Roswell Fanatics

thanks for the feedback and SORRY for the long wait

SarahWhitman, you asked about a story and I wanted to know if you would write the story you asked the question for with Conventional Couples



Part 11

Slowly opening her eyes, Isabel turned her head, wincing a bit when stars shot behind her eyelids. Lifting her arm to pat the pilllow which was unusally hard, Isabel gasped in surprise when her hand came in contact with warm skin.

Ignorig the headache, Isabel turned her head and almost screamed in shock when she found Alex lying underneath her – naked. Looking down quickly, she discovered that she also wasn’t wearing any clothes. Leaning slightly on an elbow, she stared down at Alex, slowly remembering what had happened last night.

’Oh my God! What did we do? Why? How often???’ Taking a deep breath, Isabel tried to calm down a bit. ’Okay, it is quite obvious what we did. Probably because we were drunk and … and maybe because I am little, tiny bit attracted to him. A very tiny bit. I guess it was only once. Or twice? I can’t remember much of that but … it was good. Very good actually. AND SO WRONG!!!!!!!!!!’ her mind screamed.

Being disturbed in his sleep by the movements beside him, Alex stirred a little. He opened his eyes with a sigh and looked directly in Isabel’s shocked ones. ’What the heck is she doing here?’ he thought tiredly. ’And why is she naked?’ Realizing what he just thought, Alex looked back at Isabel in surprise.

Pulling the blanket up to her chin, Isabel could see the second when Alex realized what had happened. He had been looking down on their naked and still interwined bodies and back up to her in utter surprise. Moving down and away from him, she almost slapped herself for not doing that earlier.

After almost a minute of staring at each other uncomfortably, Alex cleared his throat. “Well, uh, … I think we both know what happened.” Getting no negative response, he continued, “So, I guesss we … should talk about it?”

“No!” Isabel snapped. Taking a breath she added, “At least not before we could both think about it. Lets talk about … this later. Tonight or tomorrow or … someday.” ’And stop looking at me like that before I try to repeat last night’s activities.’ she thought confused.

“uh, okay, lets not … talk about it today.” Seeing her relief he felt a bit hurt for some unknown reason. [i]’I know that I am not as good looking as her other … friends, but it wasn’t that bad – I hope! We could really talk about it. Or maybe I should just take a cold shower before I do something totally inappropriate.’[i]

Sitting up, ready to leave the bed, Alex asked, “Could you turn around, so I can get my trousers?”, after spotting his clothes on the other side of the room. [i]’How did they get there?’[/] he wondered. [i]’Oh, yeah, Isabel!’[i] he smiled, remembering last night’s activities.

Isabel, still trying to gain her composure again, answered distracted, “Why? Did something on you change in the last few hours?” Realizing what she just said and seeing the hurt look on Alex’s face, she already felt sorry for her words. “Sorry, I am just confused over everything and have a major headache … I didn’t mean it like it sounded.”

“That’s okay. Trust me, I know how you feel!” Alex answered truthfully. He dashed for his clothes and quickly pulled them on. “Okay, you can look, I am decent again.” Alex joked, then turned so he faced the wall. “Your clothes are laying in front of the bed.”, he informed her. [i]’I wonder if she would notice if I turn around for a second? I’d love to see her in that red camisole again!’[/] Alex mused with an evil smile.

Grabbing her own clothes, Isabel looked briefly over to Alex, who was still naked from the waist up. Spotting a hickey on his neck and the scratches going down his back, she grinned devilishly. [i]’He better not complain about those, it’s his own fault that he has them! I wonder where he learned to …’[i]

Isabel was jolted out of her thoughts by Alex, who asked “Do you wanna have a shower first or after me?”

Hearing the akwardness in his voice, Isabel couldn’t help but feel … strange about what happened. “I’ll go first if you don’t mind.”

“No problem, just don’t use all the hot water.” Alex replied, still studying the wall.

“I won’t” Isabel commented before closing the bathroom door. [i]’God, what’s wrong? I’ve had sex before and never felt like so strange afterwards. What’s so different about this?’[i] Isabel wondered as she absently ajusted the water temperature of the shower. [i]’Okay, I admit that I like him and that I enjoy his company. Of course I enjoy his company, he’s my friend after all.’[i]

“That’s it!” Isabel said out loud. [i]’It’s because he is my friend. That’s why it feels so different from the other times. You aren’t supposed to sleep with your friends. God, how am I supposed to act now?’[i]

She heaved a sigh of relief because she knew now why she was feeling so uncomfortable about everything, but then started to frown again. [i]’Why did it feel so right if it was wrong? Why do I look at him and get a funny feeling in the stomach? Why … WAIT! No way!’[i]

Isabel halted for a brief second, before continuing to dress herself. [i]’There is no way that I love him! No, it can’t be! I am just feeling like this because he saved me the that night. That’s all. I am just seeing him as a knight in shinning armour at the moment, nothing else! This feeling will pass!’[i]

Opening the door, she said, “Okay, you can go in now.” Alex moved past her quickly, mumbling a quiet, “Okay, thanks.”, before closing the door. [i]’God! This has to pass. Or else I’ll try to jump him or anything.’[i] Isabel thought miserably as she sat down on the couch.

thanks for all the feedback! I'm still grinning!

here's the next part - hope you enjoy!


Part 12

They hadn’t said a word to each other for almost seven hours. They were both sitting stoic in the jeep, looking out the window as if the most wonderful things were to see there. They just glanced briefly at each other, hoping that the other wouldn’t notice.

’Just one more day. One day and I can get away from him forever. As soon as I have a ticket for L.A., I’ll be leaving him and everything that happened behind me.’ Isabel thought calmly.

But in the last two (or were it three?) hours, a nagging voice in her mind constantly made her question her idea of just leaving Alex as soon as possible. That voice was saying that maybe, just maybe, it wouldn’t be so wrong if she stayed with him for a little longer, say, a whole lifetime maybe.

Next to her, Alex was having some though thoughts of his own. ’Maybe I should just ask her to stay with Sam and me a little while. I don’t want her to leave in a few days, I might never see her again. She won’t stay if I just ask her to. She is too independent to do that. But if I don’t say anything, she’ll think that I want her to leave.’

Noticing a strange noise ahead, Alex lifted his eyes a bit further down the road. Not believing his eyes, he abruptly put his foot hard on the brake.

“Have you totally lost your mind?” Isabel screamed angrily, barely managing to steady herself. She angrily glared at Alex, who just kept looking ahead. “What the heck is ..” Isabel trailed off when she also looked at the road again. Taking a double take she could barely stopping herself from letting her mouth drop open.

“What in God’s name is that?” Isabel asked, still not sure if she was seeing correctly.

“I have no idea, Isabel.” Alex answered truthfully, glancing at Isabel and taking a deep breath when he noticed how her hair was shining because of the sun. A loud grunt from the street turned his attention away from Isabel.

About 100 feet ahead of them were at least 80 cows and sheep standing on the street. They didn’t walk over the street, they just stood there as if they had nothing else to do. Alex noticed an old Jeep a few feet away from his own car and motioned to it so Isabel would notice it too.

Climbing out of the car, Isabel asked, “You grew up on a farm, didn’t you?” Quickly walking next to him towards the other car.

“Yeah, I did. Didn’t I tell you that? Why are you asking?” Alex questioned, letting his gaze flicker from the car to the crowd on the street. ’Could this world get any stranger?’ he thought.

“Well, did your family do that” she pointed to the animals, “well, did you bring them to the streets in your town from time to time too?” Isabel asked.

Alex looked at her as if she had grown a second head. “No. We didn’t. I have no idea why they are here. Maybe those two know something about it.” Alex motioned to the back seat of the car where two teenagers were having some fun.

Isabel raised her eyebrows when she saw the two teenagers making out on the backseat. Turning to Alex, she asked amused, “Do you want to do it?”

Alex shook his head. “No, no. You can do it.” He replied, his eyes twinkling with amusement.

Flexing her fingers, Isabel stepped close to the window of the car. She loudly knocked on the window, grinning when the teenagers sprung apart as if hidden by a bucket of cold water. [i]’Or caught by their parents.’[i] Isabel thought amused.

She took a step back, standing next to Alex again and flashed him a quick grin before turning her attention back to the couple in the car.

After a few seconds, the door opened and a small brunette girl and a muscular dark haired boy climbed out of the car. They both couldn’t be older than seventeen.

”Can … can we help you somehow?” The boy asked nervously, his voice cracking.

“Hopefully.” Alex said cheerfully, grinning broadly at them – just like Isabel. Their grins even got wider when the two teens blushed because they knew why Alex and Isabel were grinning.

