Disclaimer – I still own nothing.
AN – So, yeah, this update is really late. I'm really, really, very sorry about that. My life has been crazy for the last few months with working, then looking for new jobs and all that, as well as writing other fanfictions. And since I've written two au's to this episode on what could've happened during and after this episode, I found it harder to go back to what originally happened in the show, especially with the scenes I decided to write about and expand on, so I'm really sorry it took me this long. This chapter is actually about Isabella because even though I'm a hardcore Halgie shipper, I do like Isabella and thought it would be interesting to see more of her side of the story, especially since I excluded her from my au's.
To Mahtayyar – Thank you so much for your review and your reviews on my other stories! I completely agree with 100%, Falling Skies while an amazing show, really suffered because of lack of character development, and glossing over so many things that happened to the characters, which is why I thought of writing these scenes. And don't even get me started on the love triangle. That was the worst idea the writers could possibly come up with and yes, Hal really did go easy on them which did bug me.
I will try harder to write more for this story but if I do fall behind again, I'm very sorry. On the plus side though, this chapter is a lot longer than others. I'm done talking now. Besides, you guys probably want to read the chapter now, so here it is.
Enjoy!
It didn't take long for Isabella to realize what kind of man leading this group, Pope, was. She was always suspicious of new people, especially people that came out of no where and helped her. After all, people don't help others for nothing. When the black guy with a scar on his face, Anthony, started asking everyone random and strange questions, her suspicions heightened. But when Pope started talking about not taking 'non-essential personal', Isabella put the pieces together.
He was a man who thought that only fighters were useful. He was a man who believed in survival of the fittest, and in the war-torn world humankind has found themselves in, the fittest were the fighters.
Anthony proved that she was right when he pointed at four people, Beth and her father Drew, Rob, and her. She wasn't surprised at his choices. Drew was not a fighter, and had the appearance of a feeble old man. Beth was still a teenager, and a complete sweetheart and doting daughter. She could never raise her hand in violence. Their strategy was to hide and wait the war out.
Rob being picked was a little more of a surprise. He was young, fit, healthy, a perfect stereotype of a fighter. That was only his physical state though. If they were looking at his emotional state however, then they might have a problem.
Rob's wife died sometime last night. He spent the rest of the night crying over her, trying to get her to wake her up. If Isabella hadn't been so preoccupied with keeping the skitters from breaking into the building, she would've felt her heart break at the sight and the grief. But there was no time for grief when you were trapped in a war zone, and these men who rescued them knew that. With her death still so very fresh, he would not be able to focus, could freeze and get himself and others killed. They couldn't have that.
Her thoughts turned away from her friends and onto herself when realizing that she had also been picked. Immediately, thoughts of how to get the leader to let them stay started running through her head. It didn't take long for her to remember that fighters get hurt in battle, and when that happens, they need someone to fix them.
"I'm a nurse, you could use me." She spoke up. The leader agreed with her. So, he wasn't a complete idiot, he knew that there were people who weren't fighters who could be useful. Deciding to try and include her friends, hoping that Pope could eventually find some use for them, she told them they were a packaged deal. Pope however, was not that desperate to have a nurse among his group. So, Isabella let them leave, planning on regrouping with them later as soon as she got some weapons.
It didn't take long for that to happen. She watched Pope and Anthony head into the paint shop, coming out a few minutes later with their arms filled with guns. Anthony started handing out the weapons to the newcomers while Pope locked the door. That put a small kink in her plan. In order to get more weapons and ammo, she would have to get the keys without Pope noticing. Luckily, it was the leader who came to hand her a small handgun and, seizing the opportunity, she carefully swiped the keys from his jacket pocket without him noticing.
An hour later though, Anthony came over and told Isabella that Pope wanted to see her. Whether it was because he realized his keys were missing, or because of how she stuck up for her friends, she didn't know. It could've been either as she knew that sticking up for her friends could have some repercussions with the cold-hearted leader. But still playing it cool, she followed Anthony into the building.
