Summary: This is the first story in a series in which Isabelle learns different things since she has been aged. A missing scene from Graduation Day, in which Isabelle decides to offer herself to Dennis Ryland as a fountain of knowledge about the 4400.

Disclaimer: I don't own the 4400. I am simply borrowing the characters for a while.

Life Lessons: Breaking-up

Isabelle sat beside Shawn watching him as he slept. She hadn't seen him since she'd been released from NTAC hours ago. Not to mention the unplanned talk with Shawn's uncle had got her thinking about her relationship with Shawn. He'd said before that he didn't hate her. But, she had to know for sure how he felt.

Shawn turned over on his back, opening his eyes drowsily. He was surprised to see her in his room, on his bed. "Isabelle," he croaked as he moved to sit up in his bed. Clearing his throat, he reached over and turned on the light, "What are you doing here?"

"I-I wanted to talk."

He shoved a hand through his hair and looked at her. "Can't this wait until tomorrow? I'm tired." He sighed.

"No, Shawn. It can't wait. I have to talk to you now." Isabelle rose off the bed and began pacing. "You said before at Daniel Armand's house that you didn't hate me, was that true?"

"Of course. Look, Isabelle, I don't hate you but, I don't understand why you felt you had to kill so many people."

Isabelle paused in her pacing to stare back at Shawn. "But, I did it for you Shawn, to protect you. I didn't want to see you get hurt anymore." She moved to sit on the bed beside him. "Don't you understand Shawn, they were going to kill you. I couldn't let that happen." She reached for his hand, "I couldn't let them kill you."

"And what about Matthew? What was he trying to kill me too? Was he a threat?"

Isabelle froze dropping his hand, she sat up straighter. "Who told you about that?" She asked emotionlessly.

Shawn turned from the bed to pull on his pants. "What does it matter who told me? Matthew died in my apartment on the same day you took me out of the hospital. So obviously something happened."

"It's not what you think Shawn. Matthew had a heart attack."

He crossed his arms over his chest. "Matthew was 36 years old; in perfect health and all of the sudden he just had a heart attack." He asked incredulously. "I'm sorry but that's just a little hard to believe Isabelle, even for me."

Isabelle glanced down at the bed that the two of them had shared many times before. "What do you want me to say Shawn … that I killed Matthew. That I caused his heart attack?" She went to stand before him.

"Did you? Did you cause his heart attack, Isabelle? Did you kill him?"

Isabelle hesitated before answering him as she raised her chin in defiance. "Yes. But, it wasn't what you think Shawn. I had to kill him; I had to do it for you, for us." She propped her hands on his bare chest, "now we can be together." She smiled at him with a childlike faith that everything would end happily with no recourse for them, as if everything she had did in the past few days would change his feelings for her.

Suddenly feeling old, wizened with a world of experience, he grabbed her hands. "No, Isabelle we can't be together. I need sometime, some space."

Realization dawned on Isabelle that was it. This is what Matthew had warned her about … what she'd been expecting. "You're breaking up with me aren't you? Not just a break this time; but ending this, permanently?" She pulled her hands from his grasp, backing away from him.

Shawn didn't move from but nodded in response. "I think it's for the best. I took advantage of you Isabelle and I shouldn't have. I'm the adult—,"

"I'm an adult too, Shawn."

"I know, I just meant that I'm older. I should have known better. Even then things have changed Isabelle we aren't the same people we were when this started. You've changed Isabelle." He paused. "You've killed people, 4400s and I don't know how to deal with that."

Isabelle tilted her head to the side studying Shawn as though he were a specimen in a lab. "You're scared of me aren't you? You're scared of my powers." He didn't answer her but then he didn't need to she knew the truth. "I wouldn't hurt you Shawn. You have to know that."

"I do," he lied. Shawn wasn't certain of anything with Isabelle at this point. Even though, she said she wouldn't hurt him, but he wasn't even certain she truly grasped the idea of life and death with all her power. She had attempted to kill Richard before, her own father. He'd heard others whispering about it, about how Isabelle had seemed to give her father a heart attack in the hallway. They said that something had made her stop before she had killed Richard completely. The fact remained that she had killed people, not necessarily innocents but, people just the same who woke up one day on the wrong side of Isabelle's temperament and she turned their powers against them. It was enough for him to be wary of her.

"Isabelle, I have a meeting in the morning that I have to get up early for. I need my rest."

Isabelle nodded slightly. "Of course, Shawn, I understand." She turned to leave his room. She paused at the doorway to look back at him. "I just want you know … I … I want—I hope you get better soon."

Shawn nodded as he watched Isabelle leave his apartment closing the door behind her. As soon as the door closed, he slid down to sit on his bed his shoulders hunching as he let out the breath he'd been holding. That had been easier than he'd expected. At least it was finally over.

Isabelle walked into her room contemplating her conversation with Shawn and something Matthew had said to her. He'd warned her that ultimately she and Shawn would be on two different sides and she had hoped he was wrong. At the same time she had been expecting the break-up.

The only she had never anticipated it hurting as much as it did. She had not been prepared for how much she would invest in the relationship, how much she would care for Shawn. All the books said how break-ups were inevitable. But, none had mentioned how it would she care for Shawn or how much it would hurt to know that he didn't want her.

Opening the door to her room, Isabelle recalled her earlier conversation with Tom Baldwin; he believed that she was destined to be evil. Matthew had said as much as well —the Future needed her to destroy the 4400; in fact they've made her so she would destroy them. Everyone seemed to assume that she would either save them or kill them that she was to be the deciding factor in a war between the sides of the 4400.

The only one, who never expected anything of her to be anything other than Isabelle Tyler, was Shawn. When she was first aged, Shawn was the only one who managed to make her feel like she could be normal. Even, now he made her feel better now because she knew that he was almost as powerful as she was and he still managed to be normal. She needed that; she needed him because without Shawn she was afraid of what she would do. He kept her grounded and with him by her side she was sure, she would never have to worry about being good or evil, she could just be Isabelle with him. With him there was no one else's agenda to worry about but her own. There was only one way to solve this problem, she simply couldn't let the relationship end.

She would just have to make sure that no one got in her way again. She wouldn't listen to Matthew or her father anymore, she would make decisions for herself and she would keep Shawn by her side. But, first she needed to insure that if a war started against the 4400s she wasn't apart of it. She needed to align herself with someone who would listen to her, someone who wouldn't have an agenda separate from her own.

Then, she would get Shawn back by her side. She wanted—no needed Shawn in her life by any means necessary. She had to do whatever it took to get him back. Even though, Shawn he said he wasn't afraid of her powers, she didn't believe him. She'd seen Shawn's face when she turned Daniel Armand's power on himself; he was scared of what she could do. It stood to reason, then that if she threatened to use her power against him he would come back to her. Either way, she'd have to put the first part of her plan in action before she went after Shawn. She needed to make an appointment to see Dennis Ryland.

Author's Note: Please tell me what you think, good or bad I want to know what you think.