“We are on our way to Tucson, when we noticed that the street was blocked.” Alex explained grinning. “You know what’s going on?”

Quickly glancing at the road, the young man answered, “Oh that! They belong to the farmer Jones. They are passing the road here every week.” That was said in a [i]what’s wrong with that[i] voice.

“How long will this … uh, convey need to pass the street?” Isabel enquired, not believing what she just heard.

“Oh, it should be over in a few minutes.” The girl said in a quiet voice. “The last ones are just crossing over.” She pointed with her hand to the animals. Alex and Isabel saw that there were really only about a half dozen animals left.

“Oookay.” Alex said after a moment of silence. “I grew up on a farm, but I have no idea why those animals have to pass the street every week.”

“Well, to get back to the stall obviously.” The boy said smugly and kissed the girl next to him. Giggling she pushed him away a little bit. “Behave!” she whispered quietly. Then she turned her attention back to Alex and Isabel who were watching with a mixture of uncomfortable silence and growing amusement.

“Where are you going if I might ask? And how long are you married?”

“We are going to Tucson and we are married for four days now.” Isabel answered awkwardly. Then a thought occurred to her. “How did you know that we are married?”

“The rings.” The girl said knowingly. “We want to marry as soon as we are allowed to. You two must be the happiest persons alive. Max! Stop that!” the girl cried out as her boyfriend again kissed her neck.

“Aww, come on Liz! Don’t spoil the fun.” ‘Max’ complained grinning. The two looked deeply into each others eyes, completely forgetting Alex and Isabel who were starring at them VERY uncomfortable.

“Uh, why don’t we go Alex?” Isabel finally asked, turning away from the strange teenagers. [i]’Happiest people? Get real stupid!!’[i] Isabel thought to herself.

“Sure. No problem at all.” Alex answered quickly, glad that he could leave those two behind since the cows and sheep had already disappeared. [i]’Happiest people? That would be too good to be true.’[i]


“It’s already getting dark.” Alex said after driving for about half an hour. “Maybe it’s better if you stay at Sam’s for at least tomorrow. If I remember correctly, then there should be enough room for you.”

Glancing at him, she bit her lip nervously. [i]’Should I really stay? Better not! I’ll just sleep in a motel and …’[i] “Yes! I’d love to stay with you and your family for the night.” [i]’Why did I just say THAT????’[i] Isabel screamed at herself. [i]’Didn’t I want to leave him as soon as possible?’[i]

[i]’No sweetie.’[i], a familiar and nasty voice in her mind said. [i]’You don’t want to leave him. Neither today nor ever! Just stop pretending and start making him yours. You want him!’[i]

“NO!” Isabel cried out.

Surprised, Alex swerved a little before getting his car under control again. “What ‘NO’? You want to stay now or not? I won’t force you!” he asked confused. [i]’Stop daydreaming about her when you are driving man!’[i] he reminded himself.

“Yes, yes, I’ll stay with you.” Isabel quickly said. “For tonight I mean. In your sister’s house.” She quickly corrected herself. [i]’As if I’d want to stay in the same room with him!’[i] she thought before groaning inwardly.

[i]’Who exactly are you trying to fool here sweetie?’[i] that little nasty voice asked amused.

thanks for the fb Kay, Keri and Calinia! and thanks for the bumps too Kay and Calinia!

here's part 13:


Part 13


“Well, I think we should get over it.” Alex said seriously.

“About time. You do realize that we are standing here now for about ten minutes?” Isabel asked slightly amused.

They were standing a block away from where Alex’s sister Sam lived with her family. Isabel had been surprised when Alex pulled over and had a hard time trying not to laugh when Alex explained that he needed time to ‘get himself in shape’, so he could meet his sister again. ‘Getting in shape’ meant obviously taking deep breaths and moving the hands rhythmically up and down.

“Easy to say for you. You don’t know my sister.” Alex retorted, sighing heavily.

“Why? Did she kick your ass when you were younger?” Isabel questioned with a grin.

“No! But she was always teasing me and telling me things about women that no sane man should know.” Alex explained with a shudder. Seeing Isabel’s confused expression, he muttered, “Like how painful it is to have the period or what women really think about men … such stuff.”

After a few steps, he stopped, looking at Isabel. “Are you laughing at me?”

“No.” Isabel managed to get out without starting to giggle again. Looking up at his seriously shocked face, she couldn’t stop breaking into a short laugh though. “Sorry.” She mumbled still giggling.

Starring at her open mouthed, he ranted, “I can’t believe it! Here, I tell you about some of my most horrible childhood experiences and you … you laugh! And people always say that men are not caring about other people’s feelings.”

“I’m really sorry, Alex. But the picture of you as a little boy, being tortured by your older sister who was telling you important things about a woman’s life …” Isabel had to chuckle again at that thought.

“Just stand there and laugh at me! I can take it.” Alex said darkly. “But one day … one day when you least expect it, I’m going to get you for this, Isabel. And then, we’ll see who’s laughing.”

When Isabel looked up at Alex, she saw him standing there, muttering to himself while nodding his head up and down. Thinking that he looked like an old preacher shattered the last piece of self control she still had left and she broke out into a full belly laugh.

Not believing what was happening to him, Alex felt the urge to hit himself, so he could convince himself that he wasn’t dreaming. ’I can’t believe that she’s laughing.’

When Isabel finally stopped laughing, she looked up at Alex shyly. “Sorry. Now, lets go to your sister!”

“Wait a moment!” Alex called out to Isabel. Moving closer he tucked a stray of hair that became loose during her laughter behind her ear. He couldn’t bring himself to move away from her again, he just kept starring into her chocolate brown eyes.

Isabel sucked in her breath when she felt his hand touch her cheek. She couldn’t stop herself from putting her arms on his shoulders or from licking her lips unconsciously.

Alex’s eyes left Isabel’s and moved downwards to her lips. Taking a deep breath he leaned down at the exact moment Isabel lifted her head. Both tightened their grip on each other when their lips touched. Leaning back an inch or two, Alex quickly looked into Isabel’s eyes, searching for a sign of regret. Seeing none, he brought his lips back down to hers, kissing her deeper this time.

Alex couldn’t help but groan when Isabel’s tongue invaded his mouth and he pulled her as close as possible, groaning again when he felt her body press against his. Isabel whimpered a bit when Alex’s lips left hers and trailed down her throat. Isabel had her head thrown back, so that Alex had better access to her throat. Hearing her gasp when he hit a particular sensitive spot, Alex started to gently suck and pull on the soft skin.

Suddenly, a car drove by, the driver yelling out a “Get a room!”.

Jerking apart, both took a couple of steps away from each other. Gasping for breath, they stared at each other in shock.

’What the heck just happened?’ Alex thought confused by what just happened. ’I’m going to kill whoever drove that car!’ he swore to himself as an afterthought.

Isabel was equally confused. ’Oh my God! How far would we have gone if the car hadn’t driven by?’. She forced her arm to not move to her neck and touch the place where Alex’s lips had been before.

Still feeling a tingle on her lips, Isabel cleared her throat. “I think we should really go and say hello to your sister now.”

“Uh, yeah … we really should.” Alex nodded, trying to calm down. Nodding once again to himself, he started walking again.

Quickly following him, Isabel asked, “How will your sister react to me?”

“Oh, she’ll probably be asking some questions about your life and such stuff and then, she’ll be very nice – I hope.” Alex shrugged, looking at the street.

“Yeah, but what about our marriage? How will she take that?” Isabel asked, not looking at Alex. At the moment, she wasn’t really interested in how Alex’s sister would react to their marriage, but she was desperately trying to talk about something because the uncomfortable silence between them was too much to bear.

“She already knows about it.” Alex replied nonchalantly.

“How?” Isabel questioned perplexed.

“I’ve called her two days ago and told her everything that happened with Brack.” Alex answered, sounding as if it was the most normal thing to be married because you bought a new identitie and got a wife as an extra.

“And?” Isabel pressed, getting a little frustrating with Alex’s not very informational answers. “How did she take it?”

“Quite good.” Alex replied, walking straighter again. “She couldn’t stop laughing for about five minutes.”

Realizing that she had stopped, Isabel quickly hurried after Alex. “She was laughing? Why?”

Shrugging, Alex answered, “Well, she has a very strange sense of humor for once. Sam thought that it is extremly funny that this is the only way for me to get a woman.” Snorting, he added, “She’ll be on your side of course.”

“My side?” Isabel echoed, not understanding what he meant.

”Whatever happens in the future between us, it will always be my fault.” Alex explained with a sigh. “Because I’m male, it is always my fault. Sam’s a strong believer of the female rights. At least when it comes to me.”

