing breeze in my life and you were young and looking for love and I was so attracted to you. Then we got engaged and you kept moving the wedding up and then we got married and it was just…it’s just…it’s like our entire relationship has been one big whirlwind.

“We didn’t take the time to get to know each other the first time. There was…is so much we don’t know about each other but I was willing to find out after the wedding but then you turned into this Christmas Nazi and you were always doing something to the house or to yourself and I started to work more because I dreaded coming home to more changes. You went from being a nice breeze to being a tornado and you had me going in circles. Then on top of that you tell me that I never knew you at all because you didn’t let me see the real you,” he said, trying to explain. Seeing that she just looked confused, he leaned closer taking her hand again.

“Isabel, I was willing to put up with it all because I thought that we loved and trusted each other. The truth is, I don’t think you really love and trust me. I think that you wanted to be in love and have a family and be normal so badly that you just latched on to me because I was the first man to come along that showed real interest in you. I could take the intensity because I loved you but I don’t think that’s true of you. I think you need someone who can be just as intense…someone who you feel you can talk to and confide in and be yourself around. Can you honestly say that you didn’t feel you had to hide the real you, that you could be yourself, that you didn’t check the windows or the clocks to see if you had time to do something before I got home?” he asked her.

She couldn’t answer him. In all honesty, she had watched for him to come home before doing certain tasks because of her powers and because she didn’t want him to find out certain things. Isabel thought back to Christmas when she had tried to do all the things she usually did and Jesse had gotten frustrated with her. Instead of helping her out with some of the tasks she was doing and spending time with her that way, helping out others, he had asked her to compromise who she was and to give up a part of her to be with him. Isabel had done it because she thought that was what normal wives did, but she had hated it.

Seeing that he was getting through to her, he leaned back and took a deep breath. “I don’t want to make this any messier than it has to be. Isabel, I do love you and care about you. That’s why I want this divorce. You deserve to be with someone who will make you happy,” he said. She still hadn’t moved so he told her to say something.

“If you want to leave, Jesse, I can’t stop you. However, Max, Shannon, and Michael want to talk to you before you go. They told me to tell you if that’s what you decided,” Isabel told him, not thinking of anything else to say. “Jesse, please let me come with you,” she whispered, pleading one last time, knowing it was useless.

“I can’t and I won’t,” he answered. Standing up he straightened the suit jacket he was wearing. “I’ve gotta go pack up some of my things. Everyone that wants to talk to me can come by this evening while I’m getting things together. I’ll stay at a hotel and pack up my things and get ready to move while you’re in class so I won’t interrupt you. If you want I’ll still support you until you get out of school. In any case, I’ll pay alimony…” he told her, the lawyer in him coming out. Coming around the table to where she sat, he leaned down and kissed her cheek. “Goodbye, Isabel.”

He was gone for a full five minutes before she burst into tears. Letting her head fall onto her arms on the table in front of her, she sobbed and wept harder than she had ever cried in all her life. She didn’t hear anyone come up behind her so when she heard a male voice ask if she was alright, she jumped. Turning around, she saw Kyle and Shannon standing there with Max, Michael and Maria standing behind them. Shannon dropped into the chair beside her and put her arms around her best friend.

“He’s gone. He wants a divorce,” Isabel choked out. “He’s taking a job in Boston and is supposed to start at the beginning of next month.”

“You want me to go after him and beat him up?” Michael asked, feeling helpless.

Shannon shot him a look. “That wouldn’t help the situation, Michael,” she stated. Turning to Isabel she hugged her friend close. “I’m so sorry, Isabel. I really don’t know what else to say except that and that I’m here if you need to talk to someone.”

“That goes for all of us,” Max said, sitting in the other seat. Kyle stood awkwardly with the others, wanting to comfort Isabel but not sure how. Maria just rubbed Isabel’s back in circles, for once not sure what to say. She wished Liz were there as she always seemed to know what to say.

“Oh, you guys, I don’t know what I’d do if I didn’t have you all around,” she said, just holding onto her brother and best friend. Then she remembered what Jesse had said about being at home tonight. “Oh! Jesse said that if you guys wanted to talk to him, we need to do it tonight. He’ll be there packing up some of his things.”

Michael cleared his throat uncomfortably and exchanged glances with Max and Shannon. “Um, we do need to talk to him but it doesn’t have to be tonight,” Max told her. They hadn’t told her of their plan yet because they had hoped they wouldn’t have to put it into action.

