Title:Return to Roswell
Disclaimer:The characters of "Roswell" belong to Jason Katims, Melinda Metz, WB, and UPN. They are not mine and no infringement is intended.
Pairings/Couples/Category:M/L, M/M CC
Rating:Teen
Summary:The gang left Roswell ten years ago. They ran from the Special Unit, but the ran from something else. The left their destines, left a world they never knew to be consumed by chaos. They would chose their own destiny. But what happens when destiny comes chasing after them?
Author's Note: I recently finished watching the whole series of Roswell and I was left wondering how the story could continue today. So here's my attempt. I hope you enjoy.
They were not happy.
This planet was had one of the most diverse ecosystems where planets were concerned. There were rain forests with miles and miles of exotic trees, there were wintery lands where colors danced across the sky, (Northern Lights? Is that what they called it?) and there were warm beaches where the salty water of the sea gently kissed the sandy shores.
So many possibilities and they ended up in a desert. The air was dry and unforgiving as it blew warmly over their skins. The empty ground danced before them, letting particles of sand rest on their clothes. The sporadic bushes pleaded for water, as a ugly lizard darted across the barren wasteland.
Rydell glanced at his sister, her features so much like his own that he could already name the distaste lingering on her features. Her dirty blonde hair fluttered in the wind, her hazel eyes grew small, and her nose crinkled in disgust. He should speak before Gynna could get the first word in.
He moved his gaze to Javis. “Of all the possibilities this planet has to offer and you decide on a desert?”
Javis shifted his weight from one foot to the other, before kicking the ground with his left foot. The ground responded by throwing up a cloud of dirt. “This was the last place they were seen.”
“That was ten years ago.” Rydell stated, glancing once more at the barren environment.
“Yes, but there are close to seven billion humans on this planet-“
“Which is exactly why we shouldn’t be in Roswell New Mexico. Seven billion people and billions of cities and you picked the one city we know they are not occupying. Where is the logic in that?” Gynna finally snapped.
She bent down quickly and picked up a rock, chucking it in the distance with all her might. “We should be somewhere else. Searching.”
Javis’ form grew rigid. Rydell watched as he whipped his head in Gynna’s directions. His gray eyes were cloudy behind his glasses and his balding head shone in the sunlight. Rydell didn’t understand why he took this form, the man could shape-shift into any human he wanted and he chose a middle aged man. Maybe it was because he wanted to stay inconspicuous or maybe with all his research on the human race and all his experiences, he still didn’t fully understand them. But with all Rydell’s wondering, he knew that right now was not the time to ask.
“We will not be searching Gynna.”
Gynna’s features grew darker. “What do you mean? That is why our father sent us! We have two weeks to discover the Royal Four whereabouts and bring them back!”
Javis only smiled in respond causing Gynna’s angry to grow.
Finally Rydell spoke up, knowing that if he let the two continue to bicker, powers would emerge and they could not risk the exposure. “Gynna’s right Javis. If we don’t find them in our allotted time, our father will come. If our father comes the Skins will discover what we are doing and try to stop us. We need to find them and to find them we need to search for them.”
Javis finally chuckled at the two. He glanced at them with knowing eyes, a twinkle glistening behind his glasses, a secret that they knew not. After his chuckle slowly died in his throat he said, “We will not be searching for them because they will be finding us.”
***
Emma went to grab the plate without thinking, it only took her a second to pull her hand back.
“Ouch! Hot! Ouch!”
Jerry glanced at her, his goatee covered with a hairnet. “They generally are small fry.”
Emma quiet shaking her hand and glared at Jerry. “Very funny Jerry, very funny.”
Jerry shrugged. “You’ve been working here a year, just thought you’d figure it out by now.”
Emma continued to glare as she pulled a tray off the counter and placed the warm plate on top. She didn’t need the reminder. One whole year, a total of 365 days, and it was all too much. She kept telling herself that it was worth it, that after a year she would appreciate the money that would aid her in escaping this small desert town. But she was at her breaking point. After two tables who tipped terribly, she was done with her shift—three hours in.
She walked over to the guest’s table. It was a father and his two kids—a son and a daughter and they looked to be about Emma’s age. They were probably here to check out the UFO center, the father looked like the sort that would drag his kids out of school on some wacky road trip. They must be bored out of their minds watching their father geek-out on the possible alien sighting that may have happened at Roswell over fifty years ago.
“Your MIB cheeseburger, sorry for the wait. Is there anything else I can get you?” Emma asked, placing the plate in front of the father.
“That’ll be all for me.”
“Could we get some tabasco sauce?” The son asked, glancing down at his milkshake.
“Sure thing.” Emma answered nonchalantly.
She walked back to the counter and quickly grabbed a bottle of tabasco sauce. She turned around, watching as the diner spun with her before finding herself colliding with something. The tabasco bottle slipped from her hands and she waited for the sound of the glass shattering on the ground, as a pair of hands steadied her. The shatter never came.
“You alright Emma?”
Emma glanced up, finding that she had run right into her boss. In his right hand was the bottle of tabasco sauce that she had destined to pieces on the floor.
“Mr. Parker! I am so sorry!”
“That the second time today that Emma’s gotten all air-headed on us Jeff. I think you should send the kid home.”
Jeff smiled, glancing behind Emma and at Jerry. “Get back to work Jerry. Those burgers aren’t cooking themselves!”
Emma heard Jerry mumble, before Jeff turned his attention back to Emma, handing her the bottle of tabasco sauce. “Be careful next time, okay?”
Emma smiled. “Will do.”
She darted back toward the table, hoping that they weren’t getting disgruntled over her absence. That would be just what she needed, another lousy tip. “Here’s your bottle of tabasco sauce.”
The boy glanced up and reached for the bottle, Emma leaned an inch forward so it was easier for him to grasp.
Then something strange happened.
Their fingers touched.
Emma had touched plenty of hands. When she placed plates on the table, giving people extra napkins, taking money for the bill, given change, but this was different. This was very different. When her fingers touched the boy’s, her mind went somewhere else. There was a flash and the only thing she could think about was this…plant. She couldn’t describe the plant, it wasn’t like any plant she had seen before. All plants she knew had some shade of green, but this plant it was teal and the leaves? Could she even call them leaves? Were they petals? There were a vibrant white and they were glowing. The glow radiate outward, swimming through the air for a few inches. And the smell. It smelt….amazing. Incredible, really. Like nothing she had ever smelt before.
And it scared her, because she had never smelled that plant before. She had never seen it before in her life.
So why was she remembering it as her favorite smell in the world?
Emma pulled her fingers away, letting both her arms dangle uselessly at her side for a moment. All she could was stare at the boy.
She made sure that she had never met him before, glad to see that his appearance wasn’t familiar. His hair was short, but not too short. It was long enough for Emma to tell that he hadn’t brushed it today. His face was strong; his cheek bones framed his hazel eyes handsomely.
“Thank you for the tabasco sauce.” He said awkwardly aware that her eyes were lingering on him for a long period of time.
Emma blinked, quickly dragging her eyes from the boy and glancing at the other two members of the party. Emma could tell by the questionable look in their eyes that her long glance at the boy didn’t go unnoticed.
“Oh, uh.” Emma struggled for words. “Enjoy your meal.”
Emma walked away quickly, forcing herself not to glance back at the table. She forced on her boss instead.
“Hey Mr. Parker.” She said, shaking her head once more. It didn’t help. The strange plant and the smell that accompanied it still floated through her mind.
“Hey there Emma,” He said, looking up from the glass he was cleaning.
“I was just thinking that Jerry was right. I’m totally out of it today. I guess I’m not feeling well or something. So would it possible to maybe go home early?”
Jeff didn’t answer, instead he froze in mid-wipe. His focus had left Emma, his eyes grew wide, and his jaw became unhinged. Emma turned around to see what had shocked her boss still.
She found the boy she had given the tabasco sauce moments ago shaking half the bottle into his milkshake.
She blinked a few times to make sure she wasn’t imagining it. She wasn’t.
“Weird.” She said, turning back to her boss. “I would never do that in a million years.”
Jeff came back to life with a quick intake of breath. “I use to know a few people who did that.”
“Really?” Emma asked, her interest perked. “Anyone I know?”
Jeff shook his head and returned to cleaning the glass. “No. Why don’t you take off early? I can handle the place from here; it should be dying down any minute now.”
***
“What did you do to that girl?”
Rydell didn’t look at his sister. His gaze was focused out the window and at the house across from theirs. There was a single light on upstairs. Another neighbor, he wondered for a moment if they would come welcome them too. Their two next door neighbors had stopped by, welcoming them to the neighborhood with a coffee cake and basket of flowers. It was going to be hard staying unnoticed in this small town.
“Nothing.” Rydell finally said, tearing his eyes away from the window to look at Gynna. “Why?”
“It didn’t look like nothing. It looked like she had seen a ghost.” Gynna shook her head, causing her hair to move in waves and was genetically coded to be the exact same color as Rydell’s. She had the same hazel eyes as well, right down to the freckle in the left eye. Sometimes Rydell thought Javis did his job too well. They were looked too much alike to for Rydell to be a year older, here on Earth they would have to pass off their similarities as the characteristics of identical twins.
Rydell looked out the window again, focusing on the lite room across the street. “It was nothing.” He said again.
“Whatever you say.” Gynna huffed.
But it wasn’t nothing. If Javis was in the room he would know instantly that Rydell was lying. He had programmed one of Rydell’s eyebrows to twitch when he lied. It was security precaution. If Rydell was ever caught by the Skins and turned, Javis would know instantly by asking him. Gynna would have something along the same lines. All the hybrids did, never the same though. If they were, the Skins would catch on and use the defect to their advantage.
Finally Rydell saw a body. It was the girl from the diner—Emma, he thought he heard someone call her earlier today.
Emma.
He had a feeling she lived there.
He watched as she bunched up her blonde hair and placed it into a loose ponytail, before folding her long legs together and pulling out a book.
He wondered if she knew what she saw. Of course she didn’t, but Rydell wondered for a second longer then was necessary. It was careless of him, but he was caught by surprise. He hadn’t expected her, or any human, to smell like a Vardnia. He was in awe for one small second and in that small second his fingers touched hers, and his let down his defenses.
If Javis knew, he would kill him. Well not kill him but would be incredibly anger with him. So would Gynna. Javis would fear that he had exposed them and that the girl—Emma, he reminded himself—would report them to the authorities. Gynna would be upset that he had jeopardized their mission and any hopes of ending the wars back home.
So he kept it to himself. Obviously the girl, Emma, had no idea what had flashed through her mind and she would forget it by tomorrow. Rydell studied the human mind extensity before coming to this planet and he knew that the female specimen at this age were quick to forget one thing and move on to another. He didn’t have to worry, or at least that’s what he kept telling himself.
“What’s that?” Rydell heard Gynna ask.
Rydell turned from the window to find that Javis had entered the room, holding some sort of device in his hand.
Javis smiled. “This is going to bring the Royal Four to straight to us.”
Rydell took a few steps closer. “What do you mean?”
“I’ve been working on this device for some time. I don’t know if you are aware, but we did have some essence of the Royal Four left—along with the human DNA we mixed it with.”
“Then why didn’t we just make another set?” Gynna asked, attempting to grab the device from Javis’ hand.
Javis was quick to pull his hand away. “It would be easier than attempting to find the four that we sent here. We could have just raised a new pair that would be willing to fight for our cause.”
Javis shook his head. “We didn’t have enough to support the growth of a fetus, but we did have enough for this.” He head up the device again. “Besides, you know as well as I do that our people consider the hybrids living on this planet the Royal Four. We couldn’t replace them with another pair—they wouldn’t be accepted.”
Rydell glanced at the device more closely. It was a small trapezoid, fitting comfortably in Javis’ hand. It had ragged crystal edges that were cloudy. The cloudiness grew and manifested in the center of the device. He couldn’t see how such a small device would bring them the Royal Four.
“What does it do?” He finally asked, his curiosity winning over his disbelief.
Javis glanced down at his hand and smiled lovingly. Javis treated every single one of his creations like a child and this one was no expectation.
“It will call out to them.” He answered.
“But not bring them here?” Gynna asked skeptically.
Javis shook his head. “No, but they will be….drawn to Roswell. Anyone with the same DNA—or a variation of this DNA will receive the call.”
“Smart.” Rydell said, surprised that Javis had thought of that. “Their children will receive the call as well. The Royal Four won’t just find us; a Royal Family will come with them. “
“That’s if it works.” Gynna added, still skeptical of the device in Javis’ hand.
“Why don’t we find out?” Javis asked, smiling as his hand reach for a protruding crystal and twisting it.
***
The small house was quiet, asleep like the occupancies inside. It was clean. The dishes from dinner had been washed and were currently drying on the dish rack next to the sink. The living room had been recently vacuumed, the streaks of the vacuum cleaner could still be seen on the floor. There were pictures of the owners in every room. Some in frames, hanging on the wall. Some held up by magnets on the fridge. Some sat contently on the two side tables by the couch. The owners were a young couple, no children, but happy in every picture. If children weren’t present, they would be coming soon, but not in this house. This house was too small.
One room, one bathroom, and the dining room table shared a small corner with the living room. No, this happy couple would have to move when their family begins to grow.
But tonight, everything was still. The man and wife slept soundly in their bed. The man was sprawled out, lying on his stomach. One arm wrapped around his small wife, because even in sleep he need to make sure she was there, that she was safe. The wife slept on her side, a hand shoved under her pillow.
It was peacefully.
But it wouldn’t last for long.
Because shortly after midnight, Liz Evans eyes flew open.
Return to Roswell (CC, L/M M/M, Teen) CH 6 - 20/5/12 [WIP]
Moderators: Anniepoo98, ISLANDGIRL5, truelovepooh, Forum Moderators
Return to Roswell (CC, L/M M/M, Teen) CH 6 - 20/5/12 [WIP]
Last edited by B Mac on Sun May 20, 2012 9:02 am, edited 5 times in total.
Re: Return to Roswell (CC, L/M M/M, Teen) CH 1 - 30/12/12
Thank you all for the lovely feedback! And sorry for not updating sooner!
For all the questions (Thanks Helen! :]) I feel that this chapter might answer some, but the later chapters will definitely patch up all the lingers questions about the dupes, Zan, and the original characters.
Thanks once again!
Enjoy!
Chapter Two
Liz Evans woke up for many reasons. The first was a vision. Even after a decade, the sudden flashes of the future still caught her off guard. For brief moments of time she wondered if she would ever grow use to her developing alien powers or understand why she developed them.
She was the only one. Of the countless individuals that Max had healed….she was the only one who seemed to become more like the hybrids. Max was hesitant at first; reluctant to heal anyone when the gang discovered that those Max healed could develop alien powers. He was afraid too. He didn’t want to put anyone through the confusion, the doubt, even the self-hatred that he felt himself because of his powers. Especially when they would be going through it alone, without a single idea what was happening to them.
So they waited. Kyle didn’t develop powers, neither did the terminally ill children Max healed in the hospital, nor Valenti. They were flabbergasted, stunned, confused. They didn’t understand why Liz was the only individual that Max healed who developed powers. They spent hours poring over the translated pages of the Antarian book, attempting to find a reason—some logical excuse to explain it all, but they never did. After a year they accepted Liz’s alien powers. Liz did too, but it didn’t stop the occasional vision from taking her by surprise.
This vision flashed through her brain with a flood of emotion. Three years after her premonitions developed, they grew stronger. She began to feel what was happening in the visions, as if she was there. She saw a girl—maybe sixteen or seventeen. Her blonde hair cascaded onto the floor, forming a soft halo around her skull. Her long limbs were contorted this way and that, her blue eyes lifeless, and the skull that was so carefully guarded by her halo of hair was missing a piece by her left temple.
But, in this vision, Liz did not feel the emotions of the girl—she felt the emotions of an onlooker. There was dread, guilt, angry, loss, and pain. So much pain. The pain seized Liz’s entire body as if it was her own. She couldn’t breathe, she couldn’t think, she could barely be.
The onlooker loved this dead girl—with their entire being. Looking down at the lifeless body, they knew they
had lost the only thing they have ever loved.
That would be enough to send Liz into a state of consciousness. But there was a second reason Liz’s eyes flew open as a new day approached. Flashes. It wasn’t visions. No, Liz could tell the difference. After the vision faded from Liz’s subconscious, flashes took their place. They were quick, so quick that she could barely identify what they were—but she managed. It was Roswell. After ten years away, Liz could still identify the small town where she was born. A small town that she had forced herself not to think about, a small town that she missed more than she thought she could, or would care to admit. After the flashes, a flood of yearning—no need—overtook her senses. She needed to go back to Roswell.
The terrifying vision and the flashes of Roswell would have woken Liz; she would have spent the rest of the early morning hours sipping tea on the couch, hoping that sleep would return to her eyes. But there was one more reason that Liz’s eyes open wide—because Max Evans woke with a gasp, flying up just as Liz opened her eyes.
***
“We have newbies!” A voice sang happily in Emma’s ear.
Emma glanced away from the ancient book sitting heavily on her lap and found her best friend dancing in front of her. Daisy’s dark curls bounced with her movement, her even darker eyes twinkled in joy. Despite all her dark features, Daisy was the bubbliest person Emma knew. It seemed fitting that they would be best friends—ying and yang, or something like that.
Emma signed, glancing back down at the book to examine a picture of a flower. “Really now?” She huffed, attempting to sound interested.
“Come on Emma! You know more than I do that the dwindling populations of Roswell New Mexico craves new occupants. It keeps the town from ending up in the history books as a ghost town. “
Emma closed her book, watching as Daisy took a seat next to her. “Okay, I’m sorry. I am excited. Really, I am.”
Daisy peered at her, finally shaking her head. “No you aren’t, but I forgive you. Do you want to know the details?”
“If I say no, is that really going to stop you from telling me?”
“No.”
“Well then, who are these newcomers?” Emma asked, forcing as much enthusiasm into her tone as she could.
“Siblings. Their father studies rocks in the desert –or something like that. I haven’t seen the boy, but I saw his sister. She’s in my history class and let me tell you , the boys are going to be all over that. Not only is she something new to look at, but she’s all kinds of shiney too.”
“Good, I was afraid that Pete was going to ask me out again.” Emma said, placing the large book in between them.
Daisy tilted her head in consideration, before shaking it. “Nope. That boy has it bad for you. The new girl might be new, but you’re the comfort blanket that he’s had for years.”
Emma groaned, letting her eyes close and her head fall back. Pete Smith was her next door neighbor, they had grown up together. Before Emma met Daisy in middle school, she had considered Pete her best friend—practically her brother. After middle school and the changes of puberty, Emma still considered him a close friend, but Pete….Pete started to think of her as more. Emma didn’t want more. She wanted her relationship
with Pete to stay the same.
It didn’t help that their parents were close friends. Emma knew that they were secretly hoping that they would end up together. She could see it in her mother’s eyes every time Pete called and she answered the phone.
“I can hope.” Emma finally said, opening her eyes and glancing at Daisy again.
Daisy had found the large book that Emma had placed between them. It lay open on her lap as she flipped carelessly through its pages. She stopped on an article of the rose, finally looking up at Emma.
“Why the sudden interest in…horticulture?” She asked slowing, flipping the page once more.
Emma leaned over, letting her hands grasp the book in Daisy’s lap. She brought it to her own, no needing to glance up to see Daisy’s questionable look.
“No reason, just bored.” She answered.
“Really?” Daisy asked and Emma knew that her eyebrows were dangling a few inches below her hairline in curiosity.
She continued to gaze down at the book, before shrugging.
She couldn’t possibly tell Daisy that she was searching for the mysterious plant that haunted her dreams.
After it had flashed through her mind, she left work and went to the library to pick up a book about plants. She came back with ten. She spent last night flipping through their pages attempting to find the flower, plant, root—or whatever—that she saw. She wanted to make sure it was real and not something that she had thought up unthinkingly fast. She had a habit of doing that. She would think of ways to escape this small town. A bus, a car, an elopement. She could somehow rationalize that the same thing had happened with this plant—that her mind had created something so exotic to remind her that there was a whole world out there for her to see.
That might be the reason she was why she kept this plant alive in her mind. She wanted to make sure it was real—that something so beautiful existed and that she might one day see it. And to make sure that she hadn’t completely lost her mind.
She finally looked up at Daisy, who had occupied herself with something in the distance. The bright twinkle returned to her eyes.
She turned her gaze to Emma. “We’ll talk about this later,” her voice resuming its sing-song tone. “You have to turn around! The newbies are coming this way!”
