Title: Chord (The Awkward Comfort Remix)

By: TommyGirl828 (at) gmail (dot) com

A/N: This was written for the Remix Redux III and the story I remixed was "Chord" by Jengrrrl. Feedback is always greatly appreciated.

It started out simple enough. At the beginning of the summer, after everything with Tess' departure had settled down a bit, Maria had cornered me at the Crashdown during one of our shifts. I thought for sure that she was pissed about something – had I forgotten date night again – and had prepared myself for a good lecture. Instead she had kissed me on the lips and gone on about how Isabel looked so sad all the time anymore.

Maria said, "Spend more time with her, Michael."

"What?"

"Isabel needs you," Maria replied. She motioned out the door separating the kitchen from the tables at the Crashdown and added, "She needs her friend."

"You're her friend. Why don't you spend more time with her?"

Maria rolled her eyes at me – in that way that said I was clueless and she wasn't sure why she bothered with me half the time – and replied, "Isabel and I have never been close, not the way that the two of you are. She needs someone that she can open up with."

"And you thought of me?"

"You might be an insensitive jackass most of the time, Spaceboy, but you're also capable of being there for the people you love. Whether you admit it or not, you care about Isabel. She's your family…and she's hurting right now. So be there for her, Michael, or you'll regret it."

"You're cool with that?"

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"That whole destiny thing used to make you uncomfortable," I replied, silently adding that it also annoyed her and, when she was annoyed, it usually gave me a headache.

"Well, you said you thought that maybe all that stuff was Tess' doing, right?"

I nodded. It seemed possible and it seemed to ease some of Maria's worries so when the thought had struck me, I had shared it. I replied, "Yeah, but I know how you used to—"

"Look, Isabel is going through a rough time. She lost Alex too and she doesn't have anyone to turn to with this."

I furrowed my forehead and narrowed my gaze on her, trying to figure out if this was some weird chick thing that I wasn't going to understand. I questioned, "And you're sure you'd be okay with me taking some of my free time to hang with Isabel? It won't make you crazy?"

"Why would it make me crazy? We're allowed to have friends outside of each other." Maria paused and moved closer to me, giving me that warning look of hers that I sorta found adorable, and added, "Besides, it's not like I gave you permission to make out with her or anything."

I grinned and said, "I wouldn't anyway. That would be too weird. Like kissing your mother or something."

Maria folded her arms and replied, "So the only reason you wouldn't make out with Isabel is because of the incestuous nature of it, huh? No other reason, like fidelity or love for your girlfriend—"

I leaned over and kissed Maria. I learned a long time ago that sometimes the easiest way to shut her up was to kiss her. It seemed to work now. She rested her hands on my chest and smiled at me before repeating, "Spend more time with her."

I wasn't sure how we had gotten on the topic or why Maria decided to become Isabel's personal savior, but it seemed easier to placate Maria than listen to her ream me about something I wasn't going to understand.

It wasn't like spending time with Isabel had ever been a hard thing for me to do. There were those few awkward moments when we were both having those relationship dreams and supposed to embrace our destiny and stuff. But otherwise, Isabel and I had always been able to hang out without a lot of drama – never forced to "deal with my emotions" as Maria was prone to do or accept Max's "pretend to be normal" philosophy for law. We could sit and eat a burger without uttering a word.

Of course, lately, there had been words…and a few tears.

I couldn't figure out why she chose me or Maria chose me to help Isabel through this. I wasn't exactly Mr. Sensitive and wouldn't Max be keener to emotional breakdowns? But when I broached the subject once, Isabel waved me off and said, "Things are different between us now."

"I thought the two of you worked everything out. That you weren't upset about school anymore."

Isabel rolled her eyes and said, "Accepting that I'm not going to school and being okay with it are different things, Michael."

"I guess."

"You were both right that leaving wouldn't fix things or change who I am, but I won't forget the way he chose to handle it."

"Is that why you keep parading the school brochures around?"

Isabel smiled deviously and looped her hand around his arm. She said, "Spiting Max is one of the only hobbies I still have."

I sighed, unable to lie and say that I blamed her, but wanting to maintain the peace, and replied, "If you say so."

Isabel glanced up at me and asked, "You don't mind…is this okay? Us hanging out?"

"Huh?"

"Maria…I feel like I'm stealing you from her."

I shrugged and said, "Maria had to work. I'm meeting up with her later."

"Oh…good," Isabel replied. She leaned her head on my shoulder and let out a deep breath. I was afraid the waterworks were about to start again, but she closed her eyes and said, "Thanks Michael."

I wasn't sure that I had done anything, but it didn't seem to matter. From that point on, Isabel and I hung out a lot more than I ever remembered us doing in the past – the two of us, not the gang, and not the alien threesome that we used to be with Max. Sometimes she would babble on endlessly about some fashion mistake she witnessed at her father's law firm, sometimes she would yell at me to be more literate and throw out names of books for me to read, and sometimes she would cry.

I never knew what to say when she did that, so I didn't say anything. I held her until she calmed down and offered some inappropriate joke that I heard somewhere. Occasionally, she would let a few things slip about Alex and being lonely, and I would hug her and tell her that it would be okay. I wasn't sure that I believed it – that things could ever be okay like the way they were before Alex died – but I knew that was what Isabel needed to hear.

"Want to see a movie?" Isabel asked.