“I see.” Isabel said slowly, unsure of what to make of it.

“You’ll like her. Trust me. I mean, she’ll always be on your side.” Alex stated.

”Always?” Isabel asked.

”Always!”

Even though Isabel knew that Alex was not totally serious, she didn’t mind the idea of having someone who would not automatically think of her as the one to blame. Besides, it would probably be fun to have another female to talk to.

“Here we are.” Alex said, bringing her out of her thoughts.

Looking up, Isabel saw a nice, not too big yellow house with a small garden. Deciding that she liked it, Isabel smiled at Alex. “Lets get it on then.”

“Yeah.” Alex said. Smiling nervously, he knocked on the wooden door.

wow! thanks for all the fb Kay, Keri, Kat, SW and the bump
also thanks for the nomination for the best Stargazer Story - you have no idea how big my ego got!

here's Part 14, I hope you enjoy:

Part 14

Under normal circumstances, Isabel would have laughed at the look of nervousness on Alex’s face. Strangely enough, she felt nervous too, which she really couldn’t explain. ’It’s not like I’m really his wife and his sister is not really my sister-in-law, so, what’s the problem?’

The door finally opened and a woman in her late twenties with long, raven black hair stepped out of the house. Her eyes brightened when she saw Alex.

“Danny!” She flung herself into her brother’s arms. “God! It’s so good to see you again! It’s been way to long. I’ve really missed you!”

“I missed you too, Sam. More than you can know.” Alex repeated, squeezing his sister tightly. “But you know, it’s not ‘Danny’ anymore!”

“Oh yeah, sorry, Mr. Alex Manes.” Sam said grinning. “It’s a pleasure to meet you Mr. Manes.”

“Likewise Mrs. Colonny.” Alex smiled back.

Then the silbings turned to Isabel at the exact same moment. Isabel, who had looked at the reunion scene with a smile, grinned nervously at the other woman.

“Sooo,” Sam started, “you going to introduce us, *Alex*?”

“Yeah, sorry that I forgot about you.” Alex smiled sheepishly at Isabel, causing her to blush a bit. “Well, Isabel, that’s my older sister Samantha Colonny. Sam, that’s my wife Isabel Manes. God! Sam stop laughing!”

“Sorry.” Still chuckling, Sam turned to Isabel. “I didn’t want to laugh but thinking about you two ended up with each other. I pity you.”

“Hey! I heard that!” Alex protested with mock hurt.

“You were supposed to, brother.” Sam said lightly. “It’s nice to meet you Isabel.”

“Likewise.” Isabel said. She instantly liked the woman.

“Well then, Alex. Come on and carry your bags inside.” Samantha told her younger brother, while ushering Isabel inside.

Looking around, Isabel decided that she liked the small, but comfy looking house.

“MOM!!!” a young voice cried out, then, the soft tapping of little feet running over the carpet could be heard. A moment later, a four year old child was jumping around Sam. “Mom! Who were you talking too? Who’s that?” the child asked, pointing at Isabel and Alex, who just came in with some bags.

“Hey, hey. Calm down Jamie!” Sam told her son laughing. “Jamie may I introduce you to Alex and Isabel Manes. Alex and I are … “there was a small pause. “… we are old friends who went to the same school. Say hello to them.”

“Hello Alex and Isabel Manes.” Jamie said shyly.

Alex kneeled down in front of his nephew and shook his hand. “Nice to meet you Jamie. I’m sure we’ll get along well.” Jamie nodded at him smiling, happy that Alex was shaking his hand, like the grown ups constantly did. Then he turned to Isabel and smiled up at her.

Mimicking Alex’s moves, Isabel also kneeled down and shook Jamie’s hand. “Hey Jamie, it’s a pleasure to meet you. Please call me Isabel.”

“Sure Ma’am, erh, … Isabel.” Jamie replied.

“Jamie, would you get your father please?” Sam asked after a moment of silence.

“Sure, I’ll finish my paintings then too.” Jamie said happily, turning to the Manes, he explained, “I’m painting our house and Mom and Dad.”

“I’m sure that will look beautiful. Maybe you can show them to me when you are finished?” Isabel asked the little boy, smiling when Jamie nodded with pride.

After Jamie left, screaming “Daaad!” for a few times, Isabel couldn’t help but ask something that bothered her the whole time. “Jamie doesn’t know that Alex is his uncle?”

Sighing, Sam explained, “No. When Dan, I mean Alex, came up with his plan, Jamie wasn’t born yet. Aside from seeing him as a baby, Alex never visited him or anything.” Sam scolded at Alex. “We still have to talk about that one brother of mine!”

Throwing his hands up in surrender, Alex only nodded.

“Sam? Is Dan already here?” A deep voice asked. A moment later, a tall blonde man stepped into the room. “Ah, I see he is.” Smiling, he shook Alex’s hand. “How are you, Dan?”

“I’m fine Logan, thanks. But it’s Alex now, not Dan anymore!” Alex replied.

“Oh! Yeah, sorry that I forgot, won’t happen again.” Logan then turned to Isabel. “Soooo, you must be Alex’s wife then? I’ve already heard about you!”

Blushing slightly under the amused looks of both Logan and Sam, Isabel replied, “Yeah, that’d be me. Isabel Manes. Pleasure to meet you.”

Shaking her offered hand, Logan replied, “The pleasure’s all mine. I can’t wait to hear about your meeting with Alex and your travel here.”

“Logan!” Alex groaned out in frustration.

“Okay okay okay! I won’t say a word!” Logan promised laughingly.

“Why don’t I show you two where you are going to stay, so you can rest a bit?” Sam asked. When Alex and Isabel agreed, she beckoned them to follow her upstairs.

Not being able to resist, she asked, “Do you want to stay in the same room?” Sam grinned when she heard them say “NO!” immediately.

’Oh, this will be an interesting time. I wonder how long they’ll be able to behave.’ Sam thought.

Thanks for the feedback and the congrats girls (was there a guy?)
Calinia- yep, Sam might be able to help them a bit and why do you not want them to behave? *raises eyebrows* they'll be nice in this one - sorry
Kay - I have to disappoint you, A/I will behave (for now)
Ria, coracat - Angepornt to you too!


Part 15

Waking up in the morning, Isabel decided to stay in bed a bit longer and snuggled deeper into the covers. The next second she shot up straight.

”Where the heck am I? This is no motel room! Where in the world …” Finally, she realized that she’s at Alex’s sister’s house. ’Waking up this morning is way better than yesterday.’ she thought wryly before blushing a bit, remembering the events before waking up yesterday.

After ten minutes of just lying in bed, Isabel’s stomach started growling. Eternally happy that noone heard that, she hurriedly got up.

Quickly dressing in a simple yellow dress, she left her room and made her way downstairs. There, she needed a moment to remember where the kitchen was located. Finally remembering that little, but at the moment most important, detail, she headed towards the kitchen, intent on getting some pancakes with chocolate sauce.

Hearing voices from the kitchen, Isabel stopped, unsure wheter she should just waltz into the room and interrupt the discussion that was going on. Just as she decided to leave and come back a few minutes later, she heard Logan say her name.

Quietly moving closer to the door, she couldn’t help but listen.



“God Dan!” That was Sam. “It was bad enough that you had to fake your own death. Do you have any idea what it feels like to read about your brother’s death?”

“Sam, you know it was fake. I called you and told you how it happened, so you’d be warned.” Dan/Alex argued.

“I know that!” Sam snapped at her brother, making Isabel wince because of the emotion in her voice.

“Sam, come here, darling.” Logan said softly. Isabel imagined that he pulled Sam into a hug.

“Sam, I’m sorry for that death thing. I had it planned differently, you know that.” Alex said tiredly.

“And you know that I never liked that crazy plan of yours. I was mad about Dad’s death too, but you Dan …” Sam trailed off.

”Let’s not go there again, Sammy. We’ve already talked about this.” Alex sighed.



It slowly dawned on Isabel, that Sam wasn’t agreeing with Alex’s idea of getting back at the army. She imagined that the silbings had already fought about this lots of times.

’God, I’m happy that I’m an only child.’ Isabel thought wryly.



“Okay Alex.” Logan said after a moment. “Let’s not talk about it, but what about Isabel, or whatever her name is? How can you know that she won’t tell anyone about your little stunt. I mean, she’s nice and you two like each other but …”



Isabel’s mouth fell open at that. ’I do not like him! … Okay, he’s nice, charming, handsome and … SHUT UP Isabel! You sound like a high school girl. Again!’ Isabel shook her head, disturbed by her own thoughts. ’Hm, I wonder if Logan is right and Alex really likes me.’ Shaking her head in annoyance, she muttered, “I SO need a therapy when this is over!”