Emma signed, before rolling her eyes and turned to glance at two unfamiliar faces in a crowd of familiar ones.
Expect they weren’t new. She had seen them before.
***
Max’s eyes raced around their small bedroom, his mind remembering where he was. Liz sat up after him, watching him carefully.
His features had stayed the same—for the most part. There were small changes, nothing too noticeable. His boyish figure transformed into that of a man’s and he had matured into his facial features gracefully. His shoulders were strong, stronger than they were when he was a boy. One of the only gifts Liz appreciated from his construction job.
Mentally he had matured too. Instead of approaching decisions timidly with discretion, he approached them boldly—but with the same discretion that he was known for.
In the dark, he let his eyes connected straight with hers. His breathing was quick, as if he had just finished running a mile in less than six minutes. He wrapped his arms around her securely. Despite all the growing up, he was still the same boy that was quick to protect her from the world he unwillingly dragged her into. Something that Liz knew he would always struggle with. But looking into his dark eyes, Liz saw the same boy that she had fallen in love with years ago.
“Did you see them too?” He asked, attempting to catch his breath.
Liz smiled softly and nodded, hearing two distinct telephone’s ringing—Max’s cell phone and the home phone.
Max’s body tensed, signaling that he was reluctant to stand. Liz rubbed his back gently.
“We should get those. They could be important.” Liz said, letting her chin rest on his bare shoulder for a moment. “It’s not every day that two phones ring at once.”
Max let out a sigh of defeat and stood up to walk over to where his cell phone laid charging. He glanced down at the glowing screen, before pressing the necessary button to answer the call.
“Isabel,” he greeted.
Liz stood up and let her eyes linger on Max’s back for a moment longer before heading into the living room to pick up the home phone.
“Hello?” She answered.
“Liz,” Michael’s voice came through the line tiredly. In the background she heard the wails of children.
“Michael?”
“Did you see them?” He asked and Liz could hear the wails grow louder. “Did you see the flashes?” Michael asked once again, this time his voice grew louder as the cries approached.
Liz could only guess who was crying. The cries seemed new and shrill, the repetitive nature could only be from an infant. It must be Laurie.
“Of Roswell?” She asked. She wanted to be surprise, but she couldn’t. If she had a vision and so did Max, it would only make sense that the rest had seem them too. That would be the only reason Isabel and Michael
would be calling at twelve-thirty in the morning.
“You did? We’re coming over.” Michael said quickly.
Liz closed her eyes and shook her head. “No,” She verbalized. “Max and I will come over. It’ll be easier. You and Maria would have to pack up the kids. If we come to you it’ll be quicker.”
“Daddy? Who’s on the phone?”
Courtney, Liz identified. Maria and Michael’s oldest. She let her eyes open slowly, allowing a smile to overtake her lips. She silently thanked the little girl, knowing that Michael would be persistent to come to their place. His determination hadn’t faded away with age, instead it grew stronger. After the birth of Laurie, it had reached an all-time high. If Liz hadn’t known better, she would say he was worried. Something changed with Laurie’s birth. It was like a switched and been flipped. He had become more like the defensive, quiet youth he was before he had married Maria. Maria was worried too, noticing his distance—she had told Liz over their weekly coffee date.
“See?” Liz finally said. “Max and I will be over as soon as he’s off the phone.”
“Isabel?”
“It wouldn’t be alien related unless she was involved.” Liz answered. “We’ll be there as soon as we can.”
“Make it sooner.” Michael responded before hanging up without a proper goodbye.
Liz let out a small laugh before placing the wireless phone on the end table next to the couch. She stood there for a second, suddenly feeling heavy with emotion—or one emotion really.
It wasn’t fear. She wasn’t scared, she hadn’t be scared for seven years. She had grown use to her life on the run. After two years of running from the scattered members of the Special Unit that were chasing them, it seemed to be a game. It was a lifetime of cat and mouse and the Roswell natives had grown awfully good at playing.
They would sometimes separate for a few months to throw the Unit off their trail; they would travel to Canada or Mexico to entangle the Unit in the bureaucracies of other nations. They would spend hours brain storming ways to keep the Unit off their heels and after a few years it became fun.
But things changed. Things always changed.
In 2005 Maria and Michael finally married. It was a small ceremony, like Liz and Max’s. Maria had insisted on being married on a beach and on the sandy shores of La Jolla Beach in California, they became Man and Wife.
They hadn't really thought too much of the located. The gang was driving along the coast, heading for San Diego. The plan was to ‘accidently’ be picture at the boarder leading into Mexico, fully knowing that the Unit would be watching both boarders for signs of them. After being spotted, the gang would separate for a year with hopes of keeping the Unit unaware of their overall whereabouts.
It was in La Jolla that Michael suggested that Maria and he get married. At first Maria resisted, complaining that Michael had put no though into the proposal, but he did. In that small, old van Liz was getting to know Michael like she had never known him before. Maybe it was because of the small quarters, or that they were spending almost every waking hour together, but Liz like to think that it was because somewhere along the road the six of them—Max, Michael, Isabel, Maria, and herself—became a family.
But for whatever reason, Liz knew that Michael had thought about the proposal. They had been driving along the coastline, the ocean glistening in the sun—he must have remembered Maria’s desire to marry on a beach. There was also the decision to separate for a year, the longest they had ever been separated, and there was always the possibility that when they did reunite, one face would be gone forever. They didn’t speak about it, but they all knew—and Liz knew that having everyone there would be important for Maria. Michael must have known that too. This was the perfect time and Michael realized that, even if Maria didn’t
It took Michael a quick trip to a pawn shop for a ring and a day to convince Maria, but they were married on a quiet La Jolla beach.
After one change, came another.
La Jolla, it wasn’t a first time visit for half the gang. Three had been there before.
It might have been the city, it might have been the beach, or it might have been the fact that a wedding reminded Isabel so much of her own failed marriage, but that day she made a decision.
When the group separated, she informed them that she would head to Boston. She also told them that she wouldn’t be coming back. She couldn’t forget Jesse. Most importantly she didn’t want to forget him and being in the town where they had celebrated their marriage made her realize that. Max was against it, but when Kyle said he would go with her—promising that he would watch over her and inform him if anything bad happened, he reluctantly let her go.
Kyle had called Liz a halfway through the year of separation. Isabel had found Jesse. He was with someone else and she refused to make contact. She wouldn’t tell Kyle why and when Max found out, she wouldn’t tell him why either, but she insisted in staying in Boston. Kyle stayed with her.
The next change changed everything.
In 2008, Maria realized she was pregnant.
The pregnancy became a concern. They didn’t know what to expect, the only alien pregnancy they knew was with Tess and they hadn’t been there for it. Would this baby inherit Michael’s alien powers? Would the pregnancy only last a month? Could a human carry an alien baby? Would the baby be okay? Would Maria be okay? They had so many questions and they couldn’t possibly go to a doctor and risk exposure.
So they did the only thing they could do—they waited.
Thirty days.
Courtney Guerin was born. She was a perfectly healthy baby girl. No abnormalities—human or alien. But with her birth things changes, Michael changed—and everyone noticed. He wanted to settle down. The man who was always pressuring them not to stay in one place longer than a few days, wanted to find a steady job and rent an apartment.
It wasn’t safe, Max tried to convince him. The Unit would find them in no time. Michael and Maria refused their pleas. In the heat of their arguments, Max suggested they give Courtney up for adoption, attempting to convince Michael that giving her up was the only way to keep her safe—leading to one of the worst fights Max and Michael had ever had. They hadn’t spoken for weeks. Max’s suggested damaged Maria and Liz’s friendship as well. While Michael’s changed was evident, Maria’s was subtle. Only Liz could detect the change. Courtney was the best thing that ever happened to Maria and she would not willingly give her away.
In the end, they kept Courtney. Michael was accepted Max’s apology first, understanding why Max had suggested it. But Maria, Maria only forgave him after a few months.
Michael and Maria settled down, choosing a small town in the middle of California.
Liz and Max decided to go with them.
They could have continued running, keeping the Unit distracted for a little time. But like their friends, they were tired. Tired of running, tired of being nomads, just tired. So in their exhausted state they made a plan—if the Unit found them, which they hadn’t so far, they would fight. Not run. They were done running; if the time came they would fight until the very end.
And they waited until that time came.
They waited, renting a small house in a neighborhood ten minutes from Michael and Maria. They waited, as Liz found a job at a diner and Max found a job in construction. They waited, as Liz went back to school working to gain her teaching credentials and Max became foreman. They waited, as the man they were renting the house from offered to sell it to them. They waited, as the bought it. They waited until they stopped waiting and started living.
Until now.
No, the feeling rushing through Liz was not fear. It was a feeling that she should have known better.
For all the questions (Thanks Helen! :]) I feel that this chapter might answer some, but the later chapters will definitely patch up all the lingers questions about the dupes, Zan, and the original characters.
Thanks once again!
Enjoy!
Chapter Two
Liz Evans woke up for many reasons. The first was a vision. Even after a decade, the sudden flashes of the future still caught her off guard. For brief moments of time she wondered if she would ever grow use to her developing alien powers or understand why she developed them.
She was the only one. Of the countless individuals that Max had healed….she was the only one who seemed to become more like the hybrids. Max was hesitant at first; reluctant to heal anyone when the gang discovered that those Max healed could develop alien powers. He was afraid too. He didn’t want to put anyone through the confusion, the doubt, even the self-hatred that he felt himself because of his powers. Especially when they would be going through it alone, without a single idea what was happening to them.
So they waited. Kyle didn’t develop powers, neither did the terminally ill children Max healed in the hospital, nor Valenti. They were flabbergasted, stunned, confused. They didn’t understand why Liz was the only individual that Max healed who developed powers. They spent hours poring over the translated pages of the Antarian book, attempting to find a reason—some logical excuse to explain it all, but they never did. After a year they accepted Liz’s alien powers. Liz did too, but it didn’t stop the occasional vision from taking her by surprise.
This vision flashed through her brain with a flood of emotion. Three years after her premonitions developed, they grew stronger. She began to feel what was happening in the visions, as if she was there. She saw a girl—maybe sixteen or seventeen. Her blonde hair cascaded onto the floor, forming a soft halo around her skull. Her long limbs were contorted this way and that, her blue eyes lifeless, and the skull that was so carefully guarded by her halo of hair was missing a piece by her left temple.
But, in this vision, Liz did not feel the emotions of the girl—she felt the emotions of an onlooker. There was dread, guilt, angry, loss, and pain. So much pain. The pain seized Liz’s entire body as if it was her own. She couldn’t breathe, she couldn’t think, she could barely be.
The onlooker loved this dead girl—with their entire being. Looking down at the lifeless body, they knew they
had lost the only thing they have ever loved.
That would be enough to send Liz into a state of consciousness. But there was a second reason Liz’s eyes flew open as a new day approached. Flashes. It wasn’t visions. No, Liz could tell the difference. After the vision faded from Liz’s subconscious, flashes took their place. They were quick, so quick that she could barely identify what they were—but she managed. It was Roswell. After ten years away, Liz could still identify the small town where she was born. A small town that she had forced herself not to think about, a small town that she missed more than she thought she could, or would care to admit. After the flashes, a flood of yearning—no need—overtook her senses. She needed to go back to Roswell.
The terrifying vision and the flashes of Roswell would have woken Liz; she would have spent the rest of the early morning hours sipping tea on the couch, hoping that sleep would return to her eyes. But there was one more reason that Liz’s eyes open wide—because Max Evans woke with a gasp, flying up just as Liz opened her eyes.
***
“We have newbies!” A voice sang happily in Emma’s ear.
Emma glanced away from the ancient book sitting heavily on her lap and found her best friend dancing in front of her. Daisy’s dark curls bounced with her movement, her even darker eyes twinkled in joy. Despite all her dark features, Daisy was the bubbliest person Emma knew. It seemed fitting that they would be best friends—ying and yang, or something like that.
Emma signed, glancing back down at the book to examine a picture of a flower. “Really now?” She huffed, attempting to sound interested.
“Come on Emma! You know more than I do that the dwindling populations of Roswell New Mexico craves new occupants. It keeps the town from ending up in the history books as a ghost town. “
Emma closed her book, watching as Daisy took a seat next to her. “Okay, I’m sorry. I am excited. Really, I am.”
Daisy peered at her, finally shaking her head. “No you aren’t, but I forgive you. Do you want to know the details?”
“If I say no, is that really going to stop you from telling me?”
“No.”
“Well then, who are these newcomers?” Emma asked, forcing as much enthusiasm into her tone as she could.
“Siblings. Their father studies rocks in the desert –or something like that. I haven’t seen the boy, but I saw his sister. She’s in my history class and let me tell you , the boys are going to be all over that. Not only is she something new to look at, but she’s all kinds of shiney too.”
“Good, I was afraid that Pete was going to ask me out again.” Emma said, placing the large book in between them.
Daisy tilted her head in consideration, before shaking it. “Nope. That boy has it bad for you. The new girl might be new, but you’re the comfort blanket that he’s had for years.”
Emma groaned, letting her eyes close and her head fall back. Pete Smith was her next door neighbor, they had grown up together. Before Emma met Daisy in middle school, she had considered Pete her best friend—practically her brother. After middle school and the changes of puberty, Emma still considered him a close friend, but Pete….Pete started to think of her as more. Emma didn’t want more. She wanted her relationship
with Pete to stay the same.
It didn’t help that their parents were close friends. Emma knew that they were secretly hoping that they would end up together. She could see it in her mother’s eyes every time Pete called and she answered the phone.
“I can hope.” Emma finally said, opening her eyes and glancing at Daisy again.
Daisy had found the large book that Emma had placed between them. It lay open on her lap as she flipped carelessly through its pages. She stopped on an article of the rose, finally looking up at Emma.
“Why the sudden interest in…horticulture?” She asked slowing, flipping the page once more.
Emma leaned over, letting her hands grasp the book in Daisy’s lap. She brought it to her own, no needing to glance up to see Daisy’s questionable look.
“No reason, just bored.” She answered.
“Really?” Daisy asked and Emma knew that her eyebrows were dangling a few inches below her hairline in curiosity.
She continued to gaze down at the book, before shrugging.
She couldn’t possibly tell Daisy that she was searching for the mysterious plant that haunted her dreams.
After it had flashed through her mind, she left work and went to the library to pick up a book about plants. She came back with ten. She spent last night flipping through their pages attempting to find the flower, plant, root—or whatever—that she saw. She wanted to make sure it was real and not something that she had thought up unthinkingly fast. She had a habit of doing that. She would think of ways to escape this small town. A bus, a car, an elopement. She could somehow rationalize that the same thing had happened with this plant—that her mind had created something so exotic to remind her that there was a whole world out there for her to see.
That might be the reason she was why she kept this plant alive in her mind. She wanted to make sure it was real—that something so beautiful existed and that she might one day see it. And to make sure that she hadn’t completely lost her mind.
She finally looked up at Daisy, who had occupied herself with something in the distance. The bright twinkle returned to her eyes.
She turned her gaze to Emma. “We’ll talk about this later,” her voice resuming its sing-song tone. “You have to turn around! The newbies are coming this way!”
Emma signed, before rolling her eyes and turned to glance at two unfamiliar faces in a crowd of familiar ones.
Expect they weren’t new. She had seen them before.
***
Max’s eyes raced around their small bedroom, his mind remembering where he was. Liz sat up after him, watching him carefully.
His features had stayed the same—for the most part. There were small changes, nothing too noticeable. His boyish figure transformed into that of a man’s and he had matured into his facial features gracefully. His shoulders were strong, stronger than they were when he was a boy. One of the only gifts Liz appreciated from his construction job.
Mentally he had matured too. Instead of approaching decisions timidly with discretion, he approached them boldly—but with the same discretion that he was known for.
In the dark, he let his eyes connected straight with hers. His breathing was quick, as if he had just finished running a mile in less than six minutes. He wrapped his arms around her securely. Despite all the growing up, he was still the same boy that was quick to protect her from the world he unwillingly dragged her into. Something that Liz knew he would always struggle with. But looking into his dark eyes, Liz saw the same boy that she had fallen in love with years ago.
“Did you see them too?” He asked, attempting to catch his breath.
Liz smiled softly and nodded, hearing two distinct telephone’s ringing—Max’s cell phone and the home phone.
Max’s body tensed, signaling that he was reluctant to stand. Liz rubbed his back gently.
“We should get those. They could be important.” Liz said, letting her chin rest on his bare shoulder for a moment. “It’s not every day that two phones ring at once.”
Max let out a sigh of defeat and stood up to walk over to where his cell phone laid charging. He glanced down at the glowing screen, before pressing the necessary button to answer the call.
“Isabel,” he greeted.
Liz stood up and let her eyes linger on Max’s back for a moment longer before heading into the living room to pick up the home phone.
“Hello?” She answered.
“Liz,” Michael’s voice came through the line tiredly. In the background she heard the wails of children.
“Michael?”
“Did you see them?” He asked and Liz could hear the wails grow louder. “Did you see the flashes?” Michael asked once again, this time his voice grew louder as the cries approached.
Liz could only guess who was crying. The cries seemed new and shrill, the repetitive nature could only be from an infant. It must be Laurie.
“Of Roswell?” She asked. She wanted to be surprise, but she couldn’t. If she had a vision and so did Max, it would only make sense that the rest had seem them too. That would be the only reason Isabel and Michael
would be calling at twelve-thirty in the morning.
“You did? We’re coming over.” Michael said quickly.
Liz closed her eyes and shook her head. “No,” She verbalized. “Max and I will come over. It’ll be easier. You and Maria would have to pack up the kids. If we come to you it’ll be quicker.”
“Daddy? Who’s on the phone?”
Courtney, Liz identified. Maria and Michael’s oldest. She let her eyes open slowly, allowing a smile to overtake her lips. She silently thanked the little girl, knowing that Michael would be persistent to come to their place. His determination hadn’t faded away with age, instead it grew stronger. After the birth of Laurie, it had reached an all-time high. If Liz hadn’t known better, she would say he was worried. Something changed with Laurie’s birth. It was like a switched and been flipped. He had become more like the defensive, quiet youth he was before he had married Maria. Maria was worried too, noticing his distance—she had told Liz over their weekly coffee date.
“See?” Liz finally said. “Max and I will be over as soon as he’s off the phone.”
“Isabel?”
“It wouldn’t be alien related unless she was involved.” Liz answered. “We’ll be there as soon as we can.”
“Make it sooner.” Michael responded before hanging up without a proper goodbye.
Liz let out a small laugh before placing the wireless phone on the end table next to the couch. She stood there for a second, suddenly feeling heavy with emotion—or one emotion really.
It wasn’t fear. She wasn’t scared, she hadn’t be scared for seven years. She had grown use to her life on the run. After two years of running from the scattered members of the Special Unit that were chasing them, it seemed to be a game. It was a lifetime of cat and mouse and the Roswell natives had grown awfully good at playing.
They would sometimes separate for a few months to throw the Unit off their trail; they would travel to Canada or Mexico to entangle the Unit in the bureaucracies of other nations. They would spend hours brain storming ways to keep the Unit off their heels and after a few years it became fun.
But things changed. Things always changed.
In 2005 Maria and Michael finally married. It was a small ceremony, like Liz and Max’s. Maria had insisted on being married on a beach and on the sandy shores of La Jolla Beach in California, they became Man and Wife.
They hadn't really thought too much of the located. The gang was driving along the coast, heading for San Diego. The plan was to ‘accidently’ be picture at the boarder leading into Mexico, fully knowing that the Unit would be watching both boarders for signs of them. After being spotted, the gang would separate for a year with hopes of keeping the Unit unaware of their overall whereabouts.
It was in La Jolla that Michael suggested that Maria and he get married. At first Maria resisted, complaining that Michael had put no though into the proposal, but he did. In that small, old van Liz was getting to know Michael like she had never known him before. Maybe it was because of the small quarters, or that they were spending almost every waking hour together, but Liz like to think that it was because somewhere along the road the six of them—Max, Michael, Isabel, Maria, and herself—became a family.
But for whatever reason, Liz knew that Michael had thought about the proposal. They had been driving along the coastline, the ocean glistening in the sun—he must have remembered Maria’s desire to marry on a beach. There was also the decision to separate for a year, the longest they had ever been separated, and there was always the possibility that when they did reunite, one face would be gone forever. They didn’t speak about it, but they all knew—and Liz knew that having everyone there would be important for Maria. Michael must have known that too. This was the perfect time and Michael realized that, even if Maria didn’t
It took Michael a quick trip to a pawn shop for a ring and a day to convince Maria, but they were married on a quiet La Jolla beach.
After one change, came another.
