Arriving (M/L,CC Mature) Chp 25 10/30/11 [WIP]

This is the place where fics that have not been updated in the past three months will be moved until the author asks a mod to move them back to an active board.

Moderators: Anniepoo98, ISLANDGIRL5, truelovepooh, Forum Moderators

User avatar
6throck
Enthusiastic Roswellian
Posts: 26
Joined: Mon Dec 31, 2001 10:52 am
Location: Glendale, AZ

Re: Arriving (CC, M/L, ALL, MATURE) Ch 10 12/7 pg 8

Post by 6throck »

A/N Thanks for all the feedback, everyone, esp. about my Candy parts. I wasn't sure if I could write Michael and Maria well, so thanks for letting me know it came out ok.

Ok, I know I left a bit of a cliffhanger with the next part, and I'm sorry to say, this part follows the same pattern, but we will find out what happened in Chapter 12. Of course, there will be more questions to answer as well.



Chapter 11-Stop, Rewind, Replay



Without a thought, Liz’s hand immediately flew back to the same pocket where she had shoved the two objects several hours ago. She had totally forgotten about them until now. She fumbled around, searching for the two pieces, and her eyes opened widely when her fingers came in contact with the contents of her pocket. Her mind struggled to comprehend the discovery her fingers told. She grabbed a hold of the string and slowly pulled the pendant from her pocket, still shining dimly in the dark room, but now completely whole and in one piece!

“Oh my God, Max!! I don’t understand. It’s fixed!!! I had the broken piece in my pocket as well as the necklace and now it’s one piece!” Liz was incredulous as she examined the necklace, running her fingers over the spot where the two parts had been broken apart. It was seamless. There was no sign that it had ever been fractured before.

Max ran his fingers over the surface as well, as he also examined the pendant. “Where in the world did you get the other piece, Liz?”

“I . . . I had the other piece from a long time ago. Do you remember when Eddie told me that River Dog wanted to talk to me and we went out to the reservation? Well, he brought the broken piece to show me that River Dog knew about the necklace. I, um, I guess I should have given it to you, but I wanted to keep it. I wanted something of yours to keep.” Liz’s voice was soft and wistful as she thought back to that time in their relationship when she wanted to be with him, but he was still telling her it wasn’t safe.

Max’s chest tightened slightly, as he received the feelings that Liz felt from reliving that memory. He gently brushed the pad of his thumb across her cheek, as he realized how much she loved him, even then. “It’s Ok, Liz. I understand how you felt.” Liz smiled back at him and Max returned his attention to the pendant.

“So, you put the broken piece and the necklace in your pocket earlier, and then it somehow fixed itself? Do you think the pieces just needed to be placed together and then the necklace fused back together on its own?” he speculated.

Liz shook her head. “No, that wasn’t it. I played with the two pieces before I ever put them in my pocket. I pieced them back together, wondering why or how it was broken in the first place. I didn’t notice any change at all when I did that. It must have been something else.”

Max thought back to the events that transpired in Liz’s room that morning. Something nagged at the back of his mind. Something that happened earlier. Something that had to do with Liz. As his eyes looked over Liz’s body, they stopped at her delicate hips. He remembered how they felt, pressed up against him, and suddenly it hit him. He had felt something earlier, and now he realized what it was. He had fixed the necklace, or the necklace used his powers to fix itself.

“Liz! It was in your back pocket this whole time?” The pieces of the puzzle suddenly fell into place. Max decided a physical demonstration was in order. He wrapped his hands around Liz’s hips, pulling her tight against him. His large hands wrapped all the way around her small hips and around the fullness of her bottom, covering the area of her back pocket. Liz gasped out loud at the sudden moment and the feel of Max as she was pulled against him. Max tightened painfully against his jeans the moment Liz came in contact with him, and he couldn’t help but bend his knees a little and push up against her slightly as his hips soared uncontrollably. However, the motion had the desired effect as Liz immediately thought back to the same incident in her room earlier. Max saw the recognition in her eyes, and he slowly stroked his fingers over her butt, caressing the area where the necklace had lain. Just as before, Liz’s hands unconsciously followed Max’s and she rested her hands over his, the cord of the necklace still between her fingers.

“Max!! Do you really think that’s what happened? That you somehow fixed it earlier without knowing it?”

“Well, I know I felt something strange, and it wasn’t just the things your body was doing to mine.”

Liz blushed slightly, but her gaze never wavered from Max’s.

Max smiled down at Liz. “I felt something go out of me, but at the time, I didn’t pay much attention to it. My mind was busy trying to keep myself from tearing your clothes off and devouring you. But, now I’m sure that it was a release of my power. I felt it. We were generating a lot of energy together. I think that might have triggered something, and we fixed the necklace without really trying to.”

Liz bit her lip at the mention of that moment in her bed earlier that morning. That action pulled Max’s attention away from everything else, and he just had to lean in and kiss her. As soon as their mouths met, they both got a flash. But, this flash was different. The vision was crisper and clearer than anything they had experienced so far. It was like all their previous flashes had been watched through a dirty lens that had now been wiped clean.

They saw themselves standing in the UFO Center earlier that day, in almost exactly the same position that they were standing in now. They were surrounded by an aura of colors that was so beautiful, that it was breathtaking. They watched as they both saw for the first time, the green glow that emanated from Max’s eyes as his gaze commanded the information from the others. The vision zoomed in on Max and Liz’s entwined hands resting on Liz’s hips, and they both saw the faint glow coming from beneath their hands.

During the vision, Max and Liz continued to kiss. As the vision faded, Liz and Max broke apart and stared at each other in awe of what had just happened.

“Wow!! That was different.”

“You saw it, too. Us in the UFO center earlier?”

“Yeah. I did. We the saw same thing,” Max replied.

“But, that’s never happened before. We always used to see something different in the flashes.”

“And that’s not all. Did you see . . . how everything was so much clearer and more focused . .”

“ . . . and did you see those colors surrounding us? What was that, Max?”

“I’m not sure. But if that’s what the new and improved flashes are going to be like, then sign me up for some more.”

“Did that flash come from the pendant?” Liz asked.

Max raised Liz’s hand, which still held the now glowing necklace. “I think so. It must have some power of its own. The flash showed it was glowing when I used my power on the others.”

“Max? Do you think the necklace might somehow amplify your powers? Maybe you can use it to generate a flash. You know, like you were touching me just now, we saw a flash of when you touched me like that before and also what was happening then. Maybe using the necklace, you can touch something in here, someplace where Tess was, and force a flash that might tell you what really happened that night.”

“Well. It’s worth a try.” Max looked around, searching for something to touch to trigger a flash. He spied the area of the floor where he remembered waking up, naked, lying next to Tess. He took Liz’s hand in his and walked over there. Liz handed the pendant to Max, and he reached out to take it. “I’m going to try this alone first, to see if it works, but if it does, I want to do it again with you, so you can see, too. Unless you think it might be too hard. I don’t want to hurt you Liz.”

Liz swallowed hard. “Go ahead and try, Max. If it does work and you get the answers you need, you can tell me about it first, but then I want to see it for myself. I’ll never be able to get past this, Max, if I don’t.”

Max nodded as he understood and then took the pendant in his hand and knelt down on the ground, in exactly the same spot where he had woken up that morning. He gripped the pendant tightly as he concentrated, hoping to trigger a flash. He closed his eyes and the pendant began to glow faintly. He reached out with his other hand to touch the surface of the floor where he had lain. He was rewarded with a flash, but they were his regular semi-focused flashes again. Several images flickered across his mind; a janitor sweeping the floor, a group of kids on tour of the Observatory, a young man, a old woman, a mother, a father, all of them walking past this section of floor, but nothing about him and Tess. He concentrated harder and was rewarded with an image of himself waking up naked, then looking down to see Tess lying on top of him, but that was it. Nothing else. No images of what happened before that came to his mind.

He opened up his eyes and stood up. Liz was looking at him anxiously. “Did it work? Did you see anything?”

“Yeah, but it wasn’t the same kind of flash as earlier. It was just like my old flashes were. I saw people passing by this area, probably everyone in the last week. And I saw myself and Tess waking up that morning, but nothing before that. Damn!! I was really hoping this would work!” Max looked down at the pendant in exasperation, wondering why his experiment didn’t work.

“Max, don’t give up. We can try something else. If you can’t do it on your own, maybe if Michael and Isabel were here too, it would help. We can come back later and try it again. We got this far on our own. At least we know your memory was tampered with. Those visions of duality you saw. Whatever happened, Tess was mindwarping you, controlling you.”

Max looked at Liz and then back down at the pendant. “You’re right. But, I was hoping to get the answers I needed today. I want to move on, to get past this, so I can be with you,” Max lifted his eyes to meet Liz’s, “with nothing standing between us,” he finished. “Until then, I want you to wear this. I’ve wanted you to have this ever since I first put it on you that day you came for it.”

Max brought his hand around to hold the string of the necklace. He carefully spread the cord and placed it around Liz’s neck, almost as reverently as if he were placing a crown on her head. Max looked at Liz as this action felt exactly right—that this was exactly where this necklace belonged, where it wanted to be.

Just like that day so many months ago, Max leaned his head forward to touch foreheads with Liz. He reached down with his left hand to link fingers with her hand and touched the smooth surface of the pendant with the forefinger of his right hand. The necklace was resting directly between Liz’s breasts, and watching the moment of his finger across the surface of the pendant was exciting to them both.

“Soon Liz. Soon we’ll have the answers we need to continue what we started in your bedroom earlier. When I find out the truth about that night,” Max looked directly into Liz’s eyes as their connection heated up, “then I’ll. . .”

Liz never knew what Max was about to say, because just at that moment, the necklace began to glow brightly, and they were both captivated by an explosive flash that they were helpless to resist.
User avatar
6throck
Enthusiastic Roswellian
Posts: 26
Joined: Mon Dec 31, 2001 10:52 am
Location: Glendale, AZ

Re: Arriving (CC, M/L, ALL, MATURE) Ch 12 12/21 pg 9

Post by 6throck »

A/N-So sorry for leaving you all that that, I meant to update this weekend, but I just got too busy with R/L stuff. So, here's the part you've been waiting for. I guess it's an early Christmas present.

Eve-You're more right than you know. I tried to show in this part that even Tess's knowledge comes mostly from Nasedo, so we only have what he told her as a basis for what happened in the past. Many false conclusions can be made from one wrong piece of information.

Jan-So sorry. I hope the wait is worth it.

Don't worry about the beginning, fellow dreamers, I won't lead you astray. Try to control your gag reflex. :roll: I tried to distinguish what what seen in the vision Max and Liz's mental thoughts in different font colors, so I hope that helps in reading it.

Chapter 12-Truth and Lies




Max and Liz stood there, frozen in time, as the flashes barraged them. They saw a series of images, showing everything that they had already discovered earlier about Max’s trip to the Observatory. This time, however, they saw Tess’s SVU following the jeep close behind. The vision continued, flashing rapidly up to the point of Tess leading Max into this same corner of the room. Then the pace slowed down, and they were able to hear exactly what Tess was saying.

* * * * * *

“What’s out there is real Max. This is the dream world. I’ll help you wake up. Don’t worry. Everything is going to get more real. Starting right now.”

Tess took off her coat and walked over to place it on the floor by the wall. Then she began slowly unbuttoning her blouse, advancing gradually towards Max as she stripped it off and tossed it aside. Then she unzipped her jeans and let them fall down her legs, pooling at her feet. She casually stepped out of them and closed the distance between them, taking the blanket from his numb hands. She turned and spread it out on the floor beside them. She looked back over her shoulder at Max, posing for him, checking to see if she was having the desired effect on him.


* * * * * *

Liz rolled her eyes mentally as she watched the vision of Tess trying to act sexy. Man! That girl really needed to take acting lessons. Did she really think that look she was giving Max was sexy? However, Liz’s disgust soon turned to horror as she watched Tess take off Max’s jacket and pull his sweater off over his head. She then began running her hands over his chest. Liz steamed with fury. That chest was hers to caress!! Not anyone else’s!!! Max felt her reaction and tried to explain.

I’m sorry, Liz. I mean, I couldn’t stop her. I couldn’t move or do anything. But, you have to know; I still didn’t feel anything for her.

Liz heard his response and wanted to ask how it was possible to hear him in her head, but the visions commanded all her attention.

* * * * * *

Tess started stroking Max through his jeans, trying to excite him. But the action didn’t arouse him. Her surprise and disappointment was evident on her face. She started to unzip his jeans, and then pulled them down roughly. Then she grabbed Max’s boxers and pulled those down as well.

* * * * * *

Max was embarrassed at the memory that Tess had fondled him and then stripped him naked. He blushed at the thought and also at the knowledge that Liz now knew this as well. Now, however, Max’s true memories of that night returned and he recalled everything perfectly.

Something was wrong. I . . . I couldn’t . . . I mean, my body . . . um . . . wasn’t . . .um. . . responding. She tried to . . . for like 10 minutes, but um . . . nothing happened.


Max knew that this lack of response was a sensitive subject for most guys, but considering the circumstances, Max didn’t have any of those feelings. He was puzzled, but completely relieved at his reaction, or lack thereof.

* * * * * *

Tess had taken off the rest of her clothes and was now on her knees, doing everything she could think of to get a reaction from Max. “What’s wrong, Max? Doesn’t this feel good? Damnit!! What’s the matter with you?” Max didn’t have an answer. He just stood there staring at the wall, unable to move or protest the actions of Tess.

* * * * * *

I just kept thinking that I didn’t want to do this, that this wasn’t right.


* * * * * *

Then Tess did something strange that neither Liz nor Max expected to see. She stood up and stomped over to where she threw her coat, reached in the pocket, and pulled out her cell phone. She made a phone call, but she didn’t talk long. All she said was, “I am Ava,” and then she hung up.

Tess started pacing around the room. Max was still standing there, naked, trying his best to cover himself up, but he still was unable to move. Finally, after a while, her phone rang. She immediately launched into an angry tirade to her caller.

“Yes, of course this is important. Why else would I have risked another call? This is an emergency!!! All our plans are going down the tube!! It’s not working, he’s not responding AT ALL!!!!”

She paused for a second as she listened to her caller.

“You know what I mean!! There’s no activity down south. Do you need me to spell it out for you? I can’t give him an erection! It’s just lying there, lifeless. Not even a quiver. I’ve been trying for like a half an hour. I don’t care how much he might be trying to resist me mentally, there is NO WAY his human body could have withstood my techniques by sheer will power alone!!! You’ve seen this body I have now. It’s perfect! Something else is wrong!”

Tess paused again as she listened for a response. “You were afraid of this? Afraid of what? You’d better explain this now.”

She was quiet for a several minutes and her eyebrows furrowed as she listened intently.

She suddenly shouted, “WHAT?! But he’s joined with me! Zan and Ava were joined! Nasedo told me about it. I even remember the ceremony!!! Nasedo said that the link would transcend worlds. And I know it still affects him in this body. I can feel the connection. It’s been a slow process, but you wouldn’t believe the things I’ve made him do lately. He’s completely under my control now. That’s why I don’t understand this!!”

Her eyes narrowed as she continued to listen to her companion on the other end of the line.

“WHAT!!!! What in the hell are you talking about, a previous joining?!!!! Nasedo never said . . .

Tess was cut off, and she listened intently.

“I can’t believe this! You’re telling me that Zan was joined to someone else before me. I don’t believe you!!!”

Pause.

“Ok fine, so you were there, what has that got to do with this current situation? What’s wrong with him now? I know that Ava and Zan were joined. I know I was Queen!! What’s the deal? So, he had someone else first, we still had the ceremony performed on us!”

Pause.

“So, what are you suggesting that he didn’t completely join with me, with Ava?”

Pause.

“Never!!! In the whole history of our planet?! Then, why . . .”

Pause.

“Khivar. I should have known. So, you’re telling me that the second joining didn’t completely take? But, what does that have to do with this . . .”

Pause.

“What the hell are you talking about, a physical link? Nasedo never said . . .”

Pause

“To ensure a pure . . . you’ve got to be kidding me! You mean it prevents him from doing it with anyone else?!! Then how am I going to do this? Maybe I’ll have to do it the not-so-satisfying way and steal the stupid swimmers instead. Where’s the Viagra when you really need it!?!”

Tess paused again.

“You mean it goes all the way down to the genetic level? So, you’re saying there’s no possible way I can get pregnant with his child? Shit!!! So, what’s the deal? He’s still joined to a dead woman? How can he pass the seal to an heir? That can’t help his people. This nightmare just keeps getting worse and worse!!”

Tess’s tone now changed to a whiny, complaintive tone. “What I’m I going to do now? This was the only thing I had to bargain with. The only thing that will make me Queen again!!! I can’t return home now without the heir.”

Pause.

“What do you mean? How can you help?”

Pause.

“What?! Are you sure?” Tess began to whisper excitedly. “Will your forces be ready? I won’t be able to fool Khivar for long. He’ll want to make a connection with the ‘baby’ as soon as possible.”

Tess was quiet for a long time, as she listened intently to a serious of instructions.

“Ok. Got it. I’ll make it happen. He won’t know what hit him. I’ll give him the orgasm of his life. He’ll never want to leave my side again.”

Pause.

“Yes, the quick pregnancy will be no problem. These royal morons don’t know anything unless I tell them. I could make up any lie, and they’d believe me. They trust me now.”

Pause.

“Yes, Michael and Isabel will come too. That’s what Khivar asked for. He probably still wants his Vilandra back. I’ll make sure Max makes them come. You just be sure to be ready to make your move.”

Pause.

“Yeah, I’ll still make him think the baby is dying. I’ll totally play that angle up. I’ll milk it for all it’s worth. I think I’ll make it a boy, his son. He’ll do anything I ask of him for his son. We’ll be out of here no time. All we need is the crystal from L’anna. She’s scheduled to deliver that soon, right?”

Pause.

“Great. I’ll be expecting her then. I’ve got a plan to plant that and the translation I already got somewhere so Max can find them and I’ll tell him Nasedo must have left them for him.”

Tess’s attitude had improved greatly since the beginning of the phone call. Now she was talking on the phone like a juvenile schoolgirl, chatting to her boyfriend. No hint remained of the manipulative, calculating bitch that had just been talking about trying to create an innocent life inside her to advance her own position and then have the father killed by his enemy.

“I’ll contact you as soon as we get back so you can make your move on Khivar. I can’t wait to see you again, I mean really see you again. You do like this body, don’t you? This is the body I’ll be coming back in. You’ve been enjoying it so far I know. I’ve got the bruises on my thighs to prove it. Can I come over? I got all worked up, and since this boy here can’t seem to get it up, I need some release. Besides, it will give me the scratches and bruises and morning after glow that I need to make it even more convincing! Can you hold the body a bit longer? Ok, I’ll be right there.”

She giggled and hung up the phone and walked back over to Max. Liz and Max watched as Tess closed her eyes in concentration, an action that they both recognized as her using her mindwarping powers. They both felt the mental commands given to Max—First, she erased the memories of the last half hour. Then, she began planting false memories. Memories and feelings of the two of them undressing each other, passionately kissing, having consensual sex, all culminating with the powerful white-hot electrical sensation of floating, which must have been her idea of an alien orgasm.

Then Tess planted a command to sleep in Max’s head, and she laid him down on the blanket. She left the room, only pausing long enough to put on her thong and her coat, and was gone for several hours. She came back just before dawn, stripped down again, and placed herself in Max’s arms, waiting for him to wake up so she could complete the image.



* * * * * *

As the vision faded away, Max and Liz were released from the grip that held them motionless during the encounter. They stumbled backwards a couple of steps, a little off balance after that flash. Max blinked his eyes rapidly trying to bring the world back into focus.

“Wow!!!! That was amazing. I wasn’t even trying to get a flash that time.” Max thought back, trying to figure out why it worked this time, hoping to discover the element that had been missing before. Suddenly, he realized what it was. His eyes soften as he approached her. “It’s you, Liz. It happens when I’m connected with you.”

Liz barely heard Max’s comment as her mind was flooded with questions from the result of that flash. Tess’s phone call—who did she call? How did they know so much information? Physical linking? Joining? Max unable to perform? Not genetically compatible? Khivar wanting Zan’s heir? But it was vision of Tess’s hands and mouth all over Max’s body parts and the mental pictures that Tess had fed to Max of the two of them making love that she couldn’t stop thinking about. She started to feel physically sick. Tess had touched parts of Max that Liz had only dreamed of touching. And an hour-long orgasm? Liz tried to block out those images that Tess had mindwarped Max with. She knew that those weren’t real, but it had felt real to Max. She didn’t mean to, but she couldn’t help but think of how he would some day compare her performance with that of Tess’s “perfect” one. How could she ever compete with that?

Max was surprise at her lack of response, but then he felt her revulsion and figured it was due to seeing the images Tess had mindwarped him with. Before he could respond, however, those feelings of revulsion turned to feelings of doubt and inadequacy. He was puzzled at that. Did she think that this mindwarp could ever affect his feelings for her and how he would feel making love to her? Max swiftly grabbed her to him, one hand behind her head, and the other around her waist, staring deep into her eyes, as he quickly began to soothe away her needless anxiety.

“Liz. I know that you saw that . . .those images that she planted in my mind of what she wanted me to believe happened. I’m so sorry you had to see it, but now we know that it didn’t really happen! This was just all some sick mind trick that Tess played on me, on us. Please believe me, Liz. I love you. I want to be with you and no one else. I won’t ever remember those phony images again. The only reason I remembered them now was because I needed to see what really happened. Now that I’ve remembered everything, those false memories are already fading away again. They will never stand between us. It never happened.”

Addressing Liz’s feelings of inadequacy, Max continued, staring deep into her soul. “And Liz, it doesn’t matter what idea of ‘perfect bliss’ Tess tried to implant in my brain, I know I’ll only experience that moment with you. Everything else will pale in comparison. I know what my Future self said to you was true. When we make love, Liz, it will be so powerful, we will be cemented. It could never be that way with anyone else. Even with this . . . this fantasy of Tess’s, I still never felt anything for her. I had to force myself to walk down the hallways at school with her, holding her hand, because I was trying to do the right thing. I was sickened with the thought that I slept with her, and I had to really struggle to act differently towards her. I didn’t want to be one of those guys that just used someone for sex and then just ignored them, especially once she told me about the baby. But, with you,” Max’s hands began roaming over Liz’s body, “I can’t keep my hands off of you now, let alone once we get to that point. Your touch is the one that sets my body on fire and arouses me. I can’t imagine loving you any more than I do now, but I know that I will. You’ll have all of me in a way that no one has before, or will ever have the chance. I’ll belong to you completely.”

Liz’s fears were completely washed away after hearing Max’s earnest testimony to her. He always knew exactly what to say to her to make her feel better. She knew in her heart that everything he said was true and she could feel that he really meant it. That when they did make love it would be the most powerful thing in the world. Her feelings of security in Max’s love returned and she was going to do everything she could to put this whole experience with Tess behind her. Max saw and felt her relax, and was relieved that he had been able to convince her that she had nothing to worry about.

