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bantha_fodderThis Terrible Mess, by Pen
Roswell/Grey's Anatomy, Isabel, rated PG.
Beta (and blame):![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
fox1013. I mean, Isabel Evans = Izzie Stevens? You know you love it.
***
It has been six years and he is safe, three thousand miles away from her, but she knows her brother lives. Every breath he takes echoes through the world, and her heart never misses a beat.
He breathes out.
She hands Burke the scalpel.
*
She'd hoped that thing with that patient was just a once off, but Denny smiles at her, bright and shining, and slowly lowers the magazine to the bed. "I've seen your boobs," he says, and his grin is broad and pleased. Her eyes drop to the magazine in his hands.
"And how did you get that?" she asks him, like it's a joke that she's playing along to.
"Izzie, it's Cosmo. Even my Aunt Tanya must have read it by now."
Isabel blinks. "Why are you reading a women's magazine, Denny?"
"The nurses know about your indecent interest in me. So they wanted to give me a leg up, make sure I knew what your boobs look like."
"Yeah, well, that's all you're going to see," she says, and grins back at him, relieved. "So are we playing scrabble, or are you too faint from the pleasures of my flesh?"
"Oh," he says, "I will never be too faint for that. I'm a real man, you know."
*
Max stands in a room painted white, his hands and feet cuffed together. "Isabel," he says, as gas fills the room, "Isabel, please." Isabel wakes, a hand on her shoulder.
"Izzie," says George, "It's okay. It was just a dream."
"Yes," Isabel agrees. "It was just a dream."
*
Alone, Isabel rummages in the back of her wardrobe until she finds a small wooden box. Inside the box are a dozen photos of varying quality, and she holds them all for but a moment before she picks one out and hides the rest away again.
Her hand wavers over the photo of her brother, and for a moment the image wavers, but she tosses the photo back in the box before she can follow her brother in his sleep.
No, she thinks, and returns the box to the wardrobe.
They are apart for a reason.
*
In the corridor, she curls up next to George, her knees to her chest. "What are you reading?" she asks. She reaches across and steals a cookie from the brown paper bag that indicates a generous patient.
"Cristina's diary," says George around a cookie, and Isabel chokes. George pats her on the back.
"You stole from Cristina?"
"O'Malley," says Alex from the doorway, "Congratulations. That takes some balls."
"It's not," blusters George, before he blushes. "I was kidding. It's just a book on fractures."
"Oh," says Alex, losing interest. "Studying for the girlfriend. Some guys are so fucking pussy whipped." Alex wanders away, and Isabel turns to George.
"Ignore him," she says. "You can read whatever you want."
"I know," says George. "Are you saying I don't know that?"
"No," Isabel protests, kind of pathetic, but she kind of still wants to make up for the whole 'I hate your girlfriend' thing, so. "Of course you know that. I didn't mean-"
"Okay. Okay. It's okay." He pushes himself off the gurney. "I have to go, anyway."
"George," says Isabel. "Please. Are we okay?"
George offers Isabel another cookie, and it is all that he needs to say.
*
"Stevens. O'Malley" Bailey waves a hand. "Get over here." Bailey hands Isabel a clipboard. "Stevens, you take the abdominal pain in room five. O'Malley, you come with me."
"Oh, lucky," says George in an undertone, and Bailey swats George across the head before ushering him away. Isabel laughs, and looks down at the clipboard as she pushes the door open. "Miss Reeves," says Isabel, and looks at the patient.
Liz Parker looks back at her, her brown eyes wide, and Isabel freezes.
"Is he okay?" Isabel asks quickly.
"What?" Liz asks, confused.
"Max," Isabel says urgently. "Is he okay?"
"Oh yes," Liz replies, still not understanding. "Why wouldn't he be?"
"Oh, I'm sorry," says Isabel, quietly as she can. "I must have the wrong room. There can't be anything wrong with you." She backs out of the room.
"Isabel!" hisses Liz from the bed. "Isabel!"
Isabel walks quickly through the hospital, and hopes like hell to avoid Bailey.
Just this once, she risks it, and controls reality as best she can.
It sort of works.
