4400 fic: Defining Opposition
Title: Defining Oppositions
Author: MickeyRos
Rating: PGish
Summary: Post-Starlz Mutation - Jordan gets his memory back and attempts to dissuade Shawn from going through with his marriage.
Disclaimer: I own nothing from the 4400. I am simply borrowing the characters for a little while.
Defining Opposition
~
Jordan stared at his reflection in the mirror. He didn’t recognize himself anymore. Much like when he had first returned as a 4400, it had taken him months before he could look at himself without feeling as though he was someone else altogether He knew that this time would be different because he was armed with the knowledge- the answers of why he was taken - his purpose.
KNOCK-KNOCK, the door opened with Shawn not far behind.
“Richard said that you wanted to see me.” Shawn said as he hesitantly stood at the doorway of what used to be his office.
“Yes, Shawn please come in. Have a seat.” Jordan said as he beckoned the younger man into the chair in front of his desk, waiting until he’d sat before continuing. “Richard told me that you still intend to marry Isabelle.”
Shawn nodded. “Yes, we decided to postpone the wedding until things die down a bit. Your arrival and then dealing with NTAC …with so much going on it just seemed sensible to wait.”
Jordan rubbed his beard contemplatively. “Do you really think that’s a good idea Shawn?”
“Postponing the wedding? Of course. Isabelle-that is Isabelle and I thought it would just better to wait. Besides we don’t need to rush things.”
“Shawn, why are you lying to me? I may have been gone for nearly a year but one thing I’ve found that remained the same is that you cannot lie to me. So please don’t insult my intelligence by telling me it was your decision. Richard already told me what’s been going on with Isabelle. You don’t have to do this.”
Shawn sat up straighter. “Look Jordan, I don’t know what Richard told you but Isabelle and I, we have to get married. I know that Richard and I were concerned with how things would end if I married her. But, I’ve changed my mind. I know that marrying Isabelle is the right thing to do.”
“Are you certain of that Shawn?”
“Yes. And there is nothing that you could say that would make me change my mind.”
“I think you are making a mistake, Shawn. I think you are in over your head,” Jordan leaned forward across the desk. “You don’t know what Isabelle is capable of, how dangerous she is.”
“And you do?” Shawn challenged back at him defensively.
“I think I, more than anyone else, truly understand just how dangerous she is or could be.” Jordan said as he mind flashed to when he was shot. He felt the impact of the bullet as if it were yesterday driving him down to the floor. Unconsciously, his hand drifted to the spot where the bullet had entered his chest. “She’s not one of us Shawn, she’s not a 4400. She is something else entirely. You can’t trust her, she lies.”
“She doesn’t lie to me. She loves me.” He didn’t know why he felt the need to protect Isabelle from Jordan. It didn’t make any sense. He had said to himself many times before while planning the wedding when he felt his resolve slipping around her, she was dangerous. And if not for the visions when he smoked that cigar, he would never marry her. “Jordan I appreciate what you and Richard are trying to do. But, I trust what I know about Isabelle and I know that I am making the right decision.”
Jordan pulled a file out and laid it down on the desk before Shawn. “I didn’t want to do this Shawn, but you leave me know choice.”
Shawn looked from the folder to Jordan. “What’s this?”
“Read it. It’s a contract.” The younger man flipped open the file and began to read. “If you marry Isabelle then you must sever all ties you have with the 4400 Center.”
Shawn’s head popped up in surprise. “You’re not serious?”
Jordan rose from behind the desk. “I think you’ll find that I am very serious.”
Shawn got to his feet. “You’re giving me an ultimatum? I marry Isabelle and I’m out just like that.”
“The 4400 Center is a safe haven, Shawn for us and all 4400s. Isabelle is liability, an anomaly if you will that we can’t afford to have to get us through what’s coming. So I am giving you a choice. You can both stay here at the Center and continue your work, helping me to bring forth the future as I’ve seen it. Or you can marry Isabelle and leave. The choice is yours to make Shawn. But, ask yourself this; can you really trust Isabelle? Truly trust her? Are you sure that what ever is holding you to her is worth it?”
Jordan gave few seconds for his challenges to soak in before continuing quietly, “I’m not asking you to make your decision tonight. Take some time, think about it.”
Shawn’s eyes dropped from Jordan’s to folder placed in front of him, his jaw clenching.
Jordan glanced down at his watch. “Now, if you’ll excuse me I have an interview to prepare for, close the door on your way out.” He walked past Shawn and into his suite of rooms.
Shawn picked up the folder and left, slamming the door in his wake.
~*~
“Do you think it went well?” Richard asked as he walked into Jordan’s office from the sitting room. “Do you think he’ll leave my daughter?”
“He’ll do it. Ultimately Shawn will make the right decision, and really what choice will he have?”
Richard nodded and sat down in chair facing Jordan’s desk. “Don’t be to sure about Shawn, Jordan. When that boy gets pushed into a corner, he doesn’t tend to take it well. He makes mistakes and with Isabelle those mistakes tend him push toward her.”
“I understand that Richard. Are you saying you don’t think Shawn will be glad to get out of this monstrosity of a marriage? Didn’t you tell me that he never wanted to marry her in the first place? Has that changed somehow?”
“No, the circumstances of the marriage haven’t changed. I’m just suggesting that we not underestimate Shawn or his connection with Isabelle. He was the first person that she connected to when she changed. The only one she could really talk to and they were having an affair for months before I ever found out. There wasn’t a slip in their behavior around me. Obviously, they feel something for each other.”
“I see.” Jordan stated as he pushed away from his desk. “Tell me Richard are you having doubts?”
“Not doubts exactly. I just don’t want to see my daughter or Shawn hurt. That’s why I came to you. I’m just saying don’t be too overconfident on his decision a lot has changed since you died. Shawn has changed and we shouldn’t overestimate our ability to get to him. All we can really do now is hope for the best.”
“Hope for the best.” Jordan leaned back his palms coming together over his chest; hoping for the best is not something he did well. It was bullshit. If you need something done, you get it done-point blank. Trusting in some higher being, God, the Fates wasn’t something he could do. Even in business, he’d made it his duty to see that the scales were always tipped in his favor. And this business with Shawn was no different, which is why he hadn’t told Richard about the pictures. He wanted Shawn by his side for the next phase and he would do whatever was necessary to see that happen. Luckily for him Isabelle’s actions would save him some legwork. “I’m not worried. Shawn will see that this is the right decision, the best decision for him to make.”
Richard rose, nodding as he walked out of the room. He sincerely hoped coming to Jordan was the right thing to do. He was at his wit’s end with Isabelle and after Shawn’s visions he was scared. He didn’t know what was coming but whatever it was involving him and his daughter it obviously wasn’t good. With the addition of Shawn being caught in the middle it wouldn’t end well.