They had learned a ton of information with those flashes, and they probably gained more questions than answers. But, all this talk about them making love coupled with the feel of his hands running over her body was turning Liz’s mind elsewhere. The vision of seeing Max’s bare chest was making her desirous to run her own hands over it again, to claim it as hers.

Max also knew they had just opened up a huge bundle of questions, but the purpose for their coming here was answered, and he wanted to get out of there now. He sensed a change in Liz’s emotions and felt her eyes staring at his chest. He had been aware of the feeling of possession coming from Liz when they watched Tess try to seduce him. He knew that if he didn’t do something now, Liz was going to attack him any minute. He didn’t want it to happen here. He had to move quickly. He grabbed her hand and began heading towards the door.

Liz was startled by Max’s sudden movements to leave. She was itching to get her hands on him, and she thought he would have felt her desire through their connection. She frowned in disappointment and concentrated on sending him visions of what she longed to do to him. Max caught his breath as the flashes assaulted him. He whirled around to face her in mid-step, his eyes wild with passion. He grabbed her head in his hands and hoarsely pleaded, “Oh, God, Liz!!!! Not now! Let’s get out of here first. This would have never been my place of choice for activities like those.”

Max and Liz managed to leave the Observatory without being noticed. They got back into the car and began to drive away. Liz shivered as she watched the Observatory grow smaller and smaller in the side view mirror.

“I don’t know if I’ll ever want to go back to that place again, Max, and I used to love to go there at look at the stars. That’s one of the reasons that my parents bought me my telescope. Tess ruined that place for me.”

“Liz. Don’t say that,” Max looked over at her worriedly. “She’s not worth it. To me, I’ll always think of it as the place where I learned that you are the one that completes me, Liz.”

When Liz looked at him strangely, Max continued. “Didn’t you hear what I said to you right after we got that second flash? It’s you, Liz. You’re the key. You helped me keep my mind from being swallowed up in fake memories and gave the pendant the power to show us the truth.”

Liz shook her head slightly. “But, we’ve been connected and had flashes before, Max, and nothing like what we just experienced was anything like that. It must just be the pendant. Maybe it’s just that it took a while for it to work.”

“No, Liz, it’s not just the pendant. When I tried to use it alone, I could feel that it was helping to focus my power, but it still wasn’t enough. It’s only when I was connected to you we saw the vision of Tess. Every time the pendant has shown its powers is when we’ve been connected—here, in the UFO Center, and in your bedroom this morning. That’s when it all started . . . when it drew out my powers to fix itself. ”

Liz took a moment to think about all that. Yes, she wanted to think that she was special, that her connection with Max was unique, but part of her scientific mind wouldn’t give in. She had felt something when all those things happened, but did that really mean she had any powers?

“But, I’m completely human. Yes, I have this connection with you, but I thought that was just being able to feel things from you and get the flashes. How could I possibly have a link with an object from your world?” Liz questioned.

“Don’t forget, it was you who had the flashes from the orb. Not me, not Isabel, and not Michael. You, Liz. Liz, you complete me in every way imaginable. I don’t understand everything, but somehow this makes sense to me. A King needs a mate that complements him in everything. And you are my mate, Liz, even though we haven’t been legally married on earth or physically intimate. Somehow, I feel as if we have already been linked. You’re a part of me. Our connection . . . it’s one of the most powerful things I’ve ever experienced. And I have a hunch that this is nothing. It’s only going to get stronger. It’s already gotten stronger in these few hours together. Can’t you feel it, Liz?”

Liz had to admit, she felt closer to Max than she had before. Thinking back to their time together in the Observatory, she remembered something.

“Max? When we were getting the flashes from the pendant, did you speak to me telepathically? I thought I heard you in my head, explaining what was going on in the vision.”

Max’s mind flashed back to that event. Did he speak aloud, or did Liz really hear his thoughts? “I think you’re right. You did hear my thoughts. I felt your emotions react to the vision you were seeing and I just started speaking to you in my head. I didn’t even think twice about it.”

“Did you hear me, Max?” Liz asked anxiously. Max thought hard, sensing a negative answer would disappoint her. He couldn’t recall hearing her voice in his head, but he had sure sensed all her feelings.

“I’m sorry, Liz. I don’t remember hearing you at all. Did you say something to me? I felt all your emotions though, including some very powerful feelings of possession in reference to my body.” Max decided to play it safe and curb the disappointment with an arousing memory.

Liz realized that she hadn’t actually tried to respond to him telepathically, so there was no need to fret that he wasn’t able to hear her. Max’s no-so-subtle reminder of her earlier desires to touch his chest was a welcome distraction. Liz glanced around them at the road and suddenly realized that they were heading west on 380, instead of east.

“Where are we going, Max? Aren’t we going back into town?” Liz asked curiously.

“We won’t be expected back in town for a while. I thought that since we're so close, maybe we should go back to the pod chamber and check out the damage from the ship and make sure no one else is snooping around up there. Beside, if we go back into town now, Isabel and Kyle will just plague us with dozens of questions that we don’t have answers for right now anyway. A lot of the things we heard Tess talk about don’t make sense. And before we rack our brains trying to figure it out, I need some more alone time with you. My poor mind has been through enough these last few weeks. Let’s just be regular teenagers for a little while. We deserve that after all we’ve been through, don’t you agree?”

Liz smiled at him in perfect agreement. Eying his chest hungrily, Liz casually began to trace small circles, on the top of Max’s upper thigh. She noticed his immediate response to her touch and looked up at him coyly. “You know, Max. This telepathy thing may only work when we’re really close to together. We’ll have to experiment with different methods. That is, if we have enough time.”

Max dragged his eyes away from Liz’s luscious mouth and tantalizing body as the images of what she wanted to do to him came rushing through their connection. Max gritted his teeth, grabbed onto the steering wheel in a white-knuckle grip, and floored it.
Last edited by 6throck on Wed Dec 22, 2010 12:05 am, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
6throck
Enthusiastic Roswellian
Posts: 26
Joined: Mon Dec 31, 2001 10:52 am
Location: Glendale, AZ

Re: Arriving (CC, M/L, ALL, MATURE) Ch 13 12/25 pg 10

Post by 6throck »

Evans-dreamer
Timelord
Keepsmiling
Eve
Jan
jojotheorange
Ginger
Alien_Friend
Natalie



A/N-Merry Christmas (or Happy Holidays to anyone not celebrating Christmas). Again, I just have to say thank you so much for your comments and feedback. I'm really glad you are enjoying my little story. The response has been more than I ever dreamed.

alien_friend-Glad to see you join us. Honestly, thank you so much for your comments.It made my day.

Ok, now that we've found that Max didn't sleep with Tess, I thought I'd deliever the next chapter today for a Christmas gift since we're going to see Max and Liz getting a little hot-n-heavy here (this should be pushing against the Mature rating for this story), so hunker down and savor some Dreamer lovin'.


Chapter 13 -Testing a Theory


As they drove, Liz thought about what Max had said, that he felt they had been joined somehow. Remembering what Tess had said during the vision, Liz analyzed each phrase. Tess mentioned something about Ava and Zan’s joining not taking. Because of that, there was no physical link. And without the physical link, Max couldn’t get aroused. Did a physical link have to exist before that could happen? Tess seemed to believe that if she didn’t have the link with Max it was because he was still linked to Zan’s first mate.

But, Liz wasn’t sure that was true either. She glanced over at Max out of the corner of her eye. She had felt Max’s arousal pressed up against her lots of times when they were making out, so did that mean that they had a physical link? Liz’s mind was blazing with the thought.

Max had been watching Liz out of the corner of his eye, and recognized the look of deep thought on her face. Max laughed to himself. Liz might have been able to put aside the information they discovered from those flashes for a short time to entertain some very powerful sexual fantasies, but he knew that scientific mind of hers couldn’t ignore it for long. It was one of the things he loved most about her.

He had just made the turn-off for the rocks and the Pod Chamber when he sensed a thrill of excitement come from Liz. He looked over at her. “What? What were you just thinking?”

“I was just thinking about something Tess said about why you weren’t, um . . . responding to her.” Liz looked over at Max, shyly.

“Ok, go on.”

“Well, Tess was told that she must not have a physical link with you and that’s why what she was trying wasn’t working. And that she could never get you to mate with her because the link wasn’t there. So, it seems logical that the lack of the link was why she couldn’t excite you. And if that’s true, then I wonder if you have to have a link with someone in order to . . . um, even get excited. Or if it just didn’t work with her, because she was trying to force you to mate with her. So, I wanted to ask if you ever, ah . . . you know, if you got excited at other times. Like looking at pictures of beautiful women in magazines, or seeing something sexual on TV or in a movie, or anything like that. And don’t be embarrassed to tell me, Max. It’s a perfectly normal reaction to have. I’m sorry for asking, I just have to know.”

Max thought back carefully, although it wasn’t really necessary. He knew that Liz had been the only one for him. The first time he had an erection, he had been dreaming about her. He had never dreamed about being with anyone else. He had seen one of Hank’s Playboy magazines once when he was visiting Michael. He was curious about it, so he flipped it open and started looking through it. And although some of the women were very beautiful, he didn’t get turned on looking at them. No one ever had turned him on but Liz.

“Liz. There’s no doubt in my mind that you are the only one that affects my body this way. Just a look from you, or even the thought of you does it to me. That’s why I always wear baggy pants and leave my shirts untucked, so I can hide my arousal from everyone. It happens so easily when I think of you. I’ve never been excited by anyone else but you, Liz.”

“Are you sure, Max? You’re not just saying it for my benefit?” Liz asked earnestly, her eyes searching his.

They were still several yards from the base of the mountain where Pod chamber was located, but Max couldn’t wait to touch her even just one more second. He pulled over and stopped the car. He boldly grabbed Liz’s hand in his and placed it over his now hardening erection. Liz gasped out loud at the intimate contact, as she felt the heat of his arousal and the hard shape of him under the palm of her hand. Max closed his eyes as the feel of her hand against him caused the fire of passion to race through him. He opened them again, and stared directly into Liz’s eyes, watching as the pleasure he felt transferred over to her through the connection that was now wide open. Liz trembled, whimpering slightly as she felt the bolt of desire from Max sensitize her most intimate places.

Max gathered all his strength and said tightly, “You are the only one that does this to me, Liz. I’m sure of it.”

Liz took a deep breath and tried to slow her breathing down. Needing to release him to keep this situation from spiraling out of control, she moved her hand onto the top of his thigh, but the skin of her hand continued to tingle with the memory of his hardened flesh pressed against it.

“I had to ask, Max. Because if what you’re saying is true, then I think that means that we have this physical link that Tess was talking about. Do you think that’s true, that we have been joined physically somehow? And if we have the physical link, does that mean that we’re genetically compatible too?”

Max suddenly realized what Liz was implying. The idea that Liz was physically linked to him, that she was the only one that could arouse him, make love to him, and eventually bear his children was unbelievably erotic!!

“Oh, God, Liz! You don’t know how incredible that sounds!! I can’t imagine any better feeling in the world than the idea of belonging to you like that!” Max reached for her and pulled her over on top of him, covering her face with his kisses, loving every part of her beautiful face. Liz was more than willing to be swept up by Max and she returned his kisses in kind, raining kisses of her own on his face.

Liz struggled to speak between kisses. “How . . . do you . . . . hmmmm . . . think . . . . ahhhhhh . . . this . . . . happened, Max?” she finally managed to get out.

Max was breathing heavily, but he was able to pull himself together long enough to try to answer Liz’s question. In between kisses he began, “I really don’t know. I know I was drawn to you as a child. There was something about you. I don’t know if you seemed familiar to me or what it was, but it was like I decided then and there that you were the one for me. And then of course, I made that connection with you when I healed you and then later when I reversed the connection so you could see me. Maybe I transferred something to you during those encounters that changed both of us somehow, creating this link.”

Suddenly, he was worried that maybe Liz wasn’t comfortable with this knowledge that she was changed somehow. He remembered her earlier doubts about having powers, and wondered if maybe she regretted what was happening to her. He pulled back and stared into her face, trying to read her expression.

“Liz,” Max looked at her anxiously, “are you sorry this happened to you? Do you not want this? You don’t regret being linked to me, if that’s what has happened, do you, Liz?” Max couldn’t help it, but he couldn’t stop hearing Liz’s words to him that night, when she said she wanted to be in love with normal boys and have children and be safe and have a normal life, and that she couldn’t do that with him.

Liz immediately felt Max’s concern and fear rip through her and she somehow knew he was remembering those words she spoke to him last fall. Liz abruptly threw her arms around Max’s neck, and moved further on top of him until every part of her body was pressed as close as possible against Max, which was somewhat difficult in the confines of the car.

“Max!! I don’t regret anything!!! I love you so much. I want to be linked to you. I want that more than anything! Don’t you know that?”

She released her tight embrace of his neck, and sat back slightly to look into his eyes, her hands cupping his face, in the same loving gesture he always used with her. “I didn’t mean what I said that night. My life is with you. I don’t want to be with anyone else. You’re the love of my life, Max! And if you did something to me to make sure that I can only be with you, then that’s the most precious gift you could have given me. The only thing I regret is when I was forced to hurt you and all the time we wasted we weren’t together. I never want to be apart from you again. Even the time we have left in this life isn’t enough time for me. Those lines, ‘I’ll love you ‘till the day I die’ aren’t for us. I don’t want to give you up at death. I’m greedy, Max. I want more. I want to be with you for all eternity!”

Max’s heart felt like it was going to burst with love after hearing Liz’s words and feeling all her love for him come through the connection. He pulled her quickly to his waiting mouth, devouring her lips in a soul-quenching kiss. His arms tightened around her, crushing her to him, as he willing opened his heart and soul to her, letting her see how much her words had affected him. Liz mind was overwhelmed with the feelings of love that Max was pouring out into her and she began to cry tears of joy. She too, tried to pull him closer to her, even though by this time, they would have to merge into one being to accomplish that goal.

They were insatiable. They kissed each other with as much passion as they ever had. As much as he wanted to take from her she was willing to give, and in turn she took back from him with equal force. Max’s hands slipped under Liz’s shirt and began rubbing the sleek skin of her back in restless strokes. Liz felt a sudden urge to feel Max’s skin under her hands as well. Since she was unwilling to let the front of their bodies lose contact with each other, she was forced to lean back slightly, pulling Max along with her so she could get her hands between Max and the back of the seat. As soon as she had the room, she pushed the back of his shirt up so she could rub her hands against him.

Max’s journey up and down Liz’s back continued to push her shirt up higher and higher. His movements soon began to spread outwards, until the heels of his hands were stroking her sides. Liz was aware of how close his hands were to her breasts, and a tingling sensation settled in. Her nipples tightened in response.

Max felt the hardened points come to life against his chest, and he changed the position of his hands, so his thumbs were now delicately stroking her sides, concentrating specifically on the smooth, silky material of her bra. He was itching to go around the corner and touch the satin-encased orbs that were now responding to his touch. Instead, he tugged harder at the material of her shirt, trying to free it from its trapped position between their bodies. But, Liz was unwilling to move away from Max far enough for the shirt to come free, and Max groaned suddenly in frustration.

As soon as Liz heard Max groan, she realized what he was trying to do and decided that a small movement on her part could bring relief to them both. She eased back slightly, allowing a few breaths space to come between them. As soon as she felt Max slip her blouse up over her breasts, she grabbed the back of his shirt in her hands and tugged upwards rapidly. As Max continued to remove her shirt, Liz did the same with his. The movements brought their arms up over their heads, and they reluctantly broke off their kisses as they pulled each other’s shirts free.

Tossing her shirt aside, Max grabbed both Liz’s hands in his, taking his shirt from beneath her fingers, and threw that out of the way as well. He laced his fingers into hers and squeezed their hands tight as their lips came back together again, unable to stay apart for long. Max brought their joined hands down together and then released her fingers as he once again focused his attention on her body, gathering her in his arms. Feeling her naked skin, with the noticeable exception of her breasts, pressed against his, Max moaned. Everywhere her flesh pressed against him, indescribable tingles shot through his body. His hands began to explore her body again, and he left the pleasure of her mouth to taste the skin of her neck, traveling lower to her now-exposed chest.

But, now that Max’s naked chest was pressing against her, Liz became the aggressor. Recalling the vision of Tess stroking Max’s chest, Liz was determined to prove his chest was hers. Pulling Max’s head away from her collarbone, where he was nibbling his way down, Liz pushed him back against the seat and glared hungrily at him. Max remembered the earlier visions she had sent him and understood immediately what her intentions were. He sucked in his breath in anticipation.

Liz’s gaze dropped down to the gorgeous chest that was displayed in front of her, a thin sheen of sweat making his skin glisten. She brought her hands forward and began running her fingers over Max’s well-sculpted chest. She silently thanked whatever human had donated his DNA to create this beautiful body that sat before her. She wondered if the alien part of him helped to perfect the human part, because she didn’t think any other 18-year-old boy would have a body as developed and flawless as this. Liz continued to worship his chest with her hands, covering every inch of it. This was therapy to her. With this action she was erasing the image of Tess doing this same thing and claiming his chest as her own.

Max sucked in air through clenched teeth, and his skin twitched as his body reacted strongly to the feel of her hands on his chest. He loved how she was taking the initiative. His eyes followed her hands and fingers as they roamed over his entire chest, not missing a single spot. He started mimicking her movements with his own fingers along the skin of her back, moving around her sides and to her stomach, stroking the area just under her breasts with his thumbs.

Liz remembered the last time she had the pleasure of touching his bare chest and the reason why she had asked him to take off his shirt that night. She hadn’t been able to make his skin glow then, but considering all the changes that had taken place since then, she wondered if she could make it glow now. She concentrated hard and tried to remember how if felt when she connected with Max back at the Observatory. She drew a circle around his right pectoral muscle, trying to draw energy from Max through the connection. She felt the slight pull of his energy as it came into her and she gasped at loud when she saw the faint glow of white light just beneath her fingertips.

Max had been focusing on closing the distance between his hands and her breasts, but when he heard her cry, his fingers froze, and he looked down at his chest. He was amazed at what he saw, and could only speak one word, “Liz!”

Liz smiled as she continued tracing the outline of his muscles with her finger, and Max watched the glow change to a faint trail following behind her movements. Liz was ecstatic at the ability to create this effect and she traced lines all across his chest, watching his skin light up as she passed over it.

As she moved down the center of his chest, the glow illuminated the faint scar that was still there. Max had never talked about what happened that day, but Liz had seen enough in flashes to get the just of what happened. She was surprised to see the scar there, since she knew he could have healed it a long time ago. Why had he kept such a painful reminder of what had been done to him? She felt the sudden need to kiss away the pain that he had felt when this happened to him. She leaned in and kissed the thin line of the scar, moving gradually downwards until she covered the entire length of the scar.

As soon as Liz’s lips touched his skin, Max arched back against the seat, grabbing Liz’s head in his hands, weaving his fingers through her hair. He knew the reason why she was kissing his scar, but the feeling of her mouth against his chest was simply erotic. Liz felt his response and subtly changed the tenor of the kiss, adding tongue and teeth, and sweeping outward to cover other parts of his chest. She loved the taste of his skin in her mouth. Her hands stroked the lower part of his stomach and his sides, occasionally sliding between the waistband of his pants and his hips, causing him to jerk when she did. Max continued to stroke Liz’s head, unable to speak as Liz’s mouth devoured him.

Liz had avoided one spot in particular, because she wasn’t sure if Max would like it or not, but as her movements drew her closer, she decided to go for it. Max stopped breathing for a moment, as he realized Liz’s intentions, and watched her head creep nearer and nearer to his nipples. He wasn’t sure what this would feel like, but he was anxious to find out. When Liz felt no hesitation from Max, she paused for a moment, hovering over the center of his nipple, and then swept her head upward, lightly grazing his nipple with the moist underside of her lower lip. Max couldn’t contain his cry of pleasure, and he grabbed Liz’s bottom as his hips surged forward, his rock-hard erection desperately seeking some kind of relief.

DEAR GOD, THAT FELT SO GOOD!! Max shouted out in his mind.

Liz was startled by that powerful response, and it took her a moment to realize she heard that in her head and not with her ears. She was delighted that she had heard him mentally, but it wasn’t quite the same as hearing him vocally. The fact that he only said that in his mind was proof that he was still hanging on to his control, and she wanted to see if she could break that. So she decided to repeat the action again with her tongue to see if that would make him lose it. She was not disappointed.

As soon as Max felt the moist heat of her tongue on his nipple, he moaned her name and squeezed her butt harshly as his hands clenched uncontrollably. Liz was pleased with the response, but she wanted more. She switched to his other nipple, licking it roughly, then closing her mouth around it, swirling her tongue over the hardened peak, and sucking it hungrily. Max finally lost it. He cried out her name in sheer pleasure then roughly grabbed her head and dragged her up to his waiting mouth, quickly thrusting his tongue into the darkest recesses of her mouth. Liz responded eagerly, sucking his probing tongue in further. Max released her head and pulled her hips closer as he began to thrust up at her, frantically. As Liz felt his erection press into her already tingling core, she whimpered into Max’s mouth, dropping her hands to grab Max’s butt, pulling him tighter against her. Their hips were now moving in time against each other, each one pressing the center of their need against its counterpart. They moved slowly at first, then faster as their excitement built.

Their movements were also causing Liz’s breasts to slide up and down the front of Max’s chest, her nipples tightening further as a result. She desperately needed his hands on them, but she was too hungry for Max’s mouth to break away long enough to voice her desires. She tried to see if he could hear her in his mind, desperately hoping this new mental connection went both ways.

Touch me, Max!! she pleaded, mentally.

Max was surprised to her Liz’s voice in his head, but he couldn’t ignore the primal feeling of possession that overcame him at hearing that simple request. He was powerless to refuse her. Squeezing her butt cheeks tightly before releasing them, Max slowly caressed his way up Liz’s body, coming once again to the silky material of her bra. With less hesitation this time, Max brought his hands around her sides, cupping his hands directly beneath her throbbing orbs. He paused there a moment, teasing her a bit. Liz cried out in her need and kneaded the flesh of his butt tighter in her hands, as she pleaded in her mind. Now!! Please!!!

Max couldn’t hold out anymore and slowly raised his hands to her satin-encased breasts. Liz sobbed in relief, and tore her mouth from his, tossing her head back and thrusting her chest forward into Max’s magic hands, still rocking her hips against his. Max looked down to watch his hands touch the objects that he had yearned to hold for years. As his fingers softly squeezed her beautiful breasts, he marveled at their perfect shape and fullness. Liz began moaning in response. At a glance, most guys might not think that Liz was very endowed. But Max had felt her breasts press up against him several times in the past, and now that he was finally able to test the weight of those objects in his hands, he knew that she had more to offer than it appeared. In fact, they were the perfect size, shape, weight, and fullness that any man should desire. But, no one else would ever have the pleasure of this knowledge. She was his!!! No one else would ever touch her this way!!

