Comment: Disclaimer: Characters - me no own - belong to other lucky people like the folks at the WB and o’ course Melinda Metz.

Note: takes place a week after DoFP: The Rest Is Silence - I’m a big Crowded House fan so I just had to use this song (Fall At Your Feet) sooner or later - It’s one of my favorites:)

***

Alex wasn’t exactly sure what he was doing. He wasn’t John Cusack with a boom box outside a window trying to get his girlfriend back. He was Alex Charles Whitman with a chipped, musty guitar that was probably older than he was outside a locked door trying to comfort a girl he never under any circumstances would have been lucky enough to call his girlfriend. He wasn’t much of a singer, he was a bass player, and he didn’t even know the words to "In Your Eyes", let alone the chords anyway.

He wasn’t even sure if she was awake. He hadn’t heard her crying for a while now, and he supposed that was a good sign. He wasn’t worried about her hurting herself. As depressed as she had been this past week, she would never do harm to herself. She wouldn’t do that to Max.

He took his pick out from his pocket and strummed the guitar once, the sound echoing pleasantly down the hallway of the Evans’ house. He had come here every day after school since Michael’s disappearance to just sit outside her door and talk to her, to try and comfort her and let her know that he was there, and that when she was ready to come out and talk, he’d be waiting. He spent hours telling her about what had happened at school that day, telling her about himself, his childhood, the band, anything he could think of from his theories on why people watched the Jerry Springer Show to why his father was pressuring him to go into the military.

"I can barely survive an hour of gym class - can you imagine me in boot camp?" he had joked, and just like every other time he had asked her a question, she didn’t answer.

He didn’t even know if she was listening. It didn’t matter. It wasn’t like he was saying anything important. He just didn’t want her to feel like she was alone.

Liz said that Max wouldn’t talk about what had happened, not to her, not to anyone in their group, and Isabel hadn’t left her room in days. They were closing themselves off. Liz rationalized it by telling herself that they were trying to regain a balance they had lost when Michael ran away from them.

She thought that they (she and Alex, since Maria hadn’t spoke to anyone since she had come back from the desert) should just give them some time alone. Alex wanted to believe that that was a good idea, that that would fix everything. He wanted to believe that Isabel would get through it on her own. He just didn’t think she should have to.

He checked his watch. 3:30. He always left before her parents came home around 6. It would be hard to explain why he was so concerned over their daughter who was merely suffering from "the stomach flu".

He positioned the guitar on his lap and strummed it one more time in preparation. He had figured she must be sick of hearing him talk, so he had decided to try singing instead even though it wasn’t really his forte. He cleared his throat nervously. If he sucked, so be it - at least maybe then he could get her to laugh.

He took a final deep breath, his fingers finding the right chords, and let them guide his voice into the song. He closed his eyes and sang to her through her locked door.

I'm really close tonight
And I feel like I'm moving inside her... Lying in the dark
I think that I'm beginning to know her
Let it go...
I'll be there when you call
And whenever I fall at your feet
You let your tears rain down on me
Whenever I touch your slow turning pain...
You're hiding from me now
There's something in the way that you're talking
The words don't sound right
But I hear them all moving inside you
Go, I'll be waiting when you call...
Whenever I fall at your feet
And you let your tears rain down on me
Whenever I touch your slow turning pain...
The finger of blame has turned upon itself
And I'm more than willing to offer myself
Do you want my presence or need my help
Who knows where that might lead...
I fall...
Whenever I fall at your feet...
And you let your tears rain down on me...
Whenever I fall...
Whenever I fall...

Alex opened his eyes, his heart thumping painfully in his chest. "Isabel...?"

No answer.

He swallowed thickly, his throat suddenly feeling very dry. "Umm...do you like The Offspring? I think I can do "Pretty Fly for a-" He jumped to his feet as the lock on her door clicked, and set the guitar down, leaning it against the wall. She pushed her bedroom door open all the way.

"-White Guy..." he finished quietly as she stared at him.

She slowly stepped out into the hallway, and hesitantly put her arms around him. He held her back gently as she rested her head on his shoulder and he smoothed her tangled hair away from her face.

"Everything’ll be okay, Isabel...he’ll be okay...he’ll come back..." he murmured as he felt her tears slip down his neck.

"It’s like a part of me is missing..." she whispered, pulling back slightly to look into his eyes. "I never...never really understood how much the connection was a part of my life before...it just kind of faded to the background. It’s like...living next to the ocean and getting so used to the sound of it that you don’t even notice it anymore until it’s gone. I always thought it would be there...I always thought he would be there. Michael was a part of my life, a part of me...being connected to him and Max...I always knew...some part of me always knew where he was, how he was. When he was happy so was I...when he was sad...I used to cry in the middle of the night for no reason...maybe there was a reason...maybe...maybe they were Michael’s tears that he wouldn’t let himself cry..."

Isabel shook her head swallowing painfully. "I don’t even know if he’s okay now...That matters so much more to me than what happened...than the fact that we’re never going home...Here is home...with all of you...why can’t he understand? Why can’t he let it go and come back to us?"

Alex touched her cheek, brushing a tear away with his thumb. "I don’t know..." He whispered as she pressed her face against his chest and curled her arms around his waist.

"Thank you Alex," she mumbled into his shirt. "Thanks for...being here...I just...I just needed to be alone for a while...I needed to try and find him...but nothing worked. And now...I don’t...I don’t want to be alone anymore..."

"You’re not alone Isabel...you’ll never be alone..."

"Alex,"she whispered.

"Yeah?"

"Could you stay here with me? At least until Max gets home?"

"I’ll stay for as long as you need me to."

She tilted her head back, and slowly brought her hands up to rest lightly against the sides of his face.

"The song was beautiful..." She kissed his lips gently before melting back against him.

They stood there together alone in the middle of the hallway, their arms wrapped around each other and didn’t let go even when they heard Max’s key unlocking the front door. He didn’t say a word as he walked past them. He stepped into his room just a little farther down the hall and closed it softly behind him.

"Should we talk to him?"

"It won’t do any good." She said softly wiping at her eyes with the sleeve of her pajamas. "He’s trying to pretend like nothing happened. I tried to get him to help me contact Michael using the stones from the cave...and he just looked at me and said...he said it wasn’t necessary since we’d see him at school tomorrow anyway."

Back to Area 51 (Section II)