La Jolla, it wasn’t a first time visit for half the gang. Three had been there before.
It might have been the city, it might have been the beach, or it might have been the fact that a wedding reminded Isabel so much of her own failed marriage, but that day she made a decision.
When the group separated, she informed them that she would head to Boston. She also told them that she wouldn’t be coming back. She couldn’t forget Jesse. Most importantly she didn’t want to forget him and being in the town where they had celebrated their marriage made her realize that. Max was against it, but when Kyle said he would go with her—promising that he would watch over her and inform him if anything bad happened, he reluctantly let her go.
Kyle had called Liz a halfway through the year of separation. Isabel had found Jesse. He was with someone else and she refused to make contact. She wouldn’t tell Kyle why and when Max found out, she wouldn’t tell him why either, but she insisted in staying in Boston. Kyle stayed with her.
The next change changed everything.
In 2008, Maria realized she was pregnant.
The pregnancy became a concern. They didn’t know what to expect, the only alien pregnancy they knew was with Tess and they hadn’t been there for it. Would this baby inherit Michael’s alien powers? Would the pregnancy only last a month? Could a human carry an alien baby? Would the baby be okay? Would Maria be okay? They had so many questions and they couldn’t possibly go to a doctor and risk exposure.
So they did the only thing they could do—they waited.
Thirty days.
Courtney Guerin was born. She was a perfectly healthy baby girl. No abnormalities—human or alien. But with her birth things changes, Michael changed—and everyone noticed. He wanted to settle down. The man who was always pressuring them not to stay in one place longer than a few days, wanted to find a steady job and rent an apartment.
It wasn’t safe, Max tried to convince him. The Unit would find them in no time. Michael and Maria refused their pleas. In the heat of their arguments, Max suggested they give Courtney up for adoption, attempting to convince Michael that giving her up was the only way to keep her safe—leading to one of the worst fights Max and Michael had ever had. They hadn’t spoken for weeks. Max’s suggested damaged Maria and Liz’s friendship as well. While Michael’s changed was evident, Maria’s was subtle. Only Liz could detect the change. Courtney was the best thing that ever happened to Maria and she would not willingly give her away.
In the end, they kept Courtney. Michael was accepted Max’s apology first, understanding why Max had suggested it. But Maria, Maria only forgave him after a few months.
Michael and Maria settled down, choosing a small town in the middle of California.
Liz and Max decided to go with them.
They could have continued running, keeping the Unit distracted for a little time. But like their friends, they were tired. Tired of running, tired of being nomads, just tired. So in their exhausted state they made a plan—if the Unit found them, which they hadn’t so far, they would fight. Not run. They were done running; if the time came they would fight until the very end.
And they waited until that time came.
They waited, renting a small house in a neighborhood ten minutes from Michael and Maria. They waited, as Liz found a job at a diner and Max found a job in construction. They waited, as Liz went back to school working to gain her teaching credentials and Max became foreman. They waited, as the man they were renting the house from offered to sell it to them. They waited, as the bought it. They waited until they stopped waiting and started living.
Until now.
No, the feeling rushing through Liz was not fear. It was a feeling that she should have known better.
Re: Return to Roswell (CC, L/M M/M, Teen) CH 2 - 19/2/12
Chapter Three
She thought they were just tourists, that they would pass through like the rest of them. But they stayed.
Emma was staring at shock at the two strangers from the diner. The strangers that were there when the strange plant painted itself in her mind.
It wasn’t possible, it couldn’t be possible.
“T-that’s them?” Emma finally managed to sputter out.
Daisy nodded. “Yep! The girl’s Genna and that must be her brother. Man! He’s a looker. I bet Samantha Henes will be all over that by the end of lunch.”
Emma continued to stare, watching the boy who had doused his milkshake in tabasco sauce yesterday. He looked nervous, glancing around the crowded lunch area. His sister, Genna, did not. She scanned the tables with a bored glint in her eyes and frustration stitching her eyebrows together.
“Hello? Earth to Emma?” Daisy said once she realized her friend wasn’t responding. She waved her had frantically inches from her face.
Emma blinked. “Sorry,” She said, blinking again. “I’ve seen them before.” She shook her head, turning her attention to Daisy.
She wouldn’t look at them. She would force herself not to…which was…weird. Normally she wouldn’t care. With the air force base so close, it was normal for West Roswell High to receive new faces. Emma didn’t pay any of them much attention, she was friendly of course, but she knew that they would be leaving in two years or less. These siblings couldn’t be different, so why should she treat them any different?
She remembered the tantalizing smell that accompanied the flower that was haunting her thoughts and she sneaked another glance.
Damn.
“You have?!” Daisy asked excitedly.
Emma nodded dragging her eyes away from the two who were still standing awkwardly outside the lunch area. “They were at the diner yesterday.”
“You have to tell me everything! Everything! Did you get their names? What’d their dad look like? What’d they order…”
Emma tuned out Dasiy’s questions. Her gaze had found its way back to the two newcomers and she silently cursed her weak will. Why couldn’t she just forget them? Treat them as short-term members of West Roswell
High? Why?
The brother finally stopped glancing around the lunch area. He was looking to the far left when Emma saw his shoulders tense and his head whip in her direction. It took less than a second for his eyes to find hers across the crowd of teenagers enjoying their lunch.
As his warm brown eyes found hers and the recognition filled them, Emma realized why she couldn’t drag her eyes away from the two new students—especially the boy.
He was connected to the flower.
***
“This is ridiculous. Plain ridiculous. We shouldn’t be here. We should be searching.”
Rydell kept his mouth shut, knowing that even if he agreed with his sister, letting her know would only increase her determination to find the Royal Four. She might even make the drastic decision to go off on her own and attempt to find them.
Did he agree with her? He hadn’t decided.
Gynna woke up this morning expecting to find the Royal Four standing in their kitchen and when she didn’t find them there, she decided that Javis’ plan hadn’t worked. She thought they should start searching for them—right away. Not wasting eight precious hours sitting aimlessly in a facility of human education.
“I knew that stupid device of his wouldn’t work.” Gynna mumbled, kicking her foot against the pavement.
Rydell sighed, finally letting his eyes focus on his sister. “Javis said it would take a few days. The Royal Four might brush off the first attempt as nothing but a dream—give it time.”
Gynna kicked the ground again and this time Rydell heard her shoe connect with the gravel. “We don’t have time Rydell,” Gynna whispered, “You know as well as I do this is our only chance to win. To finally have peace.”
Rydell glanced away from Gynna, knowing what she said was true. They may never be this close to overthrowing Kivar again. Their rebellion would die if they failed, they would lose, and millions of lives would be lost too.
Rydell let his eyes scan over the groups of humans once again. He couldn’t think about that right now. He couldn’t entertain the idea of failure, he had to trust Javis knew what he was doing. He had to keep his faith because without it, he would be as bitter as his sister.
Rydell had let his focus rest on a group of humans that were chucking pieces of a sandwich at each other, laughing as the pieces made contact with their skin. He was memorized by the scene, before he felt an eerie feeling spread across his chest. It wasn’t like anything he had felt before, it was as if someone was seeing him. Really seeing him, past the fleshy exterior of his human body and into the middle of his alien-humanoid soul.
His head snapped in the direction that he believed was the cause of the feeling. He looked pass the tables of eating humans and found a pair of blue eyes—familiar blue eyes.
Emma, he immediately thought. He let his eyes take in more than the blue eyes, he let them take in the soft heart shaped face, the wavy blonde hair, and the hunch of her spine.
He should have realized that she would go to school here. She was after all, a human teenager, where else would she spend her time?
“Hi there!”
Rydell heard the voice, but decided to ignore it. Instead he continued staring at Emma, who hadn’t broken eye contact with him.
“Hello,” He heard his sister respond, her voice thick with venom.
“I’m Pete Smith. You must be the new students.”
Rydell continued to ignore the boy, watching as the girl next to Emma smacked her shoulder. Emma flinched and tore her eyes away from Rydell, focusing on the girl next to her while grasping her shoulder. He strained his ears, wishing that he could hear their conversation.
“I’m Genna Rotling and this is my brother Ryan. It’s nice to meet you.” Genna responded, but her voice didn’t sound like she was happy to meet the human boy at all.
“I just wanted to welcome you to Roswell…..I see you found Emma Kent, a beauty isn’t she?”
Rydell continued to watch as the girl sitting next to Emma jabbed her index finger at the book on her lap. Emma shook her head seconds later, a small smile forming on her lips. He would have seen more if his sister’s elbow hadn’t collided with his rib cage.
He keeled over a few inches, before snapping his attention to his sister. She had this look in her eyes, silently telling him to act more human that he was.
He rubbed his right side and stood up, finally taking in the boy in front of them. He was tall, but thin—he hadn’t grown into his feet or his hands, which dangled awkwardly at his side.
“Sorry, what?” Rydell asked, examining in the boy’s long, messy hair.
The boy—Pete—Rydell finally remembered jerked his head in Emma’s direction. “Emma Kent. You were staring at her.”
Gynna glanced in the direction that Pete had jerked his head, the look that she returned with suggested that she found what Rydell had been staring at—and that she was not happy about it.
Rydell shrugged, attempting to play cool. He knew that once Gynna and he were alone she would hound him with questions. “I guess I was.”
“Did you want me to introduce you?” Pete asked eagerly, no waiting for an answer before he lifted his hand and waved. “Emma! Daisy! Over here!”
Pete waved frantically, gaining Emma and Daisy attention within seconds. Both glanced at him with smiles. With their attention he beckoned them to join, an invitation that Daisy accepted whole-heartily. She stood with a jump, her walk containing a happy bounce as she approached them. Emma was hesitantly, glancing nervously at Rydell before reluctantly following Daisy.
“Hey guys!” Pete greeted with a grin as the girls approached. “Have you met Genna and Ryan Rotling?”
Daisy grinned waving. “I think you’re in my history class Genna. I’m Daisy.”
Gynna nodded. “That’s where I’ve seen you before.” She lied.
Rydell took in Emma. She was nervous, looking everywhere but at him. She held a large book in her hands, her grasp was iron tight around it. It was old, a book that had been neglected and barely read. Something that Rydell didn’t picture when he pictured this delicate human girl. It spiked his curiosity.
“Light reading?” Rydell asked, failing the urge to ignore her.
Emma gazed up, meeting Rydell’s eyes once again. He could detect the nervous glint twinkling in her eyes.
“You could say that. “ She answered softly.
“Anything but!” Daisy added lightly. “She’s taken a sudden interest in plants—or something.”
The nervous look left her blue eyes, leaving them completely serious. They bore into Rydell, making him forget about the other surrounding bodies.
“Flowers actually.” She responded to Daisy, but the answer was meant for Rydell.
Rydell was careful to hide his shock, knowing that the only indicator was the twitch of his eyebrow. It was the only sign that Emma’s words crashed through him. The only sign that he understood what she meant, when she said those words.
She wasn’t going to forget.
***
Michael pivoted on his foot, heading in the opposite direction as he twisted his torso from side to side. He hadn’t done this in years—well actually he did it this morning, but that was with Laurie not Courtney. Courtney had been able to fall asleep on her own for two years and had recently taking to sleeping in her own bed as well. She had her mother’s attitude, stating that Laurie cried too much and she couldn’t sleep, so she was going to sleep in her own bed now. She needed her beauty rest.
Michael turned again, moving his head slowly to see if Courtney’s eyes had finally closed.
It had been one hell of a night. Laurie, being a newborn, barely slept through the night. Michael had finally managed to drift into the early stages of sleep after putting Laurie down, when he was assaulted by flashes. Flashes of Roswell. The flashes he could have managed, but the overpower urge to immediately jump into his car and drive there he could not. He hated Roswell. Hated it. The only thing good about that godforsaken town had left with him ten years ago. There was nothing he wanted in that town, nothing to miss. He had everything right here.
So why had he felt such a need to go back?
He could have ignored, just chalked it up to being some random ass dream that he would forget by morning. But the strange thing was, just as he opened his eyes from the flashes, Laurie started bawling her eyes out.
Laurie’s cries woke up Maria, who then picked the small child up attempting to comfort her. It was only a few seconds later that Courtney entered the room, tears streaming down her cheeks, her lips quivering with emotion before she asked Michael if they could go to Roswell.
His children he couldn’t forget. He could never forget them.
So he called Max and Liz, hoping that they could offer some answers—if not answers at least discuss possible reasons for the flashes.
Courtney’s breathing was slow, following the rhythmic pattern of sleep. Her weight was fully supported by Michael’s surrounding arms. Good, the kid deserved sleep.
“Laurie’s finally down,” Maria exhaled exhaustedly in a whisper. She tip toed around Michael to glance at Courtney.
“Is she’s asleep too?”
Michael nodded. “I’ll put her down.”
Maria smiled, rubbing Michael’s shoulder briefly as he passed her.
He walked carefully into the room he shared with Maria, placing Courtney gently on their bed.
He stared down at her for a moment, before glancing toward Laurie’s bassinette.
What had he done?
What the hell had he done? He should have known better, actually he did know better. He knew that
he was dangerous—that his alien side would never let him be a normal human being—and yet he attempted to be human. In the end he dragged everything that was important to him into his alien-ness, putting them in danger
It wasn’t like that at first. He gave Maria her way out, He let her go, hoping that she would find herself in New York. Yes the break-up hurt like hell, deep down he knew that it was for the best. She could live a normal, safe life and that’s all that he wanted for her. But in the end she came back and chose him. Even then he left her, still attempting to protect her from the alien side, but she still chose him. Sure, he could have pushed her away, hurt her to the point where she didn’t want to be with him. But he wanted her—he needed her, so if she chose him knowing the danger that entailed, he could pretend to accept that.
Courtney was an accident. Maria and Michael had never talked about kids before. They knew that their lifestyle was not fit for raising children. They never spoke about it, but the looming threat of the Special Unit made the unspoken fact known.
Michael remembered when Maria told him. They had made the decision to rent a motel room, seeing as they were exhausted and couldn’t spend another night on the road. Michael took to the old, lumpy mattress like an addict took to heroine. He fell asleep quickly and slept deeply. So deep that he didn’t hear the alarm on Maria’s phone go off around six. So deep that he didn’t hear her leave the motel room, banging her big toe on the door jam. So deep that he didn’t hear her return or shut the bathroom door, nor when she flushed the toilet. He only woke when her hand softly nudged his shoulder and her voice filled with fear called his name.
He opened his eyes then, finding Maria hovering over him. In her shaky hand was a pregnancy test. He didn't need to examine the thing closely to know what Maria was trying to tell him.
She was pregnant.
Michael tore himself up over it. He should have been more careful. He should have never married Maria or let her come with them after graduation. He had put her in danger. She could die from this and all because of him. Michael couldn’t live without her and he most certainly couldn’t live with knowing that he had caused her death. He wouldn’t.
The thirty days of Maria’s pregnancy left him scared, nervous, and filled with self-loathing. He never blamed the baby, only himself. He did this. He was never a good thing.
Then Courtney came. He remembered the first time he held her, he was so afraid that he would hurt her. That his arms would somehow crush her tiny frame. It was with Courtney in his arms and Maria sleeping peacefully next to him, that he experienced happiness like he never had before. Happiness that he never knew was possible. He wanted this, he wanted a family. He knew the danger, he knew once Maria placed Courtney in his arms for the first time. His newly formed family would always be in danger—and he would be the reason why.
He would never admit it, but he knew that Max was right when he suggest putting Courtney up for adoption. She would be safe and she could live a normal life—but he was weak and selfish. He didn’t want to give her
away, just thinking about it made his heart shudder with pain. He needed her in his life. He needed to be the one that gave her a happy, safe, normal life. He didn’t want anyone else to give that to her.
He could have handled Maria and Courtney. Maria chose to be with him and Courtney was an unexpected surprise. But Laurie….Laurie was different.
She was a decision.
‘We should have another baby.’ Michael remembered Maria suggesting. Michael didn’t disagree when Maria had suggested it, he knew he wanted another baby too. So they tried and Michael didn’t want to brag, but he was sure he got Maria pregnant on the first go. It was hard to tell since the pregnancy only lasted a month.
When he saw Laurie, he knew that it was the best decision he had ever made. Deciding to have her meant that he was deciding that the danger he continuously thought was dangerous, wasn’t really. He had Marie. He had their children. Nothing bad happened to them when he was close, nothing.
He should have known better.
She thought they were just tourists, that they would pass through like the rest of them. But they stayed.
Emma was staring at shock at the two strangers from the diner. The strangers that were there when the strange plant painted itself in her mind.
It wasn’t possible, it couldn’t be possible.
“T-that’s them?” Emma finally managed to sputter out.
Daisy nodded. “Yep! The girl’s Genna and that must be her brother. Man! He’s a looker. I bet Samantha Henes will be all over that by the end of lunch.”
Emma continued to stare, watching the boy who had doused his milkshake in tabasco sauce yesterday. He looked nervous, glancing around the crowded lunch area. His sister, Genna, did not. She scanned the tables with a bored glint in her eyes and frustration stitching her eyebrows together.
“Hello? Earth to Emma?” Daisy said once she realized her friend wasn’t responding. She waved her had frantically inches from her face.
Emma blinked. “Sorry,” She said, blinking again. “I’ve seen them before.” She shook her head, turning her attention to Daisy.
She wouldn’t look at them. She would force herself not to…which was…weird. Normally she wouldn’t care. With the air force base so close, it was normal for West Roswell High to receive new faces. Emma didn’t pay any of them much attention, she was friendly of course, but she knew that they would be leaving in two years or less. These siblings couldn’t be different, so why should she treat them any different?
She remembered the tantalizing smell that accompanied the flower that was haunting her thoughts and she sneaked another glance.
Damn.
“You have?!” Daisy asked excitedly.
Emma nodded dragging her eyes away from the two who were still standing awkwardly outside the lunch area. “They were at the diner yesterday.”
“You have to tell me everything! Everything! Did you get their names? What’d their dad look like? What’d they order…”
Emma tuned out Dasiy’s questions. Her gaze had found its way back to the two newcomers and she silently cursed her weak will. Why couldn’t she just forget them? Treat them as short-term members of West Roswell
High? Why?
The brother finally stopped glancing around the lunch area. He was looking to the far left when Emma saw his shoulders tense and his head whip in her direction. It took less than a second for his eyes to find hers across the crowd of teenagers enjoying their lunch.
As his warm brown eyes found hers and the recognition filled them, Emma realized why she couldn’t drag her eyes away from the two new students—especially the boy.
He was connected to the flower.
***
“This is ridiculous. Plain ridiculous. We shouldn’t be here. We should be searching.”
Rydell kept his mouth shut, knowing that even if he agreed with his sister, letting her know would only increase her determination to find the Royal Four. She might even make the drastic decision to go off on her own and attempt to find them.
Did he agree with her? He hadn’t decided.
Gynna woke up this morning expecting to find the Royal Four standing in their kitchen and when she didn’t find them there, she decided that Javis’ plan hadn’t worked. She thought they should start searching for them—right away. Not wasting eight precious hours sitting aimlessly in a facility of human education.
“I knew that stupid device of his wouldn’t work.” Gynna mumbled, kicking her foot against the pavement.
Rydell sighed, finally letting his eyes focus on his sister. “Javis said it would take a few days. The Royal Four might brush off the first attempt as nothing but a dream—give it time.”
Gynna kicked the ground again and this time Rydell heard her shoe connect with the gravel. “We don’t have time Rydell,” Gynna whispered, “You know as well as I do this is our only chance to win. To finally have peace.”
Rydell glanced away from Gynna, knowing what she said was true. They may never be this close to overthrowing Kivar again. Their rebellion would die if they failed, they would lose, and millions of lives would be lost too.
Rydell let his eyes scan over the groups of humans once again. He couldn’t think about that right now. He couldn’t entertain the idea of failure, he had to trust Javis knew what he was doing. He had to keep his faith because without it, he would be as bitter as his sister.
Rydell had let his focus rest on a group of humans that were chucking pieces of a sandwich at each other, laughing as the pieces made contact with their skin. He was memorized by the scene, before he felt an eerie feeling spread across his chest. It wasn’t like anything he had felt before, it was as if someone was seeing him. Really seeing him, past the fleshy exterior of his human body and into the middle of his alien-humanoid soul.
His head snapped in the direction that he believed was the cause of the feeling. He looked pass the tables of eating humans and found a pair of blue eyes—familiar blue eyes.
Emma, he immediately thought. He let his eyes take in more than the blue eyes, he let them take in the soft heart shaped face, the wavy blonde hair, and the hunch of her spine.