~*~
Shawn had gone for a drive after his meeting with Jordan. He needed some time to clear his head. To figure out if he trusted his visions of the future enough to marry Isabelle. Or if the solution that Jordan had offered him was the only way out. It would be so easy to take it, to forget his visions and leave Isabelle. The more he thought about it, the more the idea appealed to him. Sighing, maybe he just needed sleep, he drove home to Center. He pulled his keys out of his pocket and opened the door to his suite.
“Shawn, I’ve been waiting for you.” Isabelle said as she stood up in her sage green day wrap dress. “Where have you been?” She approached him dropping the paint splotches to the sofa; she leaned up to kiss him on the lips. When he didn’t respond, she pulled back.
“I went for a drive.” He moved away from her, dropping his keys on the table as he made a cursory glance around the room. “I thought you already decided what color you wanted the room painted.”
“I did, this is for the guest room.” she grabbed his wrist and pulled him down next to her on the sofa. “What do you think of these colors?” She held up the swatches of nearly matching shades of green.
“They’re nice. Look Isabelle, I’m tired and I have a lot to do tomorrow so maybe we can continue this later.” He handed her the swatches.
“Okay.” Isabelle took the swatches and placed them in a bag beside the table. “You seem stressed Shawn. Maybe I can help? Talk to me, tell me what’s wrong.”
“Isabelle, I really don’t think -,”
She grabbed his hand. “Shawn, if we are going to be married we need to have open lines of communication. I read about this.” She massaged his hands as she moved next to him, turning her body so that she was facing him. “So tell me what’s wrong?”
Shawn stared at Isabelle. She seemed so open, so honest and ready to listen to him. She really wanted their relationship to work as if he wasn’t marrying her for the wrong reasons. It almost felt right to him. He wondered if this could mean that he could really be honest with her. Could he really tell her that Jordan and possibly her own father were trying to kick her out of the only home that she’d ever known? No, he couldn’t tell her the truth. He couldn’t be the one responsible for taking away that away from her. So he lied. “It’s nothing. I’m just tired from the last couple of days. This week has been really crazy, you know.”
“Are you sure that’s all that’s wrong?” Isabelle asked again as she patted his back. Shawn nodded demurely. “All right then, I’m going to head to bed. I’m sure Daddy is wondering where I am.” She leaned over and kissed him. “I’ll see you in the morning?” She asked as she paused by the doorway watching him. “Are you sure nothing’s wrong?”
Shawn rose and walked over to door, taking it from her hand to pull her to him for a quick brief kiss. “Yes, of course. You should go to bed.” He held the door for her.
Isabelle stared at him questioningly. “Good night Shawn.” She left his suite of rooms and Shawn released the breath that he didn’t know he’d been holding.
He waited until he was sure that Isabelle was gone before leaving the suite again himself. He needed to talk to Jordan one more time before he made his final decision on whether or not he would marry the girl.
Shawn walked down the quite corridor to Jordan’s suite of rooms. Just as he raised his hands to knock on the door it opened.
“Shawn, I’ve been expecting you. Come in.” Jordan said as he stepped aside to allow the other man into the room. Shawn followed him as he led the way to his desk. Jordan was dressed more causally than he had been earlier that day without his suit jacket and his raven locks free. “I thought you might come back for this.”
Jordan handed Shawn a grey folder.
“What’s this, another contract?” Shawn asked as he opened the folder this time instead of a contract there were several black and white 8x10 photos of Isabelle both arriving and exiting Hastelcorp in Dennis Ryland’s company.
“Those photos are proof of Isabelle’s duplicity, of course. As you can see those photographs are dated and they run over the course of several weeks. It should be obvious by the photos exactly how the Government was able to develop their own secret stock of Promicin to use on their soldiers.” Jordan said as he turned to his mini-bar and poured himself a finger of amber-colored liquid from the glass decanter. “Brandy?”
“I want to know where you got these photos. Isabelle wouldn’t help Dennis Ryland. She knows that he’s not to be trusted, my god he tried to kill us. She wouldn’t-,”
Jordan banged his hand on the bar. “How many times do I have to remind you that Isabelle is not one of us! She has never been a 4400. She was sent here to destroy us.” He turned to face Shawn. “I have given you the proof you asked for and yet you still trust her. What kind of hold does she have over you? The sex can’t be that good.”
“You’re out of line Jordan, my relationship with Isabelle is none of your business.”
“It is my business when she’s been working Dennis Ryland and the Government to help develop soldiers who can fight against us.”
“I don’t care what these photos show. I know Isabelle. And regardless of what you may think I know she wouldn’t do this. She wouldn’t side with Dennis Ryland to destroy us-it wouldn’t make any sense. She had a chance to kill us when we all started to get sick, when I was sick but she didn’t. She saved me -she saved us all.” He threw the photos down onto Jordan’s desk. “For all I know you had those photos doctored, they could be fakes.”
“What purpose would it serve to give you fake photographs?”
“You forget, I know how you operate Jordan. You don’t want me to marry Isabelle so you’re trying to manipulate me, trying to get me to view Isabelle as you do. Well, it isn’t going to work, I need more than this flimsy excuse of photo evidence to betray my trust with me fiancée.”
Jordan sighed inwardly; obviously his time away from Shawn had enabled the younger man to become more assertive. Before he had been taken Shawn had been his to mold and shape into becoming his predecessor but that had clearly changed. So he needed to change his tactics to get this Shawn to come around to his way of thinking. “Alright, Shawn I can understand how you might doubt me but if you’re certain. One hundred percent certain that she hasn’t betrayed you show her the photos. Don’t tell her your belief of these images to be fake. Show them to her and ask why. No prompt, no provocations, just why. If you do that then you’ll know the truth.” He picked up the photos from the desk and made certain to place one particular photo on top of the pile. “Ask her how Matthew died in your room.” He held the photos out for Shawn to take.
Shawn snatched the photos out of Jordan’s hand. “I will and you’ll see that you are wrong.” He turned and left the suite slamming the door in his wake.
He was going to his suite when he thought better of it and made a u-turn heading in the direction of Isabelle’s suite. Taking the key to her suite out of his pocket, he quietly opened the door and shut it softly behind him. He pocketed the key as he headed to Isabelle’s bedroom. When he got to the door and saw her sleeping, he stopped. What was he thinking, doing? Sighing in frustration he returned to her living room and sat down tossing the folder on the table.