“Isabel won’t tell anyone. She has her own issues with the army. Besides, I trust her.” Alex answered with confidence. Then, in an afterthought, he added, “And I don’t like her!”

“Yeah, whatever you say.” Logan and Sam answered simultaneously.



Isabel’s eyebrows shot up. ’Does this mean that they both think that Alex likes …’


“Morning Isabel.” A small and tired sounding voice interrupted Isabel’s musings and made her jump in surprise. Turning around, she saw Jamie making his way downstairs, still half asleep. She walked a few steps towards the little boy, so she didn’t have to speak too loud and the others wouldn’t hear her.

“Good morning, Jamie. Did you sleep well?” Isabel asked.

“Yeah, pretty well and now I’m hungry and want to eat.” Jamie replied sleepily.

His words about being hungry and eating made Isabel’s stomach growl again. “I’m hungry too.” Isabel admitted with a small laugh. “Would you like to have breakfast with me, Jamie?”

“Sure.” Jamie replied happily. He ran ahead of her and screamed a “Good morning!”

Smiling, Isabel followed him, aware that the others were surely as surprised about Jamie’s sudden appearance as she was minutes before.

“Good morning sweetie.” Sam greeted her son without the slightest hint of how much the previous talk had upset her. “Hey Isabel! I hope you slept well.”

“Good morning. Yes, I slept great.” ’But sadly, I also slept alone this night.’ Isabel stopped in her tracks for a second when she realized what she just thought. ’Oh Lord, strike me down now!’ “Morning guys.” She told Logan and Alex and quickly looked around the room, so that the others, especially Alex, wouldn’t notice her rosy cheeks.
Getting two “Morning” in reply, she briefly smiled at the two men.

Alex couldn’t help but look at Isabel, tuning out the chit-chat between Logan and Jamie. ’God, even in the morning she looks amazing. Wow!’

Noticing her brother staring at Isabel, Sam smirked. ’He’s totally smitten by her. And when Isabel’s blush and her refusing to look at him are any signs, then she likes him too. Too bad that she’ll leave soon … hm, maybe …’

“Isabel, I was wondering if you’d like to stay with us a bit longer.” Sam almost laughed when Alex looked up horrified and estatic at the same time. Logan looked at his wife in surprise, just like Isabel. Jamie just continued stealing food from his father’s plate, obvious about the talk around him.

“I mean,” Sam explained, “Alex mentioned that you’d like to help us with our bar.”

Alex quickly protested. “I only asked if she has any ideas for it. She didn’t say that she’d help us.”

Before an argument between the silbings could break out, Isabel spoke up. “Uh, I haven’t really thought about that but … I don’t know. Helping you design and organize the bar sounds interesting, besides, I wanted to have a sightseeing tour of Tuscon anyway. So, sure, if you don’t mind, then I’d love to stay.” She smiled at the three adults, surprised by her answer.

’Yes! She’s staying here for a while.’ Alex thought happily. I’m sure we can spend some time together then and I can tell her that I … like her. A lot.’

“I have no problems with that, you honey?” Sam asked Logan, her voice daring him to disagree.

”Of course not, Sam.” Logan replied immediately, knowing that this was not the time to question Sam’s idea.

Calinia, Kay, Keri and Ria - THANKS for the fb and for the bumps/angepornts!

Part 16

Three days after Isabel decided to stay longer than she actually intended to, she was standing in the kitchen, making pancakes with chocolate sauce. After jamie had ate them for the first time, he anounced that he wanted to eat them every morning from now on. Since Sam liked them too, she had no objections and the adults voted three against one that it was Isabel’s job to prepare them every morning.

So, there she was at 7 o’clock, making pancakes half asleep. Hearing someone walk into the room, she turned and saw Alex standing in the doorway. They hadn’t spoken much with each other in the last days. Alex was often seen with Sam and Logan, catching up with what they missed in each other’s lives and Isabel spent most of her time either with Jamie or with Sam. She adorded the little boy and had found a great friend in Sam. When Alex and Isabel were alone, they only did small talk, both not wanting to talk about what had happened or about what the future might bring.

Now, they both moved around awkwardly, unsure wheter they should start a converstation or not. After thining about it for a few moments, Isabel decided to ask a question, she wanted to ask for days now. “Uh Alex,” she started, getting his attention, “I know that I already asked, but was it really just a weather balloon that crashed in Roswell?”

Before Alex could answer, Sam joined them in the kitchen. Coming to a halt besides Isabel, she looked at Alex, “Excellent question! I wanted to ask that myselft too.”

Looking from one woman to the other, Alex answered, “Of course it was only that. Everything that was in the newspapers is nonsense.”

”You are a terrible liar, Alex.” Was all that Sam said, looking pointedly at her brother. “You know that we can both keep secrets, so just tell us the truth!”

Sighing, Alex stood up and started pacing. “Okay, it was no weather balloon. I don’t know what it was, no one knew what it is when I left Roswell. The only thing I know is, that this thing isn’t from Earth and that’s really all I know.”

Before anyone could say something, Jamie came bouncing into the kitchen. “Where are my pancakes?” the boy asked, not aware of the tension in the room. Now that the women were left to think about what they just heard, there was an eerie silence in the kitchen.

Breaking it after a few minutes, Sam spoke up, “Jamie and I are going to the mall since Logan insisted to work alone in the bar. Must be some male thing. So, do you two want to join us?”



At the mall, the group of four was currently deciding what to do first.

“Jamie, we need to get you new clothes.” Sam said, protest already coming her way. “Mum!” “No buts, Jamie! We won’t get them immediately anyway. You and Alex can wander around for awhile. I want to check out those dresses over there first.” With that said, Sam left the others but noth without shooting a look at Alex that clearly said. “You better watch out for my son, or …”

Waiting until his mother was far enough away, Jamie turned to Alex. “Can I have ice cream?”

“Didn’t you eat one at home?” Alex asked back.

“Yes, but … that was sooo long ago! I’m a growing boy, so one more won’t hurt.” Jamie argued.

“Oh, it will hurt *me*, if Sam finds out.” Alex muttered, so only Isabel could hear him. Hearing Isabel snicker, Alex shot her a glare.

With a straight face, Isabel told them casually, “I’ll go over to Sam. Maybe I can find something.”

Feeling totally alone now, Alex looked down to his nephew and met innocent looking puppy dog eyes. “Okay, okay. You’ll get your ice cream, but if you tell your Mother about it …” Alex explained to Jamie while walking towards the next ice cream saloon.



“What do you think about this one?” Sam asked and showed Isabel a black dress.

Isabel briefly looked it over before saying, “It looks really great. The style, material, etc are perfect but … I think black isn’t the best choice. I think I red, it would be looking awesome on you.”

“Really?” Sam questioned, already searching for the red version of the dress.

“If my hair was still blond, I’d take it in red. To your black hair, it will suit perfectly too.”

Sam suspected that Isabel had changed her haircolor because she had to leave Roswell, but didn’t bother to ask for the reason. Instead, she said, “I think a blue dress would be great for you.”

“Good idea.” Isabel commented and started her hunt for a blue dress.

“Isabel?”

“Hm?”

“Can I ask you a question?”

“Sure, shoot!”

“Do you like my brother?”

”WHAT?”

Noticing a few women looking at her, Isabel sent some icy glares in their direction.

With an embarrassed smile, Sam tried to explain. “I only ask because yesterday, Logan said that you two make a cute couple.” Logan had of course said nothing like that but it won’t hurt if Isabel believed that he had said it. Sam smiled nervously at her “sister in law” who was still sending glares at the people around them every now and then.

Turning her head back to Sam, (no glare – thank God!) Isabel answered uncomfortably. “Well, Ales is … nice. Nicer than my ex-husbands were.”

Sam only nodded, already knowing about Isabel’s former life. When Isabel remained silent, Sam continued her “interrogation”. “So, you think he’s only nice?”

After Isabel’s quick nod, Sam narrowed her eyes suspiciously. “I think you like him A LOT more than you’d like to admit!”

Blushing and speechless, Isabel looked after Samantha who was walking towards the cash register. Sam turned around again. “I know that Alex REALLY likes you!” she said pointedly.

“Really?” Isabel asked with a grin, suddenly feeling very giddy.

“Yes.” Sam confirmed. “And now, come on. I want to pay. As much as I love Alex, I’m afraid that I can’t leave Jamie alone with him too long.”



“Hey boys!”

Alex and Jamie looked up and saw Isabel and Sam coming their way.

“Remember, this is the first ice I bought you.” Alex quickly told Jamie. ‘Sam will kill me if she finds out that it’s the third.’