He should have realized that she would go to school here. She was after all, a human teenager, where else would she spend her time?
“Hi there!”
Rydell heard the voice, but decided to ignore it. Instead he continued staring at Emma, who hadn’t broken eye contact with him.
“Hello,” He heard his sister respond, her voice thick with venom.
“I’m Pete Smith. You must be the new students.”
Rydell continued to ignore the boy, watching as the girl next to Emma smacked her shoulder. Emma flinched and tore her eyes away from Rydell, focusing on the girl next to her while grasping her shoulder. He strained his ears, wishing that he could hear their conversation.
“I’m Genna Rotling and this is my brother Ryan. It’s nice to meet you.” Genna responded, but her voice didn’t sound like she was happy to meet the human boy at all.
“I just wanted to welcome you to Roswell…..I see you found Emma Kent, a beauty isn’t she?”
Rydell continued to watch as the girl sitting next to Emma jabbed her index finger at the book on her lap. Emma shook her head seconds later, a small smile forming on her lips. He would have seen more if his sister’s elbow hadn’t collided with his rib cage.
He keeled over a few inches, before snapping his attention to his sister. She had this look in her eyes, silently telling him to act more human that he was.
He rubbed his right side and stood up, finally taking in the boy in front of them. He was tall, but thin—he hadn’t grown into his feet or his hands, which dangled awkwardly at his side.
“Sorry, what?” Rydell asked, examining in the boy’s long, messy hair.
The boy—Pete—Rydell finally remembered jerked his head in Emma’s direction. “Emma Kent. You were staring at her.”
Gynna glanced in the direction that Pete had jerked his head, the look that she returned with suggested that she found what Rydell had been staring at—and that she was not happy about it.
Rydell shrugged, attempting to play cool. He knew that once Gynna and he were alone she would hound him with questions. “I guess I was.”
“Did you want me to introduce you?” Pete asked eagerly, no waiting for an answer before he lifted his hand and waved. “Emma! Daisy! Over here!”
Pete waved frantically, gaining Emma and Daisy attention within seconds. Both glanced at him with smiles. With their attention he beckoned them to join, an invitation that Daisy accepted whole-heartily. She stood with a jump, her walk containing a happy bounce as she approached them. Emma was hesitantly, glancing nervously at Rydell before reluctantly following Daisy.
“Hey guys!” Pete greeted with a grin as the girls approached. “Have you met Genna and Ryan Rotling?”
Daisy grinned waving. “I think you’re in my history class Genna. I’m Daisy.”
Gynna nodded. “That’s where I’ve seen you before.” She lied.
Rydell took in Emma. She was nervous, looking everywhere but at him. She held a large book in her hands, her grasp was iron tight around it. It was old, a book that had been neglected and barely read. Something that Rydell didn’t picture when he pictured this delicate human girl. It spiked his curiosity.
“Light reading?” Rydell asked, failing the urge to ignore her.
Emma gazed up, meeting Rydell’s eyes once again. He could detect the nervous glint twinkling in her eyes.
“You could say that. “ She answered softly.
“Anything but!” Daisy added lightly. “She’s taken a sudden interest in plants—or something.”
The nervous look left her blue eyes, leaving them completely serious. They bore into Rydell, making him forget about the other surrounding bodies.
“Flowers actually.” She responded to Daisy, but the answer was meant for Rydell.
Rydell was careful to hide his shock, knowing that the only indicator was the twitch of his eyebrow. It was the only sign that Emma’s words crashed through him. The only sign that he understood what she meant, when she said those words.
She wasn’t going to forget.
***
Michael pivoted on his foot, heading in the opposite direction as he twisted his torso from side to side. He hadn’t done this in years—well actually he did it this morning, but that was with Laurie not Courtney. Courtney had been able to fall asleep on her own for two years and had recently taking to sleeping in her own bed as well. She had her mother’s attitude, stating that Laurie cried too much and she couldn’t sleep, so she was going to sleep in her own bed now. She needed her beauty rest.
Michael turned again, moving his head slowly to see if Courtney’s eyes had finally closed.
It had been one hell of a night. Laurie, being a newborn, barely slept through the night. Michael had finally managed to drift into the early stages of sleep after putting Laurie down, when he was assaulted by flashes. Flashes of Roswell. The flashes he could have managed, but the overpower urge to immediately jump into his car and drive there he could not. He hated Roswell. Hated it. The only thing good about that godforsaken town had left with him ten years ago. There was nothing he wanted in that town, nothing to miss. He had everything right here.
So why had he felt such a need to go back?
He could have ignored, just chalked it up to being some random ass dream that he would forget by morning. But the strange thing was, just as he opened his eyes from the flashes, Laurie started bawling her eyes out.
Laurie’s cries woke up Maria, who then picked the small child up attempting to comfort her. It was only a few seconds later that Courtney entered the room, tears streaming down her cheeks, her lips quivering with emotion before she asked Michael if they could go to Roswell.
His children he couldn’t forget. He could never forget them.
So he called Max and Liz, hoping that they could offer some answers—if not answers at least discuss possible reasons for the flashes.
Courtney’s breathing was slow, following the rhythmic pattern of sleep. Her weight was fully supported by Michael’s surrounding arms. Good, the kid deserved sleep.
“Laurie’s finally down,” Maria exhaled exhaustedly in a whisper. She tip toed around Michael to glance at Courtney.
“Is she’s asleep too?”
Michael nodded. “I’ll put her down.”
Maria smiled, rubbing Michael’s shoulder briefly as he passed her.
He walked carefully into the room he shared with Maria, placing Courtney gently on their bed.
He stared down at her for a moment, before glancing toward Laurie’s bassinette.
What had he done?
What the hell had he done? He should have known better, actually he did know better. He knew that
he was dangerous—that his alien side would never let him be a normal human being—and yet he attempted to be human. In the end he dragged everything that was important to him into his alien-ness, putting them in danger
It wasn’t like that at first. He gave Maria her way out, He let her go, hoping that she would find herself in New York. Yes the break-up hurt like hell, deep down he knew that it was for the best. She could live a normal, safe life and that’s all that he wanted for her. But in the end she came back and chose him. Even then he left her, still attempting to protect her from the alien side, but she still chose him. Sure, he could have pushed her away, hurt her to the point where she didn’t want to be with him. But he wanted her—he needed her, so if she chose him knowing the danger that entailed, he could pretend to accept that.
Courtney was an accident. Maria and Michael had never talked about kids before. They knew that their lifestyle was not fit for raising children. They never spoke about it, but the looming threat of the Special Unit made the unspoken fact known.
Michael remembered when Maria told him. They had made the decision to rent a motel room, seeing as they were exhausted and couldn’t spend another night on the road. Michael took to the old, lumpy mattress like an addict took to heroine. He fell asleep quickly and slept deeply. So deep that he didn’t hear the alarm on Maria’s phone go off around six. So deep that he didn’t hear her leave the motel room, banging her big toe on the door jam. So deep that he didn’t hear her return or shut the bathroom door, nor when she flushed the toilet. He only woke when her hand softly nudged his shoulder and her voice filled with fear called his name.
He opened his eyes then, finding Maria hovering over him. In her shaky hand was a pregnancy test. He didn't need to examine the thing closely to know what Maria was trying to tell him.
She was pregnant.
Michael tore himself up over it. He should have been more careful. He should have never married Maria or let her come with them after graduation. He had put her in danger. She could die from this and all because of him. Michael couldn’t live without her and he most certainly couldn’t live with knowing that he had caused her death. He wouldn’t.
The thirty days of Maria’s pregnancy left him scared, nervous, and filled with self-loathing. He never blamed the baby, only himself. He did this. He was never a good thing.
Then Courtney came. He remembered the first time he held her, he was so afraid that he would hurt her. That his arms would somehow crush her tiny frame. It was with Courtney in his arms and Maria sleeping peacefully next to him, that he experienced happiness like he never had before. Happiness that he never knew was possible. He wanted this, he wanted a family. He knew the danger, he knew once Maria placed Courtney in his arms for the first time. His newly formed family would always be in danger—and he would be the reason why.
He would never admit it, but he knew that Max was right when he suggest putting Courtney up for adoption. She would be safe and she could live a normal life—but he was weak and selfish. He didn’t want to give her
away, just thinking about it made his heart shudder with pain. He needed her in his life. He needed to be the one that gave her a happy, safe, normal life. He didn’t want anyone else to give that to her.
He could have handled Maria and Courtney. Maria chose to be with him and Courtney was an unexpected surprise. But Laurie….Laurie was different.
She was a decision.
‘We should have another baby.’ Michael remembered Maria suggesting. Michael didn’t disagree when Maria had suggested it, he knew he wanted another baby too. So they tried and Michael didn’t want to brag, but he was sure he got Maria pregnant on the first go. It was hard to tell since the pregnancy only lasted a month.
When he saw Laurie, he knew that it was the best decision he had ever made. Deciding to have her meant that he was deciding that the danger he continuously thought was dangerous, wasn’t really. He had Marie. He had their children. Nothing bad happened to them when he was close, nothing.
He should have known better.
Re: Return to Roswell (CC, L/M M/M, Teen) CH 3 - 02/3/12
Chapter Four
Michael walked into the living room. Maria looked up at him expectantly.
“She’s asleep.”
She let out a sigh, before leaning back into the couch and closing her eyes. “Thank God.” She mumbled.
Liz watched as Michael took the seat next to Maria, letting his arm wrap around her shoulders protectively. She could tell something had changed. The happy glint that had been growing in his eye for the last four years had gone out. It was nowhere to be found.
“Isabel had the flashes too?” Michael asked, his voice indicated that he already knew the answer.
Liz felt Max shift next to her. “Yes.”
Maria opened her eyes, sighing. “What are we going to do?”
Max stood up, rolling his shoulders backward. An attempt to relieve tension. “Why do you think we had them?” He asked, glancing around the room.
Michael shrugged, throwing his feet up on the coffee table. “We know why we had them—someone wants us back in Roswell. The real question is who this someone is.”
“They have to be alien.” Liz sighed. “We don’t have this kind of technology.”
“The Special Unit could have something that could do this. Who knows how many alien artifacts they have in storage.” Max offered.
“No…I don’t think it’s the Special Unit. We haven’t seen them in almost four years, if they had this ability they would have used it years ago.” Maria said, shaking her head.
Max took a few steps around the room, before sitting on the arm of Liz’s chair, “Okay, so someone extraterrestrial wants the hybrids back in Roswell, why?”
“It’s a trap.” Michael said quickly. “I say we ignore it.”
The room grew quiet after Michael’s suggestion.
Liz glanced at each of their faces. Max was still, his eyes lost in the possibilities of explanations. Maria was pale, she turned her head back in the direction of her room. Michael’s eyebrows scrunched together, his mind a million miles away. And Liz? Liz thought about her vision.
The lifeless blue eyes haunted her when she closed her eyes. She had already resisted the urge to rub her chest to attempt to ease the pain that was not hers. This vision was strong, stronger than most the ones she had. Were they connected?
“I had a vision before the flashes.” Liz finally said, causing the silent to shift into one of curiosity.
She didn’t know if the vision and the flashes were connected, but she knew that she had to tell them. There were no secrets between them, they couldn’t have them with everything they had been through.
“About what?” Max asked softly, letting her have his full attention.
Liz glanced up at him, sad to see that after all this time the same guilty glint resided in his eyes. He had become good at hiding it, but it always managed to make its way to the surface when she spoke about her visions. It told Liz that he still blamed himself for her developing alien powers and that he wished things were for different for her.
He just couldn’t get it through his thick head that Liz had chosen him. If she had to do it all over again, if she had the chance to choose Harvard, to choose to become a world-renewed scientist and fulfill every one of her adolescent dreams….she would still chose him, a thousand times over.
She grabbed his dangling hand and squeezed. “It was a girl, she was dead.”
“Any feelings?”
“It was from an onlooker. He loved her—I think he had watched her die,” Liz squeezed Max’s hand tighter.
“It was one of the strongest visions I’ve had.”
“Do you think they’re linked?” Michael pondered, running his fingers through his dirty blonde hair. “That maybe this girl lives in Roswell and we all had a vision to go there so we could protect her? Maybe she’s alien?”
“That could be,” Max began, looking at Michael carefully. “But we won’t know for sure unless we go to Roswell.”
Michael jumped up quickly, pacing the room with force. “I won’t go to Roswell Maxwell, I won’t. I won’t uproot my family and potentially put them in danger. How do we know this isn’t all some kind of trap? That Kivar decided to rear his ugly head again and attempt to take us out? Huh? I don’t think we should trust them. I say we forget they ever happened. “
Max debated Michael’s input for a moment, before shaking his head. “I don’t think we can ignore them. We had them for a reason and who says they won’t happen again?”
***
“What happened with that girl Rydell?!” Gynna almost yelled, slamming the front door forcefully. “I know something happened at that diner! You did something to her didn’t you!”
Javis glanced up from the newspaper he was reading and observed the two teenagers, curiosity filled his eyes. “What is she talking about, Rydell?”
Rydell sighed, closing his eyes for a moment.
The day at high school had been almost unbearably long. The classes tedious and unnecessary—Javis had programmed photographic memory into both Rydell and Gynna. Learning was nothing more than a mental image, so spending almost seven hours in a room where the teacher teaching the methods that took him a few seconds to learn at an incredibly slow pace was torture.
It didn’t help that Emma had been floating persistently through his thoughts for the remainder of the day. He couldn’t seem to get her serious blue eyes to leave his mind and whenever he attempted to focus on the lesson presented before…his mind always found its way back to those blue eyes.
She wasn’t going to forget the image of Vardnia, he had underestimated her. He had assumed that she would be like the thousands of human teenagers he had read about, he had assumed that she would do exactly like the teenagers he had spent his life studying. He should have assumed differently. She wasn’t like any of the teenagers that he had studied, she was unique.
He was hoping that Gynna would bring Emma up later, when Javis wasn’t in the room to detect his lies. But he should have known that his sister would address the issue as soon as they were alone—or in an environment where they could speak openingly.
Now he was force to choose. He could attempt to lie and hope that Javis wouldn’t notice his eyebrow twitch, but Javis would be watching for the sign. Or he could tell the truth and deal with the consequences, whatever they were. He knew that drama would ensure with either of his options.
He finally opened his eyes, absorbing the faces of his sister and his creator.
“I gave her a memory—on accident.” He finally breathed, making his decision quickly.
Gynna huffed angrily and Javis’s eyebrow perked up with curiosity and caution.
Javis’s lips formed a small line as he took in Rydell’s features, glancing momentarily at his eyebrow to see if he was telling the truth. He sighed finally, letting his hand rub across his bald head.
“Explain.”
“We were at the diner, she handed me the bottle of tabasco sauce. Our fingers touched, I remembered a Vardnia and I accidently sent the memory to her. I thought she would forget about it. Everything I read said that human teenagers were changing in every possible way. Mentally and physically, so I assumed that she would forget about it. I thought there would be more important things for her to remember, but she didn’t forget—hasn’t,” he finished glancing at Javis’s waiting face.
“Why on earth did you send her a memory of a Vardnia?” Gynna asked flabbergasted.
Rydell looked away, glancing out the window. His eyes found their way to Emma’s house and the light was on in her bedroom. He felt their eyes on him and knew that he couldn’t lie with Javis looking at him. He could only tell the truth.
“She smelt like one.” He answered, keeping his eyes away from their faces. He didn’t want to see their reactions, he could picture them perfectly in his mind.
Javis’s eyes would glimmer with curiosity, his mind would race with possible hypothesis and what this situation could mean. Gynna would be furious, she would see his indiscretion as a weakness.
“Because she smelt like one?” Gynna repeated, irritation overtaking the surprise in her voice.
Rydell forced himself to look in their direction, their expressions were what he had expected. He looked at his sister, her face growing red with anger. He nodded, unable to find his voice and attempt to explain exactly why such a simplistic thing as a smell—a smell he had smelt a thousand times—had caused him to jeopardize them all. He wasn’t even sure he could if he was able, he was still figuring it out himself.
He waited for one of them to say something, to reprimand him, to yell at him, to drill him with questions. Anything really, but they didn’t. Instead they stood in silence for a long time.
Finally Gynna jerked her head in Javis’s direction.
“This is your fault,” she growled.
Javis looked at her in surprise, raising his index finger to point at himself. “Me?” He asked.
She nodded stiffly, her face still glowing with anger. “Yes you. We shouldn’t be in this town in the first place. They’re not there. We knew that. But instead of searching, you took us here, insisting that your device would bring them to us,” she jabbed her finger toward the table where the trapezoid shape device laid.
“Guess what?” She continued, “It didn’t! And now because of your decision of keeping us in the one town we know the Royal Four are not in, we could all be in danger!”
Javis was quiet, listening to Gynna yell. He watched her for a moment, waiting to see if she was finished.
“It will work Gynna, you just have to have patience.” He said to her slowly, as if she were a child.
Her face grew redder at his words. “You have too much faith in your creations Javis.” She spat out.
The next thing that happen, happened fast. So fast that Javis and Rydell couldn’t stop it.
Gynna moved quickly, grabbing the device with lightning speed. Javis moved to grab it from her, but she jerked her hand away, sending a warning glare in his direction.
Javis stopped immediately. His creations were his offspring and he cared for them as such. He detected the intent to harm in Gynna’s glare. He wouldn’t do a thing to harm them.
He froze, watching Gynna carefully. “Gynna what are you doing?”
“We don’t have time for this. We don’t have time to wait while the Royal Four decide to make their way back to Roswell. We need them here now.”
Gynna twisit the trapizod harshly, activating the device. It glowed with energy, indicating that it was sending out the signals to the Royal Four.
But she didn’t stop there.
She turned it off after a few seconds of pulsing, letting it rest for a second. She twisted the protruding crystal once more, the crystal shone brightly.
She repeated the process, turning the device on and off quickly.
Javis watched, devastation and shock overtaking his features. His lower lip quivered with fear, but he couldn’t move. He was stunned with shock.
Rydell glanced at his sister, the urgency thick in her gaze as she turned the device off once more. He let his eyes slide to Javis. He had never seen Javis looking so…lost. The alien was always talking, always thinking, always calculating. It was strange to see him so still. And all because of what Gynna was doing.
It couldn’t be because she was treating his creation harshly, there was something else. Something inside Rydell that told him that he looked so stunned for another reason, one more serious than the poor treatment of the trapezoid.
Gynna was causing something that Javis wasn’t sure of the effect. They were unprepared for the outcome.
Rydell acted before he thoroughly thinking the movement through.
He tackled his sister to the ground.
***
It had been hours since Max and Liz had left Michael and Maria’s house.
After spending the early hours of the morning attempting to come to a decision on what to do, the four adults hadn’t come close to a conclusion.
They were split, Max wanted to go to Roswell. He wanted to find out who was sending them the flashes and stop them from doing it again. Michael insisted that ignoring it would be the best idea. They would go away, he insisted. There was no reason to put themselves in danger.
The impasse would keep them home. A long time ago they made a decision. If they were to act, they would act together. They had been through too much and had realized that they were stronger together—as families usually were. They might not be related by similar strains of DNA, but the last thirteen years created a bond between them that couldn’t be broken.
Liz sat at the kitchen table, attempting to read over the different teaching techniques. She had convinced Max that he should go to work, there was no reason he should miss a day. Besides it would keep his mind off things. She on the other hand, couldn’t focus. She had spent the last thirty minutes on the same page.
She kept thinking about the flashes, every time she did her fingers would twitch with longing for Roswell. She would think about the dead girl of her vision. The dead blue eyes would randomly invade her thoughts, keeping her from studying.
She leaned back in her chair, hoping the distance would give her enough space to clear her thoughts. She closed her eyes, feeling the weight of sleep warm her lids. Maybe a nap would suffice. It would reenergize her. She would be able to study after closing her eyes for a few hours. It had been a long day, if she calculated right she had less than five hours of sleep last night.
Yes, that’s what she needed.
She needed….
To puke.
Liz’s eyes flew open, her hand came to her mouth as she felt a wave of nausea overtake her. She stood up quickly, hearing the chair hit the ground with a bang that echoed through the small kitchen. She ignored it, racing to the bathroom. She threw the toilet lid up just in time, the lunch that she had an hour earlier poured into the bowl.
She heaved for a few more minutes, finally finishing and leaning back. She whipped her forehead of the cold, sheer layer of sweat. Her sighed filled the air as she placed a hand on her stomach and used the other one to flush the toilet.
Liz’s finger tips brushed the lever when she was hit with a vision.