*
Her arms laden with folders, she cannot defend herself when Max steps into her path. "Don't hide from me, Isabel."
"I'm sorry," says Isabel. "Can I help you?"
"Oh, trying to keep a low profile?" he asks. "Trying not to draw attention to us? Then why the magazine, Isabel? Why the modeling?"
"I try not to talk about my past," she says, like they're having some other conversation, and her heart breaks. She moves to walk away from the one person she would kill for.
"Is, please," Max says, and wraps a hand around her elbow. "Please."
"Hey," says Alex as he turns the corner and heads towards them, "Izzie, is this guy hassling you?"
Isabel shakes her head. "No," she says, and Max's hand goes slack on her arm. "He was just leaving."
She turns and walks away.
When she looks back, he is gone, and she hates herself.
*
Isabel pushes her bedroom door shut, and in the moonlight, she can see that she is not alone. "Nice place," Max comments.
"Breaking and entering, Max? Isn't that what Michael is for?"
Max grimaces, and she flips on the light. Her brother sits on the edge of her bed, his fingers wrapped in her quilt cover. "It's not like that," he protests.
She doesn't answer him. Instead she rifles around in her wardrobe, and pulls her sweaty, disgusting sweater over her head and onto the floor. "I'm going for a shower," she says.
"Isabel," says Max. "Please." He stands, and rests a hand on her wrist. As he speaks, images flash through her head. "I've missed you." She sees Max, his arms around Liz. Max, running. Max and Michael. Max. She shakes his hand off.
"I've been here."
"Studying?" He asks the question with such disdain in his voice.
"I want to help people, Max! You of all people should understand that. Or did you just help Liz because your dick told you to?"
"Isabel!" Max says sharply. "That's enough. If you'd wanted to help people, you should have stayed with us. We could have used your help." He shrugs. "Anyway, it's not like you need to study to heal people."
"I do, Max. I need to study. I'm going to be a doctor, and I'm going to heal people, and our stupid wars aren't going to affect these people!"
"Our war isn't stupid, Isabel," says Max, and Isabel shakes her head.
"Whatever, Max." She picks up her towel. "I'm going for a shower. You can wait here."
In the bathroom, she scrubs the dirt from her hands and the sweat from her skin. She runs a hand down her leg and watches the hair disappear. She tries not to think about what it means. A whisper of cool air on her skin and she says, "Didn't I tell you to wait?"
"Wait for what?" asks George around his toothbrush.
"Nevermind," she says, and turns the water off. "Can you hand me my towel?"
She returns to her room, and the lights are blazing but Max is not there.
She is not surprised.
She takes the stairs two at a time, and in the kitchen, she starts to bake.
Chocolate chip and tabasco sauce. His fucking favourite.
*
In surgery, she snaps at McDreamy. In the corridors during a consult, she snaps at Addison Shepherd. She tells Alex to go fuck himself, and in her hurry to get away from him she bumps into Doctor Weber and sends his coffee flying. She barely apologises before hurrying away.
"God," says Cristina, as she drops her tray to the table. "What is your trauma today? You're acting a little too like me."
"It's none of your business," Isabel snaps, as she absentmindedly pulls her hair back into a ponytail.
"Isabel. Didn't you say I was your best friend?" George leans across the table and plays the trump card, then meets her eyes and offers her his coffee, like he doesn't know what he's just done.
"Yes," she sulks.
"So you should tell me."
"I don't have to tell my best friend everything."
"Isabel," says George, his voice stern. "You hate my girlfriend. You owe me this explanation."
"Fine," she says, and crosses her arms. "My brother came to visit me."
"Wait," interrupts Cristina. "You have a brother?" Isabel nods. "Is he hot?"
"Cristina!" scolds George, scandalised.
"It's a valid question," Cristina says, and takes a bite of her sandwich.
"He's very cute," replies Isabel, "but he shouldn't be here."
It's the truth.
*
In the night she visits him, her hand to his photo and her eyes closed. She wraps her arms around him and draws him close. "Please," she says to him softly. "You have to leave Seattle."
"You wouldn't have put yourself in a million magazines if you didn't think it was safe," Max says, his desperation clear.