Seeing the leader on his chair, he looked like an evil king on his throne in a movie. As he started talking, she hid the relief she felt when she realized it wasn't about his missing keys, but about how she stuck up for the people Pope sent away. That would be easier to explain than explaining his missing keys.
Lying was something that oddly enough, came fairly easy to her. Her mother used to say that it was because growing up, she was surrounded by politicians, so she learned what to say and how to act when trying to get people to believe her and act or react a certain way. That was probably true, especially when her mother died, and her Dad ended up taking her on all of his business trips with her. Pope was no exception to that. All she had to do, was convince him that her thoughts lined up with his.
Leaning forward, he said, "If I had a beer, I'd drink to that." Hook, line, and sinker. She got him. What he said next though completely threw her.
"Since we're talking truth, there's a man behind that door. I put him there." Isabella tried her best to hide her shock and keep her face neutral. She had just gotten Pope back on her side and didn't want to risk losing it again.
"His father, killed someone very close and important to me." Pope revealed as he stood up and came to stand behind her.
"So you took something important to him." Isabella reasoned. Growing up as a diplomat's daughter, she was all to aware of the threat of being used to threaten her father, or to hurt him. It was simply a part of their life, she didn't have to fake understanding that. If someone hurts you or someone you love, you don't respond by hurting them, you hurt the person they love.
"Pope? Pope, are you there?" A voice suddenly broke through the silence that fell upon them and Isabella couldn't have been more grateful, as Pope finally took his attention off of her. She looked over to the side where the noise was coming from and saw a walkie talkie.
"There's Daddy now." Pope said, then walked away, grabbing the communication device as he went.
For the next few minutes, Isabella tried not to pay any attention as to what was going on. She didn't want Pope thinking that she was sticking her nose into something that really was none of her business even though he had just told her what he was doing. However, since Pope was still in the same room as her, she couldn't help but overhear some of it.
It sounded like Pope had given the father a place to go, leading him to believe that his son was there when he wasn't. As Pope and his little posse walked away though, Isabella stood up, falling them very slowly, not really sure what to do. She was torn between leaving the building and keeping her nose out of their business, or waiting to see what was going to happen.
"Don't you say that name! You don't say that name! I'll cut his heart out right here, right now if you say that again." Pope suddenly yelled into the walkie talkie. Isabella quickly figured out that something was about to happen and couldn't help but want to know what it was, even though the safest option was probably to go outside.
Though she couldn't fully hear the father's response, and couldn't get a good look on Pope's face, she saw enough of it to know that the leader was about to do something rash.
"It's not too late for me? Oh there you go again Mason, barking orders. You really have no idea how much trouble he's in, do you? But when you hear his voice, then you'll see, exactly how not in control you really are." Pope's voice, though not as loud as before, was crystal clear, even as he started walking towards a door that was barely in Isabella's line of sight. Though she was somewhat curious as to what Pope was actually going to do, she stood still, not wanting Pope to think that she was judging him or getting in his way.
The next thing she heard was the sound of loud, pain-filled screams and couldn't help but wince at the sound. She slowly walked closer to the room, wondering if Pope would want her to help the person he just made scream.
The minute the screams died down, she heard Pope yell, "Still not too late for me?!"
Isabella didn't hear the rest of the conversation, and came even closer to the room, just in time for Pope to ask her to find a first aid kit to make sure 'he' didn't bleed out.
She finally approached the room, just as Pope walked out. The three men with Pope, Anthony, Zack and Nico stood by the door, looking at the young man inside. For a moment, Isabella didn't say or do anything, just looked curiously at Pope's prisoner.
He had black hair, and looked to be an adult, around his 20's, mid 20's maybe. Isabella couldn't say for sure, not with his body position the way it was. His head was down and was trying to stop the bleeding on his arm with his other arm. Quickly regaining her wits, she turned to the three soldiers that were still with her.
"Unless any of you know where the med kit is, or want to help, why don't you find something better to do?" Isabelle suggested to the soldiers, though her tone made it clear that she was actually ordering them to leave. Nico and Zack looked a little surprised, but shrugged their shoulders and turned and walked away.