She wasn’t outside, she was inside…a body? There was internal issue, bodily fluids, and fleshy organs all around. In the background she heard a fast thumping, it sounding almost like the fluttering of humming bird wings. Finally she focused on the thin sack in the middle . A small bean-shaped thing floated effortlessly in the middle of the sack, a tiny tube connected the bean to the sack.
Liz was hit with a need to protect, the feeling washed fiercely through her veins.
The vision ended, leaving Liz breathless.
She glanced up at her fingers resting on the lever of the toilet. She took in a quick shallow breath as she let her gaze drop to her other hand, lying over her lower abdomen.
Was she…
Was she…pregnant?
She could turn that thought over in her mind for long, because she was suddenly assaulted by flashes. Flashes of Roswell and they overtook her without mercy.
She was drowning in them, the urge for Roswell was suffocating. They stopped briefly, barely pausing long enough for Liz to catch her breath. The flashes were all she could think about, but during one brief break, she managed to glance down at her abdomen. She found that her hand still hovered over it and she made the quick decision to throw her other arm around her. She held her abdomen tight, remembering the protection that flooded through her system.
Another set of flashes took her under. This set was the strongest yet. It was as if her life depended on getting back to Roswell. If she didn’t go, didn’t hop into her car right now, she felt that she would die. Nothing else matter, but getting back to the small town where her life began.
Finally they stopped and Liz found herself curled up on the bathroom floor. The thin layer of cold sweat she had wiped from her forehead before had returned with force.
She blinked a few times attempting to regain her mind. When she was sure that another set of flashes wouldn’t come, she sat up. She glanced around the room and let her eyes rest on her stomach. Her arms still wrapped securely around herself, covering her abdomen.
She tightened her grip around herself protectively, pushing the memory of the Roswell flashes away for a moment.
She needed a clear mind to think this. She needed to only let this statement fill her mind.
She was pregnant.
Michael walked into the living room. Maria looked up at him expectantly.
“She’s asleep.”
She let out a sigh, before leaning back into the couch and closing her eyes. “Thank God.” She mumbled.
Liz watched as Michael took the seat next to Maria, letting his arm wrap around her shoulders protectively. She could tell something had changed. The happy glint that had been growing in his eye for the last four years had gone out. It was nowhere to be found.
“Isabel had the flashes too?” Michael asked, his voice indicated that he already knew the answer.
Liz felt Max shift next to her. “Yes.”
Maria opened her eyes, sighing. “What are we going to do?”
Max stood up, rolling his shoulders backward. An attempt to relieve tension. “Why do you think we had them?” He asked, glancing around the room.
Michael shrugged, throwing his feet up on the coffee table. “We know why we had them—someone wants us back in Roswell. The real question is who this someone is.”
“They have to be alien.” Liz sighed. “We don’t have this kind of technology.”
“The Special Unit could have something that could do this. Who knows how many alien artifacts they have in storage.” Max offered.
“No…I don’t think it’s the Special Unit. We haven’t seen them in almost four years, if they had this ability they would have used it years ago.” Maria said, shaking her head.
Max took a few steps around the room, before sitting on the arm of Liz’s chair, “Okay, so someone extraterrestrial wants the hybrids back in Roswell, why?”
“It’s a trap.” Michael said quickly. “I say we ignore it.”
The room grew quiet after Michael’s suggestion.
Liz glanced at each of their faces. Max was still, his eyes lost in the possibilities of explanations. Maria was pale, she turned her head back in the direction of her room. Michael’s eyebrows scrunched together, his mind a million miles away. And Liz? Liz thought about her vision.
The lifeless blue eyes haunted her when she closed her eyes. She had already resisted the urge to rub her chest to attempt to ease the pain that was not hers. This vision was strong, stronger than most the ones she had. Were they connected?
“I had a vision before the flashes.” Liz finally said, causing the silent to shift into one of curiosity.
She didn’t know if the vision and the flashes were connected, but she knew that she had to tell them. There were no secrets between them, they couldn’t have them with everything they had been through.
“About what?” Max asked softly, letting her have his full attention.
Liz glanced up at him, sad to see that after all this time the same guilty glint resided in his eyes. He had become good at hiding it, but it always managed to make its way to the surface when she spoke about her visions. It told Liz that he still blamed himself for her developing alien powers and that he wished things were for different for her.
He just couldn’t get it through his thick head that Liz had chosen him. If she had to do it all over again, if she had the chance to choose Harvard, to choose to become a world-renewed scientist and fulfill every one of her adolescent dreams….she would still chose him, a thousand times over.
She grabbed his dangling hand and squeezed. “It was a girl, she was dead.”
“Any feelings?”
“It was from an onlooker. He loved her—I think he had watched her die,” Liz squeezed Max’s hand tighter.
“It was one of the strongest visions I’ve had.”
“Do you think they’re linked?” Michael pondered, running his fingers through his dirty blonde hair. “That maybe this girl lives in Roswell and we all had a vision to go there so we could protect her? Maybe she’s alien?”
“That could be,” Max began, looking at Michael carefully. “But we won’t know for sure unless we go to Roswell.”
Michael jumped up quickly, pacing the room with force. “I won’t go to Roswell Maxwell, I won’t. I won’t uproot my family and potentially put them in danger. How do we know this isn’t all some kind of trap? That Kivar decided to rear his ugly head again and attempt to take us out? Huh? I don’t think we should trust them. I say we forget they ever happened. “
Max debated Michael’s input for a moment, before shaking his head. “I don’t think we can ignore them. We had them for a reason and who says they won’t happen again?”
***
“What happened with that girl Rydell?!” Gynna almost yelled, slamming the front door forcefully. “I know something happened at that diner! You did something to her didn’t you!”
Javis glanced up from the newspaper he was reading and observed the two teenagers, curiosity filled his eyes. “What is she talking about, Rydell?”
Rydell sighed, closing his eyes for a moment.
The day at high school had been almost unbearably long. The classes tedious and unnecessary—Javis had programmed photographic memory into both Rydell and Gynna. Learning was nothing more than a mental image, so spending almost seven hours in a room where the teacher teaching the methods that took him a few seconds to learn at an incredibly slow pace was torture.
It didn’t help that Emma had been floating persistently through his thoughts for the remainder of the day. He couldn’t seem to get her serious blue eyes to leave his mind and whenever he attempted to focus on the lesson presented before…his mind always found its way back to those blue eyes.
She wasn’t going to forget the image of Vardnia, he had underestimated her. He had assumed that she would be like the thousands of human teenagers he had read about, he had assumed that she would do exactly like the teenagers he had spent his life studying. He should have assumed differently. She wasn’t like any of the teenagers that he had studied, she was unique.
He was hoping that Gynna would bring Emma up later, when Javis wasn’t in the room to detect his lies. But he should have known that his sister would address the issue as soon as they were alone—or in an environment where they could speak openingly.
Now he was force to choose. He could attempt to lie and hope that Javis wouldn’t notice his eyebrow twitch, but Javis would be watching for the sign. Or he could tell the truth and deal with the consequences, whatever they were. He knew that drama would ensure with either of his options.
He finally opened his eyes, absorbing the faces of his sister and his creator.
“I gave her a memory—on accident.” He finally breathed, making his decision quickly.
Gynna huffed angrily and Javis’s eyebrow perked up with curiosity and caution.
Javis’s lips formed a small line as he took in Rydell’s features, glancing momentarily at his eyebrow to see if he was telling the truth. He sighed finally, letting his hand rub across his bald head.
“Explain.”
“We were at the diner, she handed me the bottle of tabasco sauce. Our fingers touched, I remembered a Vardnia and I accidently sent the memory to her. I thought she would forget about it. Everything I read said that human teenagers were changing in every possible way. Mentally and physically, so I assumed that she would forget about it. I thought there would be more important things for her to remember, but she didn’t forget—hasn’t,” he finished glancing at Javis’s waiting face.
“Why on earth did you send her a memory of a Vardnia?” Gynna asked flabbergasted.
Rydell looked away, glancing out the window. His eyes found their way to Emma’s house and the light was on in her bedroom. He felt their eyes on him and knew that he couldn’t lie with Javis looking at him. He could only tell the truth.
“She smelt like one.” He answered, keeping his eyes away from their faces. He didn’t want to see their reactions, he could picture them perfectly in his mind.
Javis’s eyes would glimmer with curiosity, his mind would race with possible hypothesis and what this situation could mean. Gynna would be furious, she would see his indiscretion as a weakness.
“Because she smelt like one?” Gynna repeated, irritation overtaking the surprise in her voice.
Rydell forced himself to look in their direction, their expressions were what he had expected. He looked at his sister, her face growing red with anger. He nodded, unable to find his voice and attempt to explain exactly why such a simplistic thing as a smell—a smell he had smelt a thousand times—had caused him to jeopardize them all. He wasn’t even sure he could if he was able, he was still figuring it out himself.
He waited for one of them to say something, to reprimand him, to yell at him, to drill him with questions. Anything really, but they didn’t. Instead they stood in silence for a long time.
Finally Gynna jerked her head in Javis’s direction.
“This is your fault,” she growled.
Javis looked at her in surprise, raising his index finger to point at himself. “Me?” He asked.
She nodded stiffly, her face still glowing with anger. “Yes you. We shouldn’t be in this town in the first place. They’re not there. We knew that. But instead of searching, you took us here, insisting that your device would bring them to us,” she jabbed her finger toward the table where the trapezoid shape device laid.
“Guess what?” She continued, “It didn’t! And now because of your decision of keeping us in the one town we know the Royal Four are not in, we could all be in danger!”
Javis was quiet, listening to Gynna yell. He watched her for a moment, waiting to see if she was finished.
“It will work Gynna, you just have to have patience.” He said to her slowly, as if she were a child.
Her face grew redder at his words. “You have too much faith in your creations Javis.” She spat out.
The next thing that happen, happened fast. So fast that Javis and Rydell couldn’t stop it.
Gynna moved quickly, grabbing the device with lightning speed. Javis moved to grab it from her, but she jerked her hand away, sending a warning glare in his direction.
Javis stopped immediately. His creations were his offspring and he cared for them as such. He detected the intent to harm in Gynna’s glare. He wouldn’t do a thing to harm them.
He froze, watching Gynna carefully. “Gynna what are you doing?”
“We don’t have time for this. We don’t have time to wait while the Royal Four decide to make their way back to Roswell. We need them here now.”
Gynna twisit the trapizod harshly, activating the device. It glowed with energy, indicating that it was sending out the signals to the Royal Four.
But she didn’t stop there.
She turned it off after a few seconds of pulsing, letting it rest for a second. She twisted the protruding crystal once more, the crystal shone brightly.
She repeated the process, turning the device on and off quickly.
Javis watched, devastation and shock overtaking his features. His lower lip quivered with fear, but he couldn’t move. He was stunned with shock.
Rydell glanced at his sister, the urgency thick in her gaze as she turned the device off once more. He let his eyes slide to Javis. He had never seen Javis looking so…lost. The alien was always talking, always thinking, always calculating. It was strange to see him so still. And all because of what Gynna was doing.
It couldn’t be because she was treating his creation harshly, there was something else. Something inside Rydell that told him that he looked so stunned for another reason, one more serious than the poor treatment of the trapezoid.
Gynna was causing something that Javis wasn’t sure of the effect. They were unprepared for the outcome.
Rydell acted before he thoroughly thinking the movement through.
He tackled his sister to the ground.
***
It had been hours since Max and Liz had left Michael and Maria’s house.
After spending the early hours of the morning attempting to come to a decision on what to do, the four adults hadn’t come close to a conclusion.
They were split, Max wanted to go to Roswell. He wanted to find out who was sending them the flashes and stop them from doing it again. Michael insisted that ignoring it would be the best idea. They would go away, he insisted. There was no reason to put themselves in danger.
The impasse would keep them home. A long time ago they made a decision. If they were to act, they would act together. They had been through too much and had realized that they were stronger together—as families usually were. They might not be related by similar strains of DNA, but the last thirteen years created a bond between them that couldn’t be broken.
Liz sat at the kitchen table, attempting to read over the different teaching techniques. She had convinced Max that he should go to work, there was no reason he should miss a day. Besides it would keep his mind off things. She on the other hand, couldn’t focus. She had spent the last thirty minutes on the same page.
She kept thinking about the flashes, every time she did her fingers would twitch with longing for Roswell. She would think about the dead girl of her vision. The dead blue eyes would randomly invade her thoughts, keeping her from studying.
She leaned back in her chair, hoping the distance would give her enough space to clear her thoughts. She closed her eyes, feeling the weight of sleep warm her lids. Maybe a nap would suffice. It would reenergize her. She would be able to study after closing her eyes for a few hours. It had been a long day, if she calculated right she had less than five hours of sleep last night.
Yes, that’s what she needed.
She needed….
To puke.
Liz’s eyes flew open, her hand came to her mouth as she felt a wave of nausea overtake her. She stood up quickly, hearing the chair hit the ground with a bang that echoed through the small kitchen. She ignored it, racing to the bathroom. She threw the toilet lid up just in time, the lunch that she had an hour earlier poured into the bowl.
She heaved for a few more minutes, finally finishing and leaning back. She whipped her forehead of the cold, sheer layer of sweat. Her sighed filled the air as she placed a hand on her stomach and used the other one to flush the toilet.
Liz’s finger tips brushed the lever when she was hit with a vision.
She wasn’t outside, she was inside…a body? There was internal issue, bodily fluids, and fleshy organs all around. In the background she heard a fast thumping, it sounding almost like the fluttering of humming bird wings. Finally she focused on the thin sack in the middle . A small bean-shaped thing floated effortlessly in the middle of the sack, a tiny tube connected the bean to the sack.
Liz was hit with a need to protect, the feeling washed fiercely through her veins.
The vision ended, leaving Liz breathless.
She glanced up at her fingers resting on the lever of the toilet. She took in a quick shallow breath as she let her gaze drop to her other hand, lying over her lower abdomen.
Was she…
Was she…pregnant?
She could turn that thought over in her mind for long, because she was suddenly assaulted by flashes. Flashes of Roswell and they overtook her without mercy.
She was drowning in them, the urge for Roswell was suffocating. They stopped briefly, barely pausing long enough for Liz to catch her breath. The flashes were all she could think about, but during one brief break, she managed to glance down at her abdomen. She found that her hand still hovered over it and she made the quick decision to throw her other arm around her. She held her abdomen tight, remembering the protection that flooded through her system.
Another set of flashes took her under. This set was the strongest yet. It was as if her life depended on getting back to Roswell. If she didn’t go, didn’t hop into her car right now, she felt that she would die. Nothing else matter, but getting back to the small town where her life began.
Finally they stopped and Liz found herself curled up on the bathroom floor. The thin layer of cold sweat she had wiped from her forehead before had returned with force.
She blinked a few times attempting to regain her mind. When she was sure that another set of flashes wouldn’t come, she sat up. She glanced around the room and let her eyes rest on her stomach. Her arms still wrapped securely around herself, covering her abdomen.
She tightened her grip around herself protectively, pushing the memory of the Roswell flashes away for a moment.
She needed a clear mind to think this. She needed to only let this statement fill her mind.
She was pregnant.
Re: Return to Roswell (CC, L/M M/M, Teen) CH 4, PG 2 - 14/3/
Chapter Five
Isabel concentrated on the papers in front of her, sighing in frustration.
This client had been a diva, there were no and’s, if’s or but’s about it. She had been a plain diva. She had contacted Isabel months ago, insisting that Isabel plan her baby shower. Isabel regretted saying yes since day one.
The woman hovered, never letting Isabel do her job and plan the party. She insisted on being informed about every decision and every change. She wanted the best of the best and she felt insulted when Isabel continuously brought up her proposed budget.
But despite the constant nagging, hovering, and pestering, the baby shower went off without a hitch. Everyone one of the client’s friends utterly enjoyed themselves and Isabel couldn’t help but smile with victory as the pregnant woman unwrapped her gifts.
She was made for party planning.
But now the woman was proclaiming that Isabel had overcharged her, there could be no way that ‘simple’ party had cost that much.
Isabel didn’t argue with the woman, instead she agreed to stop by later that afternoon with all the recipes and ultimately proving her wrong.
She loved doing that.
But first she had to meet with a prospective client. He was a lawyer and wanted to celebrate the recent promotion of one of his fellow lawyers to partner. He would be here any minute to discuss the details of what the celebration would entail.
Isabel rubbed her temples, sighing once again. Concentration had been near to impossible today. Anytime she was close to becoming engrossed in her work, her mind would drift to Roswell New Mexico.
Roswell.
So many things had happened there.
Isabel had found love; only to lose it just as quickly as she had found it. Her heart no longer hurt for Alex and contemplate the possible future they could have had, instead she cherished the time they were able to spend together.
She lost her parents, the people that were so important to her. She wanted to pick up the phone and call them every day—sometimes twice a day. But she knew she couldn’t, that would endanger them. The pain of their loss still hurt every day.
Most of all, she lost the love of her life. Jesse. She pushed him away to protect him, to keep him safe. And as much as she wanted to regret that decision, she knew she couldn’t. She couldn’t think about herself, she needed to think about him and what was best for him.
Leaving him was the best thing she could have ever done for him.
It didn’t stop her heart from breaking in her chest, leaving an ache that never completely went away. She had to constantly remind herself that leaving was good, that he was better off. She did have a lapse in judgment, a lapse that brought her to Boston.
Maria and Michael’s wedding brought the memories that hurt the most back to the forefront of her mind. The memories that she spent the years on the run attempting to bury. The ache in her chest was the worst it had been as she watched her two close friends marry on the sandy shores of the beach. She couldn’t take, she couldn’t be alone anymore.
She needed Jesse.
So she left to find him, traveling to the one city she knew he would be at. Kyle followed her, insisting that he was there to protect her—and that he had always wanted to see a Boston Red Sox game. She didn’t mind and in the end she was glad that he came.
It only took a few days to find the law firm that he had worked at and before she could convince herself otherwise, she went there.
She remembered the moment vividly. The moment that her heart shattered into smaller pieces, pieces that could never be repaired.
She was at the secretary’s desk, about to ask to see Jesse when she saw him.
He wasn’t alone.
Attached to his side was a pretty blonde. His arm wrapped securing around her; a large smile graced his lips. She turned away as the blonde ran her fingers through his hair.
She couldn’t breathe, all she could do is run. She ran back to the dank motel room she shared with Kyle, managing to hold her agonizing gasps until then. When Kyle saw her, he didn’t ask what happened, instead he just held her. His arms kept her grounded, kept her from losing complete control.
He never asked what happened, but Isabel could tell he knew some things. Not everything to make the picture clear, but he had enough pieces to assume. He asked if she would like to leave, to stay with the others, to take her mind off things, but she refused. She needed to start living her life, she couldn’t hide in fear and wait for the Special Unit to find her. She needed to move on—Jesse did.
She stayed, Kyle did too. She took the necessary classes to gain her credentials as a party planner and he worked at an auto body shop. The found a two bedroom apartment and split the rent. They were happy or at least as happy as two people could get.
Until the flashes came.
Isabel rubbed her hands together as she thought about it. It took all her strength to stay sitting in her chair.
The first set was fine, it just woke her from her sleep. But the last set—or sets--…had been abominable. As each one passed, she was consumed with an unbearably need to go to Roswell. After the flashes, not being in Roswell become painful. She couldn’t focus, she could think, she couldn’t be—all she could think about was going to Roswell.
Kyle thought it strange, not understanding the whole thing completely. He never did, the alien stuff was hard for him to completely accept—even after twelve years. He encouraged Isabel to go to California and be with the others. Be part of the decision, but she declined.
Her life was here in Boston.
Besides, she had too much work to do. Especially with the pregnant diva that she thought she was finished with.
Isabel flinched as a knock on the door took her by surprise.
She cleared her throat. “Come in.”
The door opened and in popped a handsome middle-aged man, his dark hair greying at the temples. He smiled at her. “Isabel Evans I presume.”
She smiled standing to shake her head. “You must be Marcus Wright? The lawyer throwing the congratulations party?”
He nodded taking the seat before her desk. “I hope you don’t mind, your secretary said I could come in.”
“I don’t mind at all,” she answered, waving off his concern with her hand.
She did mind. She would like to have been informed so she could clear her desk, but her secretary was new. She would inform her later.
“So,” she began, shuffling the papers into a stack and putting them to the left of her. “What did you have in mind Mr. Wright?”
It was Mr. Wright’s turn to wave his hand. “Please, call me Marcus. Ultimately I wanted to have a surprise party, but my buddy’s girlfriend can’t keep a secret to save her life. She told him yesterday that I was throwing him a party.”
