(no subject)

[road_to_xibalba]

A walk in the snow:

"Take a walk with me." Izzi smiles from the doorway, dressed in her winter coat and hat and boots.

I'm sitting at my desk and shake my head. "I have too much work."

Izzi bounces a little, still smiling. "It's the first snow. We always..."

"Yeah I know, but they're waiting on me."

"Come on, Tommy," she grins, excited about the snow.

I think for just a moment about telling her 'no', but that smile on her face, the child-like glee at walking in the snow, convinces me to get up and grab my coat. Anything just to be with her right now. I have work, but she needs me.


******


Work, warmth:

I still had to come in to the lab, but I'm glad I spent the time with Izzi. We took a long walk in the snow and talked and listened. We haven't missed a snow yet. And we won't ever miss one if I have my way.

That's why I'm here. Working to find a way to help Izzi. Donovan's on the table and I'm going in to try something as soon as I'm finished scrubbing. We only have one more shot at this. We can't keep Donovan open and under indefinitely.

******

Finished Donovan, now I'm heading home. Got to check on Izzi.

"Izzi?" I call through the house, putting the canary back in his cage and looking for her. "Iz?"

"Tommy!" I hear her call my name and find her out on the roof.

I poke my head out the window and get clobbered with a snowball. "Very funny." And she laughs at me. "What are you doing?"

She asks me to sit with her and look at the stars and she tells me about the Mayan myth of Xibalba. I usher her inside - after throwing snow at her - her turn - to warm her up in the bath. My beautiful Isabel, naked and covered in bubbles. Still beautiful when she tells me she's afraid, moreso when she kisses me, telling me she wants to make love.
[ooc: if you want to see a video clip of this scene, it can be found HERE - it's the last clip under 'video assets'.]

Later - afterward - I call Dr. Lipper to set up Izzi's appointment. She needs to see the doctor if she's lost sensitivity to hot and cold. We need to know what's wrong. She brings me her book while I'm on the phone, telling me it's time to read it.

"I want you to start it, tell me what you think," she says.

"But it's not done."

"Not quite..."

The phone. She tells me not to answer it, but I have to. Antonio's telling me to come see Donovan, to see what's happened. I've got to go.

******

Izzi's in bed when I get back. I lay down with her for a bit, but I can't stay for long. I need a few minutes to myself. Just in the little office off the bedroom, for a moment. It's so hard to know that she might not make it; that she'll leave me some day, long before we're ready. So hard.

But I see her book there - she wants me to read it. I pick it up and start reading... Spain is on fire...


******


Seizure

Dammit! She had a seizure. Why? Dammit! Dammit! Dammit! I can't take this! Izzi...

She says she wasn't afraid, that she was full. She says she's fine. She's okay. I let her sleep and go back to work. I have to find a way. There has to be an answer.

The next day, I'm there and she gives me a box with a fountain pen and ink in it. Why'd she give me this.

"It's all done except the last chapter," she tells me, holding the book. "I want you to help me."

"How?"

"Finish it." A pause. "Finish it," she says again.

"I don't know how it ends."

She smiles. "You do. You will."

And she tells me about the guide on her trip to Mexico - something about his father and death being his 'road to awe'. I listen, but I don't want to hear this. I don't want to hear her talk about dying. I need her - need her to stay with me.


******


Coma

She asked me to stay with her last night. I did. I couldn't leave. I woke in the middle of the night, unable to sleep, so I read more of her manuscript. I read until I heard the machines screeching. A herd of medical people rushed in, working on her, doing what they could. They shoved me out of the room, made me leave her.

I met Lily in the hall and she told me about Donvan's tumor - shrinking. I rushed back into the room...

"NO!"

"I'm sorry, Dr. Creo, she's lapsed into a coma."

"No!" I slam him against the window, the blinds come down and I have a vague recollection of sunlight streaming into the room.

That's the last thing I remember before Lily dragged me out to her farm to show me where Izzi wants to be buried. I'm not going to bury her. She's not dead.

"Tommy, talk to me?" Lily asks.

"I can't. Not now. I have to go."

I'm going back to the hospital. I need to see her. I need to be with her before I go to work.