“Took you long enough.” Alex muttered good naturally.

“Very funny, Alex.” Sam shot back, studying her brother and her son carefully.

“It’s my first ice cream.” Jamie immediately said, causing Alex to sigh in defeat.

Sam turned to Alex, “His first? Really?” Her tone clearly said that she didn’t believe that one bit.

Alex was briefly distracted by Isabel who seemed to be quite happy about something and looked even more beautiful than usual. He turned quickly back to his sister though, because she still managed to making him feel scared every now and then.

‘Lord, stike me down now.’ Alex thought, already scared of the ranting that would surely come his way.
***

the end sucks a bit - sorry
before you ask ... we'll never know if there was a rant - sorry again

Keri, thanks for the fb and since you "complained" (;) ), I'll mention Sam's rant in a later part, okay?

Kay, thanks for the fb and for telling me that you found the ice cream interaction funny ... I was hoping that someone would laugh

Ria, thanks for the fb and I forgive you for not noticing the part sooner

Kat, thanks for the fb and I hope to get Alex even more cute in the few remaining chapters.

btw, for all the english speaking readers: 'angepornt' is german for 'bump' (one version that sounds extremly funny)


here's Part 17, a talk for which Calinia gave me the idea. I have to warn you though: right now, I'm having a pretty strong cause of writer's block! so I don't know when the next part will come. (hopefully before Christmas)

Trude




Part 17

Isabel sat in a lawn chair, watching the street and the sunset. She loved that time of the day, when it got dark and life seemed to calm down a bit. Sighing contently, Isabel took a sip from the limonade that Jamie made her. She grimaced a bit at the unexpected sweetness and reminded herself to spike the limonade with water next time.

“Hey!” Alex said suddenly behind Isabel, making her jump in surprise. “Sorry, I didn’t want to startle you.” Alex apologized. “Do you mind if I sit down or would you rather be alone?”

“No, you can stay if you want to.” Isabel replied with a smile.

”Thanks.” Alex said as he sat down.

They sat in silence, just looking around and enjoying each other’s presence. “This is nice.” Alex said softly.

“Yeah, it is. I think this is the best part of the day. It’s great to watch day and night … well, battle for dominance.” Isabel tried to explain her thoughts.

“Hm, isn’t it nicer when the day is winning and not the night, which would be in the morning. I mean, this looks awesome too but … I think it’s better when the light is winning.” Alex voiced his thoughts.

“I think that depends on the current mode you have. Besides, the chances that I can watch the sunset are way higher than watching the sunrise and I hope that won’t change soon. Or would you prefer getting up very early every morning to watch the sunrise to just sitting back every day to watch the sunset?” Isabel shot back.

“Okay, point taken.” Alex replied with his hands raised in a gesture of surrender.

They fell back into silence, watching as the last light of the day slowly disappeared. “Looks like the night won.” Alex spoke up when it was dark.

“Yeah.” Isabel agreed softly.

“Isabel?” Alex asked. “Are you okay?”

“I’m not really sure that I know what you are talking about.” Isabel replied confused.

“I mean, how are you holding up after everything that happened in the last weeks. Us leaving Roswell and our lives behind, being forced together on our journey and … and the famous “UFO crash” as the press calls it.” Alex defined.

“Oh … that.” Isabel only said, not really knowing how to answer that question.

“If you don’t want to talk about it …” Alex started.

“No! I mean, talking about everything won’t be wrong. I just don’t know how and where to start.” Isabel softly said.

“Would it be easier if I start?” Alex offered, understanding what she meant.

Looking at him wearily, Isabel nodded, feeling uncomfortable about this conversation.

Alex took a deep breath before speaking. “Okay, I think it’s safe to say that this whole affair is easer for me. I mean, I had planned to steal the money, fake my death and then come here to stay with Sam and the others. I was prepared for this for years now. Since everything was planned, it really threw me off-balance when suddenly, I found myself married. I didn’t have sleepless nights before the proposal or search endlessly for a ring, so I probably shouldn’t be complaining.” Alex said, hoping to break the uncomfortable atmosphere.

Isabel even laughed a bit and said haughtily, “That’s good for you. I mean, God, this ring Brack gave me doesn’t even have a diamond.” Managing the arrogant look for another moment, Isabel really burst into laughter when she saw Alex look at her kinda shocked.

“Wimp!” she managed to choke out between giggles.

“I can’t believe that a diamond is that important, that’s all.” Alex said disbelievingly.

Isabel replied seriously, “Of course it’s not that important. The romantic setting, the way he proposes, the moment of total surprise and the way your heart beats faster, those are the important things. The things you’ll tell your grandchildren while reliving the moment once again in your mind.”

She finished with a wistful smile and a far-away look in her eyes. Alex couldn’t help but stare at her longingly.

“The big ring is only for impressing the others.” Isabel finished with a joke, breaking the comfortable silence between them.

“So, if it’s just for show, why not use fake stones?” Alex asked, which earned him an ‘Oh-you-poor-little-thing’ look from Isabel.

“You do know the saying ‘Diamonds are a girl’s best friend?” Getting a nod as response, Isabel continued with a smirk, “Don’t you think that girls would recognize their best friends?”

Throwing his arms up in surrender at this logic, Alex let out a defeated groan.

After another few moments in silence, Alex spoke up again. “Don’t get me wrong now, but I guess you already have a few precious memories of this kind.”

Isabel looked at him and laughed without humor. “After three marriages, I’d believe that too, but …” she was silent again, obviously thinking on how to continue best. “I really believed that I loved them. Now, I know that I was only lying to them and to me.” She was silent once again and Alex was feeling a bit uncomfortable now too.

Clearing his throat, Alex quietly said, “You don’t have to tell me about that, Isabel. I’m sorry that I even started this conversation.”

“No, no!” Isabel called out quickly. “I guess I really need to talk about that with someone who won’t judge me. I think you are the perfect person for that.”

Alex smiled slightly at her words. “I don’t want to pressure you though.”

“You could never do that.” Isabel reassured him with a smile. Looking back to the street, Isabel continued with a sigh. “Frank, my first husband, was more like a savior for me. I just left my home and was clueless about what to do with my life. Frank was about ten years older than I, charming and … I really thought I loved him but he was more a mix between a father figure and a knight in shining armor.

It only lasted two years before we parted in friendship. I still can’t believe that I married Kevin. He was so different from every man I knew, like a dandy. I must have lost my mind.” She laughed a little at the memory. “The divorce happened five months later because we constantly fought and he had an affair.”

“Idiot.” Alex muttered.

“What?” Isabel asked surprised.

Embarrassed and blushing a bit, Alex tried to explain. “Well, when he was having an affair, then he didn’t deserve you. I mean, you are beautiful, nice, uh … I wouldn’t betray you.” Noticing Isabel’s bemused expression, he quickly added, “And since I’m making a complete fool of myself, why don’t you continue?”

Shaking her head at his antics and to clear her mind after Alex’s sweet rambling, Isabel went on. “I met John about half a year after my second divorce. He was, like you, member of the army and stationed in Roswell. He was … like the perfect gentleman, a bit old fashioned maybe. I was sometimes thinking that he would have fitted perfectly into the last century because of how he acted from time to time.”

Once again, Isabel was lost in her memories but this time, she wasn’t smiling.

“His … courtship was like I always imagined it to only happen in books … I was really swept away … but now, I think I was more in awe than in love. Anyway, we married after three weeks and the first few weeks, we were really happy. But then, things changed drastically. One day when he got home from work, I hadn’t finished dinner yet. I was never a good cook to begin with but he never minded it till that day.”

Isabel stopped for a moment to take a shaky breath before continuing. “That day he hit me … for the first time.”

Noticing Alex’s shocked and surprised expression, Isabel nodded as if to confirm what she just told him. “He didn’t hit me in the face or draw blood, he only hit my torso, only leaving bruises.”

’Only? Alex thought. ’How can she say only?’

“John didn’t hit me just this one time, it was as if something inside him snapped. He started hitting me regularly, there was barely a week in which he didn’t hit me.” Isabel was quiet again and Alex noticed that there were tears in her eyes. He reached over and wanted to take her hand but Isabel flinched away from him. Concerned and feeling helpless, Alex sat perched on the edge of his seat instead.

In a choked voice, Isabel told Alex.” He raped me. Twice. I felt so .. awful, helpless, dirty … I can’t explain how I felt. I was … I was even thinking of suicide for a short time.”

The tears were now freely running down Isabel’s cheeks. Carefully, Alex put his hand lightly over Isabel’s, trying to not put too much pressure into the contact, only wanting to make Isabel conscious of him being there. He let out a small sigh when Isabel didn’t flinch back this time.