Isabel laughed and leaned forward a bit. “Well, either way I can promise you a spectacular party.”
He smiled. “That’s what I heard. You did a birthday party I went to a while back. I thoroughly enjoyed it.”
Isabel tipped her head to the side as her grin grew bigger. “Why thank you. Now tell me a bit about your friend?”
“We don’t work at the same firm, but we’ve been buddies for a long time. He told me about his promotion about a week or so ago and I wanted to throw him a party. Since the surprise party is out of the cards, I told him he could come along to tell you what he wants. It feels a bit weird now—like Sophia should be throwing him a party. Not his guy friend.”
Once again, Isabel waved off his concern. “A party’s a party, right?”
“It is indeed.” Marcus answered, returning her grin.
There was another knock on the door and Marcus glanced at Isabel.
“That must be him—I’ll get it.”
Marcus opened the door, the professional grin changing into a playful one as his friend walked through the door.
Isabel froze, everything in her body stopped working. Her heart shuddered to a stop, her blood paused in her arteries, and her brain stopped all neuron signals. All she could do was stare dumbly.
Marcus shook his friend’s hand before turning to face Isabel.
“Jesse, this is Isabel Evans the party planner. Ms. Evans, this is Jesse Ramirez.”
The friendly smile that occupied Jesse’s lips abandon him as he found Isabel standing stupidly before him, looking at him as if she had seen a ghost. His face soon mimicked hers.
Finally, he was able to stutter out a word. “I-Isabel?”
***
He was here again and Emma couldn’t help but wonder why.
She had avoided him the last few days, attempting her best to keep her mind away from the strange boy named Ryan sitting at the booth in the corner. She couldn’t believe she challenged him, screaming with her mind that he knew what the plant was. She didn’t even know how her mind could have come to that conclusion—it made no sense whatsoever. And no she was completely embarrassed and doing her best to avoid him.
Ryan wasn’t making it easy, this was the second time he’s come to the Crash Down. The first time he wasn’t in her section, but this time, he was. There was no avoiding this time.
She didn’t approach his table right away, instead she grabbed the same milkshake he ordered yesterday—and the first day she saw him. She made sure she hadn’t forgotten the tabasco sauce.
She didn’t do it to be nice, she did it because she needed time to think. She needed to find a way to apologize for her bluntness. She had been irritated—she still was—she was spending every night searching through the horticulture books trying to find the plant that kept her awake for hours. She realized now that her logic at the time was nonsense and she just had been completely rude. Now she had the overwhelming urge to amend for her behavior.
She took in a deep breath and made herself approach the table where Ryan sat studying.
“Your alien blast,” she said, placing the milkshake in front of him. “And a bottle of tabasco sauce, right?”
He glanced up at her, his hazel eyes observing her carefully. Finally, he smiled sheepishly. “Have I come here that many times?”
Emma attempted to return his smile, but it was hard. Looking into his eyes made her want to blush. “No, not really. It’s just an order you don’t forget. Not many people put tabasco sauce in their milkshakes, you know?”
His smile grew confident. “It is strange isn’t it?”
Emma nodded and watched as Ryan proceeded to shake a large amount of the red goo into his shake.
She knew that this was where she would normally tell the customer to enjoy their meal, but she forced herself to stay. She could do this, she could do this.
Apologizing was hard for Emma. First, she never thought she did anything wrong—it wasn’t that she thought she was perfect. She knew she was far from it. She was one to think things through, rationalize whatever she wanted to say and analyze what the effect would be. Such consideration made it so she never really needed to apologize for her actions.
“I’m sorry,” she forced out.
Ryan glanced up, confusing filling his hazel eyes.
“Um,” Emma began, letting her hand fly to her forehead with embarrassment. “What I mean to say is that I’m sorry that I was so rude to you Tuesday. I just have been really stressed out and I guess I took it out on you.”
He watched her, taking a sip of his milkshake. “It’s fine, don’t worry about it.”
She smiled. That was easier than she thought it would be. “Okay, enjoy your meal.”
She went to head for the counter, feeling better that she finally got that out of the way. Now she could move on, now she forget all about Ryan and wait until he moved once again. He was nothing special—she just have to keep convincing herself of it. She now could focus on school or her endless search for that stupid plant.
“Why are you stressed?”
Emma paused, turning around and finding Ryan staring at her expectantly. “I’m sorry?”
“Why are you stressed? School?” He asked again.
Emma faced him again, shrugging. “It’s stupid really,” she found herself saying without permission.
What was wrong with her? What was it about this boy that made her mind completely forget how to function?
“Nothing’s stupid.”
Emma huffed and glanced around the near empty diner. “It’s this plant. It’s been stuck in my brain for days and I can’t remember what its name is.”
Emma Kent?! Really?!
“Maybe I can help,” Ryan offered. “Two is better than one looking.”
Emma considered his offer, knowing that he was right. She was getting tired of going through the old, dusty books from the library. The smell gave her a headache. Besides, she could go through more pages with two set of hands flipping through the ancient books. Maybe it was a good idea? Glancing at him, she felt a surge to spend more time with her. A surge she couldn’t really explain.
She opened her mouth to answer, when the bell over the front door chimed signaling a new guest.
***
Rydell waited patiently for Emma’s answer. For some odd reason he wanted her continue pondering his offer, he liked the way that the blonde strands of her head fell into her eyes. It was a feeling he hadn’t experience before—he would need to look it up.
But he couldn’t concentrate on the blonde strand an inch from her left blue eye—he needed to focus on the task at hand.
Everything was a disaster. A complete mess.
After Gynna had sporadically turned the crystal on and off, after Rydell had tackled her to the ground and turned the device off quickly, Javis finally gained his senses and explained.
The Royal Four would surely have to come now, but he wasn’t sure what their mental state would be.
With each turn of the crystal, the flashes grew stronger—calling louder to the Royals genes. It would be an obsession, a need, an addiction. The device was meant to slowly increase the need to return to Roswell. Javis never created it with intent to do what Gynna had done—he wasn’t sure of what the outcome would be and that made him nervous. He was a creature of carefully calculated outcomes.
Gynna didn’t regret what she did—she wasn’t a creature for regret. She thought what she did was right, the Royal Four needed to be here.
All they could do was wait.
Rydell couldn’t do that, so he did the only thing he could. Remedy the mistake he had made. He didn’t do it to calm his sister, he did it so he felt some control.
Their mission had been a simple one: Bring the Royal Four back to Antar. But such a simple mission had turned into chaos and he needed to do something that would convince him that all was not lost—a feeling that was slowly dragging him down. So he decided he would fix the Vardnia problem. He wasn’t sure how he would, but he decided he would.
He didn’t expect that he would want to fix it, to be near this human girl.
It made things a little more complicated.
Emma opened her mouth, ready to give him an answer, when she turned to welcome the new customer who entered the establishment.
Rydell turned to observe the individual who interrupted them.
He found a woman. She couldn’t be more than thirty, her dark brown hair in a messy ponytail, her dark brown eyes gazing at Emma widely with fear, and her jaw unhinged with surprise.
Emma plastered a smile on her face. “Hi! Welcome to the Crash Down! Did you want a booth or a table?”
The woman blinked. It took a few moments for her to find her voice. “I’m looking for Jeff Parker?”
“He’s in the back. Can I tell him who’s asking for him?”
“I’m Liz—his daughter.”
Isabel concentrated on the papers in front of her, sighing in frustration.
This client had been a diva, there were no and’s, if’s or but’s about it. She had been a plain diva. She had contacted Isabel months ago, insisting that Isabel plan her baby shower. Isabel regretted saying yes since day one.
The woman hovered, never letting Isabel do her job and plan the party. She insisted on being informed about every decision and every change. She wanted the best of the best and she felt insulted when Isabel continuously brought up her proposed budget.
But despite the constant nagging, hovering, and pestering, the baby shower went off without a hitch. Everyone one of the client’s friends utterly enjoyed themselves and Isabel couldn’t help but smile with victory as the pregnant woman unwrapped her gifts.
She was made for party planning.
But now the woman was proclaiming that Isabel had overcharged her, there could be no way that ‘simple’ party had cost that much.
Isabel didn’t argue with the woman, instead she agreed to stop by later that afternoon with all the recipes and ultimately proving her wrong.
She loved doing that.
But first she had to meet with a prospective client. He was a lawyer and wanted to celebrate the recent promotion of one of his fellow lawyers to partner. He would be here any minute to discuss the details of what the celebration would entail.
Isabel rubbed her temples, sighing once again. Concentration had been near to impossible today. Anytime she was close to becoming engrossed in her work, her mind would drift to Roswell New Mexico.
Roswell.
So many things had happened there.
Isabel had found love; only to lose it just as quickly as she had found it. Her heart no longer hurt for Alex and contemplate the possible future they could have had, instead she cherished the time they were able to spend together.
She lost her parents, the people that were so important to her. She wanted to pick up the phone and call them every day—sometimes twice a day. But she knew she couldn’t, that would endanger them. The pain of their loss still hurt every day.
Most of all, she lost the love of her life. Jesse. She pushed him away to protect him, to keep him safe. And as much as she wanted to regret that decision, she knew she couldn’t. She couldn’t think about herself, she needed to think about him and what was best for him.
Leaving him was the best thing she could have ever done for him.
It didn’t stop her heart from breaking in her chest, leaving an ache that never completely went away. She had to constantly remind herself that leaving was good, that he was better off. She did have a lapse in judgment, a lapse that brought her to Boston.
Maria and Michael’s wedding brought the memories that hurt the most back to the forefront of her mind. The memories that she spent the years on the run attempting to bury. The ache in her chest was the worst it had been as she watched her two close friends marry on the sandy shores of the beach. She couldn’t take, she couldn’t be alone anymore.
She needed Jesse.
So she left to find him, traveling to the one city she knew he would be at. Kyle followed her, insisting that he was there to protect her—and that he had always wanted to see a Boston Red Sox game. She didn’t mind and in the end she was glad that he came.
It only took a few days to find the law firm that he had worked at and before she could convince herself otherwise, she went there.
She remembered the moment vividly. The moment that her heart shattered into smaller pieces, pieces that could never be repaired.
She was at the secretary’s desk, about to ask to see Jesse when she saw him.
He wasn’t alone.
Attached to his side was a pretty blonde. His arm wrapped securing around her; a large smile graced his lips. She turned away as the blonde ran her fingers through his hair.
She couldn’t breathe, all she could do is run. She ran back to the dank motel room she shared with Kyle, managing to hold her agonizing gasps until then. When Kyle saw her, he didn’t ask what happened, instead he just held her. His arms kept her grounded, kept her from losing complete control.
He never asked what happened, but Isabel could tell he knew some things. Not everything to make the picture clear, but he had enough pieces to assume. He asked if she would like to leave, to stay with the others, to take her mind off things, but she refused. She needed to start living her life, she couldn’t hide in fear and wait for the Special Unit to find her. She needed to move on—Jesse did.
She stayed, Kyle did too. She took the necessary classes to gain her credentials as a party planner and he worked at an auto body shop. The found a two bedroom apartment and split the rent. They were happy or at least as happy as two people could get.
Until the flashes came.
Isabel rubbed her hands together as she thought about it. It took all her strength to stay sitting in her chair.
The first set was fine, it just woke her from her sleep. But the last set—or sets--…had been abominable. As each one passed, she was consumed with an unbearably need to go to Roswell. After the flashes, not being in Roswell become painful. She couldn’t focus, she could think, she couldn’t be—all she could think about was going to Roswell.
Kyle thought it strange, not understanding the whole thing completely. He never did, the alien stuff was hard for him to completely accept—even after twelve years. He encouraged Isabel to go to California and be with the others. Be part of the decision, but she declined.
Her life was here in Boston.
Besides, she had too much work to do. Especially with the pregnant diva that she thought she was finished with.
Isabel flinched as a knock on the door took her by surprise.
She cleared her throat. “Come in.”
The door opened and in popped a handsome middle-aged man, his dark hair greying at the temples. He smiled at her. “Isabel Evans I presume.”
She smiled standing to shake her head. “You must be Marcus Wright? The lawyer throwing the congratulations party?”
He nodded taking the seat before her desk. “I hope you don’t mind, your secretary said I could come in.”
“I don’t mind at all,” she answered, waving off his concern with her hand.
She did mind. She would like to have been informed so she could clear her desk, but her secretary was new. She would inform her later.
“So,” she began, shuffling the papers into a stack and putting them to the left of her. “What did you have in mind Mr. Wright?”
It was Mr. Wright’s turn to wave his hand. “Please, call me Marcus. Ultimately I wanted to have a surprise party, but my buddy’s girlfriend can’t keep a secret to save her life. She told him yesterday that I was throwing him a party.”
Isabel laughed and leaned forward a bit. “Well, either way I can promise you a spectacular party.”
He smiled. “That’s what I heard. You did a birthday party I went to a while back. I thoroughly enjoyed it.”
Isabel tipped her head to the side as her grin grew bigger. “Why thank you. Now tell me a bit about your friend?”
“We don’t work at the same firm, but we’ve been buddies for a long time. He told me about his promotion about a week or so ago and I wanted to throw him a party. Since the surprise party is out of the cards, I told him he could come along to tell you what he wants. It feels a bit weird now—like Sophia should be throwing him a party. Not his guy friend.”
Once again, Isabel waved off his concern. “A party’s a party, right?”
“It is indeed.” Marcus answered, returning her grin.
There was another knock on the door and Marcus glanced at Isabel.
“That must be him—I’ll get it.”
Marcus opened the door, the professional grin changing into a playful one as his friend walked through the door.
Isabel froze, everything in her body stopped working. Her heart shuddered to a stop, her blood paused in her arteries, and her brain stopped all neuron signals. All she could do was stare dumbly.
Marcus shook his friend’s hand before turning to face Isabel.
“Jesse, this is Isabel Evans the party planner. Ms. Evans, this is Jesse Ramirez.”
The friendly smile that occupied Jesse’s lips abandon him as he found Isabel standing stupidly before him, looking at him as if she had seen a ghost. His face soon mimicked hers.
Finally, he was able to stutter out a word. “I-Isabel?”
***
He was here again and Emma couldn’t help but wonder why.
She had avoided him the last few days, attempting her best to keep her mind away from the strange boy named Ryan sitting at the booth in the corner. She couldn’t believe she challenged him, screaming with her mind that he knew what the plant was. She didn’t even know how her mind could have come to that conclusion—it made no sense whatsoever. And no she was completely embarrassed and doing her best to avoid him.
Ryan wasn’t making it easy, this was the second time he’s come to the Crash Down. The first time he wasn’t in her section, but this time, he was. There was no avoiding this time.
She didn’t approach his table right away, instead she grabbed the same milkshake he ordered yesterday—and the first day she saw him. She made sure she hadn’t forgotten the tabasco sauce.
She didn’t do it to be nice, she did it because she needed time to think. She needed to find a way to apologize for her bluntness. She had been irritated—she still was—she was spending every night searching through the horticulture books trying to find the plant that kept her awake for hours. She realized now that her logic at the time was nonsense and she just had been completely rude. Now she had the overwhelming urge to amend for her behavior.
She took in a deep breath and made herself approach the table where Ryan sat studying.
“Your alien blast,” she said, placing the milkshake in front of him. “And a bottle of tabasco sauce, right?”
He glanced up at her, his hazel eyes observing her carefully. Finally, he smiled sheepishly. “Have I come here that many times?”
Emma attempted to return his smile, but it was hard. Looking into his eyes made her want to blush. “No, not really. It’s just an order you don’t forget. Not many people put tabasco sauce in their milkshakes, you know?”
His smile grew confident. “It is strange isn’t it?”
Emma nodded and watched as Ryan proceeded to shake a large amount of the red goo into his shake.
She knew that this was where she would normally tell the customer to enjoy their meal, but she forced herself to stay. She could do this, she could do this.
Apologizing was hard for Emma. First, she never thought she did anything wrong—it wasn’t that she thought she was perfect. She knew she was far from it. She was one to think things through, rationalize whatever she wanted to say and analyze what the effect would be. Such consideration made it so she never really needed to apologize for her actions.
“I’m sorry,” she forced out.
Ryan glanced up, confusing filling his hazel eyes.
“Um,” Emma began, letting her hand fly to her forehead with embarrassment. “What I mean to say is that I’m sorry that I was so rude to you Tuesday. I just have been really stressed out and I guess I took it out on you.”
He watched her, taking a sip of his milkshake. “It’s fine, don’t worry about it.”
She smiled. That was easier than she thought it would be. “Okay, enjoy your meal.”
She went to head for the counter, feeling better that she finally got that out of the way. Now she could move on, now she forget all about Ryan and wait until he moved once again. He was nothing special—she just have to keep convincing herself of it. She now could focus on school or her endless search for that stupid plant.
“Why are you stressed?”
Emma paused, turning around and finding Ryan staring at her expectantly. “I’m sorry?”
“Why are you stressed? School?” He asked again.
Emma faced him again, shrugging. “It’s stupid really,” she found herself saying without permission.
What was wrong with her? What was it about this boy that made her mind completely forget how to function?
“Nothing’s stupid.”
Emma huffed and glanced around the near empty diner. “It’s this plant. It’s been stuck in my brain for days and I can’t remember what its name is.”
Emma Kent?! Really?!
“Maybe I can help,” Ryan offered. “Two is better than one looking.”
Emma considered his offer, knowing that he was right. She was getting tired of going through the old, dusty books from the library. The smell gave her a headache. Besides, she could go through more pages with two set of hands flipping through the ancient books. Maybe it was a good idea? Glancing at him, she felt a surge to spend more time with her. A surge she couldn’t really explain.
She opened her mouth to answer, when the bell over the front door chimed signaling a new guest.
***
Rydell waited patiently for Emma’s answer. For some odd reason he wanted her continue pondering his offer, he liked the way that the blonde strands of her head fell into her eyes. It was a feeling he hadn’t experience before—he would need to look it up.
But he couldn’t concentrate on the blonde strand an inch from her left blue eye—he needed to focus on the task at hand.
Everything was a disaster. A complete mess.
After Gynna had sporadically turned the crystal on and off, after Rydell had tackled her to the ground and turned the device off quickly, Javis finally gained his senses and explained.
The Royal Four would surely have to come now, but he wasn’t sure what their mental state would be.
With each turn of the crystal, the flashes grew stronger—calling louder to the Royals genes. It would be an obsession, a need, an addiction. The device was meant to slowly increase the need to return to Roswell. Javis never created it with intent to do what Gynna had done—he wasn’t sure of what the outcome would be and that made him nervous. He was a creature of carefully calculated outcomes.
Gynna didn’t regret what she did—she wasn’t a creature for regret. She thought what she did was right, the Royal Four needed to be here.
All they could do was wait.
Rydell couldn’t do that, so he did the only thing he could. Remedy the mistake he had made. He didn’t do it to calm his sister, he did it so he felt some control.
Their mission had been a simple one: Bring the Royal Four back to Antar. But such a simple mission had turned into chaos and he needed to do something that would convince him that all was not lost—a feeling that was slowly dragging him down. So he decided he would fix the Vardnia problem. He wasn’t sure how he would, but he decided he would.
He didn’t expect that he would want to fix it, to be near this human girl.
It made things a little more complicated.
Emma opened her mouth, ready to give him an answer, when she turned to welcome the new customer who entered the establishment.
Rydell turned to observe the individual who interrupted them.
He found a woman. She couldn’t be more than thirty, her dark brown hair in a messy ponytail, her dark brown eyes gazing at Emma widely with fear, and her jaw unhinged with surprise.
Emma plastered a smile on her face. “Hi! Welcome to the Crash Down! Did you want a booth or a table?”
The woman blinked. It took a few moments for her to find her voice. “I’m looking for Jeff Parker?”
“He’s in the back. Can I tell him who’s asking for him?”
“I’m Liz—his daughter.”
Re: Return to Roswell (CC, L/M M/M, Teen) CH 5, PG 3 - 5/5/1
Hello there! I just wanted to thank everyone for their support and for reading my fic! I really do appreciated it. Here's Chapter Six:
Chapter Six
Liz couldn’t help but stare—she was the girl. The girl from her vision, the girl who would die soon. It was strange, something that Liz could never get use too, seeing the individuals from her vision in the flesh. She had visualized them dying—or already dead and to see them breathing and living right before her…it stunned her.
She continued to gaze at the girl. She was pretty. She barely wore any make-up and the life glistening in her blue eyes only made her prettier. Liz let her eyes slowly drift to her temple, where her pale skin met her hairline. It was a piece that Liz hadn’t seen before; it was the place of the girl’s death blow.
