The 4400 ficlets (Shawn/Isabelle)

Jun 19, 2006 10:19

Title:Good Enough
Fandom: The 4400
Characters: Isabelle Tyler/Shawn Farrell
Prompt: 096. {Writer's Choice} Enough
Word Count: 790
Rating: G
Summary: Shawn thinks about Isabelle
Author's Notes: Post Season 3 'The New World. Spoilers for 'The New World'.



It's wrong. Shawn knows it. But when it's late and he's exhausted and drained from another day of doing what he doesn't want to be doing and making compromises he doesn't want to make with a burden he's not all that sure he can carry - it's just too much to have to make Isabelle go back to her own rooms. Instead he makes room for her in his sanctuary, in his bed, in his thoughts.

He justifies it, when he has the time to feel guilty which isn't often, because Lily is dead and Richard is gone and maybe never coming back. Isabelle's not a baby anymore but she's sure as hell nothing like a grown woman. The first time she hears of Lily's death - she comes running to him. Begging him to heal her. Begging him not to let the crushing weight in her chest kill her. Even before he takes her hands he knows that he can't heal her. His gifts don't allow him to heal broken hearts. She's grieving and he can't fix her.

But even as he tells himself all of that Shawn knows they're excuses. Even if none of it were true he would still make room for her. It's easy because she fits in a way nothing has since he was taken.

So he spends his days treading water in a sea of Center business. Deals and decisions and does the best he can to help as many people as he can while knowing all the while it's just a huge chess match and everyone from NTAC to the 4400 are just pawns moving across the board.

Once the last report is signed, the last press release authorized Shawn does what he can to heal. These are the people who come to him privately. It's not Center business. There are no photo ops and no cocktail parties. It's one on one. Their lives in his hands. Madylene his assistant brings them to him one after another after another until he can't feel anything anymore.

It goes on for several nights until the night Isabelle comes in and finds him slumped in his chair with four more people waiting outside his office. She says nothing to him, but takes Madylene aside. The others are sent away and Shawn lets Isabelle take him home.

When the door to his apartment closes, Isabelle whirls on him. "Stop. Please?"

Shawn blinks. "Stop what?"

"Punishing yourself. You can't heal everybody. You can't. You used to know that before my mother died. Now that's all you do!"

"Isabelle..."

Isabelle bites her lip hard. Anyone else would wince with the pain of it but Shawn knows that it's emotion that makes her tears fill her eyes. "If you die I won't have anybody. The rest of them hate me."

"They don't understand you." Shawn soothed Isabelle's lips with his thumb, forcing her to relinquish her hold.

"It's the same thing. I'm not human and I'm not really 4400. They don't want me here and they don't want me out there."

"You belong here. You'll always have a place with the 4400." Shawn knew she wasn't completely wrong. Most of the staff were afraid of her and the 4400 who'd thought her the cutest most precious baby in the world were terrified of her power.

"I belong with you." Isabelle grasps his hand. "But I can't be with you if you die. I'll be alone."

"I'm not going to die. I just feel... I feel like I have to do what I can. There are so many people out there who need me."

"I need you more!"

Shawn struggled not to smile. The conversation wasn't funny, but it was a glimpse at the other Isabelle - the one who in many ways was still a child. He brushed her hair with his hand. "I'm not going anywhere. Listen - I promise I'll cut back. It's easy to forget about everything else sometimes. But I'll do my best. You tell me how many people I can see and I'll stick to it."

Isabelle finally smiled, just a slight curve of her lips. "One every day. Except Sundays."

"Why not Sunday?"

"Even God rested then." Isabelle answered. "That was in one of the books you gave me."

Shawn knows damn well that's not a comparison that fits but he can't ignore Isabelle. Somehow it feels right to have her looking out for him. It's wrong to let her carry him even if it's just a little but he's selfish enough to take what he can.

So he lies awake at night on top of the covers while Isabelle sleeps soundly beneath them. He knows it's not a permanent solution but it's enough.

Title: Affection
Fandom: The 4400
Characters: Isabelle Tyler/Shawn Farrell
Prompt: 016. Affected
Word Count: 767
Rating: PG
Summary: Shawn gives Isabelle a gift.
Author's Notes: Set Post- The New World (Season 3 Episode 1)



"Isabelle?" Shawn walks into the suite the same way he walks into any private space Isabelle might be inhabiting - with his eyes cast to one side and down at the floor. Better to walk into a coffee table or a wall than to have to try having another conversation with a completely nude Isabelle.

Not that she wasn't getting better. In the past two weeks she was dressed more often than not - but there were still days... Usually when she was too lost in her reading and research to be bothered with something as trivial as clothing. Shawn thinks it's better to be safe than sorry when it comes to Isabelle.