Was Jordan right, did he really trust Isabelle? No, yes, he didn’t know. He sat back disgusted with himself; he had allowed Jordan to manipulate him again. He had thought that he was above this by now, especially since Jordan’s “death” he had become a different person. Someone who couldn’t be manipulated as easily, but here he was getting ready to interrogate Isabelle about those pictures. He was no longer under Jordan’s thumb and he didn’t want to go back to that. As much as he hated to admit it, Jordan had been right in some respects if Isabelle had been working with Ryland to make Promicin positive soldiers she was putting them all in danger. He’d seen with his own vision that not marrying her meant the death of his uncle and he couldn’t allow that to happen. But, he needed to be sure that marrying her was the right thing to do and he needed to know that she had not betrayed him. Short of showing her the pictures, which he refused to do he only had one option, to search her room. Where would he start? More importantly, what did he expect to find.
He walked over to her desk and he turned on the small lamp on Isabelle’s desk and booted up Isabelle’s laptop. He sat on the chair before the computer. He was only mildly surprised when he saw that the computer was password protected. He wasn’t a computer genius by anyone’s standards so he took a guess at her password, their wedding day. It worked. The desktop finally came up, it was a picture of Lily holding her daughter, Isabelle smiling up at the camera. Shawn didn’t know where to look first so he clicked on the first icon on the desktop it opened to some sort of online program. The title page was called, “The Diary of Isabelle Tyler.” It was organized by date. He randomly selected a date and double-clicked it when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He jumped closing the screen and turning around.
“Shawn, what are you doing?” Isabelle asked as she pulled her robe closed.
Shawn guilty swallowed as he stood up, closing the laptop. “Isabelle, wha-what are you doing up? I thought you would be sleeping.”
“I was, I wanted some water.” She frowned as said running a hand through the mass of black curls that rested on her shoulders. She looked around him to see that he had a hand resting on top of her computer. “Did you need to use my computer for something? Did yours stop working?’
“No, yes, I just needed to get something.”
“Okay, just turn it off when you’re finished. I’ll get my water and go back to bed.” Isabelle turned going to her kitchenette.
He followed her. “That’s it. You’re just going to let me use your computer no questions asked.”
She stopped by the kitchen counter and turned back around to face Shawn. “Of course Shawn, I don’t have any secrets from you. I trust you.”
“Do you? Do you really trust me Isabelle?”
“Yes, of course I do Shawn. You’ve never lied to me, you always tell me the truth even when I don’t want to hear it.” She said smiling slightly as she walked to meeting him in the middle of her living room. “In fact, that’s one of things I love about you.” Wrapping her arms around his neck she leaned up to kiss him, pressing a soft kiss on his cheek.
As she attempted to lean up for another kiss, Shawn grasped her hands and gently pulled them from around his neck. “Isabelle, we need to talk, this is serious.”
“Okay.” She took Shawn’s hands and led him to her black loveseat. “Sit, tell me what’s wrong.” She sat down beside him curling a leg under her.
“Listen, this isn’t easy for me but, I have to know.” He rubbed his hands over his pants leg before facing her. “Are you the government’s source for Promicin?”
Isabelle’s smile slowly faded as she dropped her eyes down to the floor. “Yes but, you have to let me explain, it’s not what you think. Not really anyway. I’m not helping Ryland build an army against the 4400.”
“Then what are you doing, Isabelle? I don’t understand how you could let someone like Dennis Ryland use your abilities against us. Help me understand.”
She raised her eyes back to his. “At first I went to him because I thought he might be able to help stop me from becoming the destroyer of the 4400. I let him study my blood to see if the inhibitor could disrupt my abilities. After that didn’t work, I kept going back to see if could weaken me but it didn’t. That’s when I figured if I had you and Dad to keep me grounded I would be able to stop myself from making the wrong choice.”
“That’s why you proposed?” He asked and she nodded. “And Matthew, did you kill him?” He didn’t know what had made him ask her that question. But, he needed to know that she would tell him the truth no matter what. Isabelle nodded yes.
“I didn’t want to, but I had to Shawn. It was the only way I could save you. I know you think that Matthew was a good person but he wasn’t. I did what I had to do to save you and if I had to do it all over again I would. He got what he deserved and I don’t regret it.”
Isabelle sat back to watch Shawn’s response to her declaration. In the short time that had known each other she had learned to read him well. He was pensive. She wondered briefly if she had made a mistake in telling him the truth about everything including Dennis Ryland. Rationally, she knew that working with him wasn’t something that she should have done. But, it had been at a weak point when Shawn had broken up with her and her father had started to look at her with something akin to fear in his eyes. Dennis Ryland accepted her and all of the knowledge she had to offer without question. Whereas with her father and Shawn it seemed there were nothing but endless questions and definitive responses in the negative at the slightest issue. Dennis Ryland respected her; sure she knew that if he didn’t have the Promicin then it wouldn’t be the same. But, for right now that’s all she needed.
Shawn pondered what Isabelle had told him. If he was honest with himself, he had fully expected her to lie to him. Jordan was pushing so hard to get her out of the center because even he had thought that she would lie to him as well. But, she told him the truth about everything, even Matthew. “How much do you remember from when you were younger?”
“I have some vague memories of my parents … and Jordan.”
Shawn nodded recalling all the times he had seen Jordan take Isabelle as a baby into his arms and talk to her. More than that he also remembered how he’d had to heal Jordan because of his first encounter with Isabelle from the womb. “Do you remember Jordan coming to see you, asking you to show him-,”
“You mean when he was shot.” Isabelle asked interrupting him. “I remember some of it. I know he asked me to show him how the future would turn out. He was so full of pride, arrogance … he had this insatiable need for power to control everything. I showed him what he wanted to see, I let him die because I didn’t like what I saw.”
Shawn shook his head. “That’s just it, Isabelle I don’t think you killed him I mean. You can’t see the future and besides that you were just a baby.”
“No, Shawn, I couldn’t see the future but I knew what was going to happen to him. Instead of showing Jordan the truth I showed him a lie.”
“If the future wanted Jordan to relay his message about the catastrophe and all that’s needed to stop it; I’m certain they would have found a way to take him.”
“Do you really believe that?”
“Yes, I do. If there is anything I’ve learned from all this, the future is determined to shape things to come that’s why they took me and the others.”
Isabelle was surprised and took great effort to ensure that Shawn couldn’t tell from her facial impression. She had been honest with Shawn and told him all of her innermost secrets and he hadn’t walked away from her. Better still, he seemed to sympathize with her decisions and he didn’t act as though she was evil incarnate because of things she did. Their relationship was at a turning point. “So are we still getting married or do you want to cancel it altogether?”
Shawn settled back against the loveseat thinking. He hadn’t been expecting that question. He had an out now if she was considering to cancel the impending marriage as a way to pay for her misdeeds. If he said yes and this would all be over. He could go back to being Jordan’s right hand man and everything would go back to how it all had been before.
