Addison couldn't help drifting into the rec room to familiar voices, lifting her glasses as she turned her attention off her notes and onto the screen, recalling with perfect clarity the events that were unfolding from many a meeting. Then, her attention drifted off the screen to the two people there. "Stevens? Mr. Duquette?"
She was starting to have the feeling that she was dreaming.
Isabel turned around slowly at the woman's voice, feeling incredibly strange responding to a name that wasn't hers but would someday be, obviously. Then she noticed it was a woman who'd been on the screen, too. A woman that clearly knew her.
She hadn't realized there had been a man standing there until the woman addressed him, too.
Isabel stared at him blankly, her eyes rounding, almost pleading to understand what in the hell was going on.
Addison's mouth was open and she knew clones so, so intimately after the incident with Jamie. She arched an eyebrow slowly as she took in the fact that not one, but two lookalikes from back home were standing before her, watching scenes from a life she shared with a great deal of people she didn't know very well.
"I'm Doctor Addison Montgomery," she introduced herself, taking a step forward and lowering her notes. "I take it you're not Izzie Stevens, either?" Addison verified.
When Sharon came in and saw a woman and man watching what looked like their lives on a projector she felt like she was intruding on something entirely too personal for the rec room. Her gaze moved from the man, pale and unmoving on screen, to the one not so far from her and very much alive. Her mind raced, were their others? Other movies with other people in them?
She spoke up only when the movie had been turned off. "Where'd you get that from?" she asked the man-- Denny. She didn't mean to be insensitive, she just wanted to know.
"Oh." Sharon looked toward the screen once more, but it was blank, then her eyes passed over the bookshelf and returned to the man.
"Was that really you, or...are you two actors?" she tried. Something in her said no, but it hadn't looked at all like a documentary. Sharon hadn't personally had any experiences watching movies or tapings, but she remembered them from Boomer. She knew that what had been on the projection was professional, fictional, it had a soundtrack.
"We're not actors," John said shortly. Well, he didn't know about the girl, but he seriously doubted it. She looked too damned shook up for her to be an actress. "That was just a guy who looks like me. You ever seen two people on this island who look identical? Same thing, I think."
Just another way of the island gettin' to them as far as he was concerned.
Nancy walked into the rec room and immediately smiled when she saw John sitting on the couch. "John, how - "
But her eyes followed his to the screen, and that's when she saw him - no, the man as clean-shaven, Judah! - in a hospital bed with some woman, and then she realized that the same woman was sitting on the couch next to John...
The minute he saw Nancy, John jumped out of his seat like a damned rocket. Crossing over to her, sensing what might be going on in her head, John reached out and grabbed her by the elbow to steady her. "That's not Judah, Nancy."
Pullo didn't know what to make of the moving pictures on screen. That alone had been enough to leave him frozen to the spot just about as soon as he'd walked in, eyes trying to track the tiny versions of people as they moved and talked but weren't really there. And what was more, one of the people was Isabel, obviously older, but still Isabel, crying over her dead man. Who was also in the room.
Vorenus' back was pressed hard against the wall, his heart pounding in his chest in a way that was utterly foreign to him. He was disoriented, confused, and though he would not confess it even to himself, there was a new ache in his chest, coupled with a growing fear.
The small moving, speaking people were difficult enough to absorb, but Isabel... There on the bed, more beautiful than ever as she grieved for the man she had lost. Her Alex? Was he here now, standing next to Isabel as Vorenus stupidly intruded on their reunion? He shook his head, determined to dispel the tinny ringing in his ears.
A moment later he welcomed the ringing, for Isabel was weeping now, the sounds of her ragged breaths audible even through the two palms he'd placed over his ears.
Isabel didn't know what the hell the bookshelf had been playing at but she didn't like it one damned bit. Up on the screen she was crying, low keening sobs. It hurt her ears and threw off her focus. Cursing under her breath, her eyes wet and stinging, Isabel began to hit the projector in frustration.
"Come on!" she practically spat, hands heavily hitting buttons and switches. Finally she gave up, yanking hard on the cord. Immediately the power kicked off and the reel made warbling noises until it came to a complete stop. When it did stop, Isabel sank down onto the floor, pressing her forehead against the cool metal of the reel.
Pullo wanted to go to Isabel when he heard her yell, but Lucius always came first and the look on his face worried Pullo more than he could put into words.
"There there, lamb," he said, soft and soothing. He wrapped his hands around Lucius' wrists and gave a gentle pull, trying to get his hands away from his ears. "Come, let's go..." It might be best to just get him out of the room altogether.