“Hi! Welcome to the Crash Down! Did you want a booth or a table?” The girl chirped with a fake cheeriness
that Liz knew all so well. She had worked at the Crash Down in her youth and she knew how tedious the work could be.
Liz blinked, unsure what to say.
To be honest, she was still reeling from the fact that she was…home.
She never thought she would come back. She buried her hope to return years ago. And yet, here she was standing in the familiar diner where she spent her childhood. She had braced herself for change—for the alien theme of the diner to morph into some new hip trend, but it didn’t. Everything was exactly the same, right down to the cup of brightly colored alien straws that were used for shakes.
Liz felt awkward. Despite wanting to come back and wishing that life would returned to some normalcy, Liz felt like she didn’t fit in this diner—or this town. Finally getting her wish and returning home helped her realize something.She had changed . She was no longer the same eighteen year old girl that left this small town upon graduation.
Liz found that the girl was still staring at her, her fake smile covering up the fact that she was getting annoyed that Liz hadn’t answered her question. Table or booth?
“I’m looking for Jeff Parker?” She finally pushed out, watching the girl’s smile slip for a moment. It wasn’t the answer she was expecting.
“He’s in the back. Can I tell him who’s asking for him?”
“I’m Liz—his daughter.” Liz uttered the words before realizing that she said them.
The girl’s smile fell, replaced with a look of utter shock. She blinked a few times, her blue eyes looking around the room before resting again on Liz.
“I’ll…I’ll go get him.” She said, walking away abruptly.
Liz resisted the urge to stop her, remembering that the girl’s time was short and if Liz was going to save her, she should know her name. But the girl disappeared quickly behind the swinging door leading to the back.
She panicked for a moment, considering following the girl to the back before remembering that Roswell was a small town and she knew where the girl worked. After she met up with the others they could discuss their options.
The others.
After the bathroom incident, everything happened so fast.
Max came home within the hour and a half hour later they were at Michael and Maria’s once again. This time their meeting wasn’t a quiet conversation, instead they were smothered in the chaos the flashes had created.
Laurie wouldn’t stop crying, no matter how long Maria rocked her. Courtney held on tightly to Michael and refused to let go. The effect the flashes had on the children sent Maria into a state of shock—but it wasn’t one that left her cationic. Instead she focused all her attention on Laurie and her attempt to quiet the child, while pleading with Courtney to let go of Michael. But behind her steady composure, her green eyes looked scared and the uncertainty of the situation had left her hands with a slight shake.
Michael barely spoke, his right leg instead shaking like a mad man, his hands constantly running through his hair, and his eyes lost in some secret thoughts. He held Courtney close as she squeezed onto his side for dear life. Max was also silent, his jaw tight with the tension the flashes brought. He glanced nervously at Liz every few seconds, his jaw relaxing when he found her still sitting next to him. But within a second of relief the tension returned and he started the process all over again.
And Liz?
Liz also was enveloped in their silence as Laurie’s shrill screams echoed around them. Her arms still wrapped securely around her waist, a position she hadn’t changed since Max found her in the bathroom.
The flashes left them confused and unsure.
They would never admit it, but they had grown use to the lives they had settled into. They grew use to being normal. Their alien past was always there, sulking dangerously in the background, but as the years went by it grew weak and became nothing but a shadow of the fear it once was. They believed themselves human and these flashes threated all that they held dear—dragging them unwillingly back into a world they had all but forgotten.
Max had been the first to speak and what he said had come out more like a statement—despite the question form it posed under.
“We’re going back to Roswell?”
No on disagreed. The same thought was on all their minds; would the flashes happen again? How strong would they be? They all had their own reasons, but they wanted them to stop and the only logical way to make them stop was to listen to them.
They needed to go back to Roswell.
So they packed quickly and left even quicker.
In the packed minivan, Liz found that she was still hugging herself tightly and the realness of her condition dawned on her.
What was she going to do?
She glanced at Max, who was driving. His large hands held the steering wheel tightly and his eyes never veered from the road. The tension in his jaw was still there and his muscles tirelessly bulged with the effort.
They had discussed children, even deciding that they would like to start trying within a year or two. It seemed right, they had settled and were becoming finically stable. They seemed ready. Liz didn’t have to question if Max would be a good father—there was no doubt in her mind. He would be the best, Zan was a perfect example. He put Zan’s best interest before his own, giving him the best opportunity in this world. She knew that he would do what was best for whatever children they brought into this world.
But right now? After the alien-ness they had thought they had chalked to their past came rearing its ugly head, there was no way their previous plan would stand.
Their peaceful world, the world Max and Liz were ready to bring children into, had turned chaotic and there was no way Max would be content with bringing a baby into their world. Not right now, not with everything that was going on.
So Liz wasn’t going to tell him. She somehow convinced herself that she didn’t even know if she was pregnant—she needed a test to prove it. And she had time didn’t she? Maria didn’t start showing until two weeks into her pregnancy, maybe this would all blow over by then.
A throat clearing tore Liz from her thoughts and she glanced in the direction of the noise.
It was a boy, he was sitting noiselessly in a booth watching Liz strangely. When they made eye contact he smiled at her. Liz attempted to return the smile, but the action fit uncomfortably on her lips.
But she didn’t have much time to think about the customer, because another sound caught her attention.
The swinging door opened forcibly, banging against the wall and rattling a set of alien heads on the wall. Jeff Parker stood in the door way, a look of completely awe on his face, tears threating to make their way down his cheeks.
“Lizzy? Is that you?”
Liz forced a smile. “Yeah Dad, it’s me.”
***
“Isabel, wait!”
Isabel ignored him, instead increasing her speed.
She wasn’t going to deal with this. She couldn’t deal with this, it was all too much. The crazy client, the Roswell flashes, and now Jesse? No, her brain couldn’t adsorb anymore—not that she wanted to.
Jesse. She didn’t her best to push him away, to keep him from her thoughts and her heart. She managed to convince herself that she was over him, that she had moved on with her life. Just as he did. Seeing him standing stunned in her office, studying her as if she was a ghost had sent a painful shudder through her body—reminding her that she had not moved on, not one bit.
“ISABEL! PLEASE!”
Isabel stopped at the mixed sound of desperation and confusion in Jesse’s voice. It wasn’t by choice.
Her body halted without her permission. The desperation in Jesse’s voice, chilled her bones and ceased her thoughts from processing. For a moment she wanted to turn around and grab hold of Jesse tightly, telling him there was no reason to be desperate.
She took in a deep breath, closing her eyes before turning around. She didn’t want to see him. She didn’t want to see his face, or his hair, or his ears, or his hands. It made things easier and the easier things were the quicker Isabel could leave.
“I’m sorry for rushing out like that,” she began, opening her eyes and glancing anywhere but at Jesse. “but I have a prior engagement. We can reschedule for a later date.”
“Are you really talking about a party right now Isabel? Really, Isabel?”
She closed her eyes again, feeling her bravery faultier. “I’m really sorry, but I have to go.”
“Isabel.”
Finally her eyes made their way to him. He hadn’t changed, not even after ten years. Jesse Ramirez still made her heart skip a beat—only this time it was from pain. He stared at her expectantly, the surprise from seeing her in her office still lingering on his features.
“Stop saying my name,” Isabel finally said, in barely a whisper. “Please.”
Jesse let his eyes drift over her, taking her in. “What are you doing here?”
Isabel shrugged, letting out a sad chuckle. “Working?” She answered, feeling unsure whether her answer would suffice.
“Working?” He shot back. “What about the others, are they here?”
Isabel shook her head. “Only Kyle.”
He let a hand ruffle through her dark hair, questions dancing in his eyes. “Are the others…?” He asked, unable to finish his question but the rest of his question was implied.
She shook her head again. “God no—they’re in California.”
Jesse let his hand slide through his hair once more before dragging down his face. “Isabel, I don’t understand. I thought you were running. Shouldn’t you be running? What about those…those guys from graduation? Aren’t your lives in danger?”
She couldn’t take her eyes off him, no matter how much she wanted to. No matter how much pain it caused her to look at him. She resisted the urge to cry, fighting the sting of tears. The pretty blonde from his office kept drifting through her thoughts. Was he still with her? Was she this Sophia his friend was talking about? Did he look at her the way he use to look at Isabel? Did hold her like he use to hold Isabel?
It was all too much. The imagines made her sick, the burning questions sent painful jolts through her system. But that wasn’t the worst of it, no the worst of it was that Jesse’s sudden return to her life helped Isabel realize that she was just kidding herself. She hadn’t moved on, she was still hopelessly in love with Jesse—while he moved on effortlessly.
“We got tired of running,” she whispered, feeling her tear ducts sting. “We decided it was time to live.”
Her answer stunned him and didn’t answer any of the questions floating through his gaze, but she didn’t care. She couldn’t face him. She wasn’t ready to face him that day in his office and she wasn’t ready to face him now.
She quickly turned around and made a mad dash for her car. Once safely inside she picked up her phone, dialing the only number she had cared to memorize.
It rang twice before being answered. “Iz?’
“Kyle?” Isabel breathed, letting her tear ducts win. “I want to go to Roswell.”
***
Max didn’t know what to do.
Should he knock? Should he ring the doorbell? Should he just open the door? What happens if it was locked?
Was the spare keep still hidden under the welcome mat?
He had pictured this moment several times—day dreamt about it ever since leaving, but when faced with the reality…he was completely at lost with what would be the right action.
Roswell had always been home, even when he was struggling to discover who he was. Even after he discovered who he was and what he was made for…Roswell was still home and the people in this house were still his parents. That would never change.
Leaving Roswell had been hard, but something that was necessary. He needed to protect the ones he loved, he needed to keep them safe from a side of him he never wanted.
He was regretting the decision that brought him to his childhood home’s doorstep. This would only lead to horrible things, after all these years, haven’t they learned that?
After driving past the sun faded sign welcoming them to Roswell, the group somehow decided that checking on the love ones they left behind years ago would be a good idea. They needed to make sure they were safe,
that whoever was sending the flashes hadn’t endangered their parents.
At first Max heart jumped at the idea. Seeing his parents? It was something he wanted to do ever since running away. He wanted to assure them that Isabel and he were fine, but he knew the danger a single call would put them in.
The Special Unit would always be after them—or so he thought when he left Roswell.
He never expected the Special Unit to…stop chasing them. His plan was to outrun them as long as possible. He had accepted a nomad’s life, where the beat up VW van would be his home. He never expected that he would be married to Liz Parker, the girl of his dreams, and be living in a house with a stable job. That was a wish that he had said goodbye to years ago and yet there he was living the American dream—or at least his version of the American dream.
But now the same alien problems that plagued his youth and the early years of his adult life were back. It was if they were taunting him, letting him know that he should never let his guard down.
Max shook his head, not wanting to think about those issues. Instead he would focus on the issues at hand. Was he going to ring the doorbell or knock?
He raised a fist, letting it hang inches from the wooden door. He sighed, letting it fall to his side. He glanced at the doorbell, letting an index finger hover dangerously close before grunting and retracting it. He motioned to crouch and grab a corner of the mat to lift hoping to find the spare key, but he stopped mid-crouch.
He found himself standing there again, just as unsure of what to do as he was a few seconds ago.
He was about to go through the motions again, hoping that this time one action would complete itself when the door flew open.
“Max!”
Before he knew it, he was enveloped in his mother’s arms.
***
“I don’t know about this...”
“Maria, relax.” Michael breathed, finding that his wife was cradling Laurie with a worried look.
“I can’t. I just can’t! You know my mother was never keen on becoming a grandmother!”
Michael chuckled, glad to see that Maria had managed to keep her mind off the problem that was haunting his waking moments. It eased the tension that was gathering in between his shoulder blades. Since entering the limits of Roswell, Michael couldn’t see enough. He wanted to observe everything and he wanted to remember every face that passed by. Somewhere in this town was the individual threating his family and he wanted to find them before they caused any more damage.
Michael kissed Maria’s forehead affectionately, smiling down at her. “That was when you were seventeen. I think she’ll feel different when she finds out you’re twenty eight and have been married for almost seven years. You did everything by the book.”
“You forgot to mention disappearing for ten years—I’m sure that’ll go ever great.” She mumbled, glancing up at her childhood home.
Or marrying an alien, Michael wanted to add but knew it wasn’t the time or place. He remembered when Liz told them about her journal and how she encouraged her father to give it to Maria’s mother, letting her know the truth—the whole truth. He wondered if it had helped repair the shattered mother and daughter relationship that had broken under the pressure of his alien secret. And he wondered for a moment if Amy DeLuca would accept him.
He sighed, finding that Maria still hadn’t moved from the sidewalk in front of her old home.
“Daddy?”
He glanced down at his side, his eyes landing on his oldest. She held onto his hand, swinging it back and forth every few seconds. Her green eyes were large with a hint of restlessness.
“Yeah Sweetie?”
“Are we going to see Nana? I’ve never seen her before and I would like to.” She huffed, letting her large eyes find their way to the house.
He resisted a hearty chuckle. Courtney was Maria’s carbon copy. She had the same shade of blonde hair, her lips manage the same pouty shape, and her green eyes were large—always demanding attention. He could even detect Maria’s habits that he had first thought were strange when he met her, but now couldn’t live without.
It was too early to see who Laurie would turn out like, but her features were leaning more Michael’s. The tuff of unruly dirty blonde hair never seemed to stay down, instead it defied gravity reminding Michael of his teenage years.
He squeezed Courtney’s hand, finally responding to her impatience. “We’re waiting for Mommy, when she’s ready we’ll go.”
Courtney glanced at Maria, her eyes cautious. “Why isn’t she ready? Isn’t this her mommy?”
“Yes, it’s her mommy, but she hasn’t seen her in a very long time.”
Courtney turned her gaze back to Michael, letting her small hand swing his gently to and fro. “Then shouldn’t she be running? It’s her mommy for goodness snakes!”
Michael smiled at her, before letting his eyes drift to Maria. She was more frightened then she was letting on and Michael knew that. She hadn’t seen her mother in a decade and the last time she did see her…they weren’t on the best of terms and it had been hard on her. Seeing how they had been so close.
He wished that he could somehow make it easier for her. That he could make this reunion a piece of pie—or that he could have prevented the flashes that had led them to this dilemma, but he was an alien not a magician. The only thing he could do was be there for her.
Suddenly, Maria’s frame grew ridged. She whipped her head in Michael’s direction. “We have to go.”
“What?” Michael asked, confused.
Maria glanced back at the house and took a few steps back. “We have to go—now.”
Michael, still confused, glanced at the house. He hoped to see whatever was making Maria want to flee the scene. He gave the house the once over—twice. On the third time, he finally saw it.
One of the lacy curtains, covering the front window was pulled back and staring out at them was Amy DeLuca herself. She was squinting in their direction, her face almost pressed up against the glass, and she was mumbling to herself—words that Michael couldn’t decipher.
He felt Maria grabbed his hand and tug, the motion caused his eyes jerked from the window.
“Well, at least you don’t have to knock anymore,” he attempted to joke, but Maria didn’t laugh. Instead she glared.
“Get in the car. Now,” she growled, her green eyes warm with angry.
Michael didn’t argue, even if he knew she was doing the wrong thing. He had been with Maria long enough to know that she had to make her mistakes independently. There was no saving her from the disaster she was steaming toward. She needed to crash and learn for herself.
He shifted his gaze to Courtney, who watched her parents with confusion before singling on Michael. Michael glanced at Maria and rolled his eyes before shrugging, indicating that they wouldn’t be seeing the Nana she wanted so much to see today.
Courtney huffed in respond.
Michael turned, watching Maria make a quick escape to the minivan parked along the curb. Just as his back faced the house, he heard a strong voice behind him.
“MARIA DELUCA! YOU STOP RIGHT THERE MISS!”
He didn’t need to turn around to see that Amy DeLuca had left the window and was outside, but he turned anyway and found her stalking over to them. She had aged, that was expected. Her short brown hair held scattered grey hairs and the lines around her mouth were a new addition—ones that he didn’t remember. Her eyes stayed focused on Maria, who had whipped around, frozen with fear.
She stopped a few feet from her, eyeing her daughter carefully, before quickly taking her in her arms and attempting to squeeze the live from her.
Michael reacted naturally as Maria held out a cradled Laurie for him to take and keep safe from the suffocating hug. He watched the tender moment happily, observing the small tears escaping from the corner of Amy’s closed eyes and the way Maria’s fingers held on to the back of Amy’s shirt with a fierceness.
“You’re okay,” he heard Amy whisper in a shaky voice. “You’re okay.”
She opened her eyes, the tears flowing freely, and held Maria at arm’s length. She took in her daughter’s appearance, noticing the woman she had transformed into before hugging her tight again.
“You’re safe,” she assured herself in the same shaky voice.
She let go of Maria and faced Michael—an action that Michael wasn’t expecting. His spine stiffened as his eyes meet hers and his muscles tensed together as she took two quick steps in his direction.
Her hands cupped his face gently, the same happiness in her eyes. A happiness that he didn’t expect.
“You’reboth safe. You’re both okay,” she repeated, the tears making their decent down her face faster and were only disturbed by a happy laugh of relief escaping from her lips.
She laughed again, letting go of Michael’s face to wipe her own.
“Look at me! Crying like a baby!” She wiped her cheeks once again.
“Speaking of babies…” She crouched low, letting her happy eyes rest on Courtney. “Who is this?”
Courtney smiled, her small hand still grasping Michael’s. She let it swing back and forth before answering.
“I’m Courtney! That’s my new baby sister Laurie!”
Amy chuckled, her face finally dry of tears. “Well Courtney, I’m so very happy to meet you. And,” she began, pulling the small child into a hug. “I’m so very happy you’re not green!”
***
They were back, back at a place that they never thought they would see again. A place they weren’t even sure they wanted to see again.
Liz could tell by the way their bodies hunched awkwardly in the Pod Chamber room. The cold draft from the large hole in the room that use to store the Granolith drifted around them, making the cobwebs float magically in the air.
It had been a tiring, but happy day. So many mixed emotions had left Liz physically drain—it didn’t help that she had puked twice today. Luckily after arriving in Roswell, but the term morning sickness should be changed. She had yet to feel sick in the morning hours. With one glance around the room, Liz could tell that the others shared her feelings, except symptoms of pregnancy.
“What now?” Liz questioned, breaking the silence that had become too much for her to handle.
Max blinked at the sound of her voice, dragging his eyes away from the empty pod chambers that he and the other hybrids had emerged from almost twenty years ago.
“I don’t know,” he answered honestly. He glanced around the room. “Any suggestions?”
Michael sighed, pulling his hand from his underneath his chin and glancing at each of them for a second. “We need to find whoever has been sending the flashes and stop them. By any means necessary,” he offered simply.
Maria touched his shoulder. “Are we sure that the Special Unit isn’t behind this?” She threw out there, fear flickering behind her green eyes as she mention the individuals that had chased them for years.
“I don’t think so,” Max answered, his eyes sliding around the room. “I think…they’re gone. I don’t know why or how, but they’re gone. Remember the beginning? Remember how we’d see a member every once and awhile? We haven’t seen them in years. We’ve been stationary for god knows how long, practically sitting ducks and they never attacked. They’re gone…just gone.”
Maria was reluctant to accept his answer, but she nodded and rested against Michael’s frame.
Liz watched the others carefully, finding it hard to concentrate. All she could think about was that girl—the one that would soon lose her life. She knew that they could spend hours in this Pod Chamber room, attempting to establish a plan of action, but they would just be running around in circles. They didn’t know who wanted them in Roswell and she didn’t think they would find out, the ones who wanted them…they would find them.
“We just have to wait, wait until they find us,” Liz answered, letting her thoughts be known.
The three other faces shot in her direction, knowing that she would offer an explanation for a suggestion that seemed irrational. Liz wasn’t the irrational kind.
She took a breath and continued. “We have no idea who is looking for us. We don’t even know where to start looking for them, what they look like, or if they’re even here. They’re going to end up finding us—I know it and you know it and we have to accept that. But in the mean time we can keep busy. The girl from my vision, she’s here. She’s working at the Crashdown.”
Max’s form tense at her words and he took a few slow steps toward her. “Are you sure your vision and the flashes aren’t connected?”
Liz shook her head, shrugging with defeat. “I honestly don’t know, but I don’t think it should stop us from trying to save this girl.”
Chapter Six
Liz couldn’t help but stare—she was the girl. The girl from her vision, the girl who would die soon. It was strange, something that Liz could never get use too, seeing the individuals from her vision in the flesh. She had visualized them dying—or already dead and to see them breathing and living right before her…it stunned her.
