A/N: A little bit of an updating/posting splurge here. I had this chapter all written out manually but just had to find the urge to type it. And what was today? See first sentence... lol! Enjoy.

Chapter 16 – For Us

Isobel set her book to the side; she was getting a headache from staring at the small print on the page. Classes had just gotten out about thirty minutes ago; she found that being the girlfriend of one of the most popular and prestigious boys of Massachusetts was a lot more than what she had prepared herself for.

She didn't mind though. She didn't even blink when girls said cruel things about him just to piss her off. Isobel told them not to waste their breath because nothing they could say could change the way she felt about Reid. And that was the truth.

Resting in to her pillows she enjoyed the peace of her empty dorm room. It was times like these she was glad she didn't have a roommate anymore.

Her peace was disturbed by a knock on the dorm door. Isobel glanced at the clock. There was no way Reid was here already. Spenser had probably just gotten out; Reid had about forty-five minutes before he would be knocking at her door.

Puzzled, she pulled herself off of the bed. She didn't talk to anyone anymore. The only people she talked to were usually teachers or people who didn't attend Florence.

She neared the door a bit frightened, she didn't know what to expect. The last time this happened her parents had shown up with doctors ready to take her away to the Gloucester hospital.

But that was not going to happen again. She was the happiest that she had ever been. She wouldn't let her parents ruin that, not with their high-political bullshit.

Her small hand grasped the door knob, hesitation creeped up her arm and she couldn't move. A million terrible thoughts ran through her mind and only one made her stay sane. The thought that maybe it was Reid. Maybe he had gotten off early and decided to surprise her.

That was the only thought that fueled her to open the door. Swallowing her fear she opened the large oak door. She stared at the person on the other side as if he were the spawn of Satan himself. She didn't know whether to scream or cry.

After a short paused she blinked, "What are you doing here?"

"Came to see my little girl," The man stated coming in to the room, uninvited.

"There are no cameras here Michael; you can drop the act…"

"What act? Can't a father come visit his own daughter?"

"No,"

"I haven't seen you in awhile, Isobel. I was concerned."

"That's the stupidest thing I think I've ever heard you say. Would you please get to the point where you leave?"

"How was the treatment?"

"Like you care," The dark haired girl replied bitterly, her eyes diverting away from the man she had once known as her father.

"I do care, Izzy."

"Don't call me that," She stepped away from him.

He had first called her Izzy years ago when he had really cared about her well being, not when it was suitable for him. Before the struggle for political power, before it all went to his head. She didn't like him using it now, it felt tainted.

"Tell me what's been going on in you life, Isobel." Michael's gaze scanned over the room. She was sure he was scrutinizing all of her choices, in clothes, in classes, in everything, just as he had for the last year and a half of o her life.

"Why are you doing this to me?" Isobel asked sounding much like a tortured soul. Things were just starting to look up for her; she didn't want to have to deal with him. And she certainly didn't want him around when Reid showed up at the door.

"Is it so hard for you to appreciate the fact that I came all the way down here to visit you, perhaps maybe see what has been going on in your life?" Michael asked his voice showing his frustrations. He used to be so much better at this, he thought. He used to be able to sway anyone to his side of the argument, was he losing his touch?

"Yes,"

"Isobel, I just wanted to see how your life was going at Florence,"

"Terrible," She answered shortly.

"That's what he said," Michael bit down on his bottom lip, not realizing what he had just said.

"He?" Isobel stood up straighter. "Who is he?"

"No one," Michael waved her off, one arm over his chest the other playing with the stubble on his chin.

"Do you have someone spying on me?" Isobel asked roughly. Michael didn't confirm nor deny this and Isobel's eyes widened. "Oh my God! You do!"

Michael's lips twisted upwards, though he refrained from telling her that it was her boyfriend that had told him. It was her boyfriend who had come to see him and told him and bribed him. He shrugged his shoulders and leaned towards her.

"I hear you're dating a Son of Ipswich," His lips twisted in to a grin, Isobel's face did the opposite.

"I hate you," She muttered angrily. "I thought I was here to stay away from you and that woman."

"That woman is your mother, Isobel." Michael put his foot down.

"Some mother she is," The girl snorted shaking her head. "What a joke this family turned out to be, huh, dad…" She fell on to her bed, staring up at the ceiling. "Your perfect little family is really as fucked up and dysfunctional as the rest of the world's…."

Her words were bitter and Michael didn't care for her tone. He stomped his foot down roughly and Isobel looked at him, their eyes meeting for a fraction of a second before Michael decided that he was going to make her miserable if she didn't watch herself.

"Your boyfriend won't like it if you piss me off," Michael stated shaking his head. "He won't get what he wanted,"

"Excuse me?" Isobel was confused now.