Isabel puts a hand against Max's cheek.
"I will be the target," she whispers, and kisses him softly. "Please don't visit me again."
"Isabel," he breathes, and his breath is warm against her ear. He kisses her forehead; her cheek; her nose. "Isabel, I love you."
When she opens her eyes, her room is cold, and she thinks, Who is this person that I have become?
She treads downstairs, and begins to bake.
She will not run.
*
When the time comes, she will be the target.
But her brother will live.
It is the least that she can do.
END
Roswell/Grey's Anatomy, Isabel, rated PG.
Beta (and blame):
fox1013. I mean, Isabel Evans = Izzie Stevens? You know you love it.***
It has been six years and he is safe, three thousand miles away from her, but she knows her brother lives. Every breath he takes echoes through the world, and her heart never misses a beat.
He breathes out.
She hands Burke the scalpel.
*
She'd hoped that thing with that patient was just a once off, but Denny smiles at her, bright and shining, and slowly lowers the magazine to the bed. "I've seen your boobs," he says, and his grin is broad and pleased. Her eyes drop to the magazine in his hands.
"And how did you get that?" she asks him, like it's a joke that she's playing along to.
"Izzie, it's Cosmo. Even my Aunt Tanya must have read it by now."
Isabel blinks. "Why are you reading a women's magazine, Denny?"
"The nurses know about your indecent interest in me. So they wanted to give me a leg up, make sure I knew what your boobs look like."
"Yeah, well, that's all you're going to see," she says, and grins back at him, relieved. "So are we playing scrabble, or are you too faint from the pleasures of my flesh?"
"Oh," he says, "I will never be too faint for that. I'm a real man, you know."
*
Max stands in a room painted white, his hands and feet cuffed together. "Isabel," he says, as gas fills the room, "Isabel, please." Isabel wakes, a hand on her shoulder.
"Izzie," says George, "It's okay. It was just a dream."
"Yes," Isabel agrees. "It was just a dream."
*
Alone, Isabel rummages in the back of her wardrobe until she finds a small wooden box. Inside the box are a dozen photos of varying quality, and she holds them all for but a moment before she picks one out and hides the rest away again.
Her hand wavers over the photo of her brother, and for a moment the image wavers, but she tosses the photo back in the box before she can follow her brother in his sleep.
No, she thinks, and returns the box to the wardrobe.
They are apart for a reason.
*
In the corridor, she curls up next to George, her knees to her chest. "What are you reading?" she asks. She reaches across and steals a cookie from the brown paper bag that indicates a generous patient.
"Cristina's diary," says George around a cookie, and Isabel chokes. George pats her on the back.
"You stole from Cristina?"
"O'Malley," says Alex from the doorway, "Congratulations. That takes some balls."
"It's not," blusters George, before he blushes. "I was kidding. It's just a book on fractures."
"Oh," says Alex, losing interest. "Studying for the girlfriend. Some guys are so fucking pussy whipped." Alex wanders away, and Isabel turns to George.
"Ignore him," she says. "You can read whatever you want."
"I know," says George. "Are you saying I don't know that?"
"No," Isabel protests, kind of pathetic, but she kind of still wants to make up for the whole 'I hate your girlfriend' thing, so. "Of course you know that. I didn't mean-"
"Okay. Okay. It's okay." He pushes himself off the gurney. "I have to go, anyway."
"George," says Isabel. "Please. Are we okay?"
George offers Isabel another cookie, and it is all that he needs to say.
*
"Stevens. O'Malley" Bailey waves a hand. "Get over here." Bailey hands Isabel a clipboard. "Stevens, you take the abdominal pain in room five. O'Malley, you come with me."
"Oh, lucky," says George in an undertone, and Bailey swats George across the head before ushering him away. Isabel laughs, and looks down at the clipboard as she pushes the door open. "Miss Reeves," says Isabel, and looks at the patient.
Liz Parker looks back at her, her brown eyes wide, and Isabel freezes.
"Is he okay?" Isabel asks quickly.
"What?" Liz asks, confused.
"Max," Isabel says urgently. "Is he okay?"