She continued to gaze at the girl. She was pretty. She barely wore any make-up and the life glistening in her blue eyes only made her prettier. Liz let her eyes slowly drift to her temple, where her pale skin met her hairline. It was a piece that Liz hadn’t seen before; it was the place of the girl’s death blow.
“Hi! Welcome to the Crash Down! Did you want a booth or a table?” The girl chirped with a fake cheeriness
that Liz knew all so well. She had worked at the Crash Down in her youth and she knew how tedious the work could be.
Liz blinked, unsure what to say.
To be honest, she was still reeling from the fact that she was…home.
She never thought she would come back. She buried her hope to return years ago. And yet, here she was standing in the familiar diner where she spent her childhood. She had braced herself for change—for the alien theme of the diner to morph into some new hip trend, but it didn’t. Everything was exactly the same, right down to the cup of brightly colored alien straws that were used for shakes.
Liz felt awkward. Despite wanting to come back and wishing that life would returned to some normalcy, Liz felt like she didn’t fit in this diner—or this town. Finally getting her wish and returning home helped her realize something.She had changed . She was no longer the same eighteen year old girl that left this small town upon graduation.
Liz found that the girl was still staring at her, her fake smile covering up the fact that she was getting annoyed that Liz hadn’t answered her question. Table or booth?
“I’m looking for Jeff Parker?” She finally pushed out, watching the girl’s smile slip for a moment. It wasn’t the answer she was expecting.
“He’s in the back. Can I tell him who’s asking for him?”
“I’m Liz—his daughter.” Liz uttered the words before realizing that she said them.
The girl’s smile fell, replaced with a look of utter shock. She blinked a few times, her blue eyes looking around the room before resting again on Liz.
“I’ll…I’ll go get him.” She said, walking away abruptly.
Liz resisted the urge to stop her, remembering that the girl’s time was short and if Liz was going to save her, she should know her name. But the girl disappeared quickly behind the swinging door leading to the back.
She panicked for a moment, considering following the girl to the back before remembering that Roswell was a small town and she knew where the girl worked. After she met up with the others they could discuss their options.
The others.
After the bathroom incident, everything happened so fast.
Max came home within the hour and a half hour later they were at Michael and Maria’s once again. This time their meeting wasn’t a quiet conversation, instead they were smothered in the chaos the flashes had created.
Laurie wouldn’t stop crying, no matter how long Maria rocked her. Courtney held on tightly to Michael and refused to let go. The effect the flashes had on the children sent Maria into a state of shock—but it wasn’t one that left her cationic. Instead she focused all her attention on Laurie and her attempt to quiet the child, while pleading with Courtney to let go of Michael. But behind her steady composure, her green eyes looked scared and the uncertainty of the situation had left her hands with a slight shake.
Michael barely spoke, his right leg instead shaking like a mad man, his hands constantly running through his hair, and his eyes lost in some secret thoughts. He held Courtney close as she squeezed onto his side for dear life. Max was also silent, his jaw tight with the tension the flashes brought. He glanced nervously at Liz every few seconds, his jaw relaxing when he found her still sitting next to him. But within a second of relief the tension returned and he started the process all over again.
And Liz?
Liz also was enveloped in their silence as Laurie’s shrill screams echoed around them. Her arms still wrapped securely around her waist, a position she hadn’t changed since Max found her in the bathroom.
The flashes left them confused and unsure.
They would never admit it, but they had grown use to the lives they had settled into. They grew use to being normal. Their alien past was always there, sulking dangerously in the background, but as the years went by it grew weak and became nothing but a shadow of the fear it once was. They believed themselves human and these flashes threated all that they held dear—dragging them unwillingly back into a world they had all but forgotten.
Max had been the first to speak and what he said had come out more like a statement—despite the question form it posed under.
“We’re going back to Roswell?”
No on disagreed. The same thought was on all their minds; would the flashes happen again? How strong would they be? They all had their own reasons, but they wanted them to stop and the only logical way to make them stop was to listen to them.
They needed to go back to Roswell.
So they packed quickly and left even quicker.
In the packed minivan, Liz found that she was still hugging herself tightly and the realness of her condition dawned on her.
What was she going to do?
She glanced at Max, who was driving. His large hands held the steering wheel tightly and his eyes never veered from the road. The tension in his jaw was still there and his muscles tirelessly bulged with the effort.
They had discussed children, even deciding that they would like to start trying within a year or two. It seemed right, they had settled and were becoming finically stable. They seemed ready. Liz didn’t have to question if Max would be a good father—there was no doubt in her mind. He would be the best, Zan was a perfect example. He put Zan’s best interest before his own, giving him the best opportunity in this world. She knew that he would do what was best for whatever children they brought into this world.
But right now? After the alien-ness they had thought they had chalked to their past came rearing its ugly head, there was no way their previous plan would stand.
Their peaceful world, the world Max and Liz were ready to bring children into, had turned chaotic and there was no way Max would be content with bringing a baby into their world. Not right now, not with everything that was going on.
So Liz wasn’t going to tell him. She somehow convinced herself that she didn’t even know if she was pregnant—she needed a test to prove it. And she had time didn’t she? Maria didn’t start showing until two weeks into her pregnancy, maybe this would all blow over by then.
A throat clearing tore Liz from her thoughts and she glanced in the direction of the noise.
It was a boy, he was sitting noiselessly in a booth watching Liz strangely. When they made eye contact he smiled at her. Liz attempted to return the smile, but the action fit uncomfortably on her lips.
But she didn’t have much time to think about the customer, because another sound caught her attention.
The swinging door opened forcibly, banging against the wall and rattling a set of alien heads on the wall. Jeff Parker stood in the door way, a look of completely awe on his face, tears threating to make their way down his cheeks.
“Lizzy? Is that you?”
Liz forced a smile. “Yeah Dad, it’s me.”
***
“Isabel, wait!”
Isabel ignored him, instead increasing her speed.
She wasn’t going to deal with this. She couldn’t deal with this, it was all too much. The crazy client, the Roswell flashes, and now Jesse? No, her brain couldn’t adsorb anymore—not that she wanted to.
Jesse. She didn’t her best to push him away, to keep him from her thoughts and her heart. She managed to convince herself that she was over him, that she had moved on with her life. Just as he did. Seeing him standing stunned in her office, studying her as if she was a ghost had sent a painful shudder through her body—reminding her that she had not moved on, not one bit.
“ISABEL! PLEASE!”
Isabel stopped at the mixed sound of desperation and confusion in Jesse’s voice. It wasn’t by choice.
Her body halted without her permission. The desperation in Jesse’s voice, chilled her bones and ceased her thoughts from processing. For a moment she wanted to turn around and grab hold of Jesse tightly, telling him there was no reason to be desperate.
She took in a deep breath, closing her eyes before turning around. She didn’t want to see him. She didn’t want to see his face, or his hair, or his ears, or his hands. It made things easier and the easier things were the quicker Isabel could leave.
“I’m sorry for rushing out like that,” she began, opening her eyes and glancing anywhere but at Jesse. “but I have a prior engagement. We can reschedule for a later date.”
“Are you really talking about a party right now Isabel? Really, Isabel?”
She closed her eyes again, feeling her bravery faultier. “I’m really sorry, but I have to go.”
“Isabel.”
Finally her eyes made their way to him. He hadn’t changed, not even after ten years. Jesse Ramirez still made her heart skip a beat—only this time it was from pain. He stared at her expectantly, the surprise from seeing her in her office still lingering on his features.
“Stop saying my name,” Isabel finally said, in barely a whisper. “Please.”
Jesse let his eyes drift over her, taking her in. “What are you doing here?”
Isabel shrugged, letting out a sad chuckle. “Working?” She answered, feeling unsure whether her answer would suffice.
“Working?” He shot back. “What about the others, are they here?”
Isabel shook her head. “Only Kyle.”
He let a hand ruffle through her dark hair, questions dancing in his eyes. “Are the others…?” He asked, unable to finish his question but the rest of his question was implied.
She shook her head again. “God no—they’re in California.”
Jesse let his hand slide through his hair once more before dragging down his face. “Isabel, I don’t understand. I thought you were running. Shouldn’t you be running? What about those…those guys from graduation? Aren’t your lives in danger?”
She couldn’t take her eyes off him, no matter how much she wanted to. No matter how much pain it caused her to look at him. She resisted the urge to cry, fighting the sting of tears. The pretty blonde from his office kept drifting through her thoughts. Was he still with her? Was she this Sophia his friend was talking about? Did he look at her the way he use to look at Isabel? Did hold her like he use to hold Isabel?
It was all too much. The imagines made her sick, the burning questions sent painful jolts through her system. But that wasn’t the worst of it, no the worst of it was that Jesse’s sudden return to her life helped Isabel realize that she was just kidding herself. She hadn’t moved on, she was still hopelessly in love with Jesse—while he moved on effortlessly.
“We got tired of running,” she whispered, feeling her tear ducts sting. “We decided it was time to live.”
Her answer stunned him and didn’t answer any of the questions floating through his gaze, but she didn’t care. She couldn’t face him. She wasn’t ready to face him that day in his office and she wasn’t ready to face him now.
She quickly turned around and made a mad dash for her car. Once safely inside she picked up her phone, dialing the only number she had cared to memorize.
It rang twice before being answered. “Iz?’
“Kyle?” Isabel breathed, letting her tear ducts win. “I want to go to Roswell.”
***
Max didn’t know what to do.
Should he knock? Should he ring the doorbell? Should he just open the door? What happens if it was locked?
Was the spare keep still hidden under the welcome mat?
He had pictured this moment several times—day dreamt about it ever since leaving, but when faced with the reality…he was completely at lost with what would be the right action.
Roswell had always been home, even when he was struggling to discover who he was. Even after he discovered who he was and what he was made for…Roswell was still home and the people in this house were still his parents. That would never change.
Leaving Roswell had been hard, but something that was necessary. He needed to protect the ones he loved, he needed to keep them safe from a side of him he never wanted.
He was regretting the decision that brought him to his childhood home’s doorstep. This would only lead to horrible things, after all these years, haven’t they learned that?
After driving past the sun faded sign welcoming them to Roswell, the group somehow decided that checking on the love ones they left behind years ago would be a good idea. They needed to make sure they were safe,
that whoever was sending the flashes hadn’t endangered their parents.
At first Max heart jumped at the idea. Seeing his parents? It was something he wanted to do ever since running away. He wanted to assure them that Isabel and he were fine, but he knew the danger a single call would put them in.
The Special Unit would always be after them—or so he thought when he left Roswell.
He never expected the Special Unit to…stop chasing them. His plan was to outrun them as long as possible. He had accepted a nomad’s life, where the beat up VW van would be his home. He never expected that he would be married to Liz Parker, the girl of his dreams, and be living in a house with a stable job. That was a wish that he had said goodbye to years ago and yet there he was living the American dream—or at least his version of the American dream.
But now the same alien problems that plagued his youth and the early years of his adult life were back. It was if they were taunting him, letting him know that he should never let his guard down.
Max shook his head, not wanting to think about those issues. Instead he would focus on the issues at hand. Was he going to ring the doorbell or knock?
He raised a fist, letting it hang inches from the wooden door. He sighed, letting it fall to his side. He glanced at the doorbell, letting an index finger hover dangerously close before grunting and retracting it. He motioned to crouch and grab a corner of the mat to lift hoping to find the spare key, but he stopped mid-crouch.
He found himself standing there again, just as unsure of what to do as he was a few seconds ago.
He was about to go through the motions again, hoping that this time one action would complete itself when the door flew open.
“Max!”
Before he knew it, he was enveloped in his mother’s arms.
***
“I don’t know about this...”
“Maria, relax.” Michael breathed, finding that his wife was cradling Laurie with a worried look.
“I can’t. I just can’t! You know my mother was never keen on becoming a grandmother!”
Michael chuckled, glad to see that Maria had managed to keep her mind off the problem that was haunting his waking moments. It eased the tension that was gathering in between his shoulder blades. Since entering the limits of Roswell, Michael couldn’t see enough. He wanted to observe everything and he wanted to remember every face that passed by. Somewhere in this town was the individual threating his family and he wanted to find them before they caused any more damage.
Michael kissed Maria’s forehead affectionately, smiling down at her. “That was when you were seventeen. I think she’ll feel different when she finds out you’re twenty eight and have been married for almost seven years. You did everything by the book.”
“You forgot to mention disappearing for ten years—I’m sure that’ll go ever great.” She mumbled, glancing up at her childhood home.
Or marrying an alien, Michael wanted to add but knew it wasn’t the time or place. He remembered when Liz told them about her journal and how she encouraged her father to give it to Maria’s mother, letting her know the truth—the whole truth. He wondered if it had helped repair the shattered mother and daughter relationship that had broken under the pressure of his alien secret. And he wondered for a moment if Amy DeLuca would accept him.
He sighed, finding that Maria still hadn’t moved from the sidewalk in front of her old home.
“Daddy?”
He glanced down at his side, his eyes landing on his oldest. She held onto his hand, swinging it back and forth every few seconds. Her green eyes were large with a hint of restlessness.
“Yeah Sweetie?”
“Are we going to see Nana? I’ve never seen her before and I would like to.” She huffed, letting her large eyes find their way to the house.
He resisted a hearty chuckle. Courtney was Maria’s carbon copy. She had the same shade of blonde hair, her lips manage the same pouty shape, and her green eyes were large—always demanding attention. He could even detect Maria’s habits that he had first thought were strange when he met her, but now couldn’t live without.
It was too early to see who Laurie would turn out like, but her features were leaning more Michael’s. The tuff of unruly dirty blonde hair never seemed to stay down, instead it defied gravity reminding Michael of his teenage years.
He squeezed Courtney’s hand, finally responding to her impatience. “We’re waiting for Mommy, when she’s ready we’ll go.”
Courtney glanced at Maria, her eyes cautious. “Why isn’t she ready? Isn’t this her mommy?”
“Yes, it’s her mommy, but she hasn’t seen her in a very long time.”
Courtney turned her gaze back to Michael, letting her small hand swing his gently to and fro. “Then shouldn’t she be running? It’s her mommy for goodness snakes!”
Michael smiled at her, before letting his eyes drift to Maria. She was more frightened then she was letting on and Michael knew that. She hadn’t seen her mother in a decade and the last time she did see her…they weren’t on the best of terms and it had been hard on her. Seeing how they had been so close.
He wished that he could somehow make it easier for her. That he could make this reunion a piece of pie—or that he could have prevented the flashes that had led them to this dilemma, but he was an alien not a magician. The only thing he could do was be there for her.
Suddenly, Maria’s frame grew ridged. She whipped her head in Michael’s direction. “We have to go.”
“What?” Michael asked, confused.
Maria glanced back at the house and took a few steps back. “We have to go—now.”
Michael, still confused, glanced at the house. He hoped to see whatever was making Maria want to flee the scene. He gave the house the once over—twice. On the third time, he finally saw it.
One of the lacy curtains, covering the front window was pulled back and staring out at them was Amy DeLuca herself. She was squinting in their direction, her face almost pressed up against the glass, and she was mumbling to herself—words that Michael couldn’t decipher.
He felt Maria grabbed his hand and tug, the motion caused his eyes jerked from the window.
“Well, at least you don’t have to knock anymore,” he attempted to joke, but Maria didn’t laugh. Instead she glared.
“Get in the car. Now,” she growled, her green eyes warm with angry.
Michael didn’t argue, even if he knew she was doing the wrong thing. He had been with Maria long enough to know that she had to make her mistakes independently. There was no saving her from the disaster she was steaming toward. She needed to crash and learn for herself.
He shifted his gaze to Courtney, who watched her parents with confusion before singling on Michael. Michael glanced at Maria and rolled his eyes before shrugging, indicating that they wouldn’t be seeing the Nana she wanted so much to see today.
Courtney huffed in respond.
Michael turned, watching Maria make a quick escape to the minivan parked along the curb. Just as his back faced the house, he heard a strong voice behind him.
“MARIA DELUCA! YOU STOP RIGHT THERE MISS!”
He didn’t need to turn around to see that Amy DeLuca had left the window and was outside, but he turned anyway and found her stalking over to them. She had aged, that was expected. Her short brown hair held scattered grey hairs and the lines around her mouth were a new addition—ones that he didn’t remember. Her eyes stayed focused on Maria, who had whipped around, frozen with fear.
She stopped a few feet from her, eyeing her daughter carefully, before quickly taking her in her arms and attempting to squeeze the live from her.
Michael reacted naturally as Maria held out a cradled Laurie for him to take and keep safe from the suffocating hug. He watched the tender moment happily, observing the small tears escaping from the corner of Amy’s closed eyes and the way Maria’s fingers held on to the back of Amy’s shirt with a fierceness.
“You’re okay,” he heard Amy whisper in a shaky voice. “You’re okay.”
She opened her eyes, the tears flowing freely, and held Maria at arm’s length. She took in her daughter’s appearance, noticing the woman she had transformed into before hugging her tight again.
“You’re safe,” she assured herself in the same shaky voice.
She let go of Maria and faced Michael—an action that Michael wasn’t expecting. His spine stiffened as his eyes meet hers and his muscles tensed together as she took two quick steps in his direction.
Her hands cupped his face gently, the same happiness in her eyes. A happiness that he didn’t expect.
“You’reboth safe. You’re both okay,” she repeated, the tears making their decent down her face faster and were only disturbed by a happy laugh of relief escaping from her lips.
She laughed again, letting go of Michael’s face to wipe her own.
“Look at me! Crying like a baby!” She wiped her cheeks once again.
“Speaking of babies…” She crouched low, letting her happy eyes rest on Courtney. “Who is this?”
Courtney smiled, her small hand still grasping Michael’s. She let it swing back and forth before answering.
“I’m Courtney! That’s my new baby sister Laurie!”
Amy chuckled, her face finally dry of tears. “Well Courtney, I’m so very happy to meet you. And,” she began, pulling the small child into a hug. “I’m so very happy you’re not green!”
***
They were back, back at a place that they never thought they would see again. A place they weren’t even sure they wanted to see again.
Liz could tell by the way their bodies hunched awkwardly in the Pod Chamber room. The cold draft from the large hole in the room that use to store the Granolith drifted around them, making the cobwebs float magically in the air.
It had been a tiring, but happy day. So many mixed emotions had left Liz physically drain—it didn’t help that she had puked twice today. Luckily after arriving in Roswell, but the term morning sickness should be changed. She had yet to feel sick in the morning hours. With one glance around the room, Liz could tell that the others shared her feelings, except symptoms of pregnancy.
“What now?” Liz questioned, breaking the silence that had become too much for her to handle.
Max blinked at the sound of her voice, dragging his eyes away from the empty pod chambers that he and the other hybrids had emerged from almost twenty years ago.
“I don’t know,” he answered honestly. He glanced around the room. “Any suggestions?”
Michael sighed, pulling his hand from his underneath his chin and glancing at each of them for a second. “We need to find whoever has been sending the flashes and stop them. By any means necessary,” he offered simply.
Maria touched his shoulder. “Are we sure that the Special Unit isn’t behind this?” She threw out there, fear flickering behind her green eyes as she mention the individuals that had chased them for years.
“I don’t think so,” Max answered, his eyes sliding around the room. “I think…they’re gone. I don’t know why or how, but they’re gone. Remember the beginning? Remember how we’d see a member every once and awhile? We haven’t seen them in years. We’ve been stationary for god knows how long, practically sitting ducks and they never attacked. They’re gone…just gone.”
Maria was reluctant to accept his answer, but she nodded and rested against Michael’s frame.
Liz watched the others carefully, finding it hard to concentrate. All she could think about was that girl—the one that would soon lose her life. She knew that they could spend hours in this Pod Chamber room, attempting to establish a plan of action, but they would just be running around in circles. They didn’t know who wanted them in Roswell and she didn’t think they would find out, the ones who wanted them…they would find them.
“We just have to wait, wait until they find us,” Liz answered, letting her thoughts be known.
The three other faces shot in her direction, knowing that she would offer an explanation for a suggestion that seemed irrational. Liz wasn’t the irrational kind.
She took a breath and continued. “We have no idea who is looking for us. We don’t even know where to start looking for them, what they look like, or if they’re even here. They’re going to end up finding us—I know it and you know it and we have to accept that. But in the mean time we can keep busy. The girl from my vision, she’s here. She’s working at the Crashdown.”
Max’s form tense at her words and he took a few slow steps toward her. “Are you sure your vision and the flashes aren’t connected?”
Liz shook her head, shrugging with defeat. “I honestly don’t know, but I don’t think it should stop us from trying to save this girl.”