With wild, possessive fury, Max squeezed her breasts roughly and brushed his thumbs across Liz’s stiff pebbles, knowing this would give her immediate pleasure. Liz responded by grinding herself harder against him and murmuring his name in ecstasy. As Liz’s pleasure became his through the connection, Max moaned her name, and bent over her, kissing and sucking her neck as he attempted to crawl inside her.

I need to taste you, Liz! Max boldly confessed.

Liz didn’t bother trying telepathy in response. She simply said, “Yes!”

As he continued his ministrations with his hands, Max began to kiss his way down Liz’s chest, pausing only when he noticed, for the first time during this encounter, the strand of the pendant, which impeded his path down her chest. With a growl in the back of his throat, he reluctantly released one of her breasts and pushed the faintly glowing necklace aside, spinning it around to hang down her back, so not to hinder his progress. He left that arm around Liz, supporting her as he leaned her over his arm so he could bring his mouth down closer to his goal. With lips, tongue, and teeth, Max worshipped the skin of her chest, the taste of which excited his whole mouth.

When Max reached the tops of her breasts, Liz arched back further, bringing her fingers across Max’s stomach, letting her fingers ripple over the defined muscles of his lower abdomen. She was breathing heavily, her skin tingling in anticipation of feeling his lips touch her breasts. As his mouth came down, softly kissing the tender skin, Liz reached up to grab Max around the neck, holding him against her as she relished in the absolute bliss she felt. Max licked between the valley of her breasts causing Liz to arch up against him, as his tongue traveled from the base of her bra up to her neck.

Max loved how responsive she was. He relished the taste of the tender skin of her breast, and was determined to sample more. He began his decent again, dragging his lips over her skin until her returned to the tops of her lovely breasts that were still moist from his previous kisses. As he continued to suckle at them, he licked at the edge of the satin material, which still held their occupants in custody.

As Liz felt his tongue brush under the edge of her bra she knew what he wanted, and she wanted it too. She removed the hand that was still caressing her breast, and brought it around her back, bringing his other hand up to meet its mate at the clasp of her bra. She left his hands there, encouraging them in their task, and once again attacked his mouth, pulling his head up from her breast. As Max fumbled with the clasp, Liz’s excitement grew in anticipation and she thrust her tongue in his mouth faster, mimicking her movements with her hips, coming closer and closer to her peak, her high-pitched moans filling the car. Just as she felt the clasp of the bra come free and her orgasm about to explode, the shrilling sound of Max’s cell phone ringing pierced the interior of the car, putting an instant halt to all their movements, as they struggled to come to their senses.

Max blinked his eyes rapidly, trying to focus on what he needed to do.

Phone. Ring. Answer. Where?

Max let go of Liz’s now unhooked bra to lean forward and grab the offending object from its resting spot, punched the send button, and shouted roughly into the phone. “What?!”
User avatar
6throck
Enthusiastic Roswellian
Posts: 26
Joined: Mon Dec 31, 2001 10:52 am
Location: Glendale, AZ

Re: Arriving (M/L, CC, MATURE) Ch 14 1/3 pg 11

Post by 6throck »

A/N-Thanks so much everyone! I hope you all enjoyed that part. :oops: I know most of you thought that the phone call had to be from Maria, but she's enjoying her time alone with Michael right now. Don't worry, we'll get back to Maria and Michael in a little while, but right now, we're going to stay in Roswell and focus on what the gang is discovering. M/M have to drive all the way to Las Cruces in a Jetta, so it will take a bit longer for their discoveries to pan out.

This should be a fairly calm chapter with just a bit of intrigue at the end.

Just in case you forgot where we left off, here's the end of Chapter 13.

. . . Just as she felt the clasp of the bra come free and her orgasm about to explode, the shrilling sound of Max’s cell phone ringing pierced the interior of the car, putting an instant halt to all their movements, as they struggled to come to their senses.

Max blinked his eyes rapidly, trying to focus on what he needed to do.

Phone. Ring. Answer. Where?

Max let go of Liz’s now unhooked bra to lean forward and grab the offending object from its resting spot, punched the send button, and shouted roughly into the phone. “What?!”


Chapter 14 –Cleaning Up



“Max?” His sister’s voice sounded in his ear, immediately putting a damper on his overly excited anatomy. “Max, what’s going on? Why are you shouting? Is anything wrong?”

Max glanced down at Liz who was trying to still her own breathing, her eyes locked in his, as she questioned who it was. He rolled his eyes at her and mouthed, ‘Isabel’, before returning his attention to the phone again.

“Nothing’s wrong, Iz. You just startled us . . . I mean me. I . . . I didn’t mean to shout at you.” Max tried to play it off. But he should have known better.

“But, why are you breathing so hard? It sounds like you just ran a marathon. Did you have to run to the phone or something? Why didn’t you have it with you? Where are you?”

“We’re at the rocks, Isabel. We’re about ready to check on the Pod chamber.”

“But you haven’t checked yet? Are you still in the car? Then what were you doing?” Isabel paused for a moment, then as Max’s silence gave her the answer, she suddenly shouted, “NEVERMIND!! I don’t even want to know what you were doing! Oh my God, Max!! That’s mom’s car!!! I can’t believe you were doing that in our MOTHER’S CAR!!! Please tell me that you still have all your clothes on, Max!”

“Isabel. Please. I don’t need a lecture from you on this. Liz and I are just fine. We’re going to check out the Pod chamber now. We found out some really interesting stuff earlier and we’ll need to discuss it later.” Then, he paused realizing that he didn’t ask her the reason for her ill-timed interruption. “Why did you call? Is something wrong there?”

“No, nothing’s wrong here. Kyle and I have been working these last few hours, going through all of Tess’s crap. We found some stuff you should see. When you do think you’ll be back here?”

“We’re going to do a quick sweep of the area and make sure nothing looks suspicious to an outside observer then check on the condition of the chamber. Then we’ll head over there. We should be there in about 30 minutes.” Max paused as he heard the rumblings of his stomach and realized that Liz’s stomach was echoing his sentiments. “Oh, and Isabel, do you think you can whip us up some lunch, too? We’re starving.”

“Yeah, I’ll bet you are. Ok, fine, Max. I’ll cater to your request, but only because Kyle and I haven’t eaten yet either. We’ll see you in a bit. And then later on, I have a few things to discuss with you about etiquette and not just about mom’s car either.” With that, Isabel hung up, and left Max to wonder what that last comment was about.

As he put down the phone, Max suddenly realized how stifling hot it was in the car. The sun was beating down on them, and without the motor running the A/C, the temperature in the car had risen dramatically in the last 15 minutes. Max was sweating, and as he looked down at Liz, he realized that she was too. He put his hand up to the vents and caused the A/C to turn on, blasting them both with the cold air. Liz was struggling to rehook her bra but her fingers were trembling too badly. She had been close to release and then it was abruptly cut short. She was still feeling the aftereffects of so much unspent sexual energy that she couldn’t seem to focus on the task at hand.

Max kissed her on the forehead and whispered, “Here let me do that.” He pulled her forward slightly so she was leaning up against his chest, as he reached around her and skillfully matched hook and eye.

“Thanks, Max,” she said shyly, suddenly embarrassed by the boldness of her actions and the now compromising position she found herself in.

“Well, considering I was the one to undo it in the first place, it was the least I could do.” Max sensed her feelings, and tried his best to reassure her.

Liz smiled and looked directly at him, her shyness momentarily gone. “Well, I think I gave you a little encouragement there.”

Max gave her one of his sexy half-smiles. “Hmmm . . . that you did. And I think that telepathy thing was working as well, cuz I clearly heard you giving me some very direct commands.”

“Well, what about you?” Liz asked boldly. “I think my head is still ringing from that first shout.”

“You heard that?” Max asked, surprised at that information. “But, I wasn’t projecting that to you at all!”

“Oh, I heard it, but I wanted to hear you say it out loud, so I kept going,” Liz confessed.

Max’s jaw dropped at hearing Liz’s brazen statement. He cleared his throat, “Well, I think we’ve established that the telepathy works both ways now.” Max dropped his eyes, and started fiddling with her bra straps, trying to adjust them back into place, purposefully distracting himself from letting his gaze drop down any further. He saw the pendant string and turned the necklace back around, but as he watched where the pendant fell, directly between Liz’s breasts, his face grew hot again, and he looked away quickly.

“I . . I think we need. . . to get going now.” Max said tightly, trying to get Liz to move off his lap without directly telling her so. He felt himself begin to stir again. He was having a hard time controlling his body with her sitting so close to him.

Liz got the hint and moved off him, back into the passenger seat. She needed to cool off, so she aimed the vent at her face and leaned into the cold air coming from the A/C. She hadn’t realized how hot she was until they were interrupted, but now she relished in the refreshing chill of the delicious breeze flowing from the vents.

Max watched as Liz closed her eyes and leaned into the cool air. It was an incredible sight to behold. She was breathtaking! Her checks were still flushed from their previous activity, giving her whole face a beautiful glow. Her lips, slightly open, were ripe and rosy from his kisses. Her hair was flowing back from her face in waves created by the breeze. Her delicate hand hung perfectly in mid-air, as she reached forward towards the vents. And sexily dressed in just her jeans and a bra, she was a goddess to behold! Max held his breath as he tried to freeze this image of her in his mind permanently. Liz felt him staring at her, and she opened her eyes and looked at him. She was taken back by the look in his eyes.

“What?”

“You’re beautiful,” he said, breathlessly. “Do you know that?”

Liz blushed, and dropped her eyes briefly. “I never thought I was until I saw me as you see me.” She raised her eyes again and gave him a look of pure love. “In your eyes, I was beautiful. No one had ever looked at me that way before. It was then that I realized how much you loved me. It was then that I first started to fall in love with you.”

Max leaned in towards her and reached up to caress her cheek. “I love you, Liz.”

Liz smiled and replied, “I love you, too.”

They tipped towards each other until their lips met in a soft, tender kiss. They broke apart quickly, knowing that it wouldn’t take much to lose control again.

Liz finally cooled off and looked around to find her shirt. Max found it first, along with his own, and then they busied themselves by getting dressed. Then, Max took her hand and kissed it, saying, “Let’s go check out the Granolith Chamber.”

As Liz got out of the car and walked over join Max, he looked at her and said, “I’m really sorry for getting so out of control in there,” tilting his head to indicate the car. “I’m actually glad that Isabel called and interrupted us.”

Liz cocked her eyebrow at that statement.

“Well, ok, my body was pretty upset at the interruption, but my mind says that it was a good thing. I don’t know how much longer I could have controlled myself, and I don’t want our first time to be in my mom’s car. I want it to be special for both of us and not some out-of-control, hormone-induced quickie in the front seat.”

Liz blushed and looked down at her feet, biting her lip in embarrassment. “Oops. I guess I got a little carried away. I’m sorry.”

“Oh, God, Liz, no!” Max exclaimed as he reached out to lift her head up. “You don’t have anything to be ashamed of. It’s just . . . it’s been so long since we’ve been together, and with this new connection between us . . . . I mean, I got pretty good at controlling my own desires to be with you, but when I have to deal with feeling your needs too . . . it’s almost too much to bear!”

“Really?” Liz smiled back at him, tracing small circles on his chest, playfully. “You and that famous control of yours. It’s nice to know that it does have its limits.”

Max smiled at her and they turned towards the rocks. His smile was quickly erased as his eyes settled on the sight before him and Liz’s sharp gasp stopped them both in their tracks, as they now finally looked at the massive structure in front of them for the first time. The point of the mountain was no longer there. A huge gash marred the left side of the mountain and debris was scattered all along the base of the mountain. Liz winced, as the evidence of the ship’s exit from the inside of the chamber was very obvious. If they had been paying more attention when they drove up, she knew they wouldn’t have been able to miss this.

“Max. We have to do something about that. The point of this mountain is a pretty prominent landmark from a distance. People are going to notice this and start investigating what happened to it.”

“I know,” Max said looking around. He quickly took in all the debris surrounding them. “It looks like most of the rubble around here came from the top, so I should be able to get rid of that as well.”

Together they turned to face the top of the rocks. Max gathered his strength to use his powers. Unthinkingly, he reached for Liz’s hand before raising his other hand in front of him, aiming at the top of the rock face. He felt the now familiar surge of power come from Liz, her energy pooling inside of him along with his own. Now though, as his mind turned inward, focusing on returning the structure to its original form, an image of the pinnacle came into his mind, which was not his own. The clarity and attention to detail was amazing, and immediately, Max realized that the mental image he was seeing was coming from Liz. Drawing in one last breath, Max released the air in his lungs, along with the energy built up inside him, holding firmly to the picture in his mind that Liz was supplying him. Immediately, the rubble at their feet began to rise up in the air and return to its former place. It was almost like watching a film run in reverse. As the last bit of energy flowed from Max’s hand, he lowered his arm and stared at the familiar site of the rocks, the image in his mind now standing right before his eyes. He looked down briefly at their joined hands, and smiled, understanding the depth of their growing connection. He looked up and studied Liz’s profile, marveling again and the power she had.

Liz felt the weight of his gaze, and turned towards him, her eyes automatically looking at the precise angle to meet his. Her eyes sparkled with enthusiasm.

“I felt that, Max,” she said, breathlessly. “I felt how my energy flowed into you. That was amazing.”

Max kissed her forehead tenderly. “Were you picturing how the top looked before in your mind?” Max asked.

Liz replied quickly, “Well, yeah, of course I was, but why . . . .” She broke off suddenly, jerking her head around to scrutinize the top of the rocks. She raised her hand to her mouth as her mouth dropped open in astonishment. “Oh!” she exclaimed, as she suddenly realized exactly what had just happened. “You mean, you saw what I was picturing in my mind?”

Max came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. “You make very clear pictures, Liz,” Max said, nibbling the side of her neck as he spoke. “Along with the transfer of energy, you also sent me that picture of the rocks. It would have been harder to think of another image to use instead of that one”

They made their way up the side of the mountain until they reached the entrance to the Pod Chamber. Max waved his hand over the outside of the door, and the familiar handprint reappeared. Max pressed his hand into the glowing shape and the door slid open. Liz walked over again to the wall that housed the pods that had protected the aliens for so many years. She had never had the opportunity before to really study them. She turned to Max and asked, curiously, “Which one was yours?”

Max walked over to the bottom pod on the right and pointed to it. “This one. This one was mine. Isabel’s was just above mine, and Michael’s was next to hers.” Max didn’t mention the name of the person that had occupied the fourth pod. Liz moved to join Max at the side of his pod, and slowly kneeled down in front of it. She lovingly caressed the sides of the pod, and spoke quietly. Max had to strain to catch the words. “Thank you. Thank you for taking care of Max and for bringing him to me.”

As she stood back up she looked at Max. “I know, it was probably kind of a silly thing to do. But since this is where you were “born” in this life, it’s the closet thing to a mother that I can talk to and thank for bringing you into this world.”

Max let his gaze soak in the features of her face. He still had a hard time comprehending how Liz could love him so much knowing who he really was.

“No, it’s not silly. It’s amazing. I still can’t believe that you can love me the way that you do when you know what I am. I hid myself from the world for so long, never thinking I could ever be accepted with the secret I was carrying. But, not only have you accepted me, you’ve given your soul to me, loving me back in a way that I only could ever have dreamed of.”

“I love you, Max. All of you. And that includes the fact that you were born from this pod. When you first told me what you were, I was a little shocked and a bit freaked, but I was never disgusted with you or afraid of you. How could I be, especially after I saw into your soul?! You have a beautiful soul, Max, even more beautiful that you are on the outside, which is hard to believe because you are so gorgeous.” Max blushed at the compliment. “Well, you are, Max. I’m surprised you’ve never noticed how all the girls at school talk about you.”

“I’ve never paid attention to anyone else except for you, Liz.” Max leaned down and gave her a quick kiss.

Liz looked back up and him, and then back at the pods. “I don’t remember which one we went through to get to the Granolith Chamber, Max. It was all so quick this morning.”