“You have no idea how … happy I was, when I learned that he tad to fight in Europe. I was of course worried for him but mostly, I was feeling ecstatic that he would be away from me.” Isabel rubbed at her eyes before continuing. “When I learned of his death, I was happy. Happy! My husband just died and I was only feeling happiness. Feeling happy because of his death shocked me more than his death did. What kind of person am I when I’m feeling happy after someone dies?”

Isabel screamed the last sentence, causing Alex to grab her shoulders and to pull her into his arms, holding hr tightly while she cried. “Isabel, ssh, it’s okay.” He tried to calm her down, still not fully processing what he was just told. “Isabel, it’s totally okay and understandable that you were feeling that way. You should have never been treated like you were … it’s only human to be relieved. He was the villain, not you.” Alex continued to softly talk to her, hoping that he was doing the right thing.

After what appeared to be an eternity, Isabel had herself under control and stared towards the street again. Still holding her tightly, Alex was surprised when Isabel started to talk again. “After John’s funeral, I promised myself to not make the same mistake – trusting a man without knowing him – again. You probably think that that’s just a hollow resolution which I broke after a short time, since I was … having so many male friends. But those liaisons were without meaning … they were just … well, affairs without any emotions.

I was busily perfecting my ice-walls which were supposed to protect me from any harm. They really worked well. I don’t know how long I would have been able to keep those walls intact though. The higher they got, the more was I afraid to break them down again.

In a way, I’m grateful how things turned out. The time with you sister’s family and especially with you was one of the best times in my life. I didn’t even thank you for that yet.”

Squeezing her for a second, Alex answered, “You shouldn’t thank us yet. Who knows what might still happen?”

Isabel snorted in response, which gave Alex hope that Isabel would be okay again after this emotional talk. They were both quiet again, lost in their own, partly dark thoughts.

“Look, the sky is full of stars.” Isabel said, resting her head on Alex’s shoulder. Looking up, Alex saw that the sky was indeed filled with billions of starts.

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” Isabel more stated than asked.

“Yeah.” Alex answered truthfully. “And lately, it holds even more possibilities than I ever imagined.” He added, referring to the UFO crash in Roswell.

“A sky full of possibilities? That sounds nice.” Isabel said with a small smile. “Can we stay out here like this a bit longer? Just sitting here, holding each other and gazing at the stars?” she asked.

“Of course.” Alex replied. He ran his hands down her arms, intertwining his fingers with Isabel’s

“Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.” Alex carefully leaned his cheek against Isabel’s hair, smiling when she leaned even more against him in return.

They continued their stargazing, not saying a word and after one hour, they fell asleep like that.

thanks for waiting so long for the next part without bombarding me with emails including viruses or anything
I hope you enjoy this chapter - which is also the last because I decided to wrap it all up in one chapter since I'm starting to work soon and will have even less time to write than I have now!


Part 18

“How about ‘ManesStream’?” Alex asked, feeling pretty good about his idea.

“ManesStream? Dream on Mr. Manes! NO! Definitely NO!” Sam argued back.

The siblings plus Logan and Isabel were trying to come up with the perfect name for the bar. So far, they had had eight ideas, eight heated arguments, three bottles of beer (each of them) and 3 hours of wasted time.

“Oh man, it’s past midnight.” Isabel said yawning and laid her head on Alex’s shoulder, who was still sputtering around since Sam diced his idea – again.

“Isabel, do you have another idea?” Sam asked the other woman, smiling because of how close she and her brother were sitting. Even Logan had noticed that those two were spending more and more time together.

“Well,” Isabel started, “how about … uh … well, ‘Incognito’? I know it’s not good but … I have no idea what the bar looks like and … “ she said trailing off.

“It’s better than ‘The Palace’” Sam answered, ignoring Logan’s offended “Hey!”
“Wait, why haven’t you seen the bar yet?”

Isabel shrugged, “Well, you were all busy with finishing it and I didn’t want to be in the way.”

“Nonsense, you won’t be in the way! Alex, can you show her around tomorrow?”

“Of course!” Alex replied a bit too eager. “It won’t be a problem.” He looked at Isabel with a smile which she returned full force. Noticing this, Logan and Sam looked at each other knowingly.

“What about ‘King Bar’?” Sam asked suddenly, jerking Alex and Isabel out of their dreamy staring-at-each-other game.

“Honey, that’s not going to happen.” Logan said with a yawn. “That’s way too … arrogant. I mean, someone who sells burgers won’t call his business “King Burger” either! I like Isabel’s idea – it sounds pretty good.” Before Sam could say anything, Logan quickly added, “Why don’t we stop? It’s late and we still have a bit of time left till we need to settle on one name. We all could use some hours of sleeping.”

Isabel immediately got up, putting a hand on Alex’s shoulder to lean on him. “Great idea, Logan. I’m totally beat, so I’m going to bed. Good Night!”

When Alex almost spit out the beer he was drinking, everyone looked at him strangely. “Sorry, went down the wrong pipe.” He answered with a blush. ’Get a grip, man!’ he scolded himself. When Isabel had put her hand on his shoulder, it seemed like a good idea to take a drink to cool off his suddenly heated body. But when she mentioned “going to bed” it didn’t seem such a smart idea anymore since his mind had obviously decided to come up with dirty images.

Shaking her head with a smile, Isabel patted Alex’s back before she left. After watching her disappear, Alex turned back to the table where he was confronted with two knowing smirks.

“What?” he asked in defense.

“We are just wondering how long you two are going to continue your little ‘we-are-only-friends’ game that you’ve been playing for so long now.” Sam answered sweetly.

“But we are only friends.” Alex replied.

“Yeah. Friends who constantly stare into each others’ eyes.”

“It’s only polite to look the other in the eyes while talking.” Alex tried to defend himself.

“Friends who keep sneaking wishful looks at each other and friends who have to touch each other as often as possible.” Logan grinned at Alex when he noticed the other man blush again.

“Okay, so we might … like each other – a bit.” Alex admitted slowly.

“Alex!” Sam said with a sigh. “I know that you like Isabel. Logan knows it and I’m pretty sure that Isabel knows it too.” Sam forced herself not to laugh at Alex’s panicked expression. Instead, she smiled reassuringly at her younger brother. “Isabel’s probably just waiting for you to make a move.”

“To make a move?” Alex cried out. Taking a deep breath, he continued in a normal voice, “I can’t make a move on her. I wouldn’t even know how to make a move on her.”

“Well, then you better learn that fast because Isabel told me that she wants to leave before the next month starts.” Logan told Alex.

“But … but today’s the 27th!” Alex muttered. He felt as if someone had hit him hard in the guts. “What am I supposed to do?” He asked his sister and her husband.

“You should at least tell her what you feel for her.” Sam advised.

Alex just nodded, not even bothering to ask how Sam knew about his feelings for the tall blonde. He feared that she’d only tell something embarrassing about his behavior if he asked. “And if she doesn’t care?” Alex questioned.

“She does care, Alex. Probably more than she’d like to admit.” Sam assured him. “She doesn’t show her feelings openly, she likes to hide behind a wall.”

“Yeah, she doesn’t trust other people with her heart easily.” Alex said to himself.

“You might have to be persistent to make her realize how important she’s for you, but you’ve proved that you can be stubborn when you joined the army.” Both siblings had to smile at that.

“So, you can guarantee me that I won’t make a fool of myself when I talk to her?” Alex asked.

“Alex, don’t get me wrong,” Sam started with a devilish smile, “But around Isabel, you easily make a fool of yourself.” Sam met Alex’s glare with a cheeky smile. “Seriously, she won’t laugh at you if that’s what you are afraid of. Just be honest and don’t give up too easily if she’s saying you are nuts. She likes you, you just have to make her admit that to you and to herself.

With that Samantha got up, kissed Alex on the cheek, wished him a good night and reminded Logan to not stay up for too long.

After a few moments of silence, Logan spoke up, “Did you and Isabel know each other well before all of this started?”

“No, not at all.” Alex replied. “When I saw her on the street or in a shop, I recognized her and I knew about her background but that’s it. I don’t think that she’d known more about me either.” Alex didn’t really want to say too much about Isabel’s – Rosemary’s – past life, that was something only Isabel had a right to talk about.

“You think I should follow Sam’s advice?” Alex asked his brother in law.

“You mean telling Isabel about your feelings? Yes, I think you should. You’d forever ask yourself ‘What if’ when you don’t confront her.” Logan replied. “Just don’t … ‘corner’ Isabel too much in case she is reserved when she responds. If you are too persistent, you’ll probably scare her away.”