Which is funny only because of the difference between his old love life philosophy which went something like 'better sorry than safe'. It sounded pithy on paper but the results were pretty grim.

And it's not like Isabelle is part of his love life. She's too young no matter how she looks. He doesn't really know what Isabelle is to him. One minute she's like most of the other 4400 Center students - asking questions he doesn't know the answers to and expecting him to make things better and the next she's the one giving him the answers. Whatever else she might be Shawn considers her his friend. And the more he thinks about it the more it seems as if she's his only friend. Unlike the rest of them Isabelle doesn't care about his abilities and she's not particularly impressed (or impressed at all) because he's replaced Jordan as the face of the 4400. She seems to like him for being nothing more complicated than Shawn Farrell. The guy he was before he got sucked into a ball of light.

"I'm out here Shawn." Isabelle's voice comes from the balcony and Shawn instantly feels a knife-like pain twisting in his gut. He remembers too well that Isabelle jumped off the roof not long ago.

He set down the box he'd been carrying by the sliding glass doors. "What are you doing out here?" Shawn parted the curtains and stepped out onto the balcony.

Isbelle looks up at him from behind one of Jordan's copies of 'The Art of War'. "Reading. There are too many people walking around the gardens. I can't get any quiet in the arbor like I used to." The words are faintly petulant.

"Sorry. It's the open house for fall enrollment." Shawn glanced at his watch. "It should be over pretty soon now and people will be leaving." He crooked his finger at her. "I brought you something."

"More books?"

"Even better." Walking backwards through the open balcony door, Shawn stopped and picked up the large brown box and held it out for Isabelle as she walked in. "I think you'll like it."

Isabelle reached out to take it her hands hovering just an inch away when the contents of the box made a strange sound and she snatched her fingers back.

"No! It's okay. Just take off the lid." Shawn smiles to show her it's alright.

When she does finally remove the lid a tiny golden head pops up over the rim and a pink tongue flicks out to lick her wrist and fingers.

Isabelle's eyes move back and forth between Shawn and the puppy.

"I think he likes you."

"It's really mine?" Isabelle's fingers rubbed over the back of the puppy's neck before she pulled him out of the box and held him awkwardly. The puppy didn't seem to mind how awkward she was he just continued to wriggle and wag his tail trying to lick her face.

"Yep. One of the other 4400 - Ramona, her dog had puppies a couple months ago and this little guy was the last one of the litter."

"What's his name?" Isabelle rolled the puppy onto his back and gave his belly a good scratch.

"He doesn't have one, I thought you should name him." Shawn can almost see the names flashing through Isabelle's mind one after another.

"Rex." She said finally. "It means king. Is that a good name for a dog?"

"I think it's perfect." Shawn's fingers brush over Isabelle's as he pets the puppy. "I've got some food and a leash too." For the first time Shawn can see a true smile on Isabelle's face.

She leaned forward and pressed her lips against Shawn's cheek. "No one's ever given me a present before. Thank you."

Shawn's not sure why a single 'thank you' from Isabelle is more valuable to him than just about anything else in his life.

Title: The Shallow End
Fandom: The 4400
Characters: Isabelle Tyler/Shawn Farrell
Prompt: 070. Swim
Word Count: 1,266
Rating: G
Summary: Isabelle goes shopping and she and Shawn have their swimming lesson.
Author's Notes: Set Season 3 - Spoilers for 'Being Tom Baldwin'



Isabelle's excited for her first swimming lesson. All day it's all she can think about. Her distraction gets even worse when Shawn's assistant Deidre comes to her suite and offers to take Isabelle clothes shopping. They go to the mall and Isabelle thinks the mall is maybe the most fascinating place on earth. All the sights and sounds and smells are tangled up.

Isabelle's grateful for Deidre. She had no idea how complicated clothing could be. There are clothes for everything and everyone in every color and shape and size and they all just look so beautiful Isabelle wants to wear them all at once. The first store they go into Deidre shows Isabelle 'blue jeans' even though they come in every color in the rainbow. She tells Isabelle to try on as many as she needs to to find a pair that fit and feel good and then she'll know what size to get. Deidre's is nice and she doesn't laugh or act shocked like the sales lady when Isabelle starts to take off her pants in the middle of the store. Instead, Deidre just stops Isabelle and shows her the dressing room. The dressing room doesn't make any sense to Isabelle because it's cramped and not very well lit and the main room of the store is very spacious and far brighter but she just chalks it up to one of those things that no one understands but everyone goes along with.