"I'll go get you the first aid kit." Anthony said as he passed her. Isabelle nodded her head once, letting him know that she heard him, but kept her eyes on the young man that looked to be handcuffed to an old game machine. She waited until Anthony came back with the kit though before she actually entered the room.
She walked over to the young man with the kit in her hands as confident as she could, not wanting Pope's prisoner to know just how on the edge she was. Isabella was still slightly freaked out due to Pope's behaviour just minutes earlier and now she had to stitch someone up. She had never even had stitches before, much less given them to someone else.
The young man didn't look over at her until she had knelt down beside him. He had dark brown eyes, strong jaw, and black eye. He didn't say anything, staying just as silent as she was. It wasn't until she opened the med kit and pulled out some gauze that he spoke.
"You're Isabella, right?" The brunette looked over at the young man in shock. How did he know her name? He must've quickly figured out why she was surprised because he explained, "I heard Pope say your name."
"Yes, I'm Isabella." She answered as she started wiping the blood away from the injury so she could get a better look at the cut and stitch it up.
"I'm Hal." The black-haired man told her. She nodded, letting him know that she heard him, but didn't say anything else. Isabella had one thing on her mind, and that was getting her hands on a weapon and getting out of here. Making friends with Pope's prisoner was not part of that plan, and it wouldn't do any good to add it to the plan either.
"So, how did you wind up here? You with the group Pope found?" The man, Hal, asked. Apparently he was a talker and hadn't realized that she wasn't, or maybe he didn't care. Isabella looked up for at him for a split second with a somewhat annoyed yet poker-faced expression before she turned her attention back to her task.
"I'm going to assume that's a yes." Hal muttered. He was then quiet for a little while as she started to get the needle and thread, but when she kept failing to get the thread through the small hole, he asked, "Do you know what you're doing?"
Again, Isabella didn't say anything. Once she finally threaded the needle though, she didn't hesitate to jab it into his skin. Hal grunted at the suddenly added pain, but stopped talking, which was exactly what she wanted. After all, talking to people leads to knowing them, knowing them leads to caring, and the last thing she needed was to end up caring about somebody. Caring only gets people hurt, especially in a war zone.
Hal was silent as she stitched up the injury on his arm, that one grunt of pain when she started was the only sound he made. She made a quick peek at him, and saw that his jaw was clenched tightly. He was only being quiet now because he was trying to keep any sound of pain from escaping. Once she was done though, and started to wrap the cut, he started talking again.
"Come on, at least say something, I've been trying to get you to talk for the past 20 minutes." Hal said, with a somewhat frustrated tone. When she continued to keep her mouth shut, he tried a different tactic.
"I overheard you when you were outside. Those people Pope made you leave behind, I think you stuck your neck out for them because you care. And you're playing it cool, calm, but I can tell you're scared." Okay, that was a little scary, Isabella thought to herself. She was not expecting him to be able to read her that easily, and if he could, it wouldn't be long before Pope did, if he hadn't already.
"You have to stop talking." Isabella told him. Hal somewhat grinned as he scoffed.
"Oh, she speaks. And she wants me to shut up, maybe cause I'm telling her the truth she doesn't want to hear?" Hal suggested, then looked over at her, clearly expecting an answer.
"You don't know what you're talking about. I've got it under control." She insisted.
"No, you don't. He's insane. Trust me on that." Hal immediately objected.
"Yeah, the more crazy and brutal they are, the longer they stay in charge." She explained, grabbing the tape so she could finish wrapping the injury.
"Wow, I feel sorry for you if you actually believe that." Hal replied in a clearly stunned tone.
"I believe enough of it." She told as she finished, and stood up to put the supplies back in the bag. Despite doing her best to remain distant from him, she felt sorry for him and decided to let him know that. His answer though completely took her by surprise.
"I'm alright. I'll feel sorry for you when Pope finds out you're not a nurse." Isabella was on her way to the door when Hal responded to her, and when her brain registered what he said, she stopped and looked back to see a knowing look on his face as he explained, "I've got a 13-year-old brother who can stitch better than that."