“Yes, I’ll still marry you,” he heard himself say and couldn’t believe by the words had come out of his mouth. It was too late to take to go back to who he had been before. So much had changed, he had changed. He couldn’t, wouldn’t go back again.
~*~
SEATTLE POST INTELLIGENCER
Arts & Entertainment, People Section
… Guess who our spies caught at the Justice of the Peace after the biggest social event of the year was reportedly postponed … that’s right 4400 poster boy and Healer Shawn Farrell wed his fiancée Isabelle Tyler in a closed ceremony with only the groom’s family in attendance. When asked why the super-secret ceremony instead of a big, lush wedding held at the 4400 Center, the groom answered that he wanted something private and intimate for his nuptials to his lady love …
As Jordan read the morning paper he gathered that into his hands and ripped it apart. Crumbling the torn pieces in his hand, he tossed the paper into the trash can. He couldn’t believe that Shawn had defied him and married Isabelle. It wasn’t, however, completely unexpected after all even Richard tried to warn him that Shawn didn’t react well when pushed into a corner. When he’d seen the future, it was clear that he and Isabelle were not meant to be on the same side. He was never given any clear indication of which side Shawn was on. Now, he knew unequivocally - they were on different sides.
~*~
Shawn stood and surveyed the room that had been his home for over two years. Where once everything had a place, now it was all packed away in boxes on a truck ready to be moved. He couldn’t believe that he was doing this, leaving the 4400 Center. In the short time that he had been there he had finally discovered his purpose in the world, a reason for being and it was all entangled in his work for the center. And now he was leaving all that and he no longer knew what the world would hold for him.
“Shawn,” Isabelle called from the living room where she came in with his mother. “The movers are ready. Did you get everything?”
“I don’t know let check my office.”
“Okay sweetie, but hurry up, we want to get on the road before traffic picks up.” His mother leaned up and patted his cheek. “I can’t tell you how happy I am that you kids are moving closer to me. It will be so good to have family nearby again.” Susan Farrell as she gave Isabelle a quick hug.
“I’ll be right back.” Shawn said as he left his mother and wife to walk down to his office. He had already taken most of things he wanted from the office with the exception of a few items here or there. As he walked into the room the light switched on and the door closed behind him. Jordan was sitting at his desk with the newspaper in front of him.
“I understand congratulations are in order.” Jordan said as he slid the newspaper over to him. “You know Shawn, I never expected you to betray me.”
“Betrayyou?” Shawn repeated sardonically as he glanced down at the picture on the tabloid newspaper of him and Isabelle leaving the Justice of the Peace. “How did I betray you Jordan … By not following your orders? Well, I’m sorry Jordan but I don’t take orders from you or anyone else anymore.”
Jordan’s eyes flinted with Shawn’s declarations never before had he ever told no. “They weren’t orders, Shawn. Merely warnings. Don’t forget I’ve seen the future. I’ve seen how the catastrophe begins and ends and it all starts with your wife. She’s the enemy and the sooner you realize that better off you will be.”
“I know what you think. But, I refuse to believe that Isabelle is the enemy. I know that if I stay with her she’ll be better off then me turning my back on her. I can help her-,”
“You can do a lot of things but you can’t heal evil. She’s the enemy Shawn. She always has been and you can’t change destiny. She was destined to destroy us.”
“What is going on in here?” Richard asked as he entered the room. “They can hear you in the hallway.”
“How could you consent to this marriage, Richard? You of all people know what your daughter is capable of. We agreed that the best thing for them was to remain apart.”
“Isabelle is over 18 in the eyes of the law. She didn’t need my consent to marry Shawn.” Richard looked over at his son-in-law before he continued. “I know that Shawn didn’t want to marry her at first. But, something changed between the two of them in the last week. I’ve seen a calm come over my daughter that was never present before. Now, yes I agree that she can be dangerous but the change I have seen change in her … in just a few short weeks of being married …that tells me that she’s not the same selfish girl I thought she was. She’s changing and for the better with Shawn by her side to guide her. I didn’t consent to this marriage initially, but I approve of it now.”
“Thank you, Richard that means a lot from you.” Shawn acquiesced with a nod. “I know not everyone believes that Isabelle isn’t a monster and is capable of good but I do. She was created to help us not impede us. Whether she was taken as a 4400 or not; she is one of us.”
“That’s just it Shawn, she isn’t one of us. No matter what she does, Isabelle cannot change who she is. The 4400 were created to bring about change, which is our destiny. But, she is the one anomaly, the one crack in the great scheme. She is the destroyer of the 4400.”
“I am not the destroyer.” Isabelle said as the three men in the room turned toward her. “People can change, they can decide whether they are going to be good or evil; I have that choice and I am not evil.” She briefly glanced toward Shawn before returning to Jordan.
“No Isabelle, you don’t have a choice. You were born to destroy the 4400. Nothing you can do will allow you to escape what you are destined to be. For some people there is a choice. But, for you there is not!”
“Jordan,” Richard started sharply.
Isabelle raised her hands in protest. “No, Dad it’s all right. Jordan can believe whatever he wants about me. The only thing that matters is that I believe I have a choice. No one can take that from me. And when the time comes that I have to make that choice, I know that with Shawn by my side I’ll make the right decision.” Isabelle replied.
“She’s right, Jordan. Isabelle may be many things but she is not the harbinger of doom that you portray her to be for the 4400. I know that better than anyone. After all she’s had two chances to kill me. Two times where she could have done nothing and let me die and each time she chose to save me.” He walked over to his wife and took her hand in his. “I left my letter of resignation on your desk. Goodbye Jordan.” Without waiting for Jordan or Richard to respond, Shawn and Isabelle left the office and headed out of the 4400 Center.
“Ready to go Shawn?”
With one last glance at the 4400 Center, he started the car. “Yeah, I think it’s time.” Sparing a glance at his wife he pulled onto the road and away from the Center he once called home to a new life.
~*~
EPILOGUE
Channel 8, Seattle Evening News
… Thanks Sue. In rather shocking news right on the heels of his recent marriage to fellow 4400 Isabelle Tyler, 4400 Healer Shawn Farrell announced his departure from the 4400 Center. Farrell cited the recent return of 4400 patriarch, Jordan Collier and his recent marriage has instilled in him a need to reconnect with his family to begin his married life. He still plans to heal and will work in accordance with the Lily Tyler Foundation …
Jordan Collier shut of the television. The war was coming and if Shawn wasn’t by his side then he was against him. Shawn had made his choice and now he would suffer the consequences along with Isabelle, the harbinger of his doom.