Alex nodded. “That’s what I’m most afraid of, being too persistent and scaring her away or giving up on her without a fight and letting her go.”

“When she tells you that she isn’t interested in you for the second time while looking into your eyes and she appears serious, then I think you ought to believe her.” Logan said while standing up and walking to the door. Turning back to Alex, he added, “Just teller her without too much fuss about it. Sometimes, it’s best to be direct.” Logan paused for a second. “Don’t forget to shave before you talk to her.”

Alex looked at him perplexed and ran his hand over his slight stumble. “What does shaving have to do with this?”

“You want to look good when confronting her, don’t you?”

“Yeah, but … it’s just a slight stumble and …” Alex sputtered.

“Just shave it off, Alex! Good night.” Logan said before he also disappeared, leaving Alex alone in the kitchen.

“Yeah, okay. Night.” Alex mumbled. Then his head shot up. “Hey, are you saying I’m ugly?”


The Next Day

“I think Sam and Logan will use ‘Incognito’ as name for the bar. That’s if you are okay with that.” Alex told Isabel, using the opportunity to look at the woman beside him.

The two were walking down the main street of Tucson. It wasn’t New York but a definite up compared to Roswell.

“Of course, I don’t have a problem with it.” Isabel replied good naturally. “But what about you? I mean, you put a lot of money into the business. Don’t you have a say in this too?”

“Oh, I’m okay with ‘Incognito’, I will vote for it. Besides, the bar is mostly Sam and Logan’s dream and as long as I can decide on the bands that will play there, I’m content.” Alex said. “And well, I won’t really be missing the money.” He had to smile at that- a colder and more calculating smile than Isabel was used to - while he was thinking about the trouble the accountancy guys at the military must be in.

“Alex, is everything all right? You seem nervous.” Isabel said. She had noticed that he constantly wiped of his hands on his jeans as if they were sweaty and he had worn a concerned look since they started their trip half an hour ago. “If you are nervous about showing me the bar …”

“No, no. It’s not that.” Alex hastily reassured Isabel.

“Then, what else is the problem?” Isabel asked confused.

“Uh, I’d rather not talk about it, yet.” Alex said nervously. “And I hope that “it” won’t turn out as a problem.”

“Oookay.” Was all that Isabel said while she was feverishly trying to come up with an idea about what was going on. “Is it a surprise?” she finally asked.

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure you’ll be surprised.” Alex answered.

“Will I like the surprise?” Isabel queried, wondering what it could be.

“I actually don’t know but I hope it will be a pleasant one.” Alex said honestly.

“And you really can’t tell me now or at least give me a hint?” Isabel asked again, feeling like a giddy five year old at Christmas morning.

“Nope. Can’t do that. You’ll have to wait till we are in the bar. We’ll be there in two minutes anyway.” Alex replied firmly. ’And you won’t be able to run away too easily if I shock you too much. At least, I hope you won’t.’ he thought to himself.

“Great.” Isabel said. “I can’t wait to see it and to get my surprise, of course.”

Alex put on a fake smile at her words, cursing himself for his stupid outburst. ’Why did I tell her about my ‘surprise’? Now, I really have to bare my heart to her and hope that she won’t crush it.’


Two minutes later, Alex stopped in front of a new looking building which windows were covered by white cloth. Fishing the keys for the door out of his pocked, Alex opened the door and motioned for Isabel to walk in.

“Uh, don’t you need time for preparations?” Isabel asked.

“Preparations?” Alex echoed.

Isabel blushed when she noticed that Alex had no idea what she was talking about and wished that the earth would open up and swallow her. “I mean, … well, I mean, making sure that everything’s like you want it to be and uh … ah, well the preparations for the … surprise.” The last was said in a whisper as she turned away embarrassed, realizing how stupid that sounded.

Alex looked at her for a moment, smiling despite his nervousness. “No, that won’t be necessary. The carpenters and the other workers will be back in an hour, so it’s best to not change a thing in there and the surprise I was mentioning earlier involves just something I have to tell you.”

“Oh.” Isabel said, glad that Alex hadn’t laughed at her stupid thoughts.

“Ladies first.” Alex said, bowing and then motioning Isabel inside.

“Thank you, kind sir” Isabel laughed and walked past him into the bar that Alex believed was worth stealing money from the armed forces.

Alex stepped in next to her and took a deep breath, preparing himself for both Isabel’s reaction to his sister’s dream and for what he intended to do. “Well?” he asked after a few moments of silence.

Isabel didn’t answer, instead she took a few steps into the room, waiting for her eyes to completely adjust to the slightly dark surroundings. The first thing she noticed was … dust. She chided herself for that thought. ’After all, it’s still in work.’ Then she made out a medium sized dance floor, surrounded by tables and some booths, all made of dark wood. Looking to the left, she saw some mirrors behind the big bar which was covered by cloth.

“Everything that’s at least partly finished is already covered, so it won’t be damaged before the opening in a few weeks.” Alex explained as if he had read Isabel’s thoughts.

“It looks really great.” Isabel said. “Way better than I imagined it actually.”

Alex smiled at her. “The only things missing are the coverings for the stools and the booths, the finishing touches to the stage where the bands will play …” he motioned to the end of the dance floor, opposite of the bar, “… the last few lights need to be installed and the drinks have to be bought.”

Isabel walked to the center of the – already finished – dance floor and looked around, imagining what the bar would look like when it’s ready for opening. “This is amazing, Alex. I love it, really. The place will be full of people non stop.”

Alex gave a short laugh. “Lets hope you are right about that.” Seeing Isabel on the dance floor, Alex decided that he would tell her about his feelings within the next few minutes. But before …

“Would you like to dance?”

Isabel looked back at him startled. Looking around briefly, she smiled a 1000 watt smile at Alex. “I’d love to.”

….

“Alex?” Isabel asked after a few seconds when Alex didn’t move.

“Oh, … sorry.” Alex mumbled blushing. He wanted to hit himself for his reaction but when Isabel had smiled at him, he just couldn’t move or even breath, because he was 100 % awed by the woman in front of him. Taking Isabel’s left hand and putting his other hand on her waist, they slowly started to sway across the dance floor in the silent room.

Isabel let her eyes wander around the semi dark room constantly, which was in her mind better than looking into Alex mesmerizing eyes the whole time. “I’ve never danced a waltz without music in a bar that’s deserted.” She said with a soft chuckle.

“Well, think of it as an exclusive V.I.P. room where not many people are allowed and … I could swear that I can hear music.” Alex whispered into Isabel’s ear.

Feeling a shiver run down her spine, Isabel desperately tried to come up with a distraction before she lost herself in Alex’s blue eyes. Finding a topic, she almost couldn’t contain herself from blurting her question out. Instead, she asked in an almost calm voice, “So, what did you want to talk about?”

Isabel instantly regretted her question, because Alex abruptly stopped dancing and after a few seconds of intense staring into each other’s eyes, Alex stepped out of their embrace. He took a few steps back, looking at the floor in concentration.

Alex was a bit thrown of his balance by the abrupt change of events. One moment he enjoyed dancing with Isabel and looking into her amazing eyes. Then, in the next moment Isabel asked him what he wanted to tell her which made him stop in his tracks. Trying to clear his mind for what was to come, he took a few steps back, wanting to put some distance between himself and the beauty next to him.

“Well, uh … this is kinda hard for me.” Alex admitted. “So, please forgive me when I’m a bit nervous and not making much sense right now.”

”Sure, no problem. The thing is, you are making me nervous too.” Isabel said. She was feeling both nervous and uncomfortable. Nervous because there were dozens of thoughts running through her head about what’s going on, like ’Is he inoperable ill? Will he tell me that Sam and Logan want me to leave even sooner than planned? Does he want a divorce? Thoughts like the last one were responsible for her feeling uncomfortable, since she wasn’t sure what to make of those thoughts and the feelings they caused. “It can’t be that bad, can it? I mean, no one is dead, or am I wrong?” Isabel tried to joke and to get Alex to finally talk about … whatever.

“no, no one died.” Alex replied nervously. “Logan said, I should be direct so, I’m just going to tell you, okay?”

“Oh God, they want me to leave their house today, don’t they?” Isabel cried out.

“What? NO! That’s not it.” Alex said, not getting why Isabel would thing something like that. “They like having you around, especially Sam.”

“Oh. Sorry for that.” Isabel said sheepishly, feeling like the biggest idiot on the planet.

“There’s nothing to apologize for, Isabel.” Alex assured her. Pausing for a moment he quietly said, “Just … don’t laugh at me after I told you, okay?”