Isabel studied them and noticed their nervousness. “I know you guys want to talk to him about not telling anyone about our secret, but I know he won’t tell anyone. You don’t have to worry about that,” she said.

Hesitantly, Shannon acknowledged that Isabel was right. “Well, yes we did want to talk to him about not telling anyone but there’s more to it than that. Isabel, we really don’t have to talk about this now.”

Shaking her head, Isabel disagreed. “No, I want to get all of this over with as soon as possible. I don’t want to drag this out. If he wants out, if it’s really over then I want to finish the details as quickly as we can. What else is there?”

Looking to the others for their ok and receiving it, Shannon continued to explain. “Isabel, you do want Jesse to be able to move on and not constantly worry about you or us or even that someone might come after him because of what we are, don’t you?” she asked. Isabel nodded. “Well, the only way to really make that possible is if we take away any knowledge that might bring him harm.”

Shannon waited for her meaning to sink in and Isabel’s face contorted in anger. “You want to mindwarp him? Are you completely heartless? We told you that Tess killed Alex with that particular power and now you want to use it on Jesse? You’ve lost your mind if you think I’m going to let you do that!” she shouted.

“Isabel, just hear me out for a minute! Tess killed Alex with that power because she didn’t really know what she was doing and she kept doing it until it killed him. I promise you that if you let us do this, it will be done right the first time. We wouldn’t have to change much, just his memories of the fact that we’re not from this planet,” Shannon explained.

“We have to do something, Isa. Otherwise, Jesse will constantly be looking over his shoulder like we do,” Michael pointed out. Max nodded at his sister.

“We should at least give Jesse the option. That’s what we wanted to talk to him about. We wouldn’t do it without his or your permission. I do think this is best for everyone involved,” he told his sister.

Seeing that Isabel was starting to waver on the matter, Shannon spoke up again. “Isa, I promise that I would never do anything that would harm him or you. I care about both of you but this really is good for him and for you.”

“You won’t change my memories,” Isabel told them. They nodded in understanding. Sighing, she gave in, knowing they were right. “Alright, if Jesse agrees to it, I’ll go along with it. But he has to agree.”

* * * * * * * * * * *

They all pulled up in front of the Ramirez home in a caravan. Maria rode with Max and Shannon, Michael had his bike, and Kyle had driven Isabel because he had picked her up. As they pulled up, Kyle made no move to get out of the car. Noticing this, Isabel looked at him questioningly. “Aren’t you coming?” she asked.

“I wasn’t sure if you wanted me to. You have a lot of support and I didn’t know if you would think I was just in the way,” he admitted. Sure he came across as a very self-confident person and in many ways he was, but when it came to Isabel, Kyle was constantly over thinking things. He never wanted to overstep any bounds she might have for them.

“Kyle, of course I want you to come in. The more support I have the better! Besides, Shannon may be my girl best friend but you are by far my guy best friend. You are my Alex like he was to Maria and Liz,” she told him, placing a hand on his arm. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

He swallowed and used opening his door to distract from his emotions. “Ok, then, let’s go.”

They all went inside and found Jesse. Sitting him down, they explained everything that they had told Isabel. Looking at each of them in turn and then at Shannon lastly, he asked, “What exactly will you do?”

Relieved that he seemed to at least be open to the idea, Shannon pulled a chair up facing him and sat down. “Well, first I’d have to connect with you to see exactly what memories I need to change. That’s one of the problems Tess created. When memories are made, pathways are created in the brain. It sounded like Tess simply would block these pathways so the memories couldn’t be accessed. What I need to do is to create new pathways, new memories. I would simply change only the memories that need to be changed. You won’t feel any different, you won’t remember the other way later, you will simply think that the memories I give you are accurate.”

“I don’t know if I like you searching through all of my memories for the ones you want to change. Some of my life is private to me, including some of my time with Isabel,” Jesse told them.

“I’d be the only one to see them and I promise you that I will not tell a soul. I will put them in my subconscious in the back recesses so that I won’t even be able to know they’re there. I might have dreams about them but I won’t even remember the dreams,” Shannon assured him.

There was silence for a full ten minutes as Jesse thought it over. Then he looked at Isabel. “What do you think?” he asked her.

Forcing herself to meet his eyes, she answered him as honestly as she could. “I think it’s a good idea if you want to be free of the alien burden. I want you to be able to lead a normal life no matter how mine goes and this is a way that can happen.”