Feedback is always appreciated, tell me what you think.
Author: MickeyRos
Rating: PGish
Summary: Post-Starlz Mutation - Jordan gets his memory back and attempts to dissuade Shawn from going through with his marriage.
Disclaimer: I own nothing from the 4400. I am simply borrowing the characters for a little while.
Defining Opposition
~
Jordan stared at his reflection in the mirror. He didn’t recognize himself anymore. Much like when he had first returned as a 4400, it had taken him months before he could look at himself without feeling as though he was someone else altogether He knew that this time would be different because he was armed with the knowledge- the answers of why he was taken - his purpose.
KNOCK-KNOCK, the door opened with Shawn not far behind.
“Richard said that you wanted to see me.” Shawn said as he hesitantly stood at the doorway of what used to be his office.
“Yes, Shawn please come in. Have a seat.” Jordan said as he beckoned the younger man into the chair in front of his desk, waiting until he’d sat before continuing. “Richard told me that you still intend to marry Isabelle.”
Shawn nodded. “Yes, we decided to postpone the wedding until things die down a bit. Your arrival and then dealing with NTAC …with so much going on it just seemed sensible to wait.”
Jordan rubbed his beard contemplatively. “Do you really think that’s a good idea Shawn?”
“Postponing the wedding? Of course. Isabelle-that is Isabelle and I thought it would just better to wait. Besides we don’t need to rush things.”
“Shawn, why are you lying to me? I may have been gone for nearly a year but one thing I’ve found that remained the same is that you cannot lie to me. So please don’t insult my intelligence by telling me it was your decision. Richard already told me what’s been going on with Isabelle. You don’t have to do this.”
Shawn sat up straighter. “Look Jordan, I don’t know what Richard told you but Isabelle and I, we have to get married. I know that Richard and I were concerned with how things would end if I married her. But, I’ve changed my mind. I know that marrying Isabelle is the right thing to do.”
“Are you certain of that Shawn?”
“Yes. And there is nothing that you could say that would make me change my mind.”
“I think you are making a mistake, Shawn. I think you are in over your head,” Jordan leaned forward across the desk. “You don’t know what Isabelle is capable of, how dangerous she is.”
“And you do?” Shawn challenged back at him defensively.
“I think I, more than anyone else, truly understand just how dangerous she is or could be.” Jordan said as he mind flashed to when he was shot. He felt the impact of the bullet as if it were yesterday driving him down to the floor. Unconsciously, his hand drifted to the spot where the bullet had entered his chest. “She’s not one of us Shawn, she’s not a 4400. She is something else entirely. You can’t trust her, she lies.”
“She doesn’t lie to me. She loves me.” He didn’t know why he felt the need to protect Isabelle from Jordan. It didn’t make any sense. He had said to himself many times before while planning the wedding when he felt his resolve slipping around her, she was dangerous. And if not for the visions when he smoked that cigar, he would never marry her. “Jordan I appreciate what you and Richard are trying to do. But, I trust what I know about Isabelle and I know that I am making the right decision.”
Jordan pulled a file out and laid it down on the desk before Shawn. “I didn’t want to do this Shawn, but you leave me know choice.”
Shawn looked from the folder to Jordan. “What’s this?”
“Read it. It’s a contract.” The younger man flipped open the file and began to read. “If you marry Isabelle then you must sever all ties you have with the 4400 Center.”
Shawn’s head popped up in surprise. “You’re not serious?”
Jordan rose from behind the desk. “I think you’ll find that I am very serious.”
Shawn got to his feet. “You’re giving me an ultimatum? I marry Isabelle and I’m out just like that.”
“The 4400 Center is a safe haven, Shawn for us and all 4400s. Isabelle is liability, an anomaly if you will that we can’t afford to have to get us through what’s coming. So I am giving you a choice. You can both stay here at the Center and continue your work, helping me to bring forth the future as I’ve seen it. Or you can marry Isabelle and leave. The choice is yours to make Shawn. But, ask yourself this; can you really trust Isabelle? Truly trust her? Are you sure that what ever is holding you to her is worth it?”
Jordan gave few seconds for his challenges to soak in before continuing quietly, “I’m not asking you to make your decision tonight. Take some time, think about it.”
Shawn’s eyes dropped from Jordan’s to folder placed in front of him, his jaw clenching.
Jordan glanced down at his watch. “Now, if you’ll excuse me I have an interview to prepare for, close the door on your way out.” He walked past Shawn and into his suite of rooms.
Shawn picked up the folder and left, slamming the door in his wake.
~*~
“Do you think it went well?” Richard asked as he walked into Jordan’s office from the sitting room. “Do you think he’ll leave my daughter?”
“He’ll do it. Ultimately Shawn will make the right decision, and really what choice will he have?”
Richard nodded and sat down in chair facing Jordan’s desk. “Don’t be to sure about Shawn, Jordan. When that boy gets pushed into a corner, he doesn’t tend to take it well. He makes mistakes and with Isabelle those mistakes tend him push toward her.”
“I understand that Richard. Are you saying you don’t think Shawn will be glad to get out of this monstrosity of a marriage? Didn’t you tell me that he never wanted to marry her in the first place? Has that changed somehow?”
“No, the circumstances of the marriage haven’t changed. I’m just suggesting that we not underestimate Shawn or his connection with Isabelle. He was the first person that she connected to when she changed. The only one she could really talk to and they were having an affair for months before I ever found out. There wasn’t a slip in their behavior around me. Obviously, they feel something for each other.”
“I see.” Jordan stated as he pushed away from his desk. “Tell me Richard are you having doubts?”
“Not doubts exactly. I just don’t want to see my daughter or Shawn hurt. That’s why I came to you. I’m just saying don’t be too overconfident on his decision a lot has changed since you died. Shawn has changed and we shouldn’t overestimate our ability to get to him. All we can really do now is hope for the best.”
“Hope for the best.” Jordan leaned back his palms coming together over his chest; hoping for the best is not something he did well. It was bullshit. If you need something done, you get it done-point blank. Trusting in some higher being, God, the Fates wasn’t something he could do. Even in business, he’d made it his duty to see that the scales were always tipped in his favor. And this business with Shawn was no different, which is why he hadn’t told Richard about the pictures. He wanted Shawn by his side for the next phase and he would do whatever was necessary to see that happen. Luckily for him Isabelle’s actions would save him some legwork. “I’m not worried. Shawn will see that this is the right decision, the best decision for him to make.”
Richard rose, nodding as he walked out of the room. He sincerely hoped coming to Jordan was the right thing to do. He was at his wit’s end with Isabelle and after Shawn’s visions he was scared. He didn’t know what was coming but whatever it was involving him and his daughter it obviously wasn’t good. With the addition of Shawn being caught in the middle it wouldn’t end well.
