Author: Vegas312
Disclaimer: I do not own Roswell, so please don't sue me. I wouldn't mind claiming season one though if they want to give it to me. No? *sighs* A girl can always dream right?
Rating: TEEN (a dash of language, but nothing to make you blush and hide)
Coupling: A/I
Summary: A sequel to Turn Around. Takes place about an hour later. While the storm rages outside, there's one raging quietly inside. Will Alex and Isabel deal with it?
AN: I know, I know, you all are wondering where the heck is the update to Apocalypse. Its coming honestly, but Kyle is holding up production so um yeah blame him. *nods head* Anyway just wanted to say many thanks to my Girl Friday, IIlyme4Ever (Mary) for encouraging me to keep going with the idea and not to give up writing. And yes I"m emailing it to you. LOL Now where's my banner?
Anyway enjoy and I hope you guys like it. Comments are most welcome.
AN2: All quotes are credited to their fellow writers, poets, etc. Many thanks for the inspiration to Henry David Thoreau, John Lennon, John Keats, and Voltaire. I own none of their work, and I should be so lucky to come up with something as great.
With Love
“Just breathe.”
The voice broke through the small panic that had enthralled her when the lightening had begun when the storm had turned for the worst. Ever since she could remember, she had hated storms and the fear that they installed in her. She didn’t know whether it was the thought of not being in control of something that bothered her the most about the storms, or the fact that there was nothing neat or understandable about the rage of a storm.
Moving away from the window where she had engaged in her staring contest with the storm, she looked everywhere around the room except at him. Him. The guy who had just causally told her to breathe as if he was telling her the time of the day. The storm had just given her another reason to hate it, as it had shown him yet another one of her weakness.
He had already seen so much of her that she was always momentarily startled when he just calmly and matter of fact accepted another one of her quirks. His ready acceptance had always scared the hell out of her, and she was pretty sure that even forty years later it would still scare the hell out of her.
Pretending to stare with utter fascination at a lamp, she looked out of the corner of her eyes and studied him. Brown eyes swept the face of the young man before her that was maturing into the adult he would be someday soon and got a bit distracted by wishing that those dark bangs of his weren’t covering those dark blue eyes that saw so much. She opened her mouth to say something when at that exact moment Mother Nature decided to put on a show with white streaks of lights and a bang of thunder as an encore.
Startled by the display she quickly gave up her game of pretend, instead finding herself moving closer to him until only a few inches stood between them. ‘Damn inches.’ She grumbled to herself and quickly dropped her eyes when she found concerned dark blue eyes staring at her.
‘I don’t want his pity. I just want,’ She stopped the thought and wondered again what she wanted. One minute she wanted to be the center of his world, and the next minute she pushed him away telling herself that she could be content with just being friends. It wasn’t that the thought of them being more hadn’t crossed her mind, because God knows it crossed her mind on several occasions. Okay if she was going to be honest with herself, it crossed her mind several times a week, okay a day. Damn it.
Truth be told she was just plain…
“It’s okay to be scared.”
Startled her eyes flew up from the floor to stare into his and she fought back the blush that seemed to come from nowhere. “Scared? I’m not scared of anything.” She told him with as much dignity as she could mustered in her flustered state of wondering again about his accurate perception.
Alex nervously scratched the back of his neck and again thought now would be a good time to pray to whatever deities that he could remember to hurry up and end the storm. He hadn’t spent this much alone time with Isabel since he had come back from Sweden. A few months ago he would have kissed the ground to be able to spend this much time with her, but the trip had opened his eyes that just maybe neither one was ready for the other and would be nothing more than friends.
Oh he loved her no doubt about that, but he loved her enough to know that he couldn’t demand that she do the same and love him back. So he chosen to be the friend she wanted and needed and he was okay with that. Okay maybe at times he wished that there could be more, but he had shown her his intentions long ago and there was nothing more he could do.
‘There is no remedy to love, but to love more.’ The quote that he had been reading before the lights had gone out had never been more true. Maybe one day he would find someone else to love as much and who could love him back.
But as he looked at her standing there pretending to be studying the floor (she had to be pretending because really what could be that interesting about a concrete floor of a garage), he wondered if he was lying to himself now. Sighing he looked away and stared out of the window.
Silence. It grew between them and spoke more than any words could say. It spoke of the distance and the tension between them like nothing else could. There was only two of them yet it could have been two hundred people for the amount of talking that was said.
Licking his lips, he turned to say something, anything to break the tension when he found that she was standing there with her eyes half closed as the lightening continued to flash across the sky. Concern filled him and he gave up all pretenses of not paying her any attention, instead he hesitantly reached across those precious inches separating them and clasped her hand.
Not sure how she would react to her privacy being invaded, he quickly begin speaking in hopes to distracted her.
“Love is a canvas furnished by nature and embroidered by imagination.”
“What? Alex, what are you talking about?” She was half tempted to open her eyes and see if he had lost his mind, but the thought of seeing the lightening again was enough to keep her eyes shut tightly.
“We have a test tomorrow, so we still need to study and be ready for it.” He let a small smile cover his face as he took in the annoyed look she was giving him that was ruin by her eyes being closed. Once he was sure that he wouldn’t laugh, he nudged her playfully on the arm. “So do you know the answer or not? Because if you don’t then that’s ten points for me.”
“Ten points my ass.” She mumbled under her breath before speaking up. “Voltaire is the answer.”
He let out a ding noise and started to go onto the next question, but was interrupted by her telling him that it was her turn to voice the next question.
“Now a soft kiss -- Aye, by that kiss, I vow an endless bliss.”
“Please that’s an easy one. John Keats.” He teased her and laughed when she pinched him on the arm. For the next several minutes they continued to quiz each other neither realizing that they had moved closer and closer until they had completely covered those inches previously known as those damn inches.
Light tangled up with dark as she rested her head on his shoulder. Doing that was as natural as breathing and she realized it had been months since she had last done it. She missed it like she missed him.
Looking up from her position, she realized that she had known the answer to her question all along. It wasn’t that he scared her, although his uncanny ability to see deep into her wasn’t something to scoff at, rather she was scared that he loved her despite her flaws and that she wanted, needed him like nothing or no one before. Maybe what they had wouldn’t last, but somehow that no longer figured into the equation of what ifs rather here right now seemed to be more important.
But how did she go about telling him what she really meant? She thought briefly before she opened her mouth and hoped that he got the message clearly.
“Love is a promise; love is a souvenir, once given never forgotten, never let it disappear.”
“Um, Isabel, that’s John Lennon. What does that have to do with our English exam tomorrow? Unless you think that’s going to be on the bonus section.” He started to make a joke about Ms. Smith's love for the Beatles, but paused as he really looked at her.
Clarity was slow to come and when it did a warmth filled him, but he refrained from doing the happy dance that he was sure his twelve years old self was doing. Afraid to believe, he searched her eyes and only found acceptance, amusement, fear, and something more.
‘Please need me the way I need you.’ The refrain that had gone through his mind only an hour ago popped up and he realized that just maybe he wasn’t as alone in this as he thought.
A smile lit up his face as he quickly made a few adjustment to their positions and sighed with containment when she was settled in his arms. Too happy to comment on the shaking of her shoulders that he was sure was laughter at his eagerness to embrace this new level of their relationship, he leaned down and whispered against her ear, “You know I think old Thoreau had it right that there is no remedy for love except love itself.”
The heavens continued to pound the Earth with its tears while Mother Nature showed off with its light show, yet neither Alex or Isabel minded as much as before.
The End
