Isabelle sat quietly by herself in her office chair as she prepared herself for yet another long night alone inside New Haven's City Hall. She found herself pulling these overnight shifts on a regular basis since she had forced herself to step in for the mayor. It had been nearly two years since she last saw or heard of him, and she pretty much ran the town how she fit thanks to his absence. That usually entailed that she had to oversee each ordinance and public works project on her own, as well as run and maintain the order of life in New Haven, or what was left of it anyways.

Because of this, Isabelle's cheerfulness had long diminished, morphing itself to her now stressed out, frustrated and gloomy shell. Her appearance even changed, she didn't wear her hair in her trademark bun anymore, choosing to let it hang on her shoulders. She wore her autumn attire loosely without any pride; she didn't even bother tying her bowtie anymore. The other villagers had noticed this and as a result, most of them tried their hardest to avoid her, some even downright denied she was even one of them to the point that they moved out of town. She had no social life, no friends and nothing to look forward to but the next overnight shift filled with papers and loneliness. Isabelle gave out a frustrated sigh as she picked up her pen and began to tackle the tower of papers awaiting her.

As she picked up the first form of many, she heard the front door open, the little bell rang out in the hollow room. She didn't even take her eyes off her work as she could hear heavy footsteps near closer to her office desk before coming to a stop.

"Sorry but City Hall is closed, if you have a complaint or something along the lines of that, your going to have to…"

"Evening Isabelle." She heard a familiar voice call out to her; she stopped everything she was doing at the sound of him. She looked up at the person standing in front of her desk, and she felt a wave of emotions run rampart inside her, primarily rage.

"Oh, it's you…" Was all she managed to say.

"So…How have you been? You look like you have hit a rough…"

"How-Have-I-Been? HOW HAVE I BEEN! Gee, I don't know, I HAVE BEEN STUCK AS THE MAYOR OF THIS SHIT TOWN FOR TWO YEARS, NO THANKS TO YOU MAYOR ISIAH!" Isabelle lashed out as she slammed her hands on the desk in front of her. Mayor Isiah was taken back buy Isabelle's outburst. He had never expected her to get so upset about anything, let alone use profanity.

"I-uh…I'm sorry my absence has caused you so much trouble Isabelle." Mayor Isiah apologized.

"Oh, I'm sure you are sorry, but being sorry isn't going to fix anything for me. Where the hell did you even go, you know what, I don't even care. If you don't mind, Isiah, I have better things to do than to yell at someone who gave less than a rats ass about this town." Isabelle said as she cut Isiah off from saying anything else to her.

Isiah was completely left in shock from what he had just witnessed. He continued to stand in the Mayors office in silence, as he just watched Isabelle furiously sign the huge pile of papers. He tried to stammer a sentence but found himself speechless.

"Isabelle, I honestly am sorry for all that may have happened while I was gone. If it makes things better, I constantly thought about this town and everyone in it." Isiah began saying.

"No Isiah, that literally doesn't do anything for me. In fact, that makes me hate the fact that you're here in front of me right now. Now kindly, Leave me alone. You may have given up on this town, clearly, but I haven't. SO, LEAVE…" Isabelle growled through her gritted teeth as she kept her eyes on the papers she was signing.

"Oh…Ok. Sorry to bother you…" Isiah said with a sigh of pain and disappointment. He didn't say another word as he continued to stand in the middle of his once proud office. Isiah could feel a huge wave of shame and regret take over his senses as he just stood in complete silence.

Isabelle kept her mouth shut as she could still feel Isiah's presence around her. She didn't feel bad for anything she had just said, in fact she believed that Isiah deserved everything she had said and more. It genuinely pissed her off that after his two-year absence, and all the shit storms she had to endure, the best thing to an apology or remorse for his actions was that he 'thought' about the villagers and the town.

"Izzy…" Isiah began to speak, but unfortunately for him, Isabelle cut him off by throwing a mug at his general direction. The mug hit the wall behind him with a crash as pieces of ceramic and whatever beverage the mug contained spilled down the walls of the office.

"Don't call me that! You don't have the right to call me that, especially after disappearing for so long." Isabelle said as she looked down at her desk. She was overcome with emotions, and she couldn't stand for how much misery someone she held dearly had caused her. She could feel the sadness and frustration building up within her and she hated how weak it made her. Isabelle fought back hard to avoid shedding any tears but with each passing second, she could feel herself losing her battle.