"Oh yes," Liz replies, still not understanding. "Why wouldn't he be?"
"Oh, I'm sorry," says Isabel, quietly as she can. "I must have the wrong room. There can't be anything wrong with you." She backs out of the room.
"Isabel!" hisses Liz from the bed. "Isabel!"
Isabel walks quickly through the hospital, and hopes like hell to avoid Bailey.
Just this once, she risks it, and controls reality as best she can.
It sort of works.
*
Her arms laden with folders, she cannot defend herself when Max steps into her path. "Don't hide from me, Isabel."
"I'm sorry," says Isabel. "Can I help you?"
"Oh, trying to keep a low profile?" he asks. "Trying not to draw attention to us? Then why the magazine, Isabel? Why the modeling?"
"I try not to talk about my past," she says, like they're having some other conversation, and her heart breaks. She moves to walk away from the one person she would kill for.
"Is, please," Max says, and wraps a hand around her elbow. "Please."
"Hey," says Alex as he turns the corner and heads towards them, "Izzie, is this guy hassling you?"
Isabel shakes her head. "No," she says, and Max's hand goes slack on her arm. "He was just leaving."
She turns and walks away.
When she looks back, he is gone, and she hates herself.
*
Isabel pushes her bedroom door shut, and in the moonlight, she can see that she is not alone. "Nice place," Max comments.
"Breaking and entering, Max? Isn't that what Michael is for?"
Max grimaces, and she flips on the light. Her brother sits on the edge of her bed, his fingers wrapped in her quilt cover. "It's not like that," he protests.
She doesn't answer him. Instead she rifles around in her wardrobe, and pulls her sweaty, disgusting sweater over her head and onto the floor. "I'm going for a shower," she says.
"Isabel," says Max. "Please." He stands, and rests a hand on her wrist. As he speaks, images flash through her head. "I've missed you." She sees Max, his arms around Liz. Max, running. Max and Michael. Max. She shakes his hand off.
"I've been here."
"Studying?" He asks the question with such disdain in his voice.
"I want to help people, Max! You of all people should understand that. Or did you just help Liz because your dick told you to?"
"Isabel!" Max says sharply. "That's enough. If you'd wanted to help people, you should have stayed with us. We could have used your help." He shrugs. "Anyway, it's not like you need to study to heal people."
"I do, Max. I need to study. I'm going to be a doctor, and I'm going to heal people, and our stupid wars aren't going to affect these people!"
"Our war isn't stupid, Isabel," says Max, and Isabel shakes her head.
"Whatever, Max." She picks up her towel. "I'm going for a shower. You can wait here."
In the bathroom, she scrubs the dirt from her hands and the sweat from her skin. She runs a hand down her leg and watches the hair disappear. She tries not to think about what it means. A whisper of cool air on her skin and she says, "Didn't I tell you to wait?"
"Wait for what?" asks George around his toothbrush.
"Nevermind," she says, and turns the water off. "Can you hand me my towel?"
She returns to her room, and the lights are blazing but Max is not there.
She is not surprised.
She takes the stairs two at a time, and in the kitchen, she starts to bake.
Chocolate chip and tabasco sauce. His fucking favourite.
*
In surgery, she snaps at McDreamy. In the corridors during a consult, she snaps at Addison Shepherd. She tells Alex to go fuck himself, and in her hurry to get away from him she bumps into Doctor Weber and sends his coffee flying. She barely apologises before hurrying away.
"God," says Cristina, as she drops her tray to the table. "What is your trauma today? You're acting a little too like me."
"It's none of your business," Isabel snaps, as she absentmindedly pulls her hair back into a ponytail.
"Isabel. Didn't you say I was your best friend?" George leans across the table and plays the trump card, then meets her eyes and offers her his coffee, like he doesn't know what he's just done.
"Yes," she sulks.
"So you should tell me."
"I don't have to tell my best friend everything."
"Isabel," says George, his voice stern. "You hate my girlfriend. You owe me this explanation."
"Fine," she says, and crosses her arms. "My brother came to visit me."
"Wait," interrupts Cristina. "You have a brother?" Isabel nods. "Is he hot?"