"I was a bit rushed." She said, trying to keep up the act. She didn't need to risk letting anyone, especially Pope, know that she was lying about her 'profession'.
"Bulls**t. You're not a nurse. You think he's not going to figure it out?" Hal wondered, though she knew that already knew the answer to that. But she only needed to keep up the act a little longer so she could get more weapons and make her escape. Hal, not knowing about her plan, offered her his.
"Listen to me. I can get you to my people safely. If Pope is-" Hal started then immediately stopped once he heard the first steps coming into the room.
"If Pope what?" Pope cut in as he entered the room, staring at Pope, clearly wanting an answer. Suddenly feeling trapped, Isabella wracked her brain for a way out. It was either to lie again and hope that Pope wouldn't catch it, assuming that he hadn't heard what they were talking about before he came into the room. Or be honest and earn a little bit more of Pope's trust which could come in handy later down the road.
"He's trying to make me to let him go." Isabella decided to go with the honest route. Though already she felt a twinge of regret, knowing that it could cause some repercussions for Hal, she pushed it down.
"Is that right? He putting up a good argument?" Pope asked, sounding genuinely curious, though Isabella knew that he was actually testing her. She glanced over at Hal quickly, seeing that he was already turning his head away, but she did catch the somewhat disappointed and knowing expression in his eye.
"No." Isabella ultimately said, looking over at Pope, the twinge of guilt getting worse when she looked over at the young man. Pope tilted his head towards the door, silently telling her to leave to the room. That was all Isabella needed to grab the bag and rush out of the room.
She dropped the bag by the door, then rushed outside, needing a breath of fresh air. Everything that happened in the last half an hour had completely thrown her. She felt nauseated when she realized that she had just stitched someone up, had pushed a needle into someone's flesh again and again. It was made even worse as she also realized that by telling Pope how he had tried to convince her to help him, she might have made things worse for him.
Isabella didn't know why she was caring about Hal. She hadn't met him until half an hour ago, didn't even know that he that existed. Whatever happened between his father and Pope, and why Pope was holding him prisoner, and whatever he had planned, wasn't any of her business. While she knew that situation wasn't good and that no matter what happened, no one deserved to be held prisoner and tortured the way Pope had done and was probably going to continue doing, she couldn't get involved.
There was something about Hal though, something that was already getting to her, getting under her skin even though she had barely talked to him. Maybe it was the way it had so easily read through her lies and act and found the truth. Maybe it was the fact that despite her turning on him once Pope came into the room, he said nothing about knowing that she wasn't a real nurse. He didn't have to keep her secret, yet he did. Isabella reasoned that it was because it wouldn't really help him at all and get rid of any chance of getting her to help him, but deep down, she knew that wasn't it. There was just something about him, something that seemed familiar to her, but she had no idea what.
The screeching of a hornet and sounds of guns going off pulled Isabella out of her train of thought. She quickly spotted the alien and ducked for cover. Once she was somewhat hidden by all the police car, she pulled out her handgun, ready to shoot the invader, but at that time, it was gone. Isabella came out of hiding to see one of the men who was with her in the ghetto, Ken, lying on the ground, clutching his leg in pain. She quickly ran to his side to see what was wrong, she was pretending to be a nurse after all. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Pope coming towards them.
"Can he walk?" Pope questioned as he stalked over towards them. Isabella looked down at Ken's leg again, trying to see the damage.
"I don't know." Isabella told Pope though as she continued to try and examine her squirming patient.
"What do you mean you don't know? Can he fight or not?" Pope demanded, voice filled with anger that she didn't have an immediate answer for him.
"I don't know, I just more time to examine him." She barely finished her sentence before Pope pulled out his gun and fired directly at Ken, killing him instantly. Isabella jumped back in shock, as did the others who were around the now dead man.