~*~
Shawn had gone for a drive after his meeting with Jordan. He needed some time to clear his head. To figure out if he trusted his visions of the future enough to marry Isabelle. Or if the solution that Jordan had offered him was the only way out. It would be so easy to take it, to forget his visions and leave Isabelle. The more he thought about it, the more the idea appealed to him. Sighing, maybe he just needed sleep, he drove home to Center. He pulled his keys out of his pocket and opened the door to his suite.
“Shawn, I’ve been waiting for you.” Isabelle said as she stood up in her sage green day wrap dress. “Where have you been?” She approached him dropping the paint splotches to the sofa; she leaned up to kiss him on the lips. When he didn’t respond, she pulled back.
“I went for a drive.” He moved away from her, dropping his keys on the table as he made a cursory glance around the room. “I thought you already decided what color you wanted the room painted.”
“I did, this is for the guest room.” she grabbed his wrist and pulled him down next to her on the sofa. “What do you think of these colors?” She held up the swatches of nearly matching shades of green.
“They’re nice. Look Isabelle, I’m tired and I have a lot to do tomorrow so maybe we can continue this later.” He handed her the swatches.
“Okay.” Isabelle took the swatches and placed them in a bag beside the table. “You seem stressed Shawn. Maybe I can help? Talk to me, tell me what’s wrong.”
“Isabelle, I really don’t think -,”
She grabbed his hand. “Shawn, if we are going to be married we need to have open lines of communication. I read about this.” She massaged his hands as she moved next to him, turning her body so that she was facing him. “So tell me what’s wrong?”
Shawn stared at Isabelle. She seemed so open, so honest and ready to listen to him. She really wanted their relationship to work as if he wasn’t marrying her for the wrong reasons. It almost felt right to him. He wondered if this could mean that he could really be honest with her. Could he really tell her that Jordan and possibly her own father were trying to kick her out of the only home that she’d ever known? No, he couldn’t tell her the truth. He couldn’t be the one responsible for taking away that away from her. So he lied. “It’s nothing. I’m just tired from the last couple of days. This week has been really crazy, you know.”
“Are you sure that’s all that’s wrong?” Isabelle asked again as she patted his back. Shawn nodded demurely. “All right then, I’m going to head to bed. I’m sure Daddy is wondering where I am.” She leaned over and kissed him. “I’ll see you in the morning?” She asked as she paused by the doorway watching him. “Are you sure nothing’s wrong?”
Shawn rose and walked over to door, taking it from her hand to pull her to him for a quick brief kiss. “Yes, of course. You should go to bed.” He held the door for her.
Isabelle stared at him questioningly. “Good night Shawn.” She left his suite of rooms and Shawn released the breath that he didn’t know he’d been holding.
He waited until he was sure that Isabelle was gone before leaving the suite again himself. He needed to talk to Jordan one more time before he made his final decision on whether or not he would marry the girl.
Shawn walked down the quite corridor to Jordan’s suite of rooms. Just as he raised his hands to knock on the door it opened.
“Shawn, I’ve been expecting you. Come in.” Jordan said as he stepped aside to allow the other man into the room. Shawn followed him as he led the way to his desk. Jordan was dressed more causally than he had been earlier that day without his suit jacket and his raven locks free. “I thought you might come back for this.”
Jordan handed Shawn a grey folder.
“What’s this, another contract?” Shawn asked as he opened the folder this time instead of a contract there were several black and white 8x10 photos of Isabelle both arriving and exiting Hastelcorp in Dennis Ryland’s company.
“Those photos are proof of Isabelle’s duplicity, of course. As you can see those photographs are dated and they run over the course of several weeks. It should be obvious by the photos exactly how the Government was able to develop their own secret stock of Promicin to use on their soldiers.” Jordan said as he turned to his mini-bar and poured himself a finger of amber-colored liquid from the glass decanter. “Brandy?”
“I want to know where you got these photos. Isabelle wouldn’t help Dennis Ryland. She knows that he’s not to be trusted, my god he tried to kill us. She wouldn’t-,”
Jordan banged his hand on the bar. “How many times do I have to remind you that Isabelle is not one of us! She has never been a 4400. She was sent here to destroy us.” He turned to face Shawn. “I have given you the proof you asked for and yet you still trust her. What kind of hold does she have over you? The sex can’t be that good.”
“You’re out of line Jordan, my relationship with Isabelle is none of your business.”
“It is my business when she’s been working Dennis Ryland and the Government to help develop soldiers who can fight against us.”
“I don’t care what these photos show. I know Isabelle. And regardless of what you may think I know she wouldn’t do this. She wouldn’t side with Dennis Ryland to destroy us-it wouldn’t make any sense. She had a chance to kill us when we all started to get sick, when I was sick but she didn’t. She saved me -she saved us all.” He threw the photos down onto Jordan’s desk. “For all I know you had those photos doctored, they could be fakes.”
“What purpose would it serve to give you fake photographs?”
“You forget, I know how you operate Jordan. You don’t want me to marry Isabelle so you’re trying to manipulate me, trying to get me to view Isabelle as you do. Well, it isn’t going to work, I need more than this flimsy excuse of photo evidence to betray my trust with me fiancée.”
Jordan sighed inwardly; obviously his time away from Shawn had enabled the younger man to become more assertive. Before he had been taken Shawn had been his to mold and shape into becoming his predecessor but that had clearly changed. So he needed to change his tactics to get this Shawn to come around to his way of thinking. “Alright, Shawn I can understand how you might doubt me but if you’re certain. One hundred percent certain that she hasn’t betrayed you show her the photos. Don’t tell her your belief of these images to be fake. Show them to her and ask why. No prompt, no provocations, just why. If you do that then you’ll know the truth.” He picked up the photos from the desk and made certain to place one particular photo on top of the pile. “Ask her how Matthew died in your room.” He held the photos out for Shawn to take.
Shawn snatched the photos out of Jordan’s hand. “I will and you’ll see that you are wrong.” He turned and left the suite slamming the door in his wake.
He was going to his suite when he thought better of it and made a u-turn heading in the direction of Isabelle’s suite. Taking the key to her suite out of his pocket, he quietly opened the door and shut it softly behind him. He pocketed the key as he headed to Isabelle’s bedroom. When he got to the door and saw her sleeping, he stopped. What was he thinking, doing? Sighing in frustration he returned to her living room and sat down tossing the folder on the table.