“Actually, all the pods are open in the back, so let’s just use mine.” Liz nodded, and started crawling through Max’s pod, Max following right behind her.
~~~~~~
10 minutes later, Max and Liz were heading back to Roswell on the highway, discussing the sight that greeted them when they opened the door to the Granolith chamber.

“It’s incredible that it was still there, and in one piece, and that the room still had power to it, just like before we activated it with the crystal,” Max stated.

“I wonder if you had another crystal, if it might be able to do the same thing. It seems like the ship must have been housed in the rocks above the chamber. Looks like the Granolith just acted as a power source and transport to the ship,” Liz speculated.

“You don’t know what a relief this is, Liz. I was really upset that we had lost the Granolith just because of Tess. When I was at the Summit meeting, everyone seemed very interested that the Granolith was no longer on my home planet. It’s obvious that it has tremendous power. And then when Tess left, I worried that now Khivar would have possession of the Granolith. But, I remember the translation from the Destiny Book said that the Granolith had only one mission, to take us home.” Max shook his head in disbelief. “It looks like that translation is wrong. So, either Alex got the words mixed up, which seems unlikely, or that copy of the translation was tampered with before we got it. Tell me how you, Maria, and Michael came across that translation. Michael just said you found it, but he really didn’t go into details. ”

Liz recounted the story about finding out that Alex had sent the file of all his translation work to an email address belonging to Jennifer Coleman. Then, she told how they had discovered the rental bill for the abandoned property where they found the computer equipment and the translation document in the system.

Liz continued. “So, it’s possible that someone could have altered the file before we got there. I didn’t even think about that! We just felt so lucky that we were able to find the translation file that Alex was working on, we didn’t even consider the possibility that it could have been wrong.”

Liz picked up Max’s cell phone. She found Maria’s number on the speed dial and hit the send button.

“Ok, Max! I know you’re on this protective trip now, but we’re still about 30 minutes away from town . . . .”

“Maria, it’s me,” Liz interrupted.

“Oh, hey! What’s up?”

“Listen, Max and I just came from the Pod Chamber and the Granolith is still there!”

“Really? That’s good news, I guess, right?”

“Yeah. But now we think there’s a good chance that the translation that we got from the computer in Las Cruces might have been changed from the original file that Alex sent. Do you think that you and Michael can head back to that property and see if the computer is still there? If it is, grab it and bring it back with you. We might be able to get some info off of the hard drive.”

“Will do, babe. We should be there in a few minutes. So, what else have you found out? Did Max remember what happened? Did he really do the nasty with that ho, or what?”

Liz glanced over at Max and smiled at him as she remembered the wonderful information they had just learned.

“That’s a definite negative. It was all a mindwarp. Actually, we learned some pretty interesting stuff. I won’t go into details now, but if what we think is true, I will never have to worry about infidelity. Ever.”

“Really? Is that just a Max thing or does that apply to Spaceboy here as well?”

“We don’t know that much yet, but I wouldn’t worry too much about Michael. He’s hooked on you.”

“Yeah, but still, it would be nice to have a guarantee. I guess I’ll just have to keep a tight leash on him—No, I’m not talking about you Michael, I was talking about the dog—well, I gotta go. We’ll call you later on tonight. Bye.”

“Bye.”

Liz put the phone down and watched Max out of the corner of her eye, thinking again how much things had changed between them in the last few hours. Max felt her gaze, and without taking his eyes off the road, he reached down and instinctively found her hand. They linked fingers as they drove the rest of the way back into Roswell, completely unaware that they were being followed.
User avatar
6throck
Enthusiastic Roswellian
Posts: 26
Joined: Mon Dec 31, 2001 10:52 am
Location: Glendale, AZ

Re: Arriving (M/L,CC Mature) Ch 15 1/10 pg 11

Post by 6throck »

A/N-Thanks again for the comments and feedback. I'm sorry to tell you, but the answer to who's following Max and Liz will be a while in coming. Meanwhile, we get to go back to Isabel's and Kyle's discoveries. I also added to the story to help the fears many expressed with Tess's disappearance. We won't hear from M/M again for a while, but just know that they're safe in Las Cruces and we'll find out what they discover later on that night. Remember, it's still only about 1pm in the afternoon after the departure of Tess.


Chapter 15 – Debriefing





Valenti showed up just as everyone was finishing lunch. He assured a very worried Liz that Maria’s mom was just fine. She had accepted the story that she had been a victim of hypnosis. He only left her when she guaranteed him that she would call him if she had any relapse. To help with the matter, he took all the T-shirts with the logo “George W. is an Alien” out of the house, so not to trigger her repressed memories again.

He also told them that he had gone down to the station that morning to talk with Sheriff Hanson about Tess. He told Hanson the story that he had received a call from her a couple of hours ago from a payphone outside of Albuquerque, telling him that she was sorry for leaving and for destroying the Evans’ jeep, but that she was angry at Max for not truly loving her. She also said that Max was the only reason she stayed in town after her “dad” disappeared and that she was going to go back to Chicago where she had lived before coming to Roswell and to not bother to try to find her or come after her. Valenti was hopeful that the story would help keep suspicion of what really happened off of Max and give them some more time to complete the cover story so that Tess’s disappearance would end up in the cold case files along with Edward Harding.

Jim pulled one of the kitchen chairs into the front room and sat down. “So, what have you guys come up with since this morning?”

Max quickly filled Jim in on the basic information they had talked about that morning at their earlier meeting at the UFO Center. Once Jim was caught up on that, Max continued. “Well, I want you to know first and foremost that it was all a mindwarp. The sex, the baby, everything.”

Isabel breathed a sigh of relief. “You’re sure, Max? None of it was real?”

Max and Liz stole a look and smiled at each other and Liz turned again to Isabel. “We’re sure.”

Kyle bitterly said, “So, that whole thing with the baby and her being sick and everything, that was all an act?!”

Max slowly nodded his head.

Valenti sat back in his chair and raised his eyes to the ceiling. “I can’t believe I was so worried about her and she was just faking all the time. Do you know, she even tried calling me ‘Dad?’”

Liz responded, “She fooled all of us, Mr. Valenti. I think we forgot that Tess’s main gift was deception—her mindwarping powers, you know, making people see something that wasn’t really there. You shouldn’t blame yourself for wanting to trust her.”

“Jim, Liz. Call me Jim,” Valenti scolded, gently. “I think after all we’ve been through together, we know each other well enough to be on first name basis.”

Liz dropped her eyes into her lap before raising them again to look up at Valenti. “Um, okay, Jim,” she said nodding.

“So, how did you figure it out, Max?” Isabel asked.

Max continued. “With Liz’s help, I was able to recall everything that really happened that night.” Very quickly Max described their activities after leaving the UFO Center up until the point when he had changed his mind about going home and started heading for the Observatory. Liz described the feelings she felt from Max at that moment—
his true desire to return home and the implanted impulse to drive on.

Sitting next to Isabel on the couch, Kyle interrupted. “Wait a minute! How did you know what Max was feeling?” He looked at Liz curiously.

Max and Liz glanced at each other briefly before Liz answered Kyle. “Ever since Max and I reconnected this morning, we’ve been able to sense each other’s feelings. We didn’t realize it until after the meeting at the UFO Center.”

“What?! So you guys can like read each other’s minds now?” Kyle was feeling a bit uncomfortable.

“No, not like that,” Max insisted. “It’s just that we can feel things from each other.”

“It’s not like all the time . . .”

“ . . it mostly happens when our emotions are really intense . .”

“. . . or when we’re touching each other,” Liz finished.

The pair was unaware how easily they finished each other’s thoughts, but it was quite obvious to the 3 observers in the room.

Isabel prompted them for more information. “Ok, so you sensed this change in Max’s feelings. Then what?”

“Well, as soon as it happened, I realized that we had just passed by this house. I knew then that Tess had to have done something to Max. But, I didn’t say anything to him because I didn’t want to distract him from what he was doing.”

Max continued with the story, telling of their arrival at the Observatory, their journey to the main telescope room, his inability to distinguish the truth from the lies, and Liz’s attempts to help. “It was then that we discovered this,” Max said reaching for the cord around Liz’s neck and pulling the pendant out from her shirt.

Isabel sat straight up in her seat and stared at the necklace. “The pendant!!!! But, it’s fixed.”

As Isabel continued to stare at the necklace, Liz began to feel a bit guilty wearing it. After all, it was Isabel that first found the necklace at Atherton’s. It was the first thing that they had found that was a connection with their world, and yet Isabel let Max keep it. Now, she was wearing it. She got up from the floor and sat down beside Isabel on the couch. She took the necklace off from around her neck, offering Isabel a closer look. Kyle leaned in around Liz to look at the pendant as well.

Isabel graciously accepted the pendant and looked at it closely. “You can’t even tell it was broken,” she said in awe. “Did you fix it, Max?”

“Well, yes, but not intentionally,” Max started. “It has powers, Isabel. We never knew it before since it wasn’t whole when we found it. Liz had the broken piece that Riverdog gave her last year. She had both pieces in her pocket and then we connected this morning. . . .” Max smiled as he thought back to the way it had felt to be in Liz’s arms again. “We think it tapped into my powers to fix itself. In the Observatory, when Liz connected with me again, trying to help me remember, it started glowing in her pocket. It was then that we figured out what must have happened. Since then, it has demonstrated its powers several times by showing us visions—flashes of things that have happened.”

“Can I try it? To see if I can trigger a flash?” Isabel asked excitedly.

Max opened his mouth to try to explain that it only seemed to work when Liz was connected to it, but Liz silenced him with a look. “Go ahead and try, Isabel. Let us know if it works,” she said encouragingly. Liz watched as Isabel closed her eyes, her hands tightening around the pendant as she concentrated. Liz held her breath, unsure of what she wanted to happen as a result of Isabel’s experiment. On one hand, she was hopeful that Isabel would see something that might give them more information about where they came from, yet on the other hand, she wanted to believe that Max was right about the visions only happening when the two of them were connected. She looked back over at Max who was anxiously watching. His eyes met hers and silently questioned her. Liz mouthed back at him This way, we’ll know for sure. Max visibly relaxed as he understood her message.

After a few moments, Isabel opened her eyes. “Nothing,” she said disappointedly. “I didn’t see anything at all. Are you sure it was the necklace that you got the flashes from?” she questioned.

Max sighed inwardly before answering. He was excited that his prior presumption was correct, but he knew that Isabel might feel slighted at not being able to access the pendant’s powers.

“It didn’t work that way for me either, Isabel,” Max began.

“But, you just said . . .”

Max cut her off. “I know. Let me explain. When I tried to use the pendant alone to get a flash, I got a regular, normal flash of the object that I was touching, but it wasn’t anything like the flashes we had seen earlier. It wasn’t until I was connected to Liz that we saw the vision. Every time we’ve received a flash from the pendant, Liz and I have been connected.” Max turned his attention to Liz and his eyes locked with hers. “When it happens, the pendant glows, and we see the exact same vision, unlike the flashes we had last year. These flashes are different from anything either one of us have experienced before. They are very powerful. In the last one, we not only saw everything that happened in the Observatory that night, but we heard everything that Tess said as well. It’s like we were really there watching it all happen. It was so clear.”

Isabel looked up curiously at the girl who was sitting beside her. Liz was smiling back at Max, but she turned her head as soon as she felt Isabel’s gaze. When her eyes meet Isabel’s, her smile quickly disappeared and her eyes flickered nervously to her lap as she wondered what Isabel’s reaction would be to hearing this information. She remembered what Isabel had said to her earlier about accepting her, but Liz still wasn’t confident in Isabel’s feelings towards her.

Isabel eyes saw the colors in Liz’s aura flicker, reflecting her feelings of insecurity, and she realized how tender Liz’s emotions were right now. She did a quick internal check of her own feelings regarding the pendant, and was surprised to discover that she didn’t feel bitter at all. Yes, she was the first one to spot the pendant and recognize it came from their world, but that didn’t mean that it was hers. And if she wasn’t able to access its powers, and Max and Liz were, then it was obviously meant for them.

Isabel reached out to grab Liz’s hands in hers. She turned Liz’s left hand palm up and gently placed the pendant in it, closing Liz’s fingers around it.

When Liz looked up, Isabel said, “I think this belongs to you.”

Isabel wasn’t sure if Liz could receive feelings from her, or if she could just feel them from Max, but she tried to fill her mind with thoughts of affection and acceptance of her.

As Liz’s fingers tightened around the pendant, she felt a slight tingle in her hand. Instantly, she knew Isabel’s thoughts about her, the feelings she was sending out to her. It wasn’t that she actually felt Isabel’s emotions, like she did with Max, but it was just that she knew what they were. The understanding came into her mind, as plain as if Isabel had spoken the words out loud.

Isabel saw the change in Liz’s face and in her aura and knew that Liz must have understood. The two girls looked into each other’s eyes and then they hugged each other tight. Liz whispered, “Thank you” against the side of Isabel’s neck.

Valenti watched the scene unfold before him and realized that there must have been a history to this necklace that he was unaware of. But it was Kyle that spoke up. “Ok, enough with the female bonding. So what’s the story with the necklace? What does it mean to you guys?”

Isabel answered Kyle. “I found it at Atherton’s. I don’t know what made me take it, but it seemed familiar somehow. I realized I recognized that symbol. As soon as we got home, I went through our old picture albums and found a picture that Max and I drew in the sand together when we were little. It was the same design.”

Max added, “Even Michael recognized it. It was the first thing we found that might have come from our home planet.”

“So, you guys were there that day. I tailed you to that house,” Valenti admitted.

“That was you? We thought it was the FBI,” Isabel said, looking at Max for confirmation. “What happened to you? We heard noises but then it got really quiet and we decided we’d better get out of there before we were discovered.”

“Well, I got knocked out before I could find anything,” Valenti acknowledged, sheepishly.

“Knocked out? What do you mean?”

“Well, you were right, Isabel. The FBI was following you. They must have been following me, too. I just wasn’t aware of it. It was the lovely Agent Topolsky that knocked me out. Luckily, she didn’t hit me hard enough to knock me out for more than a couple of seconds. I looked up and saw her standing there, so I feigned sleep until she left. Of course, by that time, you were gone too and I had a splitting headache the rest of the day,” Valenti said, rubbing his forehead in recollection. Changing the subject, he said, “So, you found the necklace there. But I thought the FBI took everything that you guys managed to sneak out of Atherton’s? That staged robbery at your house the next day?” Valenti asked curiously.

“It wasn’t in the box with the rest of the stuff. I was wearing it,” Isabel responded. She turned to look at Valenti. “It was this necklace that led us to discover more things about us, about where we came from. The necklace led us to River Dog and the cave where we learned about Nasedo, the healing stones, the symbols on the cave wall which turned out to be some kind of a map . . . ” Isabel trailed off, remembering the unsettling dreams she had had about the map on the floor of the desert. The ones with Michael and the baby. She knew now those had to be how Tess had manipulated her, but even how she couldn’t deny how disturbing that whole experience was.

Valenti thought back to that time in their lives and understood how they must have felt. They were trying so hard to keep their secret safe with both him and the FBI hot on their trails, yet they couldn’t ignore the clues that might led them to learn more about themselves. “Well, I’m really glad the FBI didn’t get their hands on it then,” Valenti confided.

Liz walked back to sit down next to Max again, but instead of allowing her to sit down beside him, he pulled her into his lap, spreading his legs wide and sitting her on the floor directly in front of him. He reached around her, taking the necklace from her hands, and slipped it back over her neck once again, placing a kiss on her neck as he pulled her long hair through the cord. He turned to Valenti and said, “Yeah. Without it, we might not have been able to discover what really happened that night when I was alone with Tess.”

“Ok, Max. So tell us what really happened.”

“Once we discovered the pendant was fixed, we realized that it must have happened this morning, while we were connected. When we repeated that same connection, we were swept up in a flash that showed us in the UFO Center earlier this morning when I unknowingly used my powers on Isabel, Michael, Kyle, and Maria. The vision showed that we were tapping into the pendant’s power as well. Of course, we still didn’t understand that it took a connection between Liz, myself, and the pendant to trigger its powers. So, I tried to use the pendant alone to get a flash of what happened that night. All I saw was just an ordinary flash of various patrons walking through that area of the room.”

Liz took over. “When that didn’t work, Max was really frustrated. I told him we could try later, maybe with Isabel or Michael helping. At least we knew that Tess had done something to Max—that he wasn’t there of his own will. But then, something happened that we didn’t except.”

“I put the pendant on Liz and we connected again, while I was touching the pendant. . .”

“ . . .and we saw everything,” Liz finished.

Max began reciting everything that they had seen in the vision with perfect clarity, repeating word for word what Tess said and did that night.
Last edited by 6throck on Tue Jan 11, 2011 12:56 am, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
6throck
Enthusiastic Roswellian
Posts: 26
Joined: Mon Dec 31, 2001 10:52 am
Location: Glendale, AZ

Re: Arriving (M/L,CC Mature) Chapter 16 1/24 pg 12

Post by 6throck »

A/N-Oh my goodness, I've been doing so much research into past episodes these last couple of weeks, I think my head's going to explode. I'm trying to really stay true to the mess the writers left us with as much I as can, so I can answer the questions they left and fix the story. I actually had to sit down and rewatch Departure again to look for something I thought was there, and it made me upset all over again that that was how the writers left us at the end of season 2. It also reminded me again why I started this fic in the first place. And don't get me started on HOM and ITLAITB and BIY. I got by with just reading the transcripts and looking at some screen caps for those ones, but I still had to wash my eyes out with some lovely Dreamer fanfic when I was done. Can you believe I even dug out my old box of Roswell stuff to go through copies of scripts I have? Lucky I did though, because I found I had printed out all the stuff from Silverhandprint.com (some of you might even know what that site was). I haven't decided how much, if any, I'm going to use in my fic yet, but I'm glad I have it.

Ok, so I think I finally have this chapter ready. I'm going to take a few more days to proofread Chp 17, but I should be able to post that before this weekend if all goes well.



So, here's where we left off from chapter 15

“I put the pendant on Liz and we connected again, while I was touching the pendant. . .”

“ . . .and we saw everything,” Liz finished.

Max began reciting everything that they had seen in the vision with perfect clarity, repeating word for word what Tess said and did that night.




Chapter 16 –New Powers



When he finished, Max and Liz looked around the room to see the reactions of everyone else. Kyle was staring at them, his mouth opened slightly. Isabel was running her hands through her hair, thinking hard, and Valenti was staring down, his hand on his chin, his mind obviously trying hard to process everything,

Valenti was the first to find his voice. “Wow!! I don’t even know where to begin . . .” he trailed off.

Liz responded, “Well, we’ve had longer to consider everything that happened, so maybe if I kind of summarized the information, it will make it easier to figure out where we go from here.

“Ok, we know now that Max was mindwarped. He didn’t sleep with Tess and Tess wasn’t pregnant. From what Tess said when she was on the phone, she thought she could get Max to have sex with her so she could get pregnant. She needed to be pregnant with Max’s heir in order to fulfill her deal with Khivar.

“When Tess found out that getting pregnant with Max’s child was impossible, she mindwarped him into thinking they had sex and that she was pregnant. That leads us to the next point. According to the information that Tess was told on the phone, Max is physically incapable of having sex with anyone other than his joined mate. Not only do the um . . . physical requirements for having sex not take place, but his DNA is incompatible with anyone else as well.”

Kyle finally realized the implications of that information. “Yeah! What about that? Does that mean that you won’t ever be able to have sex or get anyone pregnant since this linking/joining thing with someone from your previous life is still controlling you?”

Isabel suddenly took in a sharp intake of air, and looked first at Kyle and then at Max, not having thought of that before.

Liz saw the panicked look on Isabel’s face and quickly interjected. “No, we don’t think so. You see, we don’t think it was the Zan’s joining to his first wife that was preventing Max from responding to Tess. I . . . We think that . . .” Liz broke off, suddenly embarrassed to continue.

Max gave her a quick squeeze before picking up where she left off. “You see, Tess always had a problem seeing anything other than the alien side of things. She was living her life here as if she was still Ava. Of course, she would assume that something from our past life was still controlling us here. She totally underestimated how deeply connected Liz and I are. The reason she couldn’t arouse me wasn’t because Zan had been joined to someone else, it was because Max has.”

3 pairs of eyes were staring at Max in total shock. Max looked up at their faces and went on.

“I don’t know what intentions our people had for us when they sent us here, or what mating designs they encoded in us, but I have only ever desired one person in my life, and that is Liz,” Max hugged her a little tighter and gave her a kiss on the forehead as she turned back towards him for a moment. He looked around the room, addressing the others as he affirmed his feelings for all to hear and understand. “I gave her my mind, heart, and soul years ago. Somehow, I must have joined myself to her in the process, like the people on our planet do. And although this joining didn’t require a formal ceremony, it appears to be very powerful and totally binding.” Now, he turned and leaned forward, looking directing into Liz’s eyes as he went on. “She has my mind, heart, and soul, and when the time comes, I’ll give her my body as well.”

Max and Liz were so caught up in the emotions that they were feeling from each other that they totally missed the embarrassed blushes that fell upon everyone in the room as they heard Max speak so openly about sex in front of them.

Valenti quietly cleared his throat to break the uncomfortable silence that followed that remark and to get Max and Liz’s attention back on the current matter.

“Sorry,” Max said sheepishly.

Liz had to struggle to clear her mind from all the visions she had just received of herself and Max in various stages of lovemaking. She looked up at Isabel and saw the look of worry that lined her face. Liz realized Isabel was still concerned over this matter as well, considering she was betrothed to Michael in her former life.

“Isabel, I don’t think this was something that you were subject to even as Vilandra. I think it was only for Zan, because he was the King. The words Tess said, “To insure a pure . . .” was probably referring to a pure blood line. All throughout history, the instinct to protect loyal linage is prominent. Usurping rulers often imprisoned or killed the heirs of the former king to make sure they didn’t have the chance to reclaim the throne. Animals still do it today. A male lion that wins possession of a pride in a fight will immediately kill all the cubs in the pack. This destroys the former male’s bloodline and puts all the females in heat, thus providing him with the means to produce his own heirs. Since your planet was ruled by Kings, your people must have had a way of ensuring that the line of succession to the throne was kept pure. It could have been something that Zan, being the oldest son, was born with, or maybe it was only done at the time of his joining with his wife.”

Liz thought about keeping the next part to herself out of loyalty to Maria, but she knew that Isabel needed this peace of mind. “And I don’t know for sure because I haven’t had a chance to talk in depth to Maria yet, but I think last night, she and Michael . . .” She stopped, looking up at Isabel to see if she knew what she was implying.

Isabel’s eyes narrowed for a second as she struggled to understand Liz’s meaning and then flew open in wonder as it hit her. “Oh!” she said startled.

Liz smiled as she saw that Isabel got the message. “So you see, it shouldn’t affect you if it didn’t affect Michael.”

Isabel blushed slightly and she looked up through lowered eyes to reply, “Thanks, Liz. It’s not that I’m thinking about that right now in my life, but someday . . .” Isabel thought wistfully, hoping that she would indeed find someone in the future to trust enough to be intimate with.

“I understand. No one wants something like that to be out of their control,” Liz replied.

“What about you, Liz? Do you think it affects you in the same way?” Isabel asked.

“I don’t know. I’m not an alien. But, even if it did, I don’t care. I can’t imagine my life with anyone else than Max,” Liz looked lovingly into Max’s eyes and was lost in them for a moment as he silently echoed her sentiments.

“Not that I wouldn’t love to hear more about lions’ and aliens’ mating rituals, but can we get back to the more important stuff right now, Liz,” Kyle said, sarcastically.

Liz broke her gaze with Max and cleared her throat, remembering where she left off. “Ok, the next thing we learned is that Zan was married to someone else first, before Ava, and that she died.” Liz stopped. “I don’t know how imperative that is, but it seems to be. The information that Tess was told made it sound like this never happened before. That because of the death of his first wife, Zan’s people tried to join him to Ava. But, that joining never fully took effect.”

“That is interesting information. We don’t know much about our past lives to know if this is significant or not. But, it’s nice to be able to know a little something more,” Isabel said.

Liz nodded her head at Isabel’s comment. She took a deep breath and continued. “Now we come to the next point. There are definitely other aliens here. Tess mentioned someone named L’anna who was helping her and who also had the crystal. Since we found the crystal that activated the Granolith at the property rented by Jennifer Coleman in Las Cruces, I think we can assume that this L’anna is an alien that is possessing Jennifer since we know from the blood test that Jennifer is human. Given the similarity of the names, this L’anna is most likely Alex’s Leanna, so she is probably involved in the cover story for Alex’s Sweden trip as well.”

She turned to Jim to bring him up to speed. “From what we’ve learned from Brody and also from Max’s experience at the summit meeting in NY, aliens from Max and Isabel’s world can reach out and take possession of the body of a human here on earth. The human is just like a puppet with no memory of what happened; they only know that they lose time and have strange dreams before and after being taken over, and end up in places that they weren’t at before.”

“And this happens all the time?” Jim inquired, concerned at this new information.

Max chimed in. “We don’t know. We were told by the person Larak, who uses Brody’s body, that they do have to prepare their subjects to be used, and the other leaders at the Summit meeting in NY said that it required a great deal of effort to hold the bodies, so I don’t think they do it unless it’s really important,” Max explained.

“Well, I guess that’s something,” Valenti said, still looking a bit uncomfortable.

Max picked up where Liz left off. “We also know that Tess called someone the night she tried to seduce me, and he or she called back. Most of the information we learned from our flash was from things this person told Tess, so they must have a vast knowledge of our world and of our former lives. We’re assuming from what she said about coming over that night and about holding the body, that this person was a male and that he was possessing the body of a human, which means he’s not another shapeshifter or a Skin. So, finding this person may be hard since this person is really a human who is only being controlled by someone from our planet occasionally.”

“Hang on a minute here,” Valenti suddenly exclaimed.

“What is it, dad?” Kyle asked.

“I totally missed this when you first told us the story. But you said Tess both called someone and got a call in that night on her cell phone, right?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Do you guys know if her phone is still around here anywhere? We could check it for the numbers she called if we can find it,” Valenti concluded.

“We didn’t see it in the room anywhere,” Isabel said. “But, I guess we can call it to see if it’s hidden somewhere in the house.”

Isabel pulled out her cell phone number and quickly looked through the numbers to find Tess’s cell phone number. She dialed it and waited for the ring. Everyone listened hard to see if they could hear the phone ringing in the house somewhere. There was no sound except for the faint ringing on Isabel’s phone. After numerous rings, Tess’s voicemail recording started to play.

“It doesn’t sound like it’s here. But, if she destroyed it, wouldn’t we get something besides ringing, like a busy signal or a message saying the line has been disconnected or something like that?” Kyle asked.

“I don’t know, Kyle,” his dad said, “but that sounds logical. Could she have left it somewhere else? Your house, Max?”

“I guess it’s possible, but she hasn’t been to my house for a couple of days. But, I can try calling when I get home later,” Max said.

“She might have left it at the Pod Chamber, too. That’s where we left all the other things we found like the healing stones, the alien book, and the orbs,” Isabel mused. “I’ll have to go out there later today and check before her battery dies. Kyle and I may have another clue to who she might have called in the stuff we found, but we’ll wait to talk about that until after you guys are done. But, if we can find her phone, we’ll know for sure.”

“Agreed. Liz, Max, do you guys have anything else?” Valenti asked.

“Yeah, we found the Granolith intact. It wasn’t destroyed with the ship’s departure,” Max declared.

“Really?!” Isabel cried in surprise. “That’s great to hear.”

“I know. But, that means that the translation of the book that we recovered from Las Cruces was wrong,” Max replied. “Liz called Michael and Maria and they’re going to check out the site where they found the computer to see if it’s still there. We might be able to pull the original file from the hard drive to see if someone changed it after Alex translated it. Until we hear back from them, I guess we’ll just work through everything we found out today.”

Liz spoke up next. “I think this is the last thing. Max already said this, but we know now that the pendant has powers of its own. So far, Max and I have been able to get information via flashes from the pendant when the two of us are connected. I don’t know if this is the extent of its powers, but . . . .” Liz’s voice trailed off as she just realized something. She looked up at Isabel quickly and stared as her mind flashed back to that moment earlier on the couch with Isabel. When Isabel had handed the necklace back her, something had happened. She had got a distinct impression from Isabel about her feelings, and Liz hadn’t been connected to Max at the time!!

“Isabel? When you gave the necklace back to me, what were you thinking?” Liz asked in a rush.

“Did you feel something? I was trying to let you know that I really do accept you and that everything is ok between us,” Isabel affirmed.

“No. I didn’t feel anything like I can with Max, but it was like I just knew what it was that you were trying to tell me.” She turned around quickly and stared up at Max. “Max! I think it was the pendant. I think the pendant told me what Isabel was feeling. But, we weren’t connected!! How can that be?” Liz was alarmed, wondering what was going on.

Max felt her panic rising and he gently grabbed her face in his hands and stared into her eyes. “Because it must be meant for you, Liz. You are mine. You are my joined mate, my queen. This pendant must have been meant for my queen. Maybe you alone can access its powers. And only when we’re connected do I received the visions as well.”

“But, Max . .”

“No buts, Liz,” Max gently chided. “Remember what we talked about before. You complete me, you’re part of me. No more doubts about your abilities, Liz. Promise me?” Max pleaded.

Liz swallowed her insecurities and gave Max a small nod. Isabel had watched the exchange between them and decided it was time to reveal her own secret.

“Liz?” She waited until Liz turned her attention to her. “I need to tell you guys something. And please, Max, no interruptions,” Isabel gave her brother a beseeching look.

“You see, in the last few weeks, I’ve started to see colors around certain people . . . you know, like their auras. I . . . I didn’t say anything at first. I was just trying to understand what it was I was seeing. And it wasn’t just that I was seeing the auras, I just knew what each of the colors meant as well.”

Isabel stopped and looked at Max. When she saw his look of encouragement, she went on, addressing the rest of the group. “Of course, it was Max and Michael I could read first. Their auras didn’t require any effort to see or understand. It was like I knew what kind of a mood they were in just by looking at their auras. I actually had a hard time reading Tess. I never really thought about that until just now. I guess I just never hung around Tess that much. I thought that it must be because I knew Michael and Max so well. But, then slowly, I learned to concentrate and see the auras of humans as well.”