"Cristina!" scolds George, scandalised.
"It's a valid question," Cristina says, and takes a bite of her sandwich.
"He's very cute," replies Isabel, "but he shouldn't be here."
It's the truth.
*
In the night she visits him, her hand to his photo and her eyes closed. She wraps her arms around him and draws him close. "Please," she says to him softly. "You have to leave Seattle."
"You wouldn't have put yourself in a million magazines if you didn't think it was safe," Max says, his desperation clear.
Isabel puts a hand against Max's cheek.
"I will be the target," she whispers, and kisses him softly. "Please don't visit me again."
"Isabel," he breathes, and his breath is warm against her ear. He kisses her forehead; her cheek; her nose. "Isabel, I love you."
When she opens her eyes, her room is cold, and she thinks, Who is this person that I have become?
She treads downstairs, and begins to bake.
She will not run.
*
When the time comes, she will be the target.
But her brother will live.
It is the least that she can do.
END
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2006-04-22 08:32 am (UTC)i love it.
i don't watch GA. But I still love it. wonderful job, m'dear.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-04-24 05:02 am (UTC)But you should totally watch Grey's Anatomy. It's kind of awesome. Not as awesome as Roswell, but you know how it is.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-04-22 08:38 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-04-22 05:39 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-04-28 06:56 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-04-22 08:39 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-04-24 05:01 am (UTC)Also, Roswell was a very important part of the late nineties. You should totally watch it some time!
(no subject)
Date: 2006-04-22 08:46 am (UTC)LOVE.
And it's true. She is the same person.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-04-24 04:59 am (UTC)This is totally a moat moment.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-04-24 07:25 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-04-22 08:55 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-04-24 04:59 am (UTC)You should see Grey's Anatomy. It's pretty awesome. And it's got Katie. Who's playing an Isabel who's still pretty much a bitch, so it's FABULOUS.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-04-22 10:03 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-04-24 04:57 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-04-22 12:54 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-04-24 04:57 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-04-22 01:20 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-04-24 04:56 am (UTC):o)
Isabel loves her brother. And her brother is the king, and she is the one who betrayed them all. I don't think she'll ever be okay with that.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-04-24 02:23 pm (UTC):P.
It IS like a game! I'm sorely tempted to have Kyle-Lamb make that drive up to Seattle Grace, complete with Veronica hiding out in his back seat.
I love what a handle you have on Isabel's feelings for Max and her feelings about Vilandra's betrayal. That makes me nostalgic for the good parts of Roswell...
(no subject)
Date: 2006-04-22 02:42 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-04-24 04:55 am (UTC)I'm back!
Date: 2006-04-24 05:19 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-04-22 03:08 pm (UTC)Lovely idea! I think it's a touch too Roswell-y in tone -- though you did get in some good GA loopiness. I'd personally wish a better future for GA-Izzie, but overall you brought this off well.
But where is Maria??
(no subject)
Date: 2006-04-24 04:54 am (UTC)AND HOT.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-04-24 04:55 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-04-22 11:12 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-04-24 04:53 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-04-23 12:55 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-04-24 04:52 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-04-23 02:59 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-04-24 04:52 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-04-24 11:34 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-03 09:40 pm (UTC)I have a very basic knowledge of Grey's (i.e. I watched the "bomb squad" episodes because of Kyle Chandler and got some info on the general story), but I love how you've mixed it with Roswell. Absolutely lovely...you make the choices Isabel makes have a real purpose. Some real grit.
Lovely.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-06 12:46 am (UTC)That said, I love some of the images here - Max hiding in the bedroom at Mer's house, Izzie walking in on Liz Parker as a patient.
You can't hide from us, "Izzie". We see right through you.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-21 03:18 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-22 08:45 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-23 01:13 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-12-17 03:53 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-12-18 09:51 am (UTC)I know, isn't an awesome idea? We thought, with all the people writing GA/Spn crossovers thanks to Denny/John, well, Isabel/Izzie is the far more logical choice.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-03-28 11:12 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-03-30 06:08 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-04-18 11:53 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-04-19 11:34 am (UTC)