"Sure."

"Maria won't mind?"

"Would you stop asking me that? She doesn't mind."

"I don't want to come—"

"Maria and I are better than we've ever been before," I assured her. I met Isabel's gaze and added, "Besides, she and Liz plan to spend the evening watching Julia Roberts' chick movies. Not my thing."

"Sometimes I feel like you're the only person I can talk to, Michael," she said.

My eyes widened and I said, "That's not true, but I'm not going anywhere, Is."

"Good because sometimes I feel so alone," she replied.

A few tears fell down her cheek and I brushed them away with my thumb. Again, I offered her the only thing I could think of, lie or not. "It'll be okay."

I wondered if this was some new ritual between the two of us and I hoped it ended soon. I missed the old, invincible Isabel and found myself attempting to pull her out of the funk she was in whenever I could. Sometimes it even worked. I'd tease her, she would giggle, and things would feel like they used to. Things would almost seem okay again.

The day Isabel cut her hair was weird. She was weird about it, dismissing it with a wave of her hand and a few comments as though chopping all of her hair off in a fit of boredom was no big deal. It was such a change and I couldn't help but worry that all that progress I thought she was making, how the old Isabel was slowly re-emerging, was lost.

This new Isabel seemed like a real piece of work.

"What's your problem, Michael?" Maria questioned later that afternoon while I was checking on the fries.

I recognized the expression on her face and asked, "What did I do now?"

"I think Isabel's hair looks cute. Everyone thinks it looks cute. Except for you."

"It's…different."

"Maybe she needed a change."

"That's what I'm afraid of."

"What?"

"She's…something's not right with her."

"Keep being her friend," Maria replied. She squeezed my arm and added, "And I need a Galaxy burger well done."

Later that night, when Isabel showed up at my apartment, I began to really worry. She was turning into Maria – going on about love and standing by her and blah, blah, blah – and I couldn't figure out why. I always liked that Isabel and I didn't need to delve into each other's emotional psyches.

"Did Maria put you up to this?"

"What? No."

I shrugged. "Just wondering."

"Michael, it's okay that you love her. It's actually a good thing," Isabel replied with a faraway look.

"I guess."

"Don't make my mistake, Michael. Appreciate it while you have it," she had said. Before I could respond, Isabel had stood up and rushed out of the apartment.

I thought about going after her, but neither of us was the type for that sort of thing. I wouldn't know what to say and Isabel would be pissed off that I invaded her space. If she wanted to talk, she would.

I wasn't expecting Isabel to choose three am for a heart-to-heart talk, especially since she'd been avoiding me for days, and I definitely didn't think that it would be me she poured her heart out to. This was Max territory and I wasn't sure that I could do or say anything to make her feel better.

She sobbed into my arms, went on about not being there for Alex, but how much she loved him and missed him. I wasn't sure what to say. I offered up an occasional response, but nothing that would alleviate this pain she was in. And I wanted it to end for her. For everyone.

I wished that Alex was still alive. I wished for a lot of things - that I didn't catch Maria staring at a photo of the two of them with sad eyes, that Max didn't carry the guilt on his shoulders for trusting Tess, and that Isabel didn't suffer anymore. None of it mattered though. What was done was done, and there was no going back. I knew that better than anyone…sometimes life just sucked.

That was the last thing Isabel needed to hear though, so I rubbed her back and let her keep talking. Every so often she'd start back in about my relationship with Maria, asking me strange questions that I didn't know how to answer – because there were some things I simply knew to be true, like that I loved Maria – and sometimes she was sure that the great love of her life had died.

I tried to think up some cliché or life-altering story to offer her - something to get us off the topic of my feelings for Maria and to get Isabel to accept that not seeing Alex anymore was a good thing – when she threw me for a loop.

"Do you ever wonder about us?" she asked, softly, meekly, because it was so difficult to say aloud.

I paused before answering, unsure of what to say. Had I ever thought about it? Sure. She was technically supposed to be my destiny, my alien soulmate, and she was also someone that I cared a lot about. But it didn't do any good – it wasn't something that made sense. Not the way Maria and I did, even during our worst fights. Finally, I said, "I don't know. Does it matter?"

"No, I guess not."

"If we were supposed to be together, I doubt you would've met Alex and I wouldn't have met Maria."

Isabel nodded and said, "I guess that's true, but what if my new destiny is to be alone?"

I wrapped my arm around her and said, "No matter what, you'll never be alone, Is."

She stood up, leaned over, and kissed my cheek. She said, "Thanks Michael."

"For what?"

"Being my friend. Listening to me babble."

"Yeah, you've met my girlfriend, right? I'm used to listening to girls ramble on about stuff."

Isabel rolled her eyes and said, "You can't fool me, Michael Guerin. You love Maria and her babbling. That's not a bad thing."

"Yeah."

"I'm gonna head home."

"Do you want me to walk you?"

"No, I need some time alone, to think and deal with some stuff."

I nodded and replied, "Call me when you get in. I want to make sure you're okay."

Isabel smiled and said, "Fine. Call your girlfriend, Michael. Enjoy every second you guys have together."

"I think I'll wait until morning or Amy will kill me," I replied. I walked Isabel to the door and hugged her. I said, "Everything will be okay."

And, for the first time since the beginning of summer, I believed it was possible.

--The End--