She turned to Max and apologized. “I’m sorry for not telling you before, Max. By the time I realized that this must be the development of a new power, Alex was killed, and everything . . . changed.” She looked back over to Liz. “But, Liz, when you walked into the UFO Center for our meeting this morning, your aura was as bright as Max’s and Michael’s have ever been. And it’s not that my powers are growing. Kyle and his dad,” she said, nodding to each in turn, “look just the same to me as they have before. It’s you, Liz. You are different now. I don’t know if it’s just the pendant, or if it’s a result of the connection you have again with Max, but something about you has changed.” She smiled at her encouragingly. “I don’t know what doubts you have, but I wanted to tell you that I can back up everything that Max said. You were meant to be with him.”

Liz looked at Isabel with appreciation and affection. “Thank you, Isabel. That means a lot.”

Max cleared his throat. “Well, I have something to add, too. Since Liz would probably not mention this on her own, I need to tell you this. You should all know that Liz has started to show signs of latent powers. She’s always been able to see the flashes, and she was able to connect with Isabel to dreamwalk me in NY that one time, but now it’s different. First, we have this new connection. We can feel each other’s emotions. She is also able to boost my powers when we are connected. I don’t know if she could do that with everyone, or just me. We might have to try some experiments with that. So far, she can’t do anything on her own, except . .” Max broke off, thinking about what had happened earlier in the car.

“Except what?” Isabel asked, curiously.

Max was suddenly unsure how much of their privacy he should expose.

Liz felt his hesitation and knew instantly what he was talking about.

“I can make his skin glow,” she said shyly.

“What?!” Three voices shouted at once.

Liz sighed. She longed for the day when she and Max could actually have an intimate moment together without having to share it with the rest of the group.

“It’s just that last year when we were getting those flashes from each other, Max made my skin glow. I tried to do it to him, but of course, I couldn’t. But, now things are different. I feel more connected to Max now than I did back then. Each time we have connected throughout the day today, I have felt how my energy seemed to join with his. So, I tried to make it go the other way and pull energy from him. I was able to make his skin glow then. But, we were umm . . . deeply connected at the time. I don’t know if I could do more or not.” She didn’t want to mention that they had actually heard each other’s thoughts as well. Maybe they could keep that private for a while.

Kyle shifted nervously in his seat. “So, now you’re turning into one of them?” he said, looking at Liz. He turned to Max, “Do you think that will happen to me, too?” Kyle asked anxiously.

“I really don’t know, Kyle,” Max responded. “But, I don’t think so. My connection with Liz goes deeper than anything else I’ve experienced before. Neither my healing of you nor those children in the hospital felt anything like it.”

Kyle dropped his eyes and took a deep breath before speaking. “It’s not that I want to get out of the club, Max. It’s just that I’m not sure I’m ready to be an alien.”

Max cleared his throat. “I understand, Kyle. I’m sorry you got dragged into this the way you did without any decision on your part, but I’m glad you’re a part of the team now. I don’t know what will happen in the future, but just know that we’ll all be here for you.”

Kyle nodded and murmured his thanks.

Max took a quick breath and squeezed Liz’s hand. “Ok, Iz. I think that’s pretty much it for our part. Why don’t you and Kyle tell us what you found out from Tess’s stuff.”

Isabel looked over at Kyle to see if he wanted to tell them. Kyle nodded his head at her and said, “Go ahead. You’re better at making speeches than I am.”

Isabel began explaining how she and Kyle went through his room, collecting all the stuff Tess had. She brought out the box that contained all the possible clues in it. Kyle and Isabel began taking out all the books on mind control they had found. Valenti, Liz, and Max were shocked at the amount of material Tess had collected.

“Liz,” Isabel began. “I think I might know something about that phrase that you heard Tess use when she made that initial phone call.” Isabel started looking through the pile of books until she found the one she was looking for. “I sped read through all these books, and I remember reading something about hypnotic triggers. She thumbed through the pages stopping halfway through the book. Here it is.”

‘Post-hypnotic suggestions are those ideas offered to a person in hypnosis to "take with them" into their conscious life. If a hypnotized person is told that when the hypnosis ends they will perform an act or change their attitude towards something then in good hypnotic subjects the suggested changes take place. A Pavlovian hypnotic trigger is a phrase or any other sensory cue which the victim is programmed to involuntarily act on in a certain way.’


“Of course, with Tess’s powers, it wouldn’t have taken much effort to implant the commands,” Isabel concluded. “All she had to do was read about them and then do it.”

“Oh my God, Isabel! That’s it. That’s what must have happened. Sometime in the past, Tess must have implanted a suggestion in someone’s mind so that whenever she said the phrase, “I am Ava,” it somehow triggers a series of acts which results in that person begin possessed by someone from your home planet.”

Isabel nodded in agreement. She then pulled 3 more items from the box. They were the package of condoms and two pieces of paper. Isabel held up the condoms. “This pretty much confirms what we heard from the vision you guys had of Tess that night. She was sleeping with someone, but she was obviously taking care not to get pregnant since she was supposed to conceive Max’s child.”

“Well, at least we sure we’re looking for a guy now,” Kyle said. When he got dirty looks from the others, he shrugged and said, “What? I mean, it could just as easily have been another girl that Tess went to see that night. I’m sure she would have been open to alternative partners. But, condoms . . . well, those definitely require the presence of a man!!”

Valenti coughed at that statement from his son.

“Sorry, Dad. Just basic human anatomy,” Kyle replied simply.

Isabel ignored Kyle’s basest remarks and held up the two pieces of paper. “We also found these two flyers stuffed in between the pages of a couple of the books she had hidden.”

Max, Liz, and Valenti closely examined the papers. The first was a flyer for the University of Las Cruces School of Computer Science. It mentioned the new Quantum Computer at the Litvack Building and the expanding field of Cyptography. On the flyer itself was a handwritten note which read 'Las Cruces Museum of Natural Science, 575-541-2296.'

The second piece of paper was a battered and torn flyer from W. Roswell High announcing a meeting at the school on Friday, November 3, 2000 for the Exchange Student Program. A Guest Lecturer was to be in attendance. This flyer, too, had writing on it. Some of the writing was definitely different than on the first flyer. It was sloppy and didn’t look like a girl’s handwriting. It read, 'Hot French babes' and 'This chick is pretty hot, too' and a symbol of two baseball bats crossing in an “x” with the number 12 in the middle. There was additional handwriting at the bottom, and this handwriting was much neater and did match the handwriting on the first flyer. It read, 'ULC, Garcia Hall, #305'.

Liz reached for the flyer for the Exchange Student Program meeting, glanced at the neat feminine writing at the bottom and then passed it to Max as she looked up him and read the same thing in his eyes. She turned to the rest of the group. “Garcia Hall, apartment #305 is where Jennifer Coleman lives. I wonder why her information is written on this flyer though,” she mused. “We don’t know why or how Jennifer was chosen to be the human that was possessed by this L’anna. I wonder if this meeting is the connection,” she finished.

Max held the flyer for the meeting tightly in his hands. It was a sad reminder of the all too recent loss of Alex, and of his actions and protests against alien involvement in his death. “The meeting was on November 3rd.” He turned to Liz. “Do you know if he went to this lecture? Did he tell you or Maria about wanting to go on a student exchange to Sweden?” Max asked.

“No. It was a last minute decision and he just barely got his paperwork in before the deadline,” Liz exclaimed. “It was a complete surprise to us that he did it. He was never interested in a foreign exchange program before. He never even mentioned wanting to travel. He was just interested in his band and computers.”

Liz thought for a minute and then went on. “That had to have been Tess mindwarping Alex. She needed a cover story for his absence from school and used the exchange student program to do it. She must have mindwarped Alex into thinking he wanted to go to Sweden for the program so he could go to Las Cruces and translate the book. All those papers I got out of Alex’s file at school must have been faked by Tess. And God,” she continued, “all the stuff for Alex’s itinerary, his pictures, his notes, the memories of the trip, the family he stayed with, even the Swedish words he knew, that was all stuff she implanted into his head? Where did she get that information?” Liz questioned.

Kyle spoke up, “I don’t know about that, but I think I might know who wrote this part,” pointing to the sloppy handwriting. “I know who wears the #12 jersey on the baseball team. My old pal, Malamud. This sounds like stuff he would write. I think I do remember him talking about wanting to do the exchange student program, but that it interfered with baseball practice so he couldn’t do it. But, I bet he went to this meeting to get more information about the program. For some reason, Tess must have needed to know something about this meeting and got the information from Ernie. I’m sure she used her alien-enhanced feminine charms to get it, which explains why he was so interested in her at Prom and made those comments about her.”

Liz nodded. “Sounds like something she would do. I wish we knew why she needed that information on this particular meeting. I mean, wouldn’t she have gotten more information about the exchange program from the counselor at school and why would she have written Jennifer’s dorm room written here after she got the flyer from Ernie?”

“Maybe it had something to do with that Guest Lecturer?” Valenti ventured, pointed to that part of the flyer.

“I know things are a bit dicey between Malamud and me after I slammed him against the wall at Prom,” Kyle said, “but I’ll try to see if he can tell me anything about what information Tess wanted from him about this lecture. I’ll talk to him at school on Tuesday.”

“Thanks, Kyle. Hopefully, he’ll be able to tell us something.” Isabel continued. “I can confirm the rest of the handwriting on the flyers is Tess’s. I compared it with other writings of hers.”

Liz held up the flyer for the university. “This must have been how she decided to use Alex to decode the book, by sending him to use the quantum computer at the University of Las Cruces. I recognize this flyer from the ones that are outside the school counselor’s office at school,” Liz continued. “But, this is what is really interesting,” she said, pointing to the writing on the flyer about the museum. “We know that Alex was in Las Cruces using the university’s computers for the translation work, so what’s the connection to the museum? From what his dorm mates told us, he never left his room except to go to the Computer labs on campus, and if Tess made sure his whole purpose on being there was to translate the book, it’s unlikely that Alex ever went to this museum.”

“Yet we can’t ignore the coincidence that they’re both in Las Cruces where Alex spent 5 weeks with Tess controlling his mind,” Isabel stated.

“Exactly. We just need to figure out why this museum was so significant.” Liz looked at the writing about the musuem hard for a moment, trying to recall something from her memory. “I’ve never been here before, but my Grandmother used to have a season pass. I know she told me that they were well known for one of their collections, but I can’t remember which one. Lucky for us, we have someone in Las Cruces right now that can check this out. I’ll give Maria and Michael another call. Hopefully they’ll be able to find something out about that museum.”

Max was looking at the titles of all the books in awe. “I wonder what drove her to take these books and read them. I thought her powers were strong enough as it was.”

“I think I have an answer to that,” Isabel said. “There was something else hidden along with these books in the wall.” Isabel brought out the spiral notebook with Tess’s notes in it from out of the box. “It looks like she was using this as a journal since the time she showed up. Seeing as she never did any schoolwork at all, I guess this was what she carried around all the time, writing in it when she got bored. A lot of the stuff she wrote in here fills in some blanks from the last year and what was going on behind the scenes. She also mentions L’anna and the other alien she was working with, except no name. Hold onto your hats, it’s about to get really interesting.” Isabel began to read aloud from the spiral notebook.
User avatar
6throck
Enthusiastic Roswellian
Posts: 26
Joined: Mon Dec 31, 2001 10:52 am
Location: Glendale, AZ

Re: Arriving (M/L,CC Mature) Chapter 17 (part) 2/3 pg 1

Post by 6throck »

A/N-Good grief this has been such a difficult chapter to write and I don't seem to have any time to sit and think. My kids have been keeping me so busy. I thought I had it all ready to go, and as I read through it the last time before I was ready to post, I decided to change a couple of key passages which threw my whole chapter in disarray. This weekend isn't so busy, so I should be able to finish the rest of the chapter and post it Sunday night. But, because I hate to leaving you hanging any longer and because I want to make sure my Muse can't change things again, I'm going to post the first couple of pages (the most interesting part-Tess's notebook) now.

Thanks again for all the feedback and support.

I hope you like it.

FYI, This is Tess's private diary, so she won't always write in complete sentences.

Chapter 17-The Diary of a Second-Rate Queen


I can remember what it was like being the queen. How I could have anything I wanted, anyone I wanted. He was never around, he never wanted me. But, that didn’t matter. I had plenty of men that found it exciting to sleep with a queen.

These humans are so weak and pitiful. I can’t imagine why our people chose this species to combine our essence with. They don’t even use half of their brain capacity and have no powers at all. I don’t even have to use my mindwarps on the men to get them to do what I want. They’re led around by their dicks anyway.

Nasedo was finally able to track down the others. We traveling through Texas when the detection device he stole from the Skins went off. It was really brief. We only noticed because he happened to have it in his pocket at the time. Something created a signal from Roswell, near where our pods are. We checked there before, but it appears that Roswell is where the others have been this whole time.

I can’t believe this Max is the once and future King. He doesn’t even remember his old life. And he thinks he’s in love with this stringy, boring, plain human girl. Just wait ‘til I give him a few erotic fantasies about the two of us. He’ll forget all about her and come crawling to me. Just wait. Once I make him see, once I make him remember, he’ll know who I am. That I am his wife, his Queen. If he would just hold me, touch me, I’m sure he’d remember everything.

The nerve!!!! He’s resisting my mindwarps. Well, at least I got him to kiss me, and right in front of her, too. She actually came over to tell me that she was in love with Max. It took all my control not to laugh in her face. But, I held it together and told her that I wanted to be friends. I’ll just have to change tactics now. Time to tell him, to show him, that we were made for each other.

I hid the book Nasedo gave me in a spot where I knew they would follow me. I sent Michael and Isabel visions of the two of them being together to help convince them that the 4 of us are supposed to be paired up so Max will give into me. The Ice Princess’s reaction was really interesting. The stupid girl actually thought she might be pregnant. I wondered why the visions affected her more than the others. I found out later that her special gift is dreamwalking people, getting into their subconscious mind while they’re sleeping. I must have tapped into that power when I mindwarped her while she was dreaming and it actually affected her physically after the mindwarp was over. That might be it. That might be the way to control Max totally, by using his special power against him. I need to figure out how his healing power works. Then, I’ll have to work on my powers to use that to my advantage.

He’s left me. I can’t believe it. He’s never left me like this before. Just because Max ordered him to cover in the FBI for him. I’m the Queen, damnit!!! He’s supposed to obey me. And Max. He’s completely avoiding me. His bitch even left him and he still can’t look at me. I don’t know what he ever saw in her, but she obviously makes him weak. Look at him. Moping around all summer. And this is a King?

God! I hate this place! This stupid library doesn’t have a lot of material useful for my research, but I’ve checked out everything they have. I’ve been working on my powers all summer, but I’m bored, too. No one will even talk to me. Only Michael seems interested. I gave him a few pointers on focusing his powers. I can’t believe these idiots are so pathetic in their powers. Michael can barely even control his. That’s what you get for hanging around all these stupid humans your whole life. They bring you down and make you weak.

He’s dead!! I don’t understand. He said he could never die. He told me he’d always be with me. Now what am I going to do? This isn’t the way it was supposed to go!!!

Well, now that Nasedo’s gone, I’ve got to change tactics to become more involved in the group. I had to stage a break-in at my house by the Skins so I could move in with the Valentis. That Kyle is a pretty sexy fellow. I might need him to help relieve some of my sexual tension now Nasedo is gone.

How dare she kidnap me and demand I cut her in on my deal with Khivar!!! She told me she killed Nasedo because he wouldn’t do it, so it was up to me now. She’s sick of this planet and of Nicholas, too. She wants a free ride out of here for not telling Nicholas where the others are. I told her I was still trying to find out where the Granolith was. She decided my methods were too slow, so we decided to speed things up. I faked my injuries for Isabel’s benefit and sent her cryptic messages to lure her to us. We figured we’d use Vilandra’s past betrayal of her people to shake her up. I had no idea Isabel was capable of defeating Whitaker, but I can’t say I don’t mind that bitch is gone.

Whatever happened that night, Isabel found the Granolith hidden behind our pods! I can’t believe Nasedo didn’t know!!! I can’t believe it’s taken over 6 months to get this far. Well, one down, 2 more to go.

If I didn’t hate her so much, I’d kiss Liz Parker!!!. I don’t know why she did it, but Max is free!!!! He’s actually choosing my company over hers. Along with that, Isabel’s knowledge of her former life should soon begin to drive a wedge between her and Max. I need to isolate him from his family and friends as much as possible if I’m to accomplish my goal. I don’t have to worry about Michael at all. He’s not very supportive of Max anyway, always questioning his authority and doing things behind his back.

Stupid Skins. I’m glad I took care of them all. Hopefully, Max won’t question my new power or the fact I had to leave Nicholas alive. He was the only one with any brains at all. In exchange for his life, he agreed to leave Max and the others alone so I can fulfill my bargain with Khivar. He was also able to give me some great information about how to accomplish the rest of my plan. Now for Phase 2 and that damn translation. Good thing I have easy access to a computer geek.

My Dupe is pretty pathetic, all timid and shy and scared of Lonnie and Rath just because they killed Zan. Little does she know that was all part of the plan. Once I figured out Isabel’s trigger, it was easy to mindwarp the idea in her Dupe’s head to get Zan out of the picture. There was no love lost between them anyway from what I was told. I knew that would force them to come here. Still, if everything goes to plan, I’ll be doing her a favor when I take care of loose ends.

Man! That boy has major control issues! I thought for sure I’d have him in my bed during our little trip. But, I’m not worried. I’ll have him on his back soon enough. My information from Nicholas paid off in NY. My plans almost went to hell when Lonnie tried to kill Max, but he managed to dodge that accident. Took me by surprise, but I managed to remedy that situation. No more worries about that happening again. Managed to kill 3 birds with one stone that day.

Doing a lot of research for the planning of translation and cover story. Backing off Max for a bit so I can concentrate on my plans. Laying low. Getting updates from Las Cruces. We’re getting close. Mindwarp broke down a couple of times. I hope this guy’s brain can take it until I get what I need.

Well, I finally got the translation, but according to that, I need a crystal key to activate the Granolith. Damn!!! I have no idea where those are! Time to put in a call for assistance.

After this latest crazy alien incident here in Sticksville, I found a way to contact him for an emergency. We have devised a plan to figure out the trigger behind Max’s powers so I can use that against him. L’anna caught a big break, and is getting close to getting the crystal key.

Our plan worked and it should only be a matter of time before Phase 3 is complete and I have the heir growing inside me. I’ve finally figured out the key to Max’s healing powers and what his weakness is. Love. I can use that to my advantage now and turn him against everyone but me. Now it’s time to put everything in place. First his feelings, then his memories, then he’ll be all mine. I’m going to fuck his brains out, get pregnant, go home, and watch him die along with his sister and friend while I get my throne back.
User avatar
6throck
Enthusiastic Roswellian
Posts: 26
Joined: Mon Dec 31, 2001 10:52 am
Location: Glendale, AZ

Re: Arriving (M/L,CC Mature) Chapter 17 (part) 2/3 pg 13

Post by 6throck »

A/N-Thanks everyone. I've been really trying hard to see things from Tess's POV. If Nasedo made a deal with Khivar 30 years or so before Tess and the others emerged from their pods, he must have had a pretty good plan, or had a long time to work out the plan, and was completely driven to fulfill that plan. And what was he doing with Tess for the 10 years before they finally found the others? I'm sure he was telling her all about the plan, helping her remember her past life, telling her how wonderful it was to be queen, making sure she didn't form any relationships with humans to make her want to stay here, etc. But, don't get me wrong. I'm not making Tess out to be the victim here. She truely wanted everything Nasedo offered her. You'll find out a little more about Ava later and how that might have affected how Tess turned out, including why she didn't come out of the pod at the same time as the others. And as for sleeping with Nasedo . . . well, he's a shapeshifter. He can look like anyone, not just Ed Harding. I'm sure he took the form of a very attractive teenager for Tess. If fact, I'm sure she got off on him changing forms frequently and probably starting requesting her favorites. So yes, truely a slut.

So sorry I haven't updated sooner. It's been a crazy couple of weeks. We all were sick for a while and then I was planning my son's Eagle Court of Honor, which was last night. Whew!!! Now, I can relax! I"m going to post the rest of Chapter 17 and then Chapter 18, which is a mostly M/L fluff chapter.

Thanks for sticking by me.

Enjoy.

Ok we just read Tess's notebook, so here's the rest of the chapter.

Chapter 17 (part 2)


“That was the last entry. It looks like she got too busy with her plans to write in the notebook anymore.” Isabel quickly put the notebook down and looked distastefully at it.

Liz was still shaken by the vehement tone in Tess’s writing. She never trusted her from the beginning, but hearing her own words like that really testified that she was truly an evil bitch. She took at minute to collect her thoughts. The shock of hearing Tess’s journal read aloud had caused an unsettling silence to come over the group, so no one else was speaking yet.

Max was the first to find his voice. “Wow. I guess we know now how much she really manipulated everyone from the beginning. Staging the break-in at her place, sending us the dreams, hiding the book, working with Whitaker to get information from Isabel, making a deal with Nicholas, mindwarping Lonnie into killing Zan . . .” Max broke off, wondering how he could have ever thought that Tess was a nice person and feeling ashamed that he ever considered her a friend.

“I could never have imagined that she was capable of doing all that. But, why would she have wanted Zan dead? How did she know that the others would have to come here because of that?” Isabel asked, shuddering with the memory of seeing Lonnie and remembering how manipulative and cold she was.

Max spoke. “It must have been because of the seal. I have the seal on my brain and the Summit Leaders would only talk to those who passed the test by the emissary. Lonnie and Rath couldn’t have even gotten into the meeting without me there.”

Liz finally found her voice. “Tess said that her information paid off in NY. She had to have planned to meet someone there at that time.” Liz turned to Max and asked, “Do you know if she could have done that?”

Max was thoughtful for a moment, “Well, we went everywhere together, except when I was being tested by the emissary. I guess she could have met with someone then. She could have mindwarped Lonnie into thinking she had been with her the whole time and left to see someone,” Max concluded.

“Then, it was most likely one of the other leaders she met with,” Liz reasoned. “Who were they, Max?”

“There were 4 of them. Sero, Hanar, Larak, and Kathana. Since everything seems to indicate that she was sleeping with her contact and needed condoms, I supposed we should rule out Hanar and Kathana, which leaves us with Sero and Larak,” Max said, thoughtfully.

“Larak? But I thought he was your friend?” said Isabel. “Why would he be working with Tess against you?”

“I don’t know, but I guess he could have been lying to me,” Max admitted.

“Larak? But that would mean that Brody . . .” Liz trailed off.

“It could also be Sero,” Max stated, unwilling to jump to any conclusions. “The problem with that is, we have no idea who the person is being used by Sero. I would definitely recognize him again, but I swear that I haven’t seen him around Roswell before. But, that doesn’t mean that he hasn’t been here and has just been lying low, contacting Tess as needed.”

Valenti spoke up. “I agree, Max, but since we do know that Larak is still a possible suspect, I think we should keep an eye on Mr. Davis to see if Larak will make an appearance soon,” he suggested. “We have no cause to search his phone records to see if he made a call to Tess’s cell phone regularly, but maybe we can get a hold of his cell phone and check it. Max?”

“Yeah, I can definitely do that. He usually keeps his phone on him, but if I see a chance to check it, I will,” Max said.

“Maria is pretty friendly with him as well,” Liz said. “We can see if she can get to his phone if you can’t, Max.”

“Meanwhile, can you give a description of this person that the other leader used so we can all keep a look out for him, too?” Valenti asked.

“Yeah. I should be able to do that now.” Max found a scrap of paper on the table, unrelated to Tess’s stuff.

“Do you need this?” he asked Valenti.

“No, go ahead and use it, Max.”

Max closed his eyes and concentrated on the image of the human that Sero used at the Summit meeting and then opened his eyes and waved his hand over the paper, instantly replacing the words on the page with the exact image of Sero. He passed it around and everyone for everyone to look at.

“You know, as often as I see you guys use your powers, I am still shocked and amazed by it,” Valenti said, as he looked at the image of Sero on the paper.

“We’re just so glad that we have you on our side now, Jim,” Max confessed. “It really means a lot to us that we can trust you.”

Valenti looked at his son and remembered the awful situation that led him to trust in Max with everything he had. “I meant what I said Max. I’m here for you.”

Isabel held the picture in her hand. “I might be able to use this picture and a picture of Brody to dreamwalk both of them and see if their dreams reveal any information. I’ll try them tonight after I dreamwalk Jennifer. I still need her picture though so I can connect to her. Liz, do you have a picture of her still?”

“I’ve got it in my room, Isabel. We’ll go get it right after this,” Liz said.

“I wonder why it is that Nasedo couldn’t read the book and Tess had to have it translated. I mean, wasn’t he your protector? Shouldn’t he have been able to tell you guys everything you needed to know? He made a deal with Khivar to get home, you’d think he would have known how to do that,” Kyle asked.

“We don’t know much about what Nasedo was, really. He didn’t even know where the Granilith was or have the crystal key to activate it. He had the book, but didn’t tell Tess what it said. He wasn’t there when we came out of the pods . . . those are all basic things that anyone who was sent to be our protector should have known and done, but he didn’t. I’m beginning to seriously doubt Nasedo was really our protector,” Max said.

Liz picked up the notebook and began reading through Tess’s notes again. “The only way he found you guys was because of a detector going off.” She looked up at Isabel. But I thought you and Michael sent a message by burning a symbol on the ground by the library. That couldn’t have registered as a signal in Texas.”

Isabel said, “You’re right, Liz. We figured the person who sent the first signal was still in town and would see our signal at the library. If it wasn’t Nasedo that was in town, then who was it that sent the first message out in Frasier Woods at the beginning of the year?”

“And what signal was Tess talking about . . .” Liz stopped, as comprehension filled her face.

“Max! The orb. The light signal that went into space when we dug it up. That must have been what set off the detectors and brought Nasedo and Tess here. It’s all my fault . . .” Liz’s voice trailed off as Max swiftly, but tenderly stopped her by cradling her face in his hands.

“No, don’t say that. This is not your fault. Don’t even think that. There are still a lot of things we don’t know about. We were meant to find that orb and I don’t believe that its only purpose was to draw Nasedo and Tess to us. It was just a coincidence. Even Tess said they would have missed the signal if they weren’t looking directly at the tracker. Promise me you won’t blame yourself for their coming here.” Max gave her a serious look. “You know, I’ll be able to tell if you are.” He tapped his head, letting her know she wouldn’t be able to hide her feelings from him.

Liz took a few seconds to try to push those feelings from her mind before nodding her reply.

Max gave her a quick kiss on her irresistible lips and then leaned in to whisper in her ear. “Otherwise, I’ll have to find other ways to distract you from such foolish thoughts.” Liz shivered in delight as Max’s images for distraction filled her mind.

Isabel continued. “So, if Nasedo didn’t send the first signal, does that mean that there is someone else out there still?”

Max said, “Maybe, but if so, they haven’t done anything else like that again.” Max turned to Valenti. I know you’re not Sheriff anymore, but you haven’t heard anything strange reports about lights anywhere recently have you?”

“No, I haven’t.”

“That could mean that they were killed, most likely by a Skin or another enemy,” Max concluded. “I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.”

Liz asked Kyle for a small notebook and a pen and began to make a list of everything they discovered and what actions they were taking if any and what questions they still needed answers to.


• Nasedo-killed by Whitaker, made a deal with Khivar to have Tess get pregnant with Max’s baby, find the Granolith, return home with Max, Isabel, and Michael and heir and deliver to Khivar.

• Zan-married to someone else before Ava, joining process? Need to know more about that

• Max-joined to me (Liz) and not able to produce children with anyone else (does it mean the same for me?)

• Nasedo drawn to Roswell by signal of orb, came with Tess, mindwarped Isabel & Michael to think had to be together

• Tess mindwarped Max, controlled his actions, feelings, implanted false memories; mindwarped Kyle, mindwarped Alex, killed

• Tess working with Nicholas-killed? Lonnie, Rath-killed?

• If Nasedo didn’t send first signal, than another alien? Who? Still alive?

• Flyers from Las Cruces Museum of Natural Science-what is the connection?-Action-Michael and Maria checking out

• Flyer from school re: Study Abroad Meeting-what is the connection?-Action-Kyle talking to Ernie M. to find out more

• Tess working with L’anna. Possessing body of Jennifer Coleman at ULC.-Action-Isabel dreamwalking to see if L’anna left any clues about what she was doing

• Tess working with another alien-Larak or Sero? If Larak, can connect through Brody. If Sero, do not know who human is-Action-watch Brody for signs that Larak will possess, Action-Isabel dreamwalking Sero’s human and Brody

• Tess called someone, alien contact. Need to find her cell phone. Action-Isabel to go to pod chamber today and see if there. Action-Max to try to check Brody’s cell phone to see if got call from Tess.

• Granolith still intact. Does that mean can still use to go home? Need another crystal? What other powers does it have?

• Alien book, mistranslated. Can we find out what really said? –Action-use pendant to read book?

• Pendant fixed. Has powers. I (Liz) am able to use it.

• Tess-on way home, no baby, going to try to fool Khivar, accomplice going to attack Khivar before deception discovered. What does that mean for us? Will enemies attack us again? Khivar? Another planetary leader? Tess knows where Granolith is. Can tell leaders. Will they try to get it? –Action, try to figure out how to protect or move or hide Granolith in case attacked


Liz looked up from the list she was making to think for a minute. Something Max said was nagging at her.

“Max. What about that message from your mom, you know the one that you saw when you 4 connected with the orbs?”

“Yeah, what do you mean?”

“Well, since we know now that Tess was manipulating everyone from the beginning, do you think it’s possible that she made us all see something from that message that wasn’t real? Could she have changed something to help her obtain her goal?”

Max looked at Isabel and a look of complete dismay passed between them. Isabel gasped. “My God, Max. What if that’s true? What if all this time that message was a complete lie? That’s what started this. Liz walking away from you, our enemies finding us, learning out about our past lives . . . what if she changed something, or left something out? Max, we have to try it again! We have to see if we can do it without Tess there to see if we get the same message or a different one.”

“Of course. When Michael gets back, we’ll all go out to the pod chamber again and try it.”

Liz cleared her throat. “Well, I’ve been making a list of everything we’ve learned, questions that we still have, and any assignments that we have.” She read the list off and everyone nodded in agreement.

Max spoke up. “That sounds good, Liz. So, everyone knows what they need to do now?” Isabel and Kyle answered in the affirmative. “Ok, I guess we’ll just have to follow through and wait and see what to do next.”

“What should we do with all these books?” Isabel asked.

“Well, eventually we’ll turn them back into the library, but for right now, I’d say we’d better keep them just in case. We know she used a hypnotic trigger on some unsuspecting human. We may need something in these books to undo what she did to them,” Max said solemnly.

Max looked at the boxes of all of Tess’s stuff. “Once we’re sure we have everything we need, I think a bonfire to burn the rest of her stuff is in order.”
~~~~~~