Finally, he nodded slowly and turned to Shannon. “Ok, let’s do it,” he told her. Before she could say anything, however, he turned back to Isabel. “Isabel, just know that I didn’t ask for the divorce because you’re an alien.” Looking at the others and finally letting his eyes land on Max, he reached his hand out. “I wish you all the best of luck. Take good care of each other and of Isabel.”

Max shook his hand. “We will,” he answered confidently.

“Ok, I’m ready,” Jesse told Shannon, suddenly feeling like Dorothy in the “Wizard of Oz”.

Placing her hands on either side of his head, she took a deep breath and closed her eyes to center herself. “Ok, just let your mind kind of blank out,” she told him. That was the last thing he heard before blacking out.

* * * * * * * * * * *

Isabel closed the door and sighed, trying not to once again give way to tears. Jesse was gone and he wouldn’t be back. True to her word, Shannon only removed and recreated any references to the alien abyss in his memories, instead using the other arguments Jesse gave to Isabel as the main reason he thought he was leaving. He still felt she didn’t really love or trust him but the main reason why he felt so had been wiped away.

Not wanting to have to explain why there were so many people around when Jesse’s new memories kicked in, Shannon quickly told most of them to go home. She and Kyle hid out in her room, promising the others they would call as soon as Jesse had left and they made sure Isabel was ok. Now they came up behind her and patiently waited for her to turn around.

“Well, that’s the end of that,” Isabel said tiredly. “Thanks for staying, both of you.” Turning around, she gave a half-hearted smile to her two best friends. “I really need someone else around right now.”

Kyle shifted uncomfortably. It was getting late and he was tired but he wasn’t sure he should go yet or if he should stay. “Isabel, I know it’s late and you’re probably tired. Do you want me to go? Are you going to be alright?” he asked.

Panic covered her features. “No! I mean, please don’t go. I would really appreciate it if you would stay tonight. You can sleep on the couch or if Shannon doesn’t mind, maybe I can bunk with her and you can have my bed.”

Shannon spoke up at that. “You’re perfectly welcome to share that king sized bed with me, Isa. I’m sure that Kyle would be more comfortable in a real bed than on the couch.”

“I don’t want to be a problem,” Kyle said, rubbing the back of his neck and yawning. “But I’d like to stay to make sure you’re ok.”
“I can’t tell you how much it would mean if you would stay, Kyle. You really are my other best friend,” Isabel said, hugging him tightly.

He allowed himself to be hugged for a minute or two but then pulled away before his body began to react to being so close to a beautiful woman. “Well, I hate to not stay up and chat about all of this but I can hardly keep my eyes open so if you don’t need me right now, I think I’ll go ahead and turn in.”

“Of course, and thanks again, Kyle,” Isabel said. Turning to Shannon, she pleaded with her. “I know you worked today but would you mind staying up with me a little while? I really would like to try to get my mind off of everything.”

“Sure, no problem,” Shannon answered, following her friend to the bedroom.

Kyle watched the girls go into the room and close the door and he went into the bedroom where Isabel and Jesse had slept. Quickly undressing and cleaning up a bit in the bathroom, he climbed into the bed and moved until he could smell Isabel in the sheets. Smothering his cry of frustration in the pillow, he snuggled the pillow to him and fell asleep dreaming of the married friend he had fallen in love with.

Part 22

Max pulled up in front of his sister’s house and took a deep breath. He and Shannon had another date tonight, nothing fancy just dinner and a movie. The feeling of happiness at being with Shannon was momentarily clouded by thoughts of his sister sitting at home alone. It had been three weeks since Jesse had left and for the first week, Isabel had stayed in the house and cried for hours at a time. The next week had been better for her but she had clung to her friends and family like saran wrap, always showing up for lunch at the high school or sitting in the Crashdown while Shannon worked and even going with Shannon and Max on their dates. This was the first week that she had seemed ok.

He knocked on the door and Isabel threw it open, her ear to the phone, and held up a finger to Max and pointed to the phone. She mouthed one word, “Mom”, and motioned for him to come in. “Yeah, mom, I know you thought we were happy but you were right in the beginning thinking that I was rushing into this marriage. Now it’s over. I’ve accepted that, I just have to live through the grief of it. I’m not sure I ever really was in love with him or him with me.”

Max followed her through the living room into the kitchen wondering what had started that conversation. Isabel put her mother on hold and turned to him with a half smile. “Sorry about that. Shannon is still getting ready; she’ll be in here in a minute. I called to talk to mom about what I got in the mail today,” she told him, pointing to a pile of papers on the kitchen table. “Check it out.”