"Reid Garwin, I do believe that's his name, isn't it?"

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"He came to see me today," Michael let his hands fall to his sides; Isobel sat up on her bed, making eye contact with the man that was supposed to love her unconditionally.

"Reid?" Isobel's face fell. "My Reid?"

"Oh yes, your precious, secret boyfriend, which you've been keeping from your mom and dad…" Michael shook his head. "He asked me to transfer you to Spenser Academy," Isobel's eyes perked up and Michael's face twisted in to a wicked grin. "I had half-a-mind to toss him out on his ass, until he made an offer I just couldn't refuse."

"Offer?" Isobel felt a familiar prick in her nose, the feeling she usually got right before the water-works turned on.

"He made quite a generous donation to my campaign on behalf of his family,"

"No,"

Isobel couldn't believe that Reid would really bribe her father. She stared at him shaking her head in disbelief. Michael smirked and pulled out the check that was signed by a Meredith Garwin, Pay to the order of Michael Brady. She felt her heart jump to her throat.

She couldn't stand to look at him anymore, "Get out," She pointed to the door. Michael didn't budge. "Get out, get out NOW!" She pushed, getting off of her bed and viciously directing him to the door.

Michael smirked, "Pack your things, Izzy, you're going to Spenser,"

That was the last thing Michael Brady said to his daughter before she slammed the door in his face. Isobel angrily grabbed her phone and dialed Reid's number. She was sure he was on his way, but she wanted him there now. She wanted to scream and curse and yell in his face for doing this behind her back.

She was so angry; tears were sliding down her face in a hasty rush to meet the cleft of her chin. She waited for him to answer and when he did she tried to play it cool.

"Babe, you ok?" Reid's voice sounded a little further away than usual.

"I'm fine, can you hurry up though, I need to talk to you."

"Is everything ok?" Reid questioned, his tone worried for his girlfriend.

"Fine, just hurry…"

She hung up without telling him anything more. She knew that he would be ready to scream at her for being so blunt and making him worry, but she'd be ready to scream right back.

What gave him the right to go to her father's place of work and bribe him? He was no better than her ex-boyfriend or the other politicians that accumulated in Massachusetts. She wished she could get away from it all. She didn't want anything to do with them anymore.

She paced her bedroom floor waiting for him to arrive. He was at her door within ten minutes; she didn't want to know how he got there so fast, so she didn't ask.

She opened the door and a not-so-pleased Reid Garwin stood on the other side of her door. He pushed past her in to the room and turned back around sharply to stare at her. He could see the tear stains on her cheeks and immediately his angry exterior faltered.

He stepped closer to her and she backed away, "Stop," She held up her hands to him. "I've got something on my mind and we need to discuss it now, before I get even more pissed off…"

"You're pissed off?" Reid asked. "About what?"

"Did you go see my father?" She asked him carefully, wanting to make sure that he told her the truth.

Reid stared at her in shock; she wasn't supposed to know that he went to go see her father. No one was supposed to know except for Tyler. He couldn't lie to her, he couldn't find it in him to lie.

"Yes,"

"Why?" She asked him, her voice strained. "Why did you go see that bastard?"

"Because, I wanted to talk to him, Is…" Reid confessed. "I wanted to see the man for what he was…"

"And bribe him?" Isobel couldn't stand to keep it in any longer.

Reid blinked, his mouth hanging open like a fish out of water. She shook her head knowing that it was true. She had seen the check. She had seen the thousands of dollars that his mother willingly signed over for her son. She shook her head angrily.

"I can't believe you would do something like that Reid!" She shouted angrily. "That makes you no better than them!"

Reid's jaw set, he didn't want to hear that he was like those people. He wasn't. Unlike her father and her mother, he hadn't done it for himself. He would have never done something like that for himself.

"How could you be so selfish? So self-absorbed, that you would do something like this!" She was too angry to see what he had really done. "I don't want to see you," She lifted her chin definitely at him.

"I'm not like them, Isobel…" Reid shook his head, reaching out to touch her, but she stepped away as if he had burned her. "I'm not."

"You're a liar." She whispered angrily, the tears in her eyes flowed freely down her beautiful face. "Get out, get out now…" She repeated the same words that she had told her father.

Reid grabbed the door handle; he didn't want to leave, not like this. He didn't want to see her hurting like this, not because of him. If he knew that this would have been the outcome he would have never given Michael Brady the check.

Isobel wrapped her arms around her body, shaking her head vigorously; she didn't want to face the truth. She didn't want to see what was right in front of her. She couldn't read between the lines.

"I'm not like them, Is." He said again firmly. "Because I didn't do this for me…" He paused and watched her stop shaking her head. She stared at him. "I did this for you… I did it for us."

Hope you enjoyed, and hopefully you don't miss me too much!