Next are the shirts. T-shirts and dress shirts in every material and color and shape. Isabelle loves the soft cotton shirts that are scooped at the neck and when she finds one she really loves she buys one in every color. Deidre lets Isabelle choose whatever she wants, but she does point out some things that Isabelle wouldn't have tried on her own. Like the pretty red silky shirt that wraps around her waist and ties at the middle. Isabelle had looked at it but she wasn't sure about silk. It felt cold to the touch and slippery and she had a hard enough time with clothes without having to wrestle with them.

At one of the stores a salesgirl shows Isabelle a lot of skirts and shorts. She's very friendly until Isabelle asks what the difference is between wearing skirts that short and being nude. Deidre laughs at that and spends a long time trying to explain that some people think wearing less makes them sexier or more noticable. Looking around the mall Isabelle can see a lot of girls with shirts that show their belly buttons or the tops of their butts or jeans that are so low cut they're almost sliding off. She doesn't like it. If she has to wear clothes then she wants it to look like she's wearing clothes.

By the time they buy shoes and underwear and purses and things like that Isabelle's almost forgotten what they really came for - a bathing suit. And there are more choice to be made. One piece or two piece? All sorts of different cuts and styles and it's more than she really wants to think about. In the end she leaves with two suits. A plain green one piece and a bright blue two piece.

Isabelle's grateful for the Center security as they walk back to the car with all their bags because she doesn't think that she and Deidre would be able to make it carrying all their things. It isn't until they're in the limo that Isabelle even thinks about paying for everything.

"I didn't pay!"

Deidre smiled and pulled two bottles of water out of the tiny fridge. "You didn't have to. The Center has a line of credit. I gave them your name and everything will be charged to your father. 4400's get a clothing allowance for themselves and their families. Don't worry Isabelle. You didn't buy too much. All these are things that you need. Actually we were pretty conservative. But if you need a gown or two for special occasions we can always have a dressmaker come to the Center."

"Thank you very much for all your help. I'm sure this wasn't very much fun for you."

Deidre waved a hand. "Not at all! It was a lot of fun. I got to shop with someone else's money and you're so pretty and everything looks so good on you it was like playing dress up. Plus - shopping beats dictation any day."

Isabelle checked the clock again. 4:04. Shawn was four minutes late. She was starting to think he wasn't coming and a tiny ache formed in her throat.

"Isabelle! Sorry I know I'm late but some of these book people go on and on and on. I think sometimes they just like to hear the sound of their own voices." Shawn came into the pool area with a towel slung over his shoulders. Seeing Isabelle sitting on the edge of the pool, Shawn lets out a whistle. "Nice suit. And I bet it'll be easier to swim in than your regular clothes." He dropped his towel on one of the deck chairs and jumped in the water right in front of Isabelle. "Well? Come on in."

Grinning, Isabelle slid into the water and held onto the side of the pool. "I think I have floating down pretty good."

"Good." Shawn moved next to her and placed both her hands in front of her on the wall. "Now hold onto the wall and let your feet float up behind you. Now, kick them."

Isabelle caught on to kicking very quickly and next Shawn had her lay on her back and make tiny motions with her hands that he called 'skulling'. When she faltered a little and started to sink, Shawn put his hands beneath her and held her up with the lightest of touches. "This is much nicer than the way I was doing it."

"Good. Can I let go now? Think you've got it?"

"No. Not yet. I'm feeling very comfortable right now." Isabelle admitted.

"Yeah? Cause I'm freezing. This pool is supposed to be heated. I don't know what's going on..."

"Do you want me to make it warmer?" Isabelle asked without thinking. She was too focused on the safe, peaceful feeling of floating with nothing weighing her down.

"You think you can?" Shawn half laughed at her.

"I think so. Lemme try." It was a little bit of a lie. Isabelle knew full well that she could heat the pool. She'd practiced in the bathtub until she could get it within a couple of degrees of where she wanted it. So she closed her eyes and imagined the water just the way she wanted it. She could see it slowly heating just a couple degrees at a time until it felt luke warm.

"That-that's incredible. How did you do that?"

"How do you heal? It's a gift. Lots of us have them."

"Yeah- but the healing is like one thing." Shawn looked down at Isabelle. "You can do a lot more can't you?"

"Maybe I'm special."

"There's no 'maybe' about it." Shawn smiled and Isabelle felt something strange in her stomach. "You're special and I don't mean just your powers."

"You're special too Shawn. And not just because you can heal people." Isabelle said. "But you have to admit that's pretty cool too. And now we're relating again."

"Yeah, I guess we are." Shawn smiles his little smile at her and Isabelle knows which rite of passage on her list she wants to try next. The first kiss.

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