For five agonizing minutes, neither bodies said a single thing to one another. The only sounds that could be heard were from the thunderstorm that had started outside. Isiah starred at the broken image of Isabelle sitting on his chair, the once bright aura that she seemed to emanate was far gone. Instead it was replaced with a dark glow of sadness and hate. It pained him to see her like this, and more so that he was the one responsible for her change in mood.

"you have no idea how much pain you've caused in this town. Pain you've caused me to endure alone…" Isabelle finally spoke, her voice shook with sadness.

"I've lost touch with so many good friends and family because I had to step in for you. Friends that decided that it would be better to move from this town instead of staying and waiting for your return. Digby wont even stop by for a visit or call me because he's afraid I'll lash out at him like I have with others. I tried my hardest to keep this place up and running, but no matter how much I try, it always ended in failure for me. What hurt me the most was that I lost my pride in town and hope that you would ever comeback. I don't know what compelled you to leave, but I hope it was worth it." Isabelle quietly began to sob as she reflected upon all the events that happened over the last two years. Her sobs soon began to intensify as she buried her head in between her crossed arms on the table and let out all her frustrations.

"D-did I mean anything to you? Was I not supportive or helpful enough for you that you felt the best thing to do was leave? Why did you leave? Why!"

Isiah couldn't bear to see Isabelle in this state any more. He walked up to the desk Isabelle was weeping on and reached a hand out to her, hesitantly at first. As soon as he placed a hand on her shoulder, he felt the young canine just crumble. Her breathing intensified as she began to shout and wail. Isiah dragged an empty wooden chair over to his spot and held her as she let out everything she had bottled up.

"You are right. I am a terrible mayor, I am a terrible person but even more, I am a terrible friend. I see now just how much you supported and cared for me. I wish I can go back in time and avoid all of this, but life doesn't work that way. I don't expect you to forgive me or give me a second chance to prove to you that I can bring back what once was. The only thing I can offer you is an escape from what I have turned you into." Isiah spoke softly as he held Isabelle's head up by her chin and softly wiped away the tears from her eyes.

"What do you mean?" Isabelle asked as she looked Isiah in his eyes.

"You can leave this place. There's nothing for you here anymore aside from the constant reminders of what I did. I won't stop you or anyone who is left from doing so because it is my fault this town is in shambles. All I ask from you is to live the life you deserve." Isiah said as he got up from his chair and walked over to a wardrobe he had left in his office.

Now it was Isabelle's turn to sit in silence as she watched Isiah open the doors to the wardrobe and pull out a small little box. He returned to his seat and placed the small box in front of Isabelle. She looked at the box with a bit of confusion as Isiah made a motion for her to open it. Once she opened the small box she felt another wave of tears beginning to swell up within her. Inside the box was the sea shell Isiah had given her during the first few weeks he had been mayor, along with a ticket with her name on it.

"I know how much you said you wanted to go the beaches of Tortimer Island. I can still remember how much the sea shell made you smile the day I gave it to you. I was planning on giving this to you as a vacation getaway for all the hard work you've done for me but now this is the only thing I know that can help you move on from this hell. Please, take it and fulfill all the wishes you had before I left." Isiah said as he held his head down in shame.

"Mayor-I…I…"

"No Isabelle. I don't deserve that title after what I've done. Just please promise me that you'll put all this behind you and go back to the happy loving person I knew." Isiah interrupted as he grabbed Isabelle's hands and gave them a frim squeeze.

"I-Can't. Despite all that happened here, this place is my home. If you really do what to make it up to me, then help me make this town a home again." Isabelle said as she felt a warm feeling begin to manifest itself within her.

"I will…Anything for you." Isiah smiled as he let a gentle smile escape his lips.

The two embraced each other as both parties felt a giant weight fall off from their shoulders. Isiah knew he had a lot to do to in the days coming ahead, but if he had Isabelle by his side, no challenge would be impossible for him to overcome.

"I want to do something for you tomorrow Isabelle, if you'd let me." Isiah said as he broke his embrace with her.

"What is it?" Isabelle responded curiously, she took a quick moment to adjust her hair on her back.

"Let me take you to the beach. I still want you to experience that dream of yours." He replied as he stretched a hand out for a handshake.

"Ok, I'd be fine with that." Isabelle received his handshake as the mayor gave her a warm smile.