“Of course not.” Isabel answered sincerely, wondering what was bothering Alex so much.

’Now or Never.’ Alex thought. “Logan told me that you want to leave in three days.”

Isabel shifted uncomfortable under Alex’s intense gaze, not sure how to take his neutral expression. “Well, uh …”

“I don’t want you to leave.” Alex said bluntly, intent on getting it all out.

“You don’t …” Isabel said stunned.

Alex took two steps forward, coming to a halt a foot away from Isabel. “No, I want you to stay … to stay with me … because … I love you, Isabel. More than I ever thought it possible to love someone. I … I want you to stay with me as … as my wife. I don’t want to let you go.”

He got silent, waiting for Isabel to make the next move. Alex was actually surprised about his calmness because compared to how he felt before he confessed his feelings, he was feeling rather calm now. So calm, it was a little scary to him. Therefore, he almost was relieved when his nerves came crashing back at him when Isabel didn’t answer for what seemed to be an eternity.

Isabel could only stare at Alex in shock at first, not sure if she had heard correctly. She had feared the worst when Alex said that he wanted to talk to her. Even after his assurance that Logan and Sam didn’t want her to leave, Isabel still expected … well, she wasn’t entirely sure what she expected but it was surely not hearing Alex say that he loved her.

“You want … you want me to stay?” she repeated dazed. She turned slightly away, almost standing with her back to Alex, totally lost in her thoughts and feelings. She actually forgot that Alex was still waiting for a response. ’He loves me! He loves me! He loves me!’ she constantly repeated in her mind. She wasn’t able to stop the grin from spreading over her face even if she wanted to.

Seeing Isabel standing with her back to him, Alex’s heart sank. Sighing, he chastised himself. ’What else did you expect, moron? As if she could ever feel the same for me.’

Misunderstanding Isabel’s stance and silence for her way of telling him her displeasure of the topic at hand, Alex beat a hasty retreat. “You obviously don’t feel the same way about me. I’m sorry for bringing this up, lets just forget about it all.” He quickly turned his back to Isabel, trying to force himself to act nonchalant about being rebuffed.

Coming out of her daze, Isabel heard Alex’s words and belatedly realized that her reaction to Alex’s confession hurt him a lot. Moving to his side, Isabel spun Alex around and before he even knew what was happening, Isabel kissed him. Coming up for air after a few minutes, Isabel put her forehead against Alex’s, trying hard to catch her breath again.

“No.” She finally got out. “I don’t want to forget about what you just told me. I was … I just couldn’t believe what you said.” She put a finger on Alex’s lips when he attempted to say something. “Please, you were honest with me, let me be honest now too.” Alex just nodded uncertainly, not able to tear his eyes away from Isabel’s.

After taking a shaky breath, Isabel smiled at Alex and continued, “I didn’t turn away from you because I disliked what you said. It’s the opposite, I felt so happy after hearing your words that I didn’t realize what I was doing. I was, and still am, so happy because … sometime during our trip, I fell in love with you.”

Closing her eyes, Isabel briefly kissed Alex, it was not more than gently touching his lips with hers but that simple act held so much emotion that Isabel felt her knees getting weak. Looking into Alex’s eyes again and returning his smile, she whispered, “I love you too, Alex. I love you so much and I want to stay with you too.”

Alex pulled Isabel close, hugging her tightly. Shifting so he could look at her again, he tried to come up with something appropriate to say for the situation, only to realize that words weren’t necessary in this moment. Tilting his head slightly, he captured Isabel’s lips with his, knowing he would never get tired of kissing Isabel Manes.



the only thing missing now is the epilogue, which I'm gonna post in the next few days

Trude

Kay, SahraWhitman and roswelllover thanks for the fb - both for chapter 18 and the whole story - it means a lot to me! Thank you!
to everyone else who read and fb once (or twice or ...) thanks to you too!

I can't believe I finally finished this story - after all, I got the idea almost three years ago
anyway, here it is, the short epilogue (finally), I hope you like how I decided to end this story. I got the idea and started to calculate and realized that it was possible, so ... tada:


Epilogue:

18th April 1949, Tuscon Hospital

“Are we too late?” Sam frantically asked a nurse who was passing her and her husband Logan.

“Too late for what, Ma’am?” The nurse asked confused.

“A good friend of us and his wife are here. Their their first child is supposed to be born today ... or at least any time soon.” Logan explained to the nurse. “Their name is Manes, Alex and Isabel Manes.”

“I’m sorry, I don’t know that. But if the baby is already born, then they should be in Mrs. Manes room again. Why don’t you ask for their room at the reception?” The nurse explained smiling.

“Thank you!” Sam said and already turned, running back the corridor they just came from.



Finding Isabel’s room five minutes later, Sam took a deep breath before knocking on the door. Hearing a soft “Come in.”, she opened the door slowly.

Peering into the room she could see her brother and Isabel grinning and almost shining with happiness. Quickly rushing to their side, Sam could see the small bundle of white cloth and a tiny head looking back at her.

“It’s a girl.” Alex said proudly, all the stress from the last four hours forgotten.

“ohh, she’s so cute.” Sam said, with tears in her eyes. “Can I hold her?” she asked Isabel.

After a moment of hesitation, Isabel gave her newborn girl to her sister in law. “But not for too long!” Isabel warned.

Ignoring Isabel, Sam grinned at the newest member of the family.

“Congrats you two!” Logan said from behind Sam.

”Thanks Logan.” Isabel said smiling tiredly at him. Then turning to Sam. “Give me the child back, Samantha. I warn you! I’m tired and want to sleep but before I want to hold her again. Don’t make me get out of this bed!”

“Okay, okay, okay. You don’t need to get so hostile, chica.” Sam said smiling and handed her the girl back. “I was the same with Jamie … not even Logan was allowed to hold him the first few hours.”

“I was scared she’d bite my head off, if I tried taking him from her.” Logan said chuckling, thinking back to that day. “Did you get to hold her yet?” he asked Alex.

“Yeah, I already had the honor.” Alex said, grinning like a fool.

“Did you finally decide on a name?” Sam queried softly, remembering their mocking fights over the possible names for the last five months.

Looking up at Alex with love shining in her eyes, Isabel replied, “Yeah we did. Her name is Gloria Ann Manes.”

“That’s a great name.” Logan said honestly. “Lets just hope that Alex won’t get too overprotective when she starts dating.”

Everyone, with the exception of Alex laughed at that.



24th May, 1970

“I can’t believe she’s getting married tomorrow.” Alex grumbled while watching his wife cooking.

“Alex!” Isabel Manes, still as beautiful as with thirty, laughed. “You’ve known that she will marry tomorrow for almost half a year now. Besides, you like Charles.”

“I do not!”

“Yes you do! Otherwise, your version of the father-boyfriend talk would have been way worse when you met him for the first time. Besides, you know that you can’t talk Gloria out of it. She loves him and she’s stubborn.”

“She got that from you!” Alex mumbled quietly.

“Very funny, mister. Very funny. After all, I’m not the one who is still angry at our dear neighbor.” Isabel shot back.

“You mean the one who tried to hit on you? I don’t think I’ll stop being angry at him.”

“But that was almost 17 years ago! And you say that she got her stubborness from me.” Shaking her head, Isabel looked over at her husband.

“Okay, she got the stubborness from me and the looks from you.” Alex knew when it was better to admit losing a battle.

Leaning over to give Alex a quick kiss, Isabel smiled at him. “Good answer.”

Turning back to the stove, she continued, “You have to admit that Charles is a nice young man.”

Sighing, Alex walked over to Isabel and helped her finishing dinner. “Yeah, he is. Still, Gloria Whitman just sounds strange.”

“You got used to the name Manes, so you will get used to our baby being called Gloria Whitman too.” Isabel told him chuckling.




21st June 1984

“Who was on the phone, honey?” Isabel Manes asked her husband when he came back into the living room.

“It was Chuck.” Alex told Isabel smiling. “He said that their fourth child was born half an hour ago.”

“Really?” Isabel’s face lit up. “Is it finally the girl Glory was hoping for?”

Shaking his head, Alex said down. “Nope, I have to disappoint you. It’s yet another boy.”

“Poor girl, having four sons.” Isabel said. She couldn’t help but smile though. After all, her fourth grandson was born today.

“Hey, what’s wrong with having four sons?” Alex asked, not understanding why his wife thought that having five men in the house (sons + husband) would be a bad thing.

“Nothing dear, nothing at all.” Isabel replied, shaking her head at Alex. “Do they have a name yet?”

Grinning, Alex picked up Isabel’s hand and kissed it. “Yes they have a name. Our new grandson is called Alexander Charles Whitman.”


what do you think?