The beach, morning

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

After a long run around the island, Isabel made a phone call, a quick stop at the Perk and then took a seat on the beach. The little bit of a chill that had been in the air when she first started out was gone she realized, and the temperature was actually comfortable. It made her realize how quickly summer was approaching.

And how little time was left.

[ooc: Here for one but open to all.]

Comments

[not_in_the_book]

The phone call brought him out perhaps a bit earlier than he'd planned, but Ronan smiled softly as he approached Isabel; the weather was nice, a bit nicer than he'd expected, and he was almost ready to shuck long sleeves all together. "Hey," he said, as he sat down beside Isabel, looking out over the water.

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

"Hey yourself," Isabel smiled, bumping against his shoulder. "Thanks for coming down."

[not_in_the_book]

"No worries," he replied, bumping back. "What's up? Is something the matter? Or is this just..." He trailed off, not really sure where to go with that.

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

"I don't know. Thinking too much I guess," she admitted with a shrug. "I guess now that things have calmed down some, I'm finally processing."

[not_in_the_book]

"Ah, yes," Ronan said softly. "The processing. I know that well." He smiled softly, sympathetically. "I suppose you did get hit with a fair bit almost all at once, didn't you?"

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

That made Isabel roll her eyes. "Ya think? I mean just when I started to wrap my head around everything that happened in Roswell, people started disappearing and then there wasn't time to do anything but worry."

[not_in_the_book]

Ronan nodded. "At least they're all back," he said. "And the statues are stopped. That's all good." He smiled softly. "And you've not had any problems with the other personality?"

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

"No. Not like that at least," she replied. "And Bridge did his thing. According to him it's only me in my head. So I'm thinking that's a good thing."

But it wasn't that simple.

"But I can't stop thinking about her.

[not_in_the_book]

"I'd be surprised if you could," Ronan said. "Whether or not she's with you, I imagine she'll be with you for a good long while."

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

"A reminder of what not to do."

Isabel dug her hand into the sand and let it pour through her fingers. "Do you think I was wrong for fighting her?"

[not_in_the_book]

Ronan stared at her in disbelief. "What?" he asked, clearly flummoxed at the question. "Why would I think a thing like that? Of course you were right to fight her."

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

"But when it comes down to it she was just an innocent bystander," she explained. "She didn't ask for me to change her. She should have been able to die in peace."

[not_in_the_book]

"Yes, she should have. But..." Ronan shrugged, sighed. "... What would the world have gained from losing you? Nothing, really. She should have been able to die in peace, but her husband made that impossible. All of the blame for this lies firmly at his feet. All that you did... it was in defense of others. You tried to heal her -- and, okay, you failed, but. That happens. And then you protected yourself. I don't care if that was originally her body, obviously something in your powers made it yours. Some defense mechanism or whatever..."

Ronan looked at Isabel, smiled softly. "Sometimes bystanders get caught in the crossfire. It sucks, but it's true. I don't... I don't see how you could have made any different choices. And... well, do you know for sure that she didn't want what her husband was trying to do for her?"

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

"Exactly," Isabel nodded. "Meg had a gun to her throat. There were two other guys with guns in the room. I couldn't, wouldn't risk her." Risking herself, and out of control powers was something else.

"I lost a friend once because of the alien stuff. And by lost, I mean, he died. Trust me, I know about bystanders." She shrugged, staring out at the water. "Logically I know all that and that's what I was thinking. It's just...someone I trusted made me second guess myself. Because I wasn't sorry enough."

[not_in_the_book]

Ronan snorted. "Uh, okay. How sorry would have been 'enough'?"

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

"I think I was supposed to wail and say I'm sorry and promise never to do it again," she replied, rolling her eyes. "As if this was something I'd want to do again. Or put anyone else through."

[not_in_the_book]

"Well," Ronan said, "as far as I can tell? You're dealing with a traumatic situation relatively well without dwelling on it overmuch." He sighed. "Which probably says something about how many traumatic experiences you've faced in the past."

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

Isabel's rather proud of herself for only waking up a few times each night. And fortunately most of the time snuggling close to Wyatt was enough to make the nightmares stop. "I'm trying not to. I need to just accept it, learn from it, and move on. Because dwelling will just make me feel worse and it's not going to accomplish anything except make me cranky."

"That's more true then you know. It's been a bad two years."

[not_in_the_book]

Ronan nodded. "So ignore whoever felt you weren't sorry enough about it, get through it as best you can, and move on. I doubt you'll ever forget, but I don't think you'd want to. Just... learn from it. Do what you can to avoid being in a situation like it again."

He paused. "Y'know that I've got battle wizardries, right?"

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, when it comes down to it, it's not like his opinion matters." It had once. Which was what really bothered Isabel.

"Trust me," she said with a wry smile. "I'll do my best to avoid it."

"You mean it's not just all about the glitter?"