"No liabilities." That two-worded sentence was the only reason Pope gave for his actions before he turned and started heading back into the building. Isabella turned her attention back to Ken's dead body and it stayed there until Anthony told some other fighters to bury him out back. Less than five minutes later, Zack came over to them.
"Pope wants you back inside." Zack said as he walked passed her. Isabella was slightly confused, as Pope was just outside and could've talked to her then, but did as she was told, quickly finding him putting another clip in his handgun by the couches.
"Need you to go check on him again." Pope told her, tilting his head in the direction of the room where Hal was. Though she was, again, a little confused, though this time by why he needed her to check on his prisoner again since she pretty much just left him only about 15 minutes ago, at most, Isabella nodded and went to grab the first aid bag before going back into the room.
Hal was leaning against the edge of the machine he was chained up to, breathing heavily, like he had just run a marathon and had no energy left. Feeling a sudden surge of worry for the young man, Isabella rushed over to him, dropping the bag as she reached his side. Hal didn't seem to notice her, his eyes were shut and he was clenching his jaw. Isabella easily saw the blood running down from his nose and running down his forehead. Neither were there before, and when she looked back down at his arm, she saw the white bandages were now stained with red.
When she moved to reach for the med bag, she saw the bottle of water that Pope had when he came into the room earlier lying on the other side of the room. She had heard Pope talking to Hal when she was leaving the room, about how apparently it had been over a day since Hal had any water. Knowing that the water would help, she went over and grabbed it before she made her way back over to Pope's prisoner.
"Here, drink." Isabella told him, holding the bottle to his lips. His eyes cracked open, finally realizing that someone was there and what she was offering him. He opened his mouth and started gulping down the water until it was completely empty, which was when Isabella pulled it away and placed it on the floor.
"Thanks." Hal whispered. Isabella looked up at him, seeing that though his eyes were still only half open, they were alert, and sincere.
"You're welcome." Isabella responded. They sat in silence for a moment before she reached over and helped him sit up straight. The water seemed to have helped because the daze he seemed to be in only moments before was slowly wearing off as she unwrapped his arm. Seeing that a few of the stitches had torn, Isabella steeled her stomach while she grabbed the needle and thread. Quickly, and more confidently than before, she re-stitched the cut.
"What happened out there?" Hal asked, having actually stayed pretty quiet since she came back into the room. Isabella assumed it was because he was somewhat recovering from whatever abuse Pope had laid on him while she was gone, but seemed to have gotten better now.
"Hornet attacked. Ken broke his ankle so Pope shot him right in front of me." Isabella explained as she re-wrapped Hal's injured arm yet again.
"Writing's on the wall. You can see that. If you stay here, you're dead." Hal told her.
"I know. That's why I'm leaving." Isabella decided to reveal.
"You are?" Hal sounded completely surprised. Apparently, he hadn't seen through her act enough to figure that part of her plan out.
"Yeah, staying with Pope was never part of the plan." Isabelle stopped her actions to lift up her shirt so Hal could see the gun, the lowered it as she said, "Gave it to me a couple of hours ago. While he was doing that, I borrowed these." Isabella then pulled out the full key chain from her pocket before putting it back, "Told you I had it under control. They put all the guns in the paint shop. That's my last stop before I get the h*ll out of here."
"Well, colour me impressed. So, you going to release me?" Hal asked, causing Isabella to scoff.
"You still don't trust me?" Hal questioned.
"Of course not." Isabella immediately replied. She had no real reason to trust him. Sure, he didn't tell Pope about how she wasn't a nurse, but that didn't mean she was going to risk anything to help him out. If she did, and Pope found out, it would be both their heads.
"The 2nd Mass will take you in, we're good people. If you can read me half as well as you can read Pope you know I'm telling you the truth." Hal argued as Isabella finished wrapping his arm.
"I've been with good people before." She retorted before she stood up and started to make her way to the door.
"Well, we're different." Hal insisted, causing her to turn around to look back at him.
"Everyone says they're different." Isabella said, walking backwards to the door.
"We're putting the world back to the way it used to be, and we're doing that by being there for each other. That's how we started, that's how we're going to end."
Isabella, everything starts and ends with people just being there for each other, Isabella remembered her father's voice telling her. It was something he would say a lot, especially when people asked him why he would help others out when they couldn't do anything for him. As Isabella looked at Hal now, everything clicked. He reminded her of her father.
The light that was in his eyes despite the situation he was in, the fact that despite what she decided he was still trying to convince her otherwise, the way he could read her in seconds of talking with her, it was exactly like her father. Before Isabella knew it, she was walking back over to him.
"If this is a trick-" Isabella warned as she walked closer to Hal, pulling the keys out of her pocket yet again.
"It's not, I promise." Hal assured her, his brown eyes filled with such honesty and sincerity that she had never seen before. She quickly reached his side, leaned down and unlocked the handcuffs. Hal rubbed his wrists as he stood up and looked at her.
"Follow me." Isabella told him, turning around and walking towards the door without waiting to see if Hal was behind her. From the sound of heavier footsteps on the floor though, she knew he was.
Very carefully, the two made their out through the bowling alley. Luckily for them, the hornet attack had everyone outside watching the perimeter, getting ready for another one. It left the path to the paint shop wide open. Using the keys she had stolen, they went inside and immediately started gathering all the weapons and ammo they could get their hands on, putting them in bags that Isabella had already found earlier. Once they had enough, the two exited the building, heading towards the Bronco so they could make their escape.
It was then everything went to h*ll. There was gunfire happening by the door, and she could hear Hal yelling out something, but with the guns going off, she had no idea what. All she knew was that people were shooting and that they had been caught trying to leave. With the other gun she had taken from the paint shop, she started firing back at the members of Pope's group.
"Come on! We gotta go!" Hal suddenly shouted to her as he climbed into the police Bronco on the driver's side. She immediately got into the passenger seat, handing him the keys as she did so. He immediately started up the vehicle and drove out of the camp.
Once they were a good distance away, Hal explained to her what happened. His Dad had arrived and must've ran into Pope as they were shooting at each other. Then a hornet showed up and grabbed his father, and that they had to find him before they could return to his group, the 2nd Mass. Isabella understood Hal's train of thought, if her father was alive and had been taken by an alien, she'd go looking for him to before joining up with whatever group they were with. But as the night ended and morning came, Isabella started getting frustrated.
"How many more time do we need to circle this area?" Isabella finally asked, telling from the position of the sun that it was sometime in the mid-morning.
"As many as it takes, I got to find my Dad." Hal immediately replied. Isabella let out a small sigh, about to point out that his Dad might not be in the area when Hal said, "Look I can't believe it's taken me this long to say this, but thank you, for getting me out of there."
"You got yourself out. It was something you said." Isabella told him, looking out of the window.
"Yeah, what was that?" Hal asked with a slightly unbelieving voice, like he didn't actually think anything he said could've changed her mind.
"That everything starts and ends with just being there for each other." Isabella answered, looked over at him. He turned his head to glance at her before looking back at the road.
"My Dad used to say something similar. Then I realized all I was talking about was surviving, and all you were talking about was living." When she said that, they looked at each, their eyes meeting for just a moment before again, he turned his eyes back on the road.
She let out a small, lone, chuckle as she thought about her Dad and what he would say to her if he had been there to see how she was so focused on surviving that she had forgotten about living. Looking back over at Hal who was scanning their surroundings intensely, she smiled. It was good that someone knew the difference and wanted to live, not just survive. Maybe he could teach her how to be like that again.
AN – So for Rob, Beth, Drew, Zack and Nico, I found all the information on the Falling Skies Wiki, just like I do with every character that I don't know much about and/or want to include. That's where I got their characters' names and stories. Next chapter will be about 5x06 which will feature Matt finding out about Hal being kidnapped, Tom taking care of Hal once they're reunited, and a Ben and Hal reunion and possibly more of a Hal and Maggie reunion. Remember, if you guys have any ideas or suggestions for scenes that you want to see, feel free to ask, even if I've already done a chapter for that episode. Until next time.