Max, Liz, and Isabel drove at the Crashdown shortly after leaving the Valenti’s house. Liz had called Maria on the way asking her and Michael to check out the Las Cruces Museum of Natural Science. When they arrived at the Crashdown, Liz had Isabel pull into the back alley so she could go up the fire escape instead of through the restaurant. As Liz got out of the car, Max was about to jump out as well, but Isabel stopped him.

“Hang on a second, Max. I want to talk to you about something first.”

Liz stopped, waiting for Max. He nodded to her to go on without him. “I’ll be up in a minute.”

Her eyes glanced over to Isabel quickly before turning back to him. He smiled at her and she returned the smile before she started up the ladder.

“What is it, Iz?” Max said distractedly, his eyes following the sight of Liz going up the ladder.

“She won’t forget you in the few moments that you aren’t together, Max. Can I have your attention please?”

Max turned and looked at his sister. “Sorry. What it is?”

Once she saw she had his full attention, she addressed the matter at hand.

“I have a bone to pick with you, little brother.”

Max’s eyes narrowed at her tone and her insinuation of their ages. “Now wait a minute. Just because you picked that date to celebrate as your birthday, doesn’t mean that you are any older than I am. We all emerged from the Pods on the same day, remember?”

“Yes, and I remember coming out and seeing you still inside yours, so I’m still older, even if only a few minutes,” Isabel grinned.

Max sighed. “Ok, fine. What is it?”

“Well, when Kyle and I were going through Tess’s stuff, I came across her dance card from Prom.” She looked at him sternly. “Care to guess what I saw when I touched it?”

“No, I don’t want to guess what you saw when you touched the card,” he lied.

“Fine. I’m going to tell you anyway. I got an up close and very personal peep show of you and Tess playing tonsil hockey.” She made a face to show her disgust. “Now explain to me what you were doing kissing Tess that night when you took Liz to Prom.”

Max’s face fell as he remembered his actions that night. “I don’t know. I can’t explain what happened. I don’t know if she was using her powers on me or not. I mean, I know that I was remembering things about the two of us, you know, Zan and Ava, from before, but were those real memories or not? One of those things I was remembering was Zan and Ava’s first meeting and first kiss. We were talking about it, and the next thing I knew, we were kissing.”

Some of Isabel’s anger vanished as she remembered the awful spot that Max had been put in by Tess. “Does Liz know about what happened?”

Max looked sheepish. “Yeah, she told me a few weeks later, right after Alex died. She didn’t want to be alone that night, and she came over. She told me then that she had seen us together and that it was ok with her. That we were both moving on and it was ok.”

Isabel shook her head. “She saw you? Good God, Max!!! That’s worse than I thought. And she told you that she was ok with it!!!! I hope you didn’t believe that crap, Max.”

“What do you mean? She said she was ok with it,” Max replied, unconvincingly.

Isabel caught his tone, and looked at him meaningfully. “I don’t care what she said, Max. I guarantee you, she wasn’t ok with it. Did you even bother to find out how she got home that night?”

Max’s mouth dropped open as his mind searched his memory. “Oh my God!! I didn’t even think about that!! What happened to her? Do you know?” he reached out and grabbed Isabel’s arm, demanding that she tell him everything.

Isabel removed his hand from her arm and told him to calm down. “No, I don’t know what happened to Liz that night. I only saw what you and Tess were doing.”

“My God, Isabel. I can’t believe I was that careless. No matter what I was starting to remember from my previous life, I know I wouldn’t have just forgotten all about Liz that night. But, I didn’t even think about what Liz was doing. Tess and I left soon after that and we drove to that park by our house and just sat and talked. How could she do that do me? How could she make me leave Liz and not even question myself?”

“I don’t know. She obviously had a lot of control over you by that point. She had to have been controlling you that night, Max. That’s the only way I know that you would ever forget about Liz. You’ve been obsessed with her for as long as I can remember.”

She looked at him more seriously. “I know you said Liz told you that she was ok with you kissing Tess at Prom and that she would never admit how much it really hurt her to see that, especially now that she realizes how much Tess was controlling you throughout the majority of last year. But I’m telling you, Max, there’s a part of her that’s locked that pain away, and unless you do something to make her admit how hurt she was and then do everything you can to make it up to her, it will always be there between you. I mean, if I’m not mistaken, this was the second time she had to witness you and Tess in a lip-lock right after the two of you had just been together. It doesn’t matter if you were officially a couple then or not. That wouldn’t make it hurt any less.”

“You’re right Isabel. I shouldn’t have let her convince me so easily that she was ok with that. I’ll talk to her. Tonight.” Max’s face was full of determination. He had a lot of things to talk to Liz about, and he was going to take care of it tonight. Today was a day full of questions and answers, and although they wouldn’t know the answers to everything by tomorrow, he didn’t want any part of his relationship with Liz to still be one of those unanswered questions. Tomorrow was going to be a new day for them, a new starting point.

“Can you go home and tell mom I’m bringing Liz over for dinner tonight. I know she wanted to plan something special for us for dinner anyway after the whole thing this morning with the jeep.”

Isabel rolled her eyes. “Let’s just hope Liz is able to choke down mom’s latest ‘creation’.”

Max smiled. “I’ll be sure to warn her. Also, that videotape we made for mom and dad is in my room, hidden behind my Counting Crows poster, in a notch I made in the wall. Care to do the honors and erase it for me?”

“Sure. That would be a bizarre message for them to find, since we never went anywhere. I’m going to the pod chamber first to see if Tess hid her phone there, then I’ll head home.”

Max turned to leave, when Isabel stopped him one last time. He turned around again.

“Just one more thing, Max. As long as we’re sharing this car to drive, can you and Liz please not use it for parking?” She looked at him pointedly, making sure he knew what she was talking about. “I know mom would never pick up on it, but do you have any idea what it’s like for me to sit down on the same seat that you and Liz were just together on, getting flashes of the two of you going at it?”

“You mean you saw everything we were doing?” Max asked, totally embarrassed for both himself and for Liz.

“Well, the visual flashes were pretty rapid, so I didn’t really ‘see’ much, but the emotional impact of the feelings you two left in here just about knocked me out. So, for my sake, please, no more make-out sessions in the car,” she pleaded.

Thoroughly chastised, Max merely nodded his and finally slipped out of the car, swiftly climbing the familiar steps up Liz’s balcony and through her window into her bedroom.

Liz was already scanning through the stack looking for the picture of Alex and Leanna. Maria had kept the picture of the two of them in front of the glass building, so she found another one of Alex and Leanna in front of river with a long building in the background. She was glad she had that one because the only other one she had was the one she found in Alex’s car where his head had been cut out.

While she was looking for the picture, Max walked around the room, observing the subtle changes. When he was there earlier that morning, he hadn’t been paying much attention to anything beside Liz. He saw a huge pile of wadded up paper in her trashcan and wondered what that was.

He saw the picture of Liz, Maria, and Alex, the very one that he had changed when he was drunk, replacing Maria’s and Alex’s head with his own. He still didn’t remember everything that he had said that night, but he did remember altering the picture. He wondered who she had asked to change it back. He smiled to himself. Probably Isabel.

He went to her stereo and saw that her usual musical selections were replaced by CDs that were currently playing in his own system at home—The Counting Crows, Gomez, Lifehouse, and Coldplay. He picked up the Sheryl Crow CD case and scanned the songs on the back. He paused when he came to I Shall Believe. A whisper of a memory floated through his mind, and he heard his own voice telling Liz how that became their song.

He realized with a start that he must have triggered a memory that he received from Liz when they connected that morning. He began sifting through the rest of those memories, and saw Liz asking him for her wedding dance, and then saw them dancing on the rooftop. His heart gave a pang as he saw another vision of Liz sitting in her room at night, listening to this song, tears streaming down her face.

He was about to put the CD back down, when he saw something sticking out from underneath the stereo. He set the CD case down and reached for it and started gently pulling it out. His eyes widen as he realized what it was. It was the 2 tickets to the Gomez concert that he had dropped the night he saw Liz and Kyle together.

She had kept them.

He had desperately wanted to take her to the concert that night, but fate had other plans for them. Even in that other timeline, they never made it to see Gomez, but had made love for the first time instead. He shoved the tickets inside his pocket and glanced over at Liz.

Liz had just found the picture she was looking for and was standing back up when her eyes suddenly found Max’s. She had a puzzled look on her face.

“Max. What’s wrong?” Liz asked.

But, before he could answer, they both heard a noise from the hallway.

My dad, Liz mouthed, and Max quickly grabbed her hand and helped her back out the window and onto the balcony.

“He thinks I’m still at Maria’s house helping her mom,” Liz explained. “Let’s go before he finds me here with you and wonders what’s going on.”

Max and Liz made their way down the ladder and started walking.

As they walked, Max pulled the tickets from his pocket, revealing the source of his mixed emotions earlier in her room.

Liz saw him hold up the Gomez tickets and instantly understood his feelings. “I know it was my own fault that we didn’t make it to the concert that night, Max, but when I saw those on my balcony after you left, I just had to keep them,” Liz admitted sadly.

“Well, you only did what you did because I bullied you into finding another way. I don’t think my Future Self could have imagined you would have thought of pretending to sleep with Kyle as the way to make me fall out of love with you.”

“I know. I stooped to the lowest levels possible, first using your insecurities of being different, an alien, to try to force to you stop loving me, and then I used your jealously of Kyle, my former, normal, human boyfriend against you. I was trying everything I could to make you fall out of love with me, knowing that I had to, but also knowing that if I was successful, I would be miserable the rest of my life.”

“You know, I don’t think I ever really stopped loving you,” Max said thoughtfully. “I think that deep down inside, I still believed that you didn’t do it. That’s why I kept asking you about it. Yes, I did start to accept Tess more after that because we weren’t together, but falling out of love with you . . . . I don’t think that could ever have happened.”

“But, if you really didn’t stop loving me, then why did Future Max disappear? He seemed to think that it was only that result that would cause him to go.”

“Well, we must have changed the future enough so that the man that he was no longer existed. The biggest event he could have changed was our making love that night. Maybe all he needed to do was to stop that event from happening.”

Liz blushed slightly as Max mentioned making love.

Max continued. “There are so many questions that we just don’t have the answers to, but there are some things that we need to talk about. I want to find out about everything that’s been going on with you last year. I need to try to figure out what I was missing out on with Tess using her powers on me all that time.” Isabel’s reproof regarding Prom was still very much on his mind. He racked his brains, trying to figure out how he could have left Liz at Prom and taken Tess home instead.

Liz felt something from Max through their connection and realized that he really needed to talk about things between them to clear the air and knew that she needed to talk to him just as badly.

“Ok, but where should we go?” Liz asked. “My parents still think I’m over at Maria’s helping out.”

“Let’s go across the street to the UFO Musuem first. I need to see if Brody is back and if we can sneak a peek at his cell phone. Then, we can head over to my place. My parents are going pretty easy on us right now because of the Jeep thing. But, they still won’t let you spend the night, so we’ll have to think of something else for that.”

Liz thought for a moment. “Hey, tomorrow is Memorial Day, so no school. How about a party at the Valenti’s?” she suggested. “We can get Kyle’s dad to call our parents and invite us over for the overnight party and BBQ tomorrow. They can’t argue too much since we’ll be chaperoned.”

“Ok. We’ll call him when we get back to our place. Then, we’ll talk.”

Max and Liz held hands, walking in complete unity, looking forward to the evening ahead.
User avatar
6throck
Enthusiastic Roswellian
Posts: 26
Joined: Mon Dec 31, 2001 10:52 am
Location: Glendale, AZ

Re: Arriving (M/L,CC Mature) Chapter 18 2/14 pg 14

Post by 6throck »


Chapter 18 -Season 2 revisited






When Max showed up unexpected at home, he told his mom that Brody didn’t need his help anymore and that he had asked Liz to come over for a while so they could talk about things.

Actually, Brody was still getting supplies, so he hadn’t been at the UFO Museum when Max and Liz stopped by. Max left a note for him at the museum to call him if he needed any extra help, hinting that he wanted some overtime money. They spent a little time there, sweeping the floors and putting away the chairs they had left out earlier that morning, performing the menial tasks in complete comfortable silence, savoring the emotional closeness they now shared.

“I think that’s great, sweetheart. Isabel already mentioned that you had invited her over for dinner tonight. We’d be pleased if you could join us, Liz,” Diane swept an approving look at Liz.

“Thank you Mrs. Evans. I really appreciate it. Do you mind if I call my parents and tell them where I am? I was over at Mrs. DeLuca’s when Max came to get me and I haven’t had the chance to tell them where I am yet.” Liz thought it couldn’t hurt to show Max’s mom that she was trying to be super responsible.

“Sure thing. The phone is just in there,” Diane pointed to the kitchen.

“Thanks, Mrs. Evans.” Liz went quickly into the kitchen hoping that Max would keep his mom talking so she wouldn’t overhear her conversation too much. She quickly called the Valentis, telling them about her idea for the overnighter and BBQ and Jim agreed to call back in about an hour or so to invite them. She also called her parents as well, telling them that she had finished up with Maria’s mom and that the Evans’ had invited her over for dinner and that the Valenti’s had invited the whole gang over for a campout tonight and BBQ tomorrow. Liz convinced them to let her go saying she needed some time to try to get over Alex’s death. Knowing how Alex’s death affected Liz, her mom immediately acquiesced.

After Liz was finished with his phone call, she returned to the living room where Max and his mom were still talking. She walked up to Max and he looked lovingly into her eyes as he took her hand. He turned to his mom and said, “Mom, Liz and I have a lot of catching up to do. We’ll be up in my room, talking. Can you call us when dinner is ready?”

“Sure, Max. It’s nice to see you again, Liz,” Diane finished as Max led Liz out of the room. Liz turned to reply, “You, too,” and then turned to look at Max again. Diane thought it was strange how quickly they seemed to be together as a couple again, but as she saw the looks that they gave each other, she couldn’t deny how in love they both seemed to be.

As they made their way up to Max’s room, Max started talking. “I know we’ve seen each other since last year, after the whole Destiny thing, but I feel like I’m missing big chunks of your life in that time. It’s like we’re putting a puzzle together and we’ve each put in some pieces around the edge to give it a basic shape, but a lot of the details are missing inside the puzzle. I want to know everything that’s happened to you since last year that I don’t already know about,” Max continued. “If we had been together during that time, I would know it all, and I don’t want to miss out on those experiences with you. I really need to share that with you, even the painful parts.” Max realized with that last statement, that a lot of the experiences would be the later. But, he wanted to get through all this tonight so they could make a fresh start tomorrow.

