Room 406, early morning

[izzyalienqueen]

After exhausting herself cleaning and organizing, and then reading until she couldn't keep her eyes open any longer, Isabel finally fell asleep

She wasn't in the cell any longer, or at least not the first one. This was a room fit for a queen, but it was still a cage she couldn't get out of. Her shoulder ached but she wouldn't look at it. She didn't have to. Just by closing her eyes she could see it so clearly.

Pacing about she kept searching for a way out.

Comments

[anextimeagent.livejournal.com]

Jack wanted to hang onto her, stop her from pulling away. Afraid it might trigger bad memories - and he didn't want to think about what Kivar had done to her - he followed her instead, going to his knees and keeping one arm loosely around her waist.

"Well he's obviously an idiot," he ventured, and he didn't know how he kept his voice light. "If I was going to tattoo someone, I'd at least get their name right."

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

"But that's who I'll always be to him." She laughed bitterly, resting her head in her hands. "The funny thing is? It's supposed to be a romantic gesture."

[anextimeagent.livejournal.com]

Which was so revolting a concept, that Jack had to clench his teeth to hold back a torrent of swearing. "Obviously an idiot," he finally repeated. "You're Isabel, not anybody else." He settled both hands on her shoulders, once more covering the tattoo. "He locked you in the dark, and had you tattooed with someone else's name. It doesn't change that. You don't belong to anyone but yourself."

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

Isabel flinched at his touch and pulled away, pulling the sweatshirt back up to cover the mark. "I know who I am. Don't worry. But he needed her."

She got to her feet, wandering aimlessly about the room. "They're still learning about women's lib out there," she said, trying to figure away to explain a strange culture simply. "It's one of the reason they rebelled against Max. He tried to change things to quickly. What this is, well, when women marry they become one with their husband. And he'll give her a charm that says that. She'll say the words and they'll be married. It's an old custom dating back to when women were property. Now, in most cases, it's supposed to mean more my heart belongs to you, more to do with emotions then ownership. Of course he didn't mean it like that."

[anextimeagent.livejournal.com]

He stayed where he was, recognising she needed space. "He married you? Is that what you're saying?" he asked incredulously, even though it was better than some of the possibilities which had unrolled behind his eyes. "Why? And don't you have to," he ran his hand through his hair, rubbed the back of his neck, "consent for that to work?"

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

"He didn't. Not officially. They got me out before the official ceremony happened." She stopped near her desk and picked up one of the picture frames to study. It was one of the few pictures she had that actually included Tess and the only reason it was still around was because it was on of the few pictures Isabel had that actually had her and Alex together.

"There's a long story I'm about to skip over. But the important thing is, Max has a son. And Kivar has him. With a royal wife, and custody of Max's son, Kivar could rule as regent instead of usurper. The people are tired enough of war that they'd be willing to settle for that. Especially after he told everyone about the great love he had for Vilandra."

[anextimeagent.livejournal.com]

It made perfect sense. Horrible, but perfect, sense and a very distant part of Jack admired the elegance of it. "Isabel." He stood up, walked over to stand in front of her, not touching, but there if she needed him. "It still doesn't mean anything. He can say anything he wants, it doesn't make it real. If you didn't agree, then it was a lie. The tattoo is a lie."

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

"But that's the thing," Isabel said, hanging her head and barely whispering out the words. "I did agree. I was tired, I was scared, and I finally gave in and said yes. I betrayed Max once again."

[anextimeagent.livejournal.com]

It took awhile for that to register, and he stared at her. "No," he said firmly. "No. You wouldn't, not just because you were tired and scared." Jack stepped closer, bending his head so he could see her eyes, every muscle so tight with anger held back he felt like he was vibrating. "What did he do to you?"

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

Isabel stepped back, even though she knew Jack wasn't angry at her, it was too much to deal with. "Nothing. I swear. I was tired and scared and everyone kept telling me it was the right thing to do. That it was the responsible thing to do. And finally, I believed them."

[anextimeagent.livejournal.com]

That made no sense. Starting to wonder if there'd been some sort of damage done, something besides what he could see in front of him - because she'd already said she'd been alone in the dark - he turned away, walked several steps, breathing slowly until he could shove the anger away to deal with later.

Calm once more, he slowly walked back, saying, "Everyone, Isabel? Who's everyone?"

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

"It doesn't matter," she said, turning away. "It wasn't real. I know that now. I knew it then. But I gave up."

[anextimeagent.livejournal.com]

He hated feeling helpless, and that's exactly what he was, with no idea how to make this better. "No, you didn't. If you lock someone in the dark, all alone," until they're hallucinating imaginary people, because it's all he could think of to make sense of what she was saying, "and leave them there, that's torture. You're not responsible for anything you did. It wasn't betrayal, it wasn't giving up." He placed his hand on her back, between her shoulder blades, pressing gently. "It wasn't your fault."

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

Isabel stayed silent for a long moment, not willing to continue arguing, and too tired to explain exactly how Kivar had manipulated her. Finally she walked away for a moment, returning with the device Captain Jack had given her.

"I can't make it go away myself," she said taking a seat back on the bed and hugging her knees. "He laced it with the one element we can't manipulate. But you, the other you, gave me this."

[anextimeagent.livejournal.com]

Which was a clear indication that she didn't want to talk about it anymore. Jack thought about pushing, he thought about making her tell him the rest, and then he sighed and hung his head. "Okay," he muttered and went to sit next to her.

"What does it do?" He held out his hand for the device, then looked at her sharply. "Tell me he looked after you, because if he didn't..." The threat trailed away, because there was nothing he could do.

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

"He did," she said, smiling briefly. "He let me get cleaned up, patched up what needed to be fixed and then gave me that. It restores skin and tissue to it's original state. It's faded it already. He said in a few weeks it would be gone."

[anextimeagent.livejournal.com]

"Good," he said shortly. Not that Jack really thought he wouldn't have, not since he got Jack's memories, but it was good to know for sure. He turned the device over in his hands, flicking the tiny button, and smiling a little as it warmed. "What do I need to do?"

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

"Just run it over it," Isabel said. She kept her eyes focused across the room as she reached up and pulled her sweatshirt off her shoulder. "He said five minutes, every three or four days."

[anextimeagent.livejournal.com]

It seemed simple enough, and he started moving it in slow circles over the tattoo. "And it'll be gone?"

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

It still stung but Isabel held herself perfectly still. "He said it would take a few weeks, but yes."

[anextimeagent.livejournal.com]

Jack kept moving the device in slow circles, glancing from Isabel's shoulder to his watch, keeping an eye on the time, and gradually let his other hand move forward to cover hers.

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

Isabel tangled her fingers in his and held on tightly.

[anextimeagent.livejournal.com]

He didn't say anything until the five minutes were up, then he flicked off the device, rested his forehead against her shoulder, and squeezed her hand. "It's going to be okay, Isabel."

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

"I know," she whispered. "Just one day at time."

[anextimeagent.livejournal.com]

"And I'm here if you need me, you know that." He lifted his head and set the device on the bed, smiling encouragingly at her. "Anything you need. Even if it's just a Jack shaped pillow so you're not alone at night."