This is the last chapter I know but it had to come, it's kind of slow and still a bit depressing but I think you all will like it. Enjoy! In any case there will also be an epilogue so techincally this is the next to last chapter. If you think about it that way. I'm going to start writing an X-Men: Movie fiction so if anyone likes thatI hope you check it out. I'm not sure on the title yet and I'm still working out what exactly it is I'm going to do but yeah just stay on the lookout for that. Did anyone see The Last Stand? I loved it but was really sad by the end.

Discovering The Waterfront

Chapter 17

Pain Trapped Inside

Isabelle lay down in her bed andshut her eyes.As if on cue she was instantly engulfed into the darkness of sleep. She continuously replayed the scene over and over in her mind. Mark lying on the ground cold and bleeding and her being powerless to stop any of it. She thought of how things could have gone differently, she could never have run after Sloane and Mark wouldn't have been shot. She was foolish and she realized that now, if she hadn't been so blinded by hate, Mark wouldn't have paid the price.

We'll do it all, everything, on our own
We don't need anything or anyone

Isabelle opened her eyes to a clear darkness inside her room. There was no moonlight shining into her room, no starlight to give even the slightest shimmer, just darkness. Isabelle turned over onto her side and pulled the covers high over her head. There was no way she would leave this room when the sun came up.

She let a few tears fall once again but did not let the sadness over take her. She shut her eyes and allowed the tears to fall freely but she wouldn't sob or let anyone hear how she felt. She didn't want her mother to see her suffering, she couldn't allow the pain to eat away and ruin her newfound family. She just needed time and soon she would be alright, she would bounce back...just like mom.

If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me
And just forget the world

Isabelle wanted to scream, wanted to show somebody the world was not a perfect place. She wanted to but she wouldn't because naivety was all anyone had to rely on. Once a person saw something for what it was there was no changing how a person views that thing. This was Isabelle's dilemma, she saw the world asgreat at times but horrible at othersand her family for what they really were, liars and heroes. There was no changing how she viewed those things now, she would come to appreciate the good in the world and the bad. The same would go for her family she wouldn't trust everything they told her but she would care about them none-the-less.

I don't quite know how to say how I feel
Those three words are said too much
They're not enough

Isabelle rose from her bed and walked over to the desk where her computer sat. She turned it on and began typing away, quiet enough so as not to wake her mother. She went over page after page of news reports searching for one thing, a picture. A memory she could savor for the rest of her days. She finally found one, the one they used for his obituary, a school photo of Mark Reed. She saved the image and kept it someplace safe where she could look at it if she ever wanted to.

She sat looking at her desktop background for a few minutes before something struck her. She began to type away on the computer again, this time she didn't care whether or not she was heard. She was pretty sure her mother wasn't sleeping anyway.

If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me
And just forget the world
Forget what we're told
Before we get too old
Show me a garden that's bursting into life

She continued to type away and input code after code before finally reaching her goal point. She landed on Sloane's files and began to copy every single bit of information he had before she deleted it. When she found a map of all the bunkers he had with explosives she ordered them destroyed, passing as Sloane. She was smart enough to not get caught and she was pretty sure not one of the head of the bunkers knew she wasn't Sloane.

The news the next day proved Isabelle's suspicians, various explosions and destroyed wharehouses let her know she had doneher job. She made sure the source wouldn't be traced back to herself and after copying the files to a disk she deleted them permanently. She incripted every file to make them unreadable and unreachable to anyone who tried.

Let's waste time
Chasing cars
Around our heads
I need your grace to remind me
To find my own

"Here." Isabelle hoarsely told her mother the next day handing her a disk full of information.

"What's this?" Sydney asked pouring coffee for herself.

"I remembered something." Isabelle recalled the bits of information she had seen while being held captive and would not let her mother know any more than that.

Sydney didn't question Isabelle about her actions, if anything she was more proud than frustrated or worried. There was a knock on the door shortly after their conversation and Sydney answered it.

Vaughn walked in carrying a few bags and a box. He smiled at Isabelle who returned the gesture despite the heartache she was going through. Her eyes were red from crying but she covered them well, even if her parents noticed they wouldn't say anything for they understood.

If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me
And just forget the world
Forget what we're told
Before we get too old
Show me a garden that's bursting into life

"Is he staying?" Isabelle asked trying to get the hoarseness out of her voice.

"Yeah he is." Sydney smiled as Vaughn planted a kiss on her forehead.

Isabelle smiled, she had a family now, but at a cost she wouldn't soon forget.

'Maybe being an agent wasn't such a bad thing.' Isabelle thought as she walked back to her room.

All that I am
All that I ever was
Is here in your perfect eyes
They're all I can see
I don't know where
Confused about how as well
I just know that these things
Will never change for us at all

Isabelle shut her door quietly and took one fleeting look at the picture that she had left up on the computer. She laid down on her bed and shut her eyes trying to fall back asleep. A distant ringing caught her ears and she soon found herself rummaging through her things trying to find the source.

She eventually found the phone the ringing belonged to. It was an unknown cell phone that had somehow found it's way underneath a pile of papers in her desk drawer. She answered it knowing full well she probably shouldn't have.

"I'm so sorry." Irina's voice was sympathetic over the phone.

"Thanks." Isabelle choked out over the phone not really sure what to say.

"Truth takes time Isabelle don't forget that." Irina stated to her grandaughter before hanging up.

If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me
And just forget the world

Isabelle was stunned at the sudden partial conversation she had just had. She pressed the end button and continued to stare at the phone. A soft knock was heard from the opposite side of her door.

"Come in." Isabelle said a little too loudly still holding the phone out in the open.

"What's that?" Sydney asked looking at the unfamiliar phone.

"Truth takes time." Isabelle repeated her grandmother's phrasing and Sydney knew exactly where the phone had come from.

The End

Yes this is the closing chapter but I assure you there will be one more. It's an epilogue that will travel ten years into the future so we see what Isabelle's life is like. I hope you liked this story and please leave me a nice review even if this ending sucked.

Chasing Cars - Snow Patrol - Eyes Open