Liz wanted this, too. There was so much that had happened this last year that she hadn’t really been of part of, just barely included in some things. She knew that they both needed to do this and she was looking forward to it, even if it hurt a little to talk about it.

As they entered his room, Max shut the door and sealed it with his powers, not wanting to be walked in on by Isabel or his parents. He led Liz over to his bed and propped the pillow up and sat down with his back to the pillows. He invited Liz to sit in front of him. Liz settled back against Max, her head resting on his shoulder. She sighed contently as he began to run his fingers through her long tresses.

“Where do you want me to begin?”

Max thought back to the moment his life became incomplete—the day at the cave when Liz walked away from him. But, he didn’t need to know more about that day, or the time immediately following it. He quickly ran through those days in his mind before coming to the time when his memories didn’t include Liz. He answered, “The day you left for Florida.”

“Ok. Well, you know that I sent you a note telling you where I was going. That was one of the hardest things I had to write. I knew I needed to get away from you, away from Roswell. I knew I couldn’t stand to be in the same town as you all summer and not be with you. I guess I foolishly thought that both of us could learn to move on without each other if we spent the time apart.”

Max wrapped his free arm around her waist and gave her a small squeeze as he murmured against the side of her neck, “I’m sure you are aware now, that that could never have happened, right?”

Liz looked down at the arm that was wrapped around her waist and began stroking the skin of his hand as she spoke. “Yeah. I know. I was just doing what I thought was best for you at the time. I couldn’t even face you to tell you that I was leaving, so I had Maria take the note to you after I left. I was afraid you would try to stop me if you found out before. Florida was different. I hadn’t really been anywhere else before, except for Disneyland. Being next to the ocean should have been the greatest way to spend the summer, but . . .”

“I don’t remember you coming back with a killer tan,” Max finished.

Liz grinned. “Well, the beach thing only lasted for the first couple weeks I was there. I discovered that lying on the beach all day didn’t keep me from thinking about you, so I had to find something else to keep my mind occupied. I read a lot. I went out to a few dance clubs. . .”

“Dance clubs?” Max interrupted. His interest was piqued.

Liz stopped rubbing his arm. “Sure. You didn’t think that I just sat around like a bump on a log the whole summer brooding over you?” Her tone was serious, but there was a twinkle in her eye that Max couldn’t see.

Max was surprised at her response, but he detected a faint strain of deceit through the connection, so he decided to prod her further.

“Um, would this activity have included dancing with exotic, foreign, strange men?”

Liz decided to milk his growing jealously for all it was worth. “Mmmm hmmmm! Oh yeah!! Lots of dark-haired exotic men who were more than willing to teach an innocent girl from Roswell, New Mexico a few sexy, Latin dance moves. Maybe I’ll show some of them to you if you’re a good boy,” she said teasingly. She earned a tickle in her ribs for her efforts.

“Ok, ok. Stop!! I made that part up!!” she pleaded through her laughs. Max grunted in satisfaction and stopped. When her giggling subsided she continued. “I only went to the club a few times. I admit there were a few guys there who were interested in me, but I gave them the brush off. I went there lose myself in the music, but that’s kinda of hard to do with some guy trying to rub up against you constantly.”

Max cleared his throat and coughed a couple of times on hearing that bit of information.

She tried to soothe him by lightly stroking the skin of his arm again. “Pretty soon I got tired of that whole scene and I stopped going. The rest of the summer was pretty boring. My aunt drove me up to the NASA Space Shuttle lookout, though. There weren’t any scheduled flights that summer, so we just sat and looked at it all lit up. I didn’t really want to go, but my aunt knew about my interests in science so I didn’t want to say no to her when she suggested it. I couldn’t very well tell her that my reason for not wanting to see it was because my boyfriend, who I came to Florida to get away from, was an alien from a different planet and going to see the shuttle would only remind me of him. Other than a few shopping trips for new clothes, that was basically my summer. Ok, now you. Tell me about your summer.”

“Well, of course I was in a pretty low place after you left. My parents got so worried about me they made me go to therapy.”

“They sent you to a shrink?” Liz asked in surprise. She had no idea.

“Yeah. The only consolation was that they made Isabel go, too.”

Liz smiled. “Well, I guess you have to give them credit for trying. So, what story did you come up with for the therapist?”

Max thought back to that day, remembering his daydream of just spilling everything to the poor, unsuspecting therapist. He chuckled as he recalled his final response. “You know, just typical teenage stuff.”

“Yeah, that’s you alright. Max Evans, average teenage boy.”

“Michael spent the whole summer preparing for Armageddon. He started practicing his powers with Tess. To give him credit, he really improved on his control. Isabel was constantly watching her back, worried that any minute alien enemies were going to come to town and take control.”

“And I’ll bet you were just as worried as both of them, but you didn’t let it show, right?” Liz surmised.

Max grinned to himself as Liz accurately described his feelings. “Yeah, I guess. I was trying to keep cool and come up with a plan. But, I was too preoccupied with thoughts of you to do too much on the planning front. So, mostly I hung out with Maria a lot.”

Liz chuckled and rolled her eyes. “She didn’t make you go shopping with her, did she?”

Max’s silence said it all.

Liz laughed out loud, “Oh, Jeez! I’m so sorry, Max!!”

“I don’t know what was worse, having her ask me if her butt looked big in the pants she was trying on or listening to her complain about Michael. Ok, back to you.”

“Well, about a week before I was supposed to come back, I started to look online for jobs in Roswell. I didn’t know what you had been doing all summer, but I figured seeing you every day at the Crashdown wouldn’t be good for either one of us, since I wasn’t planning on being able to be with you again. That’s when I read about the Congresswoman setting up her Roswell office. I thought that would be a perfect place to work since I assumed you wouldn’t want to hang around a government official’s office all day long.”

“I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw you standing there on the street that day. Maria said that you weren’t back yet.”

“I know. I told her not to tell you. I still wasn’t ready to see you again. I always had a hard time looking into your eyes without getting lost in them,” Liz admitted.

“That goes for me, too.”

“After I got through that first meeting, I knew I’d have to limit my contact with you. I could keep my resolve up for a little while, but any extended time with you would have broken me down. I guess I was a little glad to find out that you were getting involved in your own alien problems. It kept you busy, yet it allowed me to see you occasionally to help you out, just as friend. Like a professional business relationship.”

“You mean in the corporation of the ‘I know an Alien’?” Max asked, amused.

Liz snickered. “Yeah, something like that. But, things didn’t stay that way for long. You were so persistent. I don’t know if you knew this or not, but I was just about to give in to you. That’s when Maria took us to see that Fortune Teller. She told me that you would choose love over your Destiny.” Liz smirked as she remembered what else the woman told her. “She also said that I would not be left wanting.” She twisted slightly to look up at him. “If today was any indication of what things will be like for us in the future, I think she was right on with that prediction.”

Max looked down at her and saw the gleam in her eyes, and immediately descended upon her waiting lips. He kissed her furiously, trying to arouse her body quickly. It didn’t take long. As soon as he felt her passion rising, he broke off the kiss, leaving her breathless. “That’s a challenge I’m more than ready to undertake,” he whispered, huskily.

“Then why did you stop,” Liz asked, her voice still thick from the desire that had begun to stir within her.

Max took a deep breath. “Because I’ve learned in the last several hours where my limits are when it comes to you and this new connection we share. Sitting with you now, on my bed . . . if I didn’t stop before I felt your desire join mine, I don’t know if I’d be able to stop, even though my mom, dad and sister are downstairs.”

Liz’s eyes widened at that admission. “Oh,” she said softly. Her mind was immediately filled with images of the two of them doing just that, going further and further and not stopping. She discovered that she was no longer hesitant about that idea. She kept that knowledge to herself, settled back down against Max’s chest, and resumed her gentle stroking on his arm.

“Do you want me to continue?” she asked.

“Yes. Tell me about that night again. Tell me about him.”

“Well, I was a different person on the ride back from the Madam Vivian’s then I was on our way there. For the first time in months I had hope for the future because that future included you. I found an old lace tablecloth in the hall closet and I was using it as a makeshift veil. I pretended that we were getting married and I said my vows in the mirror. That’s when it happened. A bright light flashed outside my window and there he was, crouching down on my balcony, looking inside my bedroom window just like you always do. Even with the leather clothes and the long hair, I knew instantly it was you. But, of course, I didn’t understand how it could be you. He tried to convince me who he really was, but I refused to believe it. I think he was offended when I mentioned the gray in his hair.” Liz giggled a bit at that. “I don’t know if it’s strictly genetics or if it was caused by stress in the warring world that he came from, but just don’t be surprised if you start to go gray in the temples in about 10 years, Max.”

“Gray, huh?” Max replied. “Did it look bad on me?” he asked, worriedly

“Actually, no. I thought it looked rather sexy, in the distinguished kind of way.”

“You thought he looked sexy?” Max asked in surprise.

“Well, he was you, Max. Of course I thought he was sexy. Especially in those leather pants and that leather vest.”

“Leather, huh? I don’t own any leather clothes now, except for my jacket. That’s Isabel’s choice of fabrics.”

“I know. But, I have to tell you, Max, you will look mighty fine in a nice pair of tight black leather pants.” Max dropped a kiss on the side of her neck, causing her to shiver. Moving up by her ear, he softly whispered, “Tell me what happened next, Liz.” He moved his head back, causing the skin of her neck to chill with the loss of his warm breath.
Liz took a second to control herself to refocus on her story. “Well, like I said, I wouldn’t believe him at first. I kept running away from him, standing in the middle of my bed, trying to keep as much distance as I could between us. Finally, in order to convince me, he told me that you were about to show up and serenade me. I told him that you would never do something that cheesy.”

Max rolled his eyes as he remembered. “Yeah, I guess that was pretty cheesy, wasn’t it?”

“And do you know what? I loved you for it,” Liz declared. “It was crazy, silly, romantic and charming. I fell in love you with even more that night.” She smiled as her mind went back in time and she saw Max standing at the bottom of her balcony again. She startled as she finally became aware of something. “You know, Max? I never realized what a great singer you are. You have a lovely voice.”

“Really? I’ve never sung in front of anyone before. Do you really think I sounded ok?”

“Ok? Max, you sing wonderfully! I can’t believe you’ve never sung before. Not even in front of Isabel?” Liz asked.

“No.

“Well, I’d love you hear you sing again sometime, Max.”

“We’ll see.” Max continued. “What else? What was it like being with him?”

“It was weird. I mean I know he was really you, but yet he wasn’t. I caught him looking at some pictures of you and I and I told him those were private.” Liz laughed. “Hello?!! He was really you he had every right to be looking at pictures of himself, but I still thought of him as a separate person than you. I guess even I had a hard time with the concept. And then of course, having him tell me that I had to get you to fall out of love with me didn’t help endure him to me.

“He was so cold and informal at first. The world he came from had taken its toll on him. But, later when we were spying on you from Whitaker’s office, I saw his softer side. He said being around me at this age made him remember back to how he would feel around me when he was younger.”

“How did he feel?”

“He said his stomach used to rumble every time he’d see me.”

“It still does,” Max admitted.

“That’s when I asked him about us, if we got married in the future. He didn’t want to tell me about the future, he kept saying he could only tell me what I needed to know. But, he finally broke down and told me about everything about our wedding. Our elopement, going to Vegas, the Elvis Chapel, and the dive outside Phoenix. Although it didn’t sound like the romantic wedding I had always envisioned as a little girl, he described it as if it was the most wondering ceremony in the world. I guess as long as we were together, that was all that really mattered.

“But, then you saw us and came rushing over. I figured you’d be mad at me for setting you up with Tess. I never in a million years thought that I was making you love me more.”

“I realized that love is the only thing that would make someone sacrifice so much because they believe it was best for another. I knew in an instant, and it was confirmed to me when I kissed you. You couldn’t hide your feelings from me. I knew that you loved me,” Max stated, confidently.

“I know. I wasn’t prepared to deal with that, and so I wasn’t able to guard my feelings from you during that kiss. After that night, I learned to put up a shield to prevent that from happening again, but I really didn’t have to worry about that. After you saw me with Kyle you didn’t think about doing that again.”

“I was so hurt. And then when we went to Arizona you stood there on the street and lied to me and told me again that you and Kyle made love. I was so frustrated with you.”

Liz turned around to put her arms around Max’s waist and snuggled up under his chin. “That was so hard on me, too. To see you in pain like that, knowing I was the cause, wanting to tell you it wasn’t true, but needing you to believe it was. And then, I had to watch you start to get closer to Tess, seeing you being around her, touching her, confiding in her. Those next few weeks were torture for me.”

“I know. They were for me, too. I realize now that must have been when Tess starting using her powers on me. It was probably really easy. I was pretty vulnerable at that time. Michael was spilling our secrets to Courtney and my relationship with Isabel was already on edge after she kept the whole Vilandra thing from me. I should have suspected that Tess was working on new powers when she conjured up that fireball that killed the skins.”

“Fireball?” Liz asked. “Oh, I think I remember Maria mentioning something about that after Michael told her about it.”

“Yeah. Of course, when I asked her about it later, she didn’t want to try anything like that again. She said it scared her, but now I think she was just unwilling to let me know just how powerful her powers were becoming. It really shouldn’t have been a big deal for her. I mean, I had developed my new power over the summer, and I knew that Isabel and Michael were working on their powers too, but still her deception with the mindwarps left her unwilling to tell me about her new powers.”

“What new power did you develop?” Liz asked curiously.

“My shield,” Max said matter-of-factly, wondering why Liz was asking such a simple question.

Liz thought hard to remember anything about a shield. Suddenly, the pendant glowed faintly and she distinctly saw herself standing by the door of the chapel in Arizona watching Max holding off the skins, projecting a green force field in front of him. She also saw Tess trying to help Max by adding her strength to the shield.

“Oh!” she said, as the vision faded from her mind. “That was what you used to hold off the skins when we were in Arizona.”

Max was puzzled for a moment. Didn’t he tell her before about the shield? Why did she sound like she had to think about it first? He asked tentatively, “Was that the first time you saw me use it, Liz?”

Liz was slow to answer. “Yeah, I guess so. I didn’t remember at first. I think the pendant helped me to see it. I got a flash of that moment and saw you use the shield.”

“Sorry. I didn’t realize that I didn’t tell you about it before.”

“Well, it wasn’t like I was letting you open up to me.” Liz took a deep breath and cleared her mind of those bad memories. She drew strength from her newly reformed relationship with Max, turned around in his lap to face forward again, and confidently asked, “Show me again, Max.”

Max was startled by the request, but immediately complied. His left hand left her hair, and he straightened his left arm out in front of him. With minimal effort he projected his shield. Liz gasped slightly as the bright green glow filled her vision. The shield looked strong, yet she could see through it. “I remember seeing Tess trying to help you by lending you power.” As she spoke she brought her left arm to rest on top of Max’s outstretched arm. The instant she made contact with his hand the connection between them opened wide and she felt the now familiar surge of power grow within her. Immediately, the shield doubled in size and thickness, stretching from the floor up to the top of the ceiling and out to the walls on either side of them.

Liz’s eyes went wide as she saw the reaction she had to his shield, but she relaxed as she gained more confidence in this new ability. Max wasn’t really surprised by the reaction, as he predicted that this would occur. He simply accepted this as a new normal for them. He held the shield a little longer, watching Liz enjoy the feeling of being joined with him in his power. When she finally moved her hand away, he dropped the shield, bringing his left arm around Liz to pull her tighter against him, giving her a squeeze.

“You see, Liz? It’s you that gives me strength. Nothing like that happened when Tess tried to help. You boost my powers and make me stronger than I am alone, just like in the Observatory and then later at the rocks.”

They were quiet for a few minutes, taking comfort in each other’s presence. Finally, Liz spoke.

“The Dupes.”

“Yeah, that was pretty strange. I can only imagine how Isabel and Michael felt seeing the duplicates of themselves. I don’t know how I would have reacted to seeing another me,” Max said.

“Well, I had a little experience with that as far as Future Max goes, but seeing a dupe of you, at the same time, someone who was completely different than you as well, that would have been an interesting experience,” Liz concluded.

“I saw a hint of how ruthless they were just before we left to go and Rath was attacking Ava, but I really had no idea they were capable of killing one of their own. Of course, we know now that Tess helped make that happen,” Max said.

“Tell me about New York.”

“It was so big. A person could really just disappear there. I did enjoy going up to the top of the Empire State Building and looking out over the city. The meeting was interesting. I had to pass the test first, which was a strange experience. That’s went they told me about the Royal Seal on my brain and during the test, it was projected on the wall in front of me. I felt so inadequate being there to discuss our planets when I know nothing. Everyone wanted to know about the Granilith. Lonnie and Rath were crazy. I shouldn’t be surprise that they tried to kill me since I wouldn’t give them the location of the Granilith.” Max looked into Liz’s eyes and said, “I remember what you said to be about it and I just trusted in you, so I kept that information from them.

“I couldn’t believe it when I saw you there across the street. I didn’t understand how you could be there. I couldn’t hear you, but I instinctively walked towards you, just in time to avoid getting hit by the falling scaffolding caused by
Lonnie.”

“That was a strange experience, connecting with Isabel like that and then seeing you there, just about to get smashed,” Liz shuddered at the memory of that vision.

“I hate to be thankful for anything that Tess did, but I guess I do feel safer knowing that Rath and Lonnie aren’t still out there in the world to abuse their powers like that. I wonder if they were missing something in their hybrid DNA or if it was just a result of being born and raised in New York City without anyone to look after them, but they certainly didn’t have any feelings or concerns about humans or even share the connection with each other that we do. Even the way they treated Ava. They were just bad,” Max said.

“You know, Max, you took off for 3 days with Tess, traveling to New York City, and shared those experiences together. We’ve never been anywhere farther than Las Cruces together alone. I really want to spend time with you on a vacation, and not some alien quest. I hope we can plan something like that soon.”

“You can count on it,” Max replied, adding that to the list of things he had to do to make up for his actions.

Liz thought for a moment. “Well, after that, things kind of went up and down from there. At least by Christmas time, you weren’t angry with me anymore. I never told you how much it meant to me that you came that night to the park, and that you passed by your whole family to sit beside me. After that, I started to think about you more, dreaming about you almost every night. It was crazy.”

“Well, you had some other things to think about, too,” Max questioned. “What about Sean?”

Liz sighed. “At first, I guess Sean was a welcome distraction from the hopeless obsession I was having with you. I could tell he was kind of interested in me, finding excuses to drop by the Crashdown all the time.”

“Yeah, I remember that night he came by when I was there. Even though we weren’t really together, I still couldn’t help but feel a bit jealous of his attentions to you.”

“Well, it was a really confusing time for both of us. You have to know though, I never felt anything for him. I hadn’t seen him in a long time. I guess maybe I had a little girl crush on him when I was younger so seeing him again all grown up had a small effect on me. He did ask me out about a week later, to a Monster Truck rally.” Liz rolled her eyes at that thought. “I turned him down, of course. I told him that I was semi-involved with you. But he always seemed to be around whenever I was depressed about our non-relationship. After our talk that day in the eraser room, when you told me to go ahead and do things without you, Sean saw that something was bothering me. He told me to write it down in mustard on a burger and eat it so the problem would go away.”

“Really? What did you write, my name?”

“No!! I didn’t want you to go away!! I wrote the word “Grow” on the hamburger and ate it. It actually did make me feel a little better. Then when Maria and Michael took off for Arizona with Laurie DuPree, Sean was constantly hounding me about Maria cuz Maria’s mom was in a panic. I was stuck there that night with them, while she confiscated my cell phone, waiting for Maria to call.”

Max remembered that night. He had finally broke down to Isabel’s promptings and was going to ask Liz for help figuring out the Gandarium crystals. The scene he walked in on was not what he was expecting. “Yeah, it looked like you were in the middle of a pretty serious pillow fight.”

“You aren’t jealous over that are you?” Liz asked, surprised.

“Well, not really. It’s just that I hadn’t seen you act that way for a long time. You looked like you were having fun. You certainly weren’t having any fun around me. I was jealous that you were could be that way with Sean, but not that way with me.”

“I know. In all the time we’ve been together, we’ve always been running from one thing to another, avoiding the law, running from the FBI, covering up murders. We haven’t really had a chance to just be ourselves and enjoy life together.”

“Liz, I’m so sorry. I know that being with me . . . .”

“Stop, Max.” Liz cut him off. “Stop apologizing for your life. I’m with you because I chose to be with you. I love you and that means I want to be a part of your life. And if that means that we’re constantly on the run, then so be it. We’ll go through it all together.”

Max thought back to why Liz had focused on the word, ‘grow’ enough to write it in mustard when Sean suggested it. “I didn’t realize how much that speech in the eraser room affected you like that. I guess I just wanted to make sure that you did everything you wanted to do.”

“I know, Max. I know you only said that because you loved me and cared about me. But, I want you to know, I don’t want to grow without you, Max. I want to grow with you.”

“What about your dreams of going to Harvard and becoming a molecular biologist? Don’t you still want to do that?”

“Max, when I imagined myself going to Harvard and doing that, I didn’t have anything else going on in my life except science. But now, I have you and nothing else matters to me now. You are the dream that I’ve always wanted. To love someone deeply and be loved by them in return. I don’t need anything more than that.”

“That night in Vegas, when we were dancing, you wanted to tell me then about Future Max, didn’t you?”

“Yes. When you started talking about seeing that flash of the two of us getting married, I was almost ready to tell you the truth. But, the moment passed before I could tell you, and I decided to let it go. I was hoping that we could work things about between us and that we could become close again. But, after we came back from Vegas, you drifted further away.”

“The memory retrivals.”

“Yeah, I guess that was it. You were spending more and more time with Tess working on them. And then, I saw you one night, working on it together. I told you about it at Prom.’

“Yeah, I remember,” Max said.

“What I didn’t tell you was how much my heart started to hurt and I left immediately after seeing you together. I guess that’s why I said what I said to you at the Prom. I knew I just couldn’t deal with that anymore. To see you and talk to you, allowing myself to hope for a future between us, and then to see you with Tess. It was just like it had been when I got back from Florida and then again after Christmas. I would start thinking about being able to be with you, and then I’d see you with Tess, and remember that she was your Destiny. I couldn’t take it anymore. It was tearing me apart.”

“I know.”

“When we were dancing at Prom, I said that maybe we shouldn’t even be together anymore, that we should stop pretending, but I was really hoping that you would tell me that no matter what happened with Tess in your past that you didn’t love her and that you wanted to be with me. When you didn’t answer me, I realized it was foolish of me to get my hopes up. She was something I could never be. She was your past, present, and future. She was an alien, like you. She had powers like you. She was made to be with you. She was your Destiny. I didn’t think I could feel any worse than that, but then I saw you kissing on the bench in the hall. And this time, I thought, she wasn’t lying in wait for you. She hadn’t been sending you visions like before. You were kissing her of your own free will. I know now that she must have been using her powers on you, but I didn’t know it then, and I can’t say that it still doesn’t hurt to think about it,” Liz choked out. The tears of pain that Liz thought she had cried out a month ago came pouring out of her eyes again.