Was Jordan right, did he really trust Isabelle? No, yes, he didn’t know. He sat back disgusted with himself; he had allowed Jordan to manipulate him again. He had thought that he was above this by now, especially since Jordan’s “death” he had become a different person. Someone who couldn’t be manipulated as easily, but here he was getting ready to interrogate Isabelle about those pictures. He was no longer under Jordan’s thumb and he didn’t want to go back to that. As much as he hated to admit it, Jordan had been right in some respects if Isabelle had been working with Ryland to make Promicin positive soldiers she was putting them all in danger. He’d seen with his own vision that not marrying her meant the death of his uncle and he couldn’t allow that to happen. But, he needed to be sure that marrying her was the right thing to do and he needed to know that she had not betrayed him. Short of showing her the pictures, which he refused to do he only had one option, to search her room. Where would he start? More importantly, what did he expect to find.
He walked over to her desk and he turned on the small lamp on Isabelle’s desk and booted up Isabelle’s laptop. He sat on the chair before the computer. He was only mildly surprised when he saw that the computer was password protected. He wasn’t a computer genius by anyone’s standards so he took a guess at her password, their wedding day. It worked. The desktop finally came up, it was a picture of Lily holding her daughter, Isabelle smiling up at the camera. Shawn didn’t know where to look first so he clicked on the first icon on the desktop it opened to some sort of online program. The title page was called, “The Diary of Isabelle Tyler.” It was organized by date. He randomly selected a date and double-clicked it when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He jumped closing the screen and turning around.
“Shawn, what are you doing?” Isabelle asked as she pulled her robe closed.
Shawn guilty swallowed as he stood up, closing the laptop. “Isabelle, wha-what are you doing up? I thought you would be sleeping.”
“I was, I wanted some water.” She frowned as said running a hand through the mass of black curls that rested on her shoulders. She looked around him to see that he had a hand resting on top of her computer. “Did you need to use my computer for something? Did yours stop working?’
“No, yes, I just needed to get something.”
“Okay, just turn it off when you’re finished. I’ll get my water and go back to bed.” Isabelle turned going to her kitchenette.
He followed her. “That’s it. You’re just going to let me use your computer no questions asked.”
She stopped by the kitchen counter and turned back around to face Shawn. “Of course Shawn, I don’t have any secrets from you. I trust you.”
“Do you? Do you really trust me Isabelle?”
“Yes, of course I do Shawn. You’ve never lied to me, you always tell me the truth even when I don’t want to hear it.” She said smiling slightly as she walked to meeting him in the middle of her living room. “In fact, that’s one of things I love about you.” Wrapping her arms around his neck she leaned up to kiss him, pressing a soft kiss on his cheek.
As she attempted to lean up for another kiss, Shawn grasped her hands and gently pulled them from around his neck. “Isabelle, we need to talk, this is serious.”
“Okay.” She took Shawn’s hands and led him to her black loveseat. “Sit, tell me what’s wrong.” She sat down beside him curling a leg under her.
“Listen, this isn’t easy for me but, I have to know.” He rubbed his hands over his pants leg before facing her. “Are you the government’s source for Promicin?”
Isabelle’s smile slowly faded as she dropped her eyes down to the floor. “Yes but, you have to let me explain, it’s not what you think. Not really anyway. I’m not helping Ryland build an army against the 4400.”
“Then what are you doing, Isabelle? I don’t understand how you could let someone like Dennis Ryland use your abilities against us. Help me understand.”
She raised her eyes back to his. “At first I went to him because I thought he might be able to help stop me from becoming the destroyer of the 4400. I let him study my blood to see if the inhibitor could disrupt my abilities. After that didn’t work, I kept going back to see if could weaken me but it didn’t. That’s when I figured if I had you and Dad to keep me grounded I would be able to stop myself from making the wrong choice.”
“That’s why you proposed?” He asked and she nodded. “And Matthew, did you kill him?” He didn’t know what had made him ask her that question. But, he needed to know that she would tell him the truth no matter what. Isabelle nodded yes.
“I didn’t want to, but I had to Shawn. It was the only way I could save you. I know you think that Matthew was a good person but he wasn’t. I did what I had to do to save you and if I had to do it all over again I would. He got what he deserved and I don’t regret it.”
Isabelle sat back to watch Shawn’s response to her declaration. In the short time that had known each other she had learned to read him well. He was pensive. She wondered briefly if she had made a mistake in telling him the truth about everything including Dennis Ryland. Rationally, she knew that working with him wasn’t something that she should have done. But, it had been at a weak point when Shawn had broken up with her and her father had started to look at her with something akin to fear in his eyes. Dennis Ryland accepted her and all of the knowledge she had to offer without question. Whereas with her father and Shawn it seemed there were nothing but endless questions and definitive responses in the negative at the slightest issue. Dennis Ryland respected her; sure she knew that if he didn’t have the Promicin then it wouldn’t be the same. But, for right now that’s all she needed.
Shawn pondered what Isabelle had told him. If he was honest with himself, he had fully expected her to lie to him. Jordan was pushing so hard to get her out of the center because even he had thought that she would lie to him as well. But, she told him the truth about everything, even Matthew. “How much do you remember from when you were younger?”
“I have some vague memories of my parents … and Jordan.”
Shawn nodded recalling all the times he had seen Jordan take Isabelle as a baby into his arms and talk to her. More than that he also remembered how he’d had to heal Jordan because of his first encounter with Isabelle from the womb. “Do you remember Jordan coming to see you, asking you to show him-,”
“You mean when he was shot.” Isabelle asked interrupting him. “I remember some of it. I know he asked me to show him how the future would turn out. He was so full of pride, arrogance … he had this insatiable need for power to control everything. I showed him what he wanted to see, I let him die because I didn’t like what I saw.”
Shawn shook his head. “That’s just it, Isabelle I don’t think you killed him I mean. You can’t see the future and besides that you were just a baby.”
“No, Shawn, I couldn’t see the future but I knew what was going to happen to him. Instead of showing Jordan the truth I showed him a lie.”
“If the future wanted Jordan to relay his message about the catastrophe and all that’s needed to stop it; I’m certain they would have found a way to take him.”
“Do you really believe that?”
“Yes, I do. If there is anything I’ve learned from all this, the future is determined to shape things to come that’s why they took me and the others.”
Isabelle was surprised and took great effort to ensure that Shawn couldn’t tell from her facial impression. She had been honest with Shawn and told him all of her innermost secrets and he hadn’t walked away from her. Better still, he seemed to sympathize with her decisions and he didn’t act as though she was evil incarnate because of things she did. Their relationship was at a turning point. “So are we still getting married or do you want to cancel it altogether?”
Shawn settled back against the loveseat thinking. He hadn’t been expecting that question. He had an out now if she was considering to cancel the impending marriage as a way to pay for her misdeeds. If he said yes and this would all be over. He could go back to being Jordan’s right hand man and everything would go back to how it all had been before.
“Yes, I’ll still marry you,” he heard himself say and couldn’t believe by the words had come out of his mouth. It was too late to take to go back to who he had been before. So much had changed, he had changed. He couldn’t, wouldn’t go back again.
~*~
SEATTLE POST INTELLIGENCER
Arts & Entertainment, People Section
… Guess who our spies caught at the Justice of the Peace after the biggest social event of the year was reportedly postponed … that’s right 4400 poster boy and Healer Shawn Farrell wed his fiancée Isabelle Tyler in a closed ceremony with only the groom’s family in attendance. When asked why the super-secret ceremony instead of a big, lush wedding held at the 4400 Center, the groom answered that he wanted something private and intimate for his nuptials to his lady love …
As Jordan read the morning paper he gathered that into his hands and ripped it apart. Crumbling the torn pieces in his hand, he tossed the paper into the trash can. He couldn’t believe that Shawn had defied him and married Isabelle. It wasn’t, however, completely unexpected after all even Richard tried to warn him that Shawn didn’t react well when pushed into a corner. When he’d seen the future, it was clear that he and Isabelle were not meant to be on the same side. He was never given any clear indication of which side Shawn was on. Now, he knew unequivocally - they were on different sides.
~*~
Shawn stood and surveyed the room that had been his home for over two years. Where once everything had a place, now it was all packed away in boxes on a truck ready to be moved. He couldn’t believe that he was doing this, leaving the 4400 Center. In the short time that he had been there he had finally discovered his purpose in the world, a reason for being and it was all entangled in his work for the center. And now he was leaving all that and he no longer knew what the world would hold for him.
“Shawn,” Isabelle called from the living room where she came in with his mother. “The movers are ready. Did you get everything?”
“I don’t know let check my office.”
“Okay sweetie, but hurry up, we want to get on the road before traffic picks up.” His mother leaned up and patted his cheek. “I can’t tell you how happy I am that you kids are moving closer to me. It will be so good to have family nearby again.” Susan Farrell as she gave Isabelle a quick hug.
“I’ll be right back.” Shawn said as he left his mother and wife to walk down to his office. He had already taken most of things he wanted from the office with the exception of a few items here or there. As he walked into the room the light switched on and the door closed behind him. Jordan was sitting at his desk with the newspaper in front of him.
“I understand congratulations are in order.” Jordan said as he slid the newspaper over to him. “You know Shawn, I never expected you to betray me.”
“Betrayyou?” Shawn repeated sardonically as he glanced down at the picture on the tabloid newspaper of him and Isabelle leaving the Justice of the Peace. “How did I betray you Jordan … By not following your orders? Well, I’m sorry Jordan but I don’t take orders from you or anyone else anymore.”
Jordan’s eyes flinted with Shawn’s declarations never before had he ever told no. “They weren’t orders, Shawn. Merely warnings. Don’t forget I’ve seen the future. I’ve seen how the catastrophe begins and ends and it all starts with your wife. She’s the enemy and the sooner you realize that better off you will be.”
“I know what you think. But, I refuse to believe that Isabelle is the enemy. I know that if I stay with her she’ll be better off then me turning my back on her. I can help her-,”
“You can do a lot of things but you can’t heal evil. She’s the enemy Shawn. She always has been and you can’t change destiny. She was destined to destroy us.”
“What is going on in here?” Richard asked as he entered the room. “They can hear you in the hallway.”
“How could you consent to this marriage, Richard? You of all people know what your daughter is capable of. We agreed that the best thing for them was to remain apart.”
“Isabelle is over 18 in the eyes of the law. She didn’t need my consent to marry Shawn.” Richard looked over at his son-in-law before he continued. “I know that Shawn didn’t want to marry her at first. But, something changed between the two of them in the last week. I’ve seen a calm come over my daughter that was never present before. Now, yes I agree that she can be dangerous but the change I have seen change in her … in just a few short weeks of being married …that tells me that she’s not the same selfish girl I thought she was. She’s changing and for the better with Shawn by her side to guide her. I didn’t consent to this marriage initially, but I approve of it now.”
“Thank you, Richard that means a lot from you.” Shawn acquiesced with a nod. “I know not everyone believes that Isabelle isn’t a monster and is capable of good but I do. She was created to help us not impede us. Whether she was taken as a 4400 or not; she is one of us.”
“That’s just it Shawn, she isn’t one of us. No matter what she does, Isabelle cannot change who she is. The 4400 were created to bring about change, which is our destiny. But, she is the one anomaly, the one crack in the great scheme. She is the destroyer of the 4400.”
“I am not the destroyer.” Isabelle said as the three men in the room turned toward her. “People can change, they can decide whether they are going to be good or evil; I have that choice and I am not evil.” She briefly glanced toward Shawn before returning to Jordan.
“No Isabelle, you don’t have a choice. You were born to destroy the 4400. Nothing you can do will allow you to escape what you are destined to be. For some people there is a choice. But, for you there is not!”
“Jordan,” Richard started sharply.
Isabelle raised her hands in protest. “No, Dad it’s all right. Jordan can believe whatever he wants about me. The only thing that matters is that I believe I have a choice. No one can take that from me. And when the time comes that I have to make that choice, I know that with Shawn by my side I’ll make the right decision.” Isabelle replied.
“She’s right, Jordan. Isabelle may be many things but she is not the harbinger of doom that you portray her to be for the 4400. I know that better than anyone. After all she’s had two chances to kill me. Two times where she could have done nothing and let me die and each time she chose to save me.” He walked over to his wife and took her hand in his. “I left my letter of resignation on your desk. Goodbye Jordan.” Without waiting for Jordan or Richard to respond, Shawn and Isabelle left the office and headed out of the 4400 Center.
“Ready to go Shawn?”
With one last glance at the 4400 Center, he started the car. “Yeah, I think it’s time.” Sparing a glance at his wife he pulled onto the road and away from the Center he once called home to a new life.
~*~
EPILOGUE
Channel 8, Seattle Evening News
… Thanks Sue. In rather shocking news right on the heels of his recent marriage to fellow 4400 Isabelle Tyler, 4400 Healer Shawn Farrell announced his departure from the 4400 Center. Farrell cited the recent return of 4400 patriarch, Jordan Collier and his recent marriage has instilled in him a need to reconnect with his family to begin his married life. He still plans to heal and will work in accordance with the Lily Tyler Foundation …
Jordan Collier shut of the television. The war was coming and if Shawn wasn’t by his side then he was against him. Shawn had made his choice and now he would suffer the consequences along with Isabelle, the harbinger of his doom.
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