He moved over to the table as she picked back up with Diane. When he realized what the papers were, his eyes shot up to his sisters with a sympathetic look on his face. She only shook her head and shrugged in resignation. Covering the mouthpiece on the phone, she whispered, “I knew they’d be coming sooner or later. I’m kind of glad they came sooner. It will help to bring closure to all of this.” She quickly uncovered the mouthpiece and made several noises to show her mother she was paying attention.

As Max contemplated the implications of everything that had happened over the past few weeks and the culmination in those papers, the door to the living room swung open and Shannon breezed through. “Hey,” she greeted him warmly, giving him a peck on his lips. “Let me just get my purse and I’ll be ready to go.”

She disappeared through the door again but Max followed her. “Hey, did you see what came in the mail today for Isabel?” he asked.

Shannon opened the coat closet by the door and pulled out a sweater. Turning back to the dark haired man who held her heart once again, she nodded sadly. “Yes, I was with her when she opened it. She really handled it much better than I thought she might. She told me she had been expecting them eventually. Getting the divorce papers so quickly and getting it over with might be for the best.”

Watching every move as Shannon put on the sweater and pulled her long dark beautiful hair free of it, Max thought on what she said. “Do you think she’s really handling it as well as she is trying to let everyone believe? I heard her talking to mom and she sounded like it was no big deal.”

Looking him in the eyes she shook her head. “No, I don’t think she’s handling it as well as she’d have us believe.” He nodded his head at that but she wasn’t finished. “But I also don’t think she is taking it as badly as you might think.” At his puzzled look, she wondered just how much she should reveal to Max and how much should be left for him to discover on his own. “The people who love her have helped her much with the burden she has to bear. She has found that some are easier for her to talk to than others.”

Max didn’t let his eyes leave Shannon’s as he contemplated her words. He knew that Isabel found confiding in Shannon easier than talking to Michael or Maria or even him, but he also knew that she was trying to tell him something else…something she wasn’t sure he was ready to accept, or she would have come right out and said it. Just as he was about to ask what she meant, Isabel came back through the kitchen door.

“Hey, Max, you guys have fun tonight ok?” she told them as she headed for the back of the house.

“What are you going to do?” he asked, hoping it was something outside of the house.

Isabel turned back and gave him half a smile. “Go over my divorce papers, take them over to mom and dad’s for dad to look over and suffer through mom’s new recipe from the latest magazine she’s read,” she answered.

“Why don’t you come with us? We could drop off the papers at mom and dad’s and then head for the movies,” Max suggested. Realizing what he had just said, he quickly looked to Shannon who to his relief was nodding in agreement instead of wearing a look of hope that Isabel would turn them down. He was once again reminded what a great person Shannon really was.

Isabel shook her head quickly. “No, no way. I realize how pathetic that was; I knew it was pathetic when I did it before but then I really didn’t want to be alone. I don’t want to now but I’m trying to get over this as quickly as possible. I know it will take some time but I don’t want to drag it out either. You two go and have fun. It’ll be nice to spend time with mom and dad again, even if it is over divorce papers and some weird inedible concoction.”

They left after giving her hugs and kisses on her cheeks. As they headed for the movie theater, they were quiet but it wasn’t awkward. Max was trying to figure out what Shannon had been trying to tell him, and Shannon had a million thoughts running through her head. Realizing he might not be coming across as a good and attentive date, Max struck up a conversation with Shannon that lasted until the movie started.

* * * * * * * * * *

“Graduation is only three weeks away; can you believe it?” Eileen asked. “So what are you going to do? Are you going on to Harvard like you said you’ve always wanted?”

Liz looked up from her journal and turned to her roommate. “I didn’t make it in, remember? I botched up the interview in Roswell. I did get accepted into several other good colleges, though, and I’m trying to decide if I want to go to one of them. I’m just glad I have a little time to decide which one. Mom thinks I should go to Columbia while dad wants me to go to an all girls’ school. I’m still thinking of taking a year off before I go but I lose a couple of scholarships I’ve been offered if I do that.”

Eileen scrunched up her face. “You are such a goodie goodie, it makes me sick. So what are you going to do right after graduation? Are you going back to Roswell?” she asked.

Sighing and looking out of the window, Liz seemed to answer from far away. “I can’t run from my problems forever. I guess I’ll have to go back to Roswell…at least for a little while.” She turned back to Eileen with a small smile. “Besides, I finally got it out of Maria that Max has been dating someone new and they really seem happy. That should make it easier right?”

Her roommate snorted at that. “Yeah, right. Whether or not you still love him, you still have to clear up the history between you. I just hope that the new girlfriend will understand that. Otherwise, you two might have more problems than ever.”

Liz thought about Eileen’s words and knew she was right. Just the night before, she had finally broken through Maria’s one word answers to her questions and her avoidance to talk to her and got her to admit that Shannon and Max were dating and they seemed really happy. While Liz was happy for them if they were happy, she couldn’t help but feel a sense of foreboding when it came to Max. She made Maria tell her the entire story and couldn’t believe how much she had missed in the months she had been away from home. Shannon was an alien, and not just any alien, Michael’s sister and Max’s first love.

For the first time since she had gotten shot and Max had healed her, she felt left out of the group. She didn’t expect everyone to put their lives on hold while she went away to school but she hadn’t expected for everyone to move on as they had either. Maria and Michael were really back together and it sounded like it was for good this time. Everyone seemed to like this new addition to the alien club and the truth was Liz thought Shannon had sounded nice on the phone the few times she had talked to her as well. So why did she feel let down.

The scientist in her decided that she needed to review all the information that Maria had given her. There was a lot to go over and she still hadn’t talked to her parents about coming home although she had meant to yesterday. She hadn’t told Maria that she was coming home yet either. She kind of felt it should be a surprise. She didn’t want everyone to act weird around her.

* * * * * * * * * *

Max walked Shannon up to the front porch of the home she shared with his sister. “As always, I had a great time tonight,” he told her.

Shannon smiled at him. “I did too. The movie was good, dinner was great, but nothing topped my date.” She leaned in for their kiss and was immediately pulled into his arms. It wasn’t fast and furious but slow, sensual, and made her feel cherished.

Just as they pulled back, Max whispered, “I love you, Shannon.” His eyes popped open as he realized what he had said and met Shannon’s stunned expression. This was the first time he had said those words and even though he meant them and didn’t regret saying them, maybe the timing wasn’t right yet.

“Max, do you mean that? I mean, you aren’t just saying that are you? Because if it was just one of those heat of the moment things, I completely understand and we’ll just forget it…” Shannon started babbling.

Max made her look at him and placed a finger over her lips. “Shannon, I meant every word. I don’t remember a time when I was happier than when I’m with you. You’re beautiful, you’re sweet, you’re a great person and friend and I’ve fallen in love with you,” he told her.

Her beautiful eyes began to tear up as she realized he meant what he said. “Oh, Max, I love you too,” she whispered. They kissed again and just held each other before the porch light went on. They pulled away just as Isabel opened the door.

“Oh, god! I’m sorry. I just heard a noise outside the door and I came to check it out. There was a stray cat out here earlier and I thought it might be him again. You guys just go back to whatever you were doing and don’t mind me,” Isabel apologized, closing the door again.

Max and Shannon looked at each other sheepishly. “Well, I’d better go on inside; I’m on the early shift tomorrow morning,” Shannon said. “I’ll see you tomorrow?”

“Of course. I should go anyway. I’m supposed to go through the books at the UFO museum tomorrow,” Max said. He gave her another quick peck on the lips and walked to his car.

Shannon waved goodbye as he pulled off. Just as she turned to go inside, she heard a rustling in the bushes to the left. She looked to see what was causing it when she heard a whisper. “Shauna,” came a male voice.

A caution sign seemed to flash right in front of her eyes but she made sure her hands were free to take care of any danger before she answered. “Who’s there?” she asked.

A man stepped out from the bushes and she let out the breath she had been holding. “It’s me, Larek. I need to talk to you.”

“Larek, you scared me to death! Why are you sneaking around in the bushes?” Shannon demanded. She walked over to where he was standing. “Look, it’s late and I’m tired. Can’t this wait until tomorrow?”

“I wish it could but I can’t hold onto this body that long. The time with this one is almost up. You know how much time it takes to look for a new one that will work for us. I can’t afford to waste the usable time left,” Larek said.

Sighing, Shannon nodded to the side of the house. “Ok, but let’s go around to the back patio and sit down to talk. I only hope that you bring good news.”

Well, in the 20 or so days I've run the poll to see what everyone wants to see happen to this fic, I've gotten a total of 5 replies and no one volunteering to help me. So, while it pains me to say it, I'm afraid I'll be calling it quits with this story. If you liked my style of writing, please don't hesitate to check out my other stories, "Picking Up the Pieces" with its sequel "Putting the Pieces Together" and the CC story "Against My Programming" which is dedicated to Alex. Thanks for your interest and understanding.

Beth