Max saw her crying and felt her pain through their connection and it nearly knocked the breath out of him as the waves of anguish and despair hit him. He realized Isabel had been right when she told him that Liz had really been hurt witnessing that kiss, despite Liz telling him later that it was ok for him to move forward with Tess. He should never have believed her. He gather her in his arms, until she was sitting sideways on his lap and began to gently kiss her tears away, murmuring his apologies and he tasted her bitter tears. Liz eventually stopped crying and began to kiss him back. Max pulled her into his chest, his hand caressing her head against his shoulder, kissing the top of her head, trying to soothe her. After a couple minutes, Liz’s sobs died down and her breathing started to slow down. She kept her face buried in his chest

Max sincerely hoped this would be the last time he would make Liz cry over his actions due to Tess’s manipulation of him. It tore at his heart as well to know how much pain he had caused her.

“I don’t know how I could have let that happen, Liz. I know you had talked about ending things between us for good, but that didn’t mean I should have taken Tess home that night.” Max was ashamed at his actions. “Where did you go? How did you get home?” Max asked sheepishly.

Liz finally recovered enough to talk again. “I went to the bowling alley. Sean had taken me there before, right after I had seen you and Tess working on your memory retrievals together. He showed me how to lane walk. I spent a couple of hours there with Sean, just trying to find my heart again.”

Max pursed his lips and he realized yet again, Liz had turned to Sean for comfort after being hurt by him. “Liz, I’m so sorry. I don’t know what else to say,” Max said. “I swear to you now, that I will do everything I can to make it up to you. That you will never have to turn to another guy for consolation after being with me. And I can promise to take you to our Senior Prom next year and never let you out of my sight the entire night, doting on your every wish, driving you home, or anywhere else you want to go, when the dance is over and tucking you into bed, kissing you passionately until you fall asleep,” Max vowed.

“I’ll take that promise,” Liz said, a faint smile on her lips.

“Well, I guess we’ve pretty much covered it. 2 days after Prom, Alex was killed and everything changed. I was obsessed at finding the truth and you were obsessed with keeping everyone, including me, in Roswell, keeping a low profile. I guess Alex’s death and the fact that he had finished the translation meant Tess could make her final move on you. And it only took 2 weeks for her to completely turn you against me and Isabel, and to convince you that she was pregnant with your dying child and had to leave the planet forever,” Liz concluded.

“God. It just seems so unreal,” Max stated. “I’m just so relieved that you figured everything out and stopped us from leaving with her.” Max wrapped his arms around her and squeezed her in a big hug, kissing her neck as well. “I can only imagine what my last moments of life would have been, knowing that she had tricked us all, that there was no sex, no baby, and that I would watch my sister and my friend be killed because of my actions, and then worst of all, knowing I would never again see you or hold you in my arms or feel your lips against mine.”

Max couldn’t help himself then, and lifted Liz’s face to hers, giving her the most tender, loving kiss that he could. Liz responded in kind, equally as glad that everything had turned out as it had.

Their kisses broke off just as Max’s mom called to them from downstairs. They smiled at each other and went downstairs to see what his mom wanted.
User avatar
6throck
Enthusiastic Roswellian
Posts: 26
Joined: Mon Dec 31, 2001 10:52 am
Location: Glendale, AZ

Re: Arriving (M/L,CC Mature) Chp 19 2/25 pg 16

Post by 6throck »

A/N-Thanks once again, everyone, for your awesome feedback and comments. I'm having fun writing this and watching of some of my previous ideas changing and taking new form. I pretty much know where we're going to end up, but the journey there is taking some unexpected twists and turns along the way.

This next chapter will get us back to Michael and Maria and what they've been doing since they left Roswell.

Just a reminder about the year this was set in. It's May 2001, before 9/11, so some of the things that M/M run into may be more commonplace now, but they weren't back then.


Ok. Here it is.

Chapter 19- The Snapple Candy Crystal Caper


“Max, that was Jim Valenti on the phone,” Diane Evans said. “He just called to invite you and Isabel over to his house tonight for a Memorial Day overnighter and BBQ tomorrow. Dad and I are invited to the BBQ tomorrow afternoon. Do you want to go? I think he’s feeling a bit guilty about the incident with Tess and the Jeep and he sounds like he won’t take no for an answer. He’s planning to be there all night and he and Kyle already have a tent set up in their backyard for the guys and Kyle’s offered his room for the girls.”

Diane looked at Liz. “He’s invited you, too, Liz, provided you get your parents’ permission first. He seemed to think Max would want to know that information,” Diane looked at her son at that last comment.

Max smiled guiltily. “Yeah. I talked to him a bit on the phone earlier when I was helping out Brody. He called and told me Tess left town and called him from Albuquerque saying she was going back to Chicago. We talked for a bit and I told him that I was trying to work things out with Liz now,” Max replied. Might as well spread the new that Tess had left town.

“Oh, well, I guess I’m glad she’s alright. Chicago, huh? Well, it’s probably for the best.” Diane turned to make preparations for dinner.

“Would you like some help, Mrs. Evans?” Liz asked spontaneously. “I’m always serving food in the Crashdown, but I never really have time to make food at home.”

Diane was a bit startled at Liz’s request. She always tried to get Isabel to help her in the kitchen, but had little success. “Sure, thing. Would you mind loaning me your beautiful friend for a little while, Max?” Diane smiled at her son. “Meanwhile, you should probably go find your dad and let him know about Tess. I know he was wondering about her, too.”

Max gave Liz’s hand a squeeze as he let his feelings for her flow through their connection. I love you, he thought at her, looking deep into her eyes, hoping she would be able to hear him since he didn’t want to say it out loud in front of his mom, yet.

Liz’s eyes opened a bit wider as her heart skipped at beat when Max’s feelings for her washed over her. She heard his loving words in her head and concentrated on opening their connection through their linked hands as she, too let her feelings for him pour through her and thought with all her might, I love you, too.

Max smiled at her and nodded slightly, letting her know that he heard her, too and then reluctantly released her hand and turned to look for his dad in his study.

Diane noticed their brief exchange and thought to herself that the looks between them seemed more that just teenage lust— that they truly looked in love. She made a mental note to herself to invite Liz over more often as she suspected Max and Liz would be together a lot now. She only hoped they would take things a bit slower this time.

Diane and Liz busied themselves for the next 30 minutes or so, preparing dinner for the family. Liz was nervous at first being around Max’s mom since this was the first time she really spent any time with her. After the incident last spring with them getting caught in the eraser room and then spending the night together out in the desert, she wasn’t sure what Diane Evans thought about her. Maybe she thought she was some harlot hussy out to seduce her son into her bed. Nope, that was the alien bitch from hell who was trying to do that.

As her mind continued to think about Diane’s feeling for her, suddenly the pendant tingled faintly against her chest and began glowing. Liz felt it and looked down to see the faint glow from beneath her shirt and turned slightly so Diane wouldn’t see. As she did, she sensed that Diane’s feelings about her were pleasant but cautious. She didn’t perceive any bad feelings or suspicions at all. She breathed a small sigh of relief and smiled at Diane as she finished chopping the onions and passed them back to her so she could add them to the dinner.

Max returned a little while later to find his girlfriend and his mom chatting away like old friends while they were finishing the preparations for dinner. He smiled as he watched them from the doorway, thinking to himself that he wouldn’t mind seeing this sight many times in the future. He wondered again how he could have gotten so lucky as to have a girl like Liz fall in love with him, knowing exactly who and what he was, and not caring. He couldn’t wait until the day when he would make Liz his wife, joining her to him in the eyes of the law, even though physically, mentally, and spiritually, she was already his, just as he was hers.

Liz and Diane finished everything for dinner and set the timer for the oven. Looking over at her son in the doorway, Diane said, “Well, now I guess we have some time to wait until dinner is ready. Go get your dad and let’s all sit down in the living room and talk.”

“Isabel, honey? Can you come down here for a few minutes?” Diane called upstairs.

Soon everyone was gathered in the living room and they all sat down together.

“So, we haven’t had a chance to talk about the upcoming week,” Diane began. She looked over at her daughter. “Did you get everything settled with your teachers, Isabel? Are you still set on going to San Francisco for college?”

Isabel looked at Max for a second, thinking of the awful fight they had over going to school in San Francisco. “I think I might need a few more letters, mom, but I’m not sure about going to San Francisco anymore. I may not even get in this year. It might be better for me to think about staying someplace closer to home this year. Max was able to get some great information about Santa Fe State, so I’m going to apply there, too.”

Isabel looked up at Max with that last statement to see what his reaction would be. She hadn’t talked to him about her decision, but after everything that happened the last couple of days and their discoveries the last several hours, she figured that staying closer to home was the best thing for them all right now.

Max was shocked, but overjoyed in hearing Isabel’s changed plans. He didn’t feel the desperate need to keep Isabel in Roswell anymore. He knew now that those feelings were from Tess making sure to keep her plan intact, but he felt better knowing that she would chose to stay close. He nodded slightly in acknowledgement.

“Well, that’s certainly nice of you Max. Are you sure you don’t want to hold out for San Francisco, sweetie? You’ve been so excited about it these last few weeks,” Phillip Evans said.

“Yeah, I’ve thought a lot about it,” Isabel replied. “I think it really appealed to me because I want a big change from living here in Roswell, but I’ve talked to some of my friends at school about Santa Fe, and it looks like a lot of them are planning on going there, too. I will be nice to have some friends there and still be close to home for weekend trips. Santa Fe will be a big enough change for me now, Dad. I can always think about San Francisco another year if I don’t want to stay at Santa Fe.”

“Well, I can’t say I don’t love the idea of you being close to home for the first year, Isabel,” her mother said. “We would have supported you anywhere, but Santa Fe sound like a wonderful choice. Your father and I were talking after you both left this morning, and we decided to get another car for you for a graduation present, Isabel. So, you can take it to school with you this fall,” Diane stated.

Phillip continued. “As for you, Max, we can’t afford to get you both a car right now. But if your sister will share her car with you this summer, and if you work hard this summer at the UFO Center, your mother and I can help you out a little with some money to buy a nice used car before school starts this fall and then we can talk about trading it in for a new car next year when you graduate. How does that sound, Max? Isabel?”

“Wow! Thanks so much, Mom, Dad,” Isabel said, giving them both a big hug. “Of course, I’ll share with Max this summer.”

“Yeah, thanks,” Max replied. That is really very generous of you.”

“Well, I can’t have my son not able to take this lovely lady out on a date without something to drive her around town in,” Diane said, indicating Liz. “What would the neighbors say?”

Liz blushed slightly at Diane’s complement, but as she looked up at Max with his eyes adoring her and his feelings of love sweeping over her, she smiled at him, happy that she was feeling comfortable with his family.

“So, now do you kids have any plans for a party or celebration after school is out for the summer? Any plans for vacations this summer?” Phillip asked.

“Well, my parents are hosting a graduation party for the seniors as usual at the Crashdown, so you know you are all invited,” Liz said. “As for the rest of us poor juniors, I don’t think we’ve talked about anything yet. Maybe after all our finals are over, we’ll decide on something small. I don’t know if any of us will be up to much of a trip this summer,” Liz mused.

“Only Isabel has any big plans in store for this summer, Dad. The rest of us have another year to plan for something big,” Max said naively, having no idea how wrong both his and Liz’s statements would be.

When dinner was ready, everyone sat down to eat. They had a pleasant conversation, and Diane and Phil made an effort to include Liz in their talks. Liz didn’t often get the chance to sit down to dinner with her parents because of their varying schedules with the restaurant, and she found that she enjoyed having a family dinner together with Max’s family and genuinely looked forward to having more of them in the future.

After dinner, Max and Isabel gathered their overnight bags and sleeping bags, stopped by the Crashdown to get Liz’s stuff, and then headed over to the Valenti’s. On the way, Isabel told Max that she was unable to locate Tess’s cell phone at the Pod Chamber earlier, so they concluded that she most likely destroyed the phone before she left.

When they arrived at the Valenti’s, Kyle and his dad were playing on the Play Station and so everyone took turns playing while they waited for Michael and Maria to report in. Max was just about as good as Kyle and Jim, but Isabel and Liz weren’t too far behind, and both girls were gaining in skills the longer they played.

Everyone was having a wonderful time forgetting about the cares of the world around them, forgetting for a couple of hours the burdens they had all been carrying around as they abandon themselves to frivolous recreation.

Liz almost didn’t hear her phone ring because of the shouting going on, but went she did, she quickly pulled her phone from her pocket and answered it, hushing the crowd behind her.

~~~~~
20 minutes earlier, inside a not-so-cheap motel room, Michael and Maria lay on the bed, arms and legs entangled, sleeping soundly. They had both climbed into the bed with the mutual plan of making love, but after a few kisses, they had both been so exhausted that they fell asleep without even removing a single article of clothing. Their actions were understandable considering their lack of sleep the previous night coupled with the long drive from Roswell to Las Cruces that afternoon.

After receiving the initial call from Liz, once they arrived in Las Cruces, Michael and Maria headed straight for the abandon property that had been rented by Jennifer Coleman, hoping to find the computer equipment they had found there last week. But, when they entered the building, they found the entire place had been cleaned out. Michael was really disappointed. His excitement at the discovery of the translation of the book had been dampened by his acceptance of Liz’s belief that the translation had been tampered with. Now, it looked like they may never know if that was true.

They were at the check-in counter of a motel when Maria received the second call from Liz asking them to check out the Las Cruces Museum of Natural Science. They checked into their room, threw their bags in, grabbed a quick bite to eat at a fast food restaurant, and then took off again to find the museum, Michael grumbling under his breath about this being another wild goose chase. But, the trip to the museum had paid off. They had returned to the hotel room excited and nervous about the plans for the evening. Just one look into each other’s eyes sent them scrambling into bed. But sleep quickly overrode desire, putting those plans on hold, at least for the moment.

2 hours before, Michael and Maria were scrambling just to find a parking space. Although they didn’t know it, Sundays were the busiest day of the week at the Las Cruces Museum of Natural Science, so they had to drive around the parking lot a few times before a parking space opened up for them.

The first sign of something strange was not long in coming. As they approached the main entrance, Michael and Maria saw a small line forming outside the huge glass doors, as patrons were waiting to get it. Moving in closer, Maria observed that each person was being screened by a uniformed guard using a metal detecting wand, and every handbag was being searched by hand. She turned to Michael and raised her eyebrow in question. He caught her look and nodded in agreement. Something was fishy here. Why would a museum like this have such high security around it?

When their turn came, both Michael and Maria were subjected to the same search. After they were both deemed safe, they were allowed into the main lobby to purchase their admittance passes. As Maria started walking towards ticket desks, she made a split decision based on her observations. She picked the line that had a man behind the counter who had been stealing glances at her ever since she had walked through the door. She motioned to Michael to take the other line. She sighed before psyching herself up to go through with her idea. This was really Isabel’s area of expertise.

After she purchased her ticket, she leaned over slightly, exposing the tops of her breasts to the oogy-eyed clerk, licking her full lips to make them wet, and smiled sweetly. “So, what's with all the extra security? It's not that I don't mind a pat down or two once in a while, but I was just wondering what this was all for? Is there a dangerous item on exhibit here? I just love danger,” she said suggestively.

The clerk couldn't decide whether to look at her chest or her luscious mouth, and his eyes flickered back and forth between the two. He cleared his throat several times before he found his voice. “No, it's not that. It's just that we had a robbery here just last Wednesday and security has been tightened up to prevent it from happening again.”

“Really? A robbery? Maria asked excitedly. “What was stolen?” Maria held her breath in anticipation, hoping her charms would continue to loosen his tongue.

“Well, I’m not sure about all the details, because I wasn't working when it happened. But, it was done the middle of the day when the museum full of patrons. Two of the guards are still recovering. It seems like they were thrown clear across the room. Only one thing was stolen though, but it was very rare and very valuable.”

“Ooooh!! Wow!! How interesting!! What was it?” Maria tried to sound sexy with her throaty voice.

“Well, it was a crystal. It was part of our exclusive collection.”

“It sounds very intriguing. What was so special about this crystal?” Maria asked, leaning down on her arm a bit more to thrust her breasts higher.

The nervous clerk eyed her breasts briefly before he lowered his voice and continued. “Well, I don't know everything, but they say these crystals are unlike any crystals anyone has even seen. I guess a whole bunch of scientists ran a lot of tests on them, and they showed some very unusual properties. Rumor is, they were found near the Roswell crash site. Anyway, there are only 6 such crystals in the world, and we had all of them here. Now, with one of them stolen, we're a little nervous about losing the rest. The exhibit was closed for a several days and today is the first day it’s been reopened.”

“Hmmmm. That is very interesting. Well, can you tell me where the exhibit is so I can see these other crystals? You've really piqued my interest.”

“Sure thing. Here's a map. You're right here. Go down the corridor to your left and go all the way through the exhibits till you get to the back. The crystal exhibit is right here,” as he circled the section on the map.

“Thank you so much, Chuck,” Maria said, reading his name off his tag. “You've been very, very helpful.” Maria batted her eyes, and gave him a wink as she walked off to join Michael, who had already purchased his ticket and was watching Maria curiously.

“What was that all about?” Michael asked roughly, narrowing his eyes as he saw the clerk watch Maria walk away.

“That was about using feminine charms to get information, Michael. I think we need to go visit this exhibit,” Maria said, pointing to the map. “I have a feeling these crystals may really be from Czeckloslavakia.”

Weaving their way through the exhibits, Maria filled Michael in on the info she got from Chuck. “On Wednesday, Michael! That's just 2 days before we found that crystal at the property. And the way he described it, it sounds like the same one.”

Michael's eyes widened with understanding. “And if there are more of them . . .” He left the statement hanging.

“Exactly!” Maria answered.

The crystal exhibit room had 4 guards stationed inside. No other rooms had any guards, so Michael realized that they were taking the robbery pretty seriously. The entire room was devoted to the museum’s exclusive crystal collection, but the display with the special crystals was on a raised platform in the middle of the room. It was completely surrounded by a small black chain, which was just to keep people from stepping up on the platform, but wasn't any great barrier. But, the glass case that housed the remaining crystals was protected on all sides by laser eyes sensors, which looked like them had been a recent installation. Each crystal was housed in a box lined with black velvet, with an impression in the foam that exactly matched each crystal's shape and size.

As soon as Michael saw the remaining crystals, he had no doubt as to their origin. The 5 crystals looked exactly like the one he, Maria, and Liz had found at the property—the crystal they had used to activate the Granilith. The only difference between them was the length. Two of them appeared to be the same length, roughly 6 inches, a bit shorter than the one that had been stolen. Another crystal was only 4 inches long, and another one was about 8 inches in length. The last one was 12 inches long and almost seemed to have a green tinge to it. Michael walked all around the exhibit, examining them from every angle. Maria stopped to read the information sign posted at the foot of the platform.

“Michael, come read this!” As Michael joined her side, she started reading, “Alien Crystals? These extremely rare crystals have unique properties. Although differing in length, each crystal is exactly the same weight and same diameter in thickness. The crystals shapes are too smooth and uniform to have formed that way naturally, yet no tool made by man has been able to even scratch the surface. Even a diamond does not leave a mark, leaving the creation of their current shapes a mystery. These rare crystals have been in our collection for the last 10 years. The Museum obtained the crystals from a native New Mexico resident. The fact that the owner was a member of the Mesaliko Indian reservation just outside of Roswell and claims that his father found the crystals near the famed Crash site leaves many to wonder if the origins of these crystals are indeed otherworldly.”

Maria turned to Michael after reading the sign and saw his thoughts mirrored hers. “We have to take these, Maria!” he said in a hushed voice. She nodded her head in agreement.
~~~~~~
Maria rolled over, reaching out for Michael, her fingers finding empty space instead. Slowly waking up, she sat up, rubbing sleep out of her eyes, her gaze immediately searching for Michael. She saw him sitting at the small table by the window, watching TV quietly. She crawled out of bed and walked over to him, setting her hands on his shoulders, rubbing them lightly.

Michael lowered his head a little, so Maria could have better access to his neck and murmured, “Hmmm, that feels good, Maria. Did you have a nice nap?”

Maria walked around Michael and sat down in his lap, kissing him sounding on the lips before replying, “As a matter of fact, I did, although I had planned on sleeping with fewer clothes on,” she said, suggestively.

“Hmmmm. It makes no difference to me. It does give your clothes that rumbled look, though. But, that’s how my clothes look most of the time anyway, so I don’t care if that’s the way you look.” He cringed as she swatted him playfully for that remark. “Ow! What did I say?”

“What did you mean by that? I know you were thinking the same thing I was thinking when we got into that bed together, Michael Guerin.” Her green eyes were snapping in fury.

He knew he was in trouble when she used his whole name like that. He did the only thing he could think of to distract her. He pulled her roughly to him and began ravishing the side of her neck. Maria’s eyes rolled briefly as he sucked on her neck, as she knew exactly what her boyfriend was trying to do. But, after a moment, her eyes closed in pleasure, as all thought of her brief anger flew right out of her head. He felt her soften in his arms and he turned his attention towards her luscious mouth, her lips open, waiting for him.

After he felt she had been thoroughly kissed, Michael pulled back, kissing her one last time on the nose. Maria sighed in contentment and then turned her attention to the items on the table, her eyes narrowing slightly as she pondered the sight in front of her. “Ah? Michael? What’s up with all the Snapple?” 8 bottles of Snapple stood on the table. 4 were empty, 3 were full, and another one was half-full.

“I saw these when I went to the vending machine earlier. I thought I could use these for the dupes,” Michael said. “The texture of the glass reminded me of the texture of the crystals.”

“Ok. I can see how these bottles should serve to make the replacements. But, there’s 8 bottles here. You only need 5.”

“Well, I thought I could use a couple extra for practice,” he said as he picked up the open Snapple and took a big drink.

“But, you don’t have to sit here and drink them all, you know. You can just dump them out in the sink to empty the bottles.”

“What! And waste all this good Snapple? Besides, I specifically picked out the flavors that I wanted to try.”

Maria took the Snapple from Michael and examined the bottle. Then she took a swallow to taste it. She shrugged her shoulders and then put the bottle down on the table again. “Well, I can’t help you too much here, Michael. This stuff just runs right through me.”

Michael was then suddenly very aware of the weight of Maria’s body on his lap, pressing down on his own bladder. He grimaced and then without warning, he picked Maria up and threw her off his lap as he ran straight for the bathroom. The sound of him relieving himself echoed off the bathroom walls.

“Michael!! I hope you take care of that problem before we leave. It’s hard to be stealthy while stealing crystals if you’re going to be running to the John every five minutes!!”
Locked