It was a sound Meredith recognized. Walking out of the hallway and into the rec room, it was, at last, something she recognized -- something familiar beyond the face of Dr. Addison Montgomery. It was Izzie, and there was an ache in her voice, thick with tears, that Meredith had heard before, and then the sound of wracking sobs. As Meredith stepped forward, she looked up at screen and into her past -- until someone moved from the couch, catching Meredith's attention so her head whipped around and she was staring hard at something even more familiar yet.
"Izzie," she said, eyes widening as she stepped forward. "Oh my god, Iz, you're here. I didn't -- I thought it was just me and Addison, and that was -- why were we on the screen?"
It was probably a moment for hugging, but Meredith could only catch at Izzie's arm.
Isabel had been reaching for the projector, intent on getting the things on the screen to freaking stop. She couldn't bear to see any more of it. While those things hadn't happened to her, they may as well have, for she felt them deeply. She'd lost Alex, after all. Though months had now passed since he died, the pain was as raw as if it had happened yesterday if she let it be.
The hand on her arm stopped Isabel dead in her tracks. She was about to try to jerk her arm away when she looked up to see one of the women who had been on the screen.
"It's a mistake," Isabel choked, shaking her head dully.
Something was off, but all Meredith could think was that she'd been stuck on an island for three weeks without her friends or her work, and weird as it was that they were on that screen, it was mostly just good to see Izzie.
"What's a mistake?" she asked. "Iz, when did you get here?" It was hard to shake the sense that something about Izzie wasn't right, that there was something about her that was off. In the moment, it didn't really matter.
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She was starting to have the feeling that she was dreaming.
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She hadn't realized there had been a man standing there until the woman addressed him, too.
Isabel stared at him blankly, her eyes rounding, almost pleading to understand what in the hell was going on.
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Didn't it just damned figure that he'd look like not one but two women's dead husbands or husbands-to-be around this place?
John held up a hand, shaking his head slightly at the girl. His eyes darted to the red-head. "The name's Winchester," he said gruffly. "Not Duquette."
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"I'm Doctor Addison Montgomery," she introduced herself, taking a step forward and lowering her notes. "I take it you're not Izzie Stevens, either?" Addison verified.
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She spoke up only when the movie had been turned off. "Where'd you get that from?" she asked the man-- Denny. She didn't mean to be insensitive, she just wanted to know.
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"I didn't get it." He turned fully toward her, shaking his head. "She did." He gestured to the woman. "From the bookshelf, I assume."
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"Was that really you, or...are you two actors?" she tried. Something in her said no, but it hadn't looked at all like a documentary. Sharon hadn't personally had any experiences watching movies or tapings, but she remembered them from Boomer. She knew that what had been on the projection was professional, fictional, it had a soundtrack.
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Just another way of the island gettin' to them as far as he was concerned.
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But her eyes followed his to the screen, and that's when she saw him - no, the man as clean-shaven, Judah! - in a hospital bed with some woman, and then she realized that the same woman was sitting on the couch next to John...
She suddenly felt a little dizzy.
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He looked over at Lucius, his expression wary.
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The small moving, speaking people were difficult enough to absorb, but Isabel... There on the bed, more beautiful than ever as she grieved for the man she had lost. Her Alex? Was he here now, standing next to Isabel as Vorenus stupidly intruded on their reunion? He shook his head, determined to dispel the tinny ringing in his ears.
A moment later he welcomed the ringing, for Isabel was weeping now, the sounds of her ragged breaths audible even through the two palms he'd placed over his ears.
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"Come on!" she practically spat, hands heavily hitting buttons and switches. Finally she gave up, yanking hard on the cord. Immediately the power kicked off and the reel made warbling noises until it came to a complete stop. When it did stop, Isabel sank down onto the floor, pressing her forehead against the cool metal of the reel.
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"There there, lamb," he said, soft and soothing. He wrapped his hands around Lucius' wrists and gave a gentle pull, trying to get his hands away from his ears. "Come, let's go..." It might be best to just get him out of the room altogether.
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"Izzie," she said, eyes widening as she stepped forward. "Oh my god, Iz, you're here. I didn't -- I thought it was just me and Addison, and that was -- why were we on the screen?"
It was probably a moment for hugging, but Meredith could only catch at Izzie's arm.
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The hand on her arm stopped Isabel dead in her tracks. She was about to try to jerk her arm away when she looked up to see one of the women who had been on the screen.
"It's a mistake," Isabel choked, shaking her head dully.
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"What's a mistake?" she asked. "Iz, when did you get here?" It was hard to shake the sense that something about Izzie wasn't right, that there was something about her that was off. In the moment, it didn't really matter.
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This was all so weird. Unreal, even.
"I'm not--" She broke off, a hand gesturing over her shoulder